Stephen Whitfield

Stephen Whitfield is the Max Richter Professor of American Civilization, Emeritus at Brandeis.

Assessing Operational Readiness for Restart of Wafra Oil Field  Oil and Gas Facilities

Better Abandonment Cost Estimates Yield Improved Project Valuations  Oil and Gas Facilities

New Innovations Enable Autonomous Pipeline Inspections spe.org  Oil and Gas Facilities

Offshore wind makes up less than 1% of the current energy mix, but analysts have it pegged as a potential trillion-dollar business in the near future. That growth presents an opportunity for operators to reduce costs and their carbon footprint through the electrification of their offshore platforms.

The digital transformation is a risky proposition for oil and gas companies adapting to a rapidly changing business environment, but a failure to adapt could spell trouble for the industry.

The deal for ConocoPhillips’s northern Australian portfolio will help the Australian company boost its position in the country’s gas market, as it gains majority ownership in a set of key assets including Darwin LNG and the Barossa project.

Equinor is working on a natural language processing tool that could combine data sources and help planners anticipate the issues that affect onsite operational safety.

The E&P sector has maintained a strong focus on capital discipline during its recovery from the 2014 oil price downturn, as investors look for companies to generate free cash flow to help pay down debt. How will this focus affect sector growth in the near term?

Thermal imaging helps operators maintain regulatory compliance on methane-emissions requirements. Optical gas imaging technology may be an answer in allowing for faster, more efficient inspections, but there are hurdles to its adoption. How can its widespread use become a reality?

One of the largest pre-sanction fields on the UK Continental Shelf, Rosebank, could significantly bolster the company’s UK portfolio. However, the field’s water depth and harsh environment may run development costs into the multibillion-dollar range.

High-fidelity 3D engineering simulations are valuable in making decisions, but they can be cost-prohibitive and require significant amounts of time to execute. The integration of deep-learning neural networks with computational fluid dynamics may help accelerate the simulation process.

The oil price downturn spawned a lull in deepwater enthusiasm, but better project execution and reduced project lead times have helped operators achieve lower costs and better returns. What does the landscape for deep water look like in the near term? Will operators get more involved?

Data volumes are growing at an exponential rate. How can high-performance computing solutions help operators manage these volumes? Will faster, stronger processors and cloud computing solutions be the answer?

Operators in the Permian Basin are looking for new ways to handle the rising volumes of produced water coming out of the region without using saltwater disposal wells. One solution, treatment for discharge, could provide an efficient alternative.

Pipeline approvals can be a polarizing topic and advocacy for their viability is crucial for companies. What technologies are being developed to help bolster pipeline integrity, and how is the industry working to assure the general public of their safety and reliability?

An influx of new investment and operational efficiencies borne out of the oil price downturn have led to a drop in projected decommissioning costs. Decommissioning multiple wells in one campaign helped some operators achieve time savings of 33% per well.

Learn more about Leonard Bernstein’s FBI file in the exhibition “The Power of Music,” on display through Nov. 20 in Spingold Theater Center on the Brandeis campus. It is open Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., and Thursday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m, and is free and open to th…

As operators look for cost-efficient ways to address the challenges in facility maintenance and deepwater exploration, autonomous underwater vehicles are being developed for complex data gathering and advanced tasks.

As rig counts continue to go up in the region, the Permian water disposal market is expected to see growth through 2021 with a possible record-high 8.4 billion bbl next year.