spe netherlands section

RECAP SPE YP | April Lecture

SPE Netherlands Section

Society of Petroleum Engineers | Oktober 2016

We bring out the best. In you! That’s what motivates us at GDF SUEZ E&P Nederland B.V.

Day after day, over 50 years. Not just in natural gas and oil

but in all things we do. For everyone and everything involved.

We don’t settle for less. We bring out the best. How?

Discover it on www.gdfsuezep.nl.

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Colofon SPE Netherlands sponsors

The SPE Netherlands bulletin is a publication by the SPE Netherlands section. The bulletin is published 4 to 5 times a year and comprises the main activities of the SPE Netherlands, the Young Professional community and the student chapters of Utrecht, Amsterdam and Delft.

Editorial Board:

SPE Netherlands Chair (2016-2017): Quirinius van [email protected]

Editor (2016-2017): Robert [email protected]

Adverts and Sponsorship (2016-2017): Femke [email protected]

Design: Symon Maks www.maksimaal.nl

Printing: Lifoka print [email protected]

Media:http://connect.spe.org/Netherlands/homewww.SPE.org

On facebook:SPE Netherlands sectionSPE YP Netherlands

We want to thank our sponsorsDue to the continued support from our long standing sponsors and the addition of several new sponsors this year, SPE Netherlands Section is able to bring you a full slate of events during the 2015 - 2016 season.

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Chairman’s message | October 2016

The 2016-2017 SPE season is well underway and we already have much to report on. Thank you for voting in the current board at the SPE NL Monthly Meeting on September 12th. With special thanks to those who have served and stepped down. I can assure you the “new recruits” rival their predecessors in activity and drive. Please check the agenda in the newsletter and the website for this year’s program. We welcome your suggestions to improve your SPE-experience!

With support from my employer and SPE Netherlands I attended the SPE Officer Leadership workshop and ATCE in Dubai where Léon Beugelsdijk received the Distinguished Service Award and the Utrecht Student Chapter received the Outstanding Student Chapter award. I witnessed the change-of-the-guard with Mrs Janeen Judah accepting the presidential gavel from Nathan Meehan. While still President, Nathan Meehan visited our section on September 16th to talk to students and YP’s. Another former SPE president Giovanni Paccaloni simultaneously held a workshop on intrinsic motivation and both Nathan and Giovanni joined the SPE NL Board for dinner, providing anecdotes on both the origins of SPE and the YP-program as well as giving rise to lively discussions on the future of SPE and our industry.Now as we transition from a lovely end of summer, through the autumn months of 2016 to a characteristic Dutch winter with our highlight SPE NL Black-Tie Candle Light Dinner & Dance to raise spirits on January 26th, 2017, please note the parallel to our business climate. Not only are oil prices recovering from disastrously low levels likely to stabilise somewhere around $60/barrel at the end of the year, and we do remember and recognise those who have wilfully or necessarily sought refuge in other industries during the many reorganisations that were deemed necessary in response, we are also transitioning to a more controlled fossil-fuel economy. The same hydrocarbons that have brought and are still very much relied on for good health, prosperity, mobility, comfort, globalisation and more, have perhaps through complacency suffered a significant blow in public opinion and are no longer recognised for their merit but rather for their CO2-content and black smoke. It is only through education that catastrophic decision making can effectively be prevented.

The Energy4Me initiative is a big step in this direction. While teaching the merit of oil and gas production to next generations, Energy4Me embodies SPE’s mission statement. You and I also play a vital role in discussions with those whose knowledgebase consists of social media and indeed the 8 o’clock news. Hailed initially as a welcome social tool, which I still believe it to be, we now also understand the potential dangers that such unchecked, easy “viral” spreading of opinion can represent. This in stark contrast to peer-reviewed technical papers such as those found on OnePetro.org and to independent reporting by internatio-nally recognised and supported technical authorities. I do not dispute that CO2-emission management is a valid point on our agenda, but before we attempt to control (anthropogenic) climate change or even global warming through abolishment of fossil energy, we must explain that a transition of that magnitude takes huge effort, capital investment and time, let alone requires a technology and fuel source that can fill the gap left by Hyxit. Until we solve that equation, and SPE even provides a platform to collaborate to that end, no doubt the oil and gas industry will be relied on as a transition fuel to a cleaner energy society.

I am proud to serve on the SPE NL board, proud to be a professional in an oil and gas world and will continue to explain why to those who want to hear it, and others. I hope you will join me and let’s have a great year!

Quirinius van Dorp, SPE NL Chairman 2016-2017

Content SPE - sponsors

Colofon ........................................................................03

Chairman’s message .....................................................04

RECAP | september lecture ........................................06

Recap SPE | October lecture ......................................07

YP Pubquiz 2016 ......................................................08/09

SPE YP workshop 2016 ..................................................10

Recap YP | June Lecture ..............................................11

Recap YP | September Lecture .....................................12

Save the date ...............................................................13

SPE ATCE | Dubai 2016 ...........................................14/15

SPE Delft Chapter update ..........................................16/17

SC Amsterdam / Utrecht Updat ..................................18/19

SPE Scholarships Awards..........................................20/21

SPE Continuous Education Update .................................23

YP on the road ..........................................................25/26

Column | Kees .............................................................27

Dana Petroleum Netherlands BV

Engie E&P Nederland B.V.

SGS Nederland BV

Shell International E&P

TOTAL E&P Netherlands BV

Wintershall Noordzee B.V.

Program

DATE TEAM TITLE SPEAKER

Friday 23 September SPE C.E. Geology of the Netherlands Jan de Jager (VU and UU)

Thursday 29 September 2016 SPE-YP Geothermal, 10 years later Mara van Eck (SODM)

Monday 10 October 2016 SPEWhy Flow assurance and target solutions?

