Proceedings magazine is a communication tool for the Coast Guard's Marine Safety & Security Council. Each quarterly magazine focuses on a specific theme of interest to the marine industry.
Issue link: https://uscgproceedings.epubxp.com/i/578020
14 Proceedings Fall 2015 www.uscg.mil/proceedings Old Oil Generally a conventional oil reservoir is porous and perme- able enough for operators to produce hydrocarbons with- out well treatment. Producers drill vertical wells, and felds may undergo multiple stages of development as they age, including: • "infll" drilling between existing wells, • water fooding to restore formation pressures, • enhanced recovery to coax additional remaining oil using carbon dioxide or solvents. The U.S. industry has excelled in extending the lives of con- ventional oil reservoirs and felds, providing an important base of oil production for the coun- try, albeit one that inevitably yields less over time as felds continue to mature. The oil most commonly produced from conventional felds in the U.S. is "light, sweet," meaning it has a low specifc gravity relative to water and no (or very low) sulfur content. Traded domestic crude oil — West Texas Intermediate, or WTI — typi- fes the light, sweet characteristics most cus- tomers desire. The presence of sulfur characterizes crude as "sour," which means that producers must pro- cess the crude to remove it. The higher the sul- fur content, the greater the chance of hazards during drilling operations and the more expen- sive it is to process. U.S. natural gas and crude oil production has grown since the early 2000s in response to high natural gas and oil com- modity price signals and due to new production techniques. These "new crudes" are produced in three main areas of the U.S.: • the Williston basin in North Dakota and Montana, • the Permian basin in west Texas, • the Eagle Ford trend in south Texas. While older, conventional felds still exist in these areas, the newer, unconventional wells and felds have contributed the lion's share of new oil production. The New Crudes From Bakken to bitumen. by Ms. dEniEsE PAlMEr-huggins Senior Energy Advisor Bureau of Economic Geology's Center for Energy Economics University of Texas at Austin dr. MichEllE Michot Foss Chief Energy Economist Bureau of Economic Geology's Center for Energy Economics University of Texas at Austin New Energy and Its Maritime Impacts U.S. Natural Gas Production Priced at the main trading point — Henry Hub in south Louisiana. Authors' analysis based on U.S. Energy Information Administration data.