Deepwater Well Integrity Project (DWIP)                         

Well Integrity has significant impact in the economics and lifecycle of the deepwater assets. Borehole Stability related NonProductive Time (NPT) costs over one billion US Dollars to the oil and gas companies. The UNGI DWIP project offers customized investigation for key operational issues in drilling, completion, production, stimulation, formation damage, alsphaltine and wax removal, pipeline issues and primary, secondary, tertiary recovery opportunities as well and improved oil recovery (IOR) and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods recommendation customized in solving operational challenges in these difficult environments. The ongoing effort in Ultradeepwater exploration and production is also included in the UNGI DWIP projects for further reservoir characterization and reliable developments in ultradeepwater basins around the globe.

UNGI Enhanced Geothermal Systems Consortium

Application of horizontal drilling and multistage hydraulic fracturing have become a standard operational procedure for shale reservoirs in the US. In this reserach study, we investigate the feasibility of implementing the procedures applied in shale operations in the geothermal well applications, particularly in EGS.

A coupled commercial reservoir and hydraulic fracturing simulation software package is used for designing EGS wells. A coupled in-house model is also developed enabling integration of drilling, completion, stimulation treatments utilizing logs, and production data to remove some of the limitations exist in the commercial model and applying the model to a geothermal case study.

Coupled triaxial and true triaxial geomechanics, acoustic, resistivity and flow measurements are conducted under elevated pore pressure and temperature to determine the input parameters for the models used.

The project is conducted jointly with NREL with funding from Department of Energy.

UNGI CIMMM (Coupled Integrated Multiscale Measurements and Modeling) Domestic Unconventional Resource Consortium

Application of horizontal drilling and multistage hydraulic fracturing have become a standard operational procedure for shale reservoirs in the US. In this reserach study, we investigate the feasibility of implementing the procedures applied in shale operations in the geothermal well applications, particularly in EGS.

A coupled commercial reservoir and hydraulic fracturing simulation software package is used for designing EGS wells. A coupled in-house model is also developed enabling integration of drilling, completion, stimulation treatments utilizing logs, and production data to remove some of the limitations exist in the commercial model and applying the model to a geothermal case study.

Coupled triaxial and true triaxial geomechanics, acoustic, resistivity and flow measurements are conducted under elevated pore pressure and temperature to determine the input parameters for the models used.

The project is conducted jointly with NREL with funding from Department of Energy.

UNGI CIMMM (Coupled Integrated Multiscale Measurements and Modeling) International Unconventional Resources Consortium (CIMMM IURC)

The first phase of the UNGI CIMMM International Unconventional Resources Consortium concentrated on Vaca Muerta shale formation of Neuquen Basin in Argentina. The reservoir characterization using sponsor provided core and field dataset was conducted including pore pressure and fracture gradient prediction in the interest area where the sponsors had leases. Currently, we have extended the Vaca Muerta consortium into Petroleum Engineering applications for controlled in situ stress conditions for overcoming some of the challanges experienced when implementing US based fracturing fluids and proppants in the Vaca Muerta operations. Therefore, special effort has been extended in conducting customized fracturing fluid and proppant experiments for providing more reliable selection guidance that will lead to economically viable fracturing operations that will lead to production optimization with the recommended field and well customized proppant and fracturing fluids in the interest areas and Enhanced Oil Recovery operations in unconventional basin. Addition of other international unconventional basins are in progress for making this consortium a valuable reserach effort for our sponsors highlighting the differences and similarieties between the US unconventional operations and transfering the knowledge for rapid deployment of other basins for reliable and environmentally friedly unlocking of these basins globally for the energy needs of world population for forseeable future.

The research proposals and related documents can be found from this link. If you are interested in becoming a member of the UNGI Consortium and collaborating with leaders of the Unconventional Research at Colorado School of Mines, please contact Dr. Azra N. Tutuncu for further information and how to become a member.