August 2009

• Electric submersible pumps fine tuned for gassy wells

  Chesapeake Energy and Schlumberger collaborate to solve gas blocking, significantly improve uptime of ESPs in difficult wells.

• Pioneering artificial lift

  Artificial lift coaxes oil to the surface, stimulates production, and extends a project’s lifespan by up to 10%.

• Safety valve system brings wells back to life

  Integrated systems provide operators with single-source approach to well revival.

• Hostile drilling environments require new approach

  With HP/HT operations becoming the norm, drilling and formation evaluation technologies must ensure that systems can withstand extreme levels of shock, vibration, and pressure surges.

• New composite materials enhance HP/HT operations

  Glass fiber based thermoset composites handle high temperatures and extreme pressures yet are easily drilled out in downhole applications.

• DRM takes advantage of new conveyance technologies

  A new methodology has significantly expanded the operational envelope of wireline.

• Elemental analysis tool enhances logging accuracy

  Predicting reserves and production estimates in complex reservoirs is becoming less challenging with new formation evaluation tools.

• Norway’s mature North Sea still attractive after more than 40 years

  It is exactly 43 years since the first exploration well was spudded on the NCS. The well, located in the North Sea, was dry, but it paved the way for the successes to come, amounting to proven reserves of more than 60 Bboe throughout the NCS.

• 2009 UK budget offers fiscal incentives for challenging fields

  Recently rolled out government incentives, attempting to attract investment in the more challenging new UK fields, are a positive sign of government and stakeholder engagement.

• CCS provides bridge to sustainable energy

  CCS is held up by many as a necessary means to combat climate change, while others claim that it has no place in a future of sustainable energy supply. For the energy industry the question is: How can future demands be met with low CO2 emitting energy?

• New system can safely store CO2

  CCS has dominated global thinking on CO2 emissions reduction and has led to industry projects that are pushing the envelope of today’s technology. One newly introduced concept is a large-scale, non-excavated geologic storage system that can store large volumes of CO2.

• Presalt draws international investors

  Brazil’s massive presalt reserves and the need for development open opportunities for services providers.

• Greenland primed

  A new licensing round releases the enigmatic Arctic frontier for exploration and exploitation.

• UK takes on energy security challenge

  British government officials discuss plans to achieve energy security through domestic and international means as part of the transition to a low carbon economy.

• The challenge of changing

  As I see it, the oil and gas industry is experiencing very interesting times, and they are times of tremendous change and opportunity.

• Software technology integrates assets across lifecycle

  In consumer markets, technology revolutions happen quickly. The E&P sector of the oil and gas industry is always looking for new ideas, but adoption takes time.

• Just when you thought it was safe

  In an expedition funded by oil and service companies, scientists find a truly scary marine fossil.

• Common sense is not so common

  How many politicians does it take to screw in a halogen light bulb? Just one, but you’ll also need a simple majority to vote on a tax at every turn.

• Supply chain management drives value

  With the sudden steep decline in oil price and the dramatically increasing cost base over the last few years driven by shortages of people and equipment, the oil and gas industry has renewed its focus on supply chain management.

• On the Move

  Who's going where in the upstream sector. 

• Hydraulic fracturing fracas could compromise domestic industry

  Pending legislation to restrict well-understood practice would leave many questions unanswered.

• Sampling-while-drilling debuts, Web-based real-time noise monitoring service, Beneficial use of produced water, Flowmeter measures flare gas

  A look at August tech trends.

• New tree opens access to marginal fields

  The growing market for small and marginal field projects requires a new hardware solution. A new entry in the subsea market improves NPV of small, marginal fields by accelerating production and lowering capital expenditure.

• CNG: Taking gas where it has never gone before

  Fashionable alternative energy sources (such as biofuels or wind) and climate rhetoric aside, the world which today draws 87% of energy from fossil fuels (oil, gas, and coal), will by the year 2030 still draw 87% from them — all this while the total energy demand will grow by 50%.