Game-changing technologies often take years to incubate. In the case of Noble Drilling’s new electrically operated blowout preventer (eBOP), the journey from idea to reality has taken more than a decade, but the company believes the industry is now ripe for this kind of disruptive technology...

Once upon a time, when the industry talked about the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), it was almost always in reference to the US GOM. The Mexican side was a closed market – not a place for dynamic changes, it seemed...

After more than a year in free fall, the US land rig count hit bottom with a monthly average of 379 in May 2016. Since then, however, the trend has been reversing. In the following month, the US land rig count rose slightly to an average of 392. By late March 2017, it had reached 747...

Brazilian oil and gas production has progressively migrated to offshore areas during the past decades, with the most prolific plays being found in the Campos Basin deepwater blocks. This scenario has led to significant technology development and application, turning Petrobras into one of the most experienced deepwater operators...

Optimization and automation of traditional rig-floor drilling processes are eliminating manual procedures that rely heavily on the individual, replacing conventional methods with automatic and intelligent systems. National Oilwell Varco (NOV) designed Strix vision solutions in response to demands in process automation, optimization and enhanced safety...

In the drilling industry, the journey to process safety can often be much more complicated than the journey to personal safety. While the latter has already been built into the way the industry operates, many companies are still seeking the best way forward with the former...

Increasing use of water due to longer laterals and higher stage counts are also driving demand for more cost-effective water management solutions By Kelli Ainsworth, Associate Editor As operators push the number of stages per well to upwards of 75 or even 100 in some plays, they’re also demanding step-changes in the efficiency of hydraulic fracturing technologies and equipment, including associated technologies like water management systems. A significant area of focus has been on reducing plug mill-out time, with more dissolvable technologies coming to the market, as well as the development of shorter plugs with less material to mill through. Technologies are also emerging to automate the surface operations of hydraulic fracturing. While the industry has made significant progress in ...

It might be an understatement to say that the Brazilian oil and gas industry is in a state of flux. With the double whammy of a global oil price collapse and a corruption scandal that brought its national oil company to the brink of meltdown, Brazil looked like it was headed for some deeply troubling times...

Mitigating vibrations during drilling remains a challenge for many fixed polycrystalline-diamond-compact (PDC) bits, particularly as drillers attempt to drill longer sections in a single bit run. Vibration arising from torsional stick-slip and impact loading in interbedded formation and transition can cause premature damage to a drill bit and other components in the bottomhole assembly (BHA) – ultimately hindering drilling performance....

Drilling standardization, collaboration and automation have become major buzzwords in the industry in recent years, promising higher reliability, improved safety, increased efficiency and decreased costs. Due to the complexity associated with the automation of rig floor equipment, however, full automation of processes and equipment will not be possible until there is a higher level of collaboration and standardization...