JPT February 2020 Issue
On the Cover
Hess’ Bakken play has become a test site for using six drilling rigs with many automated functions to drive a process improvement program. Source: Hess.
Guest Editorial
President's Column
One of my focus areas as SPE President is strengthening the feedstock of incoming talent into our industry.
Monthly Features
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Produced water is an inevitable byproduct of oil and gas production. The use of online oil-in-water monitors plays an important role in the management of produced water. -
Hess is testing whether it can drive drilling improvement by combining drilling rigs equipped with automated functions and humans determined to find a way to beat the programmed drilling. -
Production data from the oldest horizontal wells in the three largest oil plays in the US show that annual decline rates remain relatively high for a long period of time. This challenges assumptions held about production after 5 years and directly affects reserve and ultimate recovery estimates. -
Rigs drilling faster earn less money per foot because they are contracted by the day. But at least they are still working. Now service companies are developing new rigs with more automated functions, and want increased rates based on the productivity gains achieved. -
Oil companies are considering whether shutting in a well for a month or so may mean stronger production later by allowing more time for water to soak into the rock, which gets it out of the way of the oil and gas. But this is not always effective, and additional work is needed. -
A new report says that production growth in the world’s most prolific unconventional basin is on the verge of stalling out.
This section lists with regret SPE members who recently passed away.
This month is the deadline to nominate someone for one of SPE’s numerous international awards. The awards are designed to recognize individual contributions to the oil and gas industry and to the petroleum engineering profession.
First oil from the 120,000-B/D Liza Destiny FPSO is flowing ahead of schedule.
Alberta carbon conversion challenge yields potential GHG reduction of millions of metric tons per year.
The international major is calling its latest multiwell project in the Permian Basin a “beacon of innovation.” The goal is to see if combining digital technologies will lower the operating costs of its shale assets.
Devon exits the asset that served as the company’s cornerstone for almost two decades and is known to the world as the birthplace of the shale revolution.
Total has agreed to acquire interests in two blocks in the offshore Kwanza Basin from Angola’s state-owned Sonangol and has received an extension on its offshore Block 17 production licenses.
As completions activity slows down in the US, the second service company in a week’s time has said it is exiting the business of hydraulic fracturing.
Three appraisal wells drilled this year—GTA-1, Yakaar-2, and Orca-1—targeted nine hydrocarbon-bearing zones, encountering gas in high-quality reservoirs in all zones and yielding a combined 160 m of net pay.
Proved oil reserves totaled 43.8 billion bbl at yearend 2018 while proved gas reserves amounted to 504.5 Tcf, both topping records set in 2017, the US Energy Information Administration said.
Technology Focus
