How a sandbox model caused an epiphany
“I think I watched it about 50 times,” Sean tells me when we meet online on a rainy morning. He refers to a video published by the FluidFlower research team…
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Porosity in compressional stress regimes
Porosity prediction sits at the heart of basin models and prospect evaluation. It underpins our understanding of reservoir quality, pore pressure, and thermal history. Traditionally, porosity has been modelled as…
Does oil really stop diagenesis?
It is all about timing. That is the main conclusion when reading a new paper recently published by Olav Walderhaug and Kristin Porten from Equinor. The paper is mostly about…
PETRONAS’s digital gambit: Architecting an AI-powered E&P ecosystem
In a strategic pivot that extends far beyond typical corporate upgrades, PETRONAS is executing a national data strategy designed to redefine Malaysia’s position in the global energy landscape. The company…
Fracture connectivity and power laws
It was about a year ago that I heard about a deep geothermal drilling project in Finland (St1 Deep Heat Project), during which a couple of 6 km deep wells…
The forgotten science
The perceived “talent crisis” in geology is a multifaceted issue rooted in historical, economic, and cultural shifts. In the mid-20th century, geology thrived. The post-war industrial boom and global demand…
The human touch in reservoir modelling
As our 30-minute conversation took place on a Tuesday morning in early September, three emails arrived in Bastian’s inbox. Three separate and unrelated enquiries from customers in Switzerland, Germany, and…
Subsurface noise #4
“SOMEONE EVEN CALLED ME TO ASK HOW I WAS” “People who have always worked offshore in the North Sea really don’t know how good they have it,” told a well…
The shrinking pool of large international E&P companies
The group of large international E&Ps has been steadily shrinking. Over the past five years, companies in the peer group, including Noble Energy, Marathon, and Hess, have been acquired. These…
Using horizontal drilling technology to permanently store radioactive waste
“We get that question a lot,” says Rod Baltzer, CEO of Deep Isolation, when he calls in from Dallas. “But no, oil and gas wells cannot be easily converted to…
Maybe there is silver lining, but does that mean there is an obvious upturn in marine seismic data acquisition?
This week, I read two very different articles about the state of the marine seismic business; one by Andrew McBarnet – columnist for EAGE’s First Break – and one by…
The age of snake oil
Keir’s famous poster portrays petroleum as an effective remedy for every conceivable want, highlighting how any product may be marketed with absurd false promises. For hype to be a successful…