Deepwater development continues to manifest longer tieback distances from remote areas to shallowwater host facilities, with hydrocarbon demand and significant technology innovations helping to extend industry capability. For instance, multiphase... more

The World Deepwater Market Forecast, recently published by energy analysts Douglas-Westwood, forecasts continued growth in the deepwater sector with annual expenditures reaching more than US $20 billion by 2010. In... more

With advancement in technology and increased understanding of deepwater behavior, issues that were once hurdles in the deepwater market are now being easily managed. For example, we are now comfortable... more

Today, finding new and promising frontiers for oil and gas exploration that are both accessible and hold the potential for significant discovery is challenging at best. Enter the Kazakh sector... more

In their search for large oil and gas accumulations operators face what are arguably the toughest seismic imaging problems ever encountered. This is especially true in the Gulf of Mexico... more

In practice, acquisition and processing solutions to poor seismic illumination begin with an effort to compensate for gross holes in the density of target illumination using conventional narrow-azimuth streamer acquisition.... more

When planning a 3-D towed-streamer survey, there is an inevitable trade-off between geophysical objectives and operational constraints. The impact of compromise is especially critical when contemplating a 3-D seismic survey... more

A short 2 years ago it would have been considered absolute folly to launch a new marine seismic company. Existing players were having trouble staying in business, even after a... more

In defining the elements of well integrity, a typical engineer might include corrosion evaluation, actions to reduce metal loss, the assembly of downhole tubulars, attempts to mitigate casing collapse, mechanical... more

A stable wellbore promotes personnel safety, efficient drilling operations, high-quality wellbore logs and trouble-free completions. A destabilized well bore can impair or prohibit its use, compromise the well plan and... more

The last thing an operator needs is an unscheduled production shutdown due to maintenance issues. However, help could be around the corner. A new software tool has been designed to... more

Drilling deep well bores, especially with inclined trajectories, is becoming increasingly common in challenging environments such as deepwater, tectonically active areas and subsalt regions. Exploiting these hard-to-reach resources is usually... more

Infinitely more valuable than periodic measurements, continuous dynamic production data is key to understanding what's going on in the well and the reservoir. The challenge, and it is a formidable... more

Petrobrás and its partners have announced plans to invest US $18 billion to reduce Brazil's dependency on imported gas. Elsewhere, Royal Dutch Shell signed a deal with Qatar Petroleum to... more

Drilling horizontal well sections to maximize production has evolved into a routine practice. On the other hand, tubing-conveyed perforating (TCP) in long, highly deviated or horizontal sections still presents significant... more

The control of sand flow from unconsolidated formations has always been one of the most critical challenges in well completions. Economic considerations, such as the increased value of non-renewable oil... more

Now proven in more than 100 wells comprising over 500 individual zones, an innovative mechanical diversion system provides the foundation for two new multistage stimulation services, one for fracturing and... more

@Balance Americas, LLC named John G. Samuell Sr. (top left) to the post of president and chief executive officer. Samuell also joined the board of directors of the company and... more

North America 1. BP Exploration Alaska Inc., based in London, United Kingdom, with the help a US Department of Energy grant, will drill a gas hydrate test about 28 miles (45... more

One of the most useful tools for designing and performing successful well interventions is "built-for-purpose" computer software for pre-job modeling. While hydraulic and "torque-and-drag" software has long been used in... more

In October 1917, the McClesky No. 1 well started the Ranger oilfield boom. In just 20 months, "the Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Co., whose stock had skyrocketed from US... more

Those of you who receive The Leading Edge may have read an article in the February 2006 issue titled "Are we properly using our brains in seismic interpretation?" One of... more

It's been done. Actually, it's being done all the time. In the Niobrara formation of eastern Colorado and western Kansas, for example, economically viable 3,000 ft (914 m) wells have... more

A popular saying that makes its rounds every decade or so points out that a man who is up to his assets in alligators finds it difficult to remember that... more

System breaks cable 'straitjacket' Vibtech has introduced the Unite System, the latest addition to its Infinite Telemetry (it) System family of products. The it System is the first cellular seismic acquisition system.... more

It is hard to believe that, in an era of rapidly developing information and communications technology, the communication method from downhole drilling systems to the surface in oil and gas... more

The muse (or muses) has hit me particularly hard of late. Right now I've got the philosophical writing muse. It has something to do with watching the twinkly lights of... more

Exploration Seismic news improves CGG and Veritas DGC have both recently released earnings results, and their improvements mark a continued upswing in the geophysical contracting sector. CGG reported a 64% improvement... more

Focused on providing a ready resource of seasoned, technically prepared personnel for the offshore oil and gas industry, Houston-area operators and contractors are joining efforts to create an effective mentoring... more

Used successfully in military planning and decision-making, simulation and modeling and scenario exercises to train people to rapidly assess complex situations and make good decisions with incomplete information can be... more

Cuba's Fidel Castro dubbed 2006 the "year of the energy revolution" for Cuba. That promise lies in 59 deepwater blocks covering some 43,243 sq miles (112,000 sq km) in water... more

I recently attended my 35th high-school reunion. Nearly half of my class of 99 students attended the event, and most still live in the area. I grew up in a... more