Browsing by Author "Obah, Boniface"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    An economic evaluation of investment in Mucuna solannie production
    (2016) Uwaezuoke, N.; Obah, Boniface; Onwukwe, Stanley I.; Igwilo, Kevin C.
    Mucuna solannie, a perennial crop, is a Fabaceae found in the South East of Nigeria and in some African and Asian countries. It exhibits interesting properties as a food additive, where it serves as viscosifier. It has, hence, been tested and used to formulate a drilling mud. The drilling mud formulated from it compares quite fine with other muds; with excellent rheological properties. It is suitable for top hole sections. The purpose of Mucuna solannie farming, as a cash crop, is to maintain adequate supply for continued application in the drilling industry; hence, it is a business venture. Also, a comprehensive list of processing equipment has been provided. The study gives the first pass assessments of the requirements for production and processing, necessary for sustained supply. A suitable farm location has been found in South-East Nigeria. Square planting pattern, on 10 hectares area of land, based on one plant per hill, with no filler crops, has been shown to yield 63.9 metric tonnes per year. An initial minimum investment of about $820,920 is required for seeds, land rent, equipment costs and other contingencies; with projected minimum revenue of $283,500 per year, at 22% DCF ROR, if the venture must remain profitable.
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    Enhanced recovery of heavy oil in the Niger Delta: Nelson and Mcneil model a key option for In-Situ combustion application
    (Canadian Research & Development Center of Sciences and Cultures, 2025) Ossai, Patrick G. O.; Ohia, Princewill N.; Obah, Boniface; Duru, Ugochukwu I.; David O. Onaiwu
    In-situ heavy oil recovery involves several field tested enhanced oil recovery methods/techniques with applicable models. Such field tested techniques include non-thermal oil recovery, hybrid oil recovery and solvent-base oil recovery. The viabilities and field successes recorded by these in-situ heavy oil recovery techniques/methods cannot be overemphasized. But, the main focus of this study is on heavy oil recovery using in-situ combustion with attention on the application of Nelson and McNeil model as documented in the in-situ combustion handbook (Partha, 1999). We subjected data(s) obtained from five (5) heavy oil reservoirs located within the same field in the Niger Delta to the correlations, equations, assumptions and calculations proposed by our study model. This enabled the research team to carry out performance evaluations while considering in-situ combustion implementation using our proposed model. Our result outcomes were further validated with a foreign heavy oil reservoir having similar reservoir properties. Our study results show how viable and profitable (with possible commercial production) heavy oil production from unconventional reservoirs in the Niger Delta would be. Currently, most of the internally generated oil revenue by the Nigeria government is from cheap/light oil obtained from conventional reservoirs (which is fast declining globally).
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    Hydraulic evaluation of drilling fluid performance on hole cleaning for different rheological models
    (Society of Petroleum Engineers, 2005-08-03) Duru, Ugochukwu; Chukwu, Godwin A.; Obah, Boniface
    Bottom hole cleaning is an important function of drilling fluid that needs special attention during a drilling operation. Good hole cleaning results in an increase in penetration rate and, at the same time, reduces the operating drilling cost. One of the effective steps towards reducing operating cost is to have a well designed drilling hydraulics program that will optimize the energy used at the mud pumps. A variety of hydraulic optimization designs are available depending on the cutting structure and the formation to be drilled but a common objective is to maximize the available hydraulics to provide optimum hole cleaning. Many authors have discussed various ways of effecting proper hole cleaning using different approaches and methods. Fluid velocity, pump rate, fluid rheology, drill pipe eccentricity, pipe rotation and particle settling velocity, among others were used at various times to evaluate effective hole cleaning. The economic appraisal of hole cleaning using hydraulic horsepower and jet impact force by Wright et al (2003) have proved that both can be used for the design of optimum hydraulic programs on the basis of minimum drilling cost. In this study, basic hydraulic models for vertical oil wells were used to determine the pressure drop in a drill string circulating system and hence, the equivalent circulating density (ECD) using both the Bingham plastic and Power law fluids’ rheological models. From the slip velocity relationships, the transport efficiency of the cuttings for both models was determined. An economic evaluation of the hydraulics from the energy and horsepower requirements for both models showed that the power law fluid model provided a better transport efficiency, and hence more economical in terms of minimum drilling cost.
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    In-situ combustion: Reservoir candidacy/project selection criteria(s) for Niger Delta heavy oil reservoirs
    (2018-09) Ossai, Patrick Godwin Oyindobra; Duru, Ugochukwu Ilozurike; Obah, Boniface; Ohia, Princewill Nnaemeka
    There is a drastic need for the oil companies operating within the onshore(s) and offshore(s) of Nigeria to critically start looking at the various possibilities of heavy oil production from the nation’s various fields located in the Niger Delta region using already available Enhanced Oil Recovery techniques/methods such as In-situ combustion (ISC), CHOPS and SAGD. This study focused on In-situ combustion as a means of enhancing likely heavy oil production in the Niger Delta using the Nelson & McNeil 1961 ISC model. The study developed applicable screening criteria(s) for both reservoir candidacy and ISC project selection in the Niger Delta. Corresponding programs and flow-charts that would allow petroleum engineers in the Niger Delta to theoretically evaluate production erformances using his/her computer(s) was also developed. It was discovered also during our course of work that all six reservoirs considered in both Case 1 (Venezuela reservoir) and Case 2 (Niger Delta reservoirs) met this study’s reservoir candidacy selection criteria(s) for possible applicability of an ISC project performance evaluation(s) with respect to enhancing oil production. These reservoirs were further graded / ranked based on their theoretical ISC project performances as calculated and evaluated using a well known ISC model as documented in the ISC handbook.
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    Performance of water injection in oil rim reservoir recovery factor
    (STM Journals, 2014) Onwukwe, Stanley; Duru, Ugochukwu; Obah, Boniface
    This study examines the potential improvements in recovery factors in optimizing oil production from oil rim reservoirs through water injection and without water injection (i.e. primary production) scenarios in the development strategies of the oil rim reservoirs.A generic simulation model developed from ECLIPSE dynamic simulator was used as core representative of oil rim reservoirs to experiment production optimization with and without water injection. Reservoir data of permeability, oil rim thickness, fluid properties, m-factor, aquifer strength and process parameters sampled from the Niger Delta oil field were used and a lacket-Burman Design of experiment (DOE) was used to give a central sensitivity results from the simulation runs. Recovery factors were obtained for the two different production scenarios: primary production and production under water injection. Regression analyses were carried out on the experimental results to generate proxyequations for recovery factor for the two production scenarios. It was observed that the use of water injection is irrelevant for oil rims with active water aquifer. However, waterinjection will increase the ultimate recovery of oil rim reservoirs under weak aquifer.