Проблемно-исследовательский проект в обучении гибкому иноязычному чт

2011 experimental work has been carried out to apply the technology of lowfrequency seismic exploration based on investigation of the micro-seismic background and providing an opportunity to forecast local fluid saturation features. In addition, considering the proportion of hard-to-recover reservoirs (over 60%) in the structure of remaining reserves, it is an urgent matter to improve geophysical well-logging methods for determining the fracture characteristics of the reservoirs and obtaining additional parameters relating to formation features and making reserve assessment more reliable through application of new core study methods. In 2010, the Company took the first azimuth-oriented core sample providing information about the spatial orientation of fractures.

Focusing on new technology

Considerable attention is still focused on development of seismic data processing and interpretation, higher forecast reliability and better seismogeological model quality. Therefore, LUKOIL-PERM is actively cooperating with the LUKOIL-Engineering subsidiary PermNIPIneft in Perm, on the basis of which a Seismic Research Center is dynamically developing.

“LUKOIL-PERM is systematically working to increase active reserves not only in proven oil-bearing areas but also promising new territories”, comments

10 years, this will produce an additional increase in resources in a volume of 50 million tons and in reserves – of about 160 million tons. The developed infrastructure will allow newly discovered fields and reservoirs to be brought rapidly into production and the volume of oil production increased. Unless new technologies are applied, however, the development target figures will not be achieved in the old oil region with its complex geological conditions”.

The Perm Territory fields are mostly characterized by multizone reservoirs that, in accordance with modern reservoir engineering concepts, should be developed by independent well networks. Given the high proportion of undeveloped reserves among sites with low-yield reservoirs, the cost of production drilling needs to be cut.

In order to achieve this, LUKOIL-PERM has been drilling small-diameter wells since 2010. Slim hole (114 mm) sinking can be done from mobile drilling rigs, this greatly reducing the cost of production drilling by cutting the time needed for rig erection/dismantling preparatory operations. Cost cutting is also achieved by reducing well development expenditures, since work is being carried out at existing developed cluster sites with a collection system with the minimum necessary expansion of the land plot. Given lower initial well drilling and development of wells, low-yield oil reserves become profitable and are drawn into production. The company is planning to subsequently increase the number of such wells to 20 a year. This will help produce oil from noncommercial wells.

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Another progressive drilling-in technique these days is horizontal well drilling, which has been the practice at Perm Territory fields for a long time now. To obtain a multifold increase in the oil flow rate by horizontal wells compared to ordinary ones, it is planned to use the multizone hydrofracturing method to bring hard-to-recover reserves into active development, raise development drilling efficiency by way of well stock reduction, expand the pay bed drainage zone and achieve a production increase. In 2012-2014, it is planned to carry out multizone hydrofracs at over 20 new wells brought into production drilling.

Another traditional method used by the Perm oil producers is drilling of multibranch wells. The purpose of rat hole drilling is to improve methods for maximizing the development of recoverable reserves. One local task is drilling of such wells in reservoir buffer zones. The sinking of two side tracks from one of the wells on the Shagirtsko-Gozhanskoye field has doubled the well flow rate of an ordinary side track drilled under similar conditions. These processes are already included in development design documents. In 2011, for instance, they are planned to be used in upgrading one well on the Arkhangelskoye field by sinking 3 boreholes, two of which will be horizontal. This method is specific in that the existing main borehole of the well remains in operation.

Since oil was first discovered in Perm Territory in 1929, the subsoil is still sharing its “Black Gold” with the population. Not so willingly, of course, as during the first few years! Even so, the oil producers, geologists, developers and drillers have, during the interim, created new processes and technologies to enhance oil recovery and develop modern methods for maintaining the environmental balance, which makes it possible to increase proven reserves every year and compensate for the oil produced. After all, LUKOIL-PERM personnel have always relied on their professionalism, experience and team spirit. And these mean a lot when it comes to achieving common goals and fulfilling common tasks.

