It pays
to be technologically clever in the energy business. In what is
becoming a race to replace rapidly depleting oil and gas
reserves, technology is increasingly playing a decisive role in
finding new oil.
When
Apache started exploring for new reserves in Egypt in 2001, the
company was told by industry veterans that shooting
three-dimensional seismic images -- a common way of detecting
pockets of hydrocarbons -- wouldn't work in a desert
environment. If true, that meant that the only way to figure out
if there was oil under the Egyptian sands was costly and
inefficient, by drilling one hole in the ground after another,
randomly and blindly.
Specialists in complex data sets to study the "noise" that the
3-D surveys were yielding as a result of shifting sands and
long-buried rivers were called in. Apache ended up building a
new program to analyze the data they already had. The result?
Apache's 2003 discovery of the Qasr natural-gas field in the
area was its largest find ever, with reserves estimated at 2.3
trillion cubic feet, and the company is now the third-largest
energy producer in Egypt, with production there accounting for a
fifth of its production revenues.
Apache
is not alone in finding and applying better technology for
greater oil and gas discoveries. Oil-services companies like
Schlumberger also are focusing intently on new approaches, which
range from new seismic technologies to "underpressure drilling,"
a way of extracting more oil from complex geological structures.
The
winners will be those that can deploy the newest technologies to
boost their reserves markedly at a time when most rivals are
fighting just to replace production.
Many
energy companies believe the biggest discoveries will be found
offshore -- in waters thousands of feet deep in areas ranging
from the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of West Africa. A few years
ago, it would have been hard to identify these fields, much less
develop them economically. Now higher prices and technology
advances are making deepwater exploration one of the hottest
areas in the industry. But it's still extremely expensive.
Some
oil service companies have established a strong niche for their
technological innovations. Cameron International and FMC
Technologies, for examples, specialize in providing deepwater
and subsea drilling technologies. FMC, which is working on
technologies to separate water from oil at the ocean floor, has
just won a $200 million contract to supply Norsk Hydro with
subsea systems. Offshore, where wells can cost $500,000 a day
to drill, using new technologies to cut drilling time and boost
the likelihood of success carries translates into a great deal
of value.
Weatherford International, another oil-services company, boosted
R&D spending to $150 million in 2006 from $84 million in 2004
and now accounts for more oil-field technology patents than any
company other than Halliburton. A major focus of these efforts
has been in what is known as under-balanced or near-balanced
drilling, a technology that exerts less force on the geological
structure being drilled and enables producers to get more oil or
gas out without contaminating the field with fluids used in
traditional drilling.
Giant
Schlumberger company's WesternGeco division has pioneered what
is known as "Q" seismic, a way of using sound waves to improve
measurement of geological formations and faults. Schlumberger
does the analysis itself, and delivers the results to the
clients.
Industry experts don’t believe that there are giant oil fields
remaining to be discovered -- "elephant" discoveries will be few
and far between. But as even the Saudis turn to new kinds of
multilateral horizontal drilling technologies to maximize
recovery rates at their now-mature fields, new technologies
could prolong the life of the oil-based global economy.
The
“new” oil that is now most being looked for may lies in
reservoirs that have already been discovered, and new
technologies will be the key to finding these discoveries.
Write to or for AFRIK
ENERGY News. We value your comments,
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