Figure 16-7
A Partnership between Texaco and ABC University to Expand Technology
Training Through Distance Learning
Executive Summary
We propose to develop a partnership between Texaco and ABC University to expand technology training. This partnership will expand and enhance the distance/continuing education program within the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at
ABC University to provide world-class, technically superior courses to Texaco professionals and to employees of other petroleum operators and service companies throughout the world. Texaco’s commitment to underwrite this program will serve as a vehicle to advertise the role Texaco plays as a leader in exploring the boundaries of technology when providing solutions for maximizing client productivity and profit. This support, estimated at just over $200,000 per year, includes staff and student worker salaries, investment in equipment, and amounts provided for faculty members as incentives to take on these additional loads. This budget is outlined in Appendix 1.
Currently the petroleum engineering graduate program serves students from 32 countries with varied experiences and cultures. To broaden the reach of this program
ABC University has made a significant investment in the distance learning programs by implementing the Blackboard system, one of the leading providers of e-learning software, as a gateway for distance learning courses. This system provides the petroleum engineering faculty with a secure environment in which to manage courses and the content material and enables students to communicate with each other, the instructor and support staff more efficiently.
Additionally, top ranking faculty members have made personal and professional commitments to place the department at the forefront of distance learning. These efforts, when combined with the world-wide reach of the internet, make it possible to reach the greatest number of students and provide practicing professionals in the industry the ability to maintain their current employment and lifestyle while pursuing additional educational endeavors. When requested, the department can tailor the distance learning program to fit company/industry needs in the form of short courses, certificate programs in focused technical areas (see Appendix 2 for examples), a masters degree program, and, in the near future, a doctoral program - all delivered by means of distance education technologies.

Proposal--2
The Goal : Learning and teaching are at a threshold of change that is revolutionary rather than evolutionary. Texaco recognizes the benefits of a more proficient employee with the ability to provide new, innovative solutions that maximize client production and profit and the need to push the boundaries of technology. Texaco cannot afford to follow trends but must be leaders in every aspect of the industry. Leading in the expansion of the ABCU distance learning program would place Texaco at the forefront of educational technology development in this industry.
We propose to use Texaco funding to capitalize on the current momentum in the development of our graduate distance program and to develop additional training, certificate, or degree programs specifically to meet Texaco’s needs using existing or added resources. Courses offered in cooperation with Texaco will include the company logo on materials made available to students enrolled in the program worldwide, including those resident on the College Station campus. (See Appendix 3 for current course offerings.) By taking courses jointly with resident ABC students and with professionals from other companies, Texaco professionals will benefit from the interaction with these globally located students.
Our effort will be the delivery of the same quality instruction expected of graduate-level courses at ABC University in such a way as to meet the unique needs of remote students and to access their experiential knowledge to the benefit of other students, both on campus and in other remote locations. We will strive to enhance and develop effective and efficient courses and to employ the best support staff possible.
The Proposal: This proposal advocates (1) continued employment of two expert staff members, the distance education team, in the designing and delivering of superior online material using the appropriate technology, (2) updating and maintaining computer software and hardware to ensure the best environment to facilitate student learning, (3) supporting additional staff to assist in development of course materials, and (4) providing faculty incentive funds.
The distance education team will work to facilitate learner-centered instructional design, use multiple delivery strategies, evaluate the program on a regular basis, and research new techniques and technologies for the exchange of knowledge. This program will encourage direct student communication with professors by whatever media means is available. Learning must stretch beyond the classroom. E-learning is transforming traditional teaching systems. The efficiency and effectiveness of telecommunications and informatics will lead faculty and students to transform their curricula. E-learning employs distance technology and methods as Intranet access as well as Internet access (campus networks and global networks). A focused line of inquiry into the development and use of E-learning is critical for teacher and learner adoption of this technology. These new technologies and methodologies provide access to global knowledge. Learner-centered instructional designs are crucial for engagement and meaning.

