R&D/innovation
For more than a century, LSU has shaped petroleum engineering education, but few assets showcase its impact like the PERTT Lab. With six deep test wells and rare reservoir-depth gas-injection capabilities, the facility is helping drive breakthroughs in well control, CO₂ injection, and next-generation energy technologies.
This article is the sixth and final Q&A in a series from the SPE Research and Development Technical Section focusing on emerging energy technologies. In this final edition, Matthew T. Balhoff, SPE, of The University of Texas at Austin shares his views on the future of upstream education.
As cutting-edge technologies unlock geothermal potential, Japan is channeling investments into powerhouse projects across the US, Indonesia, and New Zealand and priming its own reserves for a clean energy boom at home.
-
One of the problems with geothermal is that the rock that is hot enough to create the steam needed to run a power plant is also capable of destroying drilling hardware.
-
Chevron and Occidental plan to launch separate projects to help secure the commercial future of geothermal development in the US.
-
A breakthrough fusion demonstration at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory produced more energy than it used—a historic first.
-
Makers of continuous sucker rods are out to convince customers that it really is possible to make a better sucker rod that could save them some money.
-
Petroleum engineers have important roles to play in the future energy for the world. Among these are using our traditional concept of producing oil and natural gas as we are doing now and will need to continue to do for decades to come; using our competencies to address the challenges of climate change; and helping to develop additional forms of energy that do not add…
-
Houston-based startup Cemvita Factory uses its hydrogen-producing microbes downhole to considerably lower the cost of hydrogen production.
-
The ATCE Startup Village is a partnership between SPE and the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship at Rice University. Find out which firms took this year's top honors during the annual competition.
-
The Biden administration seeks to cut the cost of enhanced geothermal systems by 90% by 2035.
-
An automated detection application helped identify stringers early for an operator of a mature field in the North Sea while drilling multilateral wells through reservoir sections containing hard calcite stringers interspersed in sand formations with low unconfined compressive strength. The application guided drilling decisions that minimized invisible lost time and sh…
-
While small modular reactors open doors to affordable, carbon-free nuclear power, they also raise new questions over waste disposal.