R&D the oil & gas key
Our civilisation is built on affordable and sustainable energy. In order to access that energy, companies that invest in R&D and manage the R&D process will be the likely winners of tomorrow. The shale revolution was enabled by advances in 3D seismic and directional drilling. The next “unconventional revolution” may be methane hydrates, ‘the ice that burns’. GE are looking at it.
Subsea Gas Compression and seabed production is another area of technology advance that may see game-changing increases in access to hydrocarbon resources.
Last week’s Economist featured an article that emphasised the competitive advantages of the major OSCs such as Halliburton and Schlumberger that invest significantly in R&D.
This features in Shale Gas World Europe, Shale Gas World Argentina, Oil & Gas Outlook North Sea, and the World National Oil Companies Congress.
at 7:36 pm
Interesting thoughts, though I don’t know that that’s exactly how the society is built…
at 7:53 am
Hi, Martin Wolfe argues the case better than me here http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7d298f50-5c85-11e1-8f1f-00144feabdc0.html#axzz225flEkhC
The point being that much of what we regard as our civilisation is built on an assumption of affordable, secure energy. If the cost of energy changes dramatically, so must our assumptions about economic growth and prosperity and development.