he world’s next energy transformation is underway, and transitioning to a lower carbon future will require ingenuity from all sectors of the energy industry. While renewable energy will continue to move us toward these goals, much of the innovation required will come from the oil and gas (O&G) industry, with its history of scaling technological solutions to meet the world’s energy demand.

The transition is not about replacing one form of energy with another; it is about the entire energy ecosystem collaborating to power the world in the cleanest, most efficient and affordable ways possible. This is a transition all Americans can get behind, from oilfield workers in West Texas to solar installation technicians in California.

The O&G industry comprises engineers, data scientists, geologists, parents, grandparents, men, women and people of all races and backgrounds who care about the environment and want the best for future generations. Excluding this expertise wastes a major driver of energy industry solutions. We can provide the energy the world needs now, while making it cleaner and safer by using technology to reduce emissions and improve efficiency.

ven before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Hinda Gharbi, executive vice president of service and equipment with Schlumberger, said the company was already focused on changing industry dynamics. Priorities were being shifted within the industry, and operators and service companies alike had begun to shift their long-term plans.

“With the current pandemic, we believe these trends have only accelerated,” she said in an exclusive video interview for E&P Plus.

or years, operators in iron-rich mineral basins, such as Woodford/Cana, Delaware and portions of the Eagleford have struggled with a rubbery-like substance adhering to surface treating equipment, accompanied with lost production. As a chemical company and a solutions provider, Innospec’s Oilfield Services Stimulation R&T group, with their knowledge and experience of FR chemistry, wanted to not only treat the issue, but to fundamentally understand the cause of the issue. The solution came about only by surmounting some major scientific obstacles—obstacles tackled by many, but all without long-term successful resolution of the issue.

In the fracturing industry, it is common to use synthetic friction reducers (FRs) to overcome the high friction pressures associated with pumping large water volumes at high rates. The physical form of the FR is either invert emulsion, suspension or dry powder. However, regardless of the FR form, the chemistry of the polymer is critical. The chemistry of most common frac FRs is either anionic or cationic polyacrylamide co-polymers (see Scheme 1).

ith more than 2,000 GW of technical wind resource potential, the winds over open waters off the U.S. are capable of producing about twice the generating capacity of all U.S. electric power plants combined, according to the Department of Energy.

However, tapping part of that will require overcoming challenges—seen as opportunities by offshore wind energy players—for the budding U.S. offshore wind sector. During the recently held Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) virtual event, executives and regulators involved in offshore wind discussed projects underway and what is needed to bring such projects to fruition as the world moves toward cleaner forms of energy.

Challenges faced include policy and permitting, the environment and metocean conditions, and infrastructure.

he waters offshore Ghana have already given rise to the giant Jubilee oil field, where Kosmos Energy detected an overlooked Upper Cretaceous structural-stratigraphic play concept in the Tano Basin.

The 2007 discovery opened the door to a new hydrocarbon province, putting the West African country on the map. More oil and gas finds followed, including the TEN fields along with the Sankofa, Gye and Nyame fields. Companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. have since joined a list of explorers that includes Kosmos Energy, Tullow Oil and Eni SpA.

“It took a while for companies to see that and convince themselves that the deepwater [offshore Ghana] has potential,” said Michael Aryeetey, exploration and appraisal manager with the Ghana National Petroleum Corp. (GNPC), referring to activity following Jubilee.

he oil and gas industry, particularly the E&P and oilfield services subsectors, have faced significant headwinds over the last few years, most recently with the simultaneous demand destruction resulting from COVID-19 and supply shock from the Saudi Arabia-led price war. These recent events, combined with capital flight out of the industry and demands for capital discipline by remaining investors, have accelerated the push by company stakeholders, regulators and others for energy transition initiatives.

But the energy transition journey will take decades. The industry, as a whole, needs to strategically position itself to remain profitable in oil and gas while concurrently evolving over time to meet the demands of a lower-carbon future. Oil and gas will retain a significant role in the global energy mix, particularly for developing nations. However, in the U.S. and Europe, alternative energy sources will expand and take capital—both financial and human—with them.

ransitioning to a carbon-neutral industry—as has been the stated goal of supermajors and global service providers alike—is an ambitious task and one that will require a mix of efficient fuels and the innovative technologies to produce those fuels.

Although the use of hydrogen as an alternative fuel to oil and natural gas is nothing new, its application is gaining in popularity as the world seeks new fuel sources. Of the multitude of hydrogen technologies that are either being tested or adopted around the world, Baker Hughes recently announced the successful test and application of the world’s first hydrogen blend turbine for gas networks.

Baker Hughes’ NovaLT12 turbine is powered by a blend of up to 10% hydrogen. The turbine will be installed by next year at Snam’s gas compressor station in Istrana, Italy.

s Kongsberg Digital has interacted with customers in the past six months since the pandemic lockdown, the feedback circles around two main points:

1. Operators would have been better equipped to handle their operations if they had been more digitally mature; and
2. Workers have embraced digital technology as they experience the benefits directly.

