Petroleum Review - June 2010
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Editorial – Triumph and disaster
E&P – DRILLING TECHNOLOGY
Drilling efficiency optmisation and automationWhen the offshore industry first contemplated production from the ocean depths there were doubts whether seabed systems could operate without human intervention. Some of the earliest deepwater fields – notably the Petrobras-operated Garoupa field – employed one-atmosphere habitats on the seafloor, which technicians visited by diving bell. Today, diverless solutions are available for almost every aspect of the oil and gas production process. Jeff Crook reports.
LATIN AMERICA – BRAZIL
Brazil's pre-salt challenge
For the past decade, the so-called ‘Golden triangle’ – offshore Brazil, West Africa and the Gulf of Mexico – has dominated the deepwater development scene. As the offshore world moves into the second decade of the twenty-first century has anything changed? Both no and yes, writes Steve Sasanow.
LATIN AMERICA – BRAZIL
A new Petrobras?
It is a year since the Energy Institute (EI) published the Guidelines for the management of integrity of subsea facilities, in April 2009. Here, author of the guidelines, Jerry Baker, Head of Discipline, Pipeline and Subsea Integrity, Atkins Global, discusses the impact the guidelines have had, and examines the growing issue around obsolescence management of subsea facilities.
LATIN AMERICA – HYDROPOWER
From war horse to pawn
Mark Godfrey explores the prospects of Mongolia as the next major Asian oil producer.
CARIBBEAN – OIL AND GAS
Sunny outlook for Caribbean E&P
After 2012, European companies will have to take the Emissions Trading Scheme even more seriously – or suffer. Rolf de Vos and Martijn Overgaag of Ecofys detail the upcoming changes, and their consequences in the form of higher initial costs for emission reduction. However, as they explain, early moves to implement low carbon practices will give companies competitive advantages.
COMMODITIES – TRADING
Trends in physical commodity trading
Topics under discussion from Wednesday’s programme during IP Week 2010 covered both the upstream and downstream sectors of the industry. Petroleum Review’s Marc Height and Louise Smith review some of the highlights from the final day of this year’s IP Week.
Features
COMPANIES – C&R
CSR efforts – are they enough?
The second major exploration drilling campaign offshore the Falkland Islands began in February, accompanied by a now familiar chorus of investor share price volatility and overheated political rhetoric. Maria Kielmas reports.
UAE – OIL AND GAS
Energy expansion in the UAE
Piracy ransom payments are rising, and kidnap negotiation has taken a further twist, but ship crews are fighting back. Nigel Bance reports.
VIETNAM – ENERGY DEMAND
Vietnam's new energy plans
Despite the recessionary background, 2009 saw a notable oil production recovery partly reversing the downward trend seen since early in the decade. Gas output continued to grow although it is notable that the supermajor’s output continued flat, reports Chris Skrebowski.
FUELS – TESTING
Real world fuel testing
People, safety, productivity and profitability are the key fundamentals an organisation should aspire to integrate into its culture, explains Raj Singh, Chief Executive, Safety@Work.
TECHNOLOGY – OIL AND GAS
Energy management and CCS solutions
Algae is much talked about as a potential future source for alternative fuels, but who is doing the research to develop the technology? Bill Corporon from ExxonMobil explains how the company is working with biotechnology specialists to develop biofuels produced from algae.
UK – CCS
CCS – time to step up the pace
For decades, major energy companies have been at the forefront of the global shipping of hydrocarbons. However, energy company shipping assets have largely underperformed, and this has generally been accepted as a price worth paying by energy companies, who have predominantly focused on their strategic interests in shipping – securing the transportation of their hydrocarbons. Booz & Company’s new report, Anchoring success – effective management of energy companies shipping interests examines the issues in more detail. The report’s authors Ibrahim El-Husseini, Jake Leslie Manville, Satyajeet Thakur and Sean Wheeler explain.
EI TECHNICAL – CCS
Good practice for CCS
A record number of petrol retailers travelled across the UK to meet up with suppliers at this year’s International Forecourt & Fuel Equipment (IFFE) show, held in Birmingham in March.
OIL – PEAK DEMAND
Debunking peak demand
The following outlines some of the latest developments within the Energy Institute’s (EI) Hydrocarbon Management Committee (HMC).
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