bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Management: The Evolution of Outsourcing and Insourcing in Oil and Gas Accounting
Authors: Adams Gary A. , Youdal Sam 
Published: February 2015

With fluctuating oil prices, the oil and gas industry is constantly looking for ways to reduce costs. Several companies outsourced their accounting operations in the mid-1990s, but many are now rethinking their decisions to take this plunge.
Many companies have evolved their thinking about back-office outsourcing. In the past, running unique, efficient back-office functions, such as accounting, human resources, or customer care, was considered to be a competitive advantage. However, most companies sustained large, costly departments that developed and maintained in-house proprietary systems. These systems were typically inefficient, comprising loosely connected processes. The introduction of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in the early 1990s made an efficient back-office operation a prerequisite. By design, ERP systems impose common processes and link functions that once may have been separated. With common processes and data in place, many set up centralized shared services to gain economies of scale. Companies were able to focus more on front-office operations, where competitive advantage is truly achieved. Subsequently, several firms took the next step by outsourcing their back-office operations to third-party companies. These outsourcers handled similar back-office operations across many companies, presumably achieving even greater synergies and cost savings for their customers.
Similar trends were seen in the US oil and gas industry, particularly in oil and gas production revenue accounting (PRA). As in other industries, oil and gas companies also once considered an internal, streamlined accounting operation as a competitive advantage. Most oil and gas companies developed and maintained inefficient in-house processes and systems to handle the vast array of functions that make up PRA. As oil and gas companies searched for ways to reduce costs in the 1990s—to counter fluctuating oil and gas prices—back-office accounting was considered to be "low-hanging fruit." Many also found that ERP systems improved accounting data accuracy and decision making and reduced costs. Production and revenue activities within the US oil and gas industry are complex and can vary significantly, making synergies more difficult to achieve. Production and revenue functions include land management, contracts, pricing, and revenue distribution to interest and royalty owners. In this environment, the skill sets needed to understand and navigate through regulations and laws are unique, and often differ significantly based on geography. ERP systems were designed to handle these complex requirements (Fig. 1).
Overview: Knowledge Management and Training (December 2007)
Authors: Ellul Ivor 
Published: February 2015

The topic of knowledge management has matured considerably over recent years, evolving from abstract discussion about the translation of raw data into useful information on to knowledge while presenting an exposé of the differences between explicit and tacit knowledge. These dialogues, more often than not, lacked cohesion as well as a clear impression of the effect on the industry's bottom line.
In reviewing the various papers for this year's feature, I have to remark about the superior quality and high degree of relevance of the various publications. One can witness a foundation of data acquisition and management in a continuum, which spans from the large volumes of data that comprise the static domain of the shared Earth model to the capacity to collect data on a continuous basis along the full profile of the wellbore. The latter is a clear demonstration of the great strides in technology made by the providers of data-gathering systems.
Until recently, many knowledge-management initiatives were hindered by an environment that was unable to make immediate and efficient use of all the data being acquired to benefit the operation of the asset. A mainstay in the downstream operation of refinery and pipeline systems, the upstream E&P industry has evolved slowly in accepting the value of real-time data. Clearly, we are now at an advanced stage of integration of technology and information that does, indeed, drive decision making on a continuous basis.
Coupling the advances described above with the ascribing of value to specific information provides added capability in making decisions that are bottom-line driven in an industry that depends increasingly on marginal assets as we focus on sustainability of current and future reserves. The papers featured this month provide an interesting wealth of information on the state of play of data-gathering technology, integration initiatives, operational deployment of digital oilfield environments, and the use of mentoring as a means of capturing and retaining knowledge. These are all excellent ingredients in a recipe for the continuing success of integrating knowledge management into mainstream E&P operations.
Knowledge Management and Training additional reading available at the SPE eLibrary: www.spe.org
SPE 106916 "From Sensors to Models to Visualization—Handling the Complex Data Flow" by Ø. Kolnes, SINTEF Petroleum Research, et al.
SPE 103287 "Sustained Competitive Advantage Through Structured Mentoring" by G. Arango, SPE, Hughes Christensen, et al.
SPE 108175 "Value-of-Information Applications in Unconventional Resource Plays" by Patrick E. Leach, Decision Strategies, et al.
Your SPE: Developing the SPE Partnership in Russia
Authors: Roodhart Leo 
Published: February 2015

