To optimize production on its Petronius offshore platform, Chevron engineers decided to drill an additional seawater injection well and expand the surface facilities to meet the increased pumping requirements. After... more

This article discusses an application of online process modeling technology combined with statistical data reconciliation methods in order to achieve tighter control of sales gas specifications and the best possible... more

The reservoir engineering manager from a young oil and gas operator had a problem. From his office, the 6-ft (1.8 m), 4-in. highly experienced manager could see the snow on... more

A change in the chemical makeup of cleanup fluid in deepwater horizontal wells offshore Cabinda resulted in fewer trips, reduced formation damage, the elimination of intervention costs and better wells... more

Wellbore stability issues had plagued early attempts by Southwestern Energy Company subsidiary SEECO Inc. to drill and complete horizontal wells in the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas’ Arkoma Basin. Unstable zones,... more

The most noticeable effect of drilled solids is an increase in trouble costs when they are not removed from drilling fluid. Unfortunately, these costs are usually hidden because they are... more

Using spectral decomposition to investigate detailed thickness variations is a problematic solution. The low spectral decomposition components represent thick beds, while the high Figure 1. Spectral decomposition takes the seismic... more

In the last decade the evolution of technology which allows geoscientists and engineers to visualize large volumes of 3-D data has been one of the great advances in oil and... more

Powerful new visualization technology is helping oil and gas companies dramatically improve exploration and production costs. Visualization is providing new ways to look at — and think about — data,... more

Ask anyone in geophysics and geology and they will tell you that visualization is extremely important to their job, yet what they refer to is not so much the renderings... more

Mitigation of downhole problems during well construction has entered a new dimension with the recent launch of engineered software that for the first time permits interactive, 3-D visualization of the... more

The cyclical nature of the business has stripped depth from the industry’s workforce and has resulted in competition for personnel, felt keenly in field operations. The combination of deeper gas... more

Ever since industry has embraced the notion of the employment of machines to improve the productivity of the work done by man and tools, the drilling industry has tried to... more

Drilling optimization can be defined as the provision of real-time data to expedite decision-making based on information transmitted from downhole. Trends in data need to be looked at to derive... more

Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping plc (OHM) announced that it is expanding its operations by moving to larger offices in both Houston and Singapore. The announcement follows the company’s recent commitment to... more

Managers who want to have an accurate pulse on the host of variables impacting an organization’s bottom line need an Executive Dashboard. A dashboard is Web-based software tool that takes... more

Recently SCAN Geophysical announced a new 3-D survey for Chevron offshore Venezuela, the seismic company’s first foray into the Americas. This might not seem like breaking news, but it is unique... more

Rig contractors are flying high, right now, but some storm clouds are gathering that could limit their altitude. Demand, sprinkled with geopolitics, security of supply and a fear premium has... more

Operators frequently have problems getting natural gas out of the ground, and technology jumps in to help with solutions. Unfortunately, technology has no answer for the problems of getting the... more

Traditional land seismic surveys have significant cost, timing and environmental considerations, whereas airborne surveys provide a rapid imaging solution of limited Airborne measurements cover a larger area with less environmental... more

Transform Software and Services has unveiled a trio of innovative software products targeted at exploration and production (E&P) challenges ranging from extracting maximum Multidomain visualization and interpretation in TerraFusion simplifies... more

The collaboration of Ikon Science and GPT has enabled the integration of pressure and fluid data into the Rock Physics/ Quantitative Interpretation workflow. Ikon’s rock physics software package RokDoc is... more

AnTech Limited has upgraded the Wellhead Outlet to improve reliability and reduce delivery times. The AnTech Wellhead Outlet is a device that is used to connect downhole cable to a... more

“Data suggest oil industry squeezes supply” – Houston Chronicle, November 26, 2006 This “news” may come as a surprise to those companies working as flat out as any company in any booming... more

Roxar, a leading technology solutions provider to the upstream oil and gas industry, today announced that it has signed a multi-million dollar global software contract for its industry leading reservoir... more

A private equity syndicate comprising Candover*, 3i and JPMorgan Partners** will sell Vetco Gray to GE’s Oil & Gas division for an enterprise value of US$1.9 billion (€1.5 billlion) on... more

