E&P Magazine - April 2013

As I See It

Living in a post-Chavez world

With lingering concerns, the industry readies itself for potentially huge changes.

Cover Story

Exploration Technologies

More questions than answers?

Operators ask if geophysical R&D is moving in the right direction.

Drilling Technologies

‘Keep the pointy end up’

Diamond Offshore has three simple rules for maintaining safe operations. Keeping the derrick upright is the first.

Completions and Production

Hydrate success in the Nankai trough

Japan takes another step closer to adding a new domestic resource to its energy mix.

Offshore Advances

The cold front is warming up

No one underestimates the challenge of tackling upstream arctic activity. But growing interest levels, driven by high energy demand, mean commercial exploitation of the region’s rich resources will happen.

Special Report

Myanmar: dawning of a new era?

The country is ripe for a deepwater gas boom.

Digital Solutions

Optoelectronic technologies aid subsea data flow

The use of light as an information asset creates enormous opportunities for the oil and gas industry.

Visualizing solutions provides real performance results

The ability to visualize a potential problem ahead of time and work out ways to solve it before it occurs is a talent that often distinguishes a winner from the ‘also-rans’ in sport. The same ability is applicable to the oil and gas business.

Features

Australia looks ahead

With more than US $182 billion in investment in LNG facilities, Australia is on track to become the world’s largest producer of LNG by 2017. The Hon. Martin Ferguson, minister for Resources and Energy, describes the Australian government’s efforts to develop the country’s oil and gas resources.

Australian unconventional plays remain in proof-of-concept stage

With only four hydraulic fracturing crews in the country and few drilling rigs capable of performing horizontal drilling, Australia’s oil and gas shale and tight sand development is in its infancy.

Cemented sliding sleeves: the future of horizontal completions

A new completion system delivers significant time savings over PNP systems.

Debris-tolerant barrier solves challenging problem

The new combo plug was designed for use in Germany’s first TAML L 5 multilateral well.

Funding the Energy Security Trust fund: Think more offshore access

President Obama could fund his Energy Security Trust by opening more offshore acreage to oil and gas exploration.

High-specification jackup designs lead revival

Jackup rigs are the everyday workhorse of the oil and gas world when it comes to drilling and completing offshore wells. But the new breed of harsh-environment units entering the market is an increasingly specialized animal.

History repeating itself in the Caspian

Azerbaijan has an unmatched oil-producing history that goes back many centuries, but this pioneering country in Central Asia and its neighbors around the land-locked Caspian Sea have the natural resources and the will to keep making history for a good deal longer.

Hunting for black gold on the high seas

Once a business model that had lost its luster, the marine multiclient market is now steaming ahead.

Improving evaluation efficiency in CBM formations

An advanced formation-testing tool enabled an operator in Australia to assess the production potential of a CBM reservoir, resulting in time and cost savings and improved rig utilization.

LNG is a game-changing fuel

By powering drilling rigs and fracturing pumps with LNG, operators see lower costs and emissions.

New jackup design improves drilling efficiency

As the offshore industry searches for more ways to tap into energy resources across the globe, E&P companies are depending on engineers to design new fixed-leg rigs that are capable of operating in deeper waters.

Placement of extended-reach wells requires precision, real-time data

Reducing uncertainty while drilling is critical in ERD wells. By placing the well in the optimum stratigraphic position within the reservoir, an operator can maximize both initial production and ultimate recovery.

Providing new insights into the Browse basin

Broadband acquisition reveals valid structural and stratigraphic traps able to charge offshore Australia.

Rising expenditure opens door to improved productivity

As growing oil and gas demand continues to drive higher levels of upstream spending on new projects, the challenge for major contractors is not only ensuring they have the right tools for increasingly complex jobs but also that they can quickly access technology expertise.

Superior illumination needs broader bandwidths

The combination of broadband seismic and full-azimuth imaging leads to a step-change in imaging difficult geologies.

Systematic solution overcomes artificial lift challenges

System optimizes recovery in the liquids-rich Eagle Ford shale.

TBS steering improves economics in Bakken wells

New technology overcomes lateral drilling problems and reduces drilling time while improving wellbore geometry.

The pitfalls of transloading frac sand

Which option actually saves money?

To drill or not to drill?

A new forecasting method for unconventional reserves and resources helps operators answer this vital question correctly.

Tech Watch

Camera clarifies underwater inspections

New systems overcome traditional hurdles.

Tech Trends

Tech Trends

Activity Highlights

On The Move

Industry Impact

Spoolable connector reliably joins CT strings

Tool decreases installation time and leads to improved CT fatigue life in offshore operations.

Management Report

Managing industry-specific HR needs with ERP systems

Managing HR functions within a single database allows companies to more accurately track rigs and employees while improving the efficiency of payroll, work rotations, and logistics.