Gladys Sucre (Flow Ahead)

Monday 14 November 2016 SPEAutomation of the Drilling System: What has been done, what is being done, and why it is important

John Macpherson (DL)

Thursday 24 November 2016 SPE-YPImproving the potential of heat exploitation from sedimentary aquifers

Cees Willems (TU Delft)

Monday 12 December 2016 SPE/SPE-YP t.b.a. ---

Monday 09 January 2017 SPE t.b.a. ---

Thursday 26 January 2017 SPE Black Tie Dinner Dance ---

Monday 13 February 2017 SPE t.b.a. ---

Monday 13 March 2017 SPEDry Hole Analysis: What I Have Learnt About the Upstream Oil and Gas Industry from My Failures

Steve Mackie (DL)

Monday 8 May 2017 speYour Field is Getting Older: Is your Pro-cess Engineering Still Cost Effective?

Wally Georgie (DL)


Recap SPE | October lectureRECAP | september lecture

The first lecture of the season always comprises something extra next to the regular lecture. For instance, the new board is being inaugurated and some additional money is being awarded to a happy few outstanding students who received an SPE bonus for being an exceptional hardworking and promising student.

The new board has changed quite a bit, but was accepted by the members with a loud applause nonetheless. Our new chairman Quirinius will keep his tie on, and will try to give the members the best the board has to give. This was followed by the awarding of the extra money that was handed out to those students who proved themselves to be hardwor-king and outstanding, the students that we have to keep an eye on. Special mention to mister Agmon who received the award for the second time and it looking out for a job when he finalizes his study.

After the SPE notifications it was time for the lecture of the evening. Diederik Boersma from shell gave a lecture on enhanced oil recovery, but with a clear question instead of a teaching hour. The main signal he wanted to get across is that all the main technology is currently being applied in the EOR world is already quite old. Innovation is required and needed. The younger generation needs to pick up, because the daring has gone.

In the past decade’s most of the new improvements on the oil recovery have been implemented including chemical, water drive and computer monitoring of reservoir behavior. We now have chemical and dynamical enhancement. We can counter diagenesis and we see the hydrocarbons migrating through the subsurface. Facilities are nowadays capable to monitor hydrocarbon and water flow on an hourly basis for every well. Computers are absorbing the terabytes on a day-to-day basis. But like mentioned in earlier lectures by other sages: the main thing is lacking… data. To properly predict the behavior of the reservoir we are going to need all the measurements we can get. We really want to go for peak production in the long term, and we can’t wait too long to implement new measures.

The SPE is still buzzing with new events, like the Volunteer project that has just kicked off after the ATCE in dubai. And again the SPE will also be present at the Offshore Energy event in Amsterdam where there will be 4T round table dis-cussion. (The announcement has been send by mail already)

After the introductions of Quirinius and the announcements the floor was Free for Gladys Sucre. Today the lecture was not about the hydrocarbons in the deep subsurface and how difficult it can be go get them out. No, this was about getting the hydrocarbons through the pipes at “surface” and get them to the platform and ultimately to the processing faci-lities onshore. Flow assurance is a relatively new discipline within the industry, balancing on the edge between upstream and midstream. The term flow assurance was coined by Petrobras in the early nighties, where they had to transport the hydrocarbons along long distances offshore. Transpor-tation turned out to be quite an issue, so it is time to give a summary on the most prolific problems that can occur during the transport.

During the transport, the temperature drops and the pressure go down from reservoir conditions, so the hydrocarbons have to find a new equilibirum. We can get; slugs, hydrate plugs, waxes, emulsions, scaling, asphaltenes, and many other unwanted processes/ products. Formation of hydrates and waxes are pressure and temperature dependent, but hydrates can forma instantaneously while wax deposition is a relatively slow processes. Building up layers of wax on the inner side of the pipes will be a gradual restraining factor for the flow, while the “slush-puppy” structure of the hydrates might totally clog the flow. Asphaltenes can be destabilized in black oil fields and also obstruct the flow. Luckily asphaltene problems only occurs in approximately 8% of the oil fields worldwide. Then there are slugs, which can occur during the commingled transportation of liquids and gas. Depending on the relative velocities of the phases, large liquid slugs can be produced, resulting in very unstable flow that can flood the separators and cause problems in the downstream pro-cessing.. Facilities need to be ready for those kind of things. And last but not least, the well-known scaling, which is something of a familiar nightmare in the Southern North Sea area. Formation water with a high salinity enters the tubing, but the salt precipitates, before it moves up to the platform. Thick layers of salt are therefore precipitated on the walls, and can totally block wells and pipes.

But! Most of these problems can be treated to some degree, as long as you do the math, the laboratory analysis and have your book on thermodynamics ready. Gladys shared with us two examples on developments in Nigeria and Sicily (Italy), where the early evaluation changed the projects from marginal to economic projects. Don’t prepare for potential hazards that won’t occur. Overde-sign is costly and might kill the project, look for simple solutions tailor-made for every field.

During the question round afterwards, a very important question was asked: “so what happens if there is a multitude of the flow assurance problems occurring at the same time?” well…. that would be the field from hell, but luckily Gladys does not know any of these fields. Up till now, all fields and their flow have their own little remedies.

RA

IOR and EOR means more efficient oilLess cost and footprint per barrel leading to affordable oil productionBy Diederik Boersma (Shell)

Flow assurance

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YP Pubquiz 2016YP Pubquiz 2016

On the 25th of September around 13 teams gathered in the Fiddler in The Hague for the yearly YP pub quiz. Many company teams and both a MSc. student and PhD team from the TU Delft competed for the trophy.

Knowledge from a very broad spectrum was tested: from technical to historical to recognizing logo’s from small and big companies. Also converting units and names of CEO’s were addressed. For sure, even the most experi-enced learned something new this evening!

