Petrojan uscspe issue1 march 2018

BE A VOICE, NOT AN ECHO!

PETROJAN

YOUR USC SPE ONLINE MAGAZINE EST. 2018

THE

ESP & DOWNHOLE GAS SEPARATION

INTERNSHIP GRIND

2018 SPE WESTERN REGIONAL MEETING

ISSUE NO.1 MARCH 2018

USC SPE WAS FOUNDED IN 1937

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

By Ahmed Mohamed MS in Petroleum Engineering (Smart Oilfield Technologies) University of Southern California Howdy!

Amid this academic year, we've encountered remarkable development and flux here at USC SPE, largely because of our continual pledge to teamwork, networking strategies and to our approach of placing the trust of our members above all else. We've efficiently achieved significant breakthroughs, increased membership, initiated a series of technical and professional development events and fortified our situation as the leading SPE Student Chapter in the Western North America Region.

Indeed, notwithstanding the industry’s current turbulent downturn, we're exploring better approaches to take advantage of the developing industry scene and contemporary innovations to guarantee that USC SPE remains the brightest light on the hill, so that our members remain professionally competitive with students from other top-notch petroleum engineering schools, especially when the oil and gas market blooms again.

Up and coming students will energize the chapter as the new board of directors that will be elected soon. I’m confident that they will continually broaden our chapter's endeavors to deliver our brand promise. We've defined progressive and lofty objectives for ourselves, and we have the sharp vision and assets to accomplish them. We have set up the required understanding, awareness and experience to bring USC SPE our first ever Outstanding Chapter Recognition from SPE International. We know the actions we have to take to remain outstanding are essentially a continuation of what we have been doing actively since the inception of our current 2017-2018 Executive Board plan. With this in mind and taking into consideration that we have only a graduate program for petroleum engineering, one of our specific goals to draw in a broader student base from undergraduates and other departments.

One of our members has depicted our success this year as, "more a marathon than a sprint." We take pride in this portrayal and hold onto it as our operations and planning philosophy. A fruitful student chapter is based on sustainable and dynamic growth, so we’ll carefully choose a vigorous, steadfast blaze over a transient spark any day. Up until now, we've matured our chapter conspicuously, yet figured out how to never falter from our pact to convey the absolute best service to our honorable members.

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Ahmed Mohamed is an Egyptian American citizen currently pursuing a MS in Petroleum Engineering at University of Southern California. Ahmed also holds a BS in Petroleum Engineering from University of Wyoming.

He had an internship with Schlumberger in 2015 as a field engineer intern, and will graduate in May 2018.

As the USC SPE chapter’s president, Ahmed is determined to lead USC SPE to their first ever Outstanding Recognition from SPE International. At present, Ahmed is actively looking for a full-time opportunity after graduation.

Ahmed likes music and soccer, and is the hugest Manchester United fan.

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USC SPE IS A GOLD STANDARD CHAPTER FOR 2012, 2013 & 2015

Our progression in the near term will be estimated based on our capacity to mold key partnerships with other outstanding SPE chapters across the nation and the globe. This potential links will give USC SPE a wider network and unparalleled pathways through which to commence projects on broad range of topics. Notwithstanding whatever these imminent strategic alliances will offer, we intend to be open and honest and seek after those connections that will introduce the best long-range incentives for all parties involved.

An electric winning mentality has gone into our chapter's atmosphere and we hope you can sense it as well. Our objectives are robust, but not impossible to achieve. We are building here at USC SPE a chapter for tomorrow. We hear the students' calls and we are prepared to address their voices. We recognize what's coming around the bend and we couldn't be more energized. Watch us intently; the following years will be a characterizing milestone in USC SPE's timeline.

I applaud every one of our executive board and highly active members for turning this academic year into such an achievement for USC SPE, even during tough circumstances. I would likewise want to extend our gratitude to our Petroleum Engineering Program Director and faculty advisor, Prof. Iraj Ershaghi, and to the LASPE Student Chapter Liaison and our mentor, Dr. Steven Cheung. I would also like to thank the LASPE Section and Chevron for their veracious dedication, trust, accountability, guidance and support, without which our burn would most likely have consumed itself long ago.

Ahmed Mohamed “El Tarabily” President, USC Society of Petroleum Engineers

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PETROJAN IS FROM THE STUDENTS TO THE STUDENTS

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

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FIGHT ON & JOIN USC SPE TODAY!

USC Student Chapter News

Lorenzo BBQ Party With the aim of welcoming all new students to their new life at USC, USC SPE hosted a relaxing and informal BBQ Party on Monday, January 29, held at the rooftop deck of Lorenzo Apartments.

This free event provided an opportunity for new and old students to mingle, get to know one other, and make new friends.

