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Multi-property Pore Scale Modelling for Improved and Sustainable Oil Recovery
Applications are invited for a 3-year
PhD studentship starting on 1st September or 1st October 2009,
based chiefly within the Environmental and Fluid
Modelling Group (EFMG), part of the proposed Earth and Environmental Research Centre, at the University of Plymouth,
U.K., but including regular working visits to
BP, Sunbury on Thames.
The
supervisors
Prof G. Peter Matthews, Professor in Applied Physical
Chemistry, University of Plymouth, PL4 8AA.
Dr Mark Anderson, Geologist, School of Earth, Ocean and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, PL4 8AA
The
project
Although oil gushing from a borehole is a memorable sight, typically 70% of the oil within an oilfield stays underground. Attempts to access this oil are termed Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) methods. They include the pumping of local water or brine down surrounding wells to try to achieve a ‘water-flood’, or, more expensively, pumping a polymer down surrounding wells to achieve polymer pore plugging, followed by water flood. However, such methods can clog the porous rock, causing ‘formation damage’. The void network model Pore-Cor Research Suite has achieved sponsorship and total sales of £200k, and £18k of sales per annum over the last three years. Under its own initiative, British Petroleum (BP) invited Matthews to its Sunbury campus for an intensive day's meeting and demonstration, during which they specified exactly how they would apply the numerous algorithms and modelling methods within the software to solve IOR, environmental and sustainability problems in several of their major oil fields. The software is not immediately applicable to do this – it would require further developments in several algorithms, for example making them structurally anisotropic, but such modifications are achievable and publishable within the scope of a PhD.
Your
qualifications and attributes
A
good Honours degree (1st or 2i) in a relevant
subject, such as Chemistry, Geology, Chemical Engineering,
Physics or Applied Mathematics
Computing
and programming skills
If
possible, relevant postgraduate experience
A
good reference from your honours project supervisor
or supervisor during the relevant postgraduate
experience
Enthusiasm
for the project
An
ability to work as a member of a team in both
an academic and industrial environment, and to
cope with the different demands and time-scales
Citizenship
of the European Union
Funding
The
project is one of many proposed by staff at the University of Plymouth, the best 40 of which, as judged by the project and the candidate, will be funded.
Additional support will be sought from BP if the project is accepted for funding.
The
research student will receive a tax-free grant
in line with those currently being offered by
the Research Councils.
Plymouth-based
members of the EFMG also earn many hundreds of
pounds in teaching and Pore-Cor customer support
activities.
Further
details
Further details of the research group are available
at http://www.pore-cor.com/group.htm .
What
you should do
First
check that you satisfy all the attributes listed
above, which are essential except for postgraduate
experience.
Then
make an expression of interest by emailing
a letter of application and CV to pmatthews@plymouth.ac.uk
, before noon on 26 May 2009.
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