Technologic Progress in the Oil Industry

In recent years, new terms and concepts have appeared that describe the digital transformation currently in progress. The world image, including in the industrial world, has been changed by the concept of intelligent enterprise (IE) - a set of technological innovations, including artificial intelligence (AI), intelligent automation (IA), deep learning technologies, predictive analytics and cognitive computing. The increasing complexity of the oil and gas business and the decreasing optimization potential from traditional approaches require the use of new, innovative digital technologies to remain competitive. Responding to the market conditions of falling hydrocarbon prices, the oil and gas industry is increasingly mastering Big Data to optimize technological processes and prevent accidents. The emergence of Big Data technologies, predictive analysis and machine learning are changing the general image of many industries, and the oil and gas industry is no exception. New players are quickly emerging throughout the industry, and digitalization will affect the entire value chain throughout in the oil and gas industry. Among the most promising segments for the transition to digital technologies are asset management and infrastructure facilities, field development, geophysical services, pipelines and processing. Digital technology is the most powerful driver for cost reduction. It is expected that implementing these solutions will, by 2030, reduce the costs of E & P projects by up to 30%. Thus, Russia can leverage these new technologies and retain a share in the world energy market for another 50 years. The oil industry has recently passed the most difficult period in the last 30 years. The fall in oil prices since 2014, the reduction of 350 thousand employees worldwide, and fall in production investment are examples of serious challenges that the industry has faced in recent years. These challenges have resulted in new attempts to optimize business through implementing new technologies to improve the efficiency and profitability of companies.

.For several centuries, the dominant worldview in industrial societies has held that various problems --such as those recently identified as relating to sustainability-- can be solved through technological progress. Technological progress has been conceived as the fruits of engineering science, new knowledge, and innovation. While knowledge of the principles of physics is certainly a necessary condition for technological development, it is not a sufficient condition. Technology is not only a product of engineering, but, ultimately, also of asymmetric transfers of biophysical resources. In other words, the feasibility of technological progress is contingent on world market prices. The history of technology has been written from the perspective of advancing ingenuity, rather than that of unequal global exchange. The implicit world view underlying dominant historiography and economic science ignores the deepening global inequalities which are prerequisite to what some sectors of world society can celebrate as technological progress, including visions of replacing fossil fuels with biofuels and other renewable energy sources. This observation should prompt us to conceptualize technological progress as an inherently unequal capacity to locally save time and space at the expense of human time and natural space lost elsewhere. It implies that the physical agency of technology ultimately rests on prices, i.e. subjective human conceptions about the value of market commodities, and thus finally on the magical artifact we know as money. The purpose of this article is to show how current deliberations on biofuels illustrate the insufficiencies of mainstream understandings of the phenomenon of technology, and to indicate why an adequate understanding of technology must be interdisciplinary, combining insights on both Nature and Society.

Time to pay the piper: Fossil fuel companies’ reparations for climate damages

Нефтяную отрасль, как и мировую экономику в целом, потряс ранее невиданный кризис, связанный с пандемией COVID-19, который требует принять экстренные меры для его преодоления.

