R&D/innovation
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.
The US supermajor is using one of its lowest-value hydrocarbon products to generate double-digit production increases in its most prolific US asset.
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Unconventional development has made it clear to Erdal Ozkan that conventional theory overlooks a lot of potentially productive rock. He talks about looking for ways to do better as part of JPT’s tech director report. -
Producers in Texas have claimed an economic victory with their transition to local sands that they once avoided using in horizontal wells due to their low-quality.
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Slow uptake of innovation and new technology is an oft-repeated criticism of the oil and gas industry.
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When it came to decide where to collect a critical sample of fractured rock, a new method for turning microseismic data into a heat map designed to display the most intense fracturing activity was considered.
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Fracturing two or more wells at the same time creates connections. While fracturing fluids reach out further, those ties create a stronger link, though not forever.
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By measuring which tests best predicted the fractures observed at the Hydraulic Fracturing Test Site, Laredo Petroleum developed a method it hopes will improve fracture modeling in other places.
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A close look at hundreds of feet of fractured core samples suggest that new fracture models are needed to simulate complicated reality.
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From the highest courts of the US judicial branch to the C-suite, contests involving patents have recently come to the fore in the innovation hungry US oilfield services industry, even as filings and litigation have declined in recent years.
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Well-interference issues can be hard to diagnose, but this startup may be figuring that out. The data-driven process it developed can also help operators come up with more effective ways to use diverters.
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Seeking out, experimenting with, and ultimately embracing technologies from other industries have proven crucial to innovating at oilfield service firms such as Halliburton, which has tried everything from dog food to submarine tech to improve its work downhole.