Proposal--3
To exploit the lead the ABCU petroleum engineering program currently enjoys in the creation of a technically advanced product, investments must be made in additional equipment and personnel to guarantee materials get out to participants (students, staff, and faculty) in a timely and efficient manner. This effort can best be led by the department, highly ranked by U.S. News , currently engaged in the development of the most technically advanced program. To do so requires the involvement of the best faculty, staff, and students working with the best technology available.
Appendix 1
Budget Requirements
Estimated Salary and Expenses by semester (3 courses per semester):
Item Description Expense Fringe
Total
Expense
Kendra Jones (full time staff)
Lloyd Richards (full time staff)
Ted Binaldi (student worker)
Additional student worker not yet hired
Equipment
Faculty Incentive Grants
($10,500.00)
($10,500.00)
($3,480.00)
($3,480.00)
($5,000.00)
($30,000.00)
($2,887.50)
($2,887.50)
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
($13,387.50)
($13,387.50)
($3,480.00)
($3,480.00)
($5,000.00)
($30,000.00)
TOTAL EXPENSES
TOTAL EXPENSES FOR ENTIRE
YEAR
($68,735.00)
($206,205.00)
The budget information above is based on expected annual operations. Faculty salaries will come from state support (subvention) for courses taught on campus, as no distance courses have been offered solely to off-campus sites but are always offered concurrently to on-campus students. However, offering distance learning sections of the courses increases the faculty workload substantially, and the budget ($10,000 per course for three courses) reflects unrestricted accounts provided for faculty members as incentives to take on these additional loads. Since all students, on- and off-campus, are enrolled in exactly the same courses as local students, the only additional expenses of this program are the administrative, communications, and supplies costs.

Proposal--4
Appendix 2
Certificate Programs
Certificate programs provide focused training in specialized areas of technology.
Sequences of two or more courses comprise these programs, which can be of value to satisfy current job skills requirements and professional governmental certification requirements. Where needed, ABC University can provide CEU (Continuing Education
Unit) certifications for these programs. This appendix suggests example certificate programs, but others can be readily developed when clients request other alternatives.
Reservoir Simulation
PENG 603 – Advanced Reservoir Engineering I (Basic Simulation)
PENG 611
– Application of Petroleum Reservoir Simulation
PENG 610
– Numerical Simulation of Heat and Fluid Flow in Porous Media
Formation Evaluation
PENG 608
– Well Logging Methods
PENG 648 – Pressure Transient Testing
PENG 663 – Formation Evaluation and Analysis of Reservoir Performance
Asset Management and Economics
PENG 617 – Petroleum Reservoir Management
PENG 621
– Petroleum Development Strategy
PENG 664
– Petroleum Project Evaluation and Management.
Natural Gas Engineering
PENG 613
– Natural Gas Engineering
PENG 648 – Pressure Transient Testing
Reservoir Fluids
PENG 605 - Phase Behavior of Petroleum Reservoir Fluids
PENG 616 – Engineering Near-Critical Reservoirs
Well Stimulation
PENG 602 – Well Stimulation
PENG 618 – Modern Petroleum Production
PENG 629
– Advanced Hydraulic Fracturing
Production Engineering
PENG 662
– Production Engineering
PENG 618 – Modern Petroleum Production

Proposal--5
Drilling
PENG 661 – Drilling Engineering
PENG 626
– Offshore Drilling
PENG 628 – Horizontal Drilling
Reservoir Description
PENG 630
– Geostatistics
PENG 633 – Data Integration for Petroleum Reservoirs
STAT 601 - Statistics
Appendix 3
Graduate Courses currently offered by the Harold Vance Department of
Petroleum Engineering.
Those courses which are currently being offered through distance learning are indicated with an asterisk (*). Other courses can be developed for distance learning as requested.
. . . . . .

Proposal--6
Appendix 3
Graduate Courses currently offered by the Harold Vance Department of
Petroleum Engineering.
Those courses which are currently being offered through distance learning are indicated with an asterisk (*). Other courses can be developed for distance learning as requested.
*
602. Well Stimulation. (3-0). Credit 3. Design and analysis of well stimulation methods, including acidizing and hydraulic fracturing; causes and solutions to low well productivity. Prerequisite: Approval of graduate advisor.
*
603. Advanced Reservoir Engineering I. (3-0) . Credit 3. Petroleum reservoir simulation basics including solution techniques for explicit problems. Prerequisite:
Approval of graduate advisor.
604. Advanced Reservoir Engineering II. (3-0).
Credit 3. Advanced petroleum reservoir simulation with generalized methods of solution for implicit problems.
Prerequisites: PENG 603; approval of graduate advisor.
605. Phase Behavior of Petroleum Reservoir Fluids. (3-0).
Credit 3. Pressure, volume, temperature, composition relationships of petroleum reservoir fluids.
Prerequisite: Approval of graduate advisor.
606. EOR Methods-Thermal. (3-0).
Credit 3. Fundamentals of enhanced oil recovery
(EOR) methods and applications of thermal recovery methods. Prerequisites: PENG
323; approval of graduate advisor.
*
608. Well Logging Methods. (3-0).
Credit 3. Well logging methods for determining nature and fluid content of formations penetrated by drilling. Development of computer models for log analysis. Prerequisite: Approval of graduate advisor.
609. Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes. (3-0).
Credit 3. Fundamentals and theory of enhanced oil recovery; polymer flooding, surfactant flooding, miscible gas flooding and steam flooding; application of fractional flow theory; strategies and displacement performance calculations. Prerequisites: PENG 323; approval of graduate advisor.
610. Numerical Simulation of Heat and Fluid Flow in Porous Media. (3-0). Credit
3. Various schemes available for the numerical simulation of heat and fluid flow in porous media. Application to hot water and steam flooding of heavy oil reservoirs and to various geothermal problems. Prerequisites: PENG 604; approval of instructor or graduate advisor.

