Drilling

Oil and gas exploration from West Texas’ Permanent School Fund lands is currently earning school kids in Texas more than ever this year.

According to the Texas General Land Office, last month private oil and gas firms paid $9.3 million for the right to explore on land owned by the state’s fund, which was set up to assist in paying Texas state government’s share of K-12 education.

The companies bid for exploration rights on 6,971 acres. Last month’s quarterly lease sale resulted in a record year with a total of $133.5 million. For this and other news regarding lease sales visit the General Land Office’s website.

For a detailed look at today’s record Permanent School Fund oil and gas lease sale, visit http://www.glo.texas.gov/what-we-do/energy-and-minerals/oil_gas/sealed-bid-sales/past/index.html.

Water management needs in the fracing process are greater today than ever. Acquiring on-site results to ensure base water quality standards are met and to identify potential interferences with fracing fluid can be challenging. However, the impact water quality can have on both the efficiency of the frac job and the long-term production rates of the well make on-site analysis an important step in the process.

The CEL/890 Oil & Gas Water Quality Laboratory maximizes performance and rapid decision making by providing the tools necessary to produce real-time, consistent results in the field. All required equipment and accessories are included in a rugged carrying case for easy transportation. The company has recognized the heightened importance of getting fast, reliable results on-site. According to the company, the equipment is easy to use and features on-screen prompts to guide users through testing procedures, and probes that automatically recognize the testing parameter, calibration history and method settings.

The mobile laboratory is designed specifically for fracing applications, and it includes a DR890 Colorimeter, HQ40d digital meter, a digital titrator and reagents for 12 critical parameters – alkalinity, bacteria, chloride, chlorine, conductivity, hardness, iron, manganese, pH, phosphate, silica, and sulfate. More parameters may be added as needed. More information about technical specifications and ordering is available at www.hach.com/oilandgas.

Attendance at OTC 2011 was reported to be 10% higher on Monday and Tuesday over last year’s number, which was 73,000. While much of the big news is focused on regions like offshore Brazil, West Africa, and the resurgence in the US Gulf of Mexico, there’s still big news to be heard about not so familiar regions.

Aberdeenshire, Scotland-based Paradigm Oilfield Services today announced it has secured a $400,000 contract to supply equipment for a drilling operation in Greenland. Beginning this week, the company will deliver its custom-designed dual stage hole opener known as ‘The Beast.’ In all, the company has been called on by a leading independent operator for 18 tools including its high quality stabilizers and hole openers.

Greenland exists as a new frontier region with significant untapped reserves and drilling activity interest has dramatically increased within the last few years. Last November, Greenland’s government distributed seven prospecting blocks in the Baffin Bay, west of Greenland. The blocks are shared among eight operating companies. According to the US geological survey (USGS), more than a fifth of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas resources lie north of the Polar Circle with around 84% being offshore. Altogether, Arctic reserves contain around 13% of the world’s oil reserves and 30% of the Earth’s natural gas.

Paradigm Oilfield Services, a subsidiary of Netherlands’ Paradigm Group has introduced a range of new drilling technology at OTC including a drilling reamer with a unique pressure-controlled on/off mechanism. The company has previously developed and introduced a range of dual stage and single stage hole openers including ‘The Beast’, which is suitable for hole sizes up to 42 inches.

Launched in 2009, the company offers a multi-million pound inventory of equipment for sale and rent on short and long term contracts and services clients in the USA, Middle East, Africa and Europe with ambitions for further international growth.

The company has invested more than $2 million to develop and bring the new drilling technology to market and recently opened up a new base in Aberdeenshire with offices, research and test facilities and a large warehouse.

Of the latest Greenland contract, chairman Fraser Innes said, “This is our first large contract for this new frontier region where we believe there are many opportunities for the robust tools that we have developed. Greenland has significant untapped oil and gas reserves and there is a growing interest in drilling activity. I would like to thank everyone at Paradigm for their efforts in securing an important geographic first for our products.”

The year has passed by

Tragic shadows in the Gulf

A ship’s wake returns

Oilfield poetry? It’s been done before…

http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewPoetry.asp?id=2744

http://www.oilcrash.com/articles/poems.htm

The Western Energy Alliance has released a position outlining the ways the Obama Administration is preventing companies from developing Federal Onshore Leases. “The Administration continues to deflect blame for leases that are not producing onto the industry,” said Kathleen Sgamma, Director of Government and Public Affairs, Western Energy Alliance. Sgamma added, “Yet their rhetoric displays a misrepresentation of how oil and natural gas development on federal lands works.” About half of the nonproducing acreage results from the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) own redundant regulations and bureaucratic delays, Sgamma said.

