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ABSTRACT In many countries, such as in Bangladesh, Egypt and The Democratic Republic of Congo, much of the inland transport is conducted on rivers and lakes. The passenger safety associated with this traffic should be to international safety level. However, often safe transport is not secured and accidents and fatalities occur, either caused by fires or by overloading causing capsizing, grounding on sandbanks or capsizing in large waves. Note that the large rivers can be several kilometers wide. In the case of the river Congo, the passenger safety is at the lowest level, resulting in hundreds of fatalities annually. Of particular concern for the Congo River is the lack of safety equipment, lack of updated charts, poor equipment maintenance and the lack of implementation of education requirements. In the paper, we explore this catastrophic situation and summarize the response to a questionnaire carried out amongst relevant local maritime personnel. Means to improve the situation are suggested with emphasis on adherence to IMO regulations for vessels and fairleads and the education of maritime personnel. INTRODUCTION The transport along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, on rivers and lakes, gives the possibility and ability to navigate and transport goods and people in Congo DRC. Maritime transportation in Congo DRC is extremely important, because around 2/3 of the country's transport is carried out on the navigable waterways. The total length of these navigable waterways is estimated at more than 16.000km, including the navigable part of the Congo River, noting that in Congo RDC, the main maritime transportation is operated on the Congo River with its tributaries and on Lake Kivu. These waterways give the people in the country the opportunity to connect the villages with the capital Kinshasa and the neighbor countries, see Fig. 1. For more details, see WFP (2013). Congo DRC has a generally poor transportation infrastructure. This is a major factor in the country's economic challenges. The Congo River and its tributaries, serve as the main transport arteries. These rivers are supplemented by rail, road, and both private and public air services. The status for river transport is, however, characterized by use of obsolete equipment (like old tugs without navigation lights and barges without safety provisions), lack of navigation supports, non-updated charts and lack of enforcement of maritime rules and regulations. This leads to large annual loss of people and asset and reduced opportunity for economic growth in the country.
- Africa > Middle East > Egypt (0.24)
- Africa > Democratic Republic of the Congo > Kinshasa > Kinshasa (0.24)
- Transportation > Marine (1.00)
- Law (1.00)
- Transportation > Freight & Logistics Services > Shipping (0.49)
- Transportation > Ground > Rail (0.34)
- Health, Safety, Environment & Sustainability > Safety (1.00)
- Health, Safety, Environment & Sustainability > HSSE & Social Responsibility Management > Contingency planning and emergency response (0.46)
- Health, Safety, Environment & Sustainability > Environment > Water use, produced water discharge and disposal (0.46)
- (3 more...)
Abstract. Drilling in the Congo Basin, offshore Angola, shows that the area contains significant sandstone reservoirs. The basin covers an area of 50000 km'. It extends from offshore Congo Republic to the Baia do Bengo, Angola. Up to 12000 m of sediment has been deposited in the basin in the last 140 million years since the basin was formed as a result of stretching and subsidence of the earth's crust during the separation of Africa and South America by continental drift. Seismic survey data obtained over northern offshore Angola reveals the possible presence of deep-water reservoir sandstones, indicated by bright seismic reflections. Although ocean depth in excess of 500 m presents a challenge for exploration drilling, many wells have proved that these seismic reflections represent world-class reservoirs consisting of porous and permeable sandstones similar to the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The reservoir sandstones can be mapped accurately from the seismic data and typically occur as linear belts. They are interpreted as channels filled with sand, called turbidites, which were deposited in submarine valleys and canyons. The reservoir sandstones are between 35 and 5 million years old. The North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico provide useful analogs for understanding these reservoirs. The analogs have similar geometry and physical characteristics to the reservoirs offshore northern Angola and provide information to help find new hydrocarbon accumulations and assist in the production of discovered reserves. INTRODUCTION Seismic survey data from the Congo Basin, offshore, northern Angola, show that the area potentially contains significant sandstone reservoirs. The basin covers an area of about 50000 square kilometers. It extends from offshore Congo Republic to the Baia do Bengo, Angola. Up to 12000 meters of sediment has been deposited in the basin since the beginning of the Cretaceous period, i.e. during the last 140 million years. At that time, the basin was first formed as the result of stretching and subsidence of the earth's crust during the separation of the African and South American continents. Early in its history, river, lake and coastal sediments were deposited in the young, shallow basin. As stretching and subsidence of the area continued, the basin deepened and occasional, temporary incursions of the ocean began to take place. This periodic introduction of sea water, combined with an arid climate, resulted in the deposition of a thick succession of salt during the late early Cretaceous, i.e. about 110 million years ago. Eventually, subsidence was sufficient to ensure that the area permanently submerg
- Europe > United Kingdom > North Sea (0.47)
- Europe > Norway > North Sea (0.47)
- Europe > Netherlands > North Sea (0.47)
- (4 more...)
