Fiber-optic sensors offer a cost-effective solution to borehole and ocean-bottom monitoring. Oil industry executives faced with a maturing asset base have increasingly relied upon new technologies to close the gap... more

Advanced 4-D tools are helping operators reap measurable rewards. Time-lapse 3-D, or 4-D, seismic technology was first introduced in the early 1980s but has gained widespread interest and use only in... more

With the gathering drive for global deepwater development, one of the less talked-about factors is the need to anchor the huge production vessels now coming into service. As projects move into... more

New solvent exceeds performance targets during testing at a Canadian sour gas treating facility. A new solvent process for treating sour gas developed by Uhde GmbH(KU) and Gas Technology Institute (GTI)... more

This year saw a lot of firsts, as new technologies were tested in the field. Also, innovations in completions, directional drilling and deepwater technology enabled engineers to push the limits... more

NORTH AMERICA Tesco Corp.'s Rig Alpha completed its first well in the South Texas Lobo field. The first of three to be delivered under this contract, the rig demonstrated Tesco's... more

The economy might be slow, but new technologies are being released at a rapid pace. IBM has introduced a new option for companies that want supercomputing power, but not the fixed... more

When I started writing about the North Sea - not that long ago - one of the first things I learned was that in the UK sector, there were two... more

NORTH AMERICA Thirty-six mergers and acquisitions in the United States totaled US $1.9 billion in the third quarter this past year, down sharply from the 38 transactions worth $3.1 billion... more

Competition in the jackup rig market is getting stiffer as new units aim for deeper water and deeper wells. Drillships and deepwater semisubmersibles often hog the spotlight as research dollars lead... more

NORTH AMERICA Cuming Corp. named Louis D. Slaughter of Teal Equipment Co. the exclusive United States representative for C-FLOAT syntactic foam buoyancy products. Lev Ring and Pat York recently joined... more

Our industry has made some amazing technological advances over the past 15 years. Global exploration success rates in the upstream oil and gas industry for US-based operators have improved from... more

1. Ivanhoe Energy (USA) Inc., Vancouver, B.C., has started a steam-injection program to improve heavy-oil production from wells it operates in the area of Township 11n, Range 23w in Midway-Sunset... more

1. Energy Partners Ltd. of Houston, Texas, racked up two discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico. It drilled the successful A-3 well in West Cameron Block 431 to a previously... more

1. Production on the US $561.94 million (£350 million) Shell-operated Penguins subsea field development has begun in the northern North Sea via the Brent field and Far North Liquids and... more

1. Mera Petroleum and Millennium Energy, both of Calgary, Alberta, have asked Colombia's Ecopetrol to extend their exploration rights to October on their Salinas block in Colombia's far northern Guajira... more

1. A total of 10 operators have put in technical bids on the 9 Tcf Gassi Touil integrated project in Algeria. The tenderers on the US $2 billion project are said... more

1. A new obstacle has fallen into the path of development of the 7 billion bbl-plus Kashagan field offshore Kazakhstan in the Caspian Sea. A BBC report quotes Professor Muftach... more

1. Syria has awarded five exploration blocks across the country and chosen three additional operators to develop existing facilities. Syrian Oil Minister Ibrahim Haddad said European major Shell landed a... more

1. Matrix Oil is offering all or part of its interests in each of three contract areas it operates in the North Sumatra Basin, Indonesia. The North Sumatra Basin covers a... more

Wildcatting legends outline the secrets to their success, many of which were lessons learned from their failures. A wise man recently noted that a herd of sheep possesses more risk-taking gumption... more

Can an all-in-one mud work? Due to peaks in directional and logging tools, the scope for game-changing drilling technologies is narrowing. Increasingly, the industry is focusing on other areas such... more

A new technique to improve primary cement jobs has resulted in a 35% decrease in average remedial cementing costs for a group of Canadian gas wells. Production optimization begins with a... more

In the midst of war hysteria and fears of a failing economy, the United States lost another space shuttle last month. You are all, by now, acquainted with the facts... more

Some oil and gas companies have allowed production goals to divert their attention from shareholder expectations. In recent times, markets have focused on production targets and delivery as a key measure... more

With up to 35% of the world's gas, Persian Gulf nations seek to harvest reserves. Arabian Gulf countries are accelerating their campaigns to compete in the tough global natural gas market... more