Then & Now - November 2022
November 16th, 2022
SPE-GCS Blog
33 Blog Found
Then & Now - May 2022
April 5th, 2022
May 2007
XTO Energy, the largest natural gas producer in Arkansas, has begun employing a proppant-flowback arrester (PFA), which helps control proppant flowback and fines production and helps maintain highly conductive fractures and long-term productivity. The process combines new technologies that enable resin-treatment of proppant after it has been placed in the fracture. The service uses coiled tubing coupled with either pressure-pulsing or fluid-wave technology, and is a coiled-tubing deployed, rigless intervention. Projected value added, in the form of reduced workover-cleanout expense and increased production ranges from $210,000 to 440,000/well/year.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) completes the first edition of a National Atlas describing potential CO2 sequestration reservoirs and their capacities. These reservoirs include: depleted oil and gas reservoirs, unmineable coalbeds, and deep saline reservoirs. Theoretically, geologic reservoirs have the capacity to store all the CO2 produced by the …
Then & Now - April 2022
April 4th, 2022
APRIL 2017
Oil prices slip after Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces that his country would free 15 British naval personnel it had captured in the Persian Gulf more than a week before, pardoning and releasing them as a pre- Easter gift to Britain. By mid-afternoon on the day of the announcement, West Texas Intermediate for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down 43¢ at $64.21/bbl.
Based on a managed pressure drilling project conducted in the Sichuan basin of China, Sinopec concludes that the advantages of using air as a circulating fluid are substantial. In comparison with mud rates, the ROPs are significantly higher, which reduces drilling time. Wellbore problems, such as lost circulation and sloughing shales, are virtually eliminated, and air drilling allows the use of air percussion hammers, which also contributes to drilling a true vertical hole.
After the …
Then & Now - March 2022
March 1st, 2022
MARCH 2016
Oklahoma researchers recorded more than 900 earthquakes greater than 3.0-magnitude during 2015, up from 578 in
that category during 2014. As of early March, more than 140 earthquakes greater than 3.0-magnitude have hit the state, including eight greater than 4.0. Drilling disposal wells through the Arkbuckle formation into the crystalline basement could increase the risk of triggered earthquakes, some researchers claim.
For a group said to have arrived at death’s door many times in 55 years, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has displayed remarkable survivability, simply by adapting. Past death pronouncements emerged when oil- market changes undermined the group's effectiveness, and the latest threat will likely be no different.
An estimated 230,105 Texans remained on upstream industry payrolls as of January. The last time the crude-oil price and the rig count were at present levels, upstream oil …
Then & Now - February 2022
February 1st, 2022
FEBRUARY 2007
Former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky knows where he stands in Vladimir Putin’s Russia regarding new charges brought against him and business associate Platon Lebedev. Once Russia’s richest man, Khodorkovsky is serving eight years on fraud and tax evasion charges, which he claims
were fabricated by his enemies in the Kremlin to punish him for his political ambitions. “It is absolutely clear what will happen next: Fake evidence, testimony from intimidated witnesses, and a quick guilty verdict,” Khodorkovsky claims in a statement written from his prison cell in eastern Siberia.
A Houston-based firm successfully tests a new drilling system designed to enhance the rate of penetration through hard rock. Particle-impact drilling (PID) is a closed-loop process in which hardened steel shot particles are injected into the drilling mud, circulated, and recovered from the mud system without allowing the shot …
Then & Now - January 2022
January 1st, 2022
JANUARY 2006
Saudi Arabia’s position in the global petrochemical market is predicted to grow substantially during the next five years due to an ongoing and significant growth wave that will add substantial petrochemical capacity.
There have been nine “deepwater” (greater than 1,000 feet) oil and natural gas discoveries announced by operators in the Gulf of Mexico through November 2005, the US Minerals Management Service reported. (That’s nothing compared to today’s 3,000-meter deepwater international wells).
The US Senate kept Congress true to form Dec. 21 when it rejected the latest effort to authorize oil and gas leasing of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain.
JANUARY 2009
China reportedly has large volumes of low-permeability natural gas resources with unique characteristics that could be exploited with appropriate technologies. At present, however, lack of development and management technologies have hindered effective exploitation of …
Then & Now - December 2021
December 1st, 2021
DECEMBER 2012
The Canadian government approved two acquisitions by international, state-owned energy companies (Petronas and CNOOC) for Canadian oil sands and shale gas assets, but indicated that approval for future transactions by other state-owned enterprises for petroleum assets would be approved only under exceptional circumstances.
Latest forecasts call for oil and gas companies to spend $28 billion in the South Texas Eagle Ford play during 2013.
Noble Energy Inc. plans to invest $1.7 billion in the Denver- Julesburg basin, primarily in northern Colorado, during 2013, and the company estimates its net reserves in Wattenberg and Niobrara at 2.1 billion boe.
Light sweet crude: $85/bbl
Natural gas: $2.40/MMbtu
DECEMBER 2015
US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee members generally agreed that tougher federal offshore oil and gas well control regulations should be adopted soon, but they disagreed over whether the Obama …
Then & Now - November 2021
November 1st, 2021
NOVEMBER 2018
The country boasting the second largest city in South America reports a three-well drilling program spurred by a discovery well that is currently producing 2,000 b/d of heavy crude. PetroTal, based in Calgary and Houston, will be the operator. Without Googling, how many of you can name the second largest city in South America? The answer will be hidden somewhere in the text that follows.
The IEA forecasts oil supply outstripping demand throughout 2019, with US production increasing by 2.1 MMbbl in 2018 and an additional 1.3 MMbbl in 2019, but nevertheless, oil prices should not fall precipitously during this period.
The Ichthys project’s production is forecasted to elevate Australia to top LNG exporter, and its annual production should overtake that of Qatar within a year.
NOVEMBER 2019
The UK government has imposed a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing …
Then & Now - October 2021
October 1st, 2021
OCTOBER 2001
An onshore injection well in Brazil is the site of an all- electronic, multizone intelligent well completion being tested for eventual use by Petrobras in its deepwater Campos basin wells.
The World Renewable Energy Report lists the following as the forecasted order of renewable energy contributions for 2001-10: 43% biomass, 27% wind, 15% solar, 9% small-scale hydro, 4% geothermal and 2% others.
The American Petroleum Institute reports that US jet fuel deliveries fell nearly 10 percent in September due to reduced air travel following terrorist attacks.
Light sweet crude: $22.66/bbl
Natural gas: $2.42/MMbtu
US active rig count: 1,147
OCTOBER 2011
The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) issues an initial round of citations resulting from the Joint Investigation Team's final report on the April 2010 Macondo well blowout and crude oil spill. Fifteen citations are issued Oct. …
Then & Now - September 2021
September 1st, 2021
SEPTEMBER 1992
Development of South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf off Iran will begin soon under an agreement between National Iranian Oil Co. and Italy’s Saipem and Technologic Progetti Lavori SpA. South Pars is an apparent extension of Qatar’s 150 tcf North field and has estimated reserves of 100 tcf of gas and 2.5-3 billion bbl of oil.
Hurricane Andrew struck South Florida Aug. 24, churned west into the Gulf, then swung north and hit the South Louisiana coast Aug. 25. By the close of business Sept. 8, MMS had received damage reports covering 83 pipeline segments and 193 platforms and satellite installations. An MMS official in New Orleans reported that any further damage discovered likely will be by underwater inspections.
Conoco Inc. is drilling one of the deepest rank wildcats ever in the southern Illinois basin. The …