Podcast Archives - Top Energy Training

“TOPCORP Project and Methane Emissions” with Arvind Ravikumar on the Oil & Gas HSE Podcast

Hilary Olson — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 16:10:00 +0000

In this episode of the Oil and Gas HSE Podcast (brought to you on the Oil and Gas Global Network by Endress+Hauser), host Russell Stewart talks with Arvind about the TOPCORP training program for oil and gas inspectors, and the latest landscape on monitoring methane emissions.

Oil and Gas HSE Podcast

ENSURING YOUR PEOPLE GO HOME SAFE EVERY DAY

Hosted by Russell Stewart

One of our frequent TOP Energy subject-matter experts and course creators is Arvind Ravikumar, Research Associate Professor in the Department of Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Ravikumar’s research focuses on technical and policy solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the global energy sector. His group, the Sustainable Energy Transition Lab, employs an interdisciplinary approach that integrates field work, modeling, and policy analysis to answer critical questions around our energy future. Specific topics include the role of new technologies in decarbonizing the oil and gas industry, methane emissions and the future of LNG and natural gas, equitable energy transitions in extractive economies, and energy demand and sustainability in the developing world. The current geographic focus is on North America with a growing interest in its linkages to global energy trade. The research group welcomes people from a variety of backgrounds including atmospheric scientists, engineers, economists, and public policy experts to push the frontiers of energy and climate policy research. In addition to Arvind’s position at UT, he is also a non-resident fellow with the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines.

In this episode, Dr. Ravikumar and host Russell Stewart discuss the EPA’s proposal to update, strengthen and expand its November 2021 proposal to reduce emissions of methane and other harmful air pollution from both new and existing oil and gas operations. The Agency has issued a supplemental proposal that would achieve more comprehensive emissions reductions from oil and natural gas facilities by improving standards in the 2021 proposal and adding proposed requirements for sources not previously covered.

*Equation Sheets referred to by Russell Stewart during the podcast can be found on the website for the Center for Subsurface Energy and the Environment at The University of Texas at Austin.

About Dr. Ravikumar: After completing his BE (Electrical Engineering) and MSc (Physics) from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Dr. Ravikumar went on to complete his Ph.D. and M.A. in Electrical Engineering at Princeton University (2015). After a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, he started a faulty position at Harrisburg University of Science & Technology in 2018. In 2021 Arvind began his current position at The University of Texas at Austin where he conducts research with his Sustainable Energy Transition Lab and teaches courses related to sustainability and the energy transition.

Watch This “Methane Emissions and Fines Under the Recently Passed Inflation Reduction Act” Presentation by Mohamed Rali Badissy

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About TOP Energy Training

TOP Energy Training is the authority for oil and gas training, trusted by industry regulators, educators, and employers. We are an educational consortium that is composed of Colorado School of Mines, Penn State University, and The University of Texas at Austin. Together, we design and create online courses for oil and gas professionals, focusing on the fundamental technology, science, and engineering of oil & gas operations.

Since 2012, we have delivered more than 42,000 hours of content to professionals as part of our flagship program for field inspectors and regulatory personnel. Now we make these high-quality online courses available to professionals, educators, & students who would like a better understanding of the ever-changing technology in the industry.

We’ve brought together instructors, subject matter experts, and industry professionals to create online courses that include professional video and interactive multimedia to visualize complex oil and gas principles and equipment. We’re thrilled to be able to share the knowledge of our subject-matter experts with students, industry professionals, and companies who are looking for ways to expand their comprehension of the oil and gas industry.

The post “TOPCORP Project and Methane Emissions” with Arvind Ravikumar on the Oil & Gas HSE Podcast appeared first on Top Energy Training.

“Advancements in Drilling” With Dr. Bill Eustes on the Mineral Rights Podcast

Top Corp — Fri, 02 Sep 2022 16:27:00 +0000

In this episode of The Mineral Rights Podcast, host Matt Sands and co-host Justin Williams chat with Dr. Bill Eustes – a professor emeritus with the Petroleum Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines and an instructor with the TOP Energy Training consortium.

