Designing water-based drill-in fluids that behave like oil-based systems in HP/HT environments is a goal that is now on the horizon.

To save money and minimize nonproductive time during a completion, the ideal fluid loss control system should be ready when it’s needed.

Within the next generation of drilling and completion efficiencies, a merger between these processes will play an essential role in improving overall operations.

About 18% of US domestic oil and 9% of US natural-gas production comes from low-production-rate wells. With commodity prices falling, what lies ahead for these mighty mites?

The world’s largest LNG carrier offers significant economies of scale over its smaller predecessors.

Based around what is literally a mobile pipeline, a new compressed gas liquids transport concept brings the full gas stream from remote wellheads to market in one stroke.

The oil and gas industry has been aware of the constrained offshore rig market for some time, but unbeknownst to many, helicopter service providers are fighting the same battle in the air.

The move to deeper water has required more specialized and technically sophisticated vessels to support complex deepwater field developments. As a result, today’s offshore support vessels are a far cry from their predecessors.

Following recent developments in the offshore industry, the time could now be right for operators to review their emergency transfer options and take a more comprehensive approach.

First conceived as alternatives to costly or technically difficult interventions, intelligent wells that can be monitored and controlled remotely have evolved into a powerful reservoir management tool. As a result, after initially slow industry-wide uptake, their number is projected to increase fivefold in the next five years.

Improving openhole completions with inflow control devices and swellable zonal isolation can be the means to avoiding problems associated with early water and gas breakthrough and resulting reduced oil production.

Today’s 3-D geological models not only provide the tools for incorporating accurate characterizations of reservoir heterogeneity, but also enable multiple scenarios to be quickly built and analyzed to help quantify the inherent reservoir uncertainty.

It’s beyond anecdotal — large-scale visualization centers provide solid return on investment.

Affordable Windows-based geoscience software continues to make rapid advances.

The second half of 2008 was one for the record books.