SIPES-HOUSTON CHAPTER NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2015 Blast From The Past Oil and Gas Price Update Independent’s Day Party Continued Education Seminar Frack Now, Pay Later
SIPES-HOUSTON CHAPTER NEWSLETTER
AUGUST 2015
Blast From The Past
Oil and Gas Price Update
Independent’s Day Party
Continued Education Seminar
Frack Now, Pay Later
SIPES-Houston Newsletter | August 2015
SIPES HOUSTON CHAPTER 5535 Memorial Drive Suite F 654 Houston, Texas 77007 Tel: 713-651-1639 Fax: 713-951-9659 www.sipeshouston.org email: [email protected]
Chapter Officers 2015
Chapter Chair Jay Moffitt (713) -750-9485 x 104 [email protected]
Chair Elect James Mertz (281) 205-8140 [email protected]
Past Chair Jory Pacht (832) 338-5928 [email protected]
Secretary Russell Hamman (713) 526-7417 [email protected]
Treasurer William Smith (713) 650-3060 [email protected]
Website Chair James Allen (713) 871-2350 [email protected]
Technical Program Chair Grant Fergeson (832) 613-4009 [email protected]
Continuing Education Chair Kenneth Mallon (713) 705-7955 [email protected]
Hospitality Chair Chris Atherton
Public Relations Chair Jeff Lund (713) 275-1664 [email protected]
Membership Chair(s) Chip Betz (713) 658-8096 x 17 [email protected] Patrick McCarthy (713) 650-0311 [email protected]
Newsletter Chair Jeff Allen (713) 871-2350 [email protected]
Deal Buyers List Chair Hans Sheline (281) 241-7271 [email protected]
Political Affairs Chair Ross Davis (713) 658-3131 [email protected]
Sponsor Coordinator Christine Milliner (562) 881-6326
National Directors Ralph Daigle (National Pres-ident) (281) 292-6859 [email protected] Mike Jones (713) 654-0080 [email protected] Jeff Lund (713) 275-1664 [email protected]
Office Manager B. K. Buongiorno (713) 651-1639 [email protected]
In This Issue Letter From The Editor 1 Jeff Allen
Blast from the Past 2 Jeff Spencer
SIPES CES 3
Pop Quiz 5 Jeff Allen
Luncheon Savings 6 Jay Moffitt
July Luncheon Review 7 Russell Hamman
News From the Board 8 Russell Hamman
Oil and Gas Price Update 9 Barani Krishnan
Frack Now, Pay Later 9
Anna Driver & Terry Wade
E.I.A. Russian Energy Report 10
Independent’s Day Party 11
New Members 12 Chip Betz
On the cover: Streaming Colima volcano in Mexico with an active lava flow. Photo by Tom Pfieffer at volcanodiscovery.com
Want to be on the cover? Email Jeff Allen, the editor, at [email protected]
1 SIPES-Houston Newsletter | August 2015
There will be no luncheon in August. The next luncheon will be Sep-
tember 17th.
Recently, on August 6th, SIPES Houston hosted the annual Inde-
pendent’s Day Celebration held at the Armadillo Palace. The even was a
huge success with record attendance and a large amount of younger
professionals. We hope to see you next year for drinks and BBQ.
On September 25th, SIPES Houston will host the annual Continued Educa-
tion Seminar. This year the theme is Old Field Revitalization. See more
details on page three. Please register online.
IMPORTANT: the Petroleum Club has a new rule concerning food – if
you don’t specify your special-needs meal before the luncheon you will
be charged an extra $20. We don’t want anyone to be charged extra so
please take the time to contact BK for your special meal needs well
ahead of time.
