Low Crude Price Will Lead To The Shortage of Talents In Many Petroleum Companies

Oil companies have been doing recruiting in  local university. Where by graduates from these Universities have received jobs offer prior to their graduation date. Forexample In Tanzania, graduates from University of Dar es Salaam and Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology have received these job offer from oil companies.

In order to cope with this low level price ,oil companies has been  giving up  to work with local universities  since june last year. The truth is, Many oil companies will have scarcity of talents  they used to find  from  local universities. And when I say talents, I mean from operators, geologist engineers ,accountants, human resources people  and all who have background unrelated with oil and gas industry

MY FINAL THOUGHT

  Currently I am very anxious about this low crude price.If this  downturn will be  long slump,probably  it could affect graduates jobs prospect and oil companies can’t find the talents they need. But if the slump will be short, petroleum companies could find the talents they need and this will give graduate future they are trying to seek for.

Dear readers we would love to hear your views on all of these

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Swala Gets Extension to its Kilosa-Kilombero, Pangani Licenses in Tanzania

Swala Energy Limited (Swala or the Company) reported Monday that the Tanzanian Ministry of Energy and Mining (MEM) has agreed to extend the period within which an exploration well must be drilled in each of the Kilosa-Kilombero and Pangani licenses in Tanzania to Feb. 20, 2017. This one-year extension is to be deducted from the 4-year additional exploration extension period currently due to commence Feb. 20, 2016, resulting in the additional exploration period having a duration of three years.

Under the Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) that govern activity on each of these two licenses, the Joint Venture (JV) was originally obliged to drill an exploration well in each license by Feb. 20,. 2016. The JV carried out a seismic survey that was completed in December 2014 and in the same month the JV and the Tanzanian Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) agreed to carry out the processing and interpretation of the seismic data during the first half of 2015. This left relatively little time in which to confirm drilling locations and secure long lead-time items, and the JV therefore requested TPDC and MEM to allow it to complete its exploration drilling obligations in the next exploration phase. Both entities have now consented to this modification.

Dr. David Mestres Ridge, Swala CEO, said: “The joint venture has been actively preparing to drill the two licenses and we are grateful to MEM and TPDC for their pragmatic flexibility in respect of the drilling timetable. In June, Swala Oil and Gas (Tanzania) plc appointed an Operations Manager with responsibility for the drilling campaign and it is in the process of engaging a consultant to carry out the Environmental Impact Assessments for the drill locations. In parallel, it has been further interpreting the seismic data so as to optimize those eventual drilling locations. The extension of the time limit for completing the exploration drilling allows the JV to continue its preparatory work with the comfort that all steps are being taken to maximise the chances of success and minimise costs whilst not compromising on either health, safety or environmental integrity.”

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Mnazi Bay Gas Wells Deliver 1st Gas to Tanzania Pipeline

East Africa-focused junior producer Wentworth Resources announced Friday the first gas delivery from its Mnazi Bay Concession in southern Tanzania to the country's new transnational pipeline.

Wentworth said that two wells are now producing, with the three remaining wells expected to be put on production in the coming months. Initial production volumes will be used for commissioning purposes and to fill the pipeline, with production rates expected to increase to 70 million cubic feet per day by October this year and 80 MMcf/d by the end of 2015.

Wentworth added that the Mnazi Bay joint venture partners have agreed payment security terms with Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation, the buyer of the gas, and various other parties.

Wentworth Managing Director Geoff Bury commented in a company statement:

"We are very pleased to announce that production from Mnazi Bay has now commenced and the Mnazi Bay joint venture is the first supplier to the new transnational pipeline in Tanzania. Concluding the payment guarantee and starting production in our Mnazi Bay gas fields are pivotal events for Wentworth and underpin the long-term viability of our operations in East Africa and our partnership with Maurel & Prom and TPDC.

"Wentworth is well positioned to become a significant gas producer in Tanzania, where supply and demand dynamics offer an opportunity which we and our partners are uniquely placed to realize. We expect to exit 2015 in a strong financial position."

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The Ministry of Energy & Mineral Development has announced that the “Uganda International Oil & Gas Summit” (UIOGS) will be held in Kampala on 16-17 September 2015.
With a first-class conference programme led by Government, Public Sector and Private Sector industry leaders; the Summit marks an important point on the global calendar.
UIOGS is held under the Patronage of Eng. Irene Muloni,Minister of Energy and Mineral Development; and will be used by the Ministry as its official platform for meeting international companies and presentation of the multitude of energy projects presently ongoing or planned for in Uganda.
Uganda has much to offer the global oil and gas community and 2015 is an exciting year as the country moves towards commercial production. Uganda is blessed with its natural resources and now has an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of oil in place, a high drilling success rate of 85%, advanced refinery plans, vast acreage of underexplored areas rich in hydrocarbons and much to look forward to with the new licensing rounds.
The UOGS programme will provide an invaluable insight into all the major issues, challenges and opportunities including:

• Focus on the licensing rounds and new opportunities
• Update on existing fields and exploration success
• Financial and regulatory frameworks
• Uganda’s Refinery Project – 60,000 bpd by 2020
• Move to commercial production
• Supporting the oil and gas industry through a skilled workforce and local content
• Infrastructure developments to support oil & gas
• How can a successful oil industry support our drive towards rural electrification

The Ministry of Energy & Mineral Development will be using the UIOGS platform to actively engage with allits partners and suppliers from around the world. The services of the renowned market leaders for oil & gas conferences; Global Event Partners have been engaged to work alongside domestic experts Image Care to ensure that UIOGS is a first-class event that puts Uganda firmly on the global map.
UIOGS is a two day conference that will be held at the Kampala Serena Hotel on 16-17 September 2015. The programme will be opened by Hon. Eng Irene Muloni and will feature more than 30 Government officials, Company leaders and Industry experts gathered from Uganda, the region and throughout the world to give Uganda a truly global platform.

