E&P Magazine - August 2006
As I See It
Bribery: Time to share the limelight
Corruption is rampant in many oil-rich regions, and it's simplest to blame companies for it.
Drilling Technologies
Stabilizing wellbore stability analysis
Wellbore stability analysis has some instability problems. The methodologies are legion, data requirements are murky and the answers are often questionable. A new joint industry project (JIP) focused on global wellbore stability methodologies aims to clear up many of these difficulties.
Completions and Production
A new approach to expandables
For wide acceptance of expandables to occur, they must be reliable, strong, cost-effective and integrate into drilling operations. A new approach overcomes existing limitations and promises to satisfy these requirements.
Special Report
Tech Trends
CGG has launched the Geo Challenger, the new flagship of its 13-vessel seismic fleet.
Tech Watch
Taxes stifle oil and gas production
National tax pirates arm the ships of state around the world and clean up their regulatory cannons as high oil and gas prices invite another raid on corporate treasure chests.
Another Perspective
Addressing the brownfield challenge
While it is the new oil and gas developments in the early production phase which tend to get most of the attention, today more than 70% of the world's oil and gas production comes from fields that are more than 30 years old.
Addressing the brownfield challenge
Multiphase metering can improve production and save on lost oil costs.
Characterizing gas hydrate reservoirs
A new generation of well logging tools and interpretation techniques has been developed and applied successfully in a laminated gas hydrate reservoir in the Nankai Trough, offshore Japan.
ERD with single-diameter expandables
The integration of extended-reach drilling with single-diameter expandables looks to substantially impact field development optimization.
Keeping things in context
Log data is only as useful as an understanding of its contextual information.
Listening to heavy oil echoes
New tools and techniques are adding nuclear magnetic resonance technology to the heavy oil toolkit.
Multilateral, ERD go mainstream
Once regarded as exotic, these technologies are now used routinely across a variety of applications and are supported by advances in related processes.
New developments in logging
An advanced formation evaluation platform showcases new technology across the board.
North Sea investment surges
Near-term capital expenditure in the United Kingdom has increased by US $11 billion over and above 2005 estimates.
Operators squeeze Wattenberg
Colorado's Wattenberg field produced more than 1 Tcf of gas in the past 30 years, and operators are out to prove there's plenty more where that came from as they use innovative analysis and techniques to turn brownfield development into green cash.
Rig sharing eases North Sea pinch
The North Sea drilling market throughout 2006 and 2007 will be characterized by very tight supply and high procurement rates.
Rigging up for extreme reach
A common feature of frontier exploration areas is a fragile environment with marine wildlife, unique soil conditions and high operating costs requiring special attention.
Statfjord expansion boosts recovery
Aggressive recovery techniques will harvest most of Statfjord's oil and gas.
Statfjord field on the border between the United Kingdom and Norway played the role of cash cow, first for original operator Mobil and later for Statoil, and additional brownfield development plans will keep that 32-year-old tradition alive and thriving.
Statoil restores confidence in Visund
The Statoil-operated Visund platform on the Norwegian shelf in the North Sea shut down for almost 5 months after an incident in January. In the meantime, Statoil and DNV have been working to discover the causes of the accident, analyze the damages and make proposals regarding future safe operations.
Subsea systems maximize recovery
A new technology called MARS (Multiple Application Re-injection System) is being characterized as the "USB port" of the wellhead, allowing production optimization systems to be mounted directly onto subsea Christmas trees.
World Map
A little night music
Would Mozart have made a good geophysicist?