Tech Transfer Track

OTC Recognizes 15

New in 2004, the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) created a "Spotlight on New Technology" program to showcase new and innovative offshore technologies. Criteria evaluated by a panel of judges include: new and innovative, proven, broad interest, and significant impact. 15 technologies were recognized during the recent OTC. Although targeting the offshore environment, some of these technologies are appropriate for land applications, or can be when adapted. Readers are encouraged to at least scan online information, thinking about how the technology might fit their application.

• ABB Offshore Systems VIEC (Vessel Internal Electrostatic Coalescer)

• Baker Hughes INTEQ TesTrak

• Baker Hughes INTEQ Acoustic Properties eXplorer (APG)

• CDS Separation Technologies Inline Deliquidizer

• Epcon Offshore AS Epcon CFU Technology

• FMC Kongsberg Subsea Riserless Light Well Intervention

• Halliburton GeoTap Formation Pressure Tester

• Halliburton DepthStar Tubing Retrievable Subsurface Safety Valve

• Natco Group Inc VersaFlo Single Cell Compact Vertical Column Flotation

• Ocean Design Inc FACT (Field Assembled Cable Termination)

• Perkin Elmer Centurion Seals Centurion Swivel Seal

• Schlumberger seismic VISION Seismic While Drilling

• Superior Energy Services CoilTAC (Coil Thrust and Carry)

• Tracerco The TRACERCO Profiler

• Weatherford/eProduction Solutions Simply Intelligent (multi-zone intelligent completion system)

View product/service information online at www.otcnet.org/
2004/spotlight/index.html.

Many individuals or small companies working in the petroleum industry do not have the luxury of an IT department to keep their personal computer systems protected and  protection is essential.  In the best case, infected systems mean downtime getting everything working normally again. In the worst case, critical data are lost and you may crash other's systems. Computer systems are an essential productivity tool and it is your responsibility to protect yourself. In AAPG's latest Explorer magazine, their webmaster, Michael Jones, did a yeoman's job of explaining the steps an individual user should take to protect their systems—from firewalls to virus programs to spyware to regular updating. Make our digital world safer by following the simple steps he outlines.

Excerpted from AAPG's Explorer, June 2004, view online at www.aapg.org/explorer/2004/
06jun/virus.cfm.

Sometimes a tongue-in-cheek approach to making a point causes us to really think about what we are doing. Les Skinner, a well control engineering manager with Cudd Well Control, provides this perspective when he lists 11 steps that will doom an underbalanced drilling (UBD) project to failure. Sounds silly, but remember the points when you embark on an UBD well.

• Don’t go through a rigorous candidate selection process.

• Don't plan the UBD operation.

• Don't worry about underbalanced well control issues.

• Don't train the rig crews on underbalanced operations.

• Don't spend any time or money on drilling fluid design.

• Don't bother with MWC, LWD or PWD information.

• Limit surface separation equipment to only what can be rented down the road.

• Don't worry about HAZID and HAZOP plans.

• Don't worry about safety systems on the rig.

• Once the well is drilled, kill it for logs and completion work.

For that complex reservoir situation, visualization may be the solution. Knowing which visualization centers are available for lease, listed below from a recent World Oil survey, can speed one to that visualization solution.

• BP Center for Visualization, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (www.
  bpvizcenter.com)

• Integrated Visualization Technologies, Inc., Houston, TX (www.ivtco.com)

• Landmark Graphics Executive Briefing Center, Houston, TX (www.lgc.com)

• Landmark Decision Centers 1&2, Houston, TX (www.lgc.com)

• Magic Earth Geisler Visualization Center, Houston, TX (www.
  magicearth.com)

• Paradigm Visualization, Houston, TX (www.
  paradigmgeo.com)

• Roxar Software Solutions, Houston, TX (www.
  roxar.com)

• Schlumberger Dairy Ashford iCenter (www.slb.com)

• Veritas DGC Veritas Exploration Services Visualization Theater (www.veritasdgc.com)

Excerpted from "2004 Visualization Reference for the O&G Industry," a supplement to World Oil, May 2004.

May 04 1,351
(per Baker Hughes)

"Science of New Drill Bit Technology," American Oil and Gas Reporter, April 2004, pp. 132-143