- Africa > Angola > South Atlantic Ocean > Congo Basin (0.99)
- Europe > United Kingdom > North Sea (0.89)
- Europe > Norway > North Sea (0.89)
- (2 more...)
Abstract In the present study the integration between interpreted seismic reflection profiles, available seismic refraction data, 2D gravity modelling, 2D structural restoration and sandbox analogue modelling are used to depict the crustal-scale architecture and elucidate heat flow issues in the ultra-deep water Lower Congo Basin in order to provide a constrained input to the subsequently performed thermo-tectonic and petroleum system modelling of the investigated region. The integrated analysis provides a state-of-the-art of the large-scale structural and basin evolution of the ultra-deep water Lower Congo Basin. Locally hyper-extended and denser continental crystalline crust is revealed in the area of study. Structural restoration indicates anomalously extensive subsidence at a short time-interval (112โ98 Ma) just after breakup. Considerable stretching ร-factors are revealed within the ultra-deep water region at two modelled transects. Processes that governed the pre-breakup extension have been constrained through analogue modeling. Based on the above multi-fold analysis potential geothermal-gradient scenarios have been considered in petroleum system modelling that shown important effect on the generation history of a pre-salt source rock potentially present in the deep-water. Introduction Heat flow account and its petroleum system efficiency implications are key risk factors in hydrocarbon exploration. Increasing exploration interest for deep seated pre-salt targets in the South Atlantic, far from any well penetration control points (deep water and ultra-deep water), has brought to attention the importance of correctly modelling the heat flow and its reconstruction through the South Atlantic rifting process and basin evolution. Eni has been active on the West-Africa pre-salt Play since the early 60's and recently has been on the front row in trying to unravel un-explored potential of this Play in frontier areas (deep waters). The extensional margin evolution from rift through breakup rapture of the continental lithosphere to progressive oceanic crust formation remains controversial (e.g. Rosendahl et al., 2005). Complicating the issue, the deep crustal structures along several margins are partially or totally masked by evaporate deposits and/or by magmatic materials which deteriorate the seismic reflection resolution at depth. Furthermore, the complex interaction of structural and magmatic relationships during continental rifting and breakup results in a wide variety of margin styles, ranging from narrow to wide, and from "magma-dominated" to "magma-poor" margin rift-systems with different heat flow evolution. The South Atlantic passive margins formed during Mesozoic time as a result of lithospheric extension followed by breakup of the Paleozoic Gondwana super-continent. The opening of the South Atlantic which started in the southern portion and propagated towards the North, resulted in considerable diachronic deformation. All recent studies show that although the South Atlantic Central Segment experienced some volcanism during breakup, magmatic products were not sufficiently voluminous to form seaward dipping reflections (SDRs), and thus the Central Segment conjugate margins exhibit "magma-poor" affinity (e.g. Moulin et al., 2009; Lentini et al., 2010; Huismans and Beaumont, 2011).