In that sense, 2020 has shown the world’s industries that the time is ripe to start digitalizing.

n the evolving pursuit of consistent performance drilling, slim-hole curve-lateral intervals in New Mexico’s Delaware Basin present unique challenges for optimization through both drill bit design and motor performance. The engineering partnership of Matador Resources Co. allowed Patterson-UTI Drilling, MS Directional and Taurex Drill Bits to work jointly to solve these challenges.

Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) cutter technology has rapidly improved in terms of performance and reliability over the past few years, highlighting some of the reliability concerns in slim-hole tools.

ropellant-boosted perforating has proven to affordably increase completion and recompletion performance in a wide variety of saltwater disposal (SWD) wells and producers. Advances in integrating propellants with traditional shaped-charge perforating technology have enabled perforating and stimulation operations to be performed in one trip at lower cost than traditional two-step, shoot-and-treat methods. The critical success factor is the adoption of a progressively burning, solid propellant designed to increase penetration, eliminate clogged perforations and overcome near-wellbore damage from compaction caused by traditional shaped-charge perforators.

ropellant-boosted perforating has proven to affordably increase completion and recompletion performance in a wide variety of saltwater disposal (SWD) wells and producers. Advances in integrating propellants with traditional shaped-charge perforating technology have enabled perforating and stimulation operations to be performed in one trip at lower cost than traditional two-step, shoot-and-treat methods. The critical success factor is the adoption of a progressively burning, solid propellant designed to increase penetration, eliminate clogged perforations and overcome near-wellbore damage from compaction caused by traditional shaped-charge perforators.

t is common for offshore oil and gas facility control systems to operate reliably for many years without major intervention. This is not surprising since reliability and availability are fundamental requirements in control system design. This high level of reliability is a desirable characteristic of these systems in the offshore environment since they support the oil and gas production processes and the essential self-supporting utilities and services of the asset.

However, a very robust control system that provides years of reliable service can bring about an associated lack of attention to the control system infrastructure that can lead to a hidden issue: unrecognized obsolescence. In this case, when an obsolete component finally does fail, it can be challenging to find replacement parts or repair services. It also can be difficult to find technicians with experience in older hardware or software platforms to service these systems. This may present a significant risk to production and unexpected interruptions in essential utilities and services.

he oil and gas industry’s safety culture will always be an area worth improving, no matter the market or a company’s financial standing. For many, an automated safety management solution is essential to meeting compliance requirements.

Honeywell has been at the forefront of developing applications that maintain compliance and recently added its cloud-based Safety Suite Real Time platform to its portfolio. The software application monitors workers’ exposure to gas, weather and physiological conditions in real time, according to Chris Tipton, Honeywell’s senior director of global services and connected safety.

The open platform provides a comprehensive view of safety data from multiple sites in real time, which enhances worker readiness while reducing incidents through early detection notifications. The insights from the technology help operators reduce compliance costs, streamline management tasks and capture data to review to prevent future incidents, Tipton said.

ollowing an extensive 3D seismic survey and the confirmation of a large wet gas prospect in the southern Andaman Sea, Premier Oil and other major companies are planning to explore the gas and condensate potential.

The recent discovery in the sea by Premier Oil is near a mothballed LNG train at the onshore Arun facility on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, in the Andaman II Block.

The large wet gas prospect has an estimated prospective resource of approximately 6 Tcf of gas and 200 MMbbl of condensate in each of the Andaman blocks. Field development and exploratory drilling is planned in 2022 for both prospects. The Andaman II license is located in the underexplored but proven offshore North Sumatra Basin, and exploration drilling is planned in the Andaman II and South Andaman blocks.

Iraq has appointed its oil minister, Ishan Ismael, to lead the Iraq National Oil Co.

TechnipFMC has named Arnaud Pieton president and CEO-elect of Technip Energies. Jonathan Landes has been appointed president of subsea. Additionally, Margareth Øvrum has been appointed to TechnipFMC’s board of directors.

Petrofac has announced that its current group CEO, Ayman Asfari, will step down at the end of 2020 to focus on his health, family and charity. He will be succeeded by Sami Iskander, effective Jan. 1, 2021.

Ring Energy Inc. has named Paul D. McKinney CEO and chairman of the board of directors.

ccording to the Energy Progress Report 2020, an annual report that tracks progress on Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) “Affordable and Clean Energy,” 789 million people globally still lack access to electricity, and 2.8 billion people—over one-third of the global population—lack the means to cleanly and safely cook.

Additionally, the U.N. advises that lack of access to energy may hamper efforts to contain COVID-19 across many parts of the world because energy is critical to operating healthcare facilities, providing clean water and enabling communications during times of social distancing. The 2020 report shows some progress toward 2030 targets under SDG7 as well as significant work if society is to achieve universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy.