Oil & Gas Engineering’s most-viewed articles for 2015

Articles about hacking oil and gas control systems, oil and gas prices, future oil and gas workers, pigging your line, and predictive analytics hitting the midstream were Oil and Gas Engineering's five most clicked articles for 2015. Learn more.

Virtual servers maintain uptime, save on Capex

As the connected enterprise takes hold in the manufacturing world, it is also moving into the oil and gas industry. Virtualization ensures uptime remains constant in the event of a crash.

Black October on the horizon

The price of oil may not have hit the nadir yet, supply is almost double that of demand, and the Iran deal may slash oil prices to new lows.

Pemex offers insight into shale stratagies at Global Petroleum Show

Pemex, Mexico's national oil company, revealed they are planning on extracting from shale plays along the eastern side of the country as well as the Mexico-Texas border.

U.S.-Canada trade partnership a main focus at Global Petroleum Show

Canada’s Global Petroleum Show (GPS) in Calgary will highlight the strong trade partnership between the U.S. and Canada as companies and individual states will look to grow and add to their business deals.

Industry trends: Iran, Yemen contributing to oil market turmoil

Iran’s potential access to world markets may drive oil prices down while conflicts in Yemen are speculative and have no real bearing on the international oil market.

Smart cement revolutionizes well casings

Cumaraswamy “Vipu” Vipulanandan, professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the Center for Innovative Grouting Materials and Technology at the University of Houston (UH) created smart cement. It has great potential in the oil and gas industry with revolutionary properties beyond the oil-well cement currently used.

Dirty pipelines decrease flow, production—pig your line

Allen Pennington, president of Pigs Unlimited International located in Tomball, Texas, shared his industry insights about the challenges related to pipeline cleaning.

Automation advancing in the oil and gas industry

Siemens’ Oil and Gas Innovations Conference in Houston highlighted developments in automation and data management products for an industry where few have upgraded aging technology and many struggle to be more efficient in an environment that demands it.

Country intelligence report: USA

The U.S. is now one of the major oil and gas producing countries of the world. The shale fracking revolution brought the country to where it is today.

Company building manufacturing site and customer service center in Tennessee

ABB is investing $30 million in building a new manufacturing site in Memphis, Tenn., that will focus on smart products and the Internet of Things (IoT) for industries like oil and gas, power generation, mining, and health care.

Developments to watch at the University of Houston

Ramanan Krishnamoorti, the chief energy officer at the University of Houston, talked about some of the developments and research they are performing including nanotechnology, distributed acoustic sensing, and using real-time data in exploration.

Country intelligence report: Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s largest oil producing countries and it is the main driver of OPEC. It is currently keeping oil production high to cripple the economies of Russia and Iran and indirectly slow the U.S. shale boom.

Industry trends: Restorative hibernation

The start of 2015 looks uncertain for the U.S. oil and gas industry given the continuing supply glut and slumping prices. The overall slowdown is beginning, however, and this may be the time to upgrade and integrate systems for increased efficiency when the industry ramps up again.

Digital oilfield technology demonstrated

Digital oilfields are becoming more and more important to ensure the utmost efficiency in the production phase as companies look to cut costs as oil prices continue to drop worldwide.

Country Intelligence Report: Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is poised to be a major provider of gas to the east via Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Pipeline (TAPI). The proposed Trans-Caspian pipeline could be a viable option to transport to the west, but due to the loggerhead over delimitation of the Caspian Sea between the littoral states, this major project remains a pipe dream for now.

Industry Trends

The era of cheap gasoline is here again, but it caught the industry in a precarious situation, as it may become an unprofitable business to produce oil and gas from shale formations. It could potentially turn the boom into a bust. However, production is up in the U.S.