Topical Breakfast 1

2 August 2016

The Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers (SPEE) has recently published Monograph 4, providing guidance to forecast production and estimate developed reserves in low permeability reservoirs including shales, carbonates and sandstones. This talk will highlight key aspects of the Monograph, beginning with the impacts of geoscience, drilling, completions and operations. The focus then turns to conventional and alternative decline curve analysis, rate-transient analysis and numerical simulation techniques for forecasting well performance. The talk will close with a discussion of methods for quantifying uncertainty and a review of the worked example problems at the end of the Monograph.

Topical Breakfast 2

2 August 2016

Forecasting long-term energy trends begins with a simple fact: people need energy. Over the next few decades, population and income growth are expected to create new demands for energy. As people’s needs and modern technologies continue to evolve, so too will the energy landscape.

The scale and nature of this challenge is readily apparent in ExxonMobil’s Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040, a long-term global forecast of energy demand and supply trends. Understanding the factors and choices that drive the world’s energy needs is the mission of The Outlook. By sharing The Outlook, ExxonMobil hopes to broaden the understanding among individuals, businesses and governments.

Topical Breakfast 3

3 August 2016

On 17 December 2014, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a ban on so called high volume hydraulic fracturing activities in the state of New York. The unprecedented decision overturned two earlier findings from New York state environmental regulators that hydraulic fracturing technology could be applied safely and should be allowed to proceed under stringent regulation. The decision was at odds with broad agreement among scientists, engineers and regulators from state and federal environmental agencies that hydraulic fracturing has been executed safely for decades. The “ban fracking” agenda, endorsed by the Cuomo administration, has also been rejected by senior environmental officials in the Obama administration as simply too extreme. So, how was Governor Cuomo able to construct a justification for a decision that falls so far outside the mainstream? Energy in Depth, a project of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, examines the echo chamber that was built to drown out the facts in the debate over hydraulic fracturing and Marcellus Shale development in New York.

Topical Breakfast 4

3 August 2016

After decades of declining production and focus, the Permian Basin is going through a renaissance period with renewed interest and is now the most active oil and gas basin in North America. The basin is a key focus area for the E&P industry and the primary target of Private Equity investment, with some of the richest deal metrics and leasing costs in the unconventionals business. The basin is also proving to be resilient in the face of the current commodity price environment as industry adjusts to a ‘lower for longer’ world. What are the characteristics and conditions that are feeding the obsession with the Permian Basin and what are the opportunities and challenges lie ahead?