brochure cstjf en

7/27/2019 Brochure Cstjf En

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CSTJF/Totals Exploration& ProductionScientific andTechnical Center/


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CSTJF/An integratedhub ofexpertise /

EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION


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CSTJF/11 Foreword

12 Staying connected

16 HSE (Health, Safety & Environment)

19 Geosciences

33 Drilling and wells

45 Operating techniques

53 Research and pilot applications

64 A regional hub

69 Key figures

72 A crucial link in the energy chain


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More than thirtynationalitiesTotals E&P Scientific andTechnical Center is locatedin Pau, southwestern Franceseconomic hub. The Centersnearly 2,000 persons representsome thirty differentnationalities and encompassthe full range of explorationand production expertise.


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A uniquepurpose


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End-to-end expertiseBuilt on a sprawling 27-hectarecampus, the CSTJF is home toexperts from every discipline ofthe exploration and productionvalue chain. This proximityfacilitates exchanges betweengeosciences, drilling and

reservoir developmentspecialists and the integrationof these diverse fields ofexpertise all of which arevital to redefining feasibilityin the oil and gas industry.


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Global reachProviding technical support toTotals E&P subsidiaries is oneof the R&D centers key roles,because the CSTJF has todeploy the full weight of itsinnovative capabilities in thefield, worldwide.


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The Centre Scientifique et Technique Jean-Fger(CSTJF) technicalcenter is the main platform for the scientific expertise and R&D

activity of Total Exploration & Production. With state-of-the-art labresources and powerful computing and telecommunicationscapabilities, the CSTJF is an industry-leading R&D center whosestaff of 2,000 delivers a wide array of skills.

This extensive, future-focused campus forges the keys thatopen up the most extreme frontiers of the worlds energyprovinces.The CSTJF pumps its scientific and technical lifebloodinto Totals E&P subsidiaries worldwide, providing ongoing support inidentifying resources for the future and helping them to write newand exciting chapters in the adventure of the oil and gas industry.

Named after the engineer who helped to discover the Lacq naturagas field, the CSTJF is located in Pau, southwestern France, thecradle of Totals operations in its home country. It plays a pivotal rolein the regional economy and partners its sustainable growth.

Yves-Louis DarricarrrePresident Exploration & Productio

Foreword/

1Foreword


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Stayingconnected/Within the walls of the Alpha Building, home to Totals privateworldwide telecommunications network, the supervision systemoperates 24/7. Ensuring the optimum reliability and availabilityof this highly strategic broadband network is critical, becauseit carries the communications that run constantly betweenthe E&P subsidiaries and the Center in Pau. In addition to voicetelephone traffic between the site and the rest of the world, thetelecommunications infrastructure at the CSTJF handles video andaudio communications from up to 21 videoconferences at a timeand transmits an abundant flow of digital data around the world.

The uninterrupted flow reflects the CSTJFs pivotal role in theday-to-day activities of the subsidiaries.It is supplemented byfrequent meetings between operational personnel based aroundthe world and their contacts at the Center. Each year, theglobetrotting contacts head off on some 3,500 internationalassignments to provide on-site support to their counterpartsat Total locations worldwide.


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1Staying connected

With a reach extending to thefour corners of the Earth, theCSTJF also serves as a centralpoint of contact and a training

center for people of manydifferent nationalities.More than a hundred international management-levelemployees technicians and engineers recruited by Totalsubsidiaries around the world join the Centers teams each year.They come for a period of three or more years at strategic

junctures in their careers, shaped by the international mobilityinherent in the Groups global scale.Staff from partner national oil companies and representativesof Total E&P host countries also come to the Center for state-of-the-artraining. A wide range of training and internship programs isavailable to meet the diverse needs of participants from allbackgrounds. Most of these programs are targeted and short-term,but skills transfer can also take the form of customized programslasting several months or take place within the frameworkof two-year stints that provide on-the-job training. Courses drawon the wealth of technological resources available at the Center.These span the full range of oil and gas industry expertise, suchas exploration, appraisal of discoveries, design of complex boreholetrajectories, deployment of innovative solutions to boost recoveryfactors, and managing industrial impact. They take advantageof the enormous computing power that places the CSTJFin the ranks of the worlds leading scientific data processingcenters. The Center also boasts an impressive platform of high-techlaboratories and of course an unmatched concentrationof world-class skills.