The Mineral Rights Podcast

The Mineral Rights Podcast is a show where you can learn how to manage mineral rights and royalties. We provide actionable tips, we break down the latest mineral rights news for you, and interview mineral owners and experts in the industry so that you can learn from them.

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In this episode…

Matt, Justin, and Dr. Eustes discuss high-level steps that go into drilling a well, the safety and environmental considerations with drilling, as well as what the future holds around advancements in drilling technology, and how what we’ve learned in oil and gas drilling can be applied to things like geothermal energy and CO2 sequestration.

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About Dr. Bill Eustes

After 25 years as a faculty member of the Petroleum Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines, Dr. Alfred William Eustes III retired and was granted emeritus faculty status. Prior to that, he was an ARCO Oil and Gas field drilling engineer. His recent drilling research work has involved NASA robotic drills for the Moon and Mars, NSF Antarctic deep ice drilling and coring, lost circulation studies, geothermal drilling, and other drilling projects. He is a DOE National Renewable Energy Lab Joint Appointee developing geothermal drilling improvements.

Dr. Eustes has a BSME (78) from Louisiana Tech, MSME (89) from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a PhD-PE (96) from the Colorado School of Mines and is registered as a Professional Engineer in the state of Colorado.

Dr Eustes is also an instructor for the TOP Energy Training consortium. I am really excited for this conversation because we talk about the high level steps that go into drilling a well, the safety and environmental considerations with drilling, as well as what the future holds around advancements in drilling technology and how what we’ve learned in oil and gas drilling can be applied ot things like geothermal energy and CO2 sequestration.

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About TOP Energy Training

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“Developing The Digital Oil Field” with Jim Crompton on the Digital Oil and Gas Podcast

Top Corp — Mon, 02 May 2022 16:23:00 +0000

In this episode of the Digital Oil and Gas Podcast, Host Geoffrey Cann interviews Jim Crompton, oil and gas industry expert, professor at the Colorado School of Mines, owner Reflections Data Consulting, LLC, and one of our many instructors here at Top Energy Training as we work to educate regulators, inspectors, policymakers, and oil & gas industry professionals so that they can develop informed public policy and regulations around complex issues in the oil and gas industry, like orphan wells.

Digital Oil and Gas Podcast

A weekly podcast on the impacts of digital on the oil and gas industry hosted by Geoffrey Cann.

Geoffrey’s mission is to accelerate digital energy. He helps solve for the demand-supply imbalance for digital innovation in oil and gas where there is a shortage of demand for innovation but ample available supply.

Geoffrey helps create demand for digital innovation teaching digital awareness to oil and gas companies. He reveals the way to be more capable at adopting digital innovations. Geoffrey enhances the supply of innovation by helping digital innovations better fit the needs of the industry.

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What Geoffrey and Jim discuss in this episode…

The concept of the “digital oilfield”, as well as the data and sensors necessary to fully digitalize an oil patch.

About Jim Crompton

One of our many TOP Energy subject-matter experts and course creators is Jim Crompton. Jim retired from Chevron in 2013 after almost 37 years. After moving to Colorado Springs, Colorado, Jim established the Reflections Data Consulting LLC to continue his work in the area of data management and analytics for the Oil & Gas industry. Jim was a Distinguished Lecturer for the Society of Petroleum Engineers in 2010-2011, speaking on the topic of “Putting the Focus on Data.” He graduated from the Colorado School of Mines (BS in Geophysical Engineering in 1974 and MS in Geophysics in 1976) before joining Chevron in Denver, Colorado. He later earned an MBA degree (1996) from Our Lady of the Lake University (San Antonio, Texas).

