Effects of Enhanced Oil Recovery on Production Engineers, Elm Coulee Field, Bakken Reservoir, Richland County, Montana

This presentation describes research at Montana Tech to improve oil recovery rates in the Elm Coulee Oil Field in the Bakken Reservoir, Richmond County, Montana. The slides display current recovery rate predictions, enhanced oil recovery methods, reservoir model building and history matching strategies. Recommended development strategies include implementing hydrocarbon gas injection operations to improve current oil recovery rates by more than 75%. The impact of increased production on Production Engineers is also described. The Principal Investigators include John Evans, Leo Heath, David Reichhardt and Burt Todd in the Petroleum Engineering Department.

Kibbey Sandstone in Montana

Much attention has recently been given, by geolog­ists, to prolific water bearing horizon and a potent­ial oil horizon, known as the Kibbey sandstone, which lies deeply buried under much of central Montana. In some local­ities the sandstone is dry, and its identification in cut­tings from deep wells has in many cases proved difficult.

History of Petroleum Engineering at Montana Tech

In January, 2010, the Petroleum Engineering department at Montana Tech moved into a new building, the Natural Resources Building, to start a new chapter in the history of the program on campus. Occupying a new building is a positive event, and it coincides with a surge of student enrollment which is prompted by industry needs and world energy demand. This time of new facilities and growing student numbers leads to the question of what the future has in store for the department. It also leads to reflection about where the department has been in the past. This history is a record and a story of that past.