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research
OMAN DAILY Observer
SATURDAY, January 16, 2010
SQU and PDO: many years of joint research collaboration
¬ SQU offers ideas and staff, PDO offers an opportunity for application ¬ A Solid Expandable Tubular Test Rig Facility
is the second of its kind in the world ¬ The Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery Project is very promising
T
he partnership between PDO and SQU in
scientific research has produced, and will
continue to produce, a number of scientific
successes in the Sultanate’s oil and gas industry.
PDO, the premier oil and gas recovery company in
Oman, produces 550-580,000 b/d from a staggering 120 fields. Because many of these are maturing, this has opened new horizons for collaboration
with SQU faculty in a bid to find solutions to problems which hamper the improvement and development of oil recovery systems. Such solutions are
vital and of strategic importance to sustain production over the coming decades. Consequently, the
two institutions have worked together to preserve
and strengthen the links between them. PDO gains
from the various SQU teams conducting campus
research to develop new technologies while SQU
gains access to opportunities to test such technologies in a real oil industry working environment.
PDO supports joint projects and experiments
with an annual budget of $ 2 million. Engineer
Sheikhan al Khaduri, in charge of PDO’s New
Technology Implementation, says that the company’s support for oil and gas research conducted
by SQU faculty enhances the research agreement
between the Company and SQU, which has enabled the company to upgrade its capabilities in
strategic areas like enhanced oil recovery and water
shutoff techniques using chemical and mechanical in a pioneering position in new technology testing.
materials.
Al Khaduri adds that the solid expandable tubular facility, financially supported by PDO, has
Laboratory experiments
recently been put to work to test the expandable tuAl Khadury says that SQU’s contribution to the bules before they are dropped into the wells, which
improvement of work mechanisms at PDO is ex- will maximise the opportunities for oil recovery .
emplified by the many laboratory experiments con- Dr Ali al Bimani, SQU’s Vice Chancellor, and John
ducted by SQU faculty in the last few years aiming Malcolm, PDO’s Managing Director inaugurated
to meet the Company’s needs in the area of water the facility in May last year. It is the second of its
shutoff techniques which have already achieved in- kind in the world and the first in the Middle East.
ternational standards. In these experiments, chemiMicrobial enhanced Oil Recovery
cals are first tested at the laboratory, then injected
Al Khaduri goes on to say that Microbial Eninto the wells, a step which lessens danger and enhances the possibility of success. Thus the continua- hanced Oil Recovery is a vital, strategic and ongotion of this joint co-operation will strengthen SQU’s ing project which will present its results and recpotential for scientific research by making it acces- ommendations in the middle of 2010. This project
sible to students and researchers, and will keep PDO is the only of its kind in the Gulf region. It attracted
the attention of interested parties in the UAE when
representatives of PDO and SQU were invited
to Abu Dhabi in 2008 to give a briefing on the
project, which was commended for its accomplishments. During the last ten years, Al Khaduri points
out, fifty joint research projects have been mutually conducted. In 2009, the two sides supported
more than 10 joint research projects dealing with
the following topics:
l Chemical or mechanical for keeping water out
of a well while letting oil in
l T
he effects that microbes can have on the flow
of oil through underground rock formations
l T
he possibility of increasing oil production
from rock formations by igniting some of the
crude oil in the formation itself
l T
he possibility of using polymers to enhance
Obstructive Sleep Apnoea
Sleep Apnoea symptoms
are easy to diagnose
S
without an understanding of
the disease process. The term
“Pickwickian syndrome” that
is sometimes used for the syndrome was described by the
famous early 20th-century
physician, William Osler, who
must have been a reader of
Charles Dickens. The description of Joe, “the fat boy” in
Dickens’s novel, The Pickwick
Papers, is an accurate clinical
picture of adult obstructive
sleep apnoea syndrome.
The early reports of obstructive sleep apnoea in the
medical literature described
individuals who were very severely affected, often presenting with marked hypoxemia,
hypercapnia and congestive
heart failure. Tracheostomy
was the recommended treatment and, though it could be
life-saving,
post-operative
complications were frequent
in these very obese and shortnecked individuals.
