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By C. Richard Tinsley

Investment activity in the Pacific Rim of Fire has seen a phenomenal surge from epithermal gold exploration. Individual countries are attractive because of lower up-front minerals lease costs (United States, Canada), better geological prospects (Chile, Indonesia), or cheaper equities (Australia). Since the October 1987 stock market crash, large companies are shedding minority joint venture interests to focus on core businesses. Some vertical integration is evident in Japanese coal investments in the Pacific Rim. This article does not cover the aluminum industry oligopoly, which is multinational in character. Nor does it cover the many Canada to US minerals investments. It will be interesting to see if the new US-Canadian free trade treaty will reverse that investment flow. Cross-border investments The following examples should dispel any doubts about the significance of cross-border investment in the Pacific Rim. BHP, Australia's largest public company, has invested $US 4.5 billion in the JS for the following transactions 1984 $2 billion Utah Minerals 1984 $500 million Energy Resources 1985 $745 million Monsanto Oil 1987 $400 million 50.7% Hamilton Oil 1989 $378 million Pacific Resources Placer Dome, mainly through 76% owned Placer Pacific, has the following gold mine developments in hand including the date the project began, Placer Dome's ownership, project name, its location, and capital expenditures: • 1985, 53.1 %, Kidston, Queensland, $A 139 million; • 1989, 37.9%, Big Bell, Western Australia, $A135 million; • 1989, 60.6%, Misima, Papua New Guinea, $C252 million; • 1990,45.5%, Granny Smith, Western Australia, $A95 million; • 1991, 50%, La Coipa, Chile, $US276 million; and • 1991, 25.3%, Porgera, Papua New Guinea, $C1.1 billion. Australia's Western Mining Corp. (WMC), through a foray of off-market acquisitions in late 1987, acquired con¬trol of five Canadian gold companies for a $A488-million outlay ($C452 million) as follows:

Jan 1, 1990

By Alessandro Martinis

The performance requirements for modern steelmaking facilities are ever more stringent, as customers and markets are continuously pushing for technologies which allow having high quality steel produced in an economic and sustainable way. In the details, this paper has the aim to present the excellent results obtained by integrated steel plant where an EAF is fed with high quality hot ENERGIRON DRI. The recent technology developments, combined with the affirmed basic process design, contributed to further maximize the energy of the DRI, reaching the EAF at temperatures above 600°C with a carbon content up to 3.5%, as confirmed by plant data. These improved input material characteristics resulted in reduced electrical energy consumption and increased liquid steel production.

Aug 16, 2017

By Gerald R. Dickens

Massive sulfide ores and Fe-Mn oxyhydroxide precipitates represent two extremes of a spatial continuum of hydrothermal deposition along oceanic ridges. Elemental variations across this continuum are of interest to economic geologists as a prospective geochemical exploration tool. Theoretical considerations suggest that certain physical and chemical parameters can be used to model compositional variations within the far-field (i.e., Fe-Mn oxyhydroxide) component as a function of distance from ridge axis; however, testing and verification of such models generally has been precluded because the few available distal hydrothermal sediment sequences have been sampled at low resolution and/or are highly diluted with biogenic components (e.g., siliceous and calcareous tests). Recent ocean drilling (ODP Leg 145; Sites 885/886) in the North Pacific successfully recovered an extensive record of "biogenic-free" distal hydrothermal precipitates from an area approximately 60 km south of the Chinook Trough at longitude 168.1 °W. Geophysical and geomorphological evidence suggests the Chinook Trough is the southern lithospheric scar marking initiation of late Cretaceous north-south rifting, implying that recovered hydrothermal materials record distal hydrothermal precipitation from the now-subducted Kula-Pacific spreading ridge. The Chinook Trough hydrothermal sequence is a continuous 15 my record of "biogenic-free" hydrothermal Fe-Mn oxyhydroxide precipitation mixed with eolian clays. It was deposited during the late Cretaceous, early Paleocene (80-65 Ma) as the perpendicular distance from ridge axis increased from 75 to 600 km. A high-resolution geochemical analysis of this hydrothermal sequence reveals distinct trends for the up-core (equivalent to increasing distance from ridge) distribution patterns of Fe, Sc, As, and rare earth elements (REE). Iron concentrations exhibit an S-shape distribution pattern with respect to increasing

