As a cash-strapped oil patch wrestles with the competing issues of staffing and funding, more and more companies turn to various forms of automation/artificial intelligence and robotics in order to do more work with fewer people. In that scenario, drones have flown to the forefront as they’ve become more powerful and versatile. Advances in recording […]
Data Security: Staying a Step Ahead
Any conversation with a corporate IT or cybersecurity person very quickly includes the phrase “It’s not if, but when and how bad” when the topic is the likelihood of being hacked. Employing good security measures in hardware, software, and the most important factor—people—does provide great protection. But, like Luke Skywalker slipping a bomb into a […]
Exxon, Pioneer, 3 others launch “Project Astra” network to detect emissions
Five industry groups, including Irving companies ExxonMobil and Pioneer Natural Resources, said this week they are collaborating on a new sensor network to monitor methane emissions in Permian Basin. Officials said Project Astra could revolutionize the way leaks are found and repaired. Joining Exxon and Pioneer are Gas Technology Institute, Environmental Defense Fund, and University […]
Cybertech’s New Norm
As the principal adversary hunter at Dragos, Joe Slowik is tasked with finding, tracking, and deleting malicious actors. Having seen firsthand the havoc that industrial control system adversaries can wreak on organizations both large and small, Slowik does not mince words: the threats and risks are real and potentially life threatening—i.e., sabotage of worksite safety […]
Just a Click Away
A sign of the times: eCommerce reaches the oil patch. As much as Amazon revolutionized the business-to-consumer market by offering an online marketplace that has largely left the brick-and-mortar business model crumbling in ruins, the oilfield marketplace has largely continued on in time-tested fashion, as follows: A buyer looking for pumps or valves gets out […]
Innovators
Wells and technology both get more complex. Companies are applying their best minds, and best thinking, to the task of staying up with the changes. By Paul Wiseman “Sometimes I think—me personally, or WellWorx or the industry—that we’ll run out of ways to innovate or we’ll run out of good ideas,” said Matt Raglin, founder […]
Answering Hydrocarbon’s Adversaries
Colin P. Fenton is a leading light among an emerging coterie of thinkers who are not drinking the anti-fossil fuel koolaid. His thoughts shared before the PBPA give hope for a reversal of public opinion, however far away that might be. A few days after Colin P. Fenton delivered a resounding keynote address at the […]
Overcoming Casing Integrity Issues
Sponsored Post A range of factors can restrict casing ID and prevent a successful completion. Higher build rates, complex trajectories, and longer horizontal sections pose considerable challenges to casing integrity. Although careful casing and borehole trajectory design and appropriate drilling and completion techniques can reduce the risks, they cannot eliminate them. In addition, the constant […]
Machine Learning—a New Frontier in I.T.
By Paul Wiseman It seemed like a great idea at first. There’s all this data being aggregated from thousands of wells—why doesn’t someone set up some parameters for pumps, tanks, pipelines, and anything else that can exude data—then computers can send alarms to alert managers and field personnel any time there’s a problem! Very […]
Permian Rental Companies Back the Stats
As Analysts Note Impressive Peak, Locals Confirm Industry Uptick. The day after Christmas 2017, IHS Markit, an economic analytics firm based in the United Kingdom, issued a press release referencing the Permian as a “super basin.” In fact, the headline and first few paragraphs made one think Christmas would last well into the […]
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