School of Mechanical Engineering

Dissertations Submitted 2005

Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Elemental Sulphur Formation in Natural Gas Transmission Pipelines (View PDF - Secure)

David Pack

Supervisor: Associate Professor Terry Edwards (SOGE)

The prime aim of this research project has been to elucidate the mechanisms associated with the 'elemental sulphur' formation and deposition processes. Through a better understanding of the contributing factors involved it is believed greater confidence will be gained to more effectively and efficiently design and operate a transmission pipeline system, and associated infrastructure, through minimisation of the 'sulphur deposition' process.

Master of Oil and Gas Engineering

The Future of LNG Contract Terms (View PDF - Secure)

Seungk Ku Cho

Supervisor: Mr Tim McGrath (SOGE)

Since the first commercial LNG trade had happened between the United Kingdom as the importer and Algeria as the exporter in 1964, the demand for LNG has increased continuously. The main derivers for LNG growth are environmental concern, cost reduction of LNG plant and shipping by new technology and the requirement for new supply sources to substitute pipelined natural gas.

'Peak Oil' (View PDF - Secure)

Paul Finnigan

Supervisors: Mr Tim McGrath (SOGE), Brian Fleay

This thesis examines the proposition of ‘Peak Oil’, a concept that world ‘conventional’ crude oil production has, (or is about to), reach peak levels, and is now, (or is imminently), in decline. The concept does not mean that the oil is running out ‘immediately’; rather that the days of ‘easy’ cheap conventional oil are at end, and that the remaining world endowment of oil will prove increasingly hard to find and produce, and that its price will increase.

Investigation of Pipeline Corrosion Due to CO2 in the Pamaguan Field (View PDF - Secure)

Fajar Sasongko

Supervisor: Mr Tim McGrath (SOGE)

Pamaguan oilfield has been producing oil for 21 years through the 12-km pipeline. Soon, it will develop its natural gas production that has approximately 40 % carbon dioxide content. This has the potential to cause a significant cause of corrosion. The intelligent pigging result shows that the 12 km pipeline has been corroded for several years due to its oil production. In order to prevent failure of the pipeline, research is required. The NORSOK M-506 model (Norsok, 2005) shows that Carbon dioxide (CO2) content has to be reduced from approximately 40 mole % to maximum of 0.026 % mole to avoid premature failure of the pipeline. To reduce the level of CO2, three methods are compared: Diethanolamine (DEA) as chemical solvent, membrane separation system and corrosion inhibitor application. The simulated DEA system cannot CO2 content requirement. The membrane separation system can reduce the content to lower than the maximum CO2 concentration requirement. The application of corrosion inhibitor to the pipeline with 99% availability can also reduce the corrosion by reducing the corrosion rate to 0.19 mpy including residual corrosion rate of 0.08 mpy. It is suggested that a combined technologies shall be employed to achieve optimum result in avoiding pipeline failure.

Ammonia Recovery from Sodium Cyanide Production Waste Gas (View PDF - Secure)

Yesika Suarez

Supervisor: Dr Khalil Rahman (SOGE)

CSBP produces Sodium Cyanide which is extensively used by the gold mining industry. Ammonia is one of three raw materials used in its manufacture. Ammonia is not fully converted in the reaction, and, since world ammonia prices have risen, CSBP has decided to revisit the potential benefits of implementing an ammonia recovery system. These recovery systems are used in cyanide plants around the world and it is believed that the technologies have been improved since their implementation over 40 years ago. This project evaluates three different technologies available in the market and shows the advantages and disadvantages of each option being added to the current process.

Honours Theses - Bachelor of Oil and Gas Engineering

An Investigation into Formation Water Salinity in Offshore Mauritania, West Africa (View PDF - Secure)

Chris Bettridge

Supervisors: Dr Khali Rahman (SOGE), Martin Kennedy (Woodside Energy)

It has long been known that formation water composition can be used as an indicator for reservoir properties. In particular, the salinity of formation water can be an indication of the wells distance from a saldiapirir, the environment that the reservoir was laid down and any underground water movement present. ThChinguettiti Oilfield is located in the Mauritanian Basin off West Africa. It iWoodsidedEnergy’s’s Ltd. first Mauritanian project, and is known to lie above a sadiapirpir. Thus the formation water composition within the water bearing sands will be dependant on the sandstones distance from the sadiapirpir. To date, salinity values of formation water have been obtained through direct sampling of the formation which is time consuming and costly. This thesis employs an indirect method to obtain and characterise the salinity values for tChinguettitti Oilfield utilising situitu values obtained through Wire-Line log responses.