After eight rounds full of challenging questions, accom-panied by beers and bitterballen, the scores were made up. The TU Delft student team and the team from TNO had equal scores, closely followed by the Petrogas team.

So a final knock-out question, about the MD of the longest well in the world, would determine the winner. Tension rose, the teams discussed and came up with their answer. I’m happy to announce that despite the answers being close, the student team’s answer was closer to the correct one and that therefore, for the first time, the TU Delft student team has won the trophy! In addition to the coveted trophy, the winning team went each home with a copy of the book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen.

Thanks to the YP board for organizing this event, which is always a success and a lot of fun. See you next year!

Member of the winning teamBy Henneke de Vries


Recap YP | June LectureSPE YP workshop 2016

Intrinsic Motivation

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. This is a sentiment of the oil and gas industry as a whole. We conti-nually experience higher highs and lower lows through the cyclical nature of the commodities market. With so much attrition within companies and the constant uncertainty of what will happen tomorrow, sometimes it is difficult to rise above and continue to excel in your position if this is the first downturn you have experienced.

On the 16th of September, a group of YP’s and PhD students were joined by Giovanni Paccaloni, former President of SPE International (2004-2006) and VP at ENI, to regain some motivation and how to not only survive but thrive in the current uncertain market. The YP’s were sent back to school literally as the event took place in the former mining faculty of TU Delft. Surrounded by rock samples and faux cores, Giovanni had an open and honest discussion regarding the sources of motivation, beyond the extrinsic and going into what motivates ourselves intrinsically. The YP’s explained their current hardships and many common themes were heard throughout the room. After addressing these issues, the topic shifted to the concept of excellence and how we can define and strive for excellence throughout our careers. The mood in the room seemed to change from one of pessimism and fear to one of hope the more the discussion with Giovanni developed.

After lunch, groups were formed and brainstorming sessions were organized and the topics of excellence and motivating ourselves to perform to the highest level possible continued. Nathan Meehan, the current SPE International president, made a guest appearance to hear the YP’s ideas and the results of our brainstorming sessions. The day was filled with interesting discussion and truly motivating anecdotes and tips from both Giovanni and Nathan. The YP’s were treated to an all-star lineup of speakers. The conversations of the day were continued over dinner in the center of Delft late into the night.

SPE YP Netherlands would like to thank Giovanni Paccaloni and Nathan Meehan for taking time out of their busy schedules to share their knowledge and wisdom with us.

ADAboost, xgboost, Support Vector Machine, Random forest trees, artificial neural networks, markov-chains, K-means and ROC.

If these terms are completely foreign to you, don’t worry, you are not alone!

Welcome to the world of data science! To be more specific: machine learning and its most recent developments. Martijn Handels guided us through this innovative world and touched upon topics such as classification and clustering, re-gression, deep learning classification, concluding with some practical applications in oil and gas. A short summary of the presentation:

Machine learning has grown out of artificial intelligence within computer science. It teaches computers by giving it examples. Classification is at the basis of machine learning, since the computer needs to learn / be trained how to group a new data point based on the data it has received before.

Regression is a classical technique fit a cloud of data to a certain curve. The danger with regression is that you could either ‘underfit’ or ‘overfit’ your model, by feeding it with either too many data point or too little, in other words trying to include to many (higher order) variables. This is explained by Occam’s Razor: “The best models are simple models that fit the data well”. This is true for both classifi-cation and regression.

Deep learning is when more computing power meets better algorithms and way more data. Deep learning is next level machine learning. It’s a technique for building a computer program that learns from data. It is based very loosely on how we think the human brain works. First, a collection of software “neurons” are created and connected together, allowing them to send messages to each other. Next, the network is asked to solve a problem, which it attempts to do over and over, each time strengthening the connections that lead to success and diminishing those that lead to failure.

So practically, how could these techniques lead to improve-ments in oil and gas? Martijn showed us several very practical applications. For example, when operating a gas turbine with a lot of different sensors and data coming in, a machine learning algorithm could start to understand what it should read during start-up, normal operation, and then detect anomalies, which can be flagged for investigation, and/or are indicative of wear or failure. There are applications thinkable in smart fields, where a lot of data is gathered, or in reservoir modeling. As an example of a suitable machine learning application an SPE paper on well integrity, was discussed where an algorithm could be trained to detect well anomalies (SPE-175523-MS).

All in all, machine learning can add a lot of value to our daily oil & gas operations by using the data we have in a smarter way.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:After graduating as a petroleum engineer from the Delft uni-versity of Technology, Martijn started his career at Schlum-berger in the logging while drilling and geosteering domains. Here he was involved in operations and helped field test wired drillpipe technology and a new deep directional geo-steering tool now called Geosphere. After saying goodbye to the blue army he joined the Xodus Group as a petrop-hysics/reservoir engineering consultant. During this time he developed an interest for data science and machine learning. He is currently, in collaboration with Nissatech, building a machine learning analytics platform for oil and gas operators and drilling contractors.

An introduction to Artificial Intelligence for Oil & GasPresented by: Martijn Handels (Goat Consultancy), June 23rd 2016 at the Haagsche Bluf

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Recap YP | September Lecture

As young petroleum engineering professionals we should always keep an open mind. Finding ways to exploit the market with the set of technical knowledge we have is key. A growth in the number of geo-thermal projects could be a way to diversify our industry. Technically it shows a perfect overlap with the activities undertaken in the Petroleum industry. Explore, appraise, drill, produce and… abandon? A quick search on the internet directly results few direct hits on abandonment plans for geothermal projects. Conversely, the same search for its petroleum counterpart shows abundant direct hits.

