Layer cake geology and a lack of grid access
A few years ago, I asked a seasoned wellsite geologist about the biggest subsurface surprise she had ever seen over her long career working on rigs. Rather than coming up…
Europe
Progress over perfection
The Norwegian continental shelf offers a wealth of opportunities for new industries alongside and after oil, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) has gained a solid foothold. Northern Lights has…
France’s first stimulated natural hydrogen project
Clean hydrogen production from electrolysis remains expensive and difficult to scale, leaving industry without the reliable, affordable supply needed for substantial decarbonisation. Vedra Hydrogen has embarked on a complementary approach:…
Will Greenland be the next oil hotspot?
These days, it is quite common to hear that frontier exploration is a thing of the past. But what is about to happen in Greenland this year should cast some…
From cuttings to clarity: AI unlocking the Norwegian Continental Shelf
Turning archives into insight The goal is simple: Make geological cuttings not just visible, but actionable (Figure 1). Traditionally stored in boxes and rarely re-examined, these samples record the geological…
A very expensive fart in the wind
Early December last year, Eavor announced the start of electricity production from their Geretsried deep closed-loop project in the south of Germany, near the village of Geretsried. As expected, it…
Going deeper for salt mining
The Dutch subsurface is well known for its gas resources, hosting the world-famous Groningen field. What is less well known is that there is plenty of salt, too. These evaporites…
Where the earth yawns
I first visited Iceland a decade ago. Recently, I returned, courtesy of a European Geothermal Research project, hosted by Reykjavik Energy. We learned about heating and electricity production in Iceland,…
When your oil reservoir turns out to be a lithium deposit
As the global energy transition accelerates, the demand for critical raw materials (CRMs) is rising at an unprecedented pace. The list of elements essential for modern technologies – from lithium…
A “monumental deposit” or an attempt to revive coal-seam gas exploitation?
A discovery of hydrogen in Lorraine, France, made headlines in 2023. “Hydrogen deposit of staggering proportions” and “A gigantic hydrogen deposit in northeast France” were some of the quotes. With…
Denmark to embark on an innovative geothermal drilling project
Green Therma, in collaboration with Aalborg Forsyning (the local utility company), is currently preparing to drill a single well to deliver geothermal heat directly to Aalborg’s district heating network. While…
A sense of urgency
While people in Bolivia easily spend two days queuing up at fuel stations these days – the country has very quickly turned from an exporter to a net importer of…