First oil

Here at World Oil, one of our greatest assets is our Editorial Advisory Board, composed of some of the best and brightest individuals in our industry. Representing what is probably a combined 500 years of experience and knowledge, our advisors come from all upstream sectors, including operators to academia. It is invaluable to be able to pick up the phone or send an email and get their unfiltered, off-the-record viewpoints and advice.

Helping yours truly liaison with this group and occasionally “corral” them has been our indefatigable Advisory Board chairman, Dr. William J. “Bill” Pike, who has served with distinction in this role for 8+ years. It has been an honor and pleasure to work with him and benefit from his own extensive knowledge and counsel. And I can always count on Bill for some well-timed comedic relief. 

So, it is with some sadness, but also great appreciation, that we announce that Bill is retiring as Editorial Advisory Board chairman, effective with this October issue. He will continue to write his column through the December issue, and then that page will retire, as well. But lest you think that he will disappear from World Oil entirely, rest easy, as he will continue to serve as a contributing editor. In that role, Bill will work with us to develop articles on the various E&P R&D projects being run by DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, with which he serves as a contractor. So, look for those new articles to begin in 2019.

Meanwhile, we are pleased to announce that current Advisory Board member Doug Valleau is being promoted to chairman. Doug has a wealth of knowledge and experience, having served in various management and geoscience positions with Gulf Oil, Monsanto, BHP, Maxus, Burlington Resources, ConocoPhillips and Hess Corporation, before taking early retirement with the latter firm as chief geologist at the end of 2016. He now has a thriving consultancy and serves as a co-chairman of URTeC.

Additionally, we are happy to announce that Halliburton Executive V.P. and Chief HSE Officer Eric Carre is joining our Advisory Board, effective this month. In 1991, he began what is now a 27-year career at Halliburton, and in his current position, is in the forefront of evaluating and implementing a variety of new technologies. Also joining our Advisory Board is Ms. Hege Kverneland, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at NOV. She has over 20 years of engineering and product management experience. She assumed her current role in 2009, is involved with several associations, and is in high demand as a speaker.

Looking deeper into Russian numbers. On page 21, our Production columnist, Don Francis, mentions that the EIA believes that the U.S. earlier this year topped Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest crude producer. But there’s a Russian side to this story, too.

On Oct. 2, the Russian Energy Ministry claimed that the country’s oil output was at a post-Soviet Union high of 11.36 MMbpd. This is very interesting, as our records at World Oil indicate that the all-time Soviet production high, including Russia and the other 14 former republics, was 12.483 MMbopd in 1987, thanks to former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev browbeating production association chiefs into overproducing. So, if we add the current Russian output level to the 2.80 MMbopd produced by the other former Soviet republics, then total production from the old USSR sits at 14.16 MMbopd, 13.4% higher than 1987’s level.  

Get out and vote. To our U.S. readers, this editor implores you to go to the polls next month and vote for those officials and candidates that you truly believe will support the domestic oil and gas industry. While much has been accomplished by the Trump administration, itself, some additional items will require congressional action. Furthermore, a pro-industry majority will be needed at the Capitol to protect what has been done already. 

About the Authors

Kurt Abraham

World Oil

Kurt Abraham kurt.abraham@worldoil.com