This statement was prepared in response to President Obama’s claim that oil and natural gas companies are refusing to develop lands currently under lease. Additionally, Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) announced “use it or lose it” legislation in an attempt to blame companies for lack of production on existing Federal leases.

For a full view of the Western Energy Alliance’s position paper outlining the Top Ten Ways government is preventing production in these areas visit the following website:

http://westernenergyalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Western-Energy-Alliance-IPAMS-Position-Paper-Top-10-Ways-Onshore-Production-is-Being-Prevented.pdf

As tools in the oil and gas industry continually get smaller, one bit company has gone big. Varel International recently delivered the World’s largest roller cone drill bit weighing in at 6,000 lbs with a massive 44-in. diameter. The specially commissioned drill bit was requested by Saudi Aramco to work drilling pilot holes in its Middle East operations. The massive steel-toothed roller cone is more than 22% larger in diameter than any previous bit.

The bit uses an advanced cutting structure with optimized row placement, tooth spacing, and cutter geometry for increased drilling efficiency. Saudi Aramco plans to use the oversized roller cone for top-hole drilling. This single bit solution replaces the previous method, which required drilling a pilot hole and then re-drilling with a hole opening assembly.

Bit runs are expected to range from 500 to 1,000 ft. The ultra-large diameter bit is expected to save the operator both time and money through a reduction of tripping and by eliminating the need for hole enlargement tools. The inaugural run of the 44-in. bit is scheduled for Q1 2011.

The Energy Security Leadership Council (ESLC), a project of Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE), has released a paper titled “Transportation Policies for America’s Future.” The comprehensive set of policy recommendations promises to transform US transportation policy and protect the nation’s economic and national security by contributing to reduced oil consumption. According the council, these policies will result in a more market-oriented model that offers more consumer choices, and provide citizens with a more efficient, more effective network of roads and rails.

ESLC Co-Chairman Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President and CEO of FedEx Corporation, was quoted “The lynchpin of our dependence is our cars and trucks, which use the majority of our oil and upon which we depend for the mobility that powers our modern economy. We have made significant improvements in the areas of new vehicle technologies and alternative fuels, and must continue that effort. But we have for too long neglected the connection between our oil consumption and the network of roads and rails themselves that make up our transportation system. Today, we offer a new vision, for a more market-friendly, more transparent, less congested, and less oil-intensive transportation system.”

In the US, the current federal surface transportation legislation expired in September 2009. The fund—which doles out more than $50 billion a year in highway and transit programs—has been prolonged with a series of short-term extensions with the latest set to expire on March 4, 2011. The US Senate and House are expected to move forward with hearings to develop a new, long-term transportation bill.

The recommendations outlined in Transportation Policies for America’s Future are designed to introduce a more market-oriented transportation model that uses oil consumption as a key metric by which decisions are made and evaluated. Long-term modeling by the council suggests that its major policies could save more than 7 billion cumulative barrels of oil by the year 2035 if implemented. The council’s key recommendations include the following:

* Establish the reduction of oil consumption as a principal metric at the U.S. Department of Transportation

* Create a new federal formula program focused on improving system performance in urban areas using pricing strategies and single-occupancy vehicle alternatives

* Create a competitive program that makes funds available for congestion-mitigation proposals that seek to deploy dynamic tolling, performance-based technological improvements, transit solutions, and Travel Demand Management (TDM) initiatives

* Establish a program to fund nationally-significant projects that improve the efficiency of freight and goods movement, and have a substantial impact on interstate commerce

* Remove federal legal restrictions on tolling road capacity that could bring about congestion relief

* Actively promote the long-term deployment of a comprehensive, privacy-protective Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) fee

* Pilot approaches to pre-development regulations for projects expected to achieve sustainable oil savings

Interestingly, natural gas is not on this agenda. Increased spending on alternatives may attract favor in the short term, but an abundance of oil and, more importantly natural gas may be key to revolutionizing the transportation industry while at the same time revitalizing the US economy and decreasing dependence on imported crude.

Subsea UK unveiled the finalists for its 2011 British subsea industry awards on Tuesday, January 18. The February 9, 2011 event will feature a keynote speech from the economist and chairman of Triumph Motorcycles Limited, Lord Digby Jones at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center.