Proposal--7
*
611. Application of Petroleum Reservoir Simulation. (3-0). Credit 3. Use of simulators to solve reservoir engineering problems too complex for classical analytical techniques. Prerequisites: PENG 400 and 401; approval of graduate advisor.
613. Natural Gas Engineering. (3-0). Credit 3.
Flow of natural gas in reservoirs and in well bores and gathering systems; deliverability testing; production fore-casting and decline curves; flow measurement and compressor sizing. Prerequisites: PENG 323 and 324; approval of graduate advisor.
*
616. Engineering Near-Critical Reservoirs. (3-0).
Credit 3. Identification of reservoir fluid type; calculation of original gas in place, original oil in place, re-serves and future performance of retrograde gas and volatile oil reservoirs. Prerequisite:
PENG 323, 400, 401; approval of graduate advisor.
*
617. Petroleum Reservoir Management. (3-0).
Credit 3. The principles of reservoir management and application to specific reservoirs based on case studies presented in the petroleum literature. Prerequisites: Approval of graduate advisor.
*
618. Modern Petroleum Production. (3-0).
Credit 3. An advanced treatment of modern petroleum production engineering encompassing well deliverability from vertical, horizontal and multilateral/multibranch wells; diagnosis of well performance includes elements of well testing and production logging; in this course the function of the production engineer is envisioned in the context of well design, stimulation and artificial lift. Prerequisite: Approval of graduate advisor.
*
620. Fluid Flow in Petroleum Reservoirs. (3-0).
Credit 3. Analysis of fluid flow in bounded and unbounded reservoirs, wellbore storage, phase redistribution, finite and infinite conductivity fractures; dual-porosity systems. Prerequisites: PENG 323; approval of graduate advisor.
621. Petroleum Development Strategy. (2-3).
Credit 3. Applications of the variables, models and decision criteria used in modern petroleum development. The case approach will be used to study major projects such as offshore development and assisted recovery. Both commercial and student-prepared computer software will be used during the lab sessions to practice methods. Prerequisites: PENG 403; approval of graduate advisor.
*
622. Exploration and Production Evaluation. (2-3).
Credit 3. Selected topics in oil industry economic evaluation including offshore bidding, project ranking and selection, capital budgeting, long-term oil and gas field development projects and incremental analysis for assisted recovery and acceleration. Prerequisites: PENG 403; approval of graduate advisor.

Proposal--8
623. Waterflooding. (3-0).
Credit 3. Design, surveillance and project management of water floods in reservoirs. Prerequisites: PENG 323; approval of graduate advisor.
624. Rock Mechanic Aspects of Petroleum Reservoir Response. (3-0).
Credit 3.
Reservoir rocks and their physical behavior; porous media and fracture flow models; influence of rock deformability, stress, fluid pressure and temperature. Prerequisites:
PENG 604; approval of graduate advisor.
625. Well Control. (3-0). Credit 3. Theory of pressure control in drilling operations and during well kicks; abnormal pressure detection and fracture gradient determination; casing setting depth selection and advanced casing design; theory supplemented on well control simulators. Prerequisites: PENG 411; approval of graduate advisor.
626. Offshore Drilling. (3-0). Credit 3. Offshore drilling from fixed and floating drilling structures; directional drilling including horizontal drilling; theory of deviation monitoring and control. Prerequisites: PENG 411; approval of graduate advisor.
628. Horizontal Drilling. (3-0).
Credit 3. Changing a wellbore from vertical to horizontal; long- and short-radius horizontal wells; bottom hole assemblies for achieving and maintaining control of inclination and direction; drilling fluids; torque and drag calculations; trans-port of drilled solids. Prerequisites: PENG 411; approval of graduate advisor.
629. Advanced Hydraulic Fracturing. (3-0).
Credit 3. Physical principles and engineering methods involved in hydraulic fracturing; an advanced treatise integrating the necessary fundamentals from elasticity theory, fracture mechanics and fluid mechanics to understand designs, optimization and evaluate hydraulic fracturing treatments including special topics such as high permeability fractur-ing and deviated well fracturing. Prerequisite: Approval of graduate advisor.
*
630. Geostatistics. (3-0).
Credit 3. Introductory and advanced concepts in geostatistics for petroleum reservoir characterization by integrating static
(cores/logs/seismic traces) and dynamic (flow/transport) data; variograms and spatial correlations; regionalized variables; intrinsic random functions; kriging/cokriging; conditional simulation; non-Gaussian approaches. Prerequisites: Introductory course in statistics or PENG 322; approval of graduate advisor.
*
631. Petroleum Reservoir Description. (3-0).
Credit 3. Engineering and geological evaluation techniques to define the extent and internal character of a petroleum reservoir; estimate depositional environment(s) during the formation of the sedimentary section and resulting effects on reservoir character. Prerequisites: PENG 324 and 620; approval of graduate advisor.