Jan 1, 1994

By Zoltan Hajnal

Magnetic studies have been carried out on 88 surface and 157 underground samples from the Coronation Mine area of northern Saskatchewan. The intensity of the surface samples was compared to trace element determinations from the same locality. A good correlation was found between the titaniferous constituent of the rocks and the intensity of magnetization. From the direction of the remanent magnetism, two virtual geomagnetic poles were determined -latitude 12° 54' North, longitude 158" 17' West; and latitude 23" 42' North, longitude 163° 45' West. The sulphide ore specimens showed anisotropic susceptibility characteristics. A relationship was found between the measured maximum susceptibility values of the ore specimens and the direction of the tectonic forces which are considered to have formed the structure at the Coronation mine. Introduction T HIS paper summarizes the results of a study of the magnetic properties of samples from well-known Precambrian formations. The observed data give information for an interpretation of the magnetic field conditions in Precambrian times. The high magnetic intensity values indicate the importance of the study

Jan 1, 1965

By George W. Riter

Discussion of the paper of H. 0. Hofman and C. R. Hayward, presented at the New Haven Meeting, February, 1909, and printed in Bulletin No. 30, June, 1909, pp. 513 to 529. GEORGE W. RITER, Salt Lake City, Utah (communication to the Secretary*).-In their paper, Messrs. Hofman and Hayward deal with a branch of silver metallurgy that is on very uncertain ground, both as a commercial process and as a metallurgical science; moreover, its field is limited to few localities and to peculiar conditions. The literature on the subject is incomplete and full of conflicts. The paper under discussion clears u p no disputed points; on the contrary, because of hasty generalization, its tendency is towards further confusion. In Table I., the authors assume that each test-lot of 1,800 g. of ore contained exactly 5.499 g. of silver, that any variation in the quantity of silver recovered, however slight, should be ascribed to variation in the time of grinding. It is barely possible that the ore was mixed so uniformly as to justify this assumption; but those of us who know how difficult it is to get uniform samples of any ore in which silver mineral is present in rich particles will have a doubt on this point. The unlikelihood of getting absolutely uniform test-lots of ore also reflects on the data in Table II., on the effect of varying the amount of salt in a pan-charge. The authors say " The salt series was the last one that was investigated." This again raises a question as to whether the ore was split into test-lots at the time of sampling, or whether it was kept in bulk in such a way as to permit mechanical concentration of values before the end of the experiments. The conclusion following Table II.: " There is no reason, therefore, for going beyond six per cent. of salt," is hardly to the point. If we assume that salt is of benefit only when in solution, it follows that the relation between the quantity of salt

Mar 1, 1910

By E Rubio, N Morales

Currently, mine plans are optimised by using several criteria as objective functions, like profit, life-of-mine, concentration of some pollutants, mining costs, confidence level or ore resources, with consideration of constraints related to production rates, plant capacities and grades. Whilst this approach is successful in terms of producing high value production schedules, it uses a static opening sequence of the drawpoints and therefore the optimisation is made within the level of freedom left by the original opening schedule, and as a result it is far from the true optimal value of the project. This paper presents a model to optimise the sequence of drawpoint opening over a given time horizon. The emphasis is in the precedence constraints that are required to produce meaningful operational sequences considering the exploitation method (panel or block caving), physics considerations and logical rules. Further on, while it applies the standard approach of maximising net present value (NPV), it considers other targets for optimisation, like the robustness and constructability of the plans. Finally, it applies the model to real data to obtain feasible plans by means of this model. The first tests were done varying the production capacity of the mine.

