Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), a research organization based in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, recently developed innovations that allow an underwater robotic vehicle to act as both a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The institution’s research into subsea robotics has combined acoustic and optical wireless communication capabilities to create a blend of AUV and ROV technologies, drawing on advancements in autonomy, opto-acoustic operations, and micro-tether technology.

When using a traditional ROV, copper tethers allow operators to transfer power to the subsea robot from the surface while receiving data and video transfers of its underwater explorations. However, this technique introduces difficulties at greater depths. Through innovations in energy storage and battery technology, WHOI can now develop subsea robots that carry their own power supplies, limiting operators’ dependence on traditional tethering technology and making deepwater operations more cost-effective.

While WHOI initially designed the new technology for military and research applications, the innovations could also benefit the energy sector. In a recent interview with Rigzone, WHOI principal engineer Andy Bowen expressed the firm’s desire to introduce its technology into the oil and gas industry. By partnering with companies in this sector, the company hopes to enable new methods of robotic intervention to support subsea oil and gas infrastructures. Hybrid subsea robots could be used for maintenance purposes and could also help oil and gas companies to reach previously inaccessible resources trapped beneath ice in the Arctic. Additionally, WHOI’s onboard power supplies will allow subsea robots to remain in complex offshore structures, making them available to oil and gas operators for immediate use.                             

Unlike the majority of nations, the United States government does not maintain ownership over the country’s mineral resources. US organizations and individuals are legally capable of extracting, owning, and selling mineral commodities found on or below the Earth’s surface, including oil and gas, without government authorization. This freedom has led to a distinction between mineral rights and surface rights. The rights to a region’s mineral resources originally belonged to the property owner, resulting in a type of real estate ownership known as a fee simple estate. The owner of a fee simple estate holds the rights to the surface, subsurface, and airspace of a property, as well as the right to transfer this ownership, individually or collectively, via lease, sale, gift, or inheritance.

Real estate transactions existed solely as fee simple transfers prior to the advent of oil exploration and production. Commercial mineral production complicated property ownership, as many property owners had no interest in mining or drilling operations. Similarly, oil and gas companies may wish to acquire the rights to drill in a particular area, but have no desire to pay to lease the structures on the property’s surface. To remedy this situation, fee simple estate owners may sell mineral rights either as unknown rights, which grant ownership of all mineral commodities beneath their land, or as limited rights, which allow companies only to extract and profit from specific commodities. While states regulate the ownership and transfer of mineral rights, these regulations differ on a state-by-state basis.                             

The Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas, recently brought together a number of prominent figures in the North American oil and gas industry, including government officials and business leaders. Throughout the event, participants discussed various strategies that could help to position the entire continent as a global energy leader. With the United States and Canada currently among the top-five oil producers in the world, Mexico plans to increase its production following its current energy policy reform efforts. According to Gustavo Hernandez Garcia of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), Mexico must create an oil and gas business environment offering clearly stated regulations, limited political interference, and attractive contracts in order to harness the technical resources necessary for modern energy operations.

US officials such as Paula Gant, the Office of Fossil Energy’s deputy assistant secretary for oil and natural gas, posited that the North American energy sector would benefit from an increased focus on public data mapping, as well as the development of modern infrastructure and industry best practices. Attendees also identified cost-effective strategies, including the use of efficient new technologies, as key to the industry’s development.

Other attendees stressed the important of collaboration between the business and regulatory sectors of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Texas Representative Bill Flores, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also noted a lack of oil and gas industry knowledge in Congress. As a potential solution, several conference participants promoted partnerships between federal agencies and oil and gas operators to aid the development of mutually acceptable regulations. 

Around the world, oil and gas industry specialists have been retooling their methodologies, thanks to low crude prices during the last few years. Despite the falling cost for a barrel of oil, a wide range of technology-focused firms are enjoying considerable growth as the energy sector begins seeking out cost-saving solutions that will allow for continued profits in a new economic reality. Several companies have developed innovative products and services that promise to improve existing wells and cut rig development time.

Some of these technologies are deceptively simple, such as the Kodiak Enhanced Perforating system, a rocket-fuel powered fracking technology that enables rig owners to obtain more oil from dry shale. Other companies, like Baker Hughes, have focused on collecting huge amounts of data to identify and correct inefficiencies. New rigs still need to be built, however, and companies like WellDog Inc. and GroundMetrics Inc. have developed spectroscopy and electromagnetic technology, respectively, to help ensure that wells are dug in exactly the right spot.                             

Recent commodity price trends in the oil and gas sector have led many firms to seek alternatives to new well drilling, targeting opportunities for lowered costs and increased production efficiency instead. An innovation by international oilfield technology developer Flotek is set to expand opportunities for hydraulic fracturing operations in existing unconventional wells. The firm has developed Complex nano-Fluid (CnF) chemistries that will allow oil and gas companies to remediate or restimulate existing wells. When treated with CnF chemistries, wells can experience renewed production levels as high as 70 percent and may even return to their original production capacities. As the cost of well restimulation with CnF technology is far lower than that of drilling a new well, Flotek’s technology presents a cost-effective option for many firms looking to expand production.

In most cases, CnF treatment does not require the complete refracturing of existing wells. Instead, the technology uses a coil-tubing unit to facilitate a pump and pressure treatment. The fluid system will not only penetrate the formation’s existing fractures but will also clear blockages caused by clogging particles such as paraffins and asphaltenes. Flotek also offers additional value with its Fracmax database, which the firm uses to identify existing wells that are likely to benefit from CnF remediation.                             

