Schlumberger is launching the Automated Stimulation Delivery Platform, focused on improving surface efficiency at the wellsite in order to make onshore unconventional wells more economic...

Nabors Industries and Weatherford International announced they have signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to form an alliance focused on delivering enhanced drilling solutions to the oil and gas land market in the lower 48 states of the United States.

Halliburton recently announced that two of its RapidStart Initiator CT (casing test) sleeves opened after 32 months downhole. That time period represents an industry record for the successful operation of a toe sleeve, according to the company. Murphy E&P needed to perform a true casing integrity test and had deployed the RapidStart Initiator CT frac sleeve system as an interventionless means of establishing a flow path at the toe of the well. Both sleeves opened successfully after 32 months downhole in two drilled but uncompleted (DUC) wells of more than 7,000 ft, with static bottomhole temperatures up to 215˚F. The sleeves were functional at a total pressure of 10,000 psi and provided a 30-min casing...

Fairmount Santrol recently launched Propel SSP 350. It is an extension to the self-suspending Propel SSP proppant transport technology, which is designed to increase hydraulic fracturing efficiency in plays where produced water disposal costs are high and where there are constraints on freshwater availability. The 350 extension targets applications in high-salinity water plays, such as the Marcellus and the Permian. Its development was driven by the need for improved proppant transport and for reduced completions costs by removing the need for extra...

Exxon Mobil Corporation will more than double its Permian Basin resource to 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) through the acquisition of companies owned by the Bass family of Fort Worth, Texas, with an estimated resource of 3.4 billion boe in New Mexico’s Delaware Basin, a highly prolific, oil-prone section of the Permian Basin.

Tullow Oil announced that the Erut-1 well in Block 13T, Northern Kenya, has discovered a gross oil interval of 55 m with 25 m of net oil pay at a depth of 700 m. The overall oil column for the field is considered to be 100 to 125 m.

Exxon Mobil Corporation announced a new natural gas discovery in the Papua New Guinea North Highlands, 13 miles (21 km) northwest of the Hides Gas Field. Interest owners are ExxonMobil (42.5%), Oil Search Limited (37.5%) and Barracuda Limited, a subsidiary of Santos Limited (20%, subject to regulatory approval), with Oil Search as operator.

The Rumaila Operating Organization (ROO), composed of BP, PetroChina and the South Oil Company of Iraq, announced that the Rumaila oilfield has produced three billion barrels of oil since the joint venture began operating in January 2010.

Saudi Aramco signed two landmark agreements with Nabors Industries and Rowan Companies to create two new national champions focused on onshore and offshore drilling. The new joint ventures mark a major milestone towards the development of a competitive Saudi energy sector, as encapsulated in the company’s In-Kingdom Total Value Add (iktva) program and Saudi Vision 2030.

Patterson-UTI Energy and Seventy Seven Energy jointly announced that the two companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which Patterson-UTI will acquire Seventy Seven Energy in an all-stock transaction. Patterson-UTI and Seventy Seven Energy are both leaders in building and operating high-spec rigs, and the transaction will further solidify Patterson-UTI as a leader in the US land drilling market with 201 high-spec rigs. Additionally, following the closing of the transaction, Patterson-UTI will have one of the largest and most modern pressure pumping fleets in the industry, with more than 1.5 million hydraulic fracturing horsepower both available and strategically-located in some of the most prolific oil and gas regions in the US. The transaction is subject to customary ...