Issue: September 2018
Special Focus
Before 2002, connections designed for drilling and completions were tested at the discretion of a specific manufacturer.
New connections have been developed to address the emerging needs of wells in unconventional shale plays, with longer laterals. These premium and semi-premium connections are targeted for use, where higher torque requirements are necessary to land the casing, as well as to ensure proper cementation. Combined with high performance tubulars, these connections allow operators to land the casing string quicker, and reduce non-productive time.
Features
Operators remain cautious but are showing greater optimism, as solid oil prices prompt them to issue upwardly revised capital expenditure guidance. Onshore plays remain dominant.
Canada’s arduous climb from its recession is underway. But there’s still a long road ahead. Resurgent oil prices are not enough to offset uncertainty caused by low gas prices and lack of pipeline capacity.
Some semblance of “normalcy” is returning to the global EP industry after three wrenching years of activity recession.
Slickwater systems tend to have low viscosity, which can attribute to difficulty with effectively suspending and transporting proppant in a fracture. Accordingly, a new, low-density proppant has been developed to enhance the transport capability in slickwater fluids and provide increased fracture conductivity.
As drilling progresses into deeper waters that require more complicated well profiles, there is an increasing need for equipment that can withstand higher pressures, temperatures and casing/structural loads. A 20,000-psi, 350°F-rated, 18¾-in. HPHT wellhead has been developed to satisfy these requirements.
Over the next 30 years, India is predicted to be one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
Quantitative interpretation (QI) is applied routinely to conventional reservoirs. By using rock physics and the construction of a workflow, QI can be a viable proposition for making drilling decisions in unconventional reservoirs, as well.
Columns
Moderate, stable growth is in the offing
Hats off to Apache
Who pays for new visualization?
Sea change afoot
Small is big
Permian produced water: No crisis, just opportunity
Real-time, tunable technology for operating efficiency
Big stick diplomacy
News & Resources
Shearwater GeoServices Holding AS has entered a definitive agreement to acquire the marine seismic acquisition assets and operations of WesternGeco, Schlumberger’s geophysical services product line, for $650 million.
OPEC crude production rose to 32.74 MMbpd in August, the highest level this year, as an increase of 310,000 bopd in Libya helped offset a 240,000-bopd reduction in Iranian output (Bloomberg).
Evy Glørstad-Clark has been appointed senior V.P., exploration, for Aker BP.
LLOG Exploration delivered first production from its Crown and Anchor fields in the Gulf of Mexico, during second-quarter 2018.
Weatherford International introduced its Rotaflex long-stroke pumping unit that improves artificial lift efficiency in deep, high-volume and high gas-to-liquids wells.