El Segundo Beach 1st Cleanup On Saturday, February 3, USC SPE and Mork Family Department Graduate Student Association (MFDGSA) joined forces cleaning El Segundo Beach, as part of Heal-the-Bay program. Many students never thought environmental volunteering would have been so much fun, until they actually did it in El Segundo. We hope this endeavor will be just the beginning to make our voices heard in the crucial battles to protect our oceans and wildlife. We want to start contributing to the Los Angeles area, we love it here but we want it to be even better! Our dedication to save the environment should be a model to be followed by other clubs, universities and SPE chapters across the state, country, continent, and globe

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USC Student Chapter News General Body Meeting #7 We were pleased to welcome Dr. Steve Cheung back to his alma mater, USC, as he joined us for our General Body Meeting #7, on Monday, February 5. It was a really a great GBM, not just at the educational and technical level, but we also had fun and enjoyed Dr. Cheung's very engaging sense of humor. He is such an amazing person, has been very supportive of us, and he is a fantastic lecturer indeed. Dr. Cheung went through how to deploy cost-effective methods that can improve the viability, efficiency and recovery of mature waterfloods, the “Good Water/Bad Water” concept, critical water production problems, and several mechanical and chemical methods that can improve waterfloods.

SPE Soccer Social Night In an effort to promote student involvement with peers from other departments, USC SPE organized a Soccer Social Night, on Sunday, February 11. Not surprisingly, soccer is the most popular and an almost universally loved sport on campus, especially among international students. This event was a great chance for everyone to have fun and enjoy a little time off without stressing about academics and upcoming midterms. The event was followed by a social gathering with the hopes of establishing a network between SPE and other student organizations around campus.

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USC SPE WAS FOUNDED IN 1937

USC Student Chapter News CRC Info Session

Black Gold Pump & Supply Inc. Field Trip

On Monday, February 12, California Resources Corporation (CRC) was a key member in a big data seminar and information session, in partnership with USC SPE and a USC Statistics Club. The event gave our members the chance to network with company representatives and scope out company benefits and current opportunities. CRC is offering some exciting internship opportunities available this summer.

During this session, Justin Clark spoke on the Big Data and Analytics panel and Katherine Layus, CRC HR Advisor & University Relations Lead, spoke with students about the organization, culture, and hiring process. The event was a huge success, and the attendance turnout was great.

On Wednesday, February 14, 20 USC SPE members took a field trip to the yard and shop of Black Gold Pump & Supply Inc. in Signal Hill, CA. The tour was a great opportunity to enhance our knowledge by getting exposure to various types of pumps and their auxiliaries used in the industry. The most exciting part was at the end, when the staff took us to see a real well and a sucker rod, right next to the yard, and gave us a detailed explanation of how different artificial lift methods are applied.

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USC SPE IS A GOLD STANDARD CHAPTER FOR 2012, 2013 & 2015

USC Student Chapter News WSPA General Membership Meeting On Thursday, February 15, our chapter leaders attended the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) Membership Meeting. Aside from networking and seeking new opportunities for our SPE chapter, the event was a great opportunity for our chapter leaders to learn about WSPA’s mission and devotion to guaranteeing that Americans continue to have reliable access to oil and gas commodities through arrangements that are socially, financially, and ecologically reliable. Precise and valid facts on industry issues were key talking points and the forum for the interchange of different notions on petroleum matters was especially valuable.

NALCO Info Session The USC SPE chapter held a partnership with USC's AIChE and National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) to host an info session with NALCO Champion on Thursday, February 15.

The info session was led by a recruiter and a senior engineer with the company. The session focused on careers with NALCO and the opportunities that they were recruiting for. The students really enjoyed the session as well as the networking and resume distribution that followed!

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PETROJAN IS FROM THE STUDENTS TO THE STUDENTS

USC Student Chapter News General Body Meeting #8 On Thursday, February 15, our chapter members were excited that Mr. Chijioke Ejimuda joined us for our General Body Meeting #8, to speak here on campus at the home of smart oilfield technologies. Mr. Ejimuda shared his knowledge on IIoT production grade design considerations, security, economics, edge (fog) computation, and artificial intelligence solutions with respect to exploration, drilling, production and facility engineering practices without sacrificing safety and environment.

Mr. Ejimuda is a hybrid engineer, second generation oil and gas professional with rich domain expertise in reservoir and production engineering for both onshore and offshore assets. He has worked for ExxonMobil, Aera Energy, and a world class Scottish engineering management consulting firm. Presently, He is a principal scientist and engineer at Hybrid Data Solutions, where they leverage the capabilities of AI, Big Data, and IIoT to solve complex real-world problems with excitement.

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FIGHT ON & JOIN USC SPE TODAY!