Top of Form... more

The Bush administration took steps to try to calm the furor in Congress over lost royalty payments on Gulf of Mexico oil and gas drilling as a result of a... more

Using Baker Oil Tools’ InForce Intelligent Completion System, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation recently completed an intelligent well in 8,100 ft (2,469 m) of water in its Spiderman Field of the Independence... more

NeoFirma, a provider of online services for business information management, has launched NeoFirma OperationsMaster, a combination of online services and service providers that provide up-to-date exploration and production information on... more

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. plans to invest approximately $120 million to further expand its CO2 business operations. The expansion activities will take place in southwest Colorado and will include... more

HNNG Development, LLC, a provider of nitrogen removal technology for the natural gas industry, has announced the startup of the company’s first Nitrogen Rejection Unit (NRU), a proven technology for... more

Independence Hub production platform has departed Corpus Christi, Texas, for a five-day trip to Mississippi Canyon Block 920 where it will be installed. The hub, which is owned 80 percent... more

Saudi Aramco and WellDynamics, a provider of intelligent upstream completion technology, are jointly developing a range of new technologies for multizone, multilateral intelligent completions. “This joint development project is part... more

International Lift Systems of Houston, Texas, an artificial lift company specializing is gas lift, plunger lift, packers, automation and optimization products and services has acquired Partners Downhole Tools, Inc. of... more

The Swiss-based offshore installation contractor Allseas has taken the firm decision to build Pieter Schelte, the 360 m long, 118 m wide platform installation, decommissioning and pipelay vessel. Requests... more

Rock Solid Images today announced a successful start to the Lithology and Fluid Prediction Project, Phase 2 (LFP2). With commitments from over a dozen major exploration and production companies for... more

Geotrace has been awarded a significant land seismic processing and depth imaging project by BP's North American Gas business unit. Geotrace will utilize its industry-leading multi-scale multi-parameter tomography technology to... more

CGGVeritas has announced its participation in the launch of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau's 3rd Licence Round. Petroguin, the National Oil Company, is concessionaire for Guinea-Bissau and has retained CGGVeritas and First... more

BP Egypt drilled a successful well, Giza North-1, in the North Alexandria concession held by BP, RWE Dea and EGPC/EGAS. The well encountered a significant gas accumulation as part of... more

Wood Mackenzie has completed a review of deepwater exploration activity in the Gulf of Mexico in its latest report titled “Treasures of the Deep – A Review of 2006 Exploration.”... more

Biogenerics Limited subsidiary Tyche Energy Inc. reports that the N2 vision seismic interpretation evaluation report has targeted a well that the company expects will produce up to 5,000 mcf/gas per... more

Iran Deputy Oil Minister Reza Kasaeizadeh said the government expects US$260 billion to be invested in the gas industry in the 20-Year Development Vision Plan (2005-2025). Kasaeizadeh, who is also the... more

U.S. President George W. Bush aims to open up a 1.5-million-acre area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, to oil and gas leasing by 2009, according to the... more

The president of Russia's largest oil company, LUKoil, said Tuesday that all Russian crude must be refined inside the country. This is a top priority task for Russian oil companies,... more

CGGVeritas announced that it is joining forces with the Petroleum Agency SA to promote South Africa's 2007 offshore licensing round. Details of the acreage, opportunities and terms and conditions will be... more

The Tarim oilfield in northwest China now injects 1.27 Bcf 36 MMcm of natural gas a day into the country's west-to-east gas pipeline, up 38% compared with early 2006.... more

LUKOIL Overseas (OAO LUKOIL 100% subsidiary) discovered prospective oil amounting to over 100 million bbl in the Medina structure on the Condor exploration block in Colombia. It is the first discovery... more

The booming subsea oil and gas industry is on the cusp of a major period of growth with its global revenue estimated to rise by more than a third from... more

Mustang Engineering, a subsidiary of John Wood Group PLC (“Wood Group”), announced that it has been selected by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Services to perform detail design services for a... more

The costs of major oil and gas production projects have risen more than 53% in the past 2 years, and no significant slowing is in sight, according to a new... more