Sep 26, 2011

By John M. Hill

Automation technology has many facets, some well tested and proven, some yet to be put to the acid test of economic reality. In this paper, we will limit our purview to the former. Consider, if you will, an automated handling system combining high-speed conveyors and automatic devices on-line which not only provide signals for routing and sorting, but also format those signals for the production of manufacturing, inventory, shipping and billing paperwork. This is not futuristic, but practical and a realistic accomplishment. Therefore, the following discussions will address today's challenges not with tomorrow's solutions, but rather, with an established technology which is playing an increasingly prominent role in materials handling systems. Until recently, relatively modest importance has been attached to the timeliness of information feedback from the production or assembly line, warehouse or distribution center. Thus, initial applications of automatic identification equipment focused almost exclusively upon the control of materials flow - that is, routing, sorting, etc. However, these systems have performed successfully and quietly established an enviable track record as reliable materials control tools.

Jan 1, 1973

By F. L. Bazzanella

Cyprus Pima has two concentrators, one with a conventional crushing-grinding circuit and the other using semi-autogenous grinding followed by ball mills.

Jan 1, 1978

In dealing with the pulverization and treatment of auriferous ores, it may be stated that there is not one system of treatment applicable to all classes. In the southern portion of New Zealand the ores generally contain free gold, with scarcely any impurity that is, it is found in an almost pure state, without any alloy, and its dissemination amongst the matrix is generally in tolerably coarse particles. The only difficulties the mill man has to contend with, are the economical concentration of pyrites, which in some of the lodes are rich in gold, and the extraction of the gold the pyrites contain. In some of the lodes there is what may be termed float gold, that is, the particles of the precious metal are so finely divided that it passes over the quicksilver tables, and, unless there are other appliances for saving it, this class of gold is entirely lost.Indeed it is only within the last five years that any attention has been given, in the southern portion of the colony, to saving the fine gold that has passed the amalgamating tables. In the North Island the ores are very complex there are scarcely two mines, although they may be adjoining each other, where the bullion is of the same character. On every field the gold is alloyed with silver', and in combination with other metals and mineral substances, such as copper, zinc, antimony, galenfl, iron, sulphur, arsenic, etc., and, in some instaaces, cinnabar, as in the case of the Champion lode at Tui Creek, Te Aroha. Ores of this class are extremly difficult to treat satisfactorily.

Jan 1, 1903

The methods employed in dressing 'the tin ore up to the required percentage of purity depend mainly on the type of ore crushed.These may be briefly divided into two distinct classes-viz., q, free: milling ore and a complex milling ore. In the former the ore is practically free from the common metallic sulphides, such as pyrites, mispickel, blende, galena, etc., and 1!' clean concentrate of 70 per cent metallic tin can be directly obtained in one continuous act of concentration; in the latter, however, in order to get a good extraction, it is only advisable to primarily concentrate up to 30 to 40 per cent. tin oxide, the rest being the sulphides of the metals. This concentrate is then roasted, re-ground, and re-concentrated up to 70 per cent. metallic tin on a separate set of tables.In the complex milling ore the tin is intermixed very closely with the sulphides, so that it becomes necessary to collect all the mineral present in order to obtain clean tailings. Stamp mills are the most popular machines for the primary crushing in the district, but whether they are invariably the best for the purpose is rather an open question. No doubt for some of the very tough chloritic ores they are the most efficient, but for a brittle quartzose ore, such as the free milling proposition usually is, the writer thinks Oornish rolls would well hold their own, especially when the tin occurs coarse, as is so often the case with this class of ore. Of course, the great drawback to stamps is the excessive quantity of tin slimed and slime tin is one of the problems of tin-dressing-while rolls give...

