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Posts Tagged ‘SPE’

RIP Maurice Stewart: prominent petroleum engineer, author, lecturer, and safety leader

Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , on January 4, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Dr. Maurice (Mo) Stewart, an outstanding petroleum engineer, author, and teacher, passed away over the holidays after a long battle with ALS. Mo worked in the Office of Field Operations in the Gulf of Mexico Region of the US Geological Survey (which became part of the Minerals Management Service in 1982) while earning a PhD in Petroleum Engineering from Tulane University.

Mo specialized in production operations and the associated safety systems. He was the lead author of the production safety sections of the MMS operating regulations when they were completely revised in the 1980s. He authored or co-authored (with Ken Arnold) several textbooks and numerous technical papers on oil and gas processing. He was active on API technical committees and was a lecturer for the Society of Petroleum Engineers in the US and internationally.

Mo conducted training sessions for MMS staff at all levels of the organization. He was an outstanding speaker who spiced his presentations with anecdotes and slides from his many travels. His presentations were not just informative, they were highly entertaining!

After leaving MMS, Mo was an instructor and consultant in Indonesia, where he lived for some time, and throughout the world. His incredible life was brought to a sad end by an incurable disease. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such an outstanding engineer, dedicated safety professional, and all-around good guy. Bud

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Halliburton cementing study referenced in Montara Report

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I was unaware of the Halliburton study referenced in the Montara Inquiry Report:

A 2001 Halliburton study of USA Gulf of Mexico cementing failures in 4000 wells showed that (i) approximately one in six casing shoes required remedial work after primary cementing (by way of a so‐called ‘squeeze job’); and (ii) intermediate casing shoes failed shoe tests 70 per cent more often than shallower casings because they were more likely to be over‐displaced.

This paper was presented at an SPE conference in New Orleans.  Click here to purchase the paper or read a good abstract.

Questions:

  1. Have other analyses and reports been prepared using these data?
  2. Would Halliburton make the data base available for the common good if they receive legal protection?
  3. In light of the worldwide interest in better understanding well integrity risks, would Halliburton and others expand the data base to include other regions?
  4. Surely, there must be other private data bases that would be useful for assessing operational risks and developing mitigations. Are the owners willing to identify these data bases? Can they be protected from liability risks if they agree to make the information accessible?

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