Worldwide

Finding the right needle in the haystack

The ultimate question every operator faces is whether there is room to arrest the decline of their producing field by in­vesting to increase the recovery factor. One of the most…

Global trends in petroleum fiscal terms: A race to the top?

As competition for up­stream investment in­tensifies, countries across the globe have responded with a wave of fiscal and regulatory reforms aimed at attracting limited capital. Since the 2014 oil price…

Shale 3.0

With reports that output from the US shale basins is creaming, combined with price pressure on production and environmental concerns, there has nev­er been a better time to invest in…

From Moscow to Mohkínstsis

“I was the first generation of students that graduated in the Soviet Union without having a job lined up for me,” says Svetlana Bidikhova. “When I started university, few people…

The evolution of fault interpretation

Before the ad­vent of 3D seis­mic data in the 1980s and 2D seismic in the 1970s, sub­surface geologists typical­ly depicted or interpreted faults as vertical or nearly vertical. Consequently, these…

What is a good source rock?

I recently worked in a well-es­tablished basin with proven hy­drocarbon accumulations. To my surprise, all reports and published papers routinely talked about local source rocks with barely 1 % Total…

Storing radwaste: Transcending the limits of geoscience

Today, we have an estimated total of 370,000 to 400,000 tons of spent radio­active waste globally, which is the equivalent of 16 Olym­pic-sized swimming pools, that have been generated since…

A pragmatic approach to seabed mining

“I do obviously worry about the ecosystems down at the seafloor,” says biologist Annemiek Vink from the Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR) in Hannover when we meet on Teams.…