IN ADDITION to my regular duties at the helm of InnovOil, much of my time is now spent looking at
electric vehicles (EVs).

In general, much of the oil industry considers the EV to be somewhere between a mortal enemy and a far-off dream. In reality, however, adoption rates are rising – Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) reported that during H1 2016 global sales were 285,000, up 57% on the same peri...

One year on, Statoil has announced impressive results from its Åsgard subsea compression system, while the project partners intend to take the technology to the next level

Just over a year ago, in September 2015, Statoil and a number of engineering collaborators began production from the world’s first subsea gas compression system at the Åsgard field in the Norwegian Sea. In the interim, the system...

Allspeeds launches ROV-mounted cut loop cutter for BOPs

Working with blow-out preventers (BOPs), reliability and redundancy tend to be the watchwords. But in the event of failure or emergency, back-up solutions have to be even more robust. 

One such option is subsea intervention. This uses remotely operated tools to prevent a blowout once all control or topside solutions have failed to work. In man...

After more than a decade of dwindling energy production Argentina is back on the radar for IOCs, though lower costs and long-term political stability are necessary catalysts for investment, Charles Newbery reports from Buenos Aires

At a conference in Buenos Aires last month, some of the most used words among participants were “opportunity” and “Vaca Muerta”.

The government of President Mauricio Macr...

Wison Offshore & Marine has delivered the world’s first operational FLNG unit – albeit with a much smaller capacity than those its rivals are developing, writes Graham Lees

At a time when the upstream industry is in the doldrums, plunging China’s offshore service shipyards into crisis, a Chinese marine engineering company has pipped the rest of the world with the first floating LNG (FLNG) unit.
A n...

Aquaterra Energy and Plexus Holdings have devised a high-pressure riser, enabling safer HPHT developments using jack-up rigs

As costs continue to be pressured, operators have attempted to do more with less. That might be achieving greater production with smaller budgets, or use older equipment to tackle new problems. With regards to the latter, the humble jack-up rig may be next in line for an upgr...

Mike Scott visits Siemens’ Distributed Generation Plant in Finspang, Sweden to see how 3D printing is transforming the ways in which the company approaches innovation

Most of readers will be no strangers to the revolutionary implications of 3D printing. Even oil and gas, typically a slow adopter, is beginning to catch on in light of its ability to improve maintenance schedules and component invento...

Using satellite data and computer modelling, geoscientists may now be able to analyse and predict seismic events caused by wastewater injection, writes Ros Davidson

Increasingly, the US is feeling the effects of earthquakes linked to wastewater injection by oil and gas operators. In the central US, in states such as Texas and Oklahoma, between 1973 and 2008 there was an average of 24 earthquakes a...

LumaSense Technologies’ director of product management, Lenny Shaver, explains how the company’s IR and pyrometer technologies can improve flare monitoring

Flaring systems are common in many industries to burn gases before they enter the atmosphere. The safe operation of a flaring system requires the continuous monitoring of pilot flames and flared gases to ensure that vented gases are ignited.

As...

Scottish university spin-out Synaptec has developed new monitoring technology, allowing operators to measure hundreds of data points miles apart, using a single fibre-optic cable

The humble fibre-optic has transformed the way that systems capture and transmit information. Yet even with the dramatic advances of recent years, innovators are only really scratching the surface of what the medium can do...

What caught our attention outside the world of oil and gas this month

Low-power transistors could replace batteries

Engineers at the University of Cambridge have developed a new type of ultralow power transistors which could function for months – even years – without a battery by “scavenging” energy from their environment.

Using a similar principle to a computer’s sleep mode, the new transistor harn...

Researchers at Imperial College London successfully test wireless airborne battery charging

Scientists have demonstrated a “highly efficient” method for wirelessly transferring power to a drone while it is flying.
The breakthrough could, in theory, allow flying drones to stay airborne indefinitely - simply hovering over a ground support vehicle to recharge - opening up new potential industrial appl...

Aker Solutions has unveiled a new, low-cost semi-submersible rig design for marginal field development

As marginal field development becomes a more serious concern for operators and engineers, new innovation in the rig market is beginning to reflect the changing concerns of the industry. With day rates and utilisation so low, many rigs, whether semi-submersible or jack-up, can be overdesigned and o...

US-based Gas Technologies has developed technology which could transform the economics of stranded gas.

Despite recent efforts, stranded gas remains a difficult issue for the industry. Legislation on carbon emissions, and a growing global movement against flaring, means that more associated gas will have to be used, converted or stored.

In many cases gas-to-liquid (GTL) technologies, although increa...