This fact illustrates the main message presented Thursday 29th of September during the young professional meeting. Up to now 29 wells have been drilled by singular companies who commonly lack expertise and experience in subsur-face projects. The fragmentation of the industry does not stimulate the building of knowledge. Till date, no company exists with a portfolio that exists of multiple projects. The SoDM (Staatstoezicht op de Mijnen) recognizes these symptoms of an immature industry, and would like to see a step-up in professionalism.

The question was posed to the young-professional audience: What does the industry need to a grow up , and at the same time improve the quality and safety of projects? And as befits engineers, everybody had an opinion on the topic. A razor-sharp discussion was the result, which had to be cut-off after half an hour. The bitterballen were warm and the Bieren were cold. To illustrate some of the points discussed both in the lecture-room as during the drinks:1. For the coming time, the industry needs to be subsidized.

Although the first projects where undertaken without, it is needed to ensure a significant growth in the number of projects.

2. Geothermal energy is a subsurface product, which means it is accompanied with major uncertainties. The project risks should be shared by the different parties involved. Petroleum projects could serve as an analogue for these kind of constructions.

3. The main costs of project comprises the drilling and maintenance of the boreholes. These should be as low as possible for a project to succeed. A big concern is that future mistakes can choke the projects, as they lead to an increase in safety measures.

4. Heat is a low-order type of energy. A joule of warmth is worth less than a joule of electricity. One of the main reasons is that heat is not as easily transported. Deve-loping a market for heat, for example heat networks (warmte-netten), is crucial.

As a conclusion I think it could be said it was yet another successful YP-lecture. A good start of, hopefully, another season of brain-crunching, mind-sharpening, and above all, ‘gezellige’ YP meetings.

Geothermal in the NetherlandsPresented by: Mara van Eck van der Sluijs (SODM)

Thursday 26 January 2017

SAVE THE DATE!

SPE Black Tie Candlelight Dinner & DanceEvery year in January, the Netherlands Section of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), hosts the SPE Black Tie Candlelight Dinner & Dance. This Gala is our industry’s leading social and networking event of the year drawing executive management, senior leaders and engineers from the Dutch offshore oil and gas industry including oil companies, operators, offshore services suppliers and solutions providers.

The 2017 edition will be held on Thursday 26 January 2017 at the Amrâth Kurhaus Hotel. Please save this date in your agenda! Please be informed that this year our evening will last a bit longer, because after the dinner & dance (with live music) a DJ will continue to entertain you and your guests on the dancefloor until 00.30 hrs!

The official invitation will be send out beginning of October 2016. We hope you are able and willing to join the SPE Netherlands Section Board and our team at this Black Tie Candlelight Dinner & Dance.

The last 2 editions were fully booked. If you would like to pre-book a table, please contact either:

Theo Rijper

[email protected]

+31 (0)6 15032448

Jeffrey Poldervaart

[email protected]

+31 (0)6 18942309

Jasper de Kock

[email protected]

+31 (0)6 53217655


SPE ATCE | Dubai 2016 SPE ATCE | Dubai 2016

From 26 – 28 September 2016 the 92th edition of the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition took place. For the first time, the ATCE was held in the middle east, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The ATCE is an important international event where members from different disciplines in the E&P industry can network from around the world, training courses are held, groundbreaking technical papers are presented and the latest technologies and products are launched at the exhibition. In addition, special events are designed for students and young professionals, trendsetters, and leaders in the making.

This year, the ATCE was held in the Dubai World Trade Center, a world-class convention venue located in the heart of this modern city. The ATCE brought together about 8000+ E&P professionals, young professionals and students, who could attend 80+ technical conference sessions. About 400 technical papers and ePosters are presented with their new developed technologies, innovations and best practices.

During the ATCE, SPE sections and members are recogni-zed for their technical contributions, professional excellence, career achievement, service to colleagues, industry leader-

ship, and public service. In addition, SPE recognizes Student Chapters with exceptional programs in industry engagement, operations and planning, community involvement, profes-sional development and innovation with the Outstanding Student Chapter Award.

This year, we are very proud to announce that the Utrecht University won the Outstanding Student Chapter Award for the first time since their foundation in 2009! As board members of the Utrecht University Student Chapter we were invited to receive the Award at the ATCE 2016. As Vice-Pre-sident of the Utrecht University Student Chapter I was very privileged that the SPE Netherlands section made it possible to attend the ATCE and receive the Outstanding Student Chapter Award during the Award’s luncheon in Dubai.

On Sunday 25th of September, the first events of the con-ference in the World Trade Center took place, the Student Meet and Greet, where students from all over the world can make friends during interactive activities. After a few presen-tations and advice from recruitment experts, the event was followed by the Student Networking Reception. During both events, lot of new connections with students and young pro-

fessionals from different Student Chapter were made. Later that evening, the ATCE was opened with the ATCE Welcome Reception in the JW Marriott Marquis.

Monday the 26th of September, the first day of the conference, started with the official Opening Ceremony, where Amin H. Hasser, President and CEO of Saudi Aramco, Abdul Munim Saif Al Kindy, Director of ADNOC and Nathan Meehan, President of SPE 2016 were welcomed and opened the ATCE with a speech. After the welcome ceremony, the PetroBowl competition took place, where student chapters from around the world compete in a tournament-style contest. In the afternoon, I attended the supporting members through a downturn session for SPE section officers, where some useful tips where given for SPE members and students who are currently looking for jobs.

The morning of Tuesday the 27th was a good time to explore the exhibition and to learn about the products, services and new techniques in over 250+ exhibits and get to know new companies. At the same time, a very interesting panel session about Women in Leadership, The Value of Gender Diversity in the Industry was going on, where Women Leaders explained their role in the industry as a response to the recent oil challenges.

