Establishment of Drilling and stimulation lab in PDEU

Gujarat has the largest source of the hydrocarbon production from onshore fields of India. Also, Gujarat had been the leader in development of knowledge and technology and supply the experienced work force to all onshore and offshore fields of national  E & P Companies since inception of the oil & gas industry in India, Gujarat again took the lead to generate knowledge base in addition to the experienced manpower by establishing “School of Petroleum Technology” under the umbrella of “Pandit Deendayal Energy University” which was established in Gandhinagar, Gujarat with first batch of students admitted in the year 2007 in Petroleum Technology.

The university has been in collaboration and partnership with the renowned international petroleum universities with a view to expose the students with ongoing science and technology and also with the new technologies under implementation around the world in petroleum sector.

Pandit Deendayal Energy University has been able to meet such expectations but only this much basic knowledge only was not satisfying to the ever-growing thirst of imparting knowledge to the students.

In addition to imparting the basic academic knowledge to human resource, there is something more in order to excel in the field of education by way of the creation and development of human resource so as to develop the new technologies through research which is the backbone of national independence in the field of technology to lead the world and for monopolistic business approach for the ongoing need of the country and the world.

For development of basic knowledge, research in the new/ unexplored area and development of new technology, the basic need is to establish the laboratories in the vulnerable areas so that not only the students of the university but also the students of other universities and also the industry expert may be benefitted through joint collaborations.

A step towards achieving the dream to come true a “Drilling and Stimulation” has been conceptualized with the encouragement and support extended by ever ready Government of Gujarat so as to develop the university as a “Centre of Excellence”.
The details of the lab equipment proposed are as under:

Stimulation Lab

Stimulation is the subject which actually improves upon the productivity of the oil well and overall recovery of the producing field. These are the enhanced economic tapping from the existing fields as well as developing fields.

Almost all the easy areas / formations have been explored and are under production. However, exploration and development activities for more difficult formations are in progress. Tight sand, Shale formation at deeper depth, higher temperature and pressures are making the process of exploration, Drilling and production are getting more complicated more so because of expensive and unexplored science and technologies in the respective areas of work.

Tight sand and shale are the formations which need special techniques called Hydraulic fracturing to make the oil and gas flow from the formation to well bore to surface. Also, during the production life of the well, the formations gat damaged by well fluid itself or the treatment for flow improvement done on the well.

A lot of studies can be conducted on the differently created models (simulated models) to ultimately design the proper treatment on the formation to enhance recovery. Similarly, producing wells whose formation flow path has been damaged needs study of the formation under varying temperature and pressure as well as formation fluid composition on the core in lab for designing the treatment for the formation for enhanced/ improved productivity of the well and the reservoir.

The lab equipment proposed is called Proppant conductivity and formation damage Evaluation and treatment system.

• Proppant Conductivity Evaluation System
• Reservoir/ Formation damage and treatment for permeability evaluation under simulated conditions

There is a whole lot to make the students know the problems and sample treatment but also to develop treatment for more difficult formations through research and development.

Drilling and Cementing Lab

Drilling is the backbone of exploration and development activity of the industry. Development of the knowledge base in Drilling will be obvious reason for going forward for generation of knowledge and research activity.

Cementation of the well is an essential activity for well integrity and its sustenance. The Cement is place behind the casing and it related the insitu soil and casing to provide barrier to avoid cross flow of the fluids at different intervals existing inside the various formations. Preparation of Cement slurry, its setting time, strength requirement and also its sustenance at higher temperatures, pressures and corrosive environment make the process extremely difficult. Therefore, the basic knowledge of the desired parameters from the cement and the procedure to achieve them is essential for the drilling and cementing engineer. University has proposed to procure the following items for the purpose:

• HTHP Consistometer
• Atmospheric Consistometer
• Viscometer
• Filter Press, HPHT,
• Pressurized Fluid Density Balance
• Constant Speed Mixer
• Stirred Fluid Loss Cell

In order to inherit the deep knowledge and think forward in these areas, the lab with apparatus for understanding by demonstrations, experimenting and use them for R& D activity, these labs are essential.