E&P Magazine - January 2016
Digital
Companies need to work smarter, not just more cheaply.
As I See It
Industry On One Heck Of A Ride
Living fast and wild when you’re young sure has its attractions. But wild living eventually has to give ground to a more stable long-term lifestyle.
Cover Story
Dialing In Efficiency
Companies need to work smarter, not just more cheaply.
Industry Cost Base Resetting
The severe cost cutting that has been implemented throughout the global E&P business in the past year represents mostly the ‘lower hanging fruit.’ To achieve longer-lasting benefits, much more still needs to be done to reset the industry’s cost base.
Reduce Risk, Increase Value In Challenging Environment
Integrating the specialist disciplines required during the life cycle of an oil and gas project can help optimize production and improve efficiency.
Time To Rethink Project Design
Capital projects have been over budget and behind schedule long enough. New technologies and methodologies seek to change that.
Exploration Technologies
Those Darned Fractured Reservoirs
After 30 years, RCP is still going strong.
Drilling Technologies
Drilling Will Recover Sooner Onshore Than Offshore
The rig count should bottom at about 500 rigs in second-quarter 2016 and rebound by 70% in 2017 and another 30% in 2018.
Completions and Production
Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities Impact Production
A recent DNV GL study cites aging control systems as one of 10 areas of cybersecurity concern.
Offshore Advances
Iran Gets Ready To Open Its Doors
With sanctions about to be lifted on Iran, oil and gas companies are lining up to be fi rst through the door.
Digital Solutions
AST Inspections Made Easy
A new application simplifies tank inspection and the reporting process for operators.
Features
Accommodating The Downturn
Despite the ongoing effects of the global downturn in upstream activity, workers still need to be based offshore to get new projects onstream and to keep existing ones running.
Adding Value To Spectral Decomposition
Spectral balancing of seismic data furnishes detailed and crisp information at specific frequencies that is amenable to more accurate interpretation.
Argentina Holds Vast Shale Resources
Latin American shale basins contain plentiful resources, with Argentina containing the majority of prospective activity.
Backing Down In The Bakken
Operators cut drilling, completions and proppant loading to cope in a sub-$50 oil market.
Building A Platform For Success
Life begins at 40, or so the saying goes. For the Forties Field, which arrived on the world stage in 1975 as part of the first global wave of multiplatform megaprojects, it has indeed begun its fifth decade.
Cesium/potassium Formate Fl uids Are Clearly Faster Than OBM
Significant differences in ROPs were recognized when comparing the low-solids formate brine-based drilling fluid with OBM.
Companies Reevaluate Arctic Drilling, Continue Onshore Drilling
Shell’s dry hole in the Chukchi Sea led the company to withdraw from the Arctic. Statoil followed suit, citing low oil prices and high costs.
DAS Is Crucial For Hydraulic Fracturing Operations
Sensors supply much-needed real-time information.
Delivering Value Through Microbial Control
Optimized biocide treatments help increase efficiencies in oil and gas operations.
Delving Beneath The Surface
The Forties Field’s extensive subsea infrastructure may be out of sight but is never out of mind for Apache.
Fact Vs. Fi ction: ClO2 For Oilfi eld Waters
A few of the common questions posed about the use of ClO2 in oilfield operations are answered.
Fuel-flexible Flameless Heater Burns Flare Gas
New system reduces operating costs by 50%.
Leading Role Emerges For GoM On World Stage
The GoM’s remaining resource potential on the U.S. side of the maritime border is substantial and already largely proven. But this region has a leading role to play in demonstrating how to operate commercially during one of the industry’s deepest downturns.
Reducing Freshwater Consumption In Fracturing Operations
An overview of water technologies shows a variety of ways freshwater can be replaced with recycled water.
Renovating Greatness
Like the grand castles of old, the Forties Field faced possible extinction, but inspired thinking breathed and continues to breathe fresh life into the grande dame of the U.K. North Sea.
Shale Fueled By Fuling On Its Slow Boat To China
Despite the undoubted size of the country’s shale gas reserves, Sinopec’s Fuling development is on the proverbial slow boat to China as it sails its pioneering but lonely path in the vanguard of the nascent industry’s efforts to establish its place in the market.
Special Report Part II: The Big 4-0
Life begins at 40, or so the saying goes. For the Forties Field, which arrived on the world stage in 1975 as part of the first global wave of multiplatform megaprojects, it has indeed begun its fifth decade.
Technology Eliminates Blind Drilling In Ultrahigh-temperature Environments
A jointly developed LWD service changes the landscape of HP/HT drilling. A system was deployed in 22 HP/HT wells offshore Thailand.
Testing Times For HP/HT Calibration Challenge
The upstream industry’s efforts to extract more offshore oil and gas from HP/HT reservoirs around the world means a growing requirement for equipment up to the job of calibrating and measuring these fluids.
The Field That Changed Europe
Groningen kicked off a frenzy of exploration that ultimately resulted in the development of the North Sea. Nowadays it’s making news for a different reason.
Turritella Taking FPSO Solution Into New Depths
Afew months ago E&P featured the pioneering FPSO vessel that helped change the way oil companies approach small- and medium-sized field developments—the Petrojarl I [See the August issue’s Vessel Spotlight].
Water, Water Everywhere
California’s oil and gas sector can provide a partial solution to its water problems.
Tech Watch
Multi-organizational Team Advances Seawater Injection Technology
Technical groups collaborate to develop a more compact and efficient deoxygenation system.
Tech Trends
Tech Trends
This section lists some of the latest technology trends.
Activity Highlights
International Highlights
International highlights on recent projects and other global developments
On The Move
On The Move
On The Move