Jeff Allen
L E T T E R F R O M T H E E D I T O R
2 SIPES-Houston Newsletter | August 2015
The above drawing was made by the Post’s artist from a pencil
sketch submitted by Captain Phillip H. Fall of Houston. It gives
an idea of what is supposed to be the flow of the oil stream from
North Texas to the coast. Captain Fall thus explains the above
sketch of the oil vein flowing to the Gulf of Mexico: “At Corsica-
na oil has to be pumped, but at Beaumont, it gushes over one
hundred feet high, because, like water, it must find its level. Cor-
sicana, being several hundred feet higher than Beaumont, there is
no level above ground for oil to seek, hence the pumping process
to bring it to the surface, while at Beaumont the
pressure to reach its level, is inconceivable in
force. All Texans who have read, to any extent,
know that out in the gulf there are placid wa-
ters for miles in the roughest weather, while
around the warves {sp – probably “waves”} are
mountain high, and we know the calm district is
caused by oil finding an outlet at the bottom of
the gulf. No doubt this is the vein the Beau-
monters have struck and are wild over. My idea
is that were some practical parties to sink an
immense iron pipe below the water and into the
ground, there would be found a gusher that
would supply the world for centuries. No doubt
it has bubbled up through the waters for thou-
sands of years, and the billions upon billions of
barrels wasted make me tired to think about.
The amount gone to waste would drown half
the world in oil.”
The offshore oil that Fall refers to is most likely
the Sabine Pass “oil ponds” (Figure 2, Fenne-
man, 1906, p.74-75). There is also an
excellent piece written by Texas historian
W.T. Block (1920-2007). (http://
www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/
oilpond.htm). Block discusses several of
the written accounts (1847-1910) about
these offshore oil ponds. These “placid”
oil ponds were supposedly used by sail-
ors to anchor within during storms, as
the oil reduced the waves.
Fenneman, N.M., 1906, Oil fields of the
Texas-Louisiana Gulf coastal plain, USGS,
Bull. 282.
Figure 1
Figure 2
BLAST FROM THE PAST
An early Gulf Coast oil migration theory, by Jeff Spencer
SIPES CONTINUING EDUCAITON SEMINAR
3 SIPES-Houston Newsletter | August 2015
1. Leta Smith (IHS): Resource Potential in Mature Fields
2. Jeffrey Bayless (NUTECH): Identifying By-Passed Pay and New Reservoirs Using Rock Texture Petro-
physics Integrated with 3D Geologic Modeling
3. Ken Hooper (LaMesa Geophysical): Focused 3-D Surveys for Established Oil Fields
4. Mike Geffert (Greystone Oil & Gas LLP): The Revitalization of Sligo Field, Bossier Parish, Louisiana
5. Jory Pacht (Pintail Oil & Gas): Rejuvenating Keeran Field
6. Jeff Swanson & Ben Bahorish (Durango Resources): Simulation – Giving Life to a Marginal Field
7. Bob Shoup (Subsurface Consultants & Assoc): Nail Guns Do Not Build Houses, Carpenters Do (New
Reserves from Application of Best practices)
8. Rick Valdes (Texas Board of Professional Engineers): Professional Practice Update/Ethics
N E X T G E N E R AT I O N I N D E P E N D E N T S A N D P R O S P E C T S P O T L I G H T
4 SIPES-Houston Newsletter | August 2015
Are you a member of SIPES? Do you have a prospect to sell? If so, please talk to Jeff Allen, the newsletter editor, to in-quire about being published in the news-letter on this page.
Are you a new independent and a member of SIPES? Send a short bio including what your company does to the editor to be in the newsletter. This is a good chance to de-scribe the type of work you do, prospects you may be looking for or selling, and market yourself to other members.
All questions must be answered correctly.
Petroquest found two fields, Thunder Bayou and La Cantera.
What sands do both these fields produce from? What is the
gross thickness of the reservoir in La Cantera field? What is
the EUR of each field?
Send answers to the Newsletter Editor,
Last Months Answer:
Three factors that are creating low oil and gas prices are: 1)
The oversupply in the USA. 2) The deal between the USA and
Iran. 3) Saudi Arabia not cutting back on production rates.
