E&P Magazine - September 2005
As I See It
Innovation - Is is worth the risk?
Some great innovations fail, while others flourish. Success requires timing, support and perception of value.
Cover Story
Learn from the past
Jobs for new graduates were plentiful, so I had my pick of job offers.
Drilling Technologies
That's incredible!
The once-popular television show looked in the wrong places for subject matter.
Completions and Production
Beyond the vertical
Production logging tools developed for vertical or near-vertical wells may not present a true picture of flow dynamics in highly deviated or horizontal well scenarios.
Special Report
Geophone aids wave comparison
SEND, of Hamburg, Germany, has developed a geophone that is electronically gimballed without an external tilt sensor.
Features
Arctic opportunities abound
Norway aims at sustained NCS production while ramping up far north exploration, said Minister of Energy Torhild Widvey.
Tech Watch
It's not so windy outside the box
The dreaded word "windfall" wafted across the airwaves the other day.
Tech Trends
Online management eases decisions
In the February 2005 issue we listed six areas of focus for corporations as they plunge into the digital age - physical assets, business risk, infrastructure, intellectual capital, productivity and customers.
Activity Highlights
Energy bull?
Long before George W. Bush signed the new US energy bill (Energy Policy Act of 2005) into law on Aug. 8, the clamors of foul play rang across the nation.
Activity Spotlight
US database available
IHS Energy has launched US 3-D Seismic surveys to add to IHS Enerdeq, its data access and integration platform. IHS acquired more than 3,300 US onshore seismic surveys from Terra Ventures.
Another Perspective
A lifecycle approach
What is the most practical way to obtain more reservoir knowledge earlier and throughout the life of a reservoir?
Attract, keep good employees
The American Petroleum Institute survey that points to a fast-approaching shortage in key technical positions in the oilpatch has a lot of companies worried about the depths of the technical benches.
Closing the flow assurance loop
Flow assurance means different things to different people. To some it can resemble the oilfield version of Roto-Rooter, unclogging wells, tieback lines and jumpers, gathering stations and risers of production-robbing deposits of paraffin, scale or hydrates.
Closing the reservoir gap
With exploration and production (E&P) trends towards smaller and more complex reservoirs, there is an urgent need for technology supporting more detailed reservoir understanding.
Dalia-a new flower blooms offshore Angola
The discovery of the Dalia field in 1997 presented Total with a welcome increase in reserves but some major technological challenges.
Data models get integrated
There is an unfortunate divergence in data modeling strategies between the spatial-centric approach in global information systems (GIS) and the business-centric approach adopted by database applications following Public Petroleum Data Model (PPDM) or similar recommendations.
Industry faces key-worker shortage
The oil and gas industry has long been associated with cyclical employment patterns, as commodity prices fluctuate.
Intelligent wells approach growth spurt
Any new technology rides a bell curve of early-adopter acceptance, broad-market acceptance, a peak and a decline.
Keep the manpower pipeline full
There has been a lot of conversation and even entire meetings during the past few years devoted to manpower issues in the oil and gas business.
Lifetime solutions benefit Pacific field
The first triple-zone intelligent completions installed off the US West Coast are up and running in three of Plains Exploration & Production's (PXP) Rocky Point wells.
Mining the database
As the speed of computational time exponentially accelerates, databases seem similarly to be getting larger and, unfortunately, more unwieldy.
Multi-functional solution for gas hydrates
Gas hydrates are a growing concern in oil or gas production because gas hydrates can present flow assurance problems in onshore wells, in offshore wells and in pipelines.
New API standards clarify shaker screens
Initially shaker screens were easy to describe.
Packers allow splice-free cable runs
As hydrocarbon deposits become harder to find and the majority of the super giant oil fields continue to mature, the industry is being forced to consider increasingly challenging reservoir management issues which require intelligent completions and complex well designs to ensure their long term success.
Right-time data integration
Today's soaring commodity prices are contributing handsomely to the bottom line at the various oil and gas industry-related companies.
Shortage looms in key positions
The oil and gas industry will need nearly 30,000 new petroleum engineers by 2009 to replace engineers eligible to retire by that time and to meet engineering needs for growing energy demand.
Shutting off water, smartly
The widening acceptance of intelligent well technology beyond initial applications in traditional areas such as the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, etc. is illustrated by the first intelligent well to be installed off the east coast of Canada.
Solving the deepwater dilemma
Well construction costs in deeper waters...
Technical people wanted, soon
The looming shortage among US-based companies of senior technical people - geologists, geophysicists and engineers - is one of the biggest concerns facing the oilpatch today.
World Map
Help on the front lines
Museum visitors get an unexpected education on what the oil and gas business is really about.