Petroleum – Oil and Natural Gas

Ultra-deep Water Operations

A major obstacle to producing tomorrow’s oil and gas resources is operation in ultra-deep water. The frontier of oil exploration continues to be offshore, over 10,000 feet/3,048 meters below sea level. Operating in this environment requires billions of dollars and boundless technical expertise. Safely and economically bringing oil to the surface requires experts in everything from underwater vehicles that install subsea equipment to structural engineers that make sure the huge floating platforms can withstand large waves. Operators must be able to hit a seemingly tiny target that they cannot see over 30,000 feet/9,144 meters under the surface—all while floating on waves. To put this in perspective, it is a bit like a quarterback trying to throw a football to his wide receiver more than 100 football fields away! Innovation will continue to drive this frontier into new territory.

Environmental Care

We depend on oil and gas for a host of products we use in our everyday lives, and we will continue to depend on them for years to come. And while oil and gas production may contribute to the greenhouse effect on the environment, the industry is doing its part to offset those effects while still meeting the world’s petroleum demands.

Already great strides have been made to ensure that oil and gas producers make as little impact as possible on the natural environments in which they operate. This includes drilling multiple wells from a single location or pad to minimize damages to the surface, employing environmentally sound chemicals to stimulate well production, and ensuring a seamless transition from the wellhead to the consumer. While conventional oil and gas operations have been streamlined to maximize human safety and environmental protection, development of unconventional resources like Canada’s oil sands and Colorado’s oil shale will require major technological innovations.

Exploitation of these resources will be important in meeting tomorrow’s energy demand, but current methods consume large quantities of water and depend on expansive surface operations. How can the vast potential locked in these resources be tapped in a more efficient, environmentally sound manner? Research today focuses on inserting heaters into rock formations below the surface to convert the heavy hydrocarbons into liquid that can then be drained and produced by more conventional oil wells. Such a process would dramatically reduce the impact of these unconventional sources on the surface. However, the next generation of engineers and scientists must further refine this technology or generate new ideas in order to tackle these problems.