The CSTJF is a crucible of expertise and a melting pot of cultures.Everyone shares the same ambition: producing more oil and gas

more efficiently. That is why Totals stringent requirements concerningthe safety of people and environmental protection are enforcedhere and on all sites.


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Knowledge

Transferring knowledge is oneof the CSTJFs core functions.Each year, the Center opensits doors to numerousemployees from Totals E&Pheadquarters and subsidiaries.They come not only tobroaden and share theirknowledge, but also tocapitalize on the worldwideexperience acquired by theCenters teams.


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Sphere of

knowledge

1Staying connected


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HSE/Health, Safety & Environment

Oil and gas production is a hazardous business. Ever present and

multi-faceted, the risks are proportional to the scale of Totals largeindustrial projects. These can entail millions of man-hours of workby crews of thousands mobilized simultaneously on a single worksite,or the installation of components and systems weighing hundredsof tons on the seafloor. Every day, the teams working on projectsand at operating sites strive to achieve Totals goal of zeroaccidents.The safety of people and property is the top priority at everylevel of the organization. Specialized Health, Safety andEnvironment engineers provide supportacross the E&P value

chain to achieve the Groups ambitious targets for the safetyof its own employees and those of its many contractors.


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Environmental protectionis a priority and the focusof numerous research projectsat the CSTJF.This is an overriding concern of Totals operations at productionsites around the world. From the outset, every project is designedto limit the impact of its operations on air, water andbiodiversity an impact that is closely monitored. Total E&Pis assertively committed to curbing greenhouse gas emissions,a crucial thrust of efforts to tackle climate change. Water, which isalways produced with oil and gas, is managed sustainably throughreinjection into the original reservoirs whenever possible, whileany producted water discharged into the natural environmentis treated to comply with very stringent standards.

Thanks to the combined efforts of experts at the CSTJF and in thesubsidiaries, Total reconciles production growth with profitability goaland the imperatives of human safety and environmental protectionThese priorities are an integral part of the industrys responsibilities tocurrent and future generations.

1HSE (Health, Safety & Environment


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The reservoir, upclose and personalGeophysics, geology (itselfa broad field encompassingmore than 20 disciplines) and

reservoir engineering all sharethe same goal discovering,understanding andcharacterizing reservoirs,complex geological structuresthat contain oil, gas and water.The ultimate goal is togenerate detailed modelsof a reservoirs architectureand internal structure andthe behavior of fluids duringa fields producing life.


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1Goscience

Geo-sciences/

1Geoscience


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From field to computerOutcrops are structurallysimilar to subsurface oilreservoirs, and have beenbrought to the surface by theEarths tectonic movements.Field studies are coupledwith laboratory studies of

samples taken from reservoirsto build a sedimentary modelof oil fields.


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The geosciences disciplinesbring together the expertiseof geophysicists, reservoirgeologists and reservoir

engineers.Reservoir geologists focus on understanding and predicting thebehavior of oil and gas basins over time and in space. Their job is tocharacterize the elements that form an oil system the sourcerock, the reservoirs in which the oil is trapped, and the cap rock thatholds the oil in the reservoir. The foundation of the oil and gasindustry, geology is a broad discipline subdivided into some twentyfields of specialization. These include organic geochemistry (thestudy of source rocks), sedimentology (the study of sedimentary

processes that form reservoirs), structural geology (to understand thestructure of oil basins and reservoirs) and biostratigraphy (the study othe microorganisms found in sediment). Geological expertise playsa role at every stage, from the acquisition of acreage to productionof reserves. The work done by geologists, especially sedimentarymodeling of traps to predict the volume of oil or gas in place,allows reservoir engineers to estimate the productivity of the fieldsdiscovered and to model fluid movement during production.It also helps reservoir architects to optimize the development planfor individual fields.

The combination of theoretical knowledge, experience gainedover the years from fieldwork, and characterization of samples ofrocks and fluids taken during drilling contribute to numerical modelsmade possible through the rapid growth in computing capacity.Samples provide valuable hard information when building thesemodels, although their size is extremely limited compared to theoverall scale of the field under investigation. In fact, the challengeaddressed daily by reservoir geologists and engineers iscomparable in complexity to modeling the Eiffel Tower based ona sample the size of a pinhead.

