Search

Work-Related Parental Absence (WRPA) is common in contemporary family life. Industries such as aviation, fishing, logging, mining, and petroleum extraction all require the employee to work away from family from short to significant periods of time. In Canada's petroleum industry, work schedules that involve parental absence are especially common. There has been ample research conducted on the impact of military deployment on families, some research on how mining families are impacted by WRPA, and a small amount of research on the effects of WRPA among offshore European petroleum workers and their families. However, there is no research currently available that investigates the impact of WRPA on Canadian oil and gas petroleum workers and their families. In this article, we share the results of a qualitative study that examined the experience of WRPA through interviewing 10 heterosexual couples. Use of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis identified a tripartite thematic structure consisting of positive, negative, and neutral aspects of the WRPA experience, which in turn were shaped by specific adaptive strategies undertaken by families. The results of this research provide important insights into a common, yet poorly understood, lifestyle within the Canadian employment landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents comprehensive rock-fluid experiments to study the possibility of oil recovery improvement when CO 2 is injected as a fracturing fluid in the Montney tight-oil play, located in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. This study consists of four phases: In phase 1, we conduct constant composition expansion (CCE) tests with different CO 2 concentrations using a PVT cell. In phase 2, we visualize CO 2 -oil interactions at reservoir pressure and temperature in a custom-designed visual cell. Then, we conduct SEM/EDS analysis on the solid precipitates in the visual cell due to CO 2 -oil interactions. In phase 3, we soak the oil-saturated core plugs in the visual cell, pressurize the cell with CO 2 , and measure the oil recovery. In phase 4, we conduct cyclic CO 2 tests using a core flooding system, and measure the oil recovery. The results of the CCE tests conducted using the PVT cell and visualization tests conducted using the visual cell show that CO 2 can significantly dissolve into and expand the Montney oil. The results of the CO 2 soaking tests in the visual cell show that oil swelling and vaporization of oil components into CO 2 phase are the main production mechanisms. The results of cyclic CO 2 process using the core flooding system show that the oil swelling due to CO 2 -oil interactions, solution CO 2 drive, and oil viscosity reduction lead to high oil recovery factor from the oil-saturated core plugs. In addition, we observe solid precipitates due to CO 2 -oil interactions at the bulk-phase conditions in the visual cell. SEM/EDS analysis on the solid precipitates show the existence of carbon and sulfur, the main components of asphaltene. The results of IP-143 test confirm the formation of asphaltene when the Montney oil contacts CO 2 at reservoir conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though it has long been recognized that pressure drop along a horizontal wellbore cannot be neglected, little has been done to estimate the pressure drop with any rigor. The existing models are derived from pipeflow equations, therefore neglecting the presence of radial fluid movement perpendicular to the direction of bulk fluid flow. Recent experimental studies indicate that such a simplistic approach provides an optimistic behavior in a horizontal wellbore. This article presents a realistic representation of the pressure drop in a horizontal wellbore. Equations are derived from rigorous experiments conducted earlier and reported in the literature. They include the effect of radial fluid movement, perforation flow, gas-oil ratio, oil viscosity, bulk flow rate, water saturation and even the presence of asphaltenes in the crude oil. Even though the equations are based on experimental results, predictions apply to field situations. This aspect is verified with certain unpublished field data from USA and Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy oil and bitumen supply the vast majority of energy resources in Canada. Different methods can be implemented to produce oil from such unconventional resources. Surfactants are employed as an additive to water/steam to improve an injected fluid's effectiveness and enhance oil recovery. One of the main fractions in bitumen is asphaltene, which is a non-symmetrical molecule. Studies of interactions between surfactants, anionic, and non-anionic, and asphaltene have been very limited in the literature. In this paper, we employed molecular dynamics (MD) simulation to theoretically focus on the interactions between surfactant molecules and different types of asphaltene molecules observed in real oil sands. Both non-anionic and anionic surfactants showed promising results in terms of dispersant efficiency; however, their performance depends on the asphaltene architecture. Moreover, a hydrogen/carbon (H/C) ratio of asphaltenes plays an inevitable role in asphaltene aggregation behavior. A higher H/C ratio resulted in decreasing asphaltene aggregation tendency. The results of these studies will give a deep understanding of the interactions between asphaltene and surfactant molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]