E&P Magazine - July 2013
As I See It
Enabling the work force
Demand for skilled workers keeps captains of industry up at night. But there is hope on the horizon.
Cover Story
Fueling the energy mix
Global production frontiers are ever-shifting, but fossil fuels are here to stay.
Exploration Technologies
Landing gear
New technology helped one operator adjust its landing points, resulting in much better wells.
Drilling Technologies
Light at the end of the fiber-optics tunnel
From vertical seismic profiling to monitoring cement setting, the applications for fiber optics downhole are rapidly increasing.
Completions and Production
ESP for ESPs?
One independent seeks to use big data prescriptive analytics to predict and improve the future performance of ESPs in the field.
Offshore Advances
A social license to operate
Buzzwords crop up aplenty in this business. But there was one that kept on buzzing at one of the year’s biggest meetings for explorationists.
Special Report
Chemical EOR research unlocks production possibilities
New studies indicate the tremendous potential of polymer flooding for recovery of viscous oil.
Digital Solutions
Going the final mile in field automation
Automation allows companies to maximize the performance, productivity, accuracy, and compliance of their field-based assets.
Manufacturing intelligence streamlines operations
EMI meets the need for improved data integration, analysis, visibility, and intelligence.
Features
Azimuthal gamma ray optimizes shale development
New tool overcomes conventional gamma ray deficiencies.
Chemical tracers measure production from stimulated wells
The use of hydrocarbon-soluble chemical tracers to measure production provides operators with a new well design tool.
Complex wells demand greater collaboration across all disciplines
Collaboration allows a better focus on technology and R&D so the industry can achieve a level of success that would not otherwise be available.
Don’t forget mature fields
The best place to look for oil is in an oil field, and field economics make these provinces increasingly attractive.
Focusing on Canada’s light, tight oil plays
Advances in completions techniques and technology lead to increased production in the Bakken, Cardium, Exshaw, and Viking formations.
Formation testing enables comprehensive characterization
New system provides cleaner samples in less time.
Integrated approach to well and production testing
A successful testing strategy should use a dynamic loop-based process and an integrated technology framework for improved production results.
Natural gas developers swarm to East Africa
With more than 170 Tcf of gas in place already discovered offshore Mozambique and Tanzania, natural gas companies are jostling for position in exploration and LNG projects.
New 3-D test tool delivers big benefits
Versatile formation fluid sampler and pressure tester succeeds where others have failed and conquers previously untestable formations.
Norway continues to shine
New acreage, new discoveries, and new technology keep this energy pioneer at the top of its game.
Pinnacle carbonate drilling challenges Petronas engineers
Implementation of PMCD technique enables safe drilling in high-loss carbonates offshore Sarawak.
Process safety: a view from the field
The offshore industry has a demographic issue on the horizon that will result in a loss of experienced ‘system integrating’ process safety engineers.
Project complexity driving riser design innovation
As offshore projects become increasingly large and complex, it is both new solutions and the enhancement of existing ones that will help contractors meet the challenge.
Rising to the challenge
The industry’s need to rapidly advance riser technologies to deal with extreme water depth, temperature, and pressure is driving a series of innovative studies.
Solids-free combination proves successful in carbonate development
The MPD system provided the basis for a new technique for drilling high-pressure Malaysian carbonate reservoirs.
Workforce training pays big dividends
What if you train your people and they leave? What if you do not train them and they stay?
‘Skills gap’ of prime concern
Panelists at a recent discussion addressed a survey outlining training issues in the industry.
Tech Watch
Analysis aids evaluation of unconventional plays
Advanced mud gas and rock fluid studies provide valuable and otherwise unobtainable information.
Tech Trends
Activity Highlights
On The Move
Industry Impact
Multizone completions system can decrease NPT and costs
Technology allows frac-packing in a single trip across multiple production intervals.
Management Report
EVM keeps projects on track
EVM metrics tell where a project or program is headed and the direct impact its performance has on operations and the bottom line.