The pilot injection will last over a year and will be closely monitored for potential changes to maximize incremental oil recovery. The goal is to test the project in the Dagang field and if successful to expand the pilot to a greater area of the reservoir.

Also underway is a two-and-a-half-year TIORCO colloidal dispersion gel pilot project in China’s Shengli oil field.

With its mature oil fields, growing demand for energy, and competition worldwide for imported oil, China is moving aggressively to improve produc-tion from internal resources. Enhanced oil recovery technolo-gies are proving to be an effective tool in that effort.

Engineered Oil ReportOn The Calendar

Apr 1, 2008Gel-Polymer for Water Shut-off in Kansas WorkshopWichita, Kansas, USABen Turner will be presenting a talk on gel applications

Apr 20 – 23, 2008SPE Symposium on Improved Oil RecoveryTulsa, Oklahoma, USALook for TIORCO among the exhibitors and presenting papers on our Argentina work and Barrow Island, Australia project.

Engineered Oil Reportis a controlled free news publication of:

TIORCOCORPORATE HEADQUARTERS

2422 S. Trenton Way #HDenver, Colorado 80231 USA303 935-0046 • 800 525-0578

Fax 303 935-1514www.tiorco.com

E-mail: tiorco@tiorco.comMIDCONTINENT REGION

405 735-9361 • Fax 405 735-9362CORPORATE OFFICERS

Jim Mack - PresidentDon Wicks - Chief Operating OfficerChuck Norman - Int’l Sales Manager

Winter 2007Volume 22 • Number 3

ISSN 1937-4046

TIORCO Completes 30th Year of Operations

T I O R C O - T h e I m p r o v e d O i l R e c o v e r y C o m p a n yT e c h n o l o g y • P r o d u c t s • S e r v i c e s • E q u i p m e n t

October 2007 marked the beginning of TIORCO’s 31st year of operations. The passing years, since we first opened offices in a 250-square-foot office in the Petroleum Building in downtown Denver, have been a time of tremendous growth in enhanced oil recovery technologies. From a Rocky Mountain service company, TIORCO has become an international provider of EOR technologies with over 50% of our business now outside the U.S.

On this occasion, we would like to extend a sincere thank you to all of our customers over the years, who invested their trust in new recov-ery technologies and the people of TIORCO, to improve oil production throughout the world.

In 1978, TIORCO’s first Portable Unit using the POL-E-DUC® feeder to wet and mix polymers in the field was built. Today TIORCO operates 11 Portable Units and has sold units to operators in China, India, and Russia. We developed in-house the CAT-AN® process and Colloidal Dispersion Gel (CDG) technology for in-depth sweep improvement, patented processes to manufacture CDG crosslinkers, licensed technology from Phillips, Marathon and Unocal, initiated alkaline-surfactant-polymer (ASP) processes and worked with Marathon to commercialize KOH clay stabilization. TIORCO has been a leader in implementing MARCITSM treatments and has developed a number of proprietary products, such as TIROCO® 535 for improving water imbibition into tighter reservoirs, TIOR-CO3 and more.

The best part of the experience over the years has been the people. We have had the pleasure of employing and working with many of the greatest people in the oil and gas industry. To everyone, we extend a very sincere thank you and our best wishes for continued success and a very good year ahead in 2008!

TIORCO Project Underway in China’s 4th Largest Field

TIORCO has begun a long-term CDG project in China’s Dagang oil field, the fourth-largest producing field in China, with annual production in excess of 31 million barrels. Harry Chang and Jim Mack attended the startup in August, 2007. The startup went smoothly due to the excellent facilities design and skill of the Dagang engineers and field operators.

Jim Mack and Harry Chang outside the facilities at Dagang oil field.