2Geoscience


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Core samplesby the thousandsCore samples are cylinders

of rock removed duringdrilling and are the onlyvisible elements of petroleumreservoirs. Every year, Totalssubsidiaries ship new samplestotaling a thousand metersin length to the CSTJF, wherethey are added to its largecollection. The Centeris equipped to extracta maximum amount ofvaluable data from them.


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Journeyto the centerof the Earth

2Geoscience


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The CSTJF receives samplesfor analysis from the aroundthe world.Its extensive collection of core samples taken during drilling isused to study the composition of reservoir rocks in minute detail.The geology laboratory is equipped with a CT scanner forthree-dimensional imaging.At the same time, the physicalproperties of reservoir rock and their ability to contain andaccommodate the flow of oil or gas are analyzed in petrophysicslaboratories. The recombined fluids are studied under reservoirtemperature and pressure conditions. Experiments that can last upto several months predict the effectiveness of various productionprocesses on a microscopic scale. The aim is to understandhow oil or gas will behave over the twenty-year (or longer) producinglife of the reservoir.


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A CT scanner toanalyze core samplesThe CT scanner is just oneof the high-tech instrumentsavailable at the CSTJFgeological laboratory.Tomographic images of coresamples are re-combined

to yield three-dimensionalimages that pinpointdifferences in density betweenthe various components ofthe sample. This in turn gives avirtually direct indication of thevolume of hydrocarbonscontained in each sample,a key factor in reservoircharacterization.

2Geoscience


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Among the geosciencesdisciplines, geophysics hasemerged as one of the CSTJFsareas of excellence.Based on seismic technology, geophysics reveals the invisible the reservoir. Acoustic waves generated by vibrations on landor at sea are partially reflected by the various geological stratathey encounter as they propagate through the subsurface.Logging the signals of these reflected waves at the surface yieldsan image of the geological layers. The data are then used to builda three-dimensional model of the contours and internal architectureof the oil traps. Through ongoing dialogue, geophysicists in theE&P subsidiaries and specialists at the CSTJF can recommendthe most appropriate acquisition systems for offshore and

onshore operations. In addition, the Centers team helps to buildthe most complex seismic images using innovative processingalgorithms that require the extensive computing power availableat the CSTJF.


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Imaging technology

and human insightSatellite images giving broadviews of petroleum basins,seismic reflections revealingthe chaotic contours andfolds of the subsurface, andthree-dimensional models ofreservoirs with their geologicalstructures and fluids theseimages have much to tellgeoscientists who know howto interpret them. Althoughcalculations are one key to

understanding and managingreservoirs, the art ofinterpretation is what makesthem accessible.

2Geoscience


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123 trillion floating-pointoperations per second


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2Goscience

2Geoscience

Dizzying computingpowerBoasting a record computingpower of 123 teraflops or 123 trillion floating-pointoperations per second the new high-performancecomputer acquired by the

CSTJF in 2008 makes Totala global leader in scientificprocessing capacity. Thiscapacity is rising steadilyand is expected to reach1 petaflop in the near future.It is primarily used to processthe complex calculationcodes developed by theCSTJF to enhance theresolution and reliability ofsubsurface seismic images.


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Mass storageEvery day, the volume of digitaldata at the CSTJF swells with theaddition of thousands of bytesof data from computation,design and modelingapplications. Backing up thesedata is critical and relies on

an internal storage capacityof 2.5 trillion bytes, equivalentto a five-meter high stack ofCD-ROMs. To ensure integrityand security in the event of adisaster or other major incidenton site, the data is transferredto an offsite storage vaultevery week.


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What do a supercomputer,a medical-type CT scanner anda small chamber pressurizedto one metric ton per square

centimeter have in common?They are all part of the CSTJFs Geosciences platform. This hardwarealong with other equipment, is used for studies conducted in Pauto assist the subsidiaries efforts to discover and appraise new oiland gas reservoirs. Buried as far as 8,000 meters beneath the Earthssurface, in ultra-deep water or trapped in the chaotic geologyof mountain ranges, yet-to-be-discovered oil and gas resources arespurring the industry to explore new and extreme frontiers, pushingtechnology to its furthest limits.

