Monthly Features

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.

The shale sector is seeking answers to a complex issue involving casing deformations that block access to long sections of a lateral. As opposed to frac hits, this rising problem is considered to be an intrawell phenomena.

Heavy production spiked in two Canadian wells heated by an electric cable, but it is hard to find customers there at a time when Canadian oil prices and customers remember cables in the past that died young.

The formula for value in a shale play used to be simple, lease acreage in the best quality rock based on Tiers cover large areas. That standard is fading as it has become obvious that the rock is highly variable and the drilling and completion designs are just as important.

Merging new knowledge and technological capabilities among the disciplines—and beyond—will be crucial to sustaining the industry for the long term.

Integrating sustainability in the core business is not a quick fix but a complex journey that touches all parts of the business and requires new ways of alignment and cooperation. Safety has gone through similar challenges, and we can learn a lot from that journey.

A new report says that production growth in the world’s most prolific unconventional basin is on the verge of stalling out.

Offshore wind makes up less than 1% of the current energy mix, but analysts have it pegged as a potential trillion-dollar business in the near future. That growth presents an opportunity for operators to reduce costs and their carbon footprint through the electrification of their offshore platforms.

A proving ground for the use of digital twins has emerged in the North Sea. There, operators Total, Aker BP, and Shell have each developed and deployed twins that they expect to pay big dividends.