TIORCO Projects Prominantly Featured in Argentina Workshop on EOR

TIORCO Presents EOR Course at 6th International Conference on Production Optimization

MARCITSM Used to Rehab Wells in 1st East of the Mississippi Application

On December 7, TIORCO de Argentina hosted a reception in downtown Buenos Aires. Representatives from Chevron, Pan-American Energy, Occidental Argentina, Repsol-YPF as well as several indepen-dent oil companies were in attendance.

There to greet them were (top photo, L to R): Jorge Romero, Jorge Bellon and Chuck Norman. Also on hand to greet guests were the TIORCO de Argentina administrative staff (bottom photo, L to R): Alicia Actis, Patricia Molina and Betty Attianese (General Manager of TIORCO de Argentina)..

On November 8-9, 2007, the Argentina Institute of Oil and Gas sponsored the “Workshop sobre Recuperación Asistida (EOR)” in Buenos Aires. The two-day event included 15 presentations covering a variety of improved oil recovery tech-nologies, including polymer, surfactants, microbes, in-situ combustion, facilities design and polymer gels.

The first five presentations by operators and field engineers during the workshop described successful TIORCO projects:

1. Área Entre Lomas:logros en EOR (Area Entre Lomas: EOR Achievements)

This presentation, by Carlos Wouterlood of Petrolera Entre Lomas, described the successful application of TIORCO gel technologies during the period 1999-2005.

60 injection wells treated with gels • 81 producing wells with significant oil • responseCumulative investment in gel technolo-• gies: $4.42 million dollarsCumulative incremental oil recovery to • date: 650,000 barrelsIncremental oil reserves (to be recov-• ered in the future): 1.5 million barrels Development cost of incremental • recovery + incremental reserves: $2.98/barrel

2. Inyección de Microgeles pozo CS-2115—Flanco Sur Cuenca Golfo San Jorge (Microgel injection in pattern CS-2115—South Flank of the San Jorge Basin)

Presented by Daniel Castro of Repsol-YPF, this was a first CDG application in Argentina and was implemented in the Mina El Carmen formation of the Cañadon Seco Field.

3. Proyecto Piloto Inyección de Geles en El Tordillo (Gel Pilot Project in the El Tordillo Field)

Presented by Enrique Muruaga of Tecpetrol, this combined MARCITSM-CDG project has generated more than 300,000 barrels of incremental oil to date. This proj-ect will be presented at the April, 2008 SPE IOR meeting in Tulsa under the title: SPE

113334 Combining Bulk Gels and Colloidal Dispersion Gels for Improved Volumetric Sweep Efficiency in a Mature Waterflood.

4. Inyección de Geles en el Yacimiento Loma Alta Sur (Gel Injection in the Loma Alta Sur Field)

Presented by Delia Diaz of Repsol-YPF, this is a successful CDG project and the first CDG pilot in the Neuquen Basin. This will be presented at the April SPE IOR meeting in Tulsa under the title: SPE 113320 Colloidal Dispersion Gels Improve Oil Recovery in a Heterogenous Argentina Waterflood.

5. Caso de aplicación de polímeros en Koluel Kaike y Piedra Clavada, Cuenca Golfo San Jorge (Polymer Applications in the Koluel Kaike and Piedra Clavada Fields, San Jorge Gulf Basin)

Presented by Jorge Mustoni of Pan-American Energy, the presentation describes the implementation of Nalco’s Brightwater and TIORCO’s MARCITSM gels in two San Jorge Gulf fields.

The 6th International Conference on Production Optimization, November 6-7 in Houston, Texas, was a who’s who of people and companies in the conformance and water shutoff industry, and TIORCO was flattered to be among the panelists and presenters.

The opening day, Jim Mack presented a paper on the economics of enhanced oil recovery projects of varying types and sizes that set the stage for further presen-tations, including a look by Ben Turner at more than 100 TIORCO treatments com-pleted in South America. Jim also chaired a service providers’ panel during the two-day event. The second day of the conference included a half-day short course presented by Jim and Ben on waterflood applications ranging from polymer gels to CGDs and bulk gels.

