Monthly Features
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This article is the fourth in a Q&A series from the SPE Research and Development Technical Section focusing on emerging energy technologies. In this piece, David Reid, the CTO and CMO for NOV, discusses the evolution and current state of automated drilling systems. -
Oil and gas experts encourage human/AI partnerships that can “supercharge” capabilities to create competitive advantages. -
Casing deformation has emerged as a major challenge in China’s unconventional oil and gas fields, prompting the development of new solutions to address the issue. -
The US supermajor is using one of its lowest-value hydrocarbon products to generate double-digit production increases in its most prolific US asset. -
Bad vibes are being addressed by contractors as operators push to go faster, deeper, and longer with unconventional wells. -
As LNG projects sanctioned earlier this decade come onstream, a shortage of new final and pre-final investment decisions threatens to leave the project pipelines dry at a time when global LNG demand is forecast to surge over the next 15 years.
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Concerned about the long-term impact of the current oil recession, SPE’s seven technical directors give their outlook for the coming year. -
The standard for progress in shale development has been the drastic reduction in the number of days needed to drill a well, from more than 20 to less than 5 in some unconventional plays. But some question whether it has become a misleading metric for an industry needing more productive wells.
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The only wells that are straight or follow a smooth curve are in the pictures in well plans. Real wellbores are shaped by the mechanics of directional drilling tools, the skills and attention of drillers, the force of gravity, and the path followed by hydrocarbon-rich seams of rock.
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Rising demand for flowback technologies to reduce uncertainties is leading to the creation of more hydrocarbon and water tracers. These chemical-based tracers may play an important role in the shale industry’s effort to come up with more cost-effective fracture designs.
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An area of great interest to those researching flowback is the interaction of water and salt inside the shale reservoir. After a well is stimulated, the flowback fluids tend to show a rising concentration of salt that falls back to near zero over time.
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On the far end of the flowback spectrum is a completion process called soakback. If the well has to be shut in until takeaway capacity is available, the completion fluids soak into the shale rock. Flowback analysis can help understand what happens in the formation.
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Most shale producers in North America have given little thought to the flowback stage following hydraulic fracturing. Others have come to realize it represents a valuable opportunity to learn more about their wells.
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In SPE's annual salary survey, average total compensation dropped back to 2013 levels after an increase last year. Nonetheless, more than half of respondents reported that their base pay increased in 2015.
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While the collapse in oil price is reshaping opinions about the North American shale revolution and the outlook for oil producers, natural gas producers in the United States are in a somewhat different position
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Sustained low oil prices have not yet had a significant effect on many universities’ research and development programs. For now, money allocated by the oil and gas industry in previous years is still available for many institutions.
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