Distinguished Author Series articles are general, descriptive representations that summarize the state of the art in an area of technology by describing recent developments for readers who are not specialists in thetopics discussed. Written by individuals recognized as experts in the area, these articles provide key references to more definitive work and present specific details only to illustrate the technology. Purpose: to informthe general readership of recent advances in various areas of petroleum engineering. Summary Offshore production operations play a major and expanding role in the oilindustry. Compared with land operations, offshore operations typically requiremore planning because of the more complex systems, planning because of the morecomplex systems, equipment, and logistics involved. Higher completion rates andreserve bases are necessary to justify the high cost of developing offshorefields. Future exploration and development activity is trending toward deeperwater and more hostile environments, and innovative engineering and operatingtechniques will continue to be required to meet these challenges. Introduction The oil and gas industry began producing offshore in the late 1890's near Summerland, CA; wood wharves were built in the shallow ocean waters to supportderricks and necessary producing equipment. The industry has evolved andexpanded so that the number of offshore producing platforms now approaches 10,000 worldwide. Technology also has evolved for offshore production with specialized engineering and research in oceanography, platform construction anddesign, and production systems design. Today, offshore oil represents about 25% of the world's oil production. Themap in Fig. 1 shows the offshore basins in which industry is actively exploringand producing. It is evident that these offshore basins hold the key to future international oil supplies and that the petroleum industry must continue tomeet technological challenges in both established and frontier locations. Offshore production operations present a unique set of engineering andoperating problems compared with operations conducted on land. Developing fields offshore requires larger investments because of higher drilling and producing costs, transportation and logistical problems, and the need for aplatform base on which to conduct operations. For example, in 1983 the averageoffshore well drilled in the U.S. was twice as deep and four times as costly asthe average U.S. onshore well . Fields developed offshore, therefore, must becapable of producing at greater flow rates and in sufficient volumes to makethese significantly higher investments attractive. This paper provides anoverview of offshore production operations and keys on the major differences between offshore and land production operations, which include producing production operations, which include producing structures, well completions, production handling systems, operations organizations, and logistics. Offshore Structures The most obvious condition that sets offshore operations apart from those onland is the water itself. The offshore environment can range from shallow in land lakes and protected bays to deep, unprotected seas and oceans. Most operations offshore are conducted in water depths less than 300 ft [91 m];however, operations in water depths greater than 1,000 ft [305 m] now areoccurring frequently and will become more common with the advent of deep water technology. A platform must be constructed to support operations offshore, and special consideration is given to site-specific development and environmental conditions when designing the platform decks and structure. JPT P. 583

Objectives / Scope The upstream oil and gas industry has undergone some salient changes that are having a domino effect on human resources. Exploration projects are increasing in complexity with deeper wells, more remote geographics, necessitating a greater role of technology and skills. Due to a downwards trend in oil price, many companies are either downsizing or making their employees do more with less. This paper explores the impact of these trends on the mandate of HR which is shifting from a back office function to a new role as a key strategic partner at the heart of the company's operations. Methods, Procedures & Process In May 2012, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) contracted Schulumberger Business Consulting (SBC) to review the suitability of the organizational structure and growth pattern in consonance with the company's growth strategy. An assessment was carried out of manpower requirements against industry benchmarks similar to size and business of PPL both in terms of production / reserves and projects. As a consequence of this study an Online Employee Appraisal Process (OEAS) was developed by PPL – aimed at leveraging analytics in human capital management. Based on empirical evidence collected through OEAS the company has improved its ability to develop and deploy its people with greater efficiency. Skill management, fortified by analytics forms the basis of improved company performance. Based on PPL's experiences and research this paper will focus on issues and related strategies to address the current challenges faced by the company. The paper will consider the future of work in the Oil and Gas Industry and how analytics are transforming talent, including: The use of technology as a talent multiplier. Results, Observations, Conclusions The capability to develop and enrich human capital and, at the same time, to respond to technological advances, has become a major differentiating factor for company's who attract, nurture, motivate and retain their work force from those who do not. This paper will interest organizations wanting to strengthen their internal human factors capability.

The relevance of the research is due to the need to increase the technological efficiency and efficiency of the production system of shipbuilding organizations in Russia to ensure an increase in the competitiveness of domestic civil shipbuilding products on the world market. The trends of scientific and technological progress in the industrial sector “Shipbuilding 4.0” have been summarized. The definition of the production system of the shipbuilding organization 4.0 has been proposed. The article reveals the industry-specific features of the functioning of the production system of the organization of Shipbuilding 4.0 on the principles of the concept of Industry 4.0, based on the use of modern digital technologies at all stages of the ship’s life cycle. The article considers the main problems of digitalization of shipbuilding and suggests ways to solve them. Special attention is paid to the unsatisfactory state of fixed production assets, low efficiency of shipbuilding organizations, low rates of introduction of innovative technologies, a shortage of qualified personnel, high cost and long terms of ship construction in comparison with foreign competitors. At the same time, some proposals have been formed: the introduction of lean manufacturing, methods of project and production engineering, the development of economic cooperation and industry standardization. The technical and economic features of shipbuilding, which determines the specifics of the digital transformation of production processes of industry organizations, have been determined. It is proposed to consider the production system of a shipbuilding enterprise as an integrated element of the ecosystem that unites all stakeholders throughout the life cycle of shipbuilding products. The key factors of specialization of the shipbuilding enterprise have been highlighted. The implementation of innovative technologies into the activities of Russian shipbuilding organizations 4.0 will increase the competitiveness of domestic shipbuilding products on the world market, creating value for stakeholders, defining new requirements for the organization of activities while reducing production and operating costs, operation execution time and increasing production efficiency

Testing the X-ray computed microtomography on microfossil identification: An example from Sergipe-Alagoas Basin, Brazil

For decades, technology development in the marine oil and gas industry has focused on accessing reserves in ever more challenging locations – the Arctic, West of Shetland, in deep waters, in high pressure and high temperature reservoirs and so on. While this trend will certainly continue, economic and environmental concerns, and technology progress are driving efforts to maximize oil recovery, reduce operating and capital expenditure, simplify access and intervention, and extend field life. At the vanguard of this change are advanced subsea systems. Subsea technology has been around for a few decades, but the mission of oil companies is now to put an entire subsea "factory" on the sea floor, with no facilities topside. The technical challenges presented by this quest are formidable, but the payoff is enormous. Title photo text: Locating oil and gas recovery and processing equipment on the seabed and eliminating topside facilities entirely has many advantages. What technology is needed to accomplish it? Shown is a concept for a subsea power hub and distribution.

Technology Focus The oil- and gas-production industry has experienced dramatic price swings over the past year. Crude-oil (spot) prices have varied from more than USD 120/bbl to less than USD 40/bbl since the third quarter of 2014. In high-price environments, technology can be developed economically to exploit additional resources. In low-price environments, technology must be deployed selectively to optimize production. New technology may still be developed and applied, but it is likely to be very focused on reducing operating costs; on the other hand, existing technologies may be revisited, to be applied more effectively. At all times, industry seeks to improve well productivity. Well productivity is critical during low-price cycles; it is directly related to cash flow and to reserves calculations. Major advances in inflow-control-device (ICD) design and installation have occurred over the past few years. These devices generally are used to manage water breakthrough or to improve the production profile across a large interval. The goal is to minimize workover requirements while optimizing hydrocarbon production costs. Paper SPE 171836 discussed results of an extensive study to compare actual well performance to design with ICDs. The study includes results of failure analyses, which showed that material selection is important for a device to reach its design life. System operation affects field productivity. Slugging flow in subsea flowlines and risers, leading to pressure surges and excessive liquid levels in the first stage separator, is a major contributor to downtime and suboptimal performance in offshore production facilities. Production facilities operate most efficiently when flows are fairly stable. Slug-suppression technology has been applied historically in shallow water and onshore facilities. Paper SPE 170731 described the successful use of active slug-suppression technology in a deepwater facility. This is an example of integrating existing technologies— slug suppression and process-simulation/ process-control theory. The number of subsea wells is continuing to increase. These wells typically are designed to higher standards than onshore or platform wells because interventions are difficult and costly. However, lower-cost options are needed in the event that an intervention is required. Paper SPE 173647 described a case study in which a contingency riserless (light) intervention plan was implemented. Although this technology may not be applicable to all subsea well- intervention needs, it demonstrates that lighter (lower-cost) options should be considered on the basis of an engineering assessment. The oil and gas industry is a cyclical business. Technology progress can be made during the high- or the low-price phase. As engineers, we have the responsibility to identify and apply appropriate technologies throughout all phases of the business cycle. Let us rise to the challenge. JPT Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org. SPE 170780 Autonomous Inflow-Control Valves—Their Modeling and Added Value by Eltazy Eltaher, Heriot-Watt University, et al. SPE 172776 Integrated Approach to Liquid Management for Deepwater Gasfield Developments by S. Ahmed, BG Group, et al. OTC 25656 Pipeline Repair Using Epoxy Technology by Kenneth Bryson, Subsea 7, et al.