Exactly how deep is a reservoir? How big is it? Does thisgigantic sequence of sedimentary rock contain oil or gas?How much, and how much can be recovered?To help answersome of these questions, E&P subsidiaries call on the CSTJF.For the most complex scenarios, the full range of the Centerstechnological resources and advanced know-how are broughtinto play. The CSTJF and the subsidiaries have to pool their effortsto obtain reliable answers to these strategic questions.

3Geoscience


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State-of-the-arttechnologyIn the labs, experts in physics,

chemistry and rockmechanics provide decisiveinput to prepare drillingprograms. Although the basicprinciple of drilling is simpleenough bore a hole untilit reaches oil or gas drillingprograms are industrialexploits that can take severalyears. Realizing them isa challenge that demandsstate-of-the-art technology.


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Drillingand

wells/


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Compagnie Franaise desPtroles,the forerunner of todaysTotal and a shareholder in IraqPetroleum Company, made its first

oil strike in Kirkuk in 1927.Totals Argentine subsidiary completed a two-year drilling programin Tierra del Fuego in 1999. One of the eleven wells drilled set a new

world record for length, at 11,884 meters. Drilled from the shore, itdescended more than 1,600 meters into the subsurface beforecontinuing its horizontal trajectory to tap an offshore field lying morethan 10 kilometers from the coast.

Drilling is a high-tech undertaking, in which physics, chemistry, dataprocessing, real-time analysis of downhole logging data (recorded

during drilling) and sophisticated well-steering tools are vital tomanaging todays increasingly complex well trajectories.


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3Drilling and well

Compression

To study the mechanicalproperties of rock, thisdedicated laboratory isequipped with sophisticatedequipment that includesa 20-ton electromechanicalpress to compressunconsolidated rock and two60- and 160-metric-tonhydraulic presses for testson semi-consolidated andcompact rock.


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Simulatingextreme

conditions

More than 1,000 barIn the U.K. sector of theNorth Sea, Total drilled oneof the very first stepout wells

in a high-pressure/high-temperature environment.The 7,300-meter-longGlenelg well reached itstarget 5,600 meters beneaththe seabed, with a reservoirtemperature of 200C andpressure of 1,150 bar. Thisfeat was only made possiblethrough the complex studiesperformed by the CSTJFsdrilling laboratories.


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Drilling horizontal wells thousandsof meters long that cross throughone reservoir after another overtheir entire lengthis just one of the technological challenges facing Totals experts.

And this challenge is of an entirely different magnitude when thefields are deeply buried. Take, for example, the Elgin Field in theNorth Sea, where Total E&P UK had to work with high-temperature/high-pressure gas and condensate discovered under more than5,500 meters of rock. At these depths, temperature hoversaround 200C and pressure exceeds 1,000 bar.One majordifficulty lies in steering well trajectories without the help of downholeinstrumentation, as electronic devices cannot operate under thesephysical conditions. Another is accessing the petroleum traps

without triggering a blowout under pressure. In the Gulf of Guineain the 1990s, Total E&P Angola embarked on a pioneeringquest to drill in 1,500 meters of water. Drilling rigs evolved intofloating vessels, their stability guaranteed by an ultra-sophisticateddynamic positioning system to centimeter-scale tolerance,even in rough seas.

3Drilling and well


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In all cases, efficiency isthe watchword when it comesto minimizing the time it takes

to drill wells,which can cost up to a million dollars per day. Whether it lasts lessthan a month or takes a year, every drilling assignment must jugglethe need for speed and the imperative of risk management.

An unstable wellbore or damage to the rock formation during drillingcould jeopardize the well and its productivity. Thanks to its rangeof engineering and testing expertise and skills, the CSTJF isthe partner of choice when subsidiaries encounter challengingsituations. Borehole stability during drilling is a major topic of

investigation at the Rock Mechanics Laboratory. There, strength testsare conducted on samples of the geological strata encounteredin order to optimize even the riskiest well trajectories.


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3Drilling and well

In pursuit of perfectionTo limit the ever-increasingcosts of drilling as muchas possible, perfection is thekey and the secret tooptimizing drilling efficiency.Attaining this high standardrequires in-depth knowledge

of the rock encountered andits response to the drilling.This is one of the fundamentalmissions of the RockMechanics Laboratory.