Proposal--9
632. Physical and Engineering Properties of Rock. (3-3).
Credits 4. Physical and engineering properties of rock and rock masses including strength, deformation, fluid flow, thermal and electrical properties as a function of the subsurface temperature, insitu stress, pore fluid pressure, and chemical environment; relationship of rock properties to logging, sitting and design of wells and structures in rock. Prerequisite:
Approval of instructor of graduate advisor.
633. Data Integration for Petroleum Reservoirs. (3-0).
Credit 3. Introduction and application of techniques that can be used to incorporate dynamic reservoir behavior into stochastic reservoir characterizations; dynamic data in the form of pressure transient tests, tracer tests, multiphase production histories or interpreted 4-D seismic information. Prerequisites: PENG 620 and STAT 601; approval of instructor or graduate advisor.
*
648. Pressure Transient Testing. (3-0). Credit 3. Diffusivity equation and solutions for slightly compressible liquids; dimensionless variables; type curves; applications of solutions to buildup, drawdown, multi-rate, interference, pulse and deliverability tests; extensions to multiphase flow; analysis of hydraulically fractured wells. Prerequisites:
PENG 324 and 620; approval of graduate advisor.
*
661. Drilling Engineering. (3-0).
Introduction to drilling systems: wellbore hydraulics; identification and solution of drilling problems; well cementing; drilling of directional and horizontal wells; wellbore surveying abnormal pore pressure; fracture gradients; well control; offshore drilling; and underbalanced drilling. Prerequisites:
Approval of instructor of graduate advisor.
*
662. Production Engineering (3-0). Development of fundamental skills for the design and evaluation of well completions; monitoring and management of the producing well; selection and design of artificial lift methods; and modeling and design of surface facilities. Prerequisites: Approval of instructor or graduate advisor.
*
663. Formation Evaluation and the Analysis of Reservoir Performance. (3-0).
Current methodologies used in geological description/analysis, formation evaluation (the analysis/interpretation of well log data), and the analysis of well performance data (the design/analysis/interpretation of well test and production data); specifically, the assessment of field performance data and the optimization of hydrocarbon recovery by analysis/interpretation/integration of geologic, well log, and well performance data.
Prerequisites: Approval of instructor or graduate advisor.
*
664. Petroleum Project Evaluation and Management. (3-0). Introduction to oil industry economics, including reserves estimation and classification, building and using reservoir models, developing and using reservoir management processes, managing new and mature fields, and investment ranking and selections. Prerequisites: Approval of instructor or graduate advisor.

Proposal--10
*
665. Petroleum Reservoir Description. (3-0). Reservoir description techniques using petrophysical and fluid properties; engineering methods to determine fluids in place, identify production-drive mechanisms, and forecast reservoir performance; implementation of pressure-maintenance schemes and secondary recovery.
Prerequisites: Approval of instructor or graduate advisor.
681. Seminar.
Credit 1 each semester. Study and presentation of papers on recent developments in petroleum technology. Prerequisite: Approval of graduate advisor.
685. Directed Studies.
Credit 1 to 12 each semester. Offered to enable students to undertake and complete limited investigations not within their thesis research and not covered in established curricula. Prerequisites: Graduate classification; approval of instructor or graduate advisor.
689. Sp ecial Topics in…
Credit 1 to 4. Special topics in an identified area of petroleum engineering. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor or graduate advisor.
691. Research. Credit 1 or more each semester. Advanced work on some special problem within field of petroleum engineering. Thesis course. Prerequisite: Approval of committee or graduate advisor.
692. Professional Study.
Credit 1 to 12. Approved professional study or project. May be taken more than once but not to exceed 6 hours of credit towards a degree.
Prerequisite: Approval of graduate advisor.