President's column
After a fascinating trip to China, which I wrote about last month, the next stop on my global travels was Moscow. The local members were looking forward to the forthcoming SPE Russian Oil and Gas Technical Conference and Exhibition, where up to 3,000 delegates were expected, more than double the numbers two years ago when the first event was held.
I am a strong advocate of diversity among SPE members, ultimately to develop a richer and stronger society. We need to be mindful of different cultures and behaviours and discover ways to reach mutually acceptable solutions. For example, it is essential to understand something about the Russian culture in order to engage in a meaningful discussion about SPE, business, or life in general. Certain SPE values and principles, such as volunteerism, impartiality, non-commercialism and free exchange of information, are not as well understood in Russia. Indeed, I have been told that there is no Russian word for volunteerism—just as there is no Dutch word for embarrassment, so I was able happily to continue conversations that others might find awkward.
During my stay, I met with Moscow Section officers and senior personnel at Lukoil (Mr. Ravil Ulfatovich Maganov, First Vice President), Russneft (Mr. Alexander Ledonidovich Korsik, Chairman of the Board), Rosneft (Mr. Alexey Kuznetsov, Vice President of Innovation), Statoil/Hydro (Bengt Lie Hansen, President), Shell (Frank Denelle), Gazprom Academy of Technological Sciences (Prof. Boris Alexandrovich Nikitin, President), Schlumberger (Maurice Dujolle), and Weatherford (Mr. Kamil Zakirov, Vice President for Russia & CIS). All companies welcomed SPE's presence in Russia and promised to support our activities. Lukoil has purchased a subscription to the SPE eLibrary. Some companies plan to award their staff SPE membership in recognition of professional achievement—SPE membership will be seen as a privilege and an honour. It became clear to me that quality rather than quantity is the key to membership recruitment, focusing on people who see the benefits of becoming part of an international organization. These people are likely to be aged 40 and under and are likely to have some fluency in English.
For some Russian members, however, particularly the older ones, SPE really adds value only if everything is translated into Russian. All meetings, workshops, and conferences are equipped with simultaneous translation, which allows for the exchange of information between Russian presenters and their English-speaking counterparts and vice versa. This means that the SPE Russian Oil and Gas Technical Conference and Exhibition, for example, can accommodate an international line-up of speakers. And, SPE has just launched a bi-monthly online Russian-language newsletter, called SPE Review: Russia and the Caspian, containing some of the excellent Russian papers presented at various SPE events in recent years. All members in Russia and any Russian-speaking members else-where will benefit from access to this information.
Interval-Control Valve Meets Deepwater, HP/HT Needs
Authors: JPT staff _ 
Published: February 2015

Technology Update
As operators push into new, more demanding environments in the search for hydrocarbons, technology providers have stepped up efforts to design downhole equipment to meet the challenges. Nowhere is this scenario more evident than in deepwater settings at depths beyond 7,500 ft, where pressures and temperatures can be extremely high and often render completion equipment ineffective.
A durable interval-control valve (ICV), designed especially for deepwater and high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) conditions, has been developed recently by WellDynamics (a Halliburton company) as a key addition to the company's suite of intelligent-completion technologies. A core component of an intelligent-completion system, an ICV enables the control of well inflow or injection downhole, at the reservoir, without physical intervention. Operators, by this means, are able to optimize production and improve recovery (Fig. 1).
The inaugural installation of the valve, called the HS-ICV, was recently in progress at the StatoilHydro Snorre B complex and slated for completion while JPT was at the press. Additional installations are planned at the operator's Gøya and Tyrihans assets. StatoilHydro has been closely involved in the design and qualification of the new ICV.
A 15,000-psi version of this ICV, designed specifically to meet HP/HT needs in the Gulf of Mexico, is now being developed for a major operator. Currently, valve development is in the prototype stage, with qualification testing slated to conclude by mid-2009.

ICV Design and Operation
The ICV technology was developed with three goals in mind.Reliable performance in HP/HT conditions, encompassing temperatures up to 330°F and pressures up to 15,000 psiCompatibility with existing downhole-control and incremental-positioning systemsEnablement of closed-loop reservoir optimization
The ICV is actuated hydraulically and operated remotely from the surface by means of downhole-control-system technology. The valve design incorporates optional position sensors that, in conjunction with permanent monitoring systems, provide real-time feedback on the valve position.
The ICV also has been designed optimally to allow bypass of multiple hydraulic- or electric-control lines, without compromising the valve rating, and thus enables smooth, reliable ICV installation in complex, multizone applications where there are multiple control lines.