In the afternoon it was time to finally receive the Outstan-ding Student Chapter Award, which was after all the reason to attend the ATCE. The Student Award Luncheon was held in the Bubble Lounge where not only the outstanding student chapters, but also the winners of the PetroBowl and scholarships recipients were honored during a three course luncheon. After a lot of Universities from the USA and South America, the Utrecht University was the last (but not least) one to be called on stage by Helge Hove Haldorsen, the SPE President of 2015. As the only University from Europe, and such a young chapter, I think it is a great achievement to win the award and I felt very proud to receive the award as re-presentative of the Utrecht University Chapter and the SPE Netherlands section.

The rest of the conference, technical sessions were attended, where technical papers about for example the impact of rock geomechanics and hydraulic fracturing where discussed. Also, the Career Pathway Fair was organized, where specia-list from different E&P disciplines were available to discuss their different career paths in the industry. As a recently graduated geologist, it was very inspiring to talk to people with different technical backgrounds and learn about their career paths and the opportunities that could lead to.

Overall, the ATCE was a very inspiring, interesting and me-aningful experience, where useful connections are made with different Student Chapters from around the world, as well as SPE sections. By attending the panel sessions, workshops and technical sessions a good overview was provided about the current situation and techniques in the E&P industry, which hopefully can help for another successful year for the Utrecht University Student Chapter. Finally, I want to thank the SPE Netherlands Section in special to make it possible to attend the ATCE and receive the Outstanding Student Chapter Awards as representative of the Utrecht University Student Chapter and SPE Netherlands Section.

On behalf of the Utrecht University Student Chapter,

Linda Janssen

Utrecht University OutstandingStudent Chapter

With Helge Hove Haldorsen (SPE President of 2015)


SPE Delft Chapter updateSPE Delft Chapter update

On Friday, Sept. 16, 2016 SPE President Dr. Nathan Meehan visited the TU Delft campus and gave a talk on the state and future of the petroleum industry, entitled “Uncertain Future: Certain Needs.” About 150 students, TU Delft staff, and SPE Netherlands chapter members attended. In his presentation, Dr. Meehan combined facts known from the industry’s past, with personal experience. He reviewed the history of vola-tility in oil prices over the decades, to put the current price fluctuations in context, stating that this downturn, is indeed a rather heavy one and that it is not quite clear on how it will develop. He reviewed some of the advanced technology being brought to bear on hydrocarbon recovery, and what is still needed to produce the hydrocarbons on which the world depends. This technology has made huge steps over the last decades, making production more efficient on every level, economically, environmentally and technically. He showed the relation between energy consumption and standard of living throughout the world, and limitations on projections for growth of renewables to meet that need and maintain this standard. He pointed out the environmental and social con-sequences of current alternatives to petroleum energy: for instance, the rates of sickness and death, especially for those in poor countries who burn organic matter for cooking and heating. This lead Dr. Meehan to the topic of global warming through Greenhouse gases, a serious and growing problem of our time. However, he argued that oil and gas play an important role in the transition to a period when renewable energy resources are available for maintaining standards of living. While the use of green-energy machinery, such as electric cars, is a huge step towards that goal of renewable energy, it remains less useful if the electricity is ultimately produced from coal, for example. Across much of the world, the alternative to petroleum and natural gas is coal, which of course produces more CO2 per unit of energy released. To allow for this change to happen successfully and to create awareness for this throughout the earth’s population, there will continue to be a need for trained professionals to provide oil and gas resources for decades to come.

For the students this was welcoming news. In times such as they are now, this choice of education might not have been the optimal one. During Dr. Meehan’s talk he asked the students to assess their level of creativity on a scale from one to five. The average seemed to be around 4. The next thing

said, opened eyes to a small reality: As engineers, we are amazingly good at making something more efficient, going from 1 to 100. Going from 0 to 1, however, most of us can’t do… To create a bright future this kind of creativity is needed and Dr. Meehan encouraged the students to continue trying, no matter how often they fall down. Come up with revoluti-onary ideas in technology that will drive the world forward! Even though this is a bit of a cliché, it is good to hear it once every while and it formed a nice change from all the technical information that is normally spoken about when speaking about the future of the hydrocarbon industry at university.

To sum it up, Dr. Meehan showed us: There will be a future role for oil and gas. It is up to us, students and professionals, to give it a direction. And with our effort we can make it an industry that is continuously successful.

After the presentation Dr. Meehan met with students for informal discussion, before joining the YP workshop, also being held on campus.

Nathan Meehan holds BS, MS and PhD degrees from Georgia Institute of Technology, Oklahoma State University and Stanford University, respectively. He has 40 years’ experi-ence in reservoir engineering, reserves estimation, hydraulic fracturing, and horizontal wells. He has received many awards from the SPE for technology and service: the Lester C. Uren Award, the Degolyer Distinguished Service Medal, and the SPE Public Service Award, as well as recognition as a Distinguished member.

At the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dr. Meehan relinquished the presidency to Janeen Judah, but he continues to serve as immediate past President.

Lunch Lecture – Friday, 16 September, 2016

Uncertain future: Certain needs“The future is uncertain but the end is always near.” ― Jim Morrison Lunch Lecture

Friday, 16 September, 2016 – 12:30- 13:45Lecture Hall A, Civil Engineering and Geosciences building, TU Delft

Nathan Meehan, President, Society of Petroleum EngineersDr. D. Nathan Meehan is 2016 President of the Society of Petroleum (SPE) Engineers. He has 40 years of global experience in reservoir engineering, reserve estimation, hydraulic fracturing and horizontal well expertise. He serves as Senior Executive Advisor to Baker Hughes. Previously he was President of CMG Petroleum Consulting, Vice President of Engineering for Occidental Oil & Gas and General Manager E&P Services for Union Pacific Resources. Dr. Meehan earned his BSc in Physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology, his MSc in Petroleum Engineering from the Univer-sity of Oklahoma, and his PhD in Petroleum Engineering from Stanford University. He is an SPE Distinguished Member and the recipient of SPE’s Lester C. Uren Award for Distinguished Achievement in Petroleum Engineering, the Degolyer Distinguished Service Medal and the SPE Public Service Award. He serves on the Board of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Strategic Energy Institute. He is a widely published author.

