HEAVY IRON NEWS
Drillers Look To Increase Efficiency With Ambient Seismic Imaging
- By Design Team
- •
- 29 Mar, 2016
As both crude oil and natural gas prices continue to drop, many oil and gas companies have been looking at ways to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their oil and gas production. Rather than scaling back operations, companies are increasingly looking towards technology to reduce costs and thereby increase profits. Ambient seismic imaging is a new tool that could radically improve the process of discovery.
THE BENEFITS OF AMBIENT SEISMIC IMAGING
Ambient seismic imaging uses data to create a geographic map of potential oil and gas resources. The predictive technology provides a non-invasive way for geoscientists to determine areas that have the highest possible likelihood of fruitful drilling. In the past, the discovery of new oil and gas resources often required that disruptive and expensive physical exploration be done. Often, oil and gas companies spend millions of dollars exploring areas in which oil and gas are not found. This greatly increases the driller's cost per barrel. By making it easier, faster, and less expensive to reliably discover oil and gas resources, ambient seismic imagining will lower the per barrel extraction prices of oil and gas companies.
And it isn't just about cost. Ambient seismic imaging will also make the process of recovering oil much faster, thereby making it easier to produce the large volumes of oil and natural gas that the world will need. It's believed that the next decade will see a drastically increased need for oil and gas as the usage of coal goes down. Oil and gas are both substantially better for the environment than coal, and a shift towards natural gas has already vastly reduced pollution throughout the world.
THE DANGER OF SCALING BACK PRODUCTION
Seismic imaging is only one of many ways that North American oil and gas companies are now seeking to reduce their costs. Oil and gas companies have been using revolutionary new methods such as hydraulic fracturing in efforts to reduce the overall expenses related to their process and begin making significant per barrel profits again. The oil and gas market is currently artificially depressed because of the actions of OPEC, and more specifically Saudi Arabia. These actions have been taken with the express goal of driving North American oil and gas out of the market. If North American companies choose to scale back their production, both the United States and Canada will find themselves once again dependent on foreign oil once the market rebounds.
The need for oil and natural gas is constantly rising, and the world's energy needs cannot be currently met by sustainable or alternative fuels. By ramping up production through methods such as ambient seismic imaging, unconventional drillers will also be able to ensure the world's energy future. Equally importantly, through these methods, domestic oil and gas companies will be able to retain their hold on the current oil and gas market. Heavy Iron Oilfield Services offers a wide range of affordable rental equipment for oil and gas companies looking to reduce their costs. Contact Heavy Iron Oilfield Services today for a quote.
Subscribe to Email Updates
Recent Post
| A new project in development in Oman may be able to revolutionize the way that people think about solar energy and oil and gas. The Miraah project currently being developed will use solar power in order to produce oil, thereby reducing the amount of natural gas Oman residences will need to rely upon. Ideally, the Miraah project will be able to address many of the outstanding issues with solar technology related to energy capture, while creating a more efficient and effective method of oil production. |
Xodus Group, an international group of energy consultants, has now completed the first stage of its multiphase flow research project
, and is now entering the second. Multiphase flow is designed to research, simulate, and predict how dynamic forces act within the piping that is commonly used throughout the oil and gas industry, for a better understanding of the technology's potential improvements.
Reports have revealed that two-thirds of the natural gas in the United States are now coming from fracking
, thanks to the extensive shale gas resources and the proliferation of unconventional drilling throughout the country. Natural gas is increasingly being used throughout the globe as a more environmentally-friendly alternative to goal, and the domestic energy markets are seeing a significant reduction in utility costs.
As the oil and gas industry has been hard at work decreasing its oil production costs, the oil transportation industry has been similarly engaged. The need for oil transportation on a national and global level has been increasing alongside the need for oil throughout the world. As oil production ramps up in the United States, the old oil transportation methods have become insufficient and inefficient for the new volume of materials that need to be moved. New technologies are presently being developed to make it easier and faster to transport oil, thereby reducing overhead for the industry as a whole.
The Gulf of Mexico has been steadily increasing its oil production despite concerns regarding plummeting oil prices. In fact, production has increased enough that the Gulf of Mexico is expected to reach a record high in 2017. Many oil production companies and unconventional drillers have increased production throughout the United States rather than slowing down. Despite this, oil and gas remains a big and booming business.
