Underbalanced Drilling

Update on IADC/industry activities.
A review of IADC committee progress, the proposed UBD classification system and well control training curriculum changes.

Controlling surface and bottomhole pressure.
Consultant Bill Rehm and Texas A&M;describe how to simultaneously control the two values in gaseous or foam systems.

Equipment for drilling in deep water with lightweight fluids.
Weatherford and Petroleum Services describe field trials of UBD from a semisub vessel offshore Brazil.

E&P Visualization Technology

New visualization technologies.
Fakespace and Phillips describe how major operators are using new visualization tools--including hand-held devices and projection systems.

Is visualization technology a facilitator or gimmick?
Schlumberger/BP present examples of how a "shared earth model" was used for reservoir development, emphazing drilling.

How visualization technology helps manage an SPR storage facility.
Continuum Resources and Sandia National Labs illustrate how decision-making was helped.

Integrating different data types for visualizing reservoir models.
Magic Earth, SGI and Newfield Exploration describe hardware/software use in Newfield's operations.

Artificial Lift

Texas Tech University's Herald Winkler and James Lea review industry's latest advances for beam/progressing cavity/hydraulic pumping, and related technologies for pumping-well and field controls, gas lift and plunger lift improvements.

Regional Focus

This special report, the second of four scheduled this year, discusses activity in Canada. Robert Curran will review drilling activity in 2000 and plans for 2001, oil/gas production and related factors, plus increasing activity offshore the East Coast.

Other Features

Well control during well intervention.
Part 2 of Alex Sas-Jaworsky II's 4-part series covers practical applications of through-tubing well control operations.

Petroleum Technology Digest

Supplement with special mailing targeting independent producers, published four times annually by World Oil and Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (PTTC), offers several case studies of practical field- and operations-improvement techniques.