Innovation Technologies and Future Development of the Territories with Hard-to-Recover Reserves and Harsh Climate

UNIT I

The Role of the Russian Oil and Gas Industry in the Global Energy Market

Part 1

Words to remember:

To apply- применять

Basin – бассейн

Deposit – залежь, месторождение

To develop – развивать

To expect – ожидать, предполагать

To grow - расти

To involve – включать, вовлекать

Quality - качество

To replenish – пополнять

To require – требовать, нуждаться

Reserves - запасы (полезных ископаемых)

Reservoir – залежь, пластовой резервуар

Solution – решение (проблемы)

Supply – запас

Viscous – вязкий

EXERCISES:

1.Translate the following word combinations:

Oil and gas production

Oil and gas field development

Resources – global energy resources, Russia’s mineral resources, high-quality resources, hydrocarbon resources, Resources Pyramid Concept

2.Translate the following:

The more resources are produced, the worse their structure gets.

In some areas technologies have to be improved significantly.

Today we have to develop the reserves of low–permeability reservoirs in West Siberia.

The present generations of engineers and scientists have to find solutions for these difficult practical tasks.

3.Read and translate the following text:

Text 1 A

Speaking of supply of the global energy resources, Russia will play a vitally important role in this area for a long time. Production of oil and gas from West Siberian and the Volga-Urals basins is expected to grow. Development of new oil and gas basins in the Arctic offshore, East Siberia and Far East will replenish Russia’s mineral resources.

High-quality mineral resources are quite scarce in mining industry; there are much more resources of relatively lower quality and their production requires more efficient technologies. It is the so called “Resources Pyramid Concept”. Both in Russia and worldwide, the more resources are produced, the worse their structure gets. In the past, in West Siberia and in the Volga river basin we actively developed Cretaceous and Devonian deposits while the reserves of under-gas zones, of thin oil-pay fringes, and of low–permeability reservoirs were not involved in the process.

Today we have to develop the reserves of low–permeability reservoirs in West Siberia’s Jurassic and Achim deposits as well as the viscous oil reserves of carbonaceous deposits and the natural bitumen reserves of Permien deposits in Tatarstan. For Tatarstan and Bashkiria, it is very important to develop bitumen reserves but the open-cut mining used in Canada cannot be applied as the strata are deposited deeper and much plough land would have been ruined. And the present generations of engineers and scientists have to find solutions for these difficult practical tasks.

4.Match the following:

High –quality reserves	Девонские отложения
Jurassic deposits	Подгазовые зоны
Open-cut mining	Ачимовские отложения
Low-permeability reservoirs	Тонкие оторочки нефти
Cretaceous deposits	Полезные ископаемые высокого качества
Thin oil-pay fringes	Концепция “пирамиды запасов”
Achim deposits	Добыча открытым методом
Under gas zone	Меловые отложения
Devonian deposits	Низкопроницаемые коллекторы
“Resources Pyramid Concept”	Юрские отложения

5.Write out from the text:

а) geographical names;

b) names of geological sediments;

c) other proper names.

Part 2

Words to remember:

To design – проектировать, конструировать

To invent – изобретать

To improve – улучшить

Unaware – не знающий, не подозревающий

Significant - значительный

To depend - зависеть

To pay attention to – обращать внимание на что-то

EXERCISES:

1.Translate the following word combinations:

Throughout the world – worldwide – the entire world

Aware – unaware

Significant- insignificant

2.Make up and translate:

To drill	a vertical	well
a horizontal
a directional
an injection
an artesian
an exploration
a wild cat

3.Make up sentences:

It is important It is necessary It is essential It is difficult It is not easy It is possible It is impossible

to translate the text without the dictionary. to understand the fundamentals of this science. to study at the institute. to have a very good knowledge to become a good engineer. to work hard. to use the latest equipment and technologies. to use our resources wisely.

Text 1 B

Read and translate the following text:

It is important to know that Russia is becoming a part of the world technology forum. A lot of technologies currently in use throughout the world have been originally designed by Russian scientists. Hydraulic fracturing, for example, was first done in Russia in the early 1950s. The first submersible pump was invented by Engineer Arutyunuv. The first multilateral wells were drilled in Bashkiria.

