E&P Magazine - December 2015
Digital
Industry experts evaluate potential solutions to difficulties facing the oil patch.
As I See It
Evolve Digitally Or Die
There’s a lot more we can do before we call ourselves a truly smart industry.
Cover Story
Rising To The Challenge
Industry experts evaluate potential solutions to difficulties facing the oil patch.
Stepping It Up
Striking the Balance Between Innovation and Economic Reality
Walking The Technology Tightrope
You have to give to receive, or so the saying goes. For the upstream oil and gas industry, the difficulty lies in weighing how much to put into a project against how long a company is able to wait for a return—and what it will get out of it.
Why Aren’t NOCs Closing The Technology Gap With IOCs?
Different pressures create different drivers for NOCs.
Exploration Technologies
I, Robot: Automation Meets Land Seismic Acquisition
Automation has finally come to land seismic acquisition.
Drilling Technologies
IADC’s Diamond Jubilee Prepares Contractors For Next 75 Years
Increased safety, reduced costs and enhanced effi ciency are the key performance indicators for IADC as it readies for the next industry challenges.
Completions and Production
Keeping The Grit Out
Filter, wiper combination works together to keep sand from fouling up rod pumps.
Offshore Advances
UK North Sea Oil Companies Get Leaner Amid Oil Price Crash
The oil price crash has put one-third of U.K. North Sea oil companies at risk, but despite this some are seeing signs of improvement.
Digital Solutions
Protecting Upstream Assets Through Sand Monitoring
Wireless corrosion and sand monitoring probe delivers real-time information to operators.
Features
A Material World: Use Of Composite Materials Grows
The use of composite materials has been steadily growing over the past decade, with the latest applications offshore signaling that operators are now starting to more fully embrace their potential.
An Intelligent Approach To Basin Modeling
Investing in reservoir intelligence enhances economic returns in today’s reservoirs.
Bringing New Technology To An Old Fi eld
A full static model in a highly complex structural and stratigraphic environment provides greater subsurface understanding.
Can Refracturing Add Value In Unconventional Plays?
In making the case for refracturing, studies show that it has a large potential to add reserves in existing fields at an exceptionally low unit cost.
Cement-bond Logging Service Improves Wellbore Integrity Assessment
The use of electromagnetic-acoustic sensors holds the potential to significantly improve how cement integrity of wells is evaluated.
Collaboration Is More Than Just A Word
The industry needs to move past its reluctance to share.
Drilling Data Deliver Quality Results
A new process provides successful completion placement on every well.
Drilling For Clues
From near or far, the JOIDES Resolution (JR) looks like any ol’ drillship. She has a derrick and pipe rack, a logging shack and helipad. She even has a doghouse and a rathole. Yes, the JR is well and truly a drilling rig that floats, and she has been investigating the Earth’s origin and evolution through scientific ocean coring worldwide.
Dustbuster For Frack Sand
New technology coats each grain to create a near dust-free frack sand.
Eagle Ford Continues To Soar
South Texas shale play maintains a steady glide through the market turbulence.
Forties At 40
When Queen Elizabeth II pushed a gold-plated button on Nov. 3, 1975, at BP’s Dyce headquarters near Aberdeen, Scotland, to start production from the Forties Field, few foresaw just how long-lasting both she and the U.K.’s largest ever oil field would be.
Global Personnel Mobility Challenges Solved
Meeting the demands of a global mobile workforce requires a little creativity and patience.
Gulf Players Embrace EOR While Tightening Grip On Costs
The Middle East’s big national oil companies are focused at the project level. OPEC estimates the region's conventional oil reserves are at 796 Bbbl, nearly half the global total of recoverable crude, while its gas reserves represent more than 40% of the world’s total.
Hassi R’Mel Field Feeds Initial Commercial LNG Industry
The first delivery of LNG to the U.K. in 1964 from Algeria marked the start of the commercial LNG industry.
High Power-density Motors Enable Rigs To Drill More Efficiently
A motor with higher power density can deliver more power with comparable weight or, similarly, comparable power at a reduced weight or size.
Pressure Pumping Primer
Well stimulation market stabilizes, but at low activity levels, as service providers await 2016.
Reawakening The Slumbering Giant
Apache took over a world-famous mature giant of a field with declining production levels and gave it a whole new lease on life, making oilfield history in the process.
Shale 2.0: Excelling In New Commodity Price Environment
Advanced rig technology maintains drilling within the ‘cycle-time sweet spot’ to maintain wellbore tolerance in the production zone.
Special Report: The Big 4-0
The Forties Field came onstream in 1975 but shows no signs of slowing down just yet.
Study Points To Potential Hydrocarbon Bounty Offshore Newfoundland, Labrador
The resource assessment study, commissioned by Nalcor Energy to BeicipFranlab, indicates the potential for 12 Bbbl of oil and 3.2 Tcm (113 Tcf) of gas for just the 11 blocks that were offered in the 2015 licensing round.
Technological Innovation Key To Enhancing Forties Field Drilling
From a wooden guide shoe to rotary steerable systems and gravel packing from a supply vessel, Apache has used a myriad of ‘little pieces’ of technology to revitalize the Forties Field.
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