5 SIPES-Houston Newsletter | August 2015
POP QUIZ LUNCHEON SAVINGS
One of the current goals of the Houston Chapter Board of Direc-tors is to streamline the process of signing up for meetings and paying dues while keeping everyone informed of our progress. SIPES has kept our price of the luncheon at a constant price for several years, and to do so we must keep our internal costs down. As you all have observed, SIPES has offered an online option of paying for luncheons, CES, and other events that are important to our membership. This process, although recently improved, has some hurdles to overcome. There are two new options that we are encouraging members to consider so that we can keep the current prices constant as we have for the past few years. The first is the “Season Pass” option where at the January meeting (or before), a member can sign up for all eleven meetings (we don’t have an August meeting) for the price of nine meetings. If a member can anticipate that he or she will attend all meetings, you pay $270 in January as opposed to paying $330 on a pay as-you-go basis. Point of note is that you pay $24.50 per luncheon as opposed to $30 per luncheon which is the going price. The other option is a mid-year payment of the remaining six meeting from June through December for $150, where a member pays for six meetings for the price of five meet-ings. On both options, a member must pay in January for the “Season Pass” and in June for the “Six Pack”. In both cases there are no “carryovers” and you must use the discount in the same year, and in both cases we still strongly encourage members to RSVP for the luncheon online or by email to BK. The website is functional to sign up and you can pay for the “Six Pack” option online now. A member may also pay by check or credit card at the June meeting on the 18
th for the “Six Pack” option. I strongly
encourage all members who have not signed up as “Season Pass” holders to use the “Six Pack” option for the remainder of the year as this ensures that we can provide a quality luncheon at a dis-counted price Members of SIPES will see that the website is going to be much easier to use and navigate in the coming months. Our first shot at the website had several glitches that we have worked hard to elim-inate, and within the coming weeks, you will see the results. The major “tabs” will be easy to view and drop downs will have clear references for the user. Danny Matranga, our member and IT ex-pert, along with Jim Allen, have spent many hours with our Board to improve and simplify the website. We thank you for your pa-tience and look forward to serving the Members of SIPES with a new and improved way to keep you up to date with all of SIPES events and news. In closing, I thank you for considering these changes and improve-ments to SIPES so that we may provide you, the members, with the best professional society experience in the industry. Regards, Jay Moffitt SIPES Chairman Houston Chapter 2015
6 SIPES-Houston Newsletter | August 2015
SIPESHOUSTON.ORG If you are not yet registered as a member on the site please do so
ASAP.
You can now pay your national and local dues online. If you have not paid them please do so ASAP.
For events and announcements please visit the website.
Attendance confirmation and payment for luncheons can be done
through the website.
Many growing pains with the website have now been resolved and will continue to be fixed.
Any questions or issues with the website can be directed to [email protected]
7 SIPES-Houston Newsletter | August 2015
Our July luncheon speaker was Charles T. Goodson, Chairman,
CEO and president of PetroQuest Energy. His talk was titled
“Thunder Bayou and La Cantera, Petroquest Discoveries.”
Petroquest is a young public company with operation the Gulf
Coast and East Texas, having recently sold its Oklahoma proper-
ties. Currently the company uses the cash flow generated from
it’s South Louisiana properties to fund drilling in East Texas
where it estimates a program of approximately 1000 Cotton
Valley horizontal locations. The company allocates its drilling
budget with 25% high risk/high reward wells and the remaining
inventory equally split between close in exploration and devel-
opment
A new 3d survey, the conviction in internally generated pro-
spects, and the fortitude to overcome drilling problems led to
great success. The La Cantera area has yielded three successful
wells with an EUR of approximately 200 BCF while the discovery
at Thunder Bayou is expected to yield 150 BCF through one
well. The flow rate there is approximately 40 MMCFED. Both
properties produce from the Lower Chris R sands. La Cantera is
a deeper pool test migrating downthrown on a faulted struc-
ture. Coincidentally, there is an old well that just missed the gas
-water contact downdip by a handful of feet. The reservoir has
a gross thickness of about 500 feet with the top 150 being a
massive sand. Petroquest unsuccessfully tried to sell this pro-
spect 65 times and ultimately drilled the prospect heads up
with its money and that of a long time internal investment
group. They had the confidence in their work and the support
of their management to take a company changing risk.
Thunder Bayou is also a deeper extension of a productive struc-
ture. This prospect lies downdip of Tigre Lagoon Field which
has produced over 550 BCFE from a number of horizons. The
field is situated along a failed shelf margin with significant
growth into a fault. A major factor in the structural mechanism
is the pinchout of the lower Cris R sand which adds another 200’
of structural closure to the reservoir. There are a number of
challenges associated with deeper pool tests and many are illus-
trated here. Total depth is 21,000 feet, the bottom hole temper-
ature is 350 deg F and the bottom hole pressure is over 16,000
psi. There are 5 strings of pipes in the discovery well and for-
mation evaluation proved challenging in that environment. The
surface equipment must be rated to over 20,000 psi. Additional-
ly the gas contains some CO2 and a trace of H2S which requires
treatment before pipeline delivery. These factors resulted in a
well cost of $25 million and an equal amount spent on pipelines
and surface facilities. Even at this depth, porosities are greater
than 20% and permeabilites average over 100 mD. The geo-
physical modeling work done indicates the AVO response to
approximate a class III response. Given the depth of the pro-
spect, to have any AVO expression the reservoir had to be thick.