Jan 1, 1907

GENTLEMEN, lt is with much pleasure I meet you tonight at this the second meeting of the Australasian Institute of Mining Engineers, held in Western Australia, and I sincerely thank you for the honour you have conferred upon me in electing me as your President. I greatly appreciate the distinction, and will endeavour to fulfil the duties of the office to the best of my ability, and hope to prove a worthy successor to those gentlemen who have held the position before me. On behalf of the local members of the Institute, I extend a hearty welcome to the members from the other States of the Commonwealth, who have come so far to attend this meeting, and also to the non-members whom we have invited this evening. We are especially pleased to have Mr. Gregory, our Minister of Mines and Railways, and the Government and School of Mines officials with us; and I take this opportunity to thank the Premier, Mr. Gregory, and the Government officials for the assistance given us, and for doing so much to make the visit of our members from the other States so pleasant and instructive. I have also to thank the Mayor and Councillors of Kalgoorlie for the courtesy and hospitality given to our members, which is much appreciated.I assume you want me to follow the time-honoured custom of giving a Presidential address...

Jan 1, 1909

IN December, 1905, a Forwood down-wheeler grinding pan (5 ft dialmter), and similar in design to those in use on the Kalgoorlie goldfields, was installed for experimental work in connection with fine grinding jig tailings.The galena remaining in this product is very finely (closely) mechanically disseminated throughout the blende and gangue, rendering fine crushing imperative for its liberation. A reswne of the milling process in vogue at the old mill will enable the series of operations to be more closely followed. The ore at the South Mine assays, on the average-lead...

Jan 1, 1909

To obtain the best economic results in treating the comparatively high-grade ore of the Kalgurli Mine a good roast is essential, and the effort of this paper will be to briefly describe the plant and the conditions prevailing in roasting, which, on an output of about 360 tons daily, subsequently enable an average extraction of slightly over 94% of the gold to be maintained.The percentage of sulphur in the ore varies between 2'5 and 3'5, the lower figure existing when treating oxidized ore. The average gold value is 13 dwt; this occurs chiefly as sylvanite, containing .a lower percentage of silver than is usually present in that mineral. One ore body in the mine contains hessite (Ag2Te) in considerable quantity, associated with gold telluride, and when ore from this stope is being treated the silver contents rise to as high as 20 dwt, but the usual amount is about 9 dwt. per ton, of which only a small proportion is extracted. Other metallic minerals, in addition to pyrite, occurring more or less commonly, are arsenopyrite, magnetite, chalcopyrite, and the tellurides calaverite (AuTez)and coloradoite HgzTe3). A small proportion only of the value occurs as free gold.

Jan 1, 1911

By Joseph E. Pogue

The petroleum industry has been involved in Lore collective planning than any other American industry, with the exception of the railroads and utilities, and therefore is of interest as a case study in the experimental attempts to regulate the economic consequences of free competition. Planning is of course an integral part of effective management, hence at the outset a distinction must be clearly drawn between competitive planning and collective planning. By competitive planning is meant the aggregate of plans drawn up and prosecuted by the competing units occupying a field of enterprise; by collective planning is meant a collusion of plans, either originating among some or all competitors, or else imposed upon them, whether accepted or resisted, by some superior authority, usually the state. The prevailing popular concept of "planning" as applied to industry appears to be a program of conduct superimposed upon an industry unwilling or incapable of achieving a socially and economically desirable result under free competition. In this brief and tentative analysis of the subject, competitive planning is left to one side and attention is focussed upon the matter of collective planning as defined above. A basic functional difference between the two categories of planning is that in the case of competitive planning the individual plans are small, numerous, and tend to offset one another when in error; whereas in the case of collective planning, the separate plans are larger in scope, fewer in number, and tend to escape the incidence of the principle of compensation. In viewing the evolution of collective planning in the petroleum industry we find that during the past 20 years there have developed four more or less well defined collective plans and that at the present time the industry is deeply involved in a collective planning trend pointing toward further varieties. The four plans, which are to some degree transitional, may be conveniently named from the chief incidents that led to their formulations. The first collective plan was the program of control developed during the World War and hence called the war plan. The second plan was one originating within the industry in the period between the war and the inflation of the late twenties and called the inventory