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ProductivityThe reservoir/boreholeinterface is a strategic zonefor well productivity. In certainconfigurations, well

completions must includesand control systems to filterthe sand produced alongwith the petroleum fluidsso as not to jeopardizeproductivity or damageequipment. Laboratorystudies guide the choice ofthe most appropriate sandcontrol device based on thetype and quantity of sandproduced.


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4Drilling and well

Made-to-measureThese drilling muds weredeveloped for two Angolanfields located a fewkilometers apart in thedeepwater Gulf of Guinea.Despite the similaritiesin the subsurface layers

encountered, the mudformulation, essential tosmooth drilling operations,is specific to each one.


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Simulationsand analysesThe operational subsidiariesand the CSTJF are in frequentcontact throughout the life ofa field. During the productionphase, the Centers expertscan apply their analysis and

simulation resources to assessproductivity and recommendphysical and/or chemicalsolutions to enhance it.


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Also known as muds,drilling fluids play a majorrole in borehole stability.Injected under pressure at the bottom of the hole, they circulateconstantly, bringing the drill cuttings to the surface. Mud densityis controlled to ensure balanced pressure between the hole and theformation. If the mud is too heavy, it could be forced into the rock,damaging the reservoir and potentially jeopardizing the stabilityof the borehole. If it is too light, fluid (either water or hydrocarbons)may seep from the surrounding formation into the well bore.

This is where the expertise of the chemists at the Mud and CementLaboratory comes into play. Their task is to find the right balanceand most effective formulation for the drilling mud. For their part,the experts from the Productivity Laboratory will select specific

additives to minimize damage or restore the productivity of reservoirzones, particularly the tiny networks of fractures that allow oil and gasto flow through the rock and into the well when it is broughton stream. Unlike the early Kirkuk project, drilling is no longera task for a single person. It requires the combined know-howof an integrated team of specialists.

4Drilling and well


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DecadesProducing a reservoir isa complex, dynamic processlasting many years, in whichenormous volumes of fluidsof varying viscosity andcorrosiveness are set inmotion using a variety of

technologies. The majorthemes addressed byoperations specialists includeforestalling the inevitabledecline in production overthe years, preventing thedeterioration of productionfacilities and adaptingextraction processes to thephysical and chemicalchanges taking place inthe reservoirs.


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Operatingtechniques/

4Operating technique


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The art of preventionMany factors, such as carbondioxide, hydrogen sulfide,

bacteria and suspendedsolids in the fluids produced,can cause corrosion andpose a major threat to theintegrity of installations.Corrosion managementcomprises prevention andequipment inspection andmaintenance, which areentrusted to experts inmaterials and physicalchemistry.


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An oil accumulation is not anunderground lake that can simplybe pumped to bring its contentsto the surface.Oil and natural gas are trapped in porous, permeable rockformations, called reservoirs, that resemble pumice. Recoveringthe resources involves draining the pores, and only a smallpercentage of the reserves in place (10 to 35% for crude oil) canfeasibly be extracted. The exact amount depends on the rocksproperties and on the ability of the fluid to flow and pass through it.Enhancing the recovery factor by even a few percentagepoints has a tremendous impact on reserve replacementand is a core challenge for all the disciplines involved in oiland gas production.



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It takes several years to bringa field into production afterit is discovered.During that period, the focus is on identifying the most appropriatetechnologies and systems needed to produce the field. The CSTJFcalculates the well trajectories that will achieve optimum drainageof the reservoirs. Teams also conduct physicochemical analyses topredict the behavior of hydrocarbons during production, especiallytheir ability to reach the well; estimate the quantities of oil, gasand water that will be produced over the lifetime of the field; andidentify and mitigate all factors liable to hinder production, suchas pipe clogging or corrosion. In addition to the long list of factorsthat will guide the definition of the production plan,risks relatingto seismic activity, the ocean environment and meteorologicalconditions (such as the threat of hurricanes or ice formation foroffshore facilities) must be assessed and taken into account.


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Action, reaction,corrosion

Amines versus acidsThe CSTJF has developed awide range of proprietary gassweetening solutions basedon amine chemistry. One ofthese, the MDEA process, isused for corrosion control inthe 105-kilometer pipeline

that carries moderately sourgas from Irans offshore SouthPars field to the onshore gastreatment plant.


