The Mancos Shale in the Piceance Basin of Colorado contains an estimated mean of 66 trillion cu ft of shale natural gas, 74 million bbl of shale oil and 45 million bbl of natural gas liquids, according to an updated assessment by the US Geological Survey. This estimate is for undiscovered, technically recoverable resources.

National Oilwell Varco (NOV) announced that it has introduced an advancement in radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and asset management software for the oil and gas industry. NOV’s latest generation RFID tag, TracTag, has been field-proven to withstand extreme drilling conditions when installed on drillstring components. The tag is currently the only RFID technology in the industry that can survive extreme downhole temperatures of -40°C to +200°C (-58°F to +400°F) and up to 1550 Bar (22’500 PSI) of pressure.

With the US assuming a new role as a swing producer due to the unconventionals, the nation is gaining far more influence over the global oil market than before, Baron Lukas, CEO of EnviroLogic Solutions, said at the 2016 IADC Drilling Onshore Conference in Houston. In addition, shale could allow the US to become fully energy-independent. In this video from the conference on 19 May, Mr Lukas explains the geostrategic implications of US shale production. He also discusses demographic trends, such as aging populations in developed countries, that could have an impact on long-term energy demand.

Drilling contractors are increasingly using applied training environments to deepen competency and better develop high-reliability organizations. At Precision Drilling, for example, a fully functional drilling rig is being dedicated to providing crews with hands-on training in ways that traditional classroom-based training can’t. The onshore drilling industry is also looking...

International supermajor BP is weathering the downturn in the Lower 48 by operating this segment of the business more like an independent. This has been achieved by forming a separate business entity for this market, allowing for faster decision making and adoption of innovations, said Tripp Edwards, Vice President...

The US land rig count is expected to remain flat for the remainder of the year, but approximately 200 rigs will go back to work in 2017, James West, Senior Managing Director at Evercore ISI, said at the 2016 IADC Drilling Onshore Conference in Houston. This signals a recovery, but it’s like to happen gradually rather than immediately. In this video from the conference on 19 May, Mr West explains some of the factors that will moderate the onshore drilling market recovery, including challenges around labor and equipment.

After almost two years of falling oil prices and rig counts, the industry should soon begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Raymond James and Associates is forecasting oil prices to average $60 in Q3 this year and $75 in 2017. “I think we are right at the beginning of a multi-year cyclical upswing in our business,” Marshall Adkins, Managing Director at Raymond James, said...

IADC and onshore drilling contractor members visited Washington, DC, in April to engage with members of Congress and OSHA on issues that are impacting the industry. “We used this opportunity to refresh and reset IADC’s presence on Capitol Hill,” said Liz Craddock, IADC Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs. IADC has also continued to advocate for onshore drilling contractors at the state level...

Technip and FMC Technologies have announced that the companies will combine into one company under the name TechnipFMC, which would have an equity value of $13 billion based on pre-announcement share prices.

Nine Energy Service (Nine) successfully completed 124 perforated stages in an 18,544 ft lateral (27,034 ft TMD) in Guernsey County, Ohio for Eclipse Resources, a premier independent E&P company in the Appalachian Basin.