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Perm Innovations in Action

Oil of Russia. 2012. No. 4

Stanislav Slyusarev

The enterprise’s success is guaranteed by active practical application of various innovative developments. The annual increase in the volumes of oil and gas production and the constant increase in the recoverable reserves of hydrocarbons are the main indicators of JSC LUKOIL-PERM's successful activities.

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In the technological forefront

Over the last ten years, more than forty oil fields with reserves of 26 million tons have been discovered in a region already well surveyed from the geological point of view. New techniques allowed the Perm oilmen to look at long since discovered formations from

a different angle and find what previously remained “off the screen”. Moreover, in Kama Region, they managed to achieve 100 percent success in exploratory drilling – for several years now, all their exploratory wells have been productive. In the near future, it is planned to launch drilling small-

diameter exploratory and production wells on part of the fields. This efficient technology will allow development where construction of ordinary wells does not justify the costs involved or where drilling needs to be carried out within the bounds of existing cluster sites. At its facilities, the enterprise is regularly applying new trends in hydrofracturing technologies and plans to start multi-zone rock hydrofracturing soon, in order to ensure maximum contact with reservoirs and increase well flow rates substantially.

For the purpose of further improving of the main production processes, a center has been set up at the company for collective situations analysis, consisting of an innovative high-tech software and hardware complex for performing a broad range of works and conferences of any level. With the help of the center, equipped for two-dimensional and three-dimensional visualization of geological and geo-physical data, joint expert assessments are conducted at the company geological and hydro-dynamic models as well as comprehensive expert reviews of data interpretation results and model-building of geological facilities, design of well trajectories, a search for unworked reserves and promising sectors, and analysis of financial and economic indicators of projects in the sphere of field exploration, development and production.

In 2011 the Perm oilmen were the first in the country to introduce an intelligent field project, this being a fundamentally new oil production complex for on-line monitoring and remote control of the production process, with minimum service personnel participation. By means of this bold technological innovation, JSC LUKOIL-PERM not only demonstrated a non-standard approach to fulfilling the tasks facing the industry, but also offered basically a revolutionary new approach to developing oil fields, the essence of which lies in increasing labor productivity.

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Working towards a result

At a number of other LUKOIL-PERM fields, micro-turbine power plants are being introduced that are based on units made by the American firm Capstone, which work on associated gas. This equipment, first tried out by the enterprise in 2009, has already proved its efficiency at remote and low yield oil production sites. So far, five micro-turbine power plants have already been introduced at the LUKOIL-PERM Group fields and, by the end of the year, there will be another four such units in operation.

Pumps manufactured by the German firm Sulzer, which are new to Russia, have been introduced in four oil and gas production departments of JSC LUKOIL-PERM all at once and they have reduced substantially the producers' operating and energy costs. The new units are unique as their blade wheels are located back-to-back. Moreover, the service life of this equipment is at least twenty years, whereas an ordinary pump lasts for only a third of this. The warranty period is also impressive: the innovation will require an overhaul only in 12-13 years.

A creative approach

A distinguishing feature of the Perm enterprise is considered to be the fact that ideas often arise thanks to the creativity of its workers themselves. It is fortunate that all the necessary conditions have been created at the company for employees to be guided along a scientific and technical path. And this brings its fruits.

The rationalization movement is one of the important ways to make the oil production company more efficient. For the oilmen of the region, where many of the fields are in the later development stages, innovation is, of course, absolutely vital. Every year, several dozen people put forward their ideas and the majority of these projects are ultimately put into production.

Within LUKOIL-PERM, the ideas behind scientific and technical developments occur both on the oil fields and at the work places. Suffice it to say that the company has, today, intangible assets consisting of 25 patents to inventions and 11 patents for useful models.

Recently, engineers of several technical departments of the enterprise's administration improved the drive of the team pumping unit for stripper wells. As an alternative to the current one, they developed a low capacity arc-stator motor (about 5 KW), with the requisite torque factor given 100-200 revolutions a minute. This resulted in a rise in the efficiency of the team pumping unit drive along with, a reduction in the capacity of the electromechanical transducer and the load on the bearing units.

