What's good for exploration is good for the industry, if we can only figure out what it all means. One can roam a trade show's exhibit space and find no end... more

Two step-change technologies are paving the way for drilling's future In the future, drilling rigs will be spudding wells in fields that are considered impossible today due to technology limitations. Such... more

New technologies will tackle the problem of producing oil and gas from tough spots. Many would agree that the top picks for high-impact emerging E&P technologies of the 1980s and 1990s... more

Handling gas will become one of the dominant themes of offshore development over the next 5 to 10 years, while deepwater concepts also take their place on the technical horizon. If... more

Satellite communications have stabilized to the point where applications are set to take off for both voice communications and data. Portable satellite services are now gaining momentum, especially in the oil... more

Operations and maintenance contractors expand role from support to overall operations management. Of all the activities oil producers have learned to outsource over the past two decades - accounting, information technology,... more

A combination of an independent's prospects and a service company's expertise has led to a mutually beneficial business relationship. Most would have to agree that an outsourcing relationship between an oil... more

The need for more accurate placement of straddle packers led to the design of a tool for use in coiled-tubing fracturing operations. Fracturing through coiled tubing is especially well suited to... more

A new jet assembly harnesses the turbulent force of a tornado to clean sand and cuttings out of horizontal wells. The petroleum industry has long been aware of the need for... more

High-pressure well intervention can pose a real challenge for both job design and pressure control. Henrik Aslak Larsen, larsen6@sugar-land.oilfield.slb.com, is a senior engineer at Schlumberger in Sugar Land, Texas. In less than... more

Where is it? How much is there? How hard will it be to get it? Unconventional gas questions are getting answered. A number of assessments related to the U.S. unconventional gas... more

NORTH AMERICA California-based independent Unocal recently launched an active deep-shelf gas exploration program in the Gulf of Mexico and also plans to reactivate its deepwater exploration efforts in the Gulf... more

Halliburton and subsidiary Landmark Graphics are releasing many new software applications and Web services. Halliburton has placed No. 12 on the Information Week 500 list. The list ranks US companies with... more

Offshore contractors in Spain have collected a significant slice of work from European projects recently, beating Norwegian competitors left and right. Spain's Dragados Offshore dealt a blow to Norwegian construction... more

NORTH AMERICA Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has agreed to buy Howell Corp. of Houston for approximately US $265 million. "The Howell acquisition is an excellent transaction on a standalone basis, but... more

Shell isn't claiming to break any technical boundaries when it comes to developing Bonga field Shell's latest big floating production project to tap the Bonga field offshore Nigeria is fairly conventional,... more

NORTH AMERICA David Roberts joined Mobius Risk Group as executive vice president, business development. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. promoted Dianne Dickey (left) to vice president and controller. Crane Valves North America appointed Tony... more

1. Occidental Petroleum discovered a new gas field on its property north of Taft, Calif. The company's Thunderball well tested at 12 MMcf/d of gas from 18,000 ft (5,490 m)... more

1. Shell Exploration and Production Co. reached success at its Great White prospect in Alaminos Canyon Block 857 some 250 miles (402 km) south of Houston, Texas, and only a... more

1. Drilling on the DNO Heather-operated West Heather field is being accelerated with another appraisal well using the Glomar Arctic IV semisub, operating on the 2/5-20 well. Originally, this third... more

1. Brazil's Petrobras, through its Braspetro affiliate, started drilling on La Mojarra-1, the first of two wells in an exploratory program in the Neiva sub-basin of Columbia's Upper Magdalena Valley.... more

1. TotalFinaElf (TFE) expects to spud an important appraisal well on its deepwater Usan/Ukot discovery off Nigeria before the end of the month. If all goes as planned with this... more

1. Caspian Geophysical has finished a four-component 3-D seismic survey over Azeri field offshore Azerbaijan. BP operates the field for the Azerbaijan International Operating Co. Caspian Geophysical, a joint venture... more

1. Saudi Arabia brought the Hawiyah gas project onstream in a bid to speed up industrialization and power the economy. The project is part of a major expansion of its... more

1. Contractors are working hard to pre-qualify for the floating production, storage and offloading vessel that will produce the oil rim on giant Malampaya field northwest of Palawan in the... more

WesternGeco's decision to idle most of its North American land crews could be the shot heard 'round the world. On the surface, WesternGeco's October announcement to shut down its Lower 48... more

What differentiates deepwater drilling? Greater water depths, riser manipulation, temperature gradients and added costs. It is fashionable these days to use the deepwater label to distinguish a particular type of... more

As multiphase meters gain wider acceptance, their potential to add value in new ways is being recognized. The promise multiphase meters hold for reducing hardware requirements for offshore production facilities, particularly... more

The recent mid-term elections here in the US have resulted in a sweep for the Republican Party. They now control the White House and both houses of Congress, and bets... more

A formal approach to handle change avoids costly surprises. Sitting in the boardroom of a major oil company's upstream headquarters were the chief executive officer (CEO), seven vice presidents and a... more

A formal approach to handle change avoids costly surprises. Sitting in the boardroom of a major oil company's upstream headquarters were the chief executive officer (CEO), seven vice presidents and a... more

Huge reserves and production rates draw high interest. The size of the opportunities offshore West Africa outweigh the size of potential problems for many of the operators working in this oil-... more

Several years ago I saw a cartoon that I thought was very funny. What is not funny is that I see this picture being played out in the petroleum industry... more