A new system removes the headaches of current visualization displays. Think visualization, and most users imagine large immersive-room environments driven by hardware with supercomputer-like performance. Like the software that drives such... more

Windows-based visualization of high-frequency seismic volumes optimizes reservoir potential in a channel play. Braided fluvial reservoirs can host significant volumes of hydro-carbons, being high net/gross ratio, and are often considered to... more

High-temperature reversible invert fluid enhances drilling and completion performance in carbonate reservoir. A recently completed horizontal gas producer in a carbonate reservoir in the Gulf of Mexico presented numerous challenges for... more

New, water-based mud system is successful as an environmentally compliant alternative to nonaqueous fluids on Gulf of Mexico shelf wells. The United States Environmental Protection Agency restricts drilling waste discharges. SBM... more

Highly inhibitive water-based fluid provides drilling performance comparable to invert emulsion systems in reactive shale sections. In a Lavaca County, Texas, field most wells are drilled with conventional water-based fluids and... more

Shales are big news in unconventional resource plays, and Arkansas makes a healthy contribution. One of the more interesting plays in gas shale is the Arkansas Fayetteville Shale play. This play... more

Unconventional gas reservoirs in the United States are hinting at mind-boggling reserves. Unconventional resources have been around for a long time. In fact, the first commercial hydrocarbon production in the United... more

With the coalbed methane market heating up, equipment manufacturers are custom-designing artificial lift solutions. Coalbed methane (CBM) is the fastest growing unconventional natural gas resource, and energy companies are rapidly climbing... more

As natural gas resource development grows worldwide, operators need an improved method to effectively evaluate formation gas saturation through casing. Over the years, the most versatile device for identifying and... more

The shift from reactive maintenance to a condition-based and predictive paradigm is lowering costs and extending reservoir life. Oil and gas development projects are extremely capital intensive investments. Maximizing the return... more

Keeping track of assets and pieces of assets to coordinate location and management is getting easier. It's a familiar life cycle dilemma in the oil industry: finding drilling rig assets' whereabouts... more

The board of directors of Sempra Energy elected Donald E. Felsinger chairman and chief executive officer. The board also named Neal E. Schmale president and chief operating officer and Mark... more

North America 1. ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc., Houston, Texas, has asked for preliminary approvals to begin development of its Alpine CD-5 satellite drillsite, which it also calls Alpine West. 2. Canadian Natural... more

Chevron's self-designed path for IT-enabled transformation shows industry's intent to mine the gold in the IT promise. The petroleum industry continues to work its way toward the ideals of domain integration,... more

Atoms for Peace program fails oilpatch testing. Atoms for Peace was a grand idea aimed at benefiting the world and was tested in the oilpatch. It never reached its potential in... more

Geoscience goes a little Hollywood as SEG celebrates its 75th. Wow. Who knew? I've long known that geophysicists are a talented bunch, combining a variety of disciplines - math, physics, geology,... more

One of the world's most capable drilling vessels will never strike oil. Why are we so sure that the deep-sea drilling vessel Chikyu (Japanese for "Earth") will never drill a... more

According to the brain trust in Hollywood, Roman gladiators used to greet their emperor by chanting, "We, who are about to die, salute you!" This begs the question, "Who wants... more

The NeuraWellTool from Neuralog is a platform for visualizing annotated work logs. It allows users to access logs for correlation and markup and to display well-related data. This provides the... more

Cirrus Logic has introduced the Single-S seismic platform, which combines a modulator and digital filter to create a high-resolution single-sensor measurement system for seismic and geophysical data acquisition. The system... more

A new solid state viscosity sensor called ViSmart from BiODE Inc. holds great promise for several oil industry applications. Capable of taking instantaneous samples and/or continuous real-time viscosity measurements, the... more

An advanced cutting tool developed by Sondex has demonstrated its ability to quickly cut tubulars downhole with surgical precision. Named the Downhole Electric Cutting Tool (DECT), the device enables controlled... more

A solution to pumping heavy oil seems to be at hand following the successful testing of Proflux technology by Oilflow Solutions Ltd. of Aberdeen, Scotland. In a two-phase trial conducted... more

Bumper-to-bumper re-thinking creates a workover rig unlike any other. Programmable logic control" and "workover rig" are not items often heard in the same sentence, or even in the same building, for... more