USC Student Chapter News

Bethune Middle School’s SPE Science Day A day well spent as our members volunteered to take part in SPE's first educational outreach event of the semester on Friday, February 16.

They taught Bethune Middle School students about physical sciences and petroleum engineering. SPEI Energy4Me resources, presentations, interactive demonstrations, and lunch were provided for all volunteers.

El Segundo Beach 2nd Cleanup On Saturday, February 17, USC SPE collaborated with MFDGSA again to clean up El Segundo Beach.

This effort was even more exciting than the first as our members gathered more plastic trash, found a dead bird (that no body touched), a drug syringe (that we called the beach guard to come remove), and lots of other trash. We feel that it is an important service that we are performing since there are lots of kids that play nearby and the trash is not always removed. We also found many surprisingly beautiful pieces of tar from natural offshore seeps spread all around the beach. From here, aside of making a positive impact contributing to the environment and our community, our volunteers came up with two conclusions. Firstly, do not touch everything you see on the beach, even if it should be cleaned.

There are always specialists or experts who can do this job better and take the right precautions.

Secondly, with the amounts of tar that we found, oil is a natural part and parcel of our environment.

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BE A VOICE, NOT AN ECHO!

USC Student Chapter News Chapter Members of January USC SPE highlights the accomplishments of one of its members each month and it is our pleasure to announce Omar de Gante & Emanuel de Gante as our Chapter Members for the month of January!

The De Gante brothers helped setting up a table and representing our chapter during both the USC Spring Fair and the Viterbi Involvement Fairs, attended all LASPE board meetings this semester representing USC SPE, attended all our General Body Meetings, driven to events whenever big groups are involved and space was needed, and connected us with Schlumberger for a field trip in March. Thanks to Omar and Emanuel for all their efforts moving our chapter forward and being a great example and representing our chapter well when it comes to dedication and leadership. We hope to honor those who work the hardest in helping us achieve our goal of becoming a SPE Outstanding Chapter this year and I cannot think of a more deserving pair.

Omar de Gante is a Graduate Petroleum Engineering Student at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Universidad de las Americas. He worked for Schlumberger as a Wireline Engineer with assignments in USA, India, and Saudi Arabia, onshore and offshore including deep water projects. He successfully introduced new technologies in different Geomarkets in a safe and efficient manner for the oil and gas industry. He enjoys traveling and experiencing different cultures as well as playing sports, such as water polo.

Emanuel de Gante is a Petroleum Engineer Master’s Student at USC. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Electrical Engineering from the Tecnologico de Monterrey Campus Monterrey in Mexico. While working for Baker Hughes, he completed the LEAD Field Engineer Development Program and gained experience in land and offshore environments in conventional and smart completions; he has completed several field and management assignments. He successfully introduced a company software in the Mexico and Central America Geomarket for Fiber Optics, flowmeters, and Permanent Downhole Pressure and Temperature quartz gauges for reservoir monitoring applications. He successfully installed the first Ultra HP-HT Monitoring System in Mexico in the Tsimin Xux Offshore field and was a guest speaker in the Technical Council of the Burgos Basin to talk about the benefits of permanent downhole pressure and temperature monitoring in well testing applications. Since High School, he has been volunteering as a tutor for several educational programs covering several subjects such as math, literature and history. He Enjoys reading, spending time with friends, and loves sports, such as soccer, water polo, and golf.

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USC SPE WAS FOUNDED IN 1937

USC Student Chapter News 2018 SPE North America Student Symposium (NASS) Our Chapter sponsored 14 students to attend the 2018 SPE North America Student Symposium in Baton Rouge, LA on the campus of Louisiana State University. The convention consisted of SPE students from across North America and was an excellent networking event. Students had opportunities to make connections with industry experts, learn more about the petroleum workforce current situation, and meet other oil and gas focused students. 400 students from 62 schools went to Baton Rouge for the four-day occasion.

The symposium commenced with the PetroBowl quiz competition on Wednesday, February 21 in PFT Hall. The best five teams from 24 participating schools qualified to go to the International PetroBowl Competition at the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE), to be held in Dallas in September of this year. USC took part in the competition, but unfortunately did not make the final cut. Details will be further discussed in the next section.

On Thursday, February 22, NASS participants had the chance to take site tours and field trips to different oil and gas facilities. Baker Hughes, Core Laboratories, Shell Robot Training Center, and Workstrings International all hosted students. Schlumberger were likewise also at LSU to visit with NASS students.

