Success rates are down, but innovation is on the rise.

E&P Magazine - October 2015

Success rates are down, but innovation is on the rise.

As I See It

Music To My Ears

A couple of months ago I lamented the lack of industry leaders willing to speak their minds.

Cover Story

Exploration Resuscitation

Success rates are down, but innovation is on the rise.

Is The Easy Oil Really Gone?

Discoveries continue to be made, but the industry’s track record is showing signs of weakness.

Reward Awaits Those Willing To Explore During Downturn

Cookie-cutter model leads to marginal price economics.

Exploration Technologies

Data Management Grows Up

Solutions have been available for decades, and companies are finally starting to embrace them.

Drilling Technologies

Latest GoM Lease Sale Shows Lack Of Quality Prospects

Some U.S. senators are lining up against offshore drilling at a time when new prospects are needed.

Completions and Production

Waste Not, Want Not

The spirit of innovation continues to drive the industry’s search for new ways to do more with methane emissions.

Offshore Advances

Battle For North Sea Heats Up

Fairfield changes tack, but don’t ring the death knell yet.

Digital Solutions

Stepping Out Of The Silo

Big Data pulls project management into the 21st century.

Features

A 20-year History Of Vibrator Technology Innovation

Vibrator vehicle design allows broadband frequency generation and smaller footprint for accessing difficult or environmentally sensitive areas.

A Big Job In Tough Times

SEG’s incoming president promises a strong, stable society.

Advances In Seismic Technology Offshore Mexico

Multiclient survey in Campeche Basin is designed to address imaging challenges.

Ambient Seismic Provides New Understanding Of Unconventional Production Potential

Identify areas or volumes that are acoustically active due to natural fractures, hydraulic stimulation or production-related activity.

Back To The Future?

Today’s tough times call for new attitudes about mature fields.

Brazil Emerges In First Gear From ‘Carwash’ Scandal

Brazil’s reputation and undoubted potential to be one of the world’s long-term offshore powerhouses has been battered and bruised almost beyond recognition, but it is starting the painful process of getting its house back into some kind of order.

Bringing Geophysics Closer To The Reservoir

New technologies integrate geophysics with principles of geomechanics, geology and reservoir stimulation.

Controlled Sound-field Sampling

Using more than two sources in dense in-line overlapping shot mode can enhance geophysical data quality.

Culture Of Survival

Oil and gas suppliers are showing resilience in the Permian Basin amidst looming downward trends, but will it last?

Data Center Provides Remote 3-D Visualization For Upstream Oil And Gas

Infrastructure addresses the need for secure, remote 3-D access to G&G applications and data for geographically dispersed teams.

Electric ROVs Are Closing The Capability Gap

With subsea operations continuing to push the boundaries to meet the market’s increasingly stringent requirements, electric ROVs are narrowing the capability gap on their hydraulic cousins.

Enabling Geoscientists To Do More While Spending Less

Modeling tool allows 3-D geoscience mapping with increased accuracy of reservoir interpretation.

Flexible Fire Protection For Offshore Applications

Rubber’s ability to withstand extreme temperatures and weather conditions makes it a reliable option for offshore fire protection.

From Concept To Commercialization: Towed-streamer EM

Technology can provide an increase in data density and acquisition efficiency, resulting in cost-effective, accurate mapping of subsurface resistivity.

From Cuttings To Completions: Automated Wellsite Mineralogy Comes Of Age

Analyzer generates quantitative geological datasets.

FTG Could Be E&P Game-changer

Doubts, low prices are still stumbling blocks to broad industry acceptance.

How Mesh Networks Can Drive Profits For The Oil Industry

Kinetic mesh networks support automation and real-time monitoring on job sites, improving production efficiency and preventing costly downtime.

Hydraulic Pipe Recovery System Reduces Impact Of Stuck-pipe Issues

A full-strength sub is positioned in the drillstring, which lands a jetting dart to sever the internal API pin connection.

Impact Of CSEM On Return Of Exploration Investment

Technique has an effect on exploration capital efficiency.

In-well ESPs In Deepwater—Why Not?