Predicting Pipeline Concrete Coating Absorption

Evan Chudziak

Supervisor: Dr Daniel Brooker (SOGE)

FEMLAB Simulation of Fluid Flow around the Wellbore (View PDF - Secure)

Samuel Falkner

Supervisors: Dr Jishan Liu (SOGE), Dr Wancheng Zhu (SOGE)

This project is a parametric study that presents an investigation into those variables that effect the radial pressure distribution and productivity of a generic gas well. Parameters identified as key to the reservoir pressure are density, viscosity and permeability; the effects of each are addressed individually such that they can be better identified and quantified.

Fluid Mixing Dynamics at Natural Gas Transmission Pipeline T Junctions (View PDF - Secure)

John Hamersley

Supervisor: Dr David Pack (SOGE)

This thesis investigates the potential contributing factors due to fluid mixing dynamics at natural gas transmission line T junctions to the formation of ‘elemental sulphur’. The ‘elemental sulphur’ deposition phenomenon is a very recent and rapidly growing pipeline contamination problem, occurring within natural gas transmission pipeline systems and associated pipeline equipment.

Eradu Seismic Survey Proposal - The Coal Seam Prospectivity of the North Perth Basin (View PDF - Secure)

Wayne Harnden

Supervisors: Associate Professor Terence Edwards (SOGE), Stephen Thomas (Westralian Gas & Power)

This proposal report is a preliminary assessment prospectivityctivity of the Irwin River Coal Measures for viable Coal Seam Methane deposits. Current data available from coal and petroleum exploration will be used to build a geological interpretation of the northern Perth Basin. This understanding, and further data available concerning the coal properties, will then be assessed to determine the potential of discovering financially viable methane-bearing coal seams.

FEMLAB Simulation of Waterflooding in a Stratified Reservoir (View PDF - Secure)

Matthew Hohnen

Supervisors: Dr Jishan Lui (SOGE), Dr Wancheng Zhu (SOGE)

FEMLAB simulation of the Windalia reservoir waterflood confirms injected water preferentially flows through high permeability reservoir strata, bypassing lower permeability zones which may contain residual mobile oil. In this study Partial Differential Equation based FEMLAB software was used to model waterflood flow in the Windalia reservoir, located beneath Barrow Island off the West Australian Coast.

Numerical Modelling of Hydrodynamic Coefficients for Piggyback Pipeline (View PDF - Secure)

Muhamad Kamarudin

Supervisors: Associate Professpr Krish Thiagarajan (SOGE), Associate Professor Liang Cheng (Civil Eng)

Hydrodynamic loadings play a very important role in the stability of submarine pipelines. The cost of installing the pipelines can be up to 40%-60% of the total cost of offshore facilities. One of the main techniques proposed is pipeline bundles where two or more pipelines are strapped together to reduce the cost of installations and
maintenance. A popular way of combining the bundle is to strap a smaller diameter pipeline onto the main pipeline. This gives rise to a piggyback configuration. With this configuration, the flow behaviour around the bundle is not well-known. This leads to the concern on the stability of the configuration. This paper will investigate the influence of the piggyback on the hydrodynamic loadings on the bundle in steady current and also wave plus current situation using a Computational Fluid DCFDmics (CFD) approach.

Economic Viability of Gas Reinjection (View PDF - Secure)

Ryan Kulacz

Supervisor: Professor Bob Hurle (SOGE)

The objectives of this project were to extend and improve upon the BP Profile Generator reservoir simulation software, so that it could be used to examine a range of gas condensate reservoir scenarios. An economic evaluation of each scenario was performed so that a conclusion could be made regarding the economic viability of gas reinjection. A number of complexities which affect the recovery efficiency have been researched and discussed.