The symposium itself occurred on February 23-24, with about 30 pioneers and specialists in the oil and gas industry booked to talk. The opening session started on Friday, February 23, as LSU President welcomed the students, trailed by a word from Sen. Sharon Hewitt. An industry panel talk occurred after, drove by SPE Rocky Mountain Regional Director, Erin McEvers, together with four best experts in the oil and gas industry. The day finished up with the NASS Career Fair. Every single other speaker was added to the schedule of the concluding two days of the symposium, including 2017 SPE President Janeen Judah, who talked on Saturday, February 24.

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USC SPE IS A GOLD STANDARD CHAPTER FOR 2012, 2013 & 2015

USC Student Chapter News PetroBowl North America Regional Qualifier The USC SPE PetroBowl Team was placed in Pool C with other 4 schools. The rules were clear that the top two teams from each pool (total of 4) will advance to the Quarter Finals (tournament-style bracket). The top teams were decided based on record, and not on score. Judges would refer to scores as a tie breaker in case there are two teams or more with the same record.

The 1st game was USC vs. Penn State University. It was a very close call, and a fraction of a second made the difference at the end as one member of their team, and two of ours buzzed in at the same time, but he was slightly faster. He answered the question right, and secured the win. The 2nd match was USC vs. Missouri University of Science and Technology (MUST). For this game, it was pretty obvious that MUST had the best and the most experienced team in our pool. Our team tried hard, but MUST came away with the win. We knew at this point that our backs were to the ropes and we tried our best to make a comeback. Our 3rd match was USC vs. University of Texas at the Permian Basin (UTPB) and our 4th match was against the University of Calgary (UC). In both matches, USC clinched wins without a fight, scoring 60+ points against both teams and limiting both opposing teams under 5 points. Unfortunately, we finished in 3rd place in a pool of 5 teams, and therefore did not advance to the next stage. Yet, we are all proud of our PetroBowl team’s achievement, which is even more impressive since it was our first time ever to participate in the prestigious competition. All in all, it was a great first encounter for our PetroBowl team and we gained a valuable learning experience that we will surely build on. We plan to have a winning-caliber team for next year.

It was noticed that most of the questions are focused on abbreviations, drilling, and information from recent SPE papers. The story will not end here, and we are all very looking forward and confident that one day USC will add the 1st PetroBowl Championship to our chapter’s history books.

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USC Student Chapter News ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge Refinery Tour A select group of USC students, who couldn’t have a spot on one of NASS field trips, was rewarded with the opportunity to attend a private tour of Exxon's Baton Rouge refinery on Friday, February 23. The refinery is the 12th largest refinery in the world in terms of production volume and has a chemical plant on site as well. The tour lasted for just over two hours and the students were able to see several units such as the coker, distillation column, and fluid catalytic cracker. They also saw the port on the Mississippi River where the Refinery receives crude from barges and spent time evaluating the Refinery's health and safety procedures. Lastly, the students toured the state of the art refinery operations control room.

Special thanks to the tour guide, Megan Manchester!

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FIGHT ON & JOIN USC SPE TODAY!

USC Student Chapter News Discover Engineering Day (DED) On Friday, February 23, the USC SPE chapter partnered with several other student organizations at USC to put on a Discover Engineering Day for high school students. The organizational partners included the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), AIChE, RoboGals, and USC's premier Engineer Fraternity - Theta Tau. The conference began by organizing 5 school buses to transport 200 local high school students to the USC campus. The students rotated between 3 sessions over their morning.

The first session was a college preparation workshop that focused on helping students understand what college is and determine how they can do to prepare for it. The next session was a presentation from USC students in various engineering disciplines designed to expose the high schoolers to what 5 different types of engineering (Petroleum, Chemical, Mechanical, Civil, Aerospace) look like. The students were then invited to participate in a project challenge where they designed and constructed a wind turbine and then testing its efficiency.

High school students then had lunch where they were given the opportunity to sit with both USC students and senior professional engineers. The event was finished with a keynote speech by Becky Jensen, a Chemical Process Design Engineer with PBF energy's Torrance Refinery. Becky spoke of her history as an Engineer in the Air Force and her work as Engineer of the Year. She continued with an overview of the refinery before offering advice for prospective engineering students. The event was a huge success and could not have been possible without the generous support of Boeing.

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USC Student Chapter News Chevron Engineering Week Showcase From Chevron, Dr. Andrei Popa, Ms. Cynthia Murphy, and Randy Arizmendiz, together with Prof. Iraj Ershaghi, Prof. Donald Paul, Dr. Theo Tsotsis, and Dr. Robert Young, from USC participated as judges for the Petroleum and Chemical Engineering Showcase, that was held on Friday, February 23. It is with great pride to announce that two Petroleum Engineering teams were formed by some of the most active USC SPE chapter members including many officers. The two petroleum engineering teams are Team Ramin and Team Emanuel. Team Ramin was composed of Ramin Aliyev, Saro Meguerdijian, Jodel Cornelio, Jungang Chen, Yujie Dou, and Mohamed Hassan. Team Emanuel was made up of of Emanuel de Gante, Omar de Gante, Bretton Tomlinson, Shamlan Alroomi, Karen Vo, and Yuanchun Li. Team Miriam, the only Chemical Engineering team, is composed of Miriam Bedrin, AnnaLaura Arredondo, Soojung Choi, Neta Glaser, Donald Mathews, and Jun Yen Leung.

