JPT September 2024 Issue

Since the late 1930s, the offshore industry has advanced from the first platform in 14 ft of water to the ultradeepwater 20K era. Driven by seismic, drilling, and development breakthroughs, the industry has pushed into deeper waters, high-pressure reservoirs, and new frontiers like Guyana, continually expanding the limits of offshore exploration.

In this inaugural episode of his vodcast and column, 2025 SPE President Olivier Houzé shares his insights on the challenges facing our Society and its members, as well as his vision for his presidency.

You’ve heard of generative artificial intelligence, and odds are you’ve used it. But do you know how it works?

To choose the right technologies for a gas-compression package, it’s critical for operators to have a clear understanding of their business and greenhouse‑gas emissions-related goals. Operators also need clarity concerning the impact of evolving requirements on total cost of ownership as well as potential financial ramifications.

Surveillance technologies have undergone a revolution, reshaping how facilities, wells, and reservoirs are monitored. These advancements not only have increased the scale at which these technologies are deployed but also have led to an unprecedented influx of data. The sheer volume of data, however, poses a significant challenge to traditional analytical methods.

Academic expertise, operational experience, and knowledge gathered through trial-and-error analysis must be meshed in order to achieve the optimizations that are increasingly needed with the depletions we experience in various fields globally.

Offshore wind power involves generating electricity from wind farms located at sea. Because wind speeds are generally higher offshore than on land, these farms produce more electricity for the same amount of installed capacity. Both wind and solar energy are renewable and do not emit carbon, which helps reduce dependence on fossil fuels such as oil and gas.

In an era marked by a growing emphasis on sustainability, industries are increasingly adopting innovative technologies. Three notable advancements are the extraction of lithium from produced water, using rhamnolipids as biosurfactants, and applying graphene nanoplatelets as scale inhibitors.