December 2009

• Woodside pushes toward global leadership in LNG

  Mary Hackett, Woodside Petroleum Ltd.’s onshore project manager for Pluto trains two and three, talks about the company’s vision to be a global LNG leader as well as the key projects and people that will help the company realize this goal.

• Breaking Barriers

  Biggest, fastest, first-ever — it’s all in a year’s work.

• Exploration technology: Ready for the rebound

  You want better-faster-cheaper? You got it! Innovative technologies continue to emerge.

• Worldwide Drilling: Testing Limits

  New rigs, deeper wells, and Arctic drilling drew attention this year.

• Better rigs and tools improve drilling outlook

  New rig designs, control systems, drilling risers, and API specifications are among the rollouts this year.

• Production is the name of the game

  Exploration is important, drilling is important, reservoir characterization is important, but at the end of the day, it’s production that pays the bills.

• Great ideas benefit production

  There is no end to the great ideas that come from our creative and innovative industry; unfortunately, the uptake of many of these ideas seems to move at geologic speed.

• Brighter days are on the horizon

  Financial indicators point to an economy in the early stages of recovery.

• O&G capex will rise in 2010

  Capital expenditure of oil and gas companies, after surging from 2007 to 2008, witnessed a significant decrease in 2009. In 2010, capex activity is expected to go up, driven mainly by large national oil companies.

• Eurostar Suspends Service Indefinitely

• North Dakota oil production up 27%

  North Dakota posts record oil production in 2009

• EPmag.com – Hart’s best-kept secret

  What has become known as “information overload” is actually, to quote a friend of mine, “information pollution.

• M-I SWACO acquires leading cyclone technology company CYCLOTECH

• Get more out of capital assets

  Using a systematic approach called Design, Operate, Maintain, companies are realizing significant savings through enterprise asset management.

• Delivering production in 2010 and beyond

  Oil and gas producers operate in a world of seemingly conflicting objectives: to deliver more oil today from a well or series of wells while simultaneously reducing operating expenditures. To get more oil, pumps and compressors need to run harder, which consumes more fuel and increases maintenance costs. This has been the challenge of best-in-class operators for years.

• Exploration geophysicist not just looking for oil and gas

  University of Houston professor gets students excited about science.

• Drilling down in Canada

  Gas drilling declines for fourth year.

• Innovation, automation drive oilfield efficiencies, increase productivity

  While the oil industry consistently produces leading-edge technology, early adoption is not necessarily the watchword. Instead, conservatism is the rule, with ‘a mad dash to be second’ when new technological products are introduced.

• On The Move

• Good news, school’s in session!

  In case you’re tired of hearing our industry being bashed in the press, by Congress or anyone else with an axe to grind, here’s a holiday present for you.

• Airborne technology identifies, maps CBM seeps

  A technology typically used for discovering pipeline leaks helps a Ute tribe monetize its natural gas.

• Tech Trends

  A look at December tech trends.

• Offshore technological advances define new business model

  In the past decade or so, a steady stream of new technologies, some with revolutionary impact, has empowered offshore producers to search for and recover oil and gas in almost unimaginably deep or pernicious waters from reservoirs previously deemed unproductive or inaccessible.