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The enterprise intends to roll out these and other promising devices on a serial production basis and receive substantial profits “on the side”. Currently, LUKOIL-PERM already has ten agreements in place for sale of licenses for other organizations to use inventions or useful models. Moreover, the term of some of these agreements exceeds ten or more years.

It is not surprising that, in the first half of 2012, LUKOIL-PERM outstripped its previous indicators for production of both oil (by 6%), and gas (by 21%). In addition, 40% more rock has been drilled. By the end of the year, the company plans to produce over 13 300 000 tons of oil and 1 billion 210 million m3 of gas. Considering the Perm oilmen's technical innovation endeavors, it is quite likely that these indicators are far from their limit.

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In the Heart of Perm Oil Science

Oil of Russia. 2012. No. 2

The Perm National Research Polytechnic University is known as “a cradle of engineers” for the Russian oil and gas industry.

During their twenty years in the industry LUKOIL managed to establish its own well-tuned and efficient corporate personnel training system, which is entirely dedicated to the oil business needs. The cooperation between oilmen and the major educational institutions is the prime mover of this whole process. In Western Ural such cooperation can be illustrated by the relationship between the

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local LUKOIL's subsidiaries and The Perm National Research Polytechnic University (PNRPU).

Half century of friendship

The Perm oilmen and the lead technical university of the region have been good neighbors for over half a century now. Since its very inception the University has been dutifully and diligently preparing personnel for the national oil industry, and currently more than a half of the engineers of the LUKOIL subsidiaries in Perm region are the alumni thereof. Furthermore, if you take a cursory look at the list of all PNRPU graduates you would find the names of many current top managers of the Russian and foreign oil and gas production and processing companies. Quite often the connection survives the graduation. The University professors are retained to deliver lectures in the training centers of the oil companies and invited to see how the latest technological solutions are used at the real facilities. Many LUKOIL's specialists receive additional education at the specialty departments of the University.

In 1990s when the Russian higher education system was going through the rough patch LUKOIL was the first who offer hand to the Perm Polytechnic University. The University and Company wasted no time in executing a special agreement on cooperation, and in 2004 the Oil and Gas Institute was established to comprise six chairs of Mining/Oil Department and three chairs of Chemical Engineering Department. The primary task of the said Institute was to prepare highly qualified personnel for LUKOIL. Towards this end the Institute currently runs postgraduate and doctorate departments and hosts extensive scientific and research activities. Several years ago the Institute saw a gala opening of the geological museum, which display includes hundreds of minerals and rocks, samples of nearly all subsoil resources ever discovered at the territory of ex-USSR. The centerpiece of this model exposition created with the huge support from LUKOIL is a training room fitted with the modern video equipment. This room is used for geology lectures and practical sessions.

All these years Company has been helping University improve its infrastructure: the classrooms and laboratories got renovated and retrofitted, new equipment and instruments were purchased. For instance, thanks to the funds disbursed via the LUKOIL's Charity Foundation the University now has the oil and oil products properties research laboratory, a multifunctional well inspection simulator, a laboratory of metrology, technical measurements and information/measurement systems, scientific/production center of geomechanical and mine survey. Last year the Company helped to purchase a tomographic scanner for bore samples examination, and this year it means to co-finance purchasing an expensive German unit for testing of hydrocatalytic cracking catalysts without outsourcing this work to foreign companies.

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Science at the oil industry service

The cooperation with the oil companies can be illustrated by several knowledge-intensive projects aimed at performance improvement. For instance, the Mining/Oil Department that prepares oil production engineers was retained to develop new types of engines for stripper wells and looked into the field equipment optimization options. LUKOIL has been successfully using the special drilling and backfilling mud to reliable isolate its wells from water-bearing horizons in the course of oil production from underneath the unique Verkhnekamsky potassium and magnesium field.