- Geology > Structural Geology > Tectonics > Plate Tectonics (1.00)
- Geology > Geological Subdiscipline > Economic Geology > Petroleum Geology (1.00)
Abstract The world's first offshore Rigless Fully Retrievable Electric Submersible Pump (RFR-ESP) system has been successfully installed in the eni Congo Foukanda Field (Republic of the Congo). The project was developed between eni Milan and eni Congo as an Innovation Technology Application (ITA), and it is the world's first offshore RFR-ESP system. The RFR-ESP technology provided by ZEiTECS allows the rigless deployment and retrieval of a conventional Electric Submersible Pump (ESP) system through tubing by means of standard oil field wireline, rod or coil tubing technology. The RFR-ESP system technology is based around a specially designed oilfield wet connector system. This "plug and play" connector design permits the use of any ESP manufacturer's equipment, allowing ESP optimization to match changing well conditions and replacement of failed ESPs without rig interventions; thereby providing an opportunity for OPEX savings, a significant reduction in workover costs and deferred production due to limited rig availability. The success of the first RFR-ESP completion and the positive results achieved to date are encouraging in the pursuit of extending this innovative and valuable ESP completion philosophy to eni Congo wells where ESP failures are primarily related to pump or motor and workover cost are high. The paper describes the technical features of the new RFR-ESP completion, the experience acquired on the Foukanda well and shows, via theoretical study, the economic implications of applying this new ESP philosophy in all the eni Congo high OPEX wells. Introduction Electric Submersible Pumps (ESPs) have become a reliable and important tool in today's global oilfield. ESP technology itself has evolved to meet new, more challenging, operating environments but, nevertheless, the vast majority of ESP deployments use techniques developed decades ago. ESP systems are still installed using jointed pipe, lowered with a pulling unit, drilling or workover rig while power cable is secured to the tubing by means of metal clamps or bands. Even acknowledging the fact that the reliability of ESPs has increased tremendously since their first introduction, some form of remedial work will be required multiple times during the life of a producing field. If that work requires a pulling unit, a drilling or workover rig, the economics of field development may become unfavorable. Eni is looking at reducing its ESP operating costs and, in doing so, decided to evaluate the relative merits of "alternative" ESP deployment options. The RFR-ESP provided by ZEiTECS was selected for an offshore test installation in one of the eni Congo fields. The RFR-ESP technology represents a step change in ESP operating philosophy. ESP replacement without a hoist reduces operational disruption, reduces OPEX and deferment in production but, moreover, has profound safety and cost advantages with elimination of a number of the heavy offshore well interventions. To gain confidence in the new technology and in its new deploying mode, eni selected the well FOKM 101, located on the eni Congo offshore Foukanda platform.
- Africa > Republic of the Congo > South Atlantic Ocean (0.25)
- North America > United States > Louisiana (0.24)
- Africa > Cameroon > Gulf of Guinea (0.24)
Abstract This paper describes the successful ongoing process of optimizing hydraulic fracturing designs in a well campaign in Congo onshore to create best practices for continuing development. The fracture design program began by characterizing and evaluating the rock formation and its compatibility with stimulation fluids, including mineralogical and geomechanical properties, as well as regained permeability. For example, laboratory testing determined that the formation was soft and highly sensitive to water, indicating that a water-based fracturing fluid would require specialty additives to minimize formation damage. During the stimulation campaign, treatment designs were modified to optimize the final propped fracture geometry. For example, designs and operations were changed over time to relieve proppant embedment in the soft rock. In fact, post-frac evaluations demonstrate critical correlations between the final propped frac concentration and conductivity achieved versus production increase over time. The paper presents results to date and lessons learned while engineering the fracture stimulation design and execution to maximize oil production. Introduction Hydraulic fracturing, represents a great opportunity of business, it is the first time on eni's onshore field in which this technology has been applied in a massive campaign. Hydraulic fracturing operations in West Africa are not as common as in the US, Latin America and the Middle East. However, in Congo fracturing technology is spreading and has overcome more than few difficulties since the practice began: logistics and operational issues, related to the complexity of the field and even the complexity of the zones to be fractured. The most significant challenge has been the formation, which has shown through laboratory testing to be soft and strongly water-sensitive. For a recent campaign in Congo, a large number of hydraulic fracturing operations have been performed to stimulate productivity in the M'Boundi field. The success of this hydraulic fracturing campaign has been achieved by studying the reservoir to choose an initial fracturing fluid and develop some initial frac designs, and following each operation with thorough post-job analyses and carefully organizing the logistics. Currently, the contribution to the daily global production of the field, through fractured wells, represents more than 30 %, opening new horizons to the application of the technology in others eni's fields worldwide. In this paper, results of lab tests are described, allowing the identification of critical issues, such that of the formation heterogeneity, soft formation highly sensitive to water (particularly the risk of proppant embedment), the choice of fluid to be used, the equipment and the logistics and operational issues overcome in more than two years of operations and more than 60 jobs pumped. Analyses are presented to correlate some key parameters of frac jobs (conductivity of the fracture, proppant concentration) with the wells' production performance, confirming lab test results and allowing the definition of a strategy of improvement for the pumping in this type of formation, maximizing oil recovery.
- Africa > Republic of the Congo (0.88)
- Africa > Middle East (0.88)
- North America > United States > Texas (0.68)
- Europe > Norway > North Sea > Central North Sea > Central Graben > Block 2/8 > Valhall Field > Tor Formation (0.99)
- Europe > Norway > North Sea > Central North Sea > Central Graben > Block 2/8 > Valhall Field > Hod Formation (0.99)
- Europe > Norway > North Sea > Central North Sea > Central Graben > Block 2/11 > Valhall Field > Tor Formation (0.99)
- (4 more...)