Ghawar keeps on going
In November last year, Aramco announced that it produced its first unconventional tight gas from the Ghawar South project, producing up to 300 mmscf/day of gas and 38 kbpd of…
Oil & Gas
Lots of activity but limited resource growth
Every year in January, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate – which until the turn of the year was called the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate – summarizes the activities on the Norwegian continental…
The future looks bright for the world’s fourth-youngest country
Timor-Leste was quick to capitalise on its oil and gas resources after in became independent in 2002. In the same year, a treaty was signed with Australia for a Joint…
Are the glory days over?
As the magazine’s last issue of the year is now being printed, I have a bit of time to reflect on some of its content. That’s the advantage of being…
Can we get more comfortable with uncertainty?
Unfortunately, diligent and scientific handling of subsurface uncertainty is rarely undertaken. Hesitance to embrace uncertainty often derives from time, data and budget constraints, limited interdisciplinary understanding, accompanied by claims of…
Why did it take so long to develop Rosebank?
Rosebank was discovered in 2004 by Chevron and partners DONG, OMV and then StatoilHydro. The reservoir quality of the Paleocene/Eocene Colsay Sandstone Member was shown to be good (around 20%),…
Production allocation and fluid fingerprinting in conventional reservoirs
Geochemical fingerprinting for production allocation of oil, gas or water is a well-established workflow in conventional reservoirs for both subsurface and topside facilities applications. These methodologies have been in existence…
Natural fracture networks are not created equal
Natural fracture networks are not created equal. In a tight reservoir, they may enhance the permeability and give production an upside. In a porous reservoir, a natural fracture network may…
Australia faces a future of contrasting policies for oil and gas in a rapidly evolving energy landscape
State budgets are in surplus for those with active producing sectors. For instance, Queensland announced A$2.33 billion in petroleum royalties for 2023, helping underpin a record A$12 billion surplus and…
“It’s not difficult, it’s different”
Many people think that heavy oil developments are even worse than lignite, but that is not the case according to Maurice Bamford who recently gave a talk on the Pilot…
Schoonebeek oil production is on hold in the Netherlands – again
When looking at a map of the Schoonebeek oil field and its equivalent in Germany (see below), one would almost think that the Germans and the Dutch agreed on the…
UKCS – a decommissioning hotspot
In two separate social media posts this week, Tom Morgan from Well Info nicely showed why the UKCS is such an active player when it comes to decommissioning wells in…