July-August 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out nearly 40 million jobs in total dating back to mid-February. It didn’t matter which industry, as millions of workers were either sent home, let go or furloughed until further notice. In March and April, employers shed roughly 22 million jobs and, by April, the jobless...
Fully Protecting Workers with Smart PPE: Why Intrinsic Safety Matters
Understanding intrinsic safety certification for Smart PPE use in certain applications, such as oil and gas and mining. The oil and gas industry is inherently risky, especially when it comes to explosions. Therefore, it is critical that oil and gas worker products be “Intrinsically Safe (IS).” When a device is...
A Digital Diversification Playbook for Oil and Gas
Succeeding with new, post-commodity business models, revenue streams and energy ventures become much more manageable with these four digital elements in place. Even before this spring’s pandemic-fueled economic contraction and oil price freefall, the energy industry’s transition to a more diverse, lower-carbon mix of products and services was going to...
How Digital Transformation Can Breathe New Life into the Oil and Gas Industry
AVEVA on Microsoft Azure Optimizes Organizational Operations with Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics. The current pandemic has struck the oil and gas industry with reduced demand due to global lockdowns combined with oversupply resulting in a 20 percent imbalance and causing oil and gas prices to plunge to negative figures within...
COVID-19’s impact on the transportation sector is affecting oil and gas demand and prices around the world. The peak of the impact was seen when crude prices futures market actually went negative. In late April, Nassr Adris, a producer for Al Jazeera, a Qatar-based news channel, reached out to Marty...
Digitalization of the Oil and Gas Industry
At more than 100 years old, the oil industry is one of the most faithful industrial disciplines to its principles; in oil fields or in refineries, where technological advances in digitalization already exist, most locations worldwide prefer to resort to long-standing processes because these provide greater safety and comfort for...
All You Need to Know About Offshore Safety and Environment
With the evolution in recent years, the energy demand for fossil fuels has been increasing (with some periods of recession and/or stagnation), which has led to a search for resources in places of high operational complexity, such as seas and oceans. This activity is called offshore extraction, the word offshore...
A GOP eager to pile up wins in this year’s general election must have taken comfort in the Democrats’ own 1992 campaign mantra, “It’s the economy, stupid.” At least until the past two months. And why not? The Trump administration and his House and Senate allies had done a masterful...
Unconventional Exploration and Production Technology
In previous sections, we introduced unconventional reservoirs, and determined that one of the main parameters that will define this type of reservoir is its permeability. We can refer to a reservoir with very low permeability, less than one (1) microdarcy (Figure 1), but which has the possibility of producing hydrocarbons,...
Quest for Black Gold Gets Easier
Real-time location in remote areas helps Texas firm stake sites. There’s a reason Texas is called the Lone Star state. It’s more than just its quest for independence; there’s many a star that shines on some lone countryside out there, too. That’s what makes Texas such a big oil state...
Letter from the Publisher (July-August 2020)
Normalcy is a term we’ve all become accustomed to hearing in the news as we emerge from the pandemic lockdown. The oil and gas industry is also in the midst of finding normalcy, not only with the reduction in workforce as a result of COVID-19, but contending with the supply...
The Evolution of Oil and Gas Digital Transformation
Digital transformation of the oil and gas industry is no longer a question. At this point, if any company underneath the industry umbrella (production, engineering, construction, just to name a few) has not converted in some way, they are not only late to the game, they are more than likely...
Feature Podcast: An Inside Look at the Future of Energy Trading
Keo Lukefahr is the head of derivatives trading for Motiva Enterprises. She has worked in the energy industry for more than two decades serving in senior trading and strategy roles for several leading energy companies. Prior to joining Motiva, Lukefahr served as head of Americas Natural Gas and LNG Trading for...
The Virtual Barrier: A Paradigm Shift in Process Safety
In March 2014, the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Aberdeen held the first international conference on how to address the type of risk assessment that drilling thought leader David Pritchard had written about for so many years. SPE Aberdeen selected Pritchard to speak and also to be a panelist at...
Oil Prices Have Long Road to Recovery
In early 2020, oil prices plummeted from an average of USD 65 in 2019 to as low as USD 25 per barrel in March. Atradius economists predict that oil prices won’t return to 2019 levels until 2022. As of early June, prices remain around USD 40 per barrel. Both demand...
Boosting the Profitability of Mobile Assets in the Oil Industry – Onshore and Offshore
Today, oil and gas enterprises such as floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) operators, drilling contractors, and other vessel owners that own and operate large mobile assets must move quicker than ever to take control of project risks and optimize global operations both onshore and offshore in a challenging sector....
AI-Powered “Digital Twins” Help Prevent Tomorrow’s Problems Today
With the typical oil and gas asset having so many moving, complex parts – some of which may be deep underground or under the sea – staying on top of the condition of every critical component has always been a challenge even with a large on-site workforce. In today’s world,...
In the future, history books will probably need several chapters to cover 2020. The world has been rocked by the many crises that appeared this year. Namely, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way we work and even after the virus moves on and life returns to “normal,” the way...
Artificial Intelligence (AI) was taking the world by storm long before the COVID-19 crisis and the oil and gas crash of 2020 were on our radar. The technology has incredible range of applications and operates across many industries to improve operations. But as individuals have been forced to social distance...
The Crude Life engages with industry experts and energy enthusiasts every day with interviews, radio programs, social media posts, print features, and podcasts. These conversations range from CEOs to truck drivers to authors to engineers to cafe owners. Just like our diverse experts and interviews, the conversations have depth and...