These discoveries demonstrate what the conviction of internal
confidence can produce for independents and larger companies
alike.
J u l y L u n c h e o n R e v i e w b y R u s s e l l H a m m a n
The presenter Charles Goodson with Ralph Daigle
James Mertz, Chair Elect, giving introductions
N E W S F R O M T H E B O A R D R u s s e l l H a m m a n
8 SIPES-Houston Newsletter | August 2015
Plans for the fall Continuing Education Seminar are ongoing.
Given the downturn in oil prices, engaging sponsors has been
difficult to say the least. If you or anybody you know is inter-
ested in sponsorship opportunities, please contact James
Mertz. Our national representatives shared the overall mem-
bership number from the annual meeting in June. National
membership is currently 1150 down from 1206 last year.
Changes from last year are as follows: deceased (-30), resigned
(-13), dropped for non-payment of dues (-47), reinstated (+5),
new members (+29). Hopefully our membership efforts can
help improve these numbers. Hans Sheline has almost com-
pleted updating the deal buyers list. If you wish to be included
in it, please contact him.
Thad Bay, Bruce Houff, Jon Crocker
9 SIPES-Houston Newsletter | August 2015
O I L A N D G A S P R I C E U P D AT E F R A C K N O W , P AY L AT E R
Crude oil dipped on Friday August 7th, plumbing multi-month
lows and heading for a sixth straight week of losses, as the ap-
proaching end of the U.S. summer driving season suggested a
growing surplus in gasoline supply.
Oilfield services firm Baker Hughes' report that the U.S. oil rig
count rose by six this week added to the bearish sentiment for
crude as it signalled production could creep up from higher drill-
ing activity. Drillers have added a total of 32 oil rigs over the past
three weeks.
Government data showing U.S. gasoline stocks exceeded market
estimates by about 300,000 barrels last week has pushed global
oil benchmark Brent to six-month lows and U.S. crude to a 4-1/2-
month trough since Wednesday. Brent settled down 91 cents, or
1.8 percent, at $48.61 a barrel on Friday, after touching a more
than six-month low of $48.45. U.S. crude closed down 79 cents,
or 1.8 percent, at $43.87, after hitting a more than four-month
session low of $43.80. Brent was down 7 percent for the week. It
fell 23 percent over the past six weeks. U.S. crude also slid 7 per-
cent on the week and lost 26 percent in the last six weeks.
Analysts said crude futures could be pressured in coming months
by seasonal refinery maintenance and stock builds in key oil
products such as distillates, which include diesel. Gasoline hit a 5-
1/2-month low on Friday. It tumbled 12 percent on the week, its
sharpest weekly loss in almost six years. Ultra-low-sulfur diesel
fell nearly 3 percent on the week after hitting a six-year bottom
on Wednesday.
"The summer driving season is fading and we could see a quick
ramp-up in gasoline stocks," said Chris Jarvis, analyst at Caprock
Risk Management in Frederick, Maryland. "We've had record re-
fining heading out of the driving season that should translate
into higher stocks of refined products in fall and winter."
- Barani Krishnan, Reuters
Business is so tough for oilfield giants Schlumberger NV and Halli-
burton Co that they have come up with a new sales pitch for crude
producers halting work in the worst downturn in years. It amounts
to this: "frack now and pay later."
The moves by the world's No. 1 and No. 2 oil services companies
show how they are scrambling to book sales of new technologies
to customers short of cash after a 60 percent slide in crude to $45
a barrel. In some cases, they are willing to take on the role of tra-
ditional lenders, like banks, which have grown reluctant to lend
since the price drop that began last summer, or act like producers
by taking what are essentially stakes in wells.