In today's rapidly evolving oil and gas industry, effective project management is crucial to drive operational efficiency, minimize costs, and enhance productivity. In Oil & Gas Industries, now a days different IT solutions are used to store the project technical data, planning data and milestone/project progress data in separate tools. It is always a challenge in the conventional way of to get the Project Holistic view by consolidating all the data from different IT solutions manually, transform data and shows the result in form of power point presentation. PowerPoint based conventional method add the delay in process and also the Hugh risk of data integrity. In above situation, Digital dashboard has emerged as invaluable tools for project managers to monitor, analyze, and communicate project technical, planning and milestone/progress information in real-time. In PDO, we have developed the Takatuf Project performance dashboard to have an End to End project monitoring dashboard that empower the portfolio manager / Cluster Lead / technical Project Team to view the performance of Key project Milestones/Activities, technical deliverables and planning details and understand the underline cause of the delay in projects if any. The Takatuf project performance dashboard offers : Data-driven Insights for analytical capabilities allow stakeholders to access up-to-date information on project status, milestones, and performance metrics, enabling proactive decision-making and timely interventions by improved milestone tracking accuracy by 20%. Improved Communication: Digital dashboards facilitate communication by providing a centralized platform for sharing project updates, resolving issues, and aligning stakeholders’ expectations by saving 30 % time in data consolidation. Enhanced Accountability and Stakeholder Engagement: Transparent reporting of project progress and outcomes promotes accountability among stakeholders, encouraging them a sense of ownership and commitment.

<p>Embracing smart irrigation management techniques empowers growers to irrigate with greater efficiency, thereby promoting sustainable agricultural production. In this context, growers often rely on crop evapotranspiration (ETc) as a key factor in making informed irrigation decisions, underscoring the significance of accurately determining and spatially mapping crop water status. Technological progress, exemplified by the emergence of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), has brought about a revolutionary shift in agricultural monitoring. UAV platforms can capture high-resolution images with centimeter-level spatial accuracy and offer higher temporal coverage compared to satellite imagery. Considering these advancements, this study introduces a robust method for classifying water stress in cotton using a compact UAV platform and convolutional neural networks (CNN). The experiment was conducted at the USDA-ARS Cropping Systems Research Laboratory (CSRL) in Lubbock, Texas, where the cotton field was divided into 12 drip zones. The study included three replications to evaluate four irrigation treatments: “rainfed”, “full irrigation”, “percent deficit of full irrigation”, and “time delay of full irrigation”. The results demonstrated that the CNN model successfully classified the cotton water stress using the UAV-based RGB image, achieving an overall best prediction accuracy of approximately 91%. By segmenting the original cotton images into separate canopy and soil areas using morphological image processing methods, the authors also isolated and analyzed the individual contributions of these components to cotton water stress. Additionally, a random forest classifier revealed the relative importance of different image features in the classification process through feature importance analysis. These findings highlighted the state-of-the-art performance of the proposed system in cotton water stress classification and provided valuable insights into the key image features contributing to accurate classification. The authors concluded that integrating UAV-based RGB imagery and CNN models had great potential for assessing water stress in cotton.<strong></strong></p>

<p>Embracing smart irrigation management techniques empowers growers to irrigate with greater efficiency, thereby promoting sustainable agricultural production. In this context, growers often rely on crop evapotranspiration (ETc) as a key factor in making informed irrigation decisions, underscoring the significance of accurately determining and spatially mapping crop water status. Technological progress, exemplified by the emergence of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), has brought about a revolutionary shift in agricultural monitoring. UAV platforms can capture high-resolution images with centimeter-level spatial accuracy and offer higher temporal coverage compared to satellite imagery. Considering these advancements, this study introduces a robust method for classifying water stress in cotton using a compact UAV platform and convolutional neural networks (CNN). The experiment was conducted at the USDA-ARS Cropping Systems Research Laboratory (CSRL) in Lubbock, Texas, where the cotton field was divided into 12 drip zones. The study included three replications to evaluate four irrigation treatments: “rainfed”, “full irrigation”, “percent deficit of full irrigation”, and “time delay of full irrigation”. The results demonstrated that the CNN model successfully classified the cotton water stress using the UAV-based RGB image, achieving an overall best prediction accuracy of approximately 91%. By segmenting the original cotton images into separate canopy and soil areas using morphological image processing methods, the authors also isolated and analyzed the individual contributions of these components to cotton water stress. Additionally, a random forest classifier revealed the relative importance of different image features in the classification process through feature importance analysis. These findings highlighted the state-of-the-art performance of the proposed system in cotton water stress classification and provided valuable insights into the key image features contributing to accurate classification. The authors concluded that integrating UAV-based RGB imagery and CNN models had great potential for assessing water stress in cotton.<strong></strong></p>

In the present work premature and uncontrolled auto-ignition phenomena in boosted spark ignition direct injection (DISI) engines also referred to as „pre-ignition“ or more commonly as „low-speed pre-ignition (LSPI)“ have been investigated. The work focuses on the identification of the fundamental processes triggering LSPI in order to provide a deeper understanding of this irregular combustion mode and enabling the development of mitigation strategies. LSPI represents an irregular combustion phenomenon that is associated with modern high efficiency engine concepts, i. e. downsized DISI engines, posing a serious challenge in SI engine development. The premature onset of combustion, occurring before the spark plug fires, generally provokes severe engine knock. The most interesting feature of LSPI is the fact that it may occur in bursts consisting of several pre-ignition events alternating with regular cycles. In recent years LSPI has become a prominent issue in SI engine development. A considerable research effort has been spent to unfold the underlying mechanisms of this combustion phenomenon driven by the following reasons: First of all LSPI has a fatal impact on engine durability. Moreover, a common hypothesis assumes that the occurrence of LSPI indicates that a critical limit in engine efficiency has been approached. A combined research approach is applied covering theoretical considerations, numerical simulations of auto-ignition processes, three dimensional CFD computations as well as experimental investigations in a production engine. The research project has been carried out in collaboration with the department of engine research (IFKM) at KIT. The present thesis focuses on the numerical investigations of auto-ignition processes under engine relevant conditions based on a detailed description of the chemical kinetics and the molecular transport processes. The CFD simulations as well as the experimental part have been performed at the IFKM. In a first step potential triggers of LSPI have been identified taking into account the fundamental aspects of auto-ignition chemistry and the governing processes of mixture formation inside the combustion chamber. The conditions that enable a premature auto-ignition in the different potential development scenarios have been determined using numerical simulations. In addition, the sensitivity of auto-ignition with respect to the governing parameters has been analyzed. The comparison of the required conditions predicted by the simulation and the evidence obtained from experimental investigations and CFD computations enables an assessment of the potential of the considered mechanism to trigger LSPI. Considering the results obtained by applying the described approach the majority of the potential sources of LSPI were found to be ineffective. Auto-ignition provoked by incandescent solid particles was identified as the most likely agent of LSPI. Such particles are either formed during the incomplete combustion of droplets potentially originating from a liquid reservoir inside the piston top land crevice or due to the flaking of combustion chamber deposits. In addition the hypothesis of a particle driven LSPI occurrence provides a probable explanation for the observed bursts of alternating pre-ignition and regular combustion events. On the basis of the suggested triggering mechanism of LSPI potential mitigation strategies have been derived. Crucial prerequisites for the occurrence of LSPI are the build up of a liquid reservoir in the piston top land gap as well as a rather inefficient gas exchange. The formation of the liquid reservoir may be hindered by adjusting the spray targeting properly and hence reducing spray impingement on the liner. Improving the scavenging reduces the amount of residual gas and decreases the probability of incandescent particles in the compression stroke. The present thesis provides valuable insights in the fundamental mechanisms provoking LSPI in boosted DISI engines and represents a promising basis for further studies in the field of LSPI. The suggested further experimental investigations may provide some of the missing links to promote a fundamental knowledge of LSPI. Moreover, the proposed mitigation strategies may reduce the issues associated with LSPI in production engines.

Nanotechnology has had revolutionary effects in various fields of industry such as electronics, pharmaceuticals, and biomaterials. However, upstream oil industry has been noticeably slow in adopting the emerging technologies. This is mainly due to the exceptionally large investments needed to implement novel technologies in this industry. However, the projections for the increasing global energy demand require that oil and gas industry inevitably move toward adopting the emerging technologies. The high risk associated with enormous investments required for this aim necessitates measured and well-researched energy policies, with regard to the implementation of nanotechnology in the oil and gas industry. This paper presents a concise summary of the research reported in the literature on the potential benefits of nanotechnology in upstream oil industry. These applications were categorized into ten groups, and presented to a pool of experts, who judged on their relative importance with respect to various decision-making criteria. All this information was then compiled into a single matrix, which indicates the priority of each investment alternative with respect to every criterion in the form of a raw number. Finally, using a decision-making software package, a dynamic analytic hierarchical process (AHP) analysis was performed, providing a route to customized investment policies.