However, the management
of obstructive sleep apnoea
was revolutionised with the introduction of continuous posiairway pressure (CPAP),
History of Sleep Apnoea tive
which was described for the
The first reports in the first time by Colin Sullivan
medical literature of what is and associates in Sydney, Ausnow called obstructive sleep tralia in 1981.
apnoea date only from 1965,
Prevalence
when it was independently
described by French and GerAlthough the condition
man investigators. However, may occur in all age groups,
the clinical picture of this including children, the focus
condition has long been rec- has largely been on the midognised as a character trait, dle-age population. Snoring
Smarter Oil Fields
Al Khaduri goes on to say that the current efforts
to make the Company’s fields ‘smarter’ are at the
heart of collaborative research between PDO and
SQU. As technologies are identified and matured
they are immediately implemented, offering quick
returns in the form of higher production, lower
ischemic heart disease, diabetes and depression. Sleep apnoea patients are at greater risk
of car accidents as a result of
excessive sleepiness and lack
of concentration. The costs of
untreated sleep apnoea reach
further than just health issues.
It is estimated that the average
untreated sleep apnoea patient’s healthcare costs $1,336
more than an individual
without sleep apnoea. If approximations are correct, 17
million untreated individuals
account for $22,712,000,000
in healthcare costs.
Dr Mohammed Al Abri of
the Sleep Medicine Unit
at SQU has conducted
several studies on Sleep
Apnoea
leep Apnoea is a sleep
disorder characterised by
pauses in breathing during sleep. Each episode, called
an apnoea (Greek: aπνοια
(ápnoia), lasts long enough
for one or more breaths to be
missed, and such episodes
occur repeatedly throughout
sleep. The standard definition
of any apneic event includes
a minimum 10 second interval
between breaths, with either a
neurological arousal, a blood
oxygen desaturation of 3-4 per
cent or greater, or both arousal
and desaturation. Sleep Apnoea
is diagnosed with an overnight
sleep test called a polysomnography or a “sleep study”.
Clinically significant levels
of sleep apnoea are defined as
five or more episodes per hour
of any type of apnoea (from the
polysomnogram). There are
three distinct forms of sleep apnoea: central, obstructive, and
mixed (ie, a combination of
central and obstructive).However, the most common form of
sleep apnoea is the obstructive
one. Breathing is interrupted
by the lack of respiratory effort
in central sleep apnoea; in obstructive sleep apnoea, breathing is interrupted by a physical
block to airflow despite respiratory effort. In mixed sleep apnoea, there is a transition from
central to obstructive features
during the events themselves.
production and shut off unwanted water in oil
producing wells
l B
uilding capability at SQU to conduct PVT
analysis of various crude oils in order to provide commercial competency with international
service providers;
l T
he monitoring and analysis of barely perceptible earth tremors to determine underground
stress orientations.
The situation in Oman
has been reported in up to 60
per cent of adults. However,
the prevalence of obstructive
sleep apnoea might be as high
as 4 per cent in men and 2 per
cent in women, nevertheless,
24 per cent of the US male
population and 9 per cent of
women aged between 30 and
60 years may have sleep apnoea without sleepiness.
Symptoms and signs
of obstructive Sleep
Apnoea
Daytime sleepiness is a
cardinal feature of obstructive
sleep apnoea which could be
assessed by using a questionnaire such as Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS). Nocturnal
features include snoring and
witnessed apnoea (observed
by the bed partner). In addition, patients may complain of
choking, restlessness, nocturia
and reflux. Other associated
symptoms may include depression, daytime fatigue, de-
The first sleep laboratory in
crease of libido, and impaired the sultanate was established in
1995 with one bedroom only
concentration.
in the Department of Clinical
Diagnosis
Physiology, Sultan Qaboos
The diagnosis is usually University Hospital. It was a
confirmed by an overnight diagnostic lab with no clinical
sleep study for subjects sus- assessment or follow-up of papected of having sleep apnoea. tients. The lab was renovated
The study involves measuring in 2008 with the opening of
sleep stages as well as breath- the country’s first sleep clinic
ing pattern during sleep.
in. The lab also was expanded to 3 study rooms and one
Treatment
control room.
Overweight patients should
Currently there is one spebe asked to lose weight since cialised sleep physician and
obesity is the major risk factor four sleep technologists workfor obstructive sleep apnoea. ing in the lab. Around 300
Continuous positive airway patients were counselled and
pressure (CPAP) is the stand- investigated during the year
ard treatment for most of the 2008. However the lab still
cases. It is delivered via a does not offer free CPAP treatwell-fitted mask applied to the ment for sleep apnoea patients,
nose or nose and mouth. The which may leave some patients
mask is attached to a machine untreated.
that generates continuous
The sleep lab also runs a
pressurised air adjusted for the couple of research projects as
individual patient. CPAP pre- well as training programmes
vents the collapse of the upper for
physicians,
medical
airway during sleep and that students and technologists
allows the subject to breathe in who are interested in sleep
and out with no interruption. medicine.