Data Centric Design in Process Engineering (View PDF - Secure)

Timothy Lightfoot

Supervisors: Professor Bob Hurle (SOGE), Adjunct Professor Earl Piermattei (SOGE)

The representation, storage and transmittal of engineering data has undergone very little change over the last 30 years. Computers have revolutionised the way other industries gather, store and reuse information. Engineering as a whole has been slow to embrace this change, certainly we have seen improvements in the Design and Analysis applications supporting the tasks of engineers however the media upon which their work is stored and transmitted has not changed with the times. Predominantly paper is used both for internal revisions and at the handover phases. This document centric culture costs engineers time and effort and increases the probability for data consistency issues due to paper revisions being out of date. This culture is being challenged by that of data centric engineering. Standards have been developed that look to change the way that engineering data is stored and transferred throughoutlifecycles lifecycle. As a result, major software companies have developed implementations of these standards which have only recently started being embraced by the wider engineering community. This thesis takes a broad overview of the topic with the aim to lay a foundation for future students to base their practical investigations upon. This includes an investigation of engineering design philosophy and how computers have aided the engineer’s productivity over the years. The state of engineering and what impact this new software will have with regards to the future of outsourcing. I have also considered the IT configurations and the technology that has provided the basis for the software implementations.

Simplified Modelling of Equivalent Permeability in Naturally Fractured Reservoirs (View PDF - Secure)

Rickie Lin

Supervisors: Dr Jishan Liu (SOGE), Dr Wancheng Zhu (SOGE), Dr Jinchang Sheng (SOGE)

Naturally fractured reservoirs are some of the most complex reservoirs in the world. They occur frequently in nature through natural processes and geological aOrdonezeet alrdonez et al, 2001) and make up more than 20% of the world’s oil and gSaidiserves (Saidi, 1983). Given the frequency and commonness of such reservoirs, it is very important to be able to model it accurately. However, due to the complexity of the fracture networks contained within, naturally fractured reservoirs are very time consuming and very difficult to model accurately.

Due to the complexity of modelling naturally fractured reservoir, it is not always feasible to perform. This paper offers an alternative to complex modelling by using mathematical models developed from computer simulations. The model is very simple and can be used to aid decision making.

A Study of the Agglomeration of Model Gas Hydrates in Crude Oils (View PDF - Secure)

Alicja Majewski

Supervisors: Associate Professor Terence Edwards (SOGE), Patrick Gateau (Institute Français du Pétrole)

This project forms part of a suite of research studies aimed at characterising the rheological properties of agglomerated hydrate particles under laminar flow conditions. Experimental work was conducted at the Institute Français du Pétrole (IFP) in Rueil Malmaison, Paris. Investigations focused on the simulation of model hydrate particle agglomeration in several Brazilian asphaltenic crude oils provided by Petrobras and known to exhibit natural anti-agglomerate characteristics.

Malampaya Reservoir Fluid: Equation of State Model (View PDF - Secure)

Jarrad Rexilius

Supervisors: Associate Professor Terence Edwards (SOGE), Ramzy Sawiris (Chevron), Arman Vehedi (Chevron)

Equations of state have found widespread use in the petroleum industry for their ability to describe a wide variety fiuidservoir fiuid behaviour. They are critical to the success of compositional reservoir simulation models, as an equatiEOSof state (EOS) is the most effective means of describing the thermodynamic and phase behaviour of complex hydrocarbon mixtures. The purpose of this thesis project is EOScreate an EOS model to characterise the Malmpaya Camagolmpaya-Camago gas-condensate reservoir.

An Evaluation of Acoustic Sand Monitoring and it's Application to the Cossack Pioneer (View PDF - Secure)

Matthew Wells

Supervisors: Associate Professor Terence Edwards (SOGE), David Lin (Woodside Energy)

This paper gathers research on sand production prediction modelling, multiphase flow regimes, the acoustic profile of multiphase flow detected by emerged acoustic probes, and acoustic sand monitoring itself to aid the interpretation of acoustic sand monitoring data. It also describes field trials that were undertaken to assess current sand production levels, installation options and evaluate the level of performance that could be achieved.