The list of contenders includes 18 organizations. Subsea UK plans to reveal honoree of its Outstanding Achievement award at the event to recognize the individual and the significant they made on the subsea sector in 2010.

Now in their fifth year, these awards celebrate the innovation and achievements across the entire UK subsea supply chain. The event is sponsored by Forum Energy Technologies and has garnered a sell-out crowd of more than 700 attendees from companies throughout the UK subsea oil and gas business.

Here is a shortlist of finalists:

Subsea Company of the Year

• Flexlife
• SMD
• Expro

Emerging Talent

• Flexlife: Stuart Mitchell, CEO
• Ecosse Subsea Systems: Mike Wilson, Founder and Managing Director
• GE Oil and Gas: Stuart Holley, Senior Product Manager

Innovation and Technology

• Flexlife
• Tritech
• NCS

Global Exports Award

• The Underwater Center
• Andrew Palmer and Associates/Penspen
• Specialist Subsea Services

New Enterprise

• Flexlife
• Viper Subsea
• Specialist Subsea Services

Subsea Safety Leadership Award

• Aker Solutions
• Hydratight
• RBG

The awards ceremony will be held on the first day Subsea 2011, a two-day exhibition and one-day conference that is expected to draw more than 2,000 visitors with 100 exhibitors showcasing the full range of British subsea innovation. For more information on this event or the full conference visit http://www.subsea2011.com/

The Energy Intelligence Top 100:Ranking the World’s Oil Companies is out and it appears that Asia is fast becoming the center of the oil universe. As Asia’s government-controlled national oil companies (NOCs) continue to add capacity, Asia’s growing demand for oil and natural gas is helping these companies to expand in size and influence.

The list incorporates the Petroleum Intelligence Weekly (PIW) Top 50, and the break is 40/60 with NOCs accounting for 41 of this year’s top oil companies with international oil companies (IOCs) comprising 59 of the companies on the list. Honorable mentions include Malaysia-based Petronas (at No. 17), China’s CNOOC (No. 38), and Thailand’s PTT (No. 53). Energy Intelligence claims these to be the fastest rising companies in recent years. Landing at No. 77, Korea-based KNOC made it back to the list following its acquisition of Canadian assets.

India’s Reliance Industries jumped 26 spots to land at No. 40 due to the company’s significant increasees in both gas production and distillation capacity.

Energy Intelligence ranks these companies on operating metrics by the sum of ordinal ranks in six operational categories: oil production, gas production, oil reserves, gas reserves, product sales, and refinery distillation capacity. This is in addition to more than 100 other financial, upstream, refining, and marketing categories.

The Top 100 control 87% of the world’s oil reserves and 72% of its gas reserves. According to editor and senior reaserch analyst Ian Nathan, “While the names at the top of the list barely shift, looking deeper will show that most of these companies in this group are in the midst of important changes, which could actually push them down, not up, in the next few years.”

The most prominent example of a shrinking giant is BP, which faces huge costs associated with the Deepwater Horizon incident. The 2011 rankings show that IOCs as a group might be rethinking size and mergers as a growth strategy. In 2009, an expected consolidation wave never materialized, however numbers show that, compared to 1997, the six largest IOCs contribute a smaller share of global oil and gas operations than their aggregated predecessors.

At the time, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) might have made strategic sense, but operational size now is being rethought as a driver of value creation. According to the report, this is a significant break from the past. For the 2011 Top 100, 48 companies from 1997’s Top 100 have disappeared from the rankings due almost entirely to M&A.

For an in depth look at other salient points drawn from Energy Intelligence’s current Rankings or to find out how to access the full report, visit http://www.energyintel.com/PublicationDetail.asp?publication_id=130

Energy industry business-architects and global strategy experts, Atlee Valentine Pope and George F. Brown, Jr., co-founders of Chicago-based Blue Canyon Partners, discuss how energy, power and natural resources management teams and their business consultants can solve the service paradox. Change and global growth can often make or break companies who fail to improve their bottom line, or to successfully address their clients’ needs.

A new book, CoDensity, answers four essential questions for energy companies:

How to anticipate and address change?

How to understand a customer or vendor chain?

And, how to tackle competitive challenges and stay ahead of the ever-changing natural resources and energy industry curve?

Through numerous case studies, mapping systems and data analysis the book analyzes these questions from the viewpoint of contract management, to new federal regulations, to legal challenges and more.For additional information visit http://codestinybook.com/