The petroleum engineering teams were tasked with mitigating H2S in situ in a hypothetical gas field. A tough challenge indeed!

From left to right: Saro Meguerdijian from team Ramin, Team Miriam, and Team Emanuel.

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USC SPE WAS FOUNDED IN 1937

USC Student Chapter News OCEC x SWE-OC Virgin Orbit Tour USC SPE, in collaboration with MFDGSA, partnered with the USC American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) chapter, Orange County Engineering Council (OCEC) and the Orange County Section of Society of Women Engineers (SWE-OC) to host a field trip to Virgin Orbit’s site in Long Beach, CA on Saturday, February 24. We reserved 10 spots for each USC student organization and would like to thank Dr. Steve Cheung for passing this wonderful opportunity on to our USC engineering students.

Participants learned about Virgin Orbit's engineering team processes and manufacturing methods for their innovative rockets.

Schlumberger Info Session On Tuesday, February 27, Schlumberger hosted an information session. A big thanks to Schlumberger for allowing our members, and other Viterbi School of Engineering students to come and learn more about Schlumberger and what you can do as a part of this cutting edge. They currently have positions available for full-time entry level and internships. Students with majors in petroleum, chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science were all invited to attend this info session.

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USC SPE IS A GOLD STANDARD CHAPTER FOR 2012, 2013 & 2015

THE INTERNSHIP GRIND

By Bretton Tomlinson MS in Petroleum Engineering (Smart Oilfield Technologies) University of Southern California

(Part of a series on USC student life; Another Day in Paradise) Hey gang, It’s been awhile. I apologize for that. With the fires, the flooding, and the mud-slides I’ve been keeping my head down, just to be safe. But I’m back.

Today I want to talk about a subject that affects us all, but one that everyone seems tight lipped about; but because I’m your trusty USC oil-beat reporter, I’m going to dare to be different.

Specifically, I’m referring to the slow, soul-crushing process of looking for relevant employment over the summer.

In grad-parlance, it’s referred to as the Internship Grind: A full-bodied roast that simultaneously scorches the palette and often leaves a bitter aftertaste, especially in the the current down oil market.

Brett Tomlinson is in his first year in grad school and pursuing a MS in Petroleum Engineering.

Part 1: The Resume

He has a BS in Geological Sciences from Michigan State University (Go Green!) and worked as a drilling Field Engineer for Baker Hughes from 2011 to 2017 before returning to school. Brett is doggedly pursuing a summer internship in the oil & gas industry.

Question: Is there anything more soul crushing that condensing all of our thoughts, triumphs, experiences, skills, hopes and dreams into one measly white page?

He cycles to class and enjoys skiing. He encourages anyone who also likes skiing or snowboarding to contact him!

If we can’t get a job, then can we at least commiserate about it together? Can I get an amen?!

Sadly, I think there is; the fact that this one page is destined, not for the eyes of a competent, intuitive CEO, but for a dispassionate word crunching algorithm on a computer.

Even when I graduated from undergrad and had essentially no “actual” “work” experience, I can remember thinking that there was no way I could convey what I felt were my most important accomplishments in my time as an undergrad. I mean, have you ever heard of a resume advisor telling anyone to write about orchestrating the most awesome Friends-giving dinners in MSU history, year after year?

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Now that we are older, we have some experiences, some accomplishments that the world might approve of using to fill out a “Leadership” or “Relevant Work Experience” section. But gosh darn, how can anyone know that I’m the person you want to spend roughly 480 hours with over the summer based on a piece of paper that I could read in 30 seconds?

which leaves you hunting for the box hidden in the corner asking for your mother’s blood type.

I understand that it’s the best we have right now and it’s how you play the game, but if you’re feeling a little bit short changed, you’re not alone.

Part 3: The Cover Letter (And any “additional relevant documents”)

Part 2: The Online Application Ok, here we finally we get some help from modern technology! The internet has allowed us to not have to stand in line at a career fair while the sweat from our hands sinks into the flimsy paper resume that we have so painstakingly prepared.

We’ve already condensed our hopes and dreams into one sheet of paper, can we get the job now!? Actually no. First, we need you to build an all new resume! (because when have those easy resume transfer widgets ever worked) We need to get it on their website, in their format.

