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One of the oldest names in geomechanical modeling has learned some new tricks, and like so many recent advances in the oil and gas industry, it has everything to do with the North American shale revolution.

The downturn and lack of investment for new projects are likely to impact the onshore pipeline industry toward the end of the decade. But the long-term drivers for pipeline construction, notably the increased demand for gas in regions such as Asia, remain stable.

Plunging oil prices led to a drastic drop in drilling rigs working in most places in the world, with a notable exception. Baker Hughes’ widely watched weekly report on drilling rigs shows activity has remained steady in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.

Petroleum engineers have sophisticated, precise equations to help predict and control what flows out of wells. But when it comes to the number of trained engineers in the world, guesswork is required.

Those who track drilling and fracturing equipment are apt to mention zombies. That is the living-dead machinery still counted as available to work, but more likely now to be used for spare parts or scrapped.

During a protracted period of depressed prices in E&P, the customer focus for service companies and suppliers shifts to finding ways to reduce the cost of producing a barrel of oil.

Pressure is growing this year for exploration and production (E&P) companies to “face the reality of a prolonged period of low prices,” said Alan Cunningham, technical director for Gaffney, Cline & Associates.

The impact on workers from the global downturn is so large it is difficult to track. At the high end of the job loss estimates is John Graves, owner of Graves & Co., who estimated the number of jobs lost in the oil and gas industry at more than 250,000 at year end, and rising.

A recently opened plant in Wharton marks the first small-scale commercial gas-to-liquids project in the state of Texas.

In this column, Howard Duhon examines different types of complexity theory.