Allocating reliability to a component level will enable development of in-well ESP systems that can be deployed in deepwater developments with a high degree of confi dence.

Integrated Subsurface Modeling Can Help Lower Cost Per Boe In Unconventionals

Workflow tools can help increase production while decreasing cost per barrel.

Integration: The New Business As Usual

Data play a key role in a strong balance sheet.

Land Contractors Hunker Down

Rig pricing is under pressure as operators delay drilling until 2016.

Latest Advance In Microseismic Technology: Auto Moment Tensor Inversion

Using a cross-correlation technique, process determines the station-by-station relative amplitude and phase of each event.

Louisiana Subsurface, Mississippi Delta Are Centers Of Attention

SEG’s Applied Science presentation will cover delta sedimentation, evolution and coastal restoration.

Low-logistics AUV Operational Advancements

New AUV technologies are being put to the test offshore California and Angola.

Lula Already A Legend

For Brazil, the Lula Field single-handedly kick-started the transformation of the province from a fairly unremarkable oil and gas backwater into a world-class offshore powerhouse.

MPD Automation Manages Narrow Drilling Windows With Reduced Footprint

Choke control system with a proportional valve replaces multiple directional valves of different sizes, resulting in a simpler and more robust design.

New Microseismic Technique Predicts Propped Volumes, Reservoir Performance

A technique for developing a DFN model is at the forefront of advanced geomechanical analysis.

Next-generation Extreme HP/HT Scale, Corrosion Research

New research reveals differences in scale and corrosion in ultra-HP/HT environments.

North Sea Is In Fight For Survival

U.K. players large and small are up for the battle to extend the life of this world-class basin for decades, but how effectively it is responding to the ‘lower-for-longer’ oil price slump is debatable.

Platform Can Improve Seismic Interpretation

Software provides solutions for data visualization and attribute analysis.

Quests, Questions In The Cooper Basin

With a proven history of production, plenty of invested players and a bright unconventional resources outlook, the venerable basin is still alive and kicking.

Reaching Target Depth In Complex Presalt Formation In Brazil With MPD

The BTR RCD optimized kick detection and allowed the dynamically positioned rig to rotate and maintain its position above the well.

Revealing Exploration Opportunities In The GoM

Newly acquired seismic data offshore Mexico offer improved understanding of basin architecture and evolution.

Seamless Data Integration From Land To Transition Zone And Beyond

A recently developed cablefree system enables safer, easier and faster surveys in shallow marine environments.

Seeing Geology Before Interpreting It

System combines computational approaches with cognitive capabilities in interpretation.

SEG Technology Showcase: Exploring The Possibilities

As the Society of Exploration Geophysicists celebrates its 85th anniversary, thousands will converge to further the science of exploration.

Seventh-generation UDW Drillships Delayed For Better Market

Delivery of the Ocean Rig Crete and Ocean Rig Amorgos, the two newest vessels in the seventh generation of ultradeepwater drillships built by Samsung Heavy Industries for Ocean Rig UDW Inc., will have to wait until market conditions improve.

Shot-point Data Management Tool Collects, Organizes Field Data

Software allows users to manage projects from surveying to shooting.

The Cost Of Bacterial Disinfection

Monitoring and testing bacterial disinfection treatments are key to managing costs.

The Growing Influence Of Reservoir Modeling

New technologies work together to enhance the effectiveness of reservoir modeling and uncertainty quantification across the prospect life cycle.

The Seismic Wow Factor—A Precursor To Unlocking Offshore Mexico

With new data comes new understanding.

Underreamer Control, Real-time Feedback Exercised Via MWD System

Automated drilling with on-command digital underreaming proves the value of the IoT to oilfield operations.

Vibratory Downhole And Marine Sources Can Be Monitored Remotely

Marine vibratory sources can project variable frequency energy into the water for days in programmed sweeps.

Tech Watch

Ropes Save Money, Emissions

Low-environmental-impact seismic exploration is made possible by performance fibers and lightweight ropes.

Tech Trends

Tech Trends

This section lists some of the latest technology trends.

Activity Highlights

International Highlights

International Highlights: Current Projects and Other Global Developments

On The Move

On The Move

On The Move

On The Move

On The Move