SPE-GCS Blog

March 1st, 2022

Welcome to March; we are blessed to see this month. This month’s newsletter highlights some of the work the SPE-GCS Newsletter Committee is working on in collaboration with the Diversity & Inclusion Committee.

The Society of Women Engineers, in collaboration with the National Society of Black Engineering (NSBE) and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineering (SHPE), received a grant from the National Science Foundation to create the Women of Color in Engineering Collaborative (WCEC). SPE is a partner in this collaboration.

The WCEC will be targeting issues women of color (WOC) face that causes a disparity between WOC who complete engineering degrees and WOC in the engineering workspace. The goal is for partner organizations to help decrease the barriers that lead to the attrition of WOC engineers.

The grant has three main goals:

1. Establish the WCEC to address systemic barriers …

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 …

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 …

February 1st, 2022

INDUSTRY UPDATE:

At this moment in our industry, the biggest concern is that the world’s economy is yet to fully recover.

Even with the threat of the Delta, Omicron and forthcoming coronavirus variants, the world seems to have moved beyond the fears. A year ago, BP predicted that the world had reached peak demand because of Covid-19, the push for greener energy, and consumer behavior trends like working from home. Less than a year later, we have surpassed pre-Covid demand levels. As such, we’ve accepted that demand is back and poised to grow as the economy continues its recovery.

However, the more significant threat is in the supply part of the curve. To illustrate: Most investment banks expect to see oil reach $100 per barrel this year because the world’s spare capacity is almost exhausted. This implies that even the slightest geopolitical …

January 1st, 2022

Happy New Year! I’m pleased to welcome you to the first edition of the 2022 SPE-GCS newsletter. I want to take this opportunity to wish our members and affiliates a Happy New Year. Reflecting on 2021, we witnessed a promising industry ready to embrace the energy transition while providing energy for the world. This is an exciting moment for the Gulf Coast Section. As the global economy continues to recover, the outlook for 2022 and beyond continues to improve. The industry is much healthier, with a few remarkable mergers and acquisitions that will speed up growth initiatives at a high rate of return. The price of oil rose to a new record level in the last few years and most of our colleagues are happy to return to work.

In section news, I would like to thank John Vozniak. Under his …

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 …

December 1st, 2021

Adios to 2021, the Membership Taskforce Report and a Scholarship Endowment Fund Update

What an interesting year it’s been. We started the year not knowing how it would end, but things are getting back to normal. There have been trials this year, but overall, it’s been a positive one. It’s a blessing to see most of our colleagues and loved ones who lost their jobs getting back into the workforce and providing for their families. In this month’s edition of the “Chairs Corner,” I will focus on two main things: the report from the membership task force and the Scholarship Endowment Fund (SEF).

One of the key things I mentioned in the August “Chair’s Corner” was creating a task force to review and discuss the decline in membership. I want to thank John Vozniak and the membership task force team for …

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 …

November 1st, 2021

We have one more month until the end of the year, and it’s been an interesting one. We began with a great deal of uncertainty about the pandemic and how it will change the norm. We’ve seen more than half of the workforce return to the office; the surge of the delta variant; and many of our colleagues, friends and family return back to work and school. We’ve also seen oil getting back to encouraging prices and rig counts returning to normal levels. I’m glad things are turning around and I’m looking forward to the New Year. With regard to SPE-GCS, it’s a healthy section, as we are hosting events and sessions to engage our members. In this month's “Chair's Corner,” I’ll review the benefits of SPE membership.

I encourage all SPE members to renew their membership. If you are a current member, …

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 …