Jan 1, 1935

By R. V. Whetsel, V. R. Garfias

For some time the writers have been compiling and analyzing statistics of consumption and production of petroleum, its products and related fuels, in order to arrive at a fairly accurate picture of the world-wide situation of the petroleum industry. In production, crude oil, natural gasoline, benzol and alcohol blended with motor fuel have been considered. In consumption not only refined products, but crude consumed as fuel, refinery losses, ships' bunkers and blended fuels have been taken into account to obtain a true balance between supply and demand. Statistics from practically every country and territory have been studied, and where actual figures were not available the estimates have been based on all the data available. The figures in Table 1 indicate that during the last five years the world's production has exceeded demand every year and that the aggregate difference is some 207,150,000 bbl. The supply in the United States exceeded consumption by 111,401,000 bbl. over the same five-year period and in 1931 and 1932 the demand exceeded supply, while outside the United States the excess of output over demand was 95,749,000 bbl. Table 2 combines the excess production in the United States with its favorable balance of exports over imports, showing that the United States has reduced its storage over the five years by about 136,-595,000 bbl., while in Table 3 it is shown that, including its excess of imports from the United States, the rest of the world has added 343,-745,000 bbl. to storage during the period in question, the greatest accumulation coming in 1934. Table 4 shows the world's consumption classified by countries according to the principal products. These tables also indicate that at the end of 1934 the statistical position of the petroleum industry outside the United States was decidedly unstable, a situation that probably will become more acute as a result of the added Iraq production; and that the present favorable statistical position of the industry in the United States, which is partly due to the excess of exports over imports, may be to some extent jeopardized by the unstable situation in the foreign market.

Jan 1, 1935

By David B. Reger

Oil and gas and their derivatives continue to be stable products in West Virginia. In the midst of the cataclysmic happenings of 1930 to 1934, which have swept away banks and practically destroyed many other enterprises of presumably nonspeculative character, the possession of a royalty or working interest in a few old oil or gas wells has prevented disaster in literally thousands of homes. These old wells yield their daily quotas of basic commodities, which the public must have. Fortunately, the facilities of disposal in the Appalachian Province are so ample and well managed that the owner of such equities may be reasonably certain that his proportionate share of existing markets will be afforded him without much effort on his part. In most cases these investments are free from encumbrance or hypothecation, therefore the main uncertainty is the date of ultimate exhaustion at the source. Generally, this is known to be fairly remote. The net result has been that individual owners part with such investments only as a last resort. In sharp contrast to the action of the small owner of wells or royalties who has prudently refrained from jeopardizing his rather certain income by drilling new wells that may be failures, or of which the product may not be needed for the moment, has been the plight of various promotional enterprises in natural gas. Many of these ventures have been operated by amateurish remote control and practically all have been overloaded from the start with bonds and debentures, which could only be satisfied in a rising and expanding market; and with operating costs that have been exceedingly high because of widely scattered producing units and large overheads. Many of these promotions are now in receivership or bankruptcy and in various instances the original units have been recaptured by former owners and have again become profitable by reason of personal operation and elimination of all forms of overhead expense. New Development In 1934, the State issued 524 permits for drilling. According to the trade journals, 553 wells were completed, with 184 oil wells, 274 gas wells and 95 dry holes (Table 3).