There are few causes that I believe are more important than educating the public about our industry to dispel the negative image we have. Lately, there have been a number... more

The New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development wants to give oil and gas companies more information about its resources so they'll feel more inclined to license properties in the island... more

Brazil awarded 251 exploration blocks in its seventh licensing round, up from 154 blocks awarded in the 2004 round. It had offered 1,134 blocks in the latest round of licensing.... more

Tunisia's production is declining, and the government would like to do something to halt that decline by inviting more foreign companies in to search for oil and gas. Afif Chelbi,... more

Three cooperation agreements signed in Beijing cancelled a large part of the debt owed by Equatorial Guinea and opened the African nation to exploration by China's state oil companies. Government... more

In one of the largest awards in its 140-year history, the United States Court of Federal Claims unsealed its US $1.1 billion award to 12 oil and gas companies, which... more

TGC Industries Inc. has deployed its fifth seismic crew and has equipped it with an ARAM ARIES recording system. The crew will work in the continental United States.... more

Electromagnetic Geoservices AS (emgs) has commissioned a third vessel, the MV Sasha, to conduct marine electromagnetic surveys. Mobilization of the vessel has been facilitated by the modularity of the company's... more

Time Seismic Exchange Ltd., a subsidiary of Veritas DGC Inc., has completed a series of major 3-D seismic library programs in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. The company now... more

Multi-Transient Electro Magnetic (MTEM), a spin-out of technology developed at Edinburgh University, has tested its new system in the Firth of Forth, deploying 1.3 miles (2 km) of cabling to... more

• Microsoft has unveiled a new "supercomputing-friendly" version of Windows that makes ultra-powerful computing systems affordable and easier to deploy and use. For more information, visit www.microsoft.com. • Schlumberger has introduced its Scanner... more

• LaMesa Geophysical has purchased an acquisition system from Vib-Tech. The source type is "accelerated weight drop" and the equipment is the Vib-Tech IT system. • Mechdyne Corp. will acquire VRCO Inc., a... more

Exxon Mobil Corp. engineers have come up with the Fast Drill Process (FDP) that cuts drilling time up to 35% by using real-time computer analysis of energy consumed in the... more

BP Alaska may build a super rig that will allow it to drill extended reach wells from an onshore post on the North Slope of Alaska to reservoir targets 40,000... more

Helmerich & Payne will build and operate 16 new FlexRigs under 3-year contracts with three exploration and production companies. Construction costs are US $10 million each for 11 FlexRig4s and... more

Wartsila picked up a contract to supply six engines totaling 46 MW for the world's largest drillship. The vessel is under construction for Stena Drilling Ltd. for work in the... more

Shell will charter a Sedco 700-series semisubmersible drilling rig for 3 years with an additional 2-year option in return for Transocean's pledge to upgrade the rig at a cost of... more

An oil company based in Qatar has ordered a US $7.9 million land rig from KS Energy Services. The price includes all construction, transportation and set-up costs. Delivery is due... more

The US Department of Energy will grant US $2 million to help fund five research efforts leading to the safe production of methane hydrates. The US Geological Survey calculated the... more

EnCana plans a program to invest US $5 billion into its Canadian oil sands projects in the next 10 years to increase bitumen production by 500,000 b/d of oil from... more

Chevron USA North America Exploration & Production Co. has contracted with Gulf Island LLC to build the topsides for the production platform for its Blind Faith field in 7,000 ft... more

A strong deepwater exploration, drilling and production campaign will consume US $20 billion a year by 2010, according to Douglas-Westwood's new "World Deepwater Market Forecast." Steve Robertson, oil and gas... more

Financial winners take advantage of sophisticated execution strategies. The oilfield service and other industries have many exemplary examples of how firms deliver superior year-on-year financial performance consistently. This short article identifies... more

New dynamics in overseas investments present unique opportunities - and risks - for oilfield service companies. One would be hard-pressed to find an industry more accustomed to risk than oil and... more

Recent laws clarify position of government and operators in production contracts. Angola promised a high level of transparency as it introduced its first bidding round for offshore properties in 9 years... more

As an industry, we have a vital need to invest in our aging reservoir base. At the same time, exploration and development costs are increasing, and we face persistent pressure... more