A novel TIORCO project was featured in the November 2007 issue of OIL & GAS INVESTOR – a water shutoff project in two Clinton formation wells in Geauga County, Ohio. Hydraulic fracture stimulation projects had fractured out of zone, con-necting the wells with a very water prolific zone above the Clinton, drowning out the reservoir.

TIORCO worked with Excalibur Exploration to design a MARCITSM project to shut off the fracture channel. The first well to be treated, which received a higher

have found that very much the case with the addition of Irina Kamenetskeya as our new lab manager. Irina’s strong academic background in organic chemistry, including a PhD from Rostov-on-Don Pedagogical University, Russia, and her experience in computer manufacturing have been very good for TIORCO. That fresh outlook took us to the next level on concepts that we thought we already knew.

When we combine the collective expe-rience of our people, and their extensive background knowledge of formations and successful treatments around the world, with new ideas and experiences, the end result is more successful projects for our clients.

0

Tran

sitio

n P

ress

ure

(psi

)

20

15

10

5

200200 400 600 800 1000 1200

HI-VIS® 355 Concentration (ppm)

5:1 Pol:Al10:1 Pol:Al20:1 Pol:Al

62,000 mg/L TDS Brine

Fresh Water

stabilizer has the potential to change that scenario and work is currently underway to understand the limits of its capacity in salt water.

The problem with water is that it comes in unlimited combinations of salinity and suspended solids. This may require custom blends of polymer, crosslinker and stabilizer based on testing gel formation with the available water supply. If you have a field where water quality has limited your options with regards to enhanced oil recovery technologies, we would be very interested in seeing how TIORCO’s new technologies could increase production. For more information or a custom gel design, please contact your TIORCO representative or the laboratory to make arrangements for the shipment of five gallons of your available water.

One of the worst water quality situations TIORCO has encoun-tered is in a Wyoming field where an old fire flood left behind ash deposits throughout

the formation. Water produced from the field has visible floating black particles in the fluid.

But this field was also the impetus for a TIORCO lab research project that has led to the development of a new stabilizer which results in improved gels in a wide range of water qualities. The stabilizer also appears to reduce the amount of polymer and crosslinker required in difficult waters, leading to further economic benefits.

TIORCO’s focus on water quality in designing and implementing EOR projects is a key element to obtaining successful results for clients. By evaluating the water available for polymer injection in the field, we are able to customize the EOR design for each water scenario and optimize gel quality.

Water quality has a tremendous impact on the performance of traditional polymer floods as well as Colloidal Dispersion Gel (CDG) floods. Water salinity, scaling

New Stabilizer Enhances Gel Formation in Low Quality Water

“People Problem” Key Focus of SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition

CDG’s are unlikely to form with certain crosslinkers in high-salinity water.

Sensitivity of Gel Formation to Salinity

tendencies, corrosion, bacterial growth and oil carryover can all be detrimental to such floods. Increased water salinity lowers polymer viscosity and increases the concentration and therefore the cost of polymer to achieve a desired mobility ratio. Furthermore, some waters are so saline that no crosslinking can occur and no CDGs are formed. Precipitated iron, bacte-ria, organic growth and other contaminants cause injection well plugging, a problem which polymer then compounds.

We can overcome water quality prob-lems by filtering water prior to injection or by bringing fresh water to the site. But neither is a very cost efficient solution for long-term projects, such as colloidal dispersion gel (CDG) treatments which take from months to years to complete. Filtering can also have environmental consequences with respect to disposing of the resulting fines.

As a result, poor water quality has brought the plans for many potential EOR projects to a halt. Now there is an opportunity to change the impact of water quality on the feasibility of CDG and other long-term projects.

