How innovation and R&D happen in the upstream oil & gas industry : insights from a global survey

Few would disagree that the upstream oil & gas industry has become more technology-intensive over the years. But how does innovation happen in the industry? Specifically, what ideas and inputs flow from which parts of the sector׳s value network, and where do these inputs go? And how do firms and organizations from different countries contribute differently to this process? This paper puts forward the results of a survey designed to shed light on these questions. Carried out in collaboration with the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), the survey was sent to 469 executives and senior managers who played a significant role with regard to R&D and/or technology deployment in their respective business units. A total of 199 responses were received from a broad range of organizations and countries around the world. Several interesting themes and trends emerge from the results, including: (1) service companies tend to file considerably more patents per innovation than other types of organization; (2) over 63% of the deployed innovations reported in the survey originated in service companies; (3) neither universities nor government-led research organizations were considered to be valuable sources of new information and knowledge in the industry׳s R&D initiatives, and; (4) despite the increasing degree of globalization in the marketplace, the USA still plays an extremely dominant role in the industry׳s overall R&D and technology deployment activities. By providing a detailed and objective snapshot of how innovation happens in the upstream oil & gas sector, this paper provides a valuable foundation for future investigations and discussions aimed at improving how R&D and technology deployment are managed within the industry. The methodology did result in a coverage bias within the survey, however, and the limitations arising from this are explored.

Experimental investigations of improved dielectric condition monitoring methods on transformer oil-paper insulation system

Frequency Domain Spectroscopy (FDS) is successfully being used to assess the insulation condition of oil filled power transformers. However, it has to date only been implemented on de-energized transformers, which requires the transformers to be shut down for an extended period which can result in significant costs. To solve this issue, a method of implementing FDS under energized condition is proposed here. A chirp excitation waveform is used to replace the conventional sinusoidal waveform to reduce the measurement time in this method. Investigation of the dielectric response under the influence of a high voltage stress at power frequency is reported based on experimental results. To further understand the insulation ageing process, the geometric capacitance effect is removed to enhance the detection of the ageing signature. This enhancement enables the imaginary part of admittance to be used as a new indicator to assess the ageing status of the insulation.

Inspection of pole-like structures using a vision-controlled VTOL UAV and shared autonomy

We present an approach for the inspection of vertical pole-like infrastructure using a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle and shared autonomy. Inspecting vertical structures, such as light and power distribution poles, is a time consuming, dangerous and expensive task with high operator workload. To address these issues, we propose a VTOL platform that can operate at close-quarters, whilst maintaining a safe stand-off distance and rejecting environmental disturbances. We adopt an Image based Visual Servoing (IBVS) technique using only two line features to stabilise the vehicle with respect to a pole. Visual, inertial and sonar data are used, making the approach suitable for indoor or GPS-denied environments. Results from simulation and outdoor flight experiments demonstrate the system is able to successfully inspect and circumnavigate a pole.

Data as an asset : what the upstream oil & gas industry can learn about ‘big data’ from companies like Facebook

The upstream oil & gas industry has been contending with massive data sets and monolithic files for many years, but “Big Data”—that is, the ability to apply more sophisticated types of analytical tools to information in a way that extracts new insights or creates new forms of value—is a relatively new concept that has the potential to significantly re-shape the industry. Despite the impressive amount of value that is being realized by Big Data technologies in other parts of the marketplace, however, much of the data collected within the oil & gas sector tends to be discarded, ignored, or analyzed in a very cursory way. This paper examines existing data management practices in the upstream oil & gas industry, and compares them to practices and philosophies that have emerged in organizations that are leading the Big Data revolution. The comparison shows that, in companies that are leading the Big Data revolution, data is regarded as a valuable asset. The presented evidence also shows, however, that this is usually not true within the oil & gas industry insofar as data is frequently regarded there as descriptive information about a physical asset rather than something that is valuable in and of itself. The paper then discusses how upstream oil & gas companies could potentially extract more value from data, and concludes with a series of specific technical and management-related recommendations to this end.

Spatially varying ground motion effects on seismic response of adjacent structures considering soil-structure interaction

Spatial variation of seismic ground motions is caused by incoherence effect, wave passage, and local site conditions. This study focuses on the effects of spatial variation of earthquake ground motion on the responses of adjacent reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures. The adjacent buildings are modeled considering soil-structure interaction (SSI) so that the buildings can be interacted with each other under uniform and non-uniform ground motions. Three different site classes are used to model the soil layers of SSI system. Based on fast Fourier transformation (FFT), spatially correlated non-uniform ground motions are generated compatible with known power spectrum density function (PSDF) at different locations. Numerical analyses are carried out to investigate the displacement responses and the absolute maximum base shear forces of adjacent structures subjected to spatially varying ground motions. The results are presented in terms of related parameters affecting the structural response using three different types of soil site classes. The responses of adjacent structures have changed remarkably due to spatial variation of ground motions. The effect can be significant on rock site rather than clay site.