His contributions in applications of information technology to business problems, led Jim to be named a Chevron Fellow in 2002. In 2013, Jim and Dr. Dutch Holland co-authored a book titled The Future Belongs to the Digital Engineer, focusing on the issues of the impact of emerging digital technology on oil and gas operations. Jim has since authored three additional books. Jim was selected to be on the board of the SPE Digital Energy Technology Section (DETS) and serves as chair of the Digital Transformation committee under DETS. Starting January 2018, Jim teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in Petroleum Data Analytics at the Colorado School of Mines.

Watch This “Introduction To The Digital Oilfield” Presentation by Jim Cromption

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“Abandoned and Orphan Wells” with Jim Crompton on The Mineral Rights Podcast

Top Corp — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 16:17:00 +0000

In this episode, Host Matt Sands interviews Jim Crompton, oil and gas industry expert, professor at the Colorado School of Mines, owner Reflections Data Consulting, LLC, and one of our many instructors here at Top Energy Training as we work to educate regulators, inspectors, policymakers, and oil & gas industry professionals so that they can develop informed public policy and regulations around complex issues in the oil and gas industry, like orphan wells.

The Mineral Rights Podcast

This podcast is for mineral rights owners who have questions about leasing, lease offers, drilling, taxes, production, royalties, division orders, or purchase offers. Get answers to all of your questions about mineral rights, royalty interests, leasehold interests and more!

Hosted by Matt Sands

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What Matt and Jim discuss in this episode…

What are Orphan Wells

What are orphan wells?
How big is the issue? How many orphaned wells are there in the United States?
For the number of wells that are classified as orphaned, how many of these are actually documented and known vs. assumed based on say a statistical analysis?
Let’s talk about bonding requirements with state regulators. We’ve talked about the requirement that operators have to put up a surety bond to cover the closure of any abandoned wells should the company go bankrupt. How much do state bonding requirements cover the plugging & abandonment of these orphan wells?
How much does it cost to properly P&A one of these orphan wells?
With all of the spending at the federal level, how much funding in things like the infrastructure bill has been set aside for closing wells?

How Oil & Gas Wells Should be Plugged & Abandoned

I know it varies by well but in general how are wells plugged & abandoned?
What type of research is going on at universities to study things like P&A or cementing optimization or novel new ways to plug and abandon wells in a more cost efficient manner?
What is the typical timeline for plugging & abandoning a well and removing surface equipment? Does this process take days, weeks, months?
What happens when a well depletes and stops producing oil & gas in commercial quantities. I know it varies by jurisdiction but in general, how long does a well have to be shut-in before the operator has to P&A the well (assuming they have no plans to produce in the future)?

Environmental and Emissions Concerns with Orphan Wells

So I can completely understand if you are a surface owner that an orphan well on your property presents a problem because of the expense that removing the old production equipment would entail so that you could use the land again, but what kind of environmental concerns do orphan wells present?
How big of an issue are methane emissions from orphan wells? How good is the methane emission data around these wells?
How much methane does a typical orphan well emit?
Where are most orphan wells located or are they pretty evenly spread across the major oil producing regions? Which wells are the highest priority for closure; are they prioritized by methane emissions?
What kind of monitoring is done with orphan wells once they’ve been identified? Do regulators require pre/post abandonment monitoring and if so, what type of data is collected?
What recourse do landowners have if they have an orphan well on their property? How can they make sure it is on someone’s radar to eventually plug & abandon properly?

Future Developments

What are the business opportunities around orphan wells? It seems like there is going to be an increasing demand for companies to provide services to address this issue, is this correct?
I know that non-profit organizations like the Well Done Foundation have started to help this issue but they aren’t plugging orphan wells to make money.
Whether it is good or bad I know that things like carbon cap & trade and other carbon pricing mechanisms have started to gain traction. In fact in Episode 102 we talked about this in more detail and the fact that API came out endorsing carbon pricing for the first time in 2021. Do you think that carbon credits of some kind will actually make it profitable to build a business around plugging & abandoning these wells by selling the credits you would get from plugging the worst methane emitting orphan wells?