One of the most commonly used forms of legal documentation in the oil and gas exploration and development sector, a joint operating agreement (JOA) outlines the contractual basis for collaborative oil exploration, development, and production operations carried out by multiple leasehold cotenants.

Cotenants typically draft a JOA when more than one party holds the title to an oil and gas estate in a particular geographic region. While multiple JOA forms exist to address issues unique to various oil and gas sectors, all JOAs facilitate the appointment of a sole operator tasked with overseeing exploration, production, and development activities in accordance with the JOA, while other cotenants, or non-operators, aid in decision-making on subsequent operations.

The wide variety of JOA forms includes the American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL) Model Form 610, which serves as a general JOA that is applicable to several operational areas. This standard form creates a contractual basis for the collaborative operations, cost and liability sharing, equipment ownership, and production responsibilities of cotenants based on their ownership percentages. Additionally, Model Form 610 outlines terms and conditions for initial well drilling, the voting process, and financial allocations, as well as the methods for resolving issues related to future title disputes, acquisitions, and dispositions.                             

In September 1960, representatives from the nations of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and Venezuela joined together at the Baghdad Conference to form OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The immediate goal was to prevent lowered oil prices on the global market. Over the succeeding years, the international trade group has gone on to promote its members’ economic and political interests during times of peace and world crisis alike.

A year after its establishment, OPEC welcomed Qatar to its ranks. Subsequent years saw the additions of several African countries (including Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Gabon, and Angola) as well as the United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, and Indonesia. Gabon and Indonesia have since left the organization. Ecuador suspended its membership in 1992 and did not rejoin for another 15 years.

In 1965, the group transferred its headquarters from Geneva, Switzerland, to its present-day base in Vienna, Austria.

In 1973, the Arab nations of OPEC imposed an oil embargo on the United States and some other Western countries because of their support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War that year. The embargo, which ended in 1974, led to a burgeoning energy crisis in the West.

Today, OPEC members have begun to focus on increasing their degree of collaboration to craft environmentally sound policies that also support developments within the oil industry. 

Along with a number of surrounding states, Kansas stands as a prominent oil and natural gas exploration site. Oil and gas drilling in Kansas traces its roots back to 1892, when the Norman No. 1 well came in near Neodesha following just over three weeks of drilling. Considered one of the first significant oil discoveries west of the Mississippi River, the well started out producing only four barrels per day from a depth of 832 feet. Regardless, the well represented one of the first in the region to deliver commercially viable quantities of oil.

The discovery of oil in Kansas captured the imaginations of prospectors and oilmen, prompting considerable investments in locations throughout the state. Twenty-two years after the establishment of Norman No. 1, Kansas began producing more than 4 million barrels of crude oil every year. Since then, the state has continued to rank among the highest oil-producing states in the United States.                             

A prominent oil and natural gas company based in Addison, Texas, Sentry Energy Production LLC sets out to explore and develop lands that have demonstrated a high level of oil drilling success. The extraction process itself is a highly sophisticated procedure that requires the utmost attention to detail. In many cases, the extraction and recovery of oil takes place in three distinct stages; primary, secondary, and tertiary recovery.

Primary recovery: During the primary recovery stage, oil drilling companies make use of several natural processes to drive the reservoir, including the expansion of gas contained within the crude oil itself, the displacement of oil by natural water flowing downward into the well, a proliferation of natural gas near the top of the reservoir, and gravity drainage. In most cases, oil is forced to the surface by the collecting of underground pressure in the oil reservoir. Many companies choose to install a network of valves to funnel the oil into a pipeline, which greatly facilitates transportation and storage. In general, the primary recovery process yields a 5 to 15 percent recovery rate.

Secondary recovery: After the initial pressure contained within the well falls below a certain level, drilling companies must then utilize a number of different techniques to extract the oil from the earth, referred to as secondary recovery methods. Secondary recovery techniques typically rely on the use of an external power source to drive the reservoir and make it easier to obtain the oil from the well. In addition to beam pumps and electrical submersible pumps, two of the most common ways to extract oil after the dissipation of the initial pressure, secondary recovery methods include techniques such as natural gas reinjection, water injection, and gas lift. Because the secondary recovery draws upon energy from manmade sources, it is able to produce a recovery rate of more than 30 percent.

Tertiary recovery: After secondary recovery methods have extracted as much oil as they possibly can, tertiary recovery techniques allow driller to extract another 5 to 15 percent of the oil reservoir. In most cases, tertiary recovery involves increasing the mobility of the oil to make it more viscous and easy to extract. Common methods to increasing oil mobility include steam injection, the introduction of surfactants to break up surface tension, and flooding the well with carbon dioxide.

An exploration and development company, Sentry Energy Production, LLC, is based in Addison, Texas. Sentry Energy Production, LLC, implements the latest technologies in natural gas and oil drilling to help partners locate energy resources.

Over the course of 150 years, more than 2 million wells have been built worldwide with the goal of extracting natural gas and oil to be used as an energy source. While early explorers and researchers used seepages to determine where to drill, modern-day scientists and engineers have access to aerial photography, topographical maps, three-dimensional projections, and sound wave technology to help them expertly identify formations filled with natural gas and oil.

In particular, an acoustic survey allows explorers to fire acoustic pulses through rocks and record the echoes and bounce back in sounds. This data is then used to determine the number and different types of layers and depths within a single structure of rock. Scientists and researchers are looking specifically at the length of time a sound pulse echoes off an underground rock to create two- and three-dimensional maps that highlight potential reservoirs and traps for drilling.