Actually, it occurred to me that submitting a great application is a bit like making Ramen, only in reverse. First, you take the soup fully made, suck all the water out until it fits in a tiny little package, then label it to stick out amongst millions of others.

How hard can that be right?! Well as we all know, it can be deceptively long and fraught with the occasional “You cannot continue until you have completed all required fields”

So we spend an hour completing the online application and we come to a box that reads “Upload Cover Letter,” now what do we do…

When I was younger and had a sense of humor about the whole process, my cover letter went something like this.

Dear Such and Such, Please give me this job because eating Ramen sucks.

Respectfully, Brett (Obviously, I tweaked this slightly when I applied to work at a Ramen manufacturing facility, but you get the idea).

I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure not every resume gets read. Based on that, the percentage of these one paragraph literary “cover” gems that make it through to human eyes is, statistically speaking, 0%.

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FIGHT ON & JOIN USC SPE TODAY!

Can we all agree that if you like my resume, the least you can do is reach out, tell me you liked my resume, and ask me for a letter about why I think the job is a good fit?

Actually, the answer is no, again; see part 4.

Part 4: Quantity vs Quality Many of us have heard this soul crushing phase while having our grandmother delve into our love lives over Christmas dinner, “Don’t worry sweetie, you’ll find the right one someday.”

The operative thought being the right one.

It only takes one application to get a job, but it has to be the right one. How many of us have seemingly found the online job of our dreams, filled out a beautiful application and never heard anything back. Applying for jobs can start to feel like being on Tinder in this day and age of convenient “easy resume transfer widgets.” Of course, when things aren’t going well, there is a temptation to become jaded and start to pursue quantity over quality.

I get it, when you have no prospects, the idea of having one seems particularly appealing. We all want to be sitting behind our computer screens staring at 4 job offers (Even from Ramen manufacturing firms) and performing our best Sally Field impression of “You like me, you really like me!”

Part 5: Acceptance (and final thoughts) When I say acceptance, I don’t mean it in the we-have-reviewed-your-applicationand-would-like-to-hire-you acceptance, I mean it more like the one in the 5 stages of grief. To reference my “Dinner Table Grandma” analogy again, sometimes you found the right one and “she’s just not that into you.” Rejection hurts.

We’ve all applied to jobs for which we thought ourselves perfect. Maybe, like me, you applied to that job that was smart, serious, had cool interests, was funny, had great hair… wait sorry, we’re still talking about jobs, right?!

Maybe you applied to that perfect job and never heard back. Well partner, just know that you’re not alone. When that happens, there’s only one thing to be done, accept that it’s their loss, get back on your internet saddle, and find a new number one and submit another incredible application. There’s an internship out there for you and it just takes one good application to get that first date with destiny.

And if you need assistance, I have a cold one on ice with your name on it.

Cheers y’all

However we must resist the quantity over quality approach to applications. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying to apply for just one job, but I still hold out hope, that somewhere, in a galaxy far far away, an actual person will read my beautiful application and like it!

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The 2018 SPE Western Regional Meeting (WRM) will be taking place in Southern California! The following short courses will be offered in conjunction with the WRM will take place at the Hyatt Regency hotel, Garden Grove, Orange County, CA. These training classes will be held on Sunday and Monday (April 22 and 23), while the Regional Meeting will start on Tuesday (April 24). You do not have to register for the Regional Meeting to attend these classes, but we encourage you to do so.

(Note: DL = SPE Distinguished Lecturer. You will earn CEU, continuing Education credit, for all technical classes).

TWO DAY CLASSES ($750 for all, and $380 for students) (Sunday and Monday) • “Practical Course on Waterflooding” by Ganesh Thakur and Ted Frankiewicz (DL) • “Professional Registration Examination Overview For Petroleum Engineering” by Gary Bing Wines, PE (DL) $400 voucher credit for people who register for the five-day Winrock PE Review Course that will be offered in New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Houston, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Anchorage, Denver, Los Angeles/Bakersfield, and Midland in 2018.

ONE DAY CLASSES •

“Facilities Sand Management for the Upstream Oil & Gas Industry” by Hank Rawlins (DL) (Sunday) • Registration: $500 for all and $250 for students

• “Oil And Gas Pipeline, Facilities, and California Regulatory Requirements” by DOGGR staff: Mark Steinhilber, Mike Edwards, Kathleen Andrews, Michael O’Neill, and Robert Schaaf (Monday) • Registration: $250 for all and $100 for students (Sponsored by DOGGR) HALF DAY TECHNICAL CLASSES ($200 for all, and $100 for students) (Monday) • “Well Abandonment and Well Construction Site Review” by Brad Pierce (Monday a.m.)

• “Reserves Assessment in Mature Assets” by Shah Kabir (DL) (Monday a.m.)

