December 2011

• Gearing Up For 2012

  Five industry experts predict the advances and innovations expected in the coming year.

• Challenging Environments Will Demand Better Contract Management

  Contracts refine focus on risk, particularly for high-cost deepwater projects.

• Unconventional Resources Move To Center Stage

  Unconventional resource development could revitalize the US economy.

• Three-D Seismic Will Have Long-Term Economic Value In Shale Plays

  Once the land grab is over, operators should turn to seismic data to understand their valuable acreage.

• Automation Is The Name Of The Game

  No longer constrained to drillpipe-handling, automation is poised to pervade every facet of well construction and production.

• Real-time Decision-Making Tools Proliferate In Land Drilling Environment

  The use of real-time information is growing and evolving at a rapid pace, and there is a growing industry shift toward using this data as an active part of the drilling process to improve performance.

• India Hits Gas On Road To Becoming Global Powerhouse

  As India, an emerging market economy and newly industrialized country, comes of age in the next few decades, more “elephants” will be required to support its rapid development.

• Fayetteville Shale Gas Still A Hot Commodity

  All may be quiet on the dry gas front, but recent results from the Fayetteville’s first mover show that this shale gas play is still paying dividends and has growth potential to boot.

• South Texas Holds ‘Hidden Reserves’

  Operators below the rich-gas line are not crying over dry Eagle Ford shale gas. Instead, they are counting silver linings behind other opportunistic pay zones.

• Independent Looks East For The Eagle Ford

  A small company has big ideas when it comes to chasing the Eagle Ford shale into Louisiana.

• Offshore Tide On The Rise

  Deepwater spend trends grow stronger, but the shallows still rule the waves for now.

• Industry Pulse: New Technologies Stave Off ‘Peak Oil’

  False pessimistic predictions regarding the future of oil production have been around since the mid-1850s. Though reserves numbers continue to grow, the hue and cry of ‘Peak Oil’ continues to entangle government agencies, geologists, and moneymen.

• Minimize Process Software Risk By Managing Hidden Assets

  Effective software backup prevents downtime.

• Combine Operations, Engineering To Achieve Asset Integrity

  The ability to combine operations experience and engineering solutions in a way that brings technology, proven processes, and the management skills that deliver the right people behavior can provide operators with solutions that span the design phase of a project through asset decommissioning.

• Asset Performance Management Creates Long-Term Value

  Improvements in equipment reliability and longevity and workforce productivity allow more revenue to trickle down to the bottom line.

• Drilling Environments Benefit From Improved Technology

  The advent of new technology in 2011 brings about a positive outlook for 2012.

• Explorers Innovate

  In their quest to find hydrocarbons, explorers pulled out all the stops in 2011.

• Production Milestones Reveal An Expanding Universe

  Oil and gas production is pushing the envelope both technically and geographically.

• Root Cause Identification Mitigates Equipment Failures

  Preventing control systems software-related root causes from being overlooked or misdiagnosed streamlines operations.

• Drillship Delivery, New Subsea Contracts Highlight Offshore Sector

• It’s Time For The Industry To ‘Occupy’ Shale Development

• Innovative Software Takes On Riser Design, Analysis

  Improved modeling leads to better riser design.

• ‘Flying’ Nodes Shift Marine Seismic Paradigm

  Low-power autonomous nodes could revolutionize ocean-bottom seismic.

• Well Construction: Pollution Is Lost Profit

  Technology toes the line between environmental stewardship and profitability in today’s shale gas industry.

• Water Management Trends Toward Reuse

  Current technology gives operators the capacity to reuse water rather than release it.

• International Highlights

• It’s Time To Boldly Go…

  E&P industry needs to move from the space shuttle into the Star Trek era.

• Tech Trends

• UK Government ‘Ring Fence Expenditure Supplement’ – First Response To Bad Policy?

  Taxation could restrict development in the UK oil and gas sector.

• Closed-Loop Drilling Scalability Provides Options

  The versatility of closed-loop drilling methodologies is providing a wide scope for successfully meeting a varying range of operational and economic objectives.