The Petroleum Engineering Handbook - Gulf Publishing Company

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xii Preface Nature is infinite within a closed system. It is infinite as well because it is a closed, i.e. complete, system. Because of this infinite dimension, Nature is also perfect (balanced). So, what is the origin of the imbalance and unsustainability that seems to manifest itself so ubiquitously, in the atmosphere, the soil and the oceans? As the “most intelligent creation of nature”, men were expected to at least stay out of the natural ecosystem. Einstein might have had doubts about human intelligence or the infinite nature of the Universe (as evidenced in his often-quoted remark that “there are two things that are infinite, human stupidity and the Universe, and I am not so sure about the Universe”), but human history tells us human beings always managed to go with the infinite nature of Nature. From central American Mayans to Egyptian Pharaohs, from Chinese Hans to the Mannaeans of Persia, the Edomites of the Petra Valley to the Indus Valley civilization of the Asian subcontinent, all managed to remain in harmony with nature. They were not necessarily “righteous” people nor were they free from practices that we would no longer countenance (Pharaohs sacrificed humans to accompany the dead royal for the resurrection day), but they did not produce a single gram of inherently anti-nature product, such as DDT. In the modern age, we managed to give a Nobel Prize (in medicine) for that “invention”. What becomes clear is this: whatever it was that our ancestors did in terms of technology remains something to be desired today. Consider the marvels of the people who carved rocks in the crystal valley of Petra. What did these people use to cut rock? It surely was not lasers, or nucleo-thermal devices, or even TNT. What did the builders of pyramids use to calculate precisely the shapes that defies today’s mathematicians, computer designers, and architectures combined? It surely was not linear algebra, finite elements, or even numbercrunching supercomputers. What did the makers of the Taj Mahal use to ensure continuous waterjets flowing through fountains, air conditioning inside the building, and the evergreen lushness of the trees? It was not electric pumps, freon, or synthetic fertilizers. What did the chemical engineers of Egypt use to preserve the mummies for thousands of years? It was not formalin, bezoate, and numerous other toxins that we call “preservatives”. Today, we brag about how we do things better, faster, and cheaper. Yet, we took longer to carve out four faces in Mount Rushmore than the stone-carvers of the Petra Valley took in making those stunning crystal valleys out of solid rocks. We took longer to carve out the monument of Crazy Horse than did the makers of the Taj Mahal. Not only did we take longer, we made an immeasurable mess by using TNT and other inherently anti-nature explosives. Today, we brag about a quantum leap in all branches of sciences, yet we only recently discovered our knowledge is nowhere close to what our ancestors had many years ago. We have to ponder what was the basis for Harrapan mathematics, Jain and Tamil mathematics, or Babylonian and Sumerian mathematics. Only recently we discovered Islamic scholars were doing mathematics some 1,000 years ago of the same order that we think we discovered in the 1970s 1 – the difference being that our mathematics can only track symmetry, something that does not exist in nature. Recently, a three-dimensional PET-scan of a relic known as the Antikythera Mechanism has demonstrated that it was actually a universal navigational computing device – with the difference being that our current-day versions rely on GPS, tracked and maintained by satellite. 2 We would also be shocked to find out what Ibn Sina (Avicenna) said regarding nature being the source of all cures still holds true 3 – with the proviso that not a single quality given by nature in the originating source material of, for example, some of the most advanced pharmaceuticals used to “treat” cancer remains intact after being subject to mass production and accordingly stripped of its powers actually to cure and not merely “treat”, i.e. delay, the onset or progress of symptoms. What are we missing? This book recognizes that civilization is driven by energy needs and uses the modern-day supplier of energy needs, viz., petroleum engineering, as the case study. The book challenges readers with the pointed question, “If we have progressed as a human race, why has our efficiency in sustaining human civilization regressed?” For every phase of petroleum operations, ranging from exploration to refining, the authors investigate the root cause of the failure in sustainability. Once the cause is identified, it becomes quite simple to recommend practices that are sustainable. Once sustainable practices are in place, never again should petroleum operations be synonymous with polluting the environment. This book could be a textbook on fundamentals of sustainable energy management, yet it is called a “handbook”. It is so because it gets beyond the smokescreen
Preface xiii of “blue sky”, i.e. fundamental, science, tackling the justifications for various engineering practices to show exactly which practices are responsible for which effects and thus how simple it would be to remedy those practices to come up with solutions that are starkly different from the ones previously being practiced. This book is not meant to frighten the reader. It does not lecture; it does not indoctrinate. It elucidates some of the fundamental principles of sustainability that made it possible for nature to continuously improve the environment, while making comfort available to all. The book shows comfort in lifestyle doesn’t have to come at the cost of long-term unsustainability. In fact, the book argues the best lifestyle even in the shortterm can only be assured with a long-term approach. It is heartening to see the authors, with very distinct track records in developing sustainable technologies, have taken up this task of “greening petroleum operations”. A back-to-nature approach is long overdue. The authors propose that approach in a convincing manner. They start with the definition of sustainability. With this definition, zero-waste production strategies are in place. Such schemes are inherently sustainable. However, with their definition, it is also necessary that every practice and additive also meet the sustainability requirement. There lies the recipe for reversing global warming. Overall, this book represents what can be considered as the cookbook for evergreen petroleum operations. They do that with fundamental science but without the rhetoric of scientists. They introduce the first premise, “Nature is perfect”, without the rhetoric of philosophy or even religious dogma. Who could argue with that? Hans Vaziri (BP America), Houston, USA Gary Zatzman (EEC Research Org.), Halifax, Canada M. Rafiqul Islam (Dalhousie University, on sabbatical in Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman) Notes 1. Lu, P.J. and Steinhardt, P.J. (2007) Decagonal and Quasicrystalline Tilings in Medieval Islamic Architecture, Science 315 [27 Feb], 1106. 2. Freeth, T. et al. (2006) Decoding the ancient Greek astronomical calculator known as the Antikythera Mechanism, Nature 444 [30 Nov], 587–91; and also John Noble Wilford, (2006) An Ancient Computer Surprises Scientists, The New York Times [29 Nov], which discusses some interesting aspects of this technology’s likely context. There are not a few among those who have been more than ready to grant the wisdom of the ancients but who also nevertheless persist in believing that some ancients, especially in Europe, just had to be smarter than the ancients in, say, Muslim regions of central and west Asia. Discussion sparked around the results of the PET-scan of the Antikythera Mechanism has renewed questions about precisely this long-assumed hierarchy and sequence of ancient genius. In this regard, Wilford notes the remarks of François Charette, from the University of Münich, in a separate article elsewhere in the same edition of Nature, that “more than 1,000 years elapsed before instruments of such complexity are known to have reemerged. A few artifacts and some Arabic texts suggest that simpler geared calendrical devices had existed, particularly in Baghdad around A.D. 900. It seems clear . . . that ‘much of the mind-boggling technological sophistication available in some parts of the Hellenistic and Greco-Roman world was simply not transmitted further,’ [and that] ‘the gearwheel, in this case, had to be re-invented.’ ” 3. Steenhuysen, J. (2007) Mother Nature Still a Rich Source of New Drugs, Reuters [20 Mar].
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The Petroleum Engineering Handbook - Gulf Publishing Company

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