Drilling ///
While opinions differ on oil demand and production rates, a fourth week of growth in the rig count appears to prove some projections right, while invalidating others.
World Oil talks with PESA President Leslie Beyer about the key issues facing the sector in 2020 and beyond.
Brandon Dodge, Weir Oil & Gas
A new solution offers tool-free, 8-min. setup and reduces NPT in multi-well pad operations, thereby yielding more drilling time and lowering costs.
Marco Perez, Hector Vizcarra, Anurag S. Yadav, Weatherford
Dependable rotary steerable systems, tied to an effective drilling engineering process through digitalization and automation, are the foundation of a new era in directional drilling.
The SmartFleet system connects to the reservoir through subsurface sensing to continuously measure cluster uniformity and fracture geometry. The system applies the measurements to make intelligent adjustments that improve fracture placement.
Weatherford International’s Shallow Angle QuickCut System successfully achieved the industry's first 12 ¼-in. casing sidetrack, delivering a 22-ft. window in a single trip for an ultra-deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico.
The nation’s producers, which have reduced oil drilling by as much as one-third so far this year, may cut it by a further 20% in 2021, said Vitaly Dokunikhin, CEO at Eriell Russia.
America’s oil production will never again reach the record 13 million barrels a day set earlier this year, just before the pandemic devastated global demand, according to Occidental Petroleum Corp.
Trailing Biden in the polls and looking to drive up support among white, working-class voters that helped deliver him Rust Belt states in 2016, Trump has turned to fracing as a last-ditch measure to make up ground. Biden holds a lead of 7 percentage points in Pennsylvania, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls.
NTS Group has acquired Amega West Services, a market leader in the manufacture, repair and rental of legacy and specialized drilling equipment used in offshore and land-based oil & gas extraction applications, from Carpenter Technology Corporation.
Oceaneering International has been awarded a BOP tethering services contract offshore Brazil from Petrobras. The contract duration is one-year with the option to extend for an additional year.
Halliburton's Crush & Shear technology reimagines the bit by placing roller cones in the bit’s center for efficient crushing of the formation and moves the cutters to the shoulder for maximal rock shearing.
The HSI’s three-axis accelerometer indicates the relative bearing and inclination of the downhole tool string during oriented perforating applications, confirming direction to avoid severing casing strings or cables behind casing.
Chris Gooch, Ulterra Drilling Technologies
An innovative PDC bit technology is improving motor and downhole tool reliability, while setting new performance records.
Vera Wibowo, Chandramani Shrivastava, Schlumberger
A new LWD tool system enables multiple high-resolution borehole images in nonconductive OBM, providing real-time geological characterization and inputs for drilling parameter optimization.
Caterpillar Inc. has signed an agreement to acquire the Oil & Gas Division of the Weir Group PLC, a Scotland-based global engineering business. Headquartered near Fort Worth, Texas, Weir Oil & Gas produces a full line of pumps, flow iron, consumable parts, wellhead and pressure control products.
The world’s largest owner of deep-water oil rigs recently engineered a bond swap to trim some of its $9 billion debt load and ease the crunch caused by slumping energy prices. But other creditors say the transaction amounts to a default because it pledges assets that Transocean already promised to them.
Turkey plans to deploy a second drilling ship in the Black Sea early next year following the biggest-ever natural-gas discovery there.
World Oil editors discuss an emerging disconnect as drilling activity across the board continues to rise, while oil traders are expecting a long road to demand recovery.
The combination will create one of the biggest independent shale producers in the country, tying together two companies with sizable operations in the hottest part of the prolific Permian Basin, which straddles West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.