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This is How To Drill Oil and Gas Well

          Now, during this lesson, we will see how to drill them.
1. First of all, let’s see how to describe the subsurface characteristics, in order to plan the design of the future well and to define the phases of the drilling job.
2. Then, we’ll describe the drilling system, and how the driller can manage the drilling process safely.
During the exploration phase a well is needed to confirm the presence of oil or gas in the reservoir.
Some appraisal wells are needed for the delineation process.
Moreover, at the end of the reservoir strategy study, a reservoir model defines how to develop the field, and, more particularly, where to drill the wells and the contribution of each of them to the production plateau.
The role of the driller is to build these wells required for the field development.
A well is an expensive item. It must be carefully studied and planned before being drilled. The well preparation phase involves coordinated work between geoscience engineers and drilling/completion engineers.
How to design a well?
In order to set up the drilling program, the driller needs to know the location of the rig, where the well has to enter the reservoir, the trajectory of the well in the reservoir for a good connection between the well and the reservoir, and the formations to be drilled. Let’s detail the description of the subsurface.
For each formation to be drilled, there are 2 characteristics that need to be known accurately:
1. the pore pressure
2. and the fracture pressure.
The pore pressure is the pressure of the fluid within the grains of the rock. It depends on the depth of the formation and on its nature (sandstone, shale, …).
The fracture pressure corresponds to the minimum pressure to be applied on the rock to generate a fracture.
When the formation is drilled, the well is full of a fluid: the drilling mud, which is directly in contact with the rock, and applies a pressure on it: Pmud.
The mud pressure depends on the depth. One of the roles of the mud is to maintain the interstitial fluid within the rock, in order to avoid a kick.


During the drilling process, the mud is in contact with the rock, which contains a fluid within the grains.
A fluid always flows from high pressure to a lower pressure. If the mud pressure is higher than the pore pressure, the formation fluid cannot enter the well. It remains in the formation and there is no risk of blowout.
During the drilling process, the mud is in contact with the rock, which contains a fluid within the grains.
The mud pressure has to be lower than the frac pressure, in order to avoid the rock being fractured. To conclude, keep in mind that the mud has to be designed so that the mud pressure belongs to the interval between the pore pressure and the frac pressure. This interval is called the mud window.
Both Ppore, in red, and Pfrac, in blue, can be plotted on a (pressure/depth) graph.
The mud pressure has to be in the yellow zone, which is called the mud window. For each lithology to be drilled, the mud has to be well adapted to its characteristics. The well is therefore drilled in different phases, each phase corresponding to a new mud to be used.
At the end of a phase, a casing is installed and cemented to protect the well from the formation already drilled and to finalize the well walls.

The definition of each of these phases is called the well design.
A typical well design is as follows:
1. The first tubular is the conductor pipe installed by the civil engineer before the rig
arrives on site.
2. The next phases are drilled using the rotary drilling technique.
3. The surface casing maintains the unconsolidated surface formations and protects the groundwater.
4. The intermediate casing protects the well from the formations or fluid which could prevent the drilling process from continuing.
5. The last casing is the production casing which allows the reservoir to be isolated.
6. During the last phase the well enters the reservoir.
When a well is an exploration well, designing is much more difficult , due to a lack of measurements and information to describe the subsurface. The mud window is not accurately known. Such uncertainties have to be taken into consideration in the drilling process.
When a well has to be drilled in a new region, there are many uncertainties about the data, including that related to the pore and frac pressure profiles. On the contrary, when a development well is planned, it benefits from data from the surrounding wells already drilled. In this case, the pressure profiles are well known, and the uncertainties are lower.
Let’s mention that the trajectory of a well can be vertical, deviated, or horizontal. The choice of the trajectory depends on the location of the rig, the location of the target of the well when it enters the reservoir, and the trajectory of the drain in the reservoir itself. These two last data are defined and given by the reservoir engineer to the driller.

How a well is drilled in practice? Mechanically, a vertical force applied on the drilling bit (the weight on bit), together with a movement of rotation, generates down to the bit the power necessary to destroy the rock. A hook hangs up the drill string, which is composed of several tubulars screwed together, and, at the bottom, there is a drilling bit.
Both the weight on bit and the rotation per minute, which is given by the rotary table located at the rig floor, are controlled by the driller to maximize the rate of penetration of the bit.
Their optimization depends on several parameters, including the kind of rock to be drilled: the regulation of the hook height controls the part of the total weight of the drillstring applied on the bit, the rotation is often given by a rotary table located at the rig floor.
The mud circuit is combined to the mechanical part of the system.
Firstly, the pump sends the mud at high pressure through the discharge line, the stand pipe, the rotary hose and the top drive, into the pipes.
The mud flows in the drill string down to the bit and catches the small pieces of broken rock, the cuttings, to transport them up to the surface in the space between the drill string and the well walls.

At the surface, the cuttings, the sand and the silt are removed from the mud through shale shakers and other systems.
The mud can be sent to the tanks in order to be re-injected.
In order to control the well in case of blowout, a Blow Out Preventer is installed between the top of the well and the rig floor. This BOP stack is composed of an annular BOP and different rams able to close the well in case of emergency. The size of the BOP is adapted to the maximum pressure that can be encountered during the drilling process.

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