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Hydrate loopResembling ice plugs,hydrates form inhydrocarbons in the

presence of water and gasunder specific pressureand temperature conditions.They constitute a seriousphysicochemical risk.The CSTJFs hydrate loop,where hydrocarbons flowat controlled temperatureand pressure, is used to studyand quantify the specificrisks for each field, thento test preventive solutions.


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Throughout the decades-longlife of a field,the CSTJF works with the subsidiaries to extract maximum valuefrom their assets by supporting productivity, extending producinglife and maximizing recovery of the fields reserves. Expert

analyses of rock samples and fluids provide data that influencerecommendations for processes to restore productivity in reservoirlayers that can deteriorate over the production period.

A wide array of leading-edge technologies can also bedeployed to boost output by forcing the hydrocarbons toflow to the wells. Conventionally, water and gas are injected tocreate an underground front designed to push the maximumpossible amount of hydrocarbons in the right direction. But moresophisticated techniques are also available. Analytical chemistryand fingerprinting of the fluids extracted from a reservoir make itpossible to formulate additives tailored to the properties of individuareservoirs. When added to the water or gas being injected,these additives enhance the ability to displace the crude oil fromthe rock. The CSTJF is also examining the feasibility of using polymer,air, steam or solvent injection to devise new solutions that will boostfinal recovery factors by 5 to 10%.

In the drive to improve well productivity, the CSTJF has the resourcesit needs to develop new tools to support subsidiaries, which focuson day-to-day operations. For example, new software applications

have been developed to track and identify possible causes ofproduction losses in real time. These innovations have pioneereda new era of remote monitoring of site performance.Field monitoring and analytical data can be accessed in real timefrom subsidiary offices and the CSTJF. This facilitates the sharingof expertise between the operations teams and Pau to interpretthe data and implement any necessary corrective actions.Of course, the overarching aim of all these tools is to continueto increase the ultimate recovery factor.



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From the lab

to the fieldAs the main R&D hub forTotal E&P, the CSTJF is alsoentrusted with overcomingthe technological hurdlesthat hinder access to frontierresources. This R&D strategyreflects Totals impressiveinnovation capabilities.The Group has operationsin major sedimentary basinsworldwide.


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5Projets, croissance et ralisation

Research

and pilotapplications/


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Surging oil prices serve asa reminder that oil and gasare finite resourcesand that the age of easy oil is over. While resources are far fromdepleted, fast-growing energy demand is spurring operators toexplore increasingly challenging and uncharted territory. Openingthe way to these new areas is a key mission of the CSTJF, which isone of the few centers in the world capable of redefining feasibility.

As the R&D nerve center for Total E&P and a pivotal player inthe extensive network established with research and academiccommunities in France and worldwide,the CSTJF is present inevery field strategic to the future of the energy industry. One of theseis extra-heavy oil, whose recoverable reserves are thought to beroughly equal to conventional reserves. In this area, the decisive

issue is recovery. Because these resources are viscous to the pointof being solid and virtually immobile, conventional productionmethods are unsuitable. Extracting them requires thermal recoveryprocesses, such as injecting massive amounts of steam into thereservoirs.


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5Research and pilot application

Unraveling deepwatersecretsWhen Girassol came onstream in the Gulf of Guineaoffshore Angola in 2001,it was the largest oil fielddevelopment ever carried

out in 1,400 meters of water.Deepwater developmentcontinues to advance todayin Angola, the Gulf of Mexico,Congo and here, in Nigeria,with the drilling program forthe Akpo deepwater project.


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20,000 leaguesunder the sea

A technological first

Subsea processing toseparate gas from crude oiland water on the seabedis the major innovation of thePazflor project now indevelopment in Angolasdeep offshore. The projectbrings new prospects forcost-effective developmentof challenging resources,especially heavy or viscous oilin deepwater reservoirs.


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The CSTJFs teams havealso mastered the technologicalchallenges of developingultra-deep offshore resources,

which lie in more than1,500 meters of water.The extremely harsh temperature and pressure conditions thatprevail at these depths mean that the technological challengesof this new frontier are on par with the conquest of space. However,although man has walked on the moon, the ocean floor is destinedto remain beyond his reach. At these depths, production systemscan only be installed by remote-controlled robots equipped withonboard electronics to maintain permanent, real-time links witha floating command center on the surface.