•

“Assessment of Petroleum Properties” by Russel Bertholf (Monday p.m.)

• “Industrial IOT- Automation of Oilfields” by: Dr. Don Paul (USC) and Louis Desroches (Intel) (Monday p.m.) Registration: $100 for all and $50 for students (Sponsored by USC and Intel) HALF DAY BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP CLASSES ($50 ) sponsored by Steve Cheung •

”Everyone Can Be A Leader: How To Influence With or Without Authority” by Lori Dalrymple (DL) (Sunday a.m.)

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“Reciprocal Mentoring: Building Connections That Make a Difference” by Lori Dalrymple (DL) (Sunday p.m.)

For details and registration: http://connect.spe.org/losangelesbasin/western-regional-meeting-2018

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ESP & DOWNHOLE GAS SEPERATION

By Ramin Aliyev MS in Petroleum Engineering (Smart Oilfield Technologies) University of Southern California

Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to Summit ESP for sponsoring me to attend their West Coast Technical Training, as part of their training academy’s program that was held held at Halliburton’s Bakersfield facility on March 13-15. I would like also to extend my thanks to the E-Board of our beloved student chapter, USC SPE, for putting their trust in me, and passing me this wonderful opportunity. This 3-day training course was very educational and informative as it helped me enhance my general knowledge about electric submersible pumps (ESPs), and downhole gas separation. The least I can do to return the favor is to share some of the rich experience and knowledge I have gained with all of you, so let’s get started!

The first ESP was invented by 18-year-old Armais Arutunoff in Russia in 1911, and since then the technology has been developed to the level where upper range of production approaches 150,000 BPD. These days, since there are thousands and thousands of deep, highly deviated wells, usage of ESPs becomes more popular in industry.

Key advantages of ESP: • Applicable to highly deviated wells • High volumes of production • Allows minimum space usage for subsurface controls The entire downhole system consists of the pump housing, intake, seal, motor, sensor, and cable. The diameters of each component may vary, depending on different conditions. In an ideal case, pump, seal, intake and motor should be the same size.

Ramin is pursuing a MS in Petroleum Engineering at USC. He obtained his BS degree in Petroleum Engineering from Industrial University of Tyumen (IUT), Russia.

Ramin was an intern for the engineering department of Rosneft in West Siberia. In addition to that, he studied drilling in Aberdeen, Scotland, and successfully completed 16 credit hours of Stuck Pipe Prevention courses.

Ramin concentrates not only on technical skills, but also on developing his communication and leadership skills. Ramin is very excited to contribute to USC SPE Chapter, and looking forward to helping the chapter achieve their goals and hopefully be part of their journey winning the SPE Outstanding Chapter Recognition this year.

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In addition to that, downhole systems may consist of a single or multiple number of pumps depending on how much pressure needs to be created. For example, in a deep well with dynamic level of fluid on 10,000 ft depth, then, most probably, multiple pumps will be required. However, no matter how long the downhole system gets, the design will be the same. From the bottom to the top, downhole system is designed in the following way: sensor, motor, seal section, intake and pump.

The pump is a multistage centrifugal pump, it must be sized to match the well performance and requires a minimum pump intake pressure to operate. The main function of the pump is to lift the fluid through the tubing to the surface. Pumps are not required for production if the hydrostatic pressure of the well is lower than reservoir pressure. In that case, fluid moves to the surface under natural energy of the reservoir. But if reservoir is produced for a long period of time and pressure has declined, then the natural energy of reservoir is not enough to lift the fluid to the surface. For example, in 10,000ft well, hydrostatic pressure is around 4,330 psi.

Let’s assume that reservoir pressure is 4,000 psi. For this scenario, a pump or injector well is required. A pump will always change the hydrostatic pressure side of the equation, while and injector affects reservoir pressure. Pumps are divided into 2 families: positive displacement (rod pump, PCP) and dynamic displacement pumps (ESP).

Pumps consist of intake, base, stages, shaft, bearing, housing, head and discharge.

Pump stages consist of impeller and diffuser. Impeller rotates with the shaft and turns at the motor RPM, while diffusers do not rotate.

Pumps are assembled by stacking stages on the pump shaft and compressing the diffuser stack in the housing. One stage will produce a given amount of flow and head at the motor RPM.

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Common length of ESP pumps is 20-21 ft, if the pump is longer then it becomes harder to deliver enough compression to the middle of the pump to keep diffusers static. The impeller rotates about the pump axis with the shaft and provides the centrifugal force to the fluid, gives the fluid energy.

Fluid itself enters the impeller through the eye near the shaft and exits the impeller on the outside. The diffuser turns the fluid up into the next impeller, it transforms the fluid velocity, it’s energy, into head. The concept of impellers and diffusers is that impellers rotate and blast heavier fluid to the sides (housing), while diffusers actually create the pressure which comes from those strikes of fluid.