Later, many of those ideas returned to Russia, refined and improved by western companies. So, some of the best ideas are already used worldwide. But probably there are other ideas and technologies we have in use here in Russia that the world is still unaware of. As for the exchange of technologies, it is already going on but much more have to be done there. And in some areas technologies have to be improved significantly.

Many people realize now that Russia is one of the biggest hydrocarbon reserves holders in the world. To a considerable extent, world prices and the world energy balance depend on upon how efficiently and fully we will develop these reserves. Words are insignificant to emphasize the importance of this fact. It is essential in terms of global security. We have to use our resources very wisely. That is why special attention is paid at improving the recovery efficiency of older fields, at the search of new prospective structures and at satellite fields. This is extremely important for both Russia and the entire world.

EXERCISES:

1.Match the following:

Hydraulic fracturing	пoвышение отдачи
A part of the world technology forum	скважины с несколькими стволами
Global security	вот почему (поэтому)
Currently	в значительной мере
Exchange	обмен
Satellite fields	текущий, в настоящий момент
Submersible pump	гидроразрыв пласта
Multilateral wells	часть мирового технологического форума
To a considerable extent	сателлитные месторождения
Recovery efficiency	глобальная безопасность
That is why (That’s why)	погружной насос

2.Answer the questions:

1. Is Russia one of the biggest hydrocarbon reserves holders in the world?

2. What worldwide technologies have been originally designed in Russia?

3. What does the world energy balance depend on?

4. How important is the exchange of technologies and the best practice with other countries and companies?

5. Integration of worldwide technological achievements in oil exploration and production with Russia’s unique resources is very necessary for global energy security of our planet, isn’t it?

6. What can you say about the perspectives of oil and gas industry in our country in the future?

UNIT II

Innovation Technologies and Future Development of the Territories with Hard-to-Recover Reserves and Harsh Climate

Part 1

Read and translate the following text:

Russia’s Arctic offshore has been highlighted as a key area of technical interest. It is vitally important to be environmentally friendly n this area. To have a very good safety record and to design systems that are overall is crucial for companies operating in the Arctic.

There are a lot of technical challenges: how to find prospective structures or how to carry out seismic surveys efficiently at water areas covered with never melting ice. Drilling issues are also of considerable importance: how to drill from moving ice is one of the examples to start with. Special attention shall be paid to issues related to transportation of hydrocarbons.

Much has been done in Norway with cold multiphase flow for example; this enabled the industry to optimize the product transportation scheme and to put new fields into operation. The industry must focus on designing environmentally safe systems for this area. The most important technology for this region is a subsea completion technology as its impact on the environment is minimal.

EXERCISES:

1.Find the equivalents in the text: иметь хорошие показатели по технике безопасности, покрытые не тающими льдами, транспортировка углеводородов, технически сложная задача, двигающийся лед, проводить сейсмические исследования, дать возможность, технология подводной добычи.

2.Write down the transcription of the following words: area, key, vitally, crucial, company, seismic, survey, issue, scheme.

3.Translate the following combinations with the word “issue”: drilling issues; issues related to; the issue of the day; today’s issue; national issue; to bring an issue to a close; disputable issue.

4.Match English and Russian word combinations:

To drill from moving ice	Холодный многофазный поток
To put new fields into operation	Влияние на окружающую среду
To find prospective structures	Бурить с двигающегося льда
Cold multiphase flow	Оптимизировать схему транспортировки
Impact on the environment	Находить перспективные структуры
To optimize the product transportation scheme	Вводить новые месторождения в разработку

5.Complete the sentences, using word combinations from the text:

It is vitally important	to be
to optimize
to find
to put
to have
to carry out
to drill
to design

Part 2

Read and translate the following text:

West Siberia is another key area of significance. We intend to use in West Siberia the advanced simulation technologies. 3D seismic and advanced reservoir modeling help understanding better the large fields’ properties, enabling us to exploit the fields more effectively and to improve recovery efficiency in the areas already producing.

We don’t expect any more giant fields being found in this area. But we will be able to find smaller fields whose reserves may approximate between 50 and 100 mln bbl. Also, we will be able to keep production growing by improving recovery efficiency. At present, in certain best strata and fields oil recovery efficiency is already 50% or higher. If we keep doing what we are doing, and the industry keeps developing in the right direction, working over wells, finding missing area - then the recovery factor or West Siberia will average 45-50 percent.