Uncertain future: Certain needs“The future is uncertain but the end is always near.” ― Jim Morrison

I have been an SPE member for more than 40 years and have spent a lot of time thinking about the factors that have contributed to oil and gas prices, technology and activity from the early 1970s to today. Almost everything can be explained with the benefit of hindsight but very little of it could be predicted with specificity. The rise of China, dis-coveries in ultra deep water, development of horizontal wells, the rise of unconventionals, the collapse of the Soviet Union, oil spills, OPEC and AOPEC embargos and on and on. I cannot predict the future but I will predict that as we go forward there will be many technological, social, environmental, political and other factors intertwined in the oil and gas industry. We cannot predict what those will be. Electric cars? Unconventionals internationally? Renewable technologies? Climate change pressures? Political stability? Growth in demand? LNG? We cannot tell.

But there are some things we know. We know oil and gas will remain a significant fraction of total energy supply. At low prices demand will grow. We will need to address greenhouse gas emissions. Drilling activity somewhere will have to increase. We will need more trained professionals in the industry. We will need improved technology and SPE members will play a key role.

While it is impossible to accurately predict the future that won’t stop 2016 SPE President Nathan Meehan from trying! “Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.” ― Noam Chomsky

Reception, 17:00, Science Center, TU Delft, Mijnbouwstraat 120, Delft


SC Amsterdam / Utrecht UpdateSC Amsterdam / Utrecht Update

Dear members, Although the summer holidays are now really behind us, the summer excursion of the Student Chapters of Utrecht and Amsterdam still seems fresh in memory. The SPE summer excursion, or SPEx for short, is held every year to create closer ties between students and the international oil and gas industry. Where last year, the SPEx made its way to Milan, this year, it was Madrid’s turn. For the 14 students on this trip it hadn’t been their first Iberian visit, as the geological fieldwork excursions of both Utrecht University and the VU Amsterdam visit Spain.

The five-day excursion kicked off on the 21st of August. Arriving in a healthy 36 degrees’ weather, the first day was spent exploring Madrid’s culture and bonding over some proper tapas. Near the royal palace of Madrid, an Egyptian temple can be found. Given as a present by the Egyptians, it provides an interesting place, with a lovely view over the city, for the people of Madrid to hang out at. With temperatures really spiking on the second day and the sun beating down on our precarious Dutch skins, a quick visit to a waterpark couldn’t be resisted.

The first company visit was at CEPSA, a young, integrated oil and gas company that’s been on the rise over the past 10 years. We visited the research centre, where they kindly showed us through their various testing activities on EOR/IOR in Central and South America, where currently most of their activities lie, and ran us through their refinery process in the lab. Interesting to see was the decision making process of CEPSA on which EOR method to use in different parts of the world. CEPSA’s research laboratory is exploring new ways to use every aspect of the crude oil they produce and create useful chemicals for other industries.

The next day, the SPEx made its way downtown to the brand new headquarters of Repsol. Repsol has had remarkable success in exploration over the last few years and intends to bring the new discoveries onstream themselves as well, thereby showing a large ambition to natural growth in the future. In the presentation given at our arrival, Repsol re-presentatives explained that Repsol could break even on a 40$ per barrel Brent Crude over the coming four years,

which might show a new mentality concerning future oil prices. The new headquarters of Repsol gave a quick insight into what more offices could look like in the future. With sustainability being an important aspect of the future of the petroleum industry, Repsol has built its headquarters mainly from recycled products and uses energy efficiency systems in the buildings. Improvements on the sustainability of their production and supply chain are planned to come from in-vestments in technology.

In conclusion, the SPEx to Madrid provided a good insight into two growing Spanish oil and gas concerns and the ways in which they plan to deal with the challenges of the future.On behalf of the Student Chapter Amsterdam and Student Chapter Utrecht,

Arjen van VeenTreasurer SPE Student Chapter Utrecht

SPE Student Chapter(SPEx) visit to Madrid


SPE Scholarships AwardsSPE Scholarships Awards

Also this year the Netherlands chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineers has awarded scholarships to young and promising students in the field of petroleum engineering and earth sciences.

Everyone who’s active in the industry is aware of the profound effects of the slump in oil- and gas prices, and the huge impact this has on the oil- and gas industry. The downturn is also affecting young talented student who are looking to take the first steps in the industry. For these individuals, entering the oil and gas industry is becoming more difficult. The board of the Netherlands chapter wanted to contribute to the long-term development of the industry, as young talent will be essential in helping the industry once the recovery sets in. Next to the short term challenges, young talent will also have an important role in realizing the transition towards more sustainable uses of the oil- and gas resources we have.

The board of the Netherlands chapter of the society of petroleum engineers is honored to announce the names of those who were awarded a scholarship for 2016/2017:• Nadav Agmon• Michiel Creusen• Chandrashekar Ganapathy• Aditya Harsh

Nadav is a second year student geology & Geochemistry at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam, and also won a scholarship in 2015. The scholarship helped him improve his grades. Nadav is planning to do a Phd after he finishes his master and derives his motivation both from contributing to science, as well as the application of science in practice. Nadav would like for his work to serve humanity to make the transition towards more sustainable uses of the natural resources we have.