However, there are other treatThe forecast for sleep medment modalities available such icine in Oman is that there will
as dental appliances which be an increase in demand for
could be used for mild cases. sleep investigation and treatPatients are also advised to ment.
avoid drinking alcohol because
One study has shown that
it may decrease tone in the up- the major risk factor for obper airway muscles.
structive sleep apnoea in the
Omani male population is
Complications
obesity and that even relativeUntreated sleep apnoea ly young male subjects have
may lead to serious compli- been referred for management
cations such as hypertension, of sleep disorder breathing.
costs, and, ultimately, enhanced recovery from
oil fields. The close collaboration and partnership
between the two sides has resulted in increased research capacity in both organisations. As a result,
both PDO and SQU are recognised as regional
centres of excellence in mission-critical areas such
as mechanical profile control, enhanced oil recovery and microseismic measurement and analysis.
The two sides administer these projects through a
joint co-ordinating committee which holds regular
meetings.
Al Khaduri concludes by saying that this distinguished partnership , would not have succeeded
and prospered without the backing, personal support, and supervision of Dr. Ali al Bimani, SQU’s
Vice Chancellor, and John Malcolm, PDO’s Managing Director.
Research Horizons in the
College of Law at SQU
Professor Hani M
Duedar, Dean of
College of Law, SQU
N
owadays,
research has become
an essential tool
for the measuring the
progress and prosperity of
nations, in other words their
national success is basically
determined by the level
and quality of the research
they have produced.
Within the framework of
the Renaissance pursued
under the leadership of His
Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin
Said, research has become a
major priority at SQU, not
only as a way of serving
teaching, but also as a
means of assisting Omani
society.
The College of Law
has a significant role to
play in this regard because
research is not restricted to
theoretical study that can
be applied to technological
advancement; it also
includes all systematic
methodical study which
somehow serves humanity,
citizens, society, and
the state when people’s
basic and higher needs
are satisfied and their
desires for progress and
advancement are fulfilled.
Pursuing the law’s major
function which is to draw
strategies to be implemented
by government, one can
say that the many laws
decreed by the Sultanate in
the last fifteen years have
reflected the wonderful
Renaissance which the
nation has experienced
in all sectors. These laws
need to be analysed, and
rooted in Omani tradition so
they do not contradict the
community’s inheritance, or
appear to be at loggerheads
with the basic principles
and convictions of Islamic
Sharia (law).
In spite of the great
importance of legal
research, the College of Law
is still taking its first steps
in this field. Its programmes
are restricted to offering
the MA degree and PhD
studies are not yet available.
Furthermore, the MA
programmes are restricted to
four types of law: general,
private, criminal, and
commercial. Since these
programmes do not give
proper attention to the theses
which students have to
complete in order to receive
this degree, their applied
and theoretical aspects must
to be reconsidered.
The best way to improve
the position of legal
research in the College is
horizontal expansion of the
MA programmes to include
new ones like administrative
and financial law, marine
law, intellectual property
law, and international
relations law. To maximise
the level of follow-up and
supervision of MA theses,
the University has taken
the rightly decided decision
in restrict the number of
applicants to be accepted in
these programmes.
A future decision
may well be can be
the establishment of a
PhD programme in the
College, but this entails
the meeting of many
difficult requirements. The
University will certainly
do its utmost to help the
College in this endeavour,
but first we must make sure
that the basic constituents
of this programme reflect
recent developments in
doctoral study international
universities.
The most important
constituent is an insistence
on the successful
completion of both
academic courses and a
dissertation whose topic,
approved by the supervisor,
will be decided in the light
of the candidate’s MA
thesis. Such courses must
be designed to fulfil the
need for specialised study
in particular legal issues of
law, and must of course be
of a higher level than those
offered by the BA and MA
programmes. Such courses
may include jurisprudence,
legal methodology,
applied research, the
laws of interpretation and
the adaptation of legal
phenomena.
Supervision of
dissertations entails the
recruitment of a Professor or
Associate Professor in each
of the ten specialisations
in the College, taking
into consideration that the
increasing graduate students
numbers in the number
of students means that
there will have to be more
Professors and Associate
Professors in order to give
each faculty member a fair
share in the supervision of
PhD dissertations.
These considerations
above-mentioned are some
of the reasons limiting
the College’s research
horizons. Consequently, the
College must create detailed
frameworks for its various
research programmes
and present them to the
University for approval. It
is hoped that by achieving
its goals, the College of
Law will contribute to the
advancement of research
levels not only at SQU, but
also throughout the whole
Sultanate of Oman.