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Contrary to popular imagination, which favors John Wayne stereotypes heroically rescuing the oil industry with wrench and hammer, the oilfield is a place of exquisite engineering, the match of anything on Earth, a marvel of innovation at the biggest and smallest scales.

Noble’s first row of wells in its massive Mustang project is helping increase the operator’s DJ Basin output, and similar results are soon expected in the Delaware Basin.

Technology transfer in the oil business is too often discussed from a lens of bringing in outside innovations. But what happens when innovation escapes the industry’s orbit and finds a new home?

The authors detail the development of a technique based on surface-to-borehole controlled-source electromagnetics (CSEM), which exploits the large contrast in resistivity between injected water and oil to derive 3D resistivity distributions, proportional to saturations, in the reservoir.

The performance of artificial-lift systems on horizontal wells is greatly influenced by both the volume of gas produced and the tendency for gas slugging.

Downhole annulus pressure is required for any gas lift design. This paper presents several methods of determining annulus pressure at depth and helps determine which method is most appropriate for specific conditions.

Of the many steps in the journey toward maximizing run life, the first steps should be to identify the system requirements and communicate those to the vendor. This can be challenging, because operators and suppliers often speak different languages. Fortunately, international standards can help.

Another reminder that it costs more to coax the same amount of oil from new wells as for older wells nearby, with a closer look at the big plays and how the wells are completed.

In this paper, the authors describe a project to design, field trial, and qualify an alternative solution for real-time monitoring of the oil rim in carbonate reservoirs that overcomes these disadvantages.

This industry is one often considered reactive and overly tradition-bound. These new technologies, however—and, more importantly, the drive of these researchers to harness their capabilities—prove that petroleum engineers remain at the forefront of innovation and discovery.