R&D/innovation
Findings from two new SPE papers argue that the tight-rock sector needs to rethink longstanding assumptions about how hydraulic fractures form underground.
The newest recipient of the title SPE Legend of Hydraulic Fracturing talks about his career, the evolution of fracture stimulation, the development of increasingly useful simulators, and the future of the oil and gas industry. The honor was given at the 2026 SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference and Exhibition.
SLB's and Baker Hughes' partnerships with NVIDIA and Google Cloud, respectively, will develop advanced AI-enabled power optimization and sustainability solutions for the global data center sector.
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Startup company Eviation is aiming for its 9-seat commuter aircraft to be flying passengers by 2021 after signing up South Korea’s Kokam as its battery supplier. The battery will have 9,400 cells distributed throughout the aircraft including the ceiling, floor, and wings, weighing 3.8 tonnes, or 60% of the maximum takeoff weight.
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Siemens and GE are among the companies discovering the power of an open-source innovation community to offer solutions for significant oil and gas industry challenges, such as improved corrosion monitoring.
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A US-government-sponsored program is putting new methane leak detection systems to the test with a goal of achieving functionality costs of $3,000/year/wellsite while hitting stringent performance criteria.
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The Technology Roadmap identifies R&D opportunities that will allow the US to be the leading producer of oil and gas into the future. The importance of technology transfer and time to commercialization is discussed.
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R&D is essential for the industry, regardless of the current oil price, and past down markets have spawned some key technology advances, ExxonMobil researcher Erika Biediger told the SPE Gulf Coast Section R&D study group recently.
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The president of Chevron Technology Ventures discussed how startup companies can fill the gaps in a rapidly changing technological ecosystem, and Chevron's mechanisms to understand the role startups can play in its operations.
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Veros Systems took top honors at a competition involving energy startups.
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SPE and the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship have partnered to host a competition at ATCE in which emerging technology companies in the energy sector vie for partnerships and prize money.
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Emerging technologies from medical science and the aerospace industry could have a disruptive impact on oil and gas operations. A panel of scientists looked into these technologies and discussed their potential role in the industry.
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Rutter, Statoil Canada, and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador completed a collaborative research and development (R&D) project aimed at improving offshore oil and gas operations in harsh environments with ice conditions.