At Halliburton, some of the capital to finance the sales will come
from $500 million in backing from asset manager BlackRock, part
of a wave of alternative finance pouring into the energy industry
that one Houston lawyer said on Thursday allows companies to
"keep the engine running."
When its second-quarter net profit tumbled by more than half a
billion dollars to just $54 million, Halliburton's Chief Executive
Dave Lesar told analysts the company needed to find new reve-
nue. The BlackRock money, he said, would allow Halliburton to
"look at additional ways of doing business with our customers,
different business models, push beyond where we have been to-
day.” Another variant, which Halliburton has considered and
Schlumberger has pushed, is one in which the companies cover up
-front costs for a producer and then get a piece of a well's perfor-
mance.
The services companies have made these special offers to produc-
ers in a bid to roll out the new business line of refracking, in which
existing wells are worked over to lift output. Halliburton and
Schlumberger tout refracking as a cheap way of adding barrels
because it avoids drilling new wells, which can cost several million
dollars each.—Anna Driver & Terry Wade, Reuters
10 SIPES-Houston Newsletter | August 2015
E.I.A. RUSSIAN OIL AND GAS REPORT Russia is a major producer and exporter of oil and natural gas,
and its economy largely depends on energy exports. Russia's
economic growth is driven by energy exports, given its high oil
and natural gas production. Oil and natural gas revenues ac-
counted for 50% of Russia's federal budget revenues and 68%
of total exports in 2013.
Russia was the
world's largest
producer of crude
oil including lease
condensate and
the third-largest
producer of petro-
leum and other
liquids (after Saudi
Arabia and the
United States) in
2014, with aver-
age liquids pro-
duction of 10.9
million barrels per
day (b/d). Russia
was the second-
largest producer
of dry natural gas in 2013 (second to the United States), pro-
ducing 22.1 trillion cubic feet (Tcf).
Russia and Europe are interdependent in terms of energy. Eu-
rope is dependent on Russia as a source of supply for both oil
and natural gas, with more than 30% of European crude and
natural gas supplies coming from Russia in 2014. Russia is de-
pendent on Europe as a market for its oil and natural gas and
the revenues those exports generate. In 2014, more than 70%
of Russia's crude exports and almost 90% of Russia's natural
gas exports went to Europe.1
Russia is the third-largest generator of nuclear power in the
world and fourth-largest in terms of installed nuclear capacity.
With nine nuclear reactors currently under construction, Russia
is the second country in the world, after China, in terms of
number of reactors under construction as of March 2015.2
Russia consumed 31.52 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu)
of energy in 2012, the majority of which was in the form of
natural gas (51%). Petroleum and coal accounted for 22% and
18%, respectively (Figure 1).
OIL: Russia's proved oil reserves were 80 billion barrels as of Janu-
ary 2015, according to the Oil and Gas Journal.7 Most of Russia's
reserves are located in West Siberia, between the Ural Mountains
and the Central Siberian Plateau, and in the Urals-Volga region,
extending into the Caspian Sea.
In 2014, Russia produced an estimated 10.9 million b/d of petrole-
um and other liquids (of which 10.1 million b/d was crude oil in-
cluding lease condensate), and it consumed slightly more than 3.5
million b/d (Figure 2). Russia exported more than 6 million b/d in
2013, including roughly 5 million b/d of crude oil and the remain-
der in products. According to EIA's International Energy Outlook
2014, Russia's petroleum and other liquids production grows mod-
estly over the long term.
SANCTIONS: In response to the actions and policies of the gov-
ernment of Russia with respect to Ukraine, in 2014 the United
States imposed a series of progressively tighter sanctions on Rus-
sia.3 Among other measures, the sanctions limited Russian firms'
access to U.S. capital markets, specifically targeting four Russian
energy companies: Novatek, Rosneft,4 Gazprom Neft, and Trans-
neft. Additionally, sanctions prohibited the export to Russia of
goods, services, or technology in support of deepwater, Arctic off-
shore, or shale projects.5 The European Union imposed sanctions,
although they differ in some respects.
