E&P Magazine - August 2005
As I See It
Decision process affects drilling results
Use modern techniques in choosing new technology for drilling.
Cover Story
Recruit aggressively
Bill Pike, editor of this magazine, recently mentioned the large percentage of petroleum industry workers reaching retirement age and the small percentage of young workers interested in the petroleum industry.
Drilling Technologies
Doing it right has big pay-offs
In deepwater projects, costs are high, but the cost of failure is even higher. Deepwater drilling project teams show that you can do things right, well, on-time and within budget.
Industrial profile stifles performance
This column is the fourth in a six-part series on drilling practices and improvement based on an industry study by James Miller & Co.
Completions and Production
Building the fleet of the future
Versatility and efficiency are fundamental design goals for a new dynamically positioned (DP) construction vessel from The Netherlands.
Silo-tank FPSO designed
New concept eliminates harsh weather problems common to conventional FPSO design.
Special Report
Having it both ways
Wearing of tools and materials is always a problem when drilling.
Module accesses protected areas
IHS Energy has signed an agreement with the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) of Cambridge, United Kingdom, to market a global biodiversity information module to the energy industry.
New pump is red hot
The REDA Hotline 550 high temperature electrical submersible pump (ESP) system recently introduced by Schlumberger is designed to address the special needs of high-temperature production wells involved in steamflood operations.
Processing gets even faster
To address the growing need to reduce onboard processing turnaround time, WesternGeco has introduced Q-Xpress.
Features
Familiarity breeds income
The North Sea treats its harvesters well when they know how to handle its assets.
Tech Watch
Optimization is in the eye of the beholder
Like the mother of the platypus who thinks her baby is beautiful, production optimization takes on a different look depending on who's doing the looking.
Tech Trends
Machine-to-machine talk adds value
Sensor-to-computer information transfer adds efficiency to oilpatch operations.
Activity Highlights
Do you know?
It is August in Houston. Between the afternoon deluges and the unbearable heat, it is hard to get motivated for a ripping column.
Activity Spotlight
News & Analysis
Exploration downturn?
Another Perspective
Branch treatments boost productivity
A new high-pressure jet wash system is able to locate all the legs of a multilateral well and successfully treat each - usually in a single trip - resulting in increased production and improved economics over previous stimulation methods used in multilaterals.
Finding a well's true potential
Behind-casing formation evaluation unearthed the answers that other logging tools couldn't find.
Getting from here to there
Utilizing modern Web services allows end-users access to more oil and gas data.
High-quality, 4-D seismic delivers value
The capabilities and future of 4-D are showcased by details about Statoil's successful acquisition of high-quality, repeatable surveys that are now being used to manage production of the mature Norne field.
Interpretation reaches maturity
For many years, visualization and volume interpretation have focused on 3-D seismic data. New tools now provide 2-D data capabilities that are of interest to every geoscientist.
Options drive gas compression
Often taken for granted, the ubiquitous natural gas compressor represents mature technology. But recently, new commercial models and system automation are making incremental improvements to this highly competitive business.
Real-time geology
A new 3-D geological interpretation environment significantly reduces project cycle time.
Recycled platforms improve economics
Careful selection of "previously owned" platforms can reduce facilities costs by more than 40% in offshore field developments.
Shaking to the right
Recent field results confirm that new automated sliding technology can overcome some of the previous shortcomings associated with mud motor directional drilling.
Simplifying the solution
A mill-through liner technique simplifies Level 4 multilateral junctions.
Swell packers boost brownfield pay
New technology squeezes more production from mature oil fields.
UBD's value in brownfields
Underbalanced drilling is still a niche technology for the majority of the world.
World Map
Centers of influence
No culture has a lock on technological superiority indefinitely.