The January issue of Oilfield Technology kicks off the year by focusing its Regional Report on the frozen Arctic region and examines the challenges faced by companies operating there. The issue’s lead feature examines Subsea Challenges, whilst the rest of the issue contains content on a variety of topics, including: Seismic Modelling, Downhole Tools, Shale Gas, Offshore Coatings, HPHT, Flow Control and Mooring Systems.
03 Editorial comment
05 World news
10 On top of the world
Oilfield Technology Correspondent Gordon Cope examines the state of the oil and gas industry in the highly challenging Arctic region.
16 Acclimatising to the Arctic
Olaf Bohne, KCA Deutag, Russia, explains how land drilling operations are managed and supported against the challenges of harsh Arctic winters and remote locations.
19 Extending the curve
Colin McKay Miller, Vortex Tools, USA, examines a series of tools that can extend the decline curve in downhole applications.
23 Keeping afloat
Mike Churchill, Churchill Drilling Tools, UK, examines a new float system that can cut running into hole (RIH) constraints, time and costs.
26 HPHT heats up
Tormod Veiberg, AGR, Norway, emphasises the operational and planning conditions for successful HPHT drilling projects.
31 Getting to grips with CFD
Chris Smith, Xodus Group, Australia, presents a dynamic approach to flow assurance modelling using computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
35 Downhole heating
Alistair Hill and Rick Newell, Pentair Thermal Management, UK, profile an electric downhole heating system for preventing wax buildup in wells offshore Africa.
39 Taking stock
Jonathon Miller, Florence Kosmala and Bob Wilde, InterMoor Inc., USA, provide a historical review of the offshore mooring industry and look at what the future holds for this field.
43 Less is more
A new generation of micro-fine high technology coatings promise to increase durability in the harshest of conditions. Ian Haggan, Tecvac, UK, outlines the processes and materials available.
47 Atom by atom
Yuri Zhuk, Hardide Coatings, UK, describes the inventive coatings changing the offshore oil and gas landscape at the atomic level.
51 Cutting the cost of corrosion
Andrew Courtney, Surface Technology, UK, looks at the issue of corrosion and the preventative steps that can be taken in component design, specification and manufacture.
53 Seeing with seismic
Hamed Amini and Erick Alvarez, Senergy Ltd., UK, focus on different applications of seismic modelling in reservoir characterisation and monitoring.
59 A different outlook
J.Y. Guigné, C.J. Clements, J. Stacey, A.A. Pant, W.R. Hunt and A. Gogacz, Acoustic Zoom Inc., Canada, examine the benefits of a new seismic exploration/exploitation technique that can enable high-resolution imaging of subtle, complex, diffuse geological structures.
63 Supporting subsea solutions
Alan Pickering, Unison, UK, discusses the changing face of tube fabrication for offshore oil and gas applications.
66 Shale gas in Europe: a bumpy road ahead
Grzegorz Pytel, Futurisk LLP, UK, provides an overview of the challenges faced by the shale industry as efforts continue to spread the ‘revolution’ to Europe.
69 Evaluating the Eagle Ford
Dave Bucior and Jon Spencer, Tracerco, USA, evaluate the performance of unconventional wells in the Eagle Ford using oil tracer technology.