There is a new sheriff in the White House, and with his administration embracing the oil and gas industry, excitement and relief has permeated throughout. Although the doors of possibility have now opened upon a gleaming prospect of four prosperous years ahead, certain of the industry’s lingering challenges will need solutions if growth is to […]
In the Air or on the Ground, Safety Is Still Safety
The NTSB estimated a total of nearly 24 million flight hours in 2007, when 6.84 of every 100,000 flight hours yielded an airplane crash while 1.19 of every 100,000 yielded a fatal crash. This was down from an all-time high of 9.08 accidents per 100,000 hours in 1994. It is an old statistic that I’m […]
Taking Carbon Captive
Carbon capture and storage grows technology, but legal and geological questions remain. The old saying about change and things staying the same may itself need to change, especially in the energy sector. “The more things change, the more they continue to change,” would better codify the rapid acceleration of new technologies and landscapes. And with […]
Welded Together
As a whole, the oil patch is a tight-knit community, especially in the Permian Basin, where almost everyone is in the business one way or another. And the welding community seems to be particularly close-knit—or more precisely, welded together. Here are stories of two entrepreneuring welders—Daniel Rodriguez of Shadow Welding and Jaron Tuttle of Tuttle’s […]
The Produced Water Challenge
You are probably aware that the water problem in the Permian Basin is dire—it is the desert, after all. But the issue isn’t so seemingly obvious. Of course, as a natural resource, water is scarce in the Permian, and that is an issue that in itself places constraints on growth and development. But that is […]
Let’s Go Hunting!
Throughout the years, numerous policies and procedures have been developed to increase safety awareness and improve workplace safety. Ideas come and go based on needs, studies, and action plans. The action plans seem more reactive as opposed to proactive. The key word, though, is active. Reactive, as the word itself suggests, usually follows an accident, […]
Improving Plugging and Abandonment Procedures
Daily news feeds and internet searches abound with abundant negative images about the oil and gas industry. These images feed the negative messaging that anti-fossil fuel groups are eager to magnify. In response, regulators add regulations—often without industry input. If the industry is going to rehabilitate its image, it must demonstrate its desire to be […]
Office Functions: There is a Better Way
The back office is usually just that in the oil industry—back behind the scenes. It rarely makes headlines for great technological leaps. Nonetheless, it looks radically different than it did 10, even five years ago. Quietly, smartphone apps and the ability of accounting software to mine and analyze data from field monitoring systems have replaced […]
Keep It Fresh, Keep It Relevant
Greetings and salutations again to my fellow safety brethren! Regardless if you are a safety professional, a worker out in the field, or an executive, I appreciate you taking a small part of your day or month to read what’s going on in the field of safety. As I’ve stated numerous times over the last […]
Going Horizontal
Spreading out far and wide—what are the limits of long laterals? In the shale revolution, the vertical sections of wellbores don’t do much for production—they’re a means to an end. So, the longer the laterals connected to each vertical hole, the more of the formation is exposed to production. Meanwhile, an ancillary benefit of […]
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