Knowledge Reservoir has released Version 2.5 of Reservoir KB, the web-based deepwater reservoir performance knowledge base for the Gulf of Mexico. This major release is utilized by key oil companies and... more

In their latest study titled “Unconventional Hydrocarbons – The hidden opportunity,” Wood Mackenzie examines the key types of unconventional oil and gas, namely heavy oil, tight gas, coalbed methane and... more

Varel International announced that it has expanded its of0fering of enhanced diamond protection for customers drilling with the company’s roller cone products. “Due to higher drill rig costs and increased... more

SCAN Geophysical ASA (SCAN) today announced that it has been selected by GX Technology (GXT) to acquire up to 5,400 miles (9,000 km) of long offset 2-D data offshore East Africa... more

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) has released findings from a year-long study of strong ocean currents in the northern Gulf of Mexico, Exploratory Study of... more

MTEM has been commissioned by Caribbean operating company Ten Degrees North Energy Ltd. to survey a mature producing oil field in Trinidad. The oilfield services company is using its revolutionary... more

Canada's Yukon Territory government has received 25 expressions of interest to explore for oil and gas in the Eagle Plains and Peel Plateau regions of the territory under its new... more

China has added nine oil and gas producers in North Africa, South America and the Middle East to a list of countries that it wants major Chinese companies to invest... more

Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping (OHM) is pleased to announce further positive momentum during the 6 months to 28th February 2007: New client enquiries remain at high levels; surveys have been completed... more

China National Offshore Oil Corp. Ltd.(CNOOC) has opened up to overseas investors 22 untapped oil and gas areas covering 44,015 sq miles (114,050 sq km, mostly in South China Sea,... more

Halliburton Co. announced at a regional energy conference in the Kingdom of Bahrain the opening of a corporate headquarters office in the United Arab Emirates. Halliburton Chairman, President and Chief... more

Electromagnetic Geoservices (EMGS) and Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping (OHM) have agreed to settle proceedings in which EMGS alleged infringement of and threats to infringe its patent GB 2382875 relating to one... more

As the South African Licensing Round gathers momentum, Petroleum Agency SA, in conjunction with CGGVeritas, is making final preparations for a series of launch seminars. These will be run at... more

Schlumberger has announced that Hydro has selected Petrel software as its workflow tool for subsurface reservoir characterization. The contract is valued at US $13 million. Hydro exploration and production asset teams... more

The Board of Directors of Statoil ASA and Norsk Hydro ASA have now signed the final plan to demerge Hydro as part of the planned merger of Hydro's petroleum activities... more

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) is proposing amendments to its regulations regarding oil and natural gas production. Published in the Federal Register, the proposed rule... more

EMGS announced today that it has executed an option and signed a contract for chartering a second custom-built vessel to carry out the company's proprietary Seabed Logging operations for oil... more

Keppel FELS Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore-based Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd, has delivered an offshore drilling rig to PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Joint Stock Co (PV Drilling).... more

Chevron Corp. inaugurated the Bibiyana natural gas field onshore in Block 12 in Hibagani District in northeastern Bangladesh. Bibiyana, one of the largest gas fields in Bangladesh, is expected to initially... more

Hercules Offshore, Inc. and TODCO entered into a definitive merger agreement that will give Hercules Offshore 100% of the outstanding stock of TODCO in a stock and cash transaction valued... more

ElectroMagnetic GeoServices (EMGS) has launched an initial public offering of its shares following its recent application for admission for trading on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The offering will consist of... more

The University of Oklahoma’s School of Geology and Geophysics – the first in the United States to offer a petroleum geology degree – is receiving one of the largest single... more

SCAN Geophysical ASA (SCAN) has agreed to sell its three new building high capacity 3-D vessels, including complete seismic equipment, to Ship Finance International Limited based on a total price of... more

Investments in Nigeria's Oil and Gas industry may hit $29.4 billion annually over the next 5 years, with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) accounting for $11 billion. In terms of... more

Ikon Science announced today the release of a major new, mid-Norway Pressure Study by its Durham-based subsidiary GeoPressure Technology (GPT). The study follows GeoPressure’s highly successful pressure study of the... more

