For some time 4-D seismic has been recognized as a useful tool to monitor fluid movement in the reservoir. Given the continuance of relatively high commodity prices, operators are now... more

Time-lapse (4-D) seismic surveys have been in use for many years and have steadily gained popularity and credibility with oil companies. Many if not all reservoirs could benefit from 4-D... more

By ensuring that the source and receiver locations for baseline and monitor were repeated Figure 1. Variogram of geometrical repeatability (sum of difference in source and receiver locations) and seismic... more

Because a direct examination of the wellbore construction environment isn’t possible, the wellbore designer must use indirect measurements such as seismic images and velocities along with correlations from nearby well... more

As operators push into greater water depths, drilling engineers are required to design wells reaching deeper objectives through sharp pore pressure transition zones and through higher differential pressures in depleted... more

For years when the offshore oil and gas industry spoke about new prospects and future development in the United States, the focus was almost exclusively on the Gulf of Mexico.... more

Interest is growing in the prospectivity of the Chukchi Sea in the Russian Arctic as new evidence emerges to support the thesis that the under-explored region may well harbor world-class... more

Expensive and usually remote Arctic oil and gas prospects and discovered fields offer aggressive operators potential production volumes that are difficult to match in warmer climates. Probably the classic example of... more

Oil and gas operating company project delays, potential cancellations and budget overruns follow a 53% climb in major offshore oil and gas construction costs over the past 2 years. IHS... more

The Independence Hub Facility is installed in Mississippi Canyon Block 920 in the Gulf of Mexico in 8,000 ft water depth. The Independence Hub facility consists of a semisubmersible hull... more

Buoyant oil and gas prices add life to existing assets and create a strong market for companies that specialize in maintenance and construction upgrades to existing production operations around the... more

Ten years ago, when the deepwater Gulf of Mexico started to take off, the primary focus of project teams was to shave off as much of the capital cost as... more

Shell Exploration & Production will break new ground as it reaches for production from the deepest-water wells in the world at its Perdido regional development near the southern boundary of... more

Mud programs originated primarily as an inventory management tool prior to the late 1940s, when drilling fluids companies’ distribution arms were managed by a network of independent dealers — often... more

Effective well planning and accurate wellbore placement are vital tools in reducing survey, seismic, structural or geological uncertainties. There has been an increased development of well planning tools to reduce... more

Premium lightweight cement systems are routinely used in a variety of specialized applications in low fracture gradient environments where specific design performance parameters must be met. These applications include shallow... more

In today’s drilling environment, whether it is horizontal wells, extended reach, brownfield development, subsea or deep water, the demands and functionality required of zonal isolation have never been greater. Gone... more

While not ideal, Portland cement has developed into the sealant of choice for well applications. Reasons for its wide acceptance include history, availability and price. Early drillers needed a material... more

The oil and gas industry, like many others, is taking advantage of advances in information technology (IT) to improve business performance through systems standardization, integration and automation. These efforts help realize... more

Amidst the concerns that not enough young people are pursuing engineering or geoscience careers, it should be remembered that those who do will work their tails off during their undergraduate... more

Like the train engine in the similarly named children’s story, the American Association of Drilling Engineers (AADE) seems to be rising to the occasion. Working in the shadows of larger... more

I just ran across a news release mass-published to the public media for unrestricted use. The headline cries, “Disturbing Trend Must be Stopped to Preserve Academic Integrity at US Colleges,... more

PowerView is a new application that delivers highly unified geophysical and geological (G&G) interpretation and on-the-fly seismic processing in a common, multidiscipline environment. PowerView allows users to overlay multiple complementary... more

GX Technology’s Reverse Time Migration (RTM) is a solution for exploration in subsalt prospects. RTM is not a new concept, but barriers to the introduction of the technology have been... more

Hydraulic bolt tensioning is now the preferred method of bolt tightening to achieve the high levels of first-time, leak-free joint integrity demanded by the industry. Two years of design, development and... more

Baker Hughes Drilling Fluids has introduced RHEO-LOGIC, the next generation of constant rheology synthetic-based drilling fluid. The RHEO-LOGIC fluid mitigates the effects of temperature and pressure on the viscosity of... more

Nalco Company has introduced its new Clean N Cor technology, a cleaning and corrosion inhibitor treatment program designed to protect and maximize production from oil fields with oil sludge deposition... more

AnTech Ltd, has introduced a new coiled tubing (CT) logging head. The new logging head has a remotely operated emergency electrical disconnect that makes it possible to carry out a... more

Stealth XL field-installed rod guides offer protection in rugged downhole pumping conditions. Deep concave channels and the streamlined shape give the rod guide excellent flow characteristics in high-volume wells. Wide... more

Ever since researchers first embraced the concept of multicomponent seismic, acquiring shear- as well as compressional-wave data, the industry has been at odds over how best to gather this information,... more

It used to be so simple. Divide the miles you drove since the last fill-up by the amount of fuel you just put in the tank, and there you have... more

Schlumberger has announced the release of Petrel 2007.1 seismic-to-simulation software, which includes significant new functionality for all disciplines in the exploration and development workflow. “Petrel 2007.1 is the most comprehensive... more

