The Submerged Continent of New Zealand
Are there continent-scale resources to be found offshore? New Zealand has produced petroleum for nearly 100 years since oil first flowed from the Moturoa field in Taranaki Basin. Discovery of…
Technology
Beyond Macondo
“The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong…
Following the Oil Through Time
Four-D petroleum system modelling allows an explorationist to understand the movement of hydrocarbons from an active source rock to a fluid’s final destination in the basin, ultimately helping to reduce…
The East African Rift System – A View from Space
Remote sensing data has given a unique perspective on the East African Rift System, allowing both large regional structures and more subtle features to be identified and placed in context…
Listening from a Distance
Active listening to passive seismic pays off for shale plays. The past decade has seen a major transformation in gas production in the United States, driven mainly by the development…
Mighty Thoughts of Small: Nanotechnology for Upstream Applications
From opening new doors in the understanding of gas flow in low permeability shale packages to reservoir monitoring and enhanced recovery, nanotechnology’s potential is huge. Something that we are all…
Marine Seismic Sources Part VIII: Fish Hear A Great Deal
To understand how human-generated sounds affect fish it is necessary to understand how and what fish can hear, and how they respond to different types of sounds. The majority of…
Marine Seismic Sources Part VI: High Frequency Signals From Air-Guns
Only a few studies have been published which describe measurements of the air-gun signals in the kilohertz (kHz) frequency range. In this article we propose and discuss models for the…
Mining Heat
Since the time of the Romans, Cornwall, in the extreme southwest of the UK, has been known for mining minerals, especially tin. Could the future of this region be in…
Grabbing a Larger Share of the Market
It’s time consuming. It’s expensive. But when it comes to accuracy and quality, it’s surpassed by no other technology, the innovator claims. “While we initially considered shear waves to be…
Is the ‘Shale Gale’ blowing itself out?
Vast amounts of shale gas promise a new energy future for North America, perhaps even for Europe. However, recent developments indicate that whilst the gas is undoubtedly there, the transformation…
The Next Global Frontier
The Arctic is the next, and maybe the most challenging, global frontier – but how can it be effectively explored with only a two-month ice-free season? “The Arctic is surely…