Oil and gas software creator Ikon Science announced today the purchase of Edinburgh-based specialist software and interpretation company Anitec Limited, enhancing Ikon’s anisotropic, multicomponent and time-lapse capabilities. Under the transaction, Anitec co-founders Professor... more

IHS Inc., a global provider of integrated oil and gas information, software and consulting services, announced today it has launched PETRA 3.1.9.0, a new version of its PC-based geological analysis... more

IHS Inc. has launched IHS Acquisition Screener, a new asset screening resource for oil and gas acquisition and divestiture (A&D) teams. Acquisition Screener provides information that helps identify potential acquisition... more

Petroleum Geo-Services will make Crystal WATS MC3D data available ahead of the planned MMS Lease Sale 205 for the Central Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) area scheduled for... more

SCAN Geophysical ASA announced that the company has signed an agreement with V.Ships Management Limited for marine management of SCAN’s three new-build high capacity 3-D streamer vessels, due to be... more

ExxonMobil announces drilling of world-record well Exxon Mobil Corporation announced today that its subsidiary, Exxon Neftegas Limited (ENL), has completed drilling of the Z-11 well, the... more

SCAN Geophysical ASA announced that the company has been awarded a marine seismic acquisition contract by Canada-based Sherritt International Corp. that calls for two 3-D programs in the Caribbean region. The... more

Input/Output Inc. announced that the second FireFly project is underway, this time for Apache Corp. in northeast Texas. The project involves the FireFly field station units (FSUs) and VectorSeis digital... more

GX Technology Corporation (GXT), a subsidiary of Input/Output Inc., announced the signing of a joint operating agreement (JOA) with Suelopetrol, a leading provider of exploration and production services to the... more

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced that the Minerals Management Service (MMS) has completed the Five-Year Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program which will guide domestic... more

CGGVeritas has begun field operations on the first in a series of planned wide-azimuth data library surveys in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The new data library survey is currently the... more

The multi-component seismic company Reservoir Exploration Technology ASA (RXT) and its local partner Delta Plus Ltd (DP), a subsidiary of Bermuda-based Terra Global Ltd., is concluding contract negotiations with Mobil... more

In a presentation at the PPROA Annual Convention, eField Exploration LLC (eField) unveiled the results of the first direct detection survey of a producing gas reservoir by a passive electro-magnetotelluric... more

A joint venture in technology development between researchers at Texas A&M University and the Department of Energy has produced a new computer tool that will increase recovery of up to... more

Schlumberger has acquired V.I.P.S., a UK-based leading reservoir geomechanics software and consulting company. The company’s office in Bracknell, UK, now becomes the Schlumberger Reservoir Geomechanics Center of Excellence under the... more

A collaboration of two federal agencies through the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) has resulted in an award-winning study focusing on the potential of deep water oil and gas structures... more

Geotrace has announced the introduction of the first of its two-phased Diamond Integrated Geosciences Environment system, a new software platform for processing and integrating all the disparate data types and... more

Hydraulic fracturing got its start when Stanolind (now BP) pumped its first job in Kansas’ Hugoton field back in 1946, so it’s appropriate that the current expansion in hydraulic stimulation... more

EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) or EPCI (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation) contracts for the construction of floating production units (FPUs) have a poor track record. As clients, oil companies... more

Life for workers in the oil patch can be tough — long hours, hostile working conditions, postings in strange locales. But at least there usually isn’t anyone shooting at them. While... more

In late 1959 I was at home in France, on local leave from an assignment in Turkey, when I received a call from the personnel department in Paris. They said,... more

Because global energy demand is expected to increase 50% by 2030, oil and gas companies must adapt rapidly in an exceedingly dynamic energy landscape and grow in a sustainable fashion.... more

Turkey boasts friendly fiscal terms for operators onshore and offshore, and Toreador Resources Corp., Stratic Energy Corp. and state-owned TPAO found hospitable conditions in the Black Sea off northern Turkey,... more

It is hard to believe it is 2007. It seems only yesterday that I took my first job in the patch in 1967. That was a summer internship, followed by... more