Metal-to-Metal Sealing
A key design feature of the ICV is a proprietary, debris-tolerant, metal-to-metal seal, which enables the valve to unload at differential pressures of up to 5,000 psi. The sealing system enables life-of-well performance in the most demanding environments and features a secondary thermoplastic wiper/seal, which eliminates the potential for seal damage caused by downhole debris. The sealing arrangement has been rigorously tested and qualified at low and high (15,000-psi) static pressure differentials, providing the basis for developing future, high-pressure versions of the valve.
High-Speed Wired-Drillstring Telemetry
Authors: Bybee Karen 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 113157, "High- Speed Wired Drillstring Telemetry Network Delivers Increased Safety, Efficiency, Reliability, and Productivity to the Drilling Industry," by M. Hernandez, SPE, D. MacNeill, SPE, and M. Reeves, SPE, IntelliServ, and A. Kirkwood, S. Lemke, J. Ruszka, SPE, and R. Zaeper, SPE, Baker Hughes, originally prepared for the 2008 SPE Indian Oil and Gas Technical Conference and Exhibition, Mumbai, India, 4-6 March. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
High-speed wired drillstrings enable two-way wireline communications between bottomhole assemblies (BHAs) and surface systems. Compared to even the most advanced mud-pulse telemetry (MPT), this new capability allows reliable communication with rotary-steerable systems (RSSs), measurement-while-drilling (MWD) systems, and logging-while-drilling (LWD) systems at data rates tens of thousands of times faster than before. The full-length paper describes the system development and discusses in detail the advantages immediately attainable when complete, memory-quality, drilling and evaluation data are provided instantaneously at surface while drilling.

Introduction
In 1964, a mud valve was suggested to transmit data up the mud column. In the 1970s, transmission of data from tools in the BHA to the surface was achieved. This system, MPT, used pressures pulses created in the downhole tools and transmitted through the continuous column of drilling fluid to surface where they were detected by use of a pressure transducer and then decoded. This revolutionized the directional-drilling industry by providing the directional driller with real-time information for determining the geometric position of the wellbore and steering-system performance. This resulted in significant gains in directional-drilling efficiency and accuracy while simultaneously reducing risk.
Companies soon recognized the value of MPT and developed formation-evaluation devices within the BHA. Transmission of these data to surface in real time allowed the well trajectory to be referenced to geological features. Initially, natural gamma ray (GR) and basic resistivity devices were introduced, and this soon expanded to an ever-increasing range of sophisticated devices. These devices provide a wide range of data sets, equivalent to wireline-acquired data in quality but acquired in real time very soon after the formation was drilled. To take full advantage of these measurements to influence decisions in real time, a dramatic increase in data-transmission rates from downhole to surface was required. MPT technology continuously improved to allow transmission rates of up to approximately 20 bits/second (bps) in practice. This, however, still fell short of the transmission rates required to maximize real-time use of the latest LWD systems.
Efficient Conceptual Design of an Offshore Gas-Gathering Network
Authors: Denney Dennis 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper SPE 116593, "Efficient Conceptual Design of an Offshore Gas-Gathering Network," by M.J. Watson, SPE, N.J. Hawkes, P.F. Pickering, SPE, Feesa, and L.D. Brown, ConocoPhillips, prepared for the 2008 SPE Asia Pacific Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition, Perth, Australia, 20-22 October. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
Offshore gas-gathering networks require large capital investments in wells, subsea equipment, pipelines, and compression systems. A thermal/hydraulic integrated-production model (IPM) was used to evaluate many design options for such systems. IPM calculations were performed to establish the phasing of drilling, field development, and compression necessary to sustain required gas-delivery rates.

Introduction
Conceptual design in the upstream industry can confirm if a project concept is economically feasible and then directs later design stages toward an optimal design. Many options must be analyzed to find workable solutions and highlight the potential of new technologies. With new developments in harsher environments and with fluid properties becoming more difficult, the possible use of a traditional tieback solution decreases and the need for new technologies increases. Consequently, a multidisciplinary approach to concept design is beneficial because disciplines such as drilling, flow-assurance, process, and corrosion engineering may influence feasibility as much as traditional subsurface factors. The difficulty is keeping the disciplines aligned with each other. This is particularly difficult during conceptual design when the rate of change is usually at its greatest.
The system of interest is a large gas-gathering network with multiple drill centers. Although common, these fields are in a region with extreme ambient-temperature conditions where the annual window for drilling is comparatively short. A key objective was to investigate the development plan for offshore facilities within which the drilling schedule could be "stretched out" while maintaining the required gas-production rates.
The model for this study is shown in Fig. 1. It consists of eight small gas reservoirs (DC-1 through DC-8), individually tied back to an offshore processing and compression facility on a larger reservoir (the Hub), which is approximately 150 km from an onshore processing facility. Production commences with wells at the Hub. When production from the Hub field declines below the capacity of the processing facility, satellite fields are brought on successively. When compression is required, the wells are switched from a high-pressure (HP) to a low-pressure (LP) manifold in a manner to meet production targets and minimize compression horsepower.
Comments: The Industry and Climate Change
Authors: Donnelly John 
Published: February 2015

