Monthly Features

Predicting the trajectory of a satellite, or a well, requires sophisticated analysis to reduce the huge uncertainties. That adds to the many things drillers should be thinking about, which can be overwhelming.

What does industry need to create successful ecosystems in a new digital reality? While companies identify and implement new technologies to streamline their operations, a greater focus on new cultures, skill sets, and mindsets may be necessary.

Companies such as Google, Schlumberger, Shell, and Encana are working to turn the industry’s rat’s nest of data into a goldmine of insight, analysis, and technology.

Strides made in data analytics over the past few years have been huge. But the complexity of data, and understanding how to use them, can delay the advantages to be gained. If the benefits and methodology of data acquisition are not better explained to engineers, might implementation suffer?

A close look at hundreds of feet of fractured core samples suggest that new fracture models are needed to simulate complicated reality.

The same tools that make it fun and easy for you to see a friend's updates online are also pretty good at tying together unconnected databases holding valuable well information.

Unstructured data, such as process logs, safety reports, and public records, make up the bulk of data produced from the oil field. Emerging NLP technology has been designed to help make sense of this data, enabling better insights into near-accidents.

What do 60,000 sensors on 1,200 pieces of equipment add up to? Hopefully, hundreds of millions of dollars in savings.

Since its publication in 2007, the SPE Petroleum Resources Management System (PRMS) has been broadly adopted by the petroleum industry as the international standard reference for reserves and resources classification and reporting.

From the highest courts of the US judicial branch to the C-suite, contests involving patents have recently come to the fore in the innovation hungry US oilfield services industry, even as filings and litigation have declined in recent years.