JPT July 2020 Issue
On the Cover
As part of its redesigned BOP system, Transocean has incorporated a shearing system billed as being able to cut anything that goes into a well. Source: Transocean.
President's Column
Of all the programs that SPE offers, the most rewarding and enjoyable ones for me personally are the conferences. I love walking the floor of an exhibition hall, discovering the latest technology advancements, and listening to the various product demonstrations.
Monthly Features
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Each year at the SPE Artificial Lift Conference and Exhibition, energy professionals convene to connect, grow, and learn—and also to laud outstanding innovators in their field. -
With their gee-whiz—albeit artificial—intelligence, robots may be the industry’s answer to jobs deemed dangerous, dirty, distant, or dull. -
Bottle tests are the preferred method to test petroleum emulsion stability in the industry today. A new technique using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is available to evaluate both stability and demulsification behavior of emulsions. -
While drilling in deepwater Gulf of Mexico, a topdrive failure forced the shutdown of all drilling operations for the rig operator and lasted for 114 hours. -
In an era where capital markets are hitting the brakes on funding the US shale sector, operators have increasingly pivoted from production growth to maximizing the rates of return via lower-cost wells. -
A lot about the blowout preventers used for offshore drilling has changed since Macondo in 2010, but the essentials remain. This evolution serves as a case study on why some oilfield technology is hard to change. -
Hit by the pandemic, the oil market crash, and the transition to a low-carbon energy future, exploration companies are spending bare budgets on near-term production and high-impact exploration. -
As wells across the US shale sector are brought back onto production, they may want to do so strategically to learn about the connectivity of their wells. One challenge will be in selecting a model that delivers the most insight. -
New commentary from the SPE Reservoir Advisory Committee (RAC) provides key high-level insights on the potential consequences of long-term shut-ins on conventional and unconventional reservoirs.
While oil- and gas-related companies slash budgets and staff and operators pull back from production and exploration, the tax coffers of US local and state governments are shrinking fast and with hard repercussions.
Nearly everything’s on the table as companies aim to shore up portfolios by curtailing investments and dumping low-priority assets.
The Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has invited bids for partnership to raise production from 64 marginal fields that were given to the company by the government without bidding. As they are small in size, these fields are uneconomical for a larger company.
Petrobras has taken a 65.3-billion Brazilian real ($11.2-billion) impairment on its exploration and production (E&P) assets, warning investors that changes in consumer behavior resulting from the coronavirus pandemic would likely be permanent.
In its May 2020 Short-Term Energy Outlook, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecast US-marketed natural gas production to decrease by 5% in 2020. Production is expected to average 94.3 Bcf/D in 2020, down from 99.2 Bcf/D in 2019.
National oil companies (NOCs) globally are estimated to cut exploration budgets by over a quarter on average in 2020, said Wood Mackenzie.
Qatar Petroleum entered into a farm-in agreement with Total E&P to acquire a 45% participating interest in two blocks located in the Ivorian-Tano basin, offshore the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire.
Houston-based Occidental had earmarked the money to ease debt from buying Anadarko.
Neptune must pay Energean a break-up fee of $5 million for cancelling what was to be a $250 million deal.
Technology Focus