Access to sour gas, another valuable resource for the future,is contingent on the development of new sweeteningprocesses. Nearly 40% of the worlds gas reserves contain acidspecies carbon dioxide (CO

2) or hydrogen sulfide (H

2S) in

concentrations too high to be processed by conventional means,for both financial and environmental reasons. At the forefrontof research in this area, the CSTJF is also focusing on reducinggreenhouse gas emissions, particularly CO

2. Venting the acid

component to the atmosphere once it has been separatedfrom the methane is not an option, leaving open the question of

what can be done with it. Furthermore, with combustion being anunavoidable part of oil production, ways have to be found to avoidthe emission of tons of additional CO

2per year. One of the most

promising solutions is CO2capture and geological storage (CCS),

a challenge being met in Pau with a pilot project unmatchedin the world. Designed to demonstrate the commercial feasibilityof CCS technology, the unit will store 150,000 metric tons of CO

2

in a depleted reservoir near the Lacq natural gas field.



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Extra-heavy oil

The CSTJFs research onrecovering and upgradingextra-heavy oil has beenapplied in the gigantic PetroCedeo project, whichin 2002 marked the startof large-scale productionof these non-conventionalcrudes in Venezuela.The bitumen is converted toa light synthetic crude usinga pioneering upgrader unit.


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Gas, a strategic priorityTotal is a partner in theDolphin project to producegas from the huge North Fieldoffshore Qatar. The Groupis strongly committed to allpromising gas monetizationtechnologies, from

production to marketing, witha particular strategic focuson liquefied natural gas.


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Deeply buried reservoirs lyingas much as 4,000 metersbeneath the surface are anotherpriority avenue of investigation.

Although traditionally regarded as unsuitable for productionbecause they are usually highly compacted by the geologicallayers stacked thousands of meters above them, these reservoirssometimes retain their production potential. Understanding thegeological processes that allowed their preservation is imperativefor selecting the right targets.

This brief overview would not be complete without a mention of thecomplex issue of so-called tight gas reservoirs, whose low porosityand permeability hinder the migration of the gas they contain.

Accordingly, a dedicated R&D program includes work on innovativeseismic monitoring methods and developing technologies tocreate artificial pathways by fracturing the rock to enable the gasto flow. Like all of the Center s other R&D programs, this one has thestated ambition of expanding the worlds oil and gas supply in asustainable, environmentally-safe manner.


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BreakthroughtechnologyWith the Sprextechnology,the CSTJF has once againdemonstrated its continuousinnovation capabilities in thefield of sour gas. The processis specifically designed to

sweeten extremely sour gasresources in the Middle East,as yet untapped due to thelack of a viable technology.Sprexis the key componentof an environmentally soundgas treatment chain.


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Shedding light

on subseasalt structures


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Continuous innovationAdvances in seismic imagingnow allow geophysicists tosee things that were invisiblebarely a decade ago. Forexample, new calculationcodes for seismic depthimaging developed by theCSTJF have shed light on salt

structures impervious to moreconventional imaging. This isjust one of many examples ofinnovative power at work.


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A regionalhub/In 1951, exploratory drilling led to the discovery of the giantLacq natural gas field.This and ensuing discoveries met upto 90% of Frances natural gas demand and helped shape theeconomic and industrial destiny of this region of southwesternFrance. With the establishment of the CSTJF as well as many ofTotals partners and contractors in Pau, the city and the region haveemerged as a hub for the oil, gas and related industries.

Between gas production, chemicals manufacturing, gas storage

and distribution, Total accounts for more than 3,000 direct jobsat its facilities in Pau and Lacq. In addition to the CSTJF personnel ,the regions workforce includes employees of Total E&P France(TEPF), the subsidiary that operates the Lacq gas field; TotalPetrochemicals, whose Mont-Lacq site is home to Totalspetrochemicals R&D; and Total Infrastructures Gaz France (TIGF),also based in Pau. TIGF specializes in natural gas storageand transmission, manages a pipeline system serving fourteendpartementsin southwestern France, and operates twounderground gas storage facilities in Lussagnet and Izaute,

which together account for nearly 25% of French capacity. It alsomanages the interconnectors with the Spanish pipeline network.