Single voxel Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic (1H-MRS) analysis of deep brain structures after traumatic prefrontal brain injury (TBI) in rat

Chronic difficulties arising from mild brain injury (TBI) are difficult to predict because the processes underlying changes after TBI are poorly understood. In mild brain injury the extent of neuropsychiatric and cognitive symptoms correspond poorly to overt tissue loss (Barth 1983; Liu 2010). Cellular, immune and hormonal cascades occurring after injury and continuing during the healing process may impact uninjured brain regions sensitive to the effects of physiological and emotional stress, which receive projections from the injury site. Changes in these most basic properties due to injury or disease have profound implications for virtually every aspect of brain function through disruption of neurotransmitter, neuroendocrine and metabolic systems. In order to screen for changes in transmitter and metabolic activity, in this study we developed Single voxel proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (1H-MRS) for use in both injured and control animals. We first evaluated if 1H-MRS could be used to evaluate in vivo, alterations in brain metabolism and catabolism of the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and ventral hippocampus in both control and injured animals after controlled cortical impact injury to the rat prefrontal cortex. We found that metabolite measurements for Myo-Inositol, Choline, creatine, Glutamate+Glutamine, and N-acetyl-acetate are attainable in deep brain structures in vivo in injured and controls rats. We next seek to evaluate longitudinally, in vivo, alterations in brain metabolism and catabolism of the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and ventral hippocampus during the first month after controlled cortical impact injury to the rat prefrontal cortex. These ongoing studies will provide data on the changes in transmitters and metabolites over time in injured and non-injured subjects. These studies address some of the fundamental questions about how mild brain injury has such diverse effects on overall brain health and function.

Data as an asset: what the oil and gas sector can learn from other industries about “Big Data”

The upstream oil and gas industry has been contending with massive data sets and monolithic files for many years, but “Big Data” is a relatively new concept that has the potential to significantly re-shape the industry. Despite the impressive amount of value that is being realized by Big Data technologies in other parts of the marketplace, however, much of the data collected within the oil and gas sector tends to be discarded, ignored, or analyzed in a very cursory way. This viewpoint examines existing data management practices in the upstream oil and gas industry, and compares them to practices and philosophies that have emerged in organizations that are leading the way in Big Data. The comparison shows that, in companies that are widely considered to be leaders in Big Data analytics, data is regarded as a valuable asset—but this is usually not true within the oil and gas industry insofar as data is frequently regarded there as descriptive information about a physical asset rather than something that is valuable in and of itself. The paper then discusses how the industry could potentially extract more value from data, and concludes with a series of policy-related questions to this end.

Enhancements to dielectric response measurements of oil-paper insulation for online and offline applications

The research introduces a promising technique for monitoring the degradation status of oil-paper insulation systems of large power transformers in an online mode and innovative enhancements are also made on the existing offline measurements, which afford more direct understanding of the insulation degradation process. Further, these techniques benefit from a quick measurement owing to the chirp waveform signal application. The techniques are improved and developed on the basis of measuring the impedance response of insulation systems. The feasibility and validity of the techniques was supported by the extensive simulation works as well as experimental investigations.

Crystal structures and hydrogen-bonding in the co-crystalline adducts of 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid with 4-aminosalicylic acid and 2-hydroxy-3-(1H-indol-3-yl)propenoic acid

The structures of the cocrystalline adducts of 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid (3,5-DNBA) with 4-aminosalicylic acid (PASA), the 1:1 partial hydrate, C7H4N2O6 .C7H7NO3 . 2H2O, (I) and 2-hydroxy-3-(1H-indol-3-yl)propenoic acid (HIPA) and the 1:1:1 d6-dimethylsulfoxide solvate, C7H4N2O6 . C11H9NO3 . C2D6OS, (II) are reported. The crystal substructure of (I) comprises two centrosymmetric hydrogen-bonded R2/2(8) homodimers, one with 3,5-DNBA, the other with PASA, and an R2/2(8) 3,5-DNBA-PASA heterodimer. In the crystal, inter-unit amine N-H...O and water O-H...O hydrogen bonds generate a three-dimensional supramolecular structure. In (II), the asymmetric unit consists of the three constituent molecules which form an essentially planar cyclic hydrogen-bonded heterotrimer unit [graph set R2/3(17)] through carboxyl, hydroxy and amino groups. These units associate across a crystallographic inversion centre through the HIPA carboxylic acid group in an R2/2~(8) hydrogen-bonding association, giving a zero-dimensional structure lying parallel to (100). In both structures, pi--pi interactions are present [minimum ring centroid separations: 3.6471(18)A in (I) and 3.5819(10)A in (II)].

