JPT February 2021 Issue
On the Cover
The Peregrino B platform stands in the distance offshore Brazil. The Peregrino field is Equinor’s largest international operation outside of Norway. Source: Equinor/Ole Jørgen Bratland.
President's Column
I want to remind everyone reading this column that we in the upstream petroleum sector are very good at what we do. Like Dr. Spock (not Mr. Spock) stated, “You know more than you think you do.”
Monthly Features
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The oil and gas industry, which had begun showing signs of recovery from a generational downturn, was brought to its knees by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. SPE’s technical directors reflect on the pandemic’s impacts and share their outlooks going forward in this annual roundup. -
Interface Fluidics carved out a niche for itself in the oilfield testing sector a few years ago with a new alternative to coreflooding. Now, along with Equinor, the Calgary-based company is taking on another industry laboratory stalwart: the slimtube test. -
Innovators at the Norwegian oil company have developed a machine-learning model that analyzes mud-gas data to predict the gas/oil ratio of wells as they are drilled—something that the industry has worked for decades to accomplish. -
Shell and Tomson Technologies completed field trials in the Gulf of Mexico using new nanoparticle-enabled phosphonate and polymer inhibitors that improve the treatment lifetime of scale squeezes. -
In striving to boost production of shale gas and tight oil, China is trying enhanced-hydraulic-fracturing technology and real-time data analysis in the Sichuan shale basin. In Daqing’s tight-oil fields, an alternative fracture-completion strategy and post-stimulation flowback technology has been tested.
Outlooks for the oil and gas industry continue to vary along with the supply/demand balance and the continued effects of COVID‑19 across the globe.
ExxonMobil and Petronas discovered hydrocarbon-bearing zones in an exploration well on Block 52 offshore Suriname, adding to ExxonMobil’s finds in the Guyana-Suriname basin.
This section lists with regret SPE members who recently passed away. If you would like to report the passing of a family member who was an SPE member, please write to service@spe.org.
Petrobras will sell the Rabo Branco field, part of the BT-SEAL-13 concession, to Energizzi Energias.
Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and BP have started production from India’s first ultradeepwater gas project, the first of three such projects in the KG D6 block.
CNOOC’s Bohai Sea Project has started production ahead of schedule.
Work began in December on the Snorre Expansion Project in the southern part of the Norwegian Sea. This increased-oil-recovery project will add almost 200 million bbl of recoverable oil reserves and help extend the productive life of the Snorre field through 2040.
If brought to production, the flow of new gas supplies will help cut Jordan’s dependence on oil imports to fuel its power sector and industries.
The Greater Buchan Area (GBA) now has four drill-ready prospects to add to discoveries already slated for development.
Technology Focus