The greatest pressure will be created outside of the impeller because outside is the furthest point, so that circumference is the greatest at the same RPM, hence fluid velocity is highest at the outside.

As it was said, fluid velocity is its energy, which is then transformed into head. One of the most important plots in evaluation of the pump stage is head capacity curve.

This plot is developed by testing pump at different flow rates and measuring how much head in feet is delivered by pump.

The general rule is that the more flow rate, the less head in feet is delivered. For example, our TVD is 7,000 ft, fluid level is 3,500 ft, and flow rate is 300 BPD. The question is, how many stages do we need to lift the fluid up to the surface? From the head capacity curve, head (in feet per stage) under certain flow rate may be estimated. Let’s say, head (in feet) under 300 BPD flow rate is around 35 feet.

Therefore, to lift the fluid to the surface from 3,500 feet, 100 stages are required.

Among important characteristic of pump, there is a BHP – brake horsepower. BHP is the amount of energy required by a machine to move a load a given distance in a given time period.

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To calculate Pump BHP, we need to multiple number of stages by BHP per stage by specific gravity of fluid. For example, there are 100 stages, 0.4 BHP/stage, 1.05 SGL, then Pump BHP is 42.

Another characteristic is hydraulic horsepower. It is amount of horsepower required to lift a given volume of fluid a given distance assuming zero losses.

Hydraulic HP is equal to feet by BPD by SGL divided by 136,000. For example, a certain pump gives 33 head feet at 1,000 BPD. Assuming SGL is 1.0, hydraulic HP is equal to 0.243. Knowing hydraulic HP, efficiency can be calculated by dividing hydraulic HP by BHP per stage. As an example, at the same rate 1,000 BPD the same stage requires 0.4 BHP, then efficiency is around 61%.

By knowing these parameters, we can find the desired power of motor, which can be calculated by dividing total BHP by load. Average and recommended load for pumps is 80%, so if total BHP is 40, then MHP is 50 horsepower.

These calculations were provided to show the importance of head capacity curve. As it was demonstrated, from that curve we can match power of motor with required power of all pump stages.

What makes stages different is their hydraulic design. There are two types of design: radial flow and mixed flow. In radial design, fluid path is perpendicular in relation to the shaft. In mixed, fluid path is both radial and axial. In radial design, 10-15% of gas volume fraction is tolerable, while in mixed – 30-35%. In addition to that, radial design is a worse option if there is a sand coming with fluid.

It’s important to touch high gas applications topic because gas can be a big problem for ESPs. The main reason for that is high compressibility of gas and therefore its changing density. ESPs are designed to use rotational energy to produce non-compressible liquids, but when gas enters the pump, the pressure, generated by pump, compresses the gas but does not move the liquid to the surface, therefore rate decreases, hydraulic HP decreases, efficiency decreases, all BHP becomes a waste, which turns into heat.

Heat expands gas even more, and in addition damages the pump. That’s why gas is so unwished.

There are two steps of high gas solutions: gas avoidance and gas separation. If gas cannot be avoided, then installation of gas separator below the pump is required.

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BE A VOICE, NOT AN ECHO! Downhole gas separator consists of intake, shaft, rotor, separation chamber, vent. The theory of operation is that fluid mixture enters the intake, rotor applies axial force to the fluid and adds pressure, high density fluid is thrown to the outside of the separation chamber, while low density gas rises at the core of the separation chamber. Then, gas becomes trapped in the vent ports and escapes to the annulus, meanwhile liquid flows around the vent ports and is directed into the pump. This simple design helps to handle the gas problem and is required when gas volume fraction is higher than tolerance level of the pump.

In conclusion, clearly ESPs are a wide ranging and fascinating area of the oilfield. I would like to thank again the USC SPE chapter and Summitt ESP for the opportunity to learn more about these modern marvels.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

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UPCOMING EVENTS

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PETROJAN TEAM

Ahmed Mohamed El Tarabily USC SPE President

Bretton Tomlinson USC SPE Assistant Director of Professional Development

Ramin Aliyev USC SPE Executive Director of Professional Development

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ACKNOWLDEGEMENTS Special thanks to …

Prof. Iraj Ershaghi

USC Omar B. Milligan Chair of Petroleum Engineering Dept.

USC SPE Student Chapter Faculty Advisor

Dr. Steve Cheung

LASPE Student Chapter Liaison

PetroSkills’ Course Director of Downhole Remedial Practices for Mature Fields

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SPONSORS

A big thank you to our sponsors for their continuing support!

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Contact and Social Media

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uscspe.com

/USCSPE/

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