Technical Topics

An interview with Joe Leimkuhler of Shell and Greg Leveille of ConocoPhillips on unconventional resources development.

Kishore K. Mohanty of the University of Texas at Austin talks about technologies that can help industry meet energy demands without harming the environment.

Shale acts both as source rock and reservoir rock. Gas production in commercial quantities requires the presence of fractures to provide permeability. It also requires getting the gas in the shale to release through desorption.

Materials smaller than the width of a human hair are contributing to improved hydraulic fracturing and other areas of oil and gas technology.

Advances in technology will bring many opportunities for improving our industry in areas as diverse as water management, nanotechnology and automation.

Surya Rajan, a director at IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), discusses the drivers for innovation in oil and gas along with expected areas for technology development.

Antarctica is the storehouse of the world’s oldest ice-borne climate records, preserved in the Antarctic deep freeze for millions of years. But Antarctica is also a living laboratory in which the decadal effects of climate change can be directly observed.

Neeraj Gupta of the Battelle Memorial Institute and Nigel Jenvey of Maersk Oil and Gas comment on technology applications for carbon emission control and enhanced oil recovery.

Kim Code, vice president Technical and Production, Shell Russia, and James S. Wang, business development manager, Oil & Gas China, Cabot Specialty Fluids, talk about the future and potential of emerging markets.

A brief primer on managed pressure drilling (MPD) and how it compares with underbalanced drilling (UBD).