Overview

Our industry prides itself on the development of innovative and cost-effective technologies to address the world’s ever-growing demand for energy. Technology is being developed and applied at an unprecedented pace to all parts of the natural gas supply chain, from production to distribution, as we continue to develop this resource into a leading global energy supply. Over the past year, industry news has highlighted technology developments in many of the downstream areas, including liquefied natural gas, international gas-pipeline projects, gas-to-wire applications, and clean fuels derived from natural gas.

In reviewing papers for this feature, I found that development of upstream technology to address production of the world’s gas reserves is moving ahead at a pace that rivals downstream-technology developments. New gas resources are becoming more challenging to develop because of geological and reservoir complexities. Sustaining well productivity continues to challenge our production methods as more reservoirs tap unconventional gas, deep-horizon gas, and condensate reservoirs. The upstream sector is responding with an increased focus in developing new technologies to address these challenges. And it is being done in all sectors of the industry, from the national and major energy companies to service and equipment companies to research institutions.

The selected papers highlight just a few of the technologies that are being investigated, are under development, or are being applied to recovery and production issues. The papers describe newly developed methods to monitor and optimize production, address near-wellbore problems through optimization of methods in practice today, and discuss potential future applications in near-wellbore conditioning. Our choice in making natural gas a leading source of energy for the world will be driven by technology and by an industry investing in that technology today and tomorrow. I encourage readers to review the additional-reading list to gain a full appreciation for the wide spectrum of technology development under way throughout the natural gas supply chain.

Flow Profiling Gas Wells With Distributed-Temperature-Sensing Data

Laboratory and Field-Trial Results of Condensate-Bank Removal in Retrograde-Gas Reservoirs

Cleaning Up Water Blocking in Gas Reservoirs by Microwave Heating

John Vitucci, SPE, is a senior project manager for FMC Technologies and is responsible for managing global subsea-development projects. He was formerly the gas-to-liquid (GTL) technology development manager for GTL MicroSystems, a joint venture of FMC Technologies. Vitucci has more than 20 years experience in various sectors of the oil and gas industry including exploration and production, midstream, refining, GTL, and offshore project development. Before joining FMC Technologies, he held positions with Arco Alaska, Coastal, and Amerada Hess. Vitucci serves on the JPT Editorial Committee and holds a BS degree in petroleum engineering from Pennsylvania State U. and an MBA degree from the U. of Pittsburgh.

Overview

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