Issue: September 2025
COLUMNS
SPECIAL FOCUS: UPSTREAM PRACTICES
Companies that implement comprehensive sustainability strategies realize quantifiable benefits, including 20%-to–25% cost reductions through digital solutions, 50% decreases in emissions through advanced drilling, and 30%-to–60% improvements in recovery through enhanced techniques—proving that sustainability enhances, rather than compromises, operational performance.
This article introduces a patent-pending, three-speed helical flow conditioner for multiphase cyclonic sand separation, detailing its design rationale, operating principles, and early field results from the Williston and Permian basins.
AutoSep Technology has transformed flowback with advanced separation, automated control and enhanced safety. Its AutoSep Control Units reduce red zone exposure, boost efficiency, and cut emissions—setting a new standard in flowback operations.
Innovative chemistry and customized approaches can overcome critical challenges, from severe corrosion in high-stress environments to sudden and unexpected scale formation in high-temperature “dry” production wells, extending equipment life and ensuring production reliability, even in the most demanding environments.
Exploration and production companies are being driven by economic and environmental opportunities to stop flaring.
GLOBAL MID-YEAR FORECAST
U.S. drilling slows as high operating costs, low oil prices and capital restraint motivate operators
U.S. drilling activity has softened in 2025, with rig counts sliding despite steady production, as operators lean on efficiency gains and disciplined spending. M&A and inventory optimization took priority over aggressive new drilling, while gas-focused rigs remained under pressure amid shifting LNG demand.
International activity is maintaining leisurely growth, while the U.S. continues to lag. Global oil production was up slightly in 2023, with stronger gains in the Americas. Offshore activity is buoyed by continued success in areas like Guyana, Suriname and Namibia.
It’s been a tumultuous year for the Canadian oil patch—weakening markets have tempered expectations that the new federal government is open to discussing, and possibly changing, some of its most damaging and punitive policies and legislation.
MANAGEMENT ISSUES
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
By connecting ageing assets with real-time digital records, AI is enabling safer, smarter, and more sustainable operations across the energy sector.
CygNet is entering a new era as a cloud-flexible, SaaS-enabled SCADA platform built on microservices, containerization, and real-time protocols like MQTT. Backed by Weatherford’s largest digital investment, it delivers faster innovation, elastic scalability, and lower costs—combining trusted reliability with future-ready agility for the energy sector
