R&D/innovation
The US Department of Energy and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will convert a horizontal Utica Shale gas well into an enhanced geothermal system. Building directly on horizontal drilling and completion practices developed in the Utica, the project will include evaluation of optimal well orientation, lateral placement, and spacing.
The Offshore Technology Conference will honor the winners of the 2026 Spotlight on New Technology Award on Monday, 4 May, at NRG Center in Houston. Seventeen groundbreaking innovations, from AI-powered geotechnics and autonomous well construction to next-generation subsea systems and drilling intelligence, demonstrate how bold ideas are translating into real-world gai…
Findings from two new SPE papers argue that the tight-rock sector needs to rethink longstanding assumptions about how hydraulic fractures form underground.
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Operators are turning the tide on the Lower Tertiary trend with increasingly large stimulations that are also pushing the limits of offshore technology. -
Matthew Bryant has spent years trying to convince engineers that the API proppant testing standard has significant limitations. And he may well be right.
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Developing alternative power supplies with wide-scale reliability, dependability, and minimization or elimination of GHG emissions within feasible capex/opex scenarios is the brass ring of sustainability and energy security—and data are helping us get there.
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The latest signs that momentum is building in the geothermal space include military bases.
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If optimized to scale, fast fission reactors could play a role in reducing emissions in field operations by producing carbon-free electricity.
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The updated joint development agreement allows the companies to carve out new markets while they complete pilot testing at a demonstration plant in the Netherlands.
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The project will implement two distinct carbon technologies aimed at capturing and storing carbon dioxide. Svante’s CEO Claude Letourneau describes his company’s solid-sorbent technology used in collaboration with Climeworks, one of the awarded companies.
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The use of oil-based muds has precluded countless drill cuttings from being used to predict reservoir fluids despite once being part of the reservoir. A 6-decade-old technology may be on the cusp of changing that.
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The challenges that geothermal energy faces to become a leading player in the net-zero world are well within the areas of expertise of the SPE community, ranging from rapid technology implementation and learning-by-doing to assure competitiveness to establishing suitable funding mechanisms to secure access to capital.
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Pink hydrogen, produced through water electrolysis powered by nuclear energy, recently drew attention which underscored the complexity of decision-making in advancing such projects.