EMGS has entered into an agreement to charter the platform supply vessel Siem Mollie for 3 years. The company has also declared an option to extend the current charter for... more

Ikon Science has announced the release of the first commercial version of its Modeling While Picking rock physics plug-in to Petrel seismic-to-simulation software. The plug-in has been written to take full... more

EMGS is pleased to announce that Chief Executive Officer Terje Eidesmo and Vice President Research & Development Svein Ellingsrud both are to receive a gold medal award by the Society... more

Schlumberger today announced the acquisition of Insensys Oil & Gas Ltd., a UK-based pioneer in the provision of non-intrusive fiber-optic measurements for application in the integrity surveillance of subsea production... more

Plectrum Petroleum plc has announced that the seismic vessel MV CGG Princess has commenced a 1,825-mile (3,000-km) 2-D seismic acquisition program on the Nabeul Permit offshore Tunisia. The program is... more

Wavefield Inseis has seismic data over the proposed license areas. For more information, visit http://www.wavefield-inseis.com/multi_client_surveys/middle_east/.... more

A new edition of renowned Swiss cartographer Eduard Imhof's classic Cartographic Relief Presentation will be released by ESRI Press in June, showcasing the skillful draftsmanship, artistry and science that went... more

Seismic Micro-Technology Inc. (SMT) announced that Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) and JMI Equity (JMI) have made a strategic investment to recapitalize the company. The investment marks the first institutional round... more

Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) and Imperial College London have announced a joint cooperation in the establishment of a new academic Chair in Reservoir Geophysics. The 5-year plan will see the announcement... more

SCAN Geophysical ASA announced that the company successfully has completed ahead of schedule two marine seismic 3-D programs for Canadian-based Sherritt International Corp. in the Caribbean region. The M/V Scan Resolution... more

EMGS and Statoil have entered into a research and development agreement to develop new and improved software and methods for the analysis of electromagnetic data from seabed logging. The contract... more

IHS Inc. has acquired the inventory and assets of Geological Consulting Services–Houston, Inc. (GCS), a provider of formation tops data files in electronic and other media covering South Texas, East... more

Trondheim (08.06.2007): CorrOcean ASA has entered into an agreement with the private equity fund Arcapita to acquire 100% of Stavanger based Roxar AS and its affiliates and subsidiaries for a... more

Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) said today that it has struck a US $275 million deal to acquire MTEM, a provider of electromagnetic (EM) services used to detect the presence of hydrocarbons. MTEM... more

Oil and gas exploration technology innovator Spectraseis announced today that it has won contracts with a host of major oil and gas producers. The company also announced its 11th patent... more

The OHM Express, Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping’s new flagship for its Controlled Source Electromagnetic Imaging (CSEM) data acquisition surveys, is heading off Norway to start work. The OHM Express has been... more

Fugro has been awarded a US $82 million 3-D seismic contract offshore Mexico by the Mexican national oil company, Pemex. Fugro will conduct the acquisition and processing of 3-D seismic data... more

Schlumberger announced the launch of the Western Spirit, the seventh Q-Marine vessel to join the WesternGeco fleet. The vessel will begin work immediately with a high-specification 4-D survey in the... more

Bill Schrom, chief executive officer of Geotrace, is a finalist in the Houston and Gulf Coast Area Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program in the “Energy” category. Houston-based... more

Shell International Exploration and Production BV ("Shell") and Techsia announce that they have entered into a worldwide cooperation agreement to further develop and implement Techsia’s petrophysical platform Techlog. Techlog is... more

SCAN Geophysical ASA announced that it has been awarded a contract for 3-D seismic survey offshore Venezuela from Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA). The work area, located off the northwest coast... more

VetcoGray, a GE Oil & Gas business, is supplying its latest MS-700 system deepwater technology to Shell Group Companies for the deepwater BC-10 project, recently named Parque das Conchas, located... more

Weatherford International Ltd. announced that it has acquired Reservoir Laboratories AS (ResLab), a strong player in the core and reservoir fluid analysis sector of the oil and gas industry. This acquisition... more

Shell Exploration and Production has global teams working on new business, exploration and field development projects. A review in the business during 2003 found a significant amount of staff time... more

Over the last few years, as the price of oil continued to climb and reached US $70 a barrel, petroleum companies began to re-evaluate world markets and their exploration/upstream Soft... more

As strange as it may seem today, the idea of cementing the casing-wellbore annulus of a well was neither intuitive nor easily accepted. In 1919, as Erle P. Halliburton struggled... more

Given the global oil industry’s massive capital expenditures, shortening the time to first oil is a powerful management objective. In early 2007, a well-known oil and gas organization stated, for... more

In the ’80s, a typical marine seismic spread consisted of two streamers and two sources. Source and receiver group positions were calculated based on nominal offsets. Streamer compasses were used... more

When I was a youngster growing up in West Texas my dad worked for Gulf Oil Corp. His friends worked for Stanolind, Sinclair, Humble, Mobil and Magnolia. When I entered... more