Michiel is in his second year of Petroleum Engineering & Geosciences at the Delft University of Technology. The world of oil- and gas always fascinated him. When Michiel started his studies, the outlook in the industry was very bright, only to take a turn for the worse. The scholarship will allow

Michiel to cover some of the expenses associated with doing a master’s thesis abroad.

Chandrashekar is also is in his second year of Petroleum En-gineering & Geosciences at the Delft University of Techno-logy. He has a serious intention to make a positive difference in the things he does. Chandrashekar has experience as a field engineer at an oil refinery, which inspired his interest in the upstream sector of the oil- and gas industry. He wants to focus his efforts on performing valuable research in this area, which he would also like to share with SPE in due course. The scholarship will help Chandrashekar to realize his goals and will strengthen his bond with the industry and SPE the Netherlands.

Last but not least, Aditya has been awarded a scholarship. He is in his second year of Petroleum Engineering & Geoscien-ces at the Delft University of Technology. Aditya is motivated by the combination of science and technical aspects the industry offers and has a strong interest in production engi-neering. The scholarship awarded to Aditya will assist him to relief some of the financial impact of studying abroad, it will

further strengthen his resume and increase his position on the labour market.

The board of the Netherlands section of the society of petroleum engineers would like to take this opportunity to congratulate this year’s winners of the scholarship and is confident the scholarships will make a positive contribution to the careers of these young, talented people!

Congratulations to Nadav, Michiel, Chandrashekar and Aditya!

For all the students that are interested to win a scholarship next season please visit http://netherlands.spe.org/aboutus/scholarships for more information or send an email to [email protected]

netherlands.spe.org 23

SPE Continuous Education Update

BestWorkplacesNetherlands

2014

Last 23rd September, a group of over 20 E&P entrant and mid-career as well as senior professionals with diverse back-grounds gathered at the KIVI building in The Hague to be introduced to the Geology of The Netherlands. By whom can this better be done then by Jan de Jager, the editor of the well-known standard-work on the Dutch geology and sub-surface “Geology of the Netherlands” himself? Therefore, he committed to teaching this SPE-Netherlands Continuous Education event.

After setting the over-all geologic framework, as well as creating awareness of the very prolific data availability for the Dutch subsurface, the geologic history passed-by. First the Silurian & Early Carboniferous were discussed, repre-senting the oldest Dutch sediments and of geothermal “hot” interest respectively. Then, the Namurian and Permian were addressed, representing the transition from the one extreme being lush equatorial rain forests and swamps during the Westphalian to the other extreme, being the desert, wadi and salt-lake landscapes of the Rotliegend. An exercise on drawing a play map for the Rotliegend play, shortly after lunch, served as a break of the presentations and provided the participants with insight of why it is that the Rotliegend play is so prolific where it is.

Next, the Triassic and early-Jurassic were elaborated on, where the Triassic Buntsandstein reservoirs represent at-tractive reservoirs, and the Jurassic Posidonia Shale is the best-known oil source rock. Next, the Middle Jurassic to early Cretaceous were dealt with, with aspect ranging from Dutch Dinosaurs, a genuine volcano, as well as formation of the West-Netherlands Basin, where the Dutch E&P history started with the discovery of oil in the “De Mient” demon-stration drilling of 1938. The last “epoch chapter” of the day consisted of the Late Cretaceous to modern times, with inversion tectonics, the introduction of the human species, Rhine Graben volcanism, to finally the dynamic depositio-nal environments of the Rhine-Meuse delta. This all resulted in the geologic “Groeten uit Holland” with tropical swamps, scorching deserts, glistening salt lakes, lukewarm seas and solid ice caps, as once summarized by Salomon Kroonenberg.

With before mentioned framework set, the geologic and economic impact could be assessed. With an initial investi-gation of the multitude of ‘energy’ systems (conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon as well as geothermal) present in The Netherlands, as well as the awareness how the sizes of the Groningen gas and Schoonebeek oil fields fit in the European ranking, the Rotliegend Gas Play was discussed in detail. Next, other prolific gas plays were discussed, with the Triassic Fat Sands, the Zechstein Z2 carbonates, Shallow Gas as well as the Dinantian, the latter still speculative for hydrocarbons but productive for geothermal. Following, the various oil plays were discussed, in particular the Schoone-beek oil field, and the oil fields of the West Netherlands basin. Opportunities for Shale Gas were briefly discussed, and the day was concluded with the ‘hot’ topic of geothermal energy.

Reflecting on the day, participants concluded that despite the flat surface of The Netherlands, the subsurface conceals a highly interesting and complex story - the result of many hundreds of years of geological development. As a result of almost a century of intensive exploration for oil and gas, with many wells and seismic surveys, we now know quite a bit of the geological history. The Netherlands has travelled across the globe from the South Pole to its present location at 52° north of the equator. During this trip across climate zones also global temperatures changed with green house and ice house periods, while continents broke up at one time, causing deep fault-bounded rifts, and at other times continental collisions created high mountain belts. All these events left their marks in the rocks that are present in our subsurface, which have allowed us to unravel this geological history of The Netherlands.

Geology ofthe Netherlands

25netherlands.spe.org

YP on the road


• Waar komen olie en gas vandaar?• Wat deden de oude Grieken met olie?• Wat doen wij er mee?• Wat doet een petroleum ingenieur?• Wat doet een geoloog?• Hoe zit dat met vervuiling en aardbevingen?

Meer weten?De SPE heeft een leuk en leerzaam boek over olie en aardgas speciaal voor scholieren, gratis!

Als je dat leuk vindt, dan komen we graag langs om meer te vertellen bij jou op school of opleiding.

Bel of mail gerust!