Professor V.Graifer believes that significant technology gap we have in West Siberia is that exploration did not continue beyond Jurassic formation. It happened due to different reasons but the fact is that exploration focused on the Cretaceous and Jurassic strata. Now we do not see much deeper but he believes, once this problem is solved, we will be able to find new resources. In the nearest future, oil companies will focus their attention on the problem and western service and geophysical companies may play a certain role in this process. We have to work on this issue together and come up with solutions.

EXERCISES:

1.Find the equivalents in the text: передовые технологии моделирования, трехмерное сейсмо-геологическое моделирование пластов, характеристики крупных месторождений, коэффициент извлечения нефти, ожидать, проводя капитальный ремонт скважин, обнаруживая пропущенные участки, пробел, геолого-разведочные работы, сконцентрировать свое внимание, вследствие.

2.Make up sentences:

It happened	due to	different reasons.
heavy traffic.
lack of finance.
bad weather.
low quality of pipelines

3.Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Мы намереваемся использовать все передовые технологии в разработке запасов Западной Сибири.

2. Как только проблема будет решена, мы сможем найти новые запасы.

3. Мы не ожидаем, что в данной области будут обнаружены ещё какие-либо гигантские месторождения.

4. Если мы будем продолжать работать в правильном направлении, то коэффициент извлечения нефти составит в среднем по Западной Сибири 45-50 %

5. Проводя капитальный ремонт скважин, мы сможем увеличить коэффициент извлечения нефти в районах, где уже ведется добыча.

6. Западные сервисные и геофизические компании могут сыграть определенную роль в этом процессе.

Part 3

Read and translate the following text:

The oil and gas business is inherently international. The scale of investments and technical complexity of new oil and gas projects is such that even the largest companies cannot cope alone with such projects. Take, for example, the Shtokman Project.

The Stokman gas-condensate field is the largest (3.7 bcm of gas) and the first in a series of developments on the Russian Arctic Shelf. The geographical position of the field and severe natural and climatic conditions make its development, by the unanimous opinion of the specialists, one of the most complicated in the world. Among the factors complicating the development of the Shtokman field are as follows:

• appreciable distance from the coast- 550-600 kilometers; this complicates transport of extracted products to the coast and makes it necessary to treat the production on the spot, i.g. calls for installation of one or several platforms in the field;
• the possibility of the appearance of icebergs in the offshore area of Shtokmanovskoye field makes it necessary to find solutions to a number of problems relating to ensuring safe production (that is, the possibility of installing a platform and its withdrawal to a safe distance in case of appearance of icebergs);
• uninterrupted supply of the works with materials, delivery of personnel to and from the platform to the coast, etc.

The other problems connected with the development of deposits on the arctic shelf are:

• drilling in the severe ice conditions in shallow waters;
• evacuation of personnel in the ice conditions
• development of the coastal infrastructure to ensure safe and efficient production of shelf oil and gas reserves.

Stabilization of production in the old oil and gas regions and development of new fields in Arctic regions, Sakhalin and Eastern Siberia, modernization of existing and development of new technologies are the basis of further progress. And at the same time, the industry needs inflow of highly skilled young personnel. But this issue will be discussed in the following chapters of this work.(study)

EXERCISES:

1.Find the equivalents in the text: техническая сложность, масштаб инвестиций, справиться в одиночку, единодушное мнение специалистов, интернационален по своей природе, суровые климатические условия, факторы, осложняющие разработку, подготовка продукции на месте, значительная удаленность от берега, найти решение по ряду проблем, увод платформы на безопасное расстояние, бесперебойное снабжение работ материалами, обеспечение безопасной добычи, в случае появления айсбергов, доставка персонала на платформу и с платформы на берег, развитие береговой инфраструктуры, приток молодых высококвалифицированных специалистов.

2.Answer the questions:

1. Why do you think the oil and gas business is international?

2. Is the Stokman gas-condensate field the largest on the Russian Arctic Shelf?

3. What is the distance from the coast?

4. What are the climatic conditions?

5. What are the factors complicating the development of the Shtokman field?

6. How should we ensure the safe production?

7. How important is the exchange of technology, knowledge and best practices with other countries and companies?

UNIT III

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14