No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: Roger T. Bonnecaze. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-186).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Magister Scientiae - MSc / The Bredasdorp basin is a sub-basin of the greater Outeniqua basin. It is located off the south coast, Southeast of Cape Town, South Africa. This basin is one of the largest hydrocarbon (mainly gas) producing basins within Southern Africa. The petrophysical characteristic of the E-block sandstone units within the Bredasdorp basin has been studied to evaluate their hydrocarbon potential. The data sets used in this research were wireline logs (Las format), core data, and geological well completion reports. The three studied wells are E-AH1, E- BW1 and E-L1. The evaluated interval ranges from 2000.33m to 3303.96m in depth with reference to Kelly bushing within the wells. The sandstone reservoirs of the Bredarsdorp basin are characterized by a range of stacked and amalgamated channels. They originated from materials eroded from pre-existing high stand shelf sandstone and transported into the central Bredarsdorp basin by turbidity current. These sandstones are generally in both synrift and drift section. The basin is thought to have developed from fan deltas and stream overwhelmed to water dominated delta. River dominated deltaic system progresses southward over the Northern edge of the central Bredasdorp basin. The Interactive Petrophysics (IP) software has been used extensively throughout the evaluation and development of interpretation model. The lithofacies of the rock units were grouped according to textural and structural features and grain sizes of well (E-AH1, E-BW1 and E-L1). Four different facies (A, B, C and D) were identified from the cored intervals of each well. Facies A was classified as a reservoir and facies B, C and D as a non-reservoir. Detailed petrophysical analyses were carried out on the selected sandstone interval of the studied wells. The cut-off parameters were applied on the seven studied sandstone interval to distinguish between pay and non-pay sand and all intervals were proved to be producing hydrocarbon. Volume of clay, porosity, water saturation and permeability were calculated within the pay sand interval. The average volume of clay ranged from 23.4% to 25.4%. The estimated average effective porosity ranged from 9.47% to 14.3%. The average water saturation ranged from 44.4% to 55.6%. Permeability ranged from 0.14mD to 79mD. The storage and flow capacity ranged from 183.2scf to 3852scf and 2.758mD-ft to 3081mD-ft respectively. The geological well completion reports classify these wells as a gas producing wells. E-L1 is estimated to have a potential recoverable gas volume of 549.06 cubic feet, E-BW1 is estimated to have 912.49 cubic feet and E-AH1 is estimated to have 279.69 cubic feet.

Research conducted at Virginia Tech has examined plasma torch operational characteristics using a feedstock gas of mixed hydrocarbons representing a cracked JP-7 surrogate. The tests were part of a program to examine the torch as an igniter and flame-holder for hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet engines. Previous research has shown that the plasma torch has promise as a robust igniter and flame-holder using gaseous fuels such as methane, ethylene and propylene when combined with an aeroramp to assist with the combustion process. The present investigation tested the plasma torch with a feedstock mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons that simulates thermally cracked JP-7 jet fuel. This simulation of a cracked hydrocarbon fuel was studied to lay the foundation for work with liquid hydrocarbon fuel, which is of interest for today's aerospace vehicles. The cracked JP-7 surrogate consists of a 15/25/60 mixture of methane/ethane/ethylene. The research results include torch operational characteristics such as downstream plume temperatures and emission spectroscopy within the combustion plume, as well as the power supplied to the torch over a range of mass flow rates. Filtered photographs of the emissions plume were studied to aid torch plume diagnostics. Other observations made were erosion and alignment of the electrodes, which will help determine the potential lifespan of the torch using cracked JP-7 fuel. The results show successful operation over a range of powers with simulated cracked JP-7 feedstock flows. Measured spectra, current, and voltage are compared with similar results for other hydrocarbon feedstock gases. The torch operating on the JP-7 surrogate feedstock appears to be a satisfactory device for ignition, flame-holding, and combustion enhancement of cracked hydrocarbons in supersonic combustion. / Master of Science

Many hydrocarbon detection techniques have been developed for decades and one of the most efficient techniques for hydrocarbon exploration in recent years is well known as amplitude versus offset analysis (AVO). However, AVO analysis does not always result in successful hydrocarbon finds because abnormal seismic amplitude variations can sometimes be caused by other factors, such as alternative lithology and residual hydrocarbons in certain depositional environments. Furthermore, not all gas fields are associated with obvious AVO anomalies. Therefore, new techniques should be applied to combine with AVO for hydrocarbon detection. In my thesis, I, through case studies, intend to investigate and validate the wave decomposition technique as a new tool for hydrocarbon detection which decomposes seismic wave into different frequency contents and may help identify better the amplitude anomalies associated with hydrocarbon occurrence for each frequency due to seismic attenuation. The wavelet decomposition analysis technique has been applied in two geological settings in my study: clastic reservoir and carbonate reservoir. Results from both cases indicate that the wavelet decomposition analysis technique can be used for hydrocarbon detection effectively if the seismic data quality is good. This technique can be directly applied to the processed 2D and 3D pre-stack/post-stack data sets (1) to detect hydrocarbon zones in both clastic and carbonate reservoirs by analyzing the low frequency signals in the decomposed domain and (2) to identify thin beds by analyzing the high frequency signals in the decomposed domain. In favorable cases, the method may possibly help separate oil from water in high-porosity and high-permeability carbonate reservoirs deeply buried underground. Therefore, the wavelet analysis would be a powerful tool to assist geological interpretation and to reduce risk for hydrocarbon exploration.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Quick evaluation of reservoir performance is a main concern in decision making. Time-consuming input data preparation and computing, along with data uncertainty tend to inhibit the use of numerical reservoir simulators. New analytical solutions are developed for capacitance-resistive models (CRMs) as fast predictive techniques, and their application in history-matching, optimization, and evaluating reservoir uncertainty for water/CO₂ floods are demonstrated. Because the CRM circumvents reservoir geologic modeling and saturation-matching issues, and only uses injection/production rate and bottomhole pressure data, it lends itself to rapid and frequent reservoir performance evaluation. This study presents analytical solutions for the continuity equation using superposition in time and space for three different reservoir-control volumes: 1) entire field volume, 2) volume drained by each producer, and 3) drainage volume between an injector/producer pair. These analytical solutions allow rapid estimation of the CRM unknown parameters: the interwell connectivity and production response time constant. The calibrated model is then combined with oil fractional-flow models for water/CO₂ floods to match the oil production history. Thereafter, the CRM is used for prediction, optimization, flood performance evaluation, and reservoir uncertainty quantification. Reservoir uncertainty quantification is directly obtained from several equiprobable history-matched solutions (EPHMS) of the CRM. We validated CRM's capabilities with numerical flow-simulation results and tested its applicability in several field case studies involving water/CO₂ floods. Development and application of fast, simple and yet powerful analytic tools, like CRMs that only rely on injection and production data, enable rapid reservoir performance evaluation with an acceptable accuracy. Field engineers can quickly obtain significant insights about flood efficiency by estimating interwell connectivities and use the CRM to manage and optimize real time reservoir performance. Frequent usage of the CRM enables evaluation of numerous sets of the EPHMS and consequently quantification of reservoir uncertainty. The EPHMS sets provide good sampling domains and reasonable guidelines for selecting appropriate input data for full-field numerical modeling by evaluating the range and proper combination of uncertain reservoir parameters. Significant engineering and computing time can be saved by limiting numerical simulation input data to the EPHMS sets obtained from the CRMs. / text