Wouter: 0653557764, [email protected]

Robert: [email protected]

Netherlands SectionSociety of Petroleum Engineers

HOW DID YOU END UP IN THE OIL AND GAS BUSINESS?For me it started in my 3rd bachelor year at the Utrecht University. The university’s earth sciences program is more reared towards research, be it geology, geophysics or hydro-geology but lacks courses dealing with ‘economic geology’. As a young SPE member I realized this would be worth looking in to. This lead to the decision to study abroad for 6 months, following a minor in petroleum geology and ‘economic mine-ralogy’ at the Colorado School of Mines, in USA.Apart for the weekly hiking and skiing trip, the petroleum geology course given by prof. John Curtis sparked my interest in the more ‘practical’ part of geology. Like so many seniors

in the business he told anecdotes about his travels, experien-ces and his passion for the profession. This was not lost on us. Especially the link between research and how to apply the results is something that stuck. Until that point I favored a PhD position in structural geology, with plenty of fieldwork.Returning to Utrecht, with an industry aided bachelor thesis, I changed my MSc direction. I opted to follow as many oil and gas courses in combination with sedimentology. Within SPE I became more active and networking there lead me to an internship at Wintershall (courtesy of Roos van Ditzhuijzen). Successfully completing a seismic interpretation project then lead me to a job interview and my current job.

This month Arnoud Stelder interviewed Matthijs Kroon, Exploration geologist at Wintershall Norway


HOW MUCH GEOLOGY WORK DO YOU DO AT YOUR CURRENT JOB?In my three years in the industry there is hardly a day without geology. The Wintershall graduate program (SPEAD, 2 years) aims to offer as much on the job training as possible, at offices around the world. Through this program I lived in lovely Rijswijk, where I generated a gas prospect in the Dutch North Sea, to modelling a Devonian carbonate field for an appraisal well, in Moscow. From there I moved to northern Germany to work on seismic reprocessing of 2D data, learning what can and especially cannot be done with old data. Finally moving to my current location in Stavanger, working on prospect maturation dealing mainly with reservoir charac-terization and volumetrics. In these hectic two years there were also plenty of courses and field courses to help gain new insights and theories for the projects I was working on. With all these various project you really get an idea of what direction you find the most interesting and luckily I was allowed to follow interests to Norway. Exploration combines many of the disciplines in geology that I find inte-resting: studying new reservoir theories, sedimentology and structure, to finally presenting and defending the results.

WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 5 YEARS?This 5 year plan-question keeps popping, be it in commu-nistic regimes to job interviews, where the safest answer is: forward. That is hard enough in the current situation of the oil and gas business, but luckily Wintershall has had no intentions of changing the status quo. In these turbulent times that is quite a unique situation and that deserves some loyalty. Personally I will stay in Norway for the next 4 years, mainly due to my current assignment contract. In addition I feel I have far too much to learn before I would even think of changing directions. My (short term) goals would be getting some offshore experience and hopefully drill a well.What happens after that I leave for now, having a girlfriend in Netherlands might influence that decision somewhat. Although, a position in Argentina or the Middle East….

YP on the road Column | Kees

27netherlands.spe.org

If you have been attentive during history lessons in college you must remember the Suez Canal political crisis and resulting military clash, exactly sixty years ago, which forced crude tanker Owners to forget about this shipping lane and to choose for a far longer U-turn around Cape Town. This took away the limitation as imposed by the man-made canal so that with an eye on efficiency new vessels were constructed of huge proportions, called VLCC ‘s, in full Very Large Crude Carriers.

It was in the late sixties of the last century that an employee of the then Verolme United Shipyards in Rotterdam harbour suggested the idea of calling large oil carriers mammoth tankers. This species of trunked mammal is not so much known for its swimming talents, however, if the purpose was to designate something huge, that is where the novelty of the notion came in.

Tankers were scaled up to supertankers and, once having still more tonnes DW, classed in the category of mammoth tankers. Soon they were common appearances in western ports with sufficient water depths. At that time “Big is beautiful” became the adage and shipyards did not stop for constructing 250 to 450 meters long ships of enormous pro-portions.

The bulky Seawise Giant was built, followed by dry cargo carriers, like the Berge Stahl with 350 meter, and by container carriers, such as the Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller with her 400 meter. Because of their awkwardness and difficult maneuvra-bility a few of these large ships were converted into offshore moored storage tankers and even into FPSO ‘s. After the launch of the Dockwise Vanguard a recent record was set by Allseas which its Pioneering Spirit, formerly Pieter Schelte, slightly less than 400 meter long, without stinger.

Are all these ships beautiful? I doubt to agree with that. With all this scaling, designs did away with beauty; any fairing and any sheer is not noticeable. We see bad shapes and rectangu-lar blocks with sea axes, but without streamlines and with no rounding-offs.

Big is not beautiful anymore. Big has become plain and ugly. The present big is something like grizley, enormous and impressive, strong, incomprehensible, sometimes with a horrible outlook. An old maritime tradition prescribes that a floating, commercial object like a ship is refered to with the feminine pronoun she. Seamen say that this designation is owing to her regular need of new coatings - it takes a lot of paint to keep her good-looking - , but, now on a serious note, boat-owners used to name their vessels after significant women in their lives, such as their wives and sweathearts. This gender cannot hold for long. She slowly will turn into kind of something new, not neutral and not masculine, but grizley perhaps.

Why not? A grizley pipelayer, a grizley heavy lifter and a grizley derrick, isn ’t that plastic use of words? Groningen ‘s Slochteren field evolved into a grizley reservoir.

Kees van Hussen

People making Technology making EnergyMuch of the E&P technology in use today was developed by Shell.

Today we are still developing technologies for the benefit of the entire industry.

Whether to maximise recovery, reduce costs, improve safety or mitigate

environmental impact, it is the expertise of our people that means we continue to

make the difference.

www.shell.com

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