Particularly of interest is the stabilizer’s effectiveness in high salinity waters. Offshore facilities rarely have access to sufficient quantities of useable water to facilitate EOR technologies. Our new

By Ben Turner,Rocky Mountain Project Manager

As always, the SPE Annual Conference, held this year on Nov. 11-14 in Anaheim, California, was an excellent event. With so many people in attendance, it’s hard to run into everyone you want to see, but we enjoyed meeting with many clients and suppliers and long-time friends in the oil industry over the four days.

The focus of the meeting, the need for experienced people in the industry, hit home with TIORCO as well as with others in the industry. One point made in a panel presentation was to look outside the traditional box when hiring. People from outside the industry can bring fresh ideas that can often point you in directions you never considered. At TIORCO we

gel injection, is now producing sufficient gas for positive cash flow while the second well is becoming a nice commercial well according to Excalibur president Dave Harker.

Altogether Excalibur has used the gel technology on five wells. “Now we know that, if there is a problem with a fracture job, this is a possible solution for going back and correcting it,” Dave is quoted saying in O&G Investor.

MARCITSM gel polymer technologies provide operators a means to block high permeability fractures and channels in both injection well and producing well applica-tions. Over time, the gel changes from a liquid to a strong, rubber-like substance to seal off the water. It has been widely used in the Arbuckle formation and is proving its value in other applications worldwide.

In October, TIORCO moved its Field Operations office from Plainville, KS to a brand new facility in Natoma, Kansas. This 6,000 square foot facility offers improved working and storage space and is an important step in TIORCO’s growth plans for the future.

“It was unbelievable, traveling across the country twice, and putting on over 8,200 miles in just 30 days. In addition to riding Highway 50 from coast to coast, we got to see other memorable sights including the Flight 93 memorial, headwaters of the Mississippi, and the redwoods in California.”

After working with TIORCO as a consultant since last January, Barry Perow officially joined our company September 1st

as TIORCO’s Safety Officer. Barry’s primary responsibility is assuring that TIORCO is in compliance with Department of Transportation regula-tions and health and safety standards, but he will also be indulging a long-time passion as well by helping polish our presentations and marketing materials.

Laura Lee Joins TIORCO as Project Manager

Barry Perow is TIORCO’s New Safety Officer

TIORCO Inc.2422 S. Trenton Way, #HDenver, Colorado 80231 USA

PRSRT STD

U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDDENVER, CO

PERMIT NO. 1736

October 1st, TIORCO was pleased to welcome Laura Lee as Project Manager working out of the Oklahoma City area. Laura

has worked in the oil service field and enhanced oil recovery field for five years, most recently in microbial technology.

“My college degree is in biology with an emphasis in biochemistry,” explains Laura. “After graduating college, I worked for two years as a junior high science teacher. Then, when I decided I wanted to get into sales, I found my education served me well in the oil and gas industry. Now more than ever, sales people are expected to have a scientific technical

education so they may contribute to advancing EOR technology here in the US.”

Born and raised in Oklahoma, the oil field was nothing new to Laura. Conoco Phillips was the largest employer in her hometown of Ponca City, and family friends were petroleum engineers. “I enjoy the people in this industry and I am looking forward to working with them on TIORCO projects.”

Off the job, Laura’s married to Robert Lee, a school teacher and college level baseball pitching coach. They have three children, a daughter 5 and two sons, ages 8 and 9. Lucky for Laura, she enjoys watching sports because there’s no shortage of baseball, football, dance recitals and more to enjoy with her family.

That interest in scientific presentation materials lead to 20 years in drafting, graphics and desktop/electronic publishing in the oil and gas industry. Barry even co-authored two books along the way for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, including Figuratively Speaking in the Computer Age: Techniques for Preparing and Delivering Presentations.

Asked about recent highlights in his life, Barry says one of the most memo-rable experiences was riding his Harley across the U.S. as part of the HOG (Harley Owners Group) Posse Ride.

Field Office Moves to Natoma, Kansas

Inside and outside views of the new Field Operations facility in Natoma, Kansas.