Crystal structures of the co-crystalline adduct 5-(4-bromophenyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-amine--4-nitrobenzoic acid (1/1) and the salt 2-amino-5-(4-bromophenyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-3-ium 2-carboxy-4,6-dinitrophenolate

The structures of the 1:1 co-crystalline adduct C8H6BrN3S . C7H5NO4 (I) and the salt C8H7BrN3S+ C7H3N2O7- (II) from the interaction of 5-(4-bromophenyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-amine with 4-nitrobenzoic acid and 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid, respectively, have been determined. The primary inter-species association in both (I) and (II) is through duplex R2/2(8) (N-H...O/O-H...O) or (N-H...O/N-H...O) hydrogen bonds, respectively, giving heterodimers. In (II), these are close to planar [dihedral angles between the thiadiazole ring and the two phenyl rings are 2.1(3)deg. (intra) and 9.8(2)deg. (inter)], while in (I) these angles are 22.11(15) and 26.08(18)deg., respectively. In the crystal of (I), the heterodimers are extended into a one-dimensional chain along b through an amine N-...N(thiadiazole) hydrogen bond but in (II), a centrosymmetric cyclic heterotetramer structure is generated through N-H...O hydrogen bonds to phenol and nitro O-atom acceptors and features, together with the primary R2/2(8) interaction, conjoined R4/6(12), R2/1(6) and S(6) ring motifs. Also present in (I) are pi--pi interactions between thiadiazole rings [minimum ring centroid separation, 3.4624(16)deg.] as well as short Br...O(nitro) interactions in both (I) and (II) [3.296(3)A and 3.104(3)A, respectively].

Crystal structures and hydrogen bonding in the proton transfer salts of nicotine with 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid and 5-sulfosalicylic acid

The structures of the 1:1 anhydrous salts of nicotine (NIC) with 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid (DNSA) and 5-sulfosalicylic acid (5-SSA), namely (1R,2S)-1-methyl-2-(3-pyridyl)-1H-pyrrolidin-1-ium 2-carboxy-4,6-dinitrophenolate, C10H15N2+ C7H3N2O7-, (I) and (1R,2S)-1-methyl-2-(3-pyridyl)-1H-pyrrolidin-1-ium 3-carboxy-4-hydroxybenzenesulfonate, C10H15N2+ C7H5O6S-, (II) are reported. The asymmetric units of both (I) and (II) comprise two independent nicotinium cations (C and D) and either two DNSA or two 5-SSA anions (A and B), respectively. One of the DNSA anions shows a 25% rotational disorder in the benzene ring system. In the crystal of (I), inter-unit pyrrolidinium N-H...N(pyridine) hydrogen bonds generate zigzag NIC cation chains which extend along a while the DNSA anions are not involved in any formal inter-species hydrogen bonding but instead form pi--pi associated stacks which parallel the NIC chains along a [ring centroid separation, 3.857(2)A]. Weak C-H...O interactions between chain substructures give an overall three-dimensional structure. With (II), A and B anions form independent zigzag chains with C and D cations, respectively, through carboxylic acid O-H...N(pyridine) hydrogen bonds. These chains, which extend along b are pseudo-centrosymmetrically related and give pi--pi interactions between the benzene rings of anions A and B and the pyridine rings of the NIC cations C and D, respectively [ring centroid separations, 3.6422(19) and 3.7117(19)A]. Present also are weak intermolecular C-H...O hydrogen-bonding interactions between the chains, giving an overall three-dimensional structure.

Two-dimensional hydrogen-bonded polymers in the crystal structures of the ammonium salts of phenoxyacetic acid, (4-fluorophenoxy)acetic acid and (4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy)acetic acid

The structures of the ammonium salts of phenoxyacetic acid, NH4+ C8H6O3- (I), (4-fluorophenoxy)acetic acid NH4+ C8H5FO3- (II) and the herbicidally active (4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy)acetic acid (MCPA), NH4+ C9H8ClO3-. 0.5(H2O) (III) have been determined. All have two-dimensional layered structures based on inter-species ammonium N-H...O hydrogen-bonding associations which give core substructures consisting primarily of conjoined cyclic motifs. Crystals of (I) and (II) are isomorphous with the core comprising R2/1(5), R2/1(4) and centrosymmetric R2/4(8) ring motifs, giving two-dimensional layers lying parallel to (100). In (III), the water molecule of solvation lies on a crystallographic twofold rotation axis and bridges two carboxyl O-atoms in an R4/4(12) hydrogen-bonded motif, creating two R3/4(10) rings which together with a conjoined centrosymmetric R2/4(8) ring incorporating both ammonium cations, generate two-dimensional layers lying parallel to (100). No pi-pi ring associations are present in any of the structures.