Editor's column
Energy companies will keep a close eye on this month's global summit on climate change in Copenhagen, hoping to get some direction on how global environmental policies will affect the industry for years to come.
More than 100 countries will meet to negotiate a world-wide framework for tackling climate change and create a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol. Although the causes and extent of climate change may be controversial, there is no doubt that public policy is moving in a direction that will burden industry with more public scrutiny, more reporting requirements on emissions and other data, and more costs related to reducing emissions. The situation is similar to the 1970s and 1980s in which the oil industry suddenly faced a slate of new health, safety, and environmental regulations. "The pressure to reduce global greenhouse-gas emissions is becoming a defining feature for the energy sector," says Robert LaCount, a senior director at IHS/Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) and head of their Climate Change and Clean Energy Group.
An agreement at the summit could pave the way for rapid development and use of carbon capture and storage technology, or could spur the process of developing a global cap-and-trade scheme. A cap-and-trade market would set a carbon emissions limit for companies or countries but would allow them to buy allowances from others that were under their cap. Many transportation sectors favor this approach in lieu of carbon taxes.
But it is becoming clear that changes will need to be made on both the supply and demand side of the equation no matter how aggressive new emissions targets are. On the demand side, limits may be placed on fossil fuel use and there will need to be aggressive investment in improving energy efficiency. On the supply side, meeting emissions targets would appear to support more use of nuclear, renewables such as wind and solar, biofuels, and implementing carbon capture and storage technologies. Limits on coal use by utilities could greatly increase natural-gas use. In short, the world will require more energy at a much-reduced impact on the environment.
Going forward, oil and gas firms will be required to assess their "carbon footprint" and report those results to stakeholders and regulatory bodies, IHS/CERA believes. Stakeholders will increasingly demand, and governments will require, more quantitative and less qualitative sustainability reports from oil companies. Environmental policies will become a business driver, informing strategy and investment decisions, and environmental issues will become more important financially as greenhouse-gas emissions become an asset or liability in cap-and-trade programs. Firms will need to track emissions, manage emission-reduction targets, assess performance, report to regulatory agencies, and evaluate the operational impact. Although there is no consensus on policy as of yet, oil and gas companies should prepare for a more complex future.
IOCs, NOCs, and Service Companies: An Emerging Innovation Ecology
Authors: Karanjikar Mukund , Jakubenas Kevin 
Published: February 2015

Guest editorial
The collaboration landscape for new oil and gas projects has changed significantly in the past several years because of the need to bring massive production projects on line in shorter times. No company can do it alone. A triangular involvement of international oil companies (IOCs), national oil companies (NOCs), and service companies has become a necessity.
The driver for this new collaboration landscape is the scope of challenges facing new projects, including project locations, country policies, capital, technology, and the ability to manage the production. In the era of easy oil, location and capital were the prominent reasons for collaboration. But with today's harder-to-access oil, technology plays a more pivotal role in the success of projects. The IOC/NOC/service company collaborative landscape presents a set of opportunities as well as challenges for technological development. Collaboration is now an integral part of technological innovation. Productive collaboration for innovation requires an ecology unlike one that oil and gas industry has previously seen.

Partnering for Innovation
Partnering for innovation is vastly different from partnering for capital or resources. Capital and resources exist and can be quantified using well-accepted methods; technological innovation is a promise of a better future based on ideas. Innovation is a matter of creating something that does not currently exist. Collaborative innovation is getting multiple groups to work toward a goal in which the path is unknown and discoveries may not occur on schedule. A vast amount of knowledge and ideas has to change hands before a useful piece of technology can be deployed. Learning occurs everywhere: in the field, glass-front offices, world-class laboratories, or at pilot rigs.
To understand the various skills required, it is worth examining more closely the respective roles of IOCs, NOCs, and service companies in the current innovation ecology.

IOCs.
These have been the leaders in the "ability to produce oil." The know-how of more than 100 years in managing resources around the world resides within these companies, and they have created many of the game-changing technological breakthroughs that enable today's oil and gas production. IOCs also have a very strong global intellectual-property (IP) portfolio that spans the entire value chain from exploration to distribution. Their manufacturing ability is a unique strength for future innovations as downstream knowledge is leading to innovations in the upstream development of challenging resources.

Service Companies.
In today's world, it is impossible to produce without the involvement of service companies. Service companies originated in operations but now successfully manage technologies and have been responsible for numerous technological innovations. In the process, these have managed to develop a strong IP portfolio with respect to their core competencies.