Jan 1, 1935

By M. Muskat, R. D. Wyckoff

The general problem of the simultaneous movement of water and oil in a connected sand is of considerable practical interest from two points of view. First, there is the situation usually described as "edge-water encroachment." Here the water in the sands contiguous to and flanking the oil sand begins to enter the latter as the oil is removed and the reservoir pressure declines. The physical questions involved concern an understanding of the mechanism of the advance of the water and its control, so as to aid the oil recovery rather than to hinder it. In so far as the entry of the water into the oil sand means at least the partial replacement of the oil from the region of the encroachment by the advancing water, it is quite appropriate to consider this type of situation as one of natural water-flooding. For the present discussion, however, we are primarily interested in the problem of artificial flooding. Here the water is deliberately injected into the oil sand with the intention of displacing the oil and removing it through prearranged output wells. For the practical development of such a procedure rather large areas are included in the flooding program and the injection and output wells are arranged in regular patterns or networks, which are felt to be most favorable for a high oil recovery. Although remarkable success has already been obtained in such flooding programs, especially in the Bradford field of Pennsylvania, essentially by the application of the lessons of practical engineering experience, a more thorough physical analysis of the problem appeared to offer promise of leading to results of some interest and value. Another phase of the problem, which stimulated both the experimental and mathematical analysis, is that it is susceptible in large measure to empirical field tests. It, is in itself but an example and illustration of the general theory of the flow of dead (gas-free) liquids through porous media, in which the authors have been interested for the last several years. From the point of view of its applicability to actual petroleum technology problems, however, water-flooding is a particularly favorable

Jan 1, 1934

By C. E. Reistle, G. L. Nye

The East Texas field is in Smith, Rusk, Gregg, Upshur and Cherokee counties, Texas. The discovery well was completed Sept. 8, 1930, near the eastern limit of the field. Within less than one year the new field became the dominant factor in the world production of crude oil. On Aug. 16, 1931, eleven months after completion of the discovery well, there were 1644 wells in the field, and the average daily production was 584,475 bbl. Since that time the number of wells has increased to 8195 on Oct. 1, 1933, and the field has produced 385,979,691 bbl. of oil. The geology of the East Texas field has been discussed by Lahee,1 Levorsen,2 Minor and Hanna3 and others, and it will not be discussed in detail here. The field is a structure of the monocline type on the westward dipping homocline between the Sabine uplift and the East Texas geosyncline. Production is obtained from the Woodbine group, which has been truncated and then sealed by the Austin chalk, which rests unconformably upon it. The oil-saturated part of the sand lies bettween a sub-sea depth of 3050 ft. on the east side of the field, where the Woodbine sand stops and the Austin chalk rests directly upon older formations, and a sub-sea depth of 3320 ft., which was the average depth of the water table in the sand at the time the field was discovered. The field is about 40 miles long and has an average width of approximately 4 1/2 miles. The area within the proven limits of the field is close to 116,580 acres and the normal Woodbine water underlies nearly 62,000 acres on the western side of the field at the present time. The field is unusual in several respects: (1) the tremendous size of the reservoir system and the quantity of oil in place; (2) the large area of the oil and water contact, which makes water movement possible into the oil-bearing part of the structure; (3) the absence of free gas within the main producing sand of the field. Changes in the reservoir pressure during the production history of the field have been greatly affected by

Jan 1, 1934

By M. Muskat, M. O. Taylor

Theoretical calculations have been made on the performance to be expected of gas-drive reservoirs for various characteristics of the oil and gas and the producing rock. Such performante has been expressed graphically as curves for the reservoir pressure and gas-oil ratios of the production as functions of the cumulative oil recovery. The latter has been expressed in terms of percentage of pore space of the reservoir rock. Such curves automatically give values for the ultimate physical recovery, if the latter is interpreted as the recovery obtained when the reservoir pressure has declined to atmospheric, or to any other pressure chosen as defining the state of practical complete depletion. Calculations of these pressure and gas-oil ratio histories have been made for conditions in which the oil viscosity, the gas solubility and shrinkage, the size of an overlying gas cap, if present, the permeability-saturation characteristics of the rock, and the amount of connate water, have been individually varied, The results serve to show the extent to which the ultimate recoveries are sensitive to the important physical parameters characterizing the oil reservoir. As is to be expected, the ultimate recoveries are found to decrease with increasing oil viscosity. Because of the predominant effect of the oil shrinkage associated with the liberation of the gas in solution, the ultimate recovery will decrease with increasing gas solubility. Increasing gas-cap volumes lead to higher recoveries, although the contribution made by the gas-cap gas is small as compared with the oil expulsion by the equivalent amount of solution gas. As a whole, the oil recovery when expressed in percentage of the pore space is not very sensitive to the details of the permeability-saturation relationship. However, if the rocks possess an equilibrium free-gas saturation, the rise in gas-oil ratio will be retarded, and the 'ultimate recovery somewhat increased' The oil shrinkage associated with the liberation of the dissolved gas also leads to the result that as long as the connate water is immobile and the permeability ratio curve for the rock is a function only of the total liquid saturation, the stock-tank oil recovery will be less for a sand containing no connate water than for One with an Original water content as high as 3' per cent. The space voidage in the former case will be somewhat greater, but the effect of oil shrinkage will lead to smaller values for the equivalent stock-tank recovery. These calculations also give data showing how the productivity indexes for the producing wells will vary during the reservoir history. Because of decreasing Permeability to the oil and increasing oil viscosity, the productivity index will fall continuously as Production proceeds, and may finally reach values as low as 10 per cent of the initial productivity index. Introduction In a previous paper1 was developed the basic theory for the prediction of the production histories of gas-drive reservoirs. The data required for the application of this theory included the characteristics of the petroleum fluids, such as the viscosity of the Oil and gas phases, the solubility of the gas in the oil, and the oil shrinkage— all expressed as functions of the reservoir pressure—and the permeability-saturation characteristics of the producing rock, as

