The great migration to wet plays

The paradigm has shifted. US land rigs that just two years ago were at work in prolific shale gas plays are on the move, delivering an oil and liquids boom that has yet to be fully quantified...

Navigating safe waters

Booming markets in West Africa, Brazil and areas of Asia Pacific are putting a bullish spin on the overall offshore outlook, with rising utilization and dayrates in all sectors, including shallow- and mid-water, deepwater and ultra-deepwater...

Global deepwater exploration sustains strong rig activity

Two years have passed since the twin Montara and Macondo blowouts. While Macondo obviously disrupted US Gulf of Mexico drilling in all water depths, deepwater exploration and rig activity remained robust elsewhere...

Refining the grip on nature’s fine grains

Drawing on proven methods and technologies, the latest developments in the realm of sand control strategically capitalize on and enhance what is known to work...

The water challenge

As hydraulic fracturing enters a new phase in the current shale boom, the industry has learned a thing or two about the process, not the least of which is that it makes both economic and environmental sense to include the three R’s – reuse, recycle and reclaim – as part of the equation...

Reentry campaign gives first-round subsea fields second chance to produce

A large number of subsea production wells have been drilled, but to date, there has been limited industry experience of redrilling subsea wells even though redrills have...

Drilling contracts evolve with industry expansion, legislative, judicial trends

During the course of this author’s 35-year drilling industry career, he has seen drilling contracts evolve from relatively simple documents to lengthy, complex...

People, Companies & Products

FMC to supply Petrobras with subsea equipment. FMC Technologies recently signed a four-year agreement with Petrobras for the supply of pre-salt subsea equipment. FMC’s total scope of supply could...

Analyst: Numbers show that US is drilling its way to zero net oil imports

Horizontal drilling and multi-stage fracturing are working hard for the industry, and the results are paying off. According to research by Raymond James and Associates...

  • May/June 2012

    Click here to see more articles from the May/June 2012 issue of Drilling Contractor


    The May/June 2012 issue of Drilling Contractor features topics such as Onshore Drilling, Offshore Activities & Outlook, Completions: Sand Control, Regional Focus: Asia Pacific, Contracts & Risk Management, Drilling Optimization, and Education & Training.

    This online edition offers exclusive web features not available in the print version.

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