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As the founder of a major chemicals hub, Total has been actingon a commitment made many years ago to prepare for thepost-gas industrial redeployment of Lacq, now that the reservoir isnearing depletion. By promoting the establishment of fine chemicalcompanies through Socit Barnaise de Gestion Industrielle(SOBEGI, set up by Total in 1975), and supporting small businessstartups (viaTotal Dveloppement Rgional, a spin-off of SOFREA,

initially set up by Elf in Pau in 1978), it has already helped to create5,000 jobs in the Lacq region.

The CSTJF is a pillar of the regions economic and social fabric, anda prominent partner of the scientific community in southwesternFrance, through its diversified, extensive R&D activities. The Paumetropolitan area has earned a special place in petroleum researcthanks to the French Petroleum Institute (IFP) and the laboratoriesof a local school, Universit de Pau et des Pays de lAdour, whichcollaborate within the framework of IPRA, a multidisciplinary instituteof applied research for the oil and gas industry. At the national level,the CSTJF is involved in some sixty R&D contracts with researchersat universities in Pau, Montpellier, Marseille, Provence, Toulon andBordeaux, top engineering schools and various institutes andlaboratories. Research spans a wide variety of topics. In addition, Totis funding two units based at the Universit de Pau et des Paysde lAdourthat have introduced a new type of collaborationbetween the CSTJF and academic research.Founded in 2002,the Organisme Ptrolier de Recherche Applique en Gophysique(OPERA) specializes in new processing algorithms for seismic imaging

while the Centre Huile Lourde Ouvert et Exprmental(CHLOE), set upin 2007, focuses on evaluating and improving various processes torecover extra-heavy oil.

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A memberof the communityIn addition to being a drivingforce in Paus economy,Total participates actively incommunity life through itsculture- and sports-related

corporate philanthropyinitiatives. A partner of thetraining center for the Paurugby team and a sponsorof the Grand Prix de Pau,Total also supports outreachprograms run by the citysorchestra on behalf of youngaudiences and contributesto the preservation of Pausheritage in cooperation withthe Heritage Foundation.


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6A regional hub


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Key figures/

6Key figure

27 hectares30 buildings

85,000 sq. mof floor area, consisting of:60,000 sq. mof offices18,000 sq. mof laboratory space in four dedicated buildings1,900 sq. mdedicated to supercomputers21videoconference rooms40GWh/yearof power consumption

1,850employees

550service providers on site permanently or on short-term assignments35nationalitiesrepresented

150 teraflopsof global computing power, a capacity of150 trillionfloating-point operations per second600scientific and technicalworkstations300Linux or Unix servers500technical PCs6.2 MVAof uninterruptible power supply

20 gigabits per secondof capacity for the local telecommunications network1,250 sites connectedto the worldwide private telecommunications network

200 visitors per dayon business100 foreign delegationshosted per year2,000 airplane ticketsfor France and abroad issued every month


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27 hectaresdedicated to researchand development


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7Key figure

Down to the last dropLocated in the heart of theBarn region in southwesternFrance, the birthplace of theFrench oil and gas industry,the CSTJF is among a handfulof industrial centers worldwidecapable of devising cost-

effective, environmentally-sound technologies that willkeep the taps openindefinitely.


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Total is a global energy producer and provider withoperations in more than 130 countries and a workforceof 96,400 employees worldwide.

Totals activities span the oil and gas chain, from oil and gasexploration, development and production to refining andmarketing, the gas midstream, and crude oil and petroleumproduct trading and shipping. The Group is also a top-tier producerof base and specialty chemicals. In addition, Total is active in coal

mining, cogeneration and power generation. It is also working tosecure the future through its commitment to developing renewableenergies and alternative fuels. Totals global reach and energyand chemical operations mean that it is directly impactedby todays most compelling economic, social and environmentalissues. Total has pledged to meet a set of tangible corporatesocial and environmental responsibility targets. The main challengesof its obligations as a producer are to provide a sustainableresponse to growing energy demand, ensure the safetyof its operations while limiting their environmental impacts,

tackle climate change, promote human rights, respect localcommunities and drive host country development.

A crucial link inthe energy chain/


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7A crucial link in the energy chai


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Creative concept and layout: Photo credits: Michal Banert, Laurent Baratier, Pierre Bessard, Patrick Boulen, MarcoDufour, Guy Jeffroy/Flash Press, Gilles Leimdorfer/Rapho, Peter Livermore, ric Miller/RA, Marc Roussel Graphic design: Jean-PascalDonnot Total December 2008.


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