Total value of R&D contracts executed between the University and various LUKOIL subsidiaries both in Russia and abroad exceeded $3 million in 2011. And the Perm scientists can do better than that. For instance, one of the Polytechnic University's chairs is currently working on an important project of a satellite equipment installation on the offshore platform at the LUKOIL-owned Yury Korchagin oil field in the Caspian Sea. This particular example (and many others) clearly demonstrates that cooperation between the higher education institutions and corporations could be mutually beneficial and that groundwork for a constructive dialogue between scientists and practitioners has been successfully laid.

In November 2009, PNRPU, along with 11 other Russian Universities, was granted “National Research University” status. And the oilmen had a part in it too. LUKOIL acted as a strategic partner of the organizational changes and fulfilled its obligations by complying with one of the mandatory requirements posed by the Government – provide co-financing of the future scientific center development. As a result, PNRPU's innovative/education program started receiving financial support from the national budget, while the Company benefited by getting better access to the University's scientific potential.

New horizons of cooperation

Truth be told, becoming a student the oil industry-related chair of the University does not necessarily guarantee successful career. It is imperative that during his/her years in the University a prospective candidate to oil engineers expand its initial knowledge, learn how to be proactive and accomplish goals. And again LUKOIL lends helping hand to students. Company has been fostering its future engineers since their first day in the University. The best students of the Mining/Oil and Chemical Engineering Departments are paid special scholarship and awarded grants from the LUKOIL Charity Foundation and the Company's subsidiaries operating in Perm Territory. The similar financial support is provided to the most promising young professors – they receive two-year grants that help them focus on science without thinking how to make a living. And it works – the grant-holders are able to both accomplish scientific/practical goals and defend their candidate dissertations.

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It has become a good tradition for the General Directors of the LUKOIL's subsidiaries to run business-classes for the students of the University. During these sessions the top managers deliver lectures on the corporate development strategy and tell the students about the social and HR policy of the leading regional companies. In the meantime the seasoned and experienced oilmen talk to the future engineers at the same language and answer any questions. Vagit Alekperov, President of LUKOIL (who is also a PNRPU's Honorary Professor), has already participated in such events three times.

For many years the LUKOIL's subsidiaries operating in the Kama River region have been implementing the comprehensive program called “Days of LUKOIL in PNRPU”. Under this project each spring the University hosts two popular contests: the first one is called “Starting career with LUKOIL” and the second is the Best Young Professor Award. Winners are given prizes and rewards.

“Each production process has its specifics and it is impossible to cover all the subtleties in one, even the best, University” – believes Anatoly Tashkinov, Rector of PNRPU. “We give our students basic knowledge and teach how to use it in practice. LUKOIL has been of the great help with the latter. The Company supports the University development, encourages students to seek good employment and gives professors and post-graduate students scientific challenges to pursue. We are honored and pleased to prepare specialists for a worldrenowned company, which is extremely discerning when it comes to personnel selection. Cooperation with LUKOIL also helps us breed technical intellectuals who are expected to help our country switch from raw-material economy to in- novations-based development strategy”.

Every year about 400 students of the University are sent off to apprentice with the LUKOIL subsidiaries in Perm Territory. Their majors include not only oil production and refinery engineers but also construction engineers, mechanical engineers, economists, PR specialists. The first-hand experience they gain always comes in handy when it comes to term and graduation papers, as well as technical contests and scientific conferences. The PNRPU students and postgraduate students take a very active part in the corporate contests for the best research and development project among the young scientists and specialists arranged and hosted by LUKOIL, LUKOIL-PERM, LUKOIL-Permnefteorgsintez and LUKOIL-Engineering. Each year fifteen hundred students prepare their graduation papers based on the topics suggested by the Company subsidiaries. It should be noted that the Graduation Paper Review Boards include both University professors and the specialists and managers of the oil/gas production, transportation and refining companies.

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“We never look back and each year try to advance our cooperation with PNRPU” – says Alexander Leyfrid, Representative of LUKOIL President in Perm Territory, General Director of LUKOIL-PERM. “Qualified young specialists are the Company's passport to

success. That is exactly why our Company is interested in hiring highly qualified young specialists who are prepared to face any challenge. Every year the LUKOIL subsidiaries employ about 80 graduates of the Perm University. And we are quite confident that all of them are going to make highly qualified specialists”.