In recent years, the Russian government has offered special tax
rates or tax holidays to encourage investment in difficult-to-
develop resources, such as Arctic offshore and low-permeability
reservoirs, including shale reservoirs. Attracted by the tax incentives
and the potentially vast resources, many international companies
have entered into partnerships with Russian firms to explore Arctic
and shale resources. ExxonMobil, Eni, Statoil, and China National
Petroleum Company (CNPC) all partnered with Rosneft to explore
Arctic fields.6 Despite sanctions, in May 2014, Total agreed to ex-
plore shale resources in partnership with LUKoil, but then, because
of sanctions, halted its involvement in September. ExxonMobil,
Shell, BP, and Statoil also signed agreements with Russian compa-
nies to explore shale resources. Virtually all involvement in Artic
offshore and shale projects by Western companies has ceased fol-
lowing the sanctions.
At the same time as the United States and European Union were
applying sanctions, oil prices fell by more than half, from an aver-
age Brent crude oil price of $108/barrel (b) in March 2014 to just
$48/b in January 2015. Both the sanctions and the fall in oil prices
have put pressure on the Russian economy in general, and have
made it more difficult for Russian energy firms to finance new pro-
jects.
11 SIPES-Houston Newsletter | August 2015
SIPES INDEPENDENT’S DAY PARTY Thank you to our amazing sponsors or this event would not
have been a success: Mark Gregg of Kiwi Energy, Jay Moffitt of
Gateway Exploraiton, Joy Pacht of Pintail, Randy Schott and
Jim Bennett of B&S Exploration, Bill Smith of Wilcox oil and
gas, and Dan Smith.
The event is an annual party to celebrate being an independ-
ent, meet new people, and win some prizes. We hope to see
you next year
12 SIPES-Houston Newsletter | August 2015
NEW MEMBERS Applicants: There are seven applicants for July. Five are
applying for full membership and two are applying for lim-
ited membership.
Full Membership Applications
Robert (Bob) Barnhill has been a
consulting Geologist since 1978.
After graduating from the Univer-
sity of Iowa, Bob worked for Sun
Oil, Ashland Exploration and
Wainoco O&G, concentrating
mostly in the Gulf Coast and East
Texas. Bob is a member of AAPG,
HGS and a Registered Geologist in the State of Texas.
Edger (Ed) Mellor received a B.S. in Geology from the Uni-
versity of Dayton and then a M.S. in
Geology from Texas Christian Uni-
versity. He then worked for Arco
O&G/Vastar for 23 years rising from
the rank of Geologist to Exploration
Manager. He later worked for Penn
Virginia O&G and Davis Petroleum
where he was the Vice President of
Exploration.
Ryan Price graduated summa
cum laude with a degree in
petroleum engineering from
Texas A&M University in
2003. He then worked as a
Production Engineer for Ana-
darko in East Texas and
North Louisiana. Later he
worked with Southwestern
Energy, Edge Petroleum, and
Ursa Resources in multiple
basins. Ryan has been independent since 2011 and owns
his company called POCC LLC. He is active in prospect
generation and operates his own wells as well as consult-
ing for other working interest owners and clients.
Philip (Phil) Trumbly graduated with a M.S. in
Geology from San Diego State University in
1983 then began his career as an exploration
Geologist with Arco Alaska. Recently he has
retired from BP America and is now an inde-
pendent consultant. He is an AAPG Certified
Petroleum Geologist and a State of Texas Cer-
tified Geologist.
Limited Membership Applications
Clayton (Clay) Brollier graduated from the
University of Texas with a Geology degree in
2005 and has been working at Pedernales
Energy since 2006. He is working on explora-
tion and development in the Permian Basin,
Mid-Continent and Gulf Coast.
Alan Pennington received his degree in Geolo-
gy from Texas A&M in 1976. He has worked
for Meridan Resources, Propel Energy and is
now employed with Castex Energy in Houston,
Texas. He is an AAPG Certified Petroleum Ge-
ologist.
SIPES Houston Chapter, 5535 Memorial Drive, Suite F654, Houston, Texas 77007 Tel: 713-651-1639 Fax: 713-951-9659 www.sipeshouston.org e-mail: [email protected]
Upcoming SIPES Events
Sept. 17: Luncheon, Eric Potter, Petroleum Club
Science-Based Events in Houston Museum of Natural Science Lectures Aug. 11: NASA’s exploration of Ceres and Pluto by Paul Schenk
Visit HGS.org for other events
* * *