Downturn in Oil and Gas Industry Sparks Trouble for Supply Chain – Effects on Manufacturing Sector
Production Downturn Summary The global oil industry has been in crisis since March. While recovery has begun, we must ask: is the worst behind us or can the industry recover? Visibly fewer commuters are on the road needing to fill up at the gas pump, but what about the myriad...
Young Professionals in the Oil and Gas Industry
Anye Ndefru works at one of the world’s leading oilfield services companies. Alan Alexeyev (AA): Tell us a little bit about your current (or latest) position and what you do, as well as how you found a job. Anye Ndefru (AN): I am presently the Sub-Saharan Africa regional Employee Development and...
6 Key Considerations E&P Companies Should Address Navigating Low-Oil Price Environment
Find out what E&P companies need to know as they navigate the impact of a negative and/or depressed oil and gas commodity pricing environment. On Monday, April 20, 2020, U.S. crude oil prices traded below zero for the first time ever, meaning producers or traders were essentially paying buyers to...
An Inside Look at the Future of Energy Trading
Keo Lukefahr is the head of derivatives trading for Motiva Enterprises. She has worked in the energy industry for more than two decades serving in senior trading and strategy roles for several leading energy companies. Prior to joining Motiva, Lukefahr served as head of Americas Natural Gas and LNG Trading...
Unprecedented: The China Factor
In addition to the U.S. being challenged by the COVID-19 virus, China is confronting the U.S. and the entire globe with its assertive behavior. The more powerful China becomes, the more emboldened it becomes, as evidenced by the national security regulations adopted by the National People’s Congress on Hong Kong,...
Challenges for EOR and New Technologies
A pleasure to be with you again. In the midst of the adversities created by this pandemic, we find the news that oil has dropped its price to an all-time low. Is this perhaps the end of the Oil Age? Of course not! It is time only to check the...
Why an Effective Master Data Strategy Is Key to Digital Transformation in Oil and Gas
Find out why deploying an effective master data strategy across an enterprise is an important foundation to begin building a digital transformation journey. Digital transformation is the buzzword du jour in every industry, but nowhere is it more prevalent than in the oil and gas industry. Long an asset-heavy manual...
Evolving market and societal forces are driving today’s energy producers to reimagine their operational business models. The energy sector has recently seen significant shifts and, as a result, business pressures to tackle compounding industry challenges are on the rise. Energy producers operate in a heavily regulated industry where shifting regulations...
Mastering Data Drives Operational Efficiency for Oil and Gas Companies
The low price of oil coupled with the pandemic has resulted in budget cuts and significant shifts in how companies are operating. Forward looking energy companies are using this time to refresh their aging technology roadmap and introduce a modern and reliable digital blueprint for their enterprise. Analysts indicate that...
Big Data vs. Big Information – The Importance of Data Hygiene in the Oil and Gas Industry
Oil and gas companies have long stuck to antiquated systems. There is a need for wholesale evolution, innovation, and diversification, but we must look closely at companies that retain workflows untouched by digitalization. Whether reflective of the lack of a tech savvy workforce, aging employees, or corporate disdain, many oil...
Marketing Strategy in the Oil and Gas Business
The oil and gas industry is based on the marketing of hydrocarbons. Since the early stages, the use of this raw material has made a difference in the way societies live. Oil has changed its meaning over time, from being known as a source of light and heat for the...
Noah Fox (NF): As a leader in a cybersecurity firm serving the oil and gas industry, what specifically are you seeing as the most common threats to companies? Have they changed over the past five years? Chad Neale (CN): There are many cyber threats to oil and gas, including increasing...
Restructuring in Times of Uncertainty
The oil and gas industry has faced no shortage of challenges in recent years. However, few could have predicted both the breadth and depth of the headwinds it now faces. Beyond the ongoing issue of falling prices driven by softness in demand, the subsequent OPEC-Russia fallout in March and the...
A New Way to Locate Oil: Unconventional Oil Exploration and Technologies
For many years, oil and gas operators have relied on traditional methods of drilling and exploration to produce conventional oil or oil typically sourced from the ground. However, in recent years, unconventional oil has made its presence known in the industry, with an increasing number of exploration and production (E&P)...
5 Technologies Improving Productivity in the Oil Industry
The oil industry has not historically been one to embrace change by investing in new technologies. However, many company leaders realize there’s no time to waste. They know that moving ahead with digital transformations leads to better competitiveness and resiliency. Improved productivity is one of the most frequently cited benefits...
Blockchain for Business Grows as Crypto Hype Fades
Out of Bitcoin came blockchain technology, which as an immutable ledger system has more business use cases than crypto. Before proceeding any further, it is important that the distinction between crypto currencies and blockchain technology is clear. Blockchain is a technology that enables monetary instruments such as Bitcoin to function,...
Empower the Back Office to Save Your Company
If private equity bailed out the exploration and production (E&P) industry after the 2015 downturn, the back office may well be the industry savior following the dual shocks of 2020. Yes, a software designer who’s only been in the industry for five years just predicted – in OILMAN Magazine no...
Bringing the Benefits of the Digital Oilfield to Water Management
Where is all the water going? As much as 10 barrels of saltwater are produced for every barrel of oil in the Delaware Basin while the Midland Basin averages a mere three barrels of saltwater. Water cut varies from basin to basin but, with the Permian dominating oil production, that...