By the way, Russians are not the only alumni of PNRPU. Under the Agreement between LUKOIL and the Iraqi Ministry of Oil 95 specialists from this Middle East country received a professional training in the Perm Alma Mater. The Chemical Engineering Department prepares young specialists for the refineries in Romania and Bulgaria. At the Company's request the Polytechnic University has recently established contacts with the Ploesti Oil and Gas University who became the LUKOIL's partner in the field of education in Romania. After exchanging visits and weighing opportunities the Universities' management agreed that both organizations could benefit from the cooperation. In the very near future the Universities are launching joint scientific projects led by students, post-graduate students and professors. Obviously the relations between PNRPU and the oil industry literally have no borders.

Текст 12 Волго-Уральская нефтегазоносная область

Волго-Уральская нефтегазоносная область расположена в восточной части европейской территории СССР, в пределах Татарской, Башкирской, Удмуртской автономных республик, Пермской, Оренбургской, Куйбышевской, Саратовской, Волгоградской, Кировской и Ульяновской областей.

Волго-Уральская нефтегазоносная область – часть крупного нефтегазоносного бассейна Восточно-Европейской платформы. С востока область ограничена Уралом, на западе – зоной крупных поднятий фундамента платформы, протягивающихся от Воронежской антеклизы на юго-востоке

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через Токмовский свод и Котельнический выступ, в пределах которых наиболее приподнятые части фундамента залегают на отметках от 0 до 1700 м. Южное ограничение области образуется системой флексур и разломов, отделяющих рассматриваемую область от Северо-Каспийской. На севере область граничит с Тимано-Печорским нефтегазоносным бассейном. Выходы нефти и асфальта в Поволжье были известны еще с XVIII века. В 1918 г. в связи с топливным голодом В.И. Лениным был поставлен вопрос о поисках нефти в центральной области европейской части России. Обоснование поисковых работ было сделано А.Д. Архангельским, И.М. Губкиным и др. В 1929 г. была установлена нефтеносность вблизи поселка Верхнечусовские Городки, а позднее (1932–1934) – Башкирского Приуралья. К началу Великой Отечественной войны в ВолгоУральской нефтегазоносной области было открыто 15 нефтяных месторождений. В 1941–1942 была выявлена газоносность каменноугольных отложений в Саратовской области. В 1945 г. установлена нефтеносность девонских отложений, заключающих основные запасы нефти в Саратовской области. К 1950 г. были выявлены крупные запасы нефти в Татарии (месторождение Ромашкино) и в Башкирии. В течение 1960-х гг. были открыты новые крупные нефтяные месторождения в Татарии (НовоелховскоАкташское), в Западной Башкирии (Шкаповское, Арланское), в Куйбышевской области (Мухановское и др.), а также крупные запасы нефти в Пермском Прикамье, Удмуртской автономной республике, в Волгоградской области и Саратовском Заволжье. В 1968 г. в нижнепермских карбонатных отложениях выявлено одно из крупнейших в мире скоплений газа (Оренбургское месторождение).

В пределах Волго-Уральской нефтегазоносной области известно свыше 400 нефтяных и 50 газовых месторождений, в том числе несколько уникальных по запасам нефти.

Значительная часть нефтяных и газовых месторождений ВолгоУральской нефтегазоносной области являются многопластовыми, так, например, месторождение Муханово содержит 12 залежей, Дмитриевское – 9, Покровское – 7, Татышлинское – 8 и т.д.

Месторождения нефти отличаются большим разнообразием свойств и состава; газ глубокозалегающих скоплений содержит конденсат.

На базе нефтегазовых ресурсов Волго-Уральской нефтегазоносной области сформировался самый большой в СССР район нефтедобывающей и нефтеперерабатывающей промышленности, возникла значительная добыча природного газа (включая попутный). Из всей добычи нефти в СССР

на Волго-Уральскую область приходилось в 1940 г. – 6 %, в 1950 г. – 29 %,

в 1960 г. – 70,6 %, в 1965 г. – 71,5 %.

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