E&P Magazine - November 2004
As I See It
Market entry requires forethought
What makes a company with a solid reputation in the drilling and production sectors of the oil and gas industry decide to break into new territory? In a word: opportunity.
Optimization revitalizes brownfields
New tools and technology bring new life to declining oil and gas operations.
Technology must meet client needs
Digital operations winners will create new relationships between executives and information technology (IT) experts.
Cover Story
The LNG Horserace
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) may be new to most of the United States, but it is not for the rest of the world, where LNG has been marching forward steadily over the last few decades. In the United States, where the only thing that has been steady is the rise of energy prices, LNG has come back into vogue and created a horserace with dozens of contestants. With an integrated LNG project running anywhere from US $3 billion to $10 billion, it is a big boy's contest. The race has been created by a combination of high commodity prices, declining indigenous gas supply in the United States and the need for producers, especially the large producers, to monetize geographically remote gas reserves that had been stranded, sometimes for several decades.
Drilling Technologies
Gulf of Mexico drilling dilemma?
A growing gas shortage and an aging jackup fleet may leave the Gulf of Mexico deep shelf developers in a bind.
Completions and Production
Precision stimulation delivers results
Successful well stimulation starts with effective flow diversion. Inflatable straddle packers are performing well in this role.
Features
Exploration pressure increases
As hydrocarbon requirements rise, Australia and New Zealand governments lower barriers to exploration,
Tech Watch
You should be hearing thunder PDQ
The sound you may hear in the distance comes from the world's largest production-drilling-quarters (PDQ) platform, BP's long awaited Thunder Horse.
Activity Highlights
LNG takes off?
When it comes to oil and gas projects and the environmental crowd, we are being bombarded with a number of new acronyms.
Another Perspective
Corrosivity of oilfield brines acidified by CO2
Inhibited calcium bromide brines can cause severe localized corrosion of steels as a result of CO2 acidification.
Decommissioning of South Pass 78A
Specialized procedures were needed when it came to decommissioning a steel structure built for a mudslide area of the Gulf of Mexico.
Deconstruction solutions seek huge prize
There are a host of offshore technologies competing for the prize of decommissioning some of the biggest offshore facilities.
Fracture modeling pays off
Production optimization from naturally fractured reservoirs depends on robust, easy-to-use workflows to describe potential flowpaths and barriers.
Integrated workflow reduces risks
The value of integrated geomechanics in optimizing well construction has gained increased recognition as an effective modeling tool for the prediction and real-time management of pore pressure and wellbore stability.
North Sea 4-D diagnostics
Using rock physics to understand reservoir rock properties may guide the interpretation of 4-D simultaneous AVO inversion results.
North Sea abandonment heats up
The North Sea decommissioning market is significant, with the UK sector alone estimated at between US $14.29 billion to $26.8 billion, and the prize for innovation is substantial.
Process increases CBM production
With tight margins driving every decision, coalbed methane (CBM) production enhancement has to be efficient and cost-effective.
Seismic reflections of rock properties
Careful rock physics analysis combined with forward modeling of seismic response can guide remote sensing of rock properties in exploration and avoid potential pitfalls.
SET software helps ensure success
Expandable systems modeling provides engineers with accurate information required to reduce the operational risk of expandable technology applications.
SPS designed for cheaper CO2 delivery
Surface pumping replaces compressors in tertiary flooding project.
World Map
The missing link
Understanding rock properties ties seismic information with well data.