Jan 1, 1946

By M. Muskat, M. O. Taylor

Theoretical calculations have been made on the performance to be expected of gas-drive reservoirs for various characteristics of the oil and gas and the producing rock. Such performante has been expressed graphically as curves for the reservoir pressure and gas-oil ratios of the production as functions of the cumulative oil recovery. The latter has been expressed in terms of percentage of pore space of the reservoir rock. Such curves automatically give values for the ultimate physical recovery, if the latter is interpreted as the recovery obtained when the reservoir pressure has declined to atmospheric, or to any other pressure chosen as defining the state of practical complete depletion. Calculations of these pressure and gas-oil ratio histories have been made for conditions in which the oil viscosity, the gas solubility and shrinkage, the size of an overlying gas cap, if present, the permeability-saturation characteristics of the rock, and the amount of connate water, have been individually varied, The results serve to show the extent to which the ultimate recoveries are sensitive to the important physical parameters characterizing the oil reservoir. As is to be expected, the ultimate recoveries are found to decrease with increasing oil viscosity. Because of the predominant effect of the oil shrinkage associated with the liberation of the gas in solution, the ultimate recovery will decrease with increasing gas solubility. Increasing gas-cap volumes lead to higher recoveries, although the contribution made by the gas-cap gas is small as compared with the oil expulsion by the equivalent amount of solution gas. As a whole, the oil recovery when expressed in percentage of the pore space is not very sensitive to the details of the permeability-saturation relationship. However, if the rocks possess an equilibrium free-gas saturation, the rise in gas-oil ratio will be retarded, and the 'ultimate recovery somewhat increased' The oil shrinkage associated with the liberation of the dissolved gas also leads to the result that as long as the connate water is immobile and the permeability ratio curve for the rock is a function only of the total liquid saturation, the stock-tank oil recovery will be less for a sand containing no connate water than for One with an Original water content as high as 3' per cent. The space voidage in the former case will be somewhat greater, but the effect of oil shrinkage will lead to smaller values for the equivalent stock-tank recovery. These calculations also give data showing how the productivity indexes for the producing wells will vary during the reservoir history. Because of decreasing Permeability to the oil and increasing oil viscosity, the productivity index will fall continuously as Production proceeds, and may finally reach values as low as 10 per cent of the initial productivity index. Introduction In a previous paper1 was developed the basic theory for the prediction of the production histories of gas-drive reservoirs. The data required for the application of this theory included the characteristics of the petroleum fluids, such as the viscosity of the Oil and gas phases, the solubility of the gas in the oil, and the oil shrinkage— all expressed as functions of the reservoir pressure—and the permeability-saturation characteristics of the producing rock, as

Jan 1, 1946