Norwegian practice has largely permeated virtually every aspect of Ghana's oil industry. Extrapolation from Norway has been a step in the right direction as Norway is largely credited with adopting best industry practices in the management of its oil industry. Ghana's regulatory framework has evolved to resemble Norway's. Whilst not all this similarity is by design, that which is not has been reinforced by Norwegian practice. Norway's transparent and effective control of the industry by the Executive affords subordination of the industry's regulatory body to a powerful Ministry, which arrangement is counter-balanced by effective Parliamentary oversight. I posit that in the case of Ghana, the absence of transparency, effective checks and balances in the governmental framework coupled with the potential for rampant abuse of discretionary power, necessitates that real regulatory power is vested not in the Ministry but in a strong, independent regulatory body that exerts proper control over the operations of the oil companies. Though the Executive should naturally be the driving force behind policy and ordering of developments in the industry, the regulatory body must be vested with the necessary independence and powers to effectively regulate operations in the industry devoid of Executive interference and control.

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<p> This experiment was designed to study iron control systems in fracking and well stimulation jobs at higher pH. Experimental study of iron control at high pH of this kind has not previously been reported in the literature. In addition, almost all of the widely used iron control chemicals today work at lower pH (&le;4). </p><p> In this experiment, newly enhanced chemicals, such as EnerFlow 780, SC803, EDTA, Poly Itaconic acid, and TN801 were used and the following new result were found. In the absence of iron control chemicals, iron precipitation occurred at pH of 1.85 and completely precipitated at 3.5. <b>SC803</b> has shown a very unique characteristic. The chelating characteristic of this product increases with pH. At lower pH (&le;4), this product has shown weaker performance in curbing iron precipitation. Only 37% (average) initial iron was prevented from precipitating at this pH. However, when the pH was increased to above 4, its sequestering characteristic became more and more until it reached pH 13. Minimum precipitation was observed at pH of 11 &amp; 12, which are 4.3% and 4.7%, respectively. Furthermore, SC803 was observed to cause unforeseen yellowish iron precipitation at lower pH. </p><p> <b>TN801,</b> a blend of SC803, EDTA and Poly Itaconic acid, showed the best result of the all the individual chemicals tested. It effectively curbed an average of 96% iron precipitation in all pH less than 13. EDTA and Poly Itaconic acid were added to enhance the performance of SC803 at lower pH. The result showed 86.8% maximum enhancement at lower pH and 0.3% at higher pH. TN801 was also able to dissolve 50% of crystalline iron sulfide, despite the fact that it is insoluble in nature. Furthermore, TN801 was tested on field and the anticipated result was achieved.</p>

<p> Compositional analysis of reservoir rock is a vital aspect of oil exploration and production activities. In a broad sense, knowing the mineral composition of a reservoir can help with characterization and interpretation of depositional environments. On a smaller scale, identifying mineralogy helps calibrate well logs, identify formations, design drilling and completion programs, and screen for intervals with potential problem minerals, such as swelling clays. The petroleum industry utilizes two main methods to find compositional mineralogy, x-ray diffraction (XRD) and thin section analysis. Both methods are time consuming, expensive, and destructive. An alternative method for compositional analysis that includes quantitative mineralogy is a valuable prospect, especially if it had the potential to characterize the total organic content (TOC). </p><p> The remote sensing community has been using infrared spectroscopy to analyze mineralogy for years. Within the last ten years, the advancement of infrared spectrometers and processing programs have allowed infrared spectra to be taken and analyzed faster and easier than before. The objective of this study is to apply techniques used in remote sensing for quantitatively finding mineralogy to the petroleum industry. While developing a new methodology to compositionally analyze reservoir rock, a database of infrared spectra of relevant minerals has been compiled. This database was used to unmix spectra using a constrained linear least-squares algorithm that is used in the remote sensing community. A core has been scanned using a hand-held infrared spectrometer. Results of the best method show RMS error from mineral abundance to be under five percent.</p>

Measuring the difference between the measured hydrocarbon thickness in an observation well and the actual hydrocarbon thickness in a formation has been a major hinderance in estimating the volume of free product in aquifers. The thickness of hydrocarbons in some observation wells is as much as four times greater than in the formation. A three-dimensional sandbox model was used to determine linear relationships between the height of hydrocarbon in an observation well to the thickness of hydrocarbon above the water table. A fine-grained sand was used to calibrate the system, then two soils were characterized and modeled. The results of the sand and natural soil runs were compared with three models found in the literature. The linear relationships developed from the sandbox experiments compared favorably with the models in the literature. Further investigation with a more accurate petroleum thickness detection method will result in site-specific linear relationships.

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