I could hardly contain my excitement when the postman dropped a promising looking package through the letter box – the latest must have iPad or a belated Christmas present perhaps…ah no, it was a bag full of capacitors! I was officially out of my depth and as those capacitors lay on my dining room table with as much glamour as a wet kipper, I realised my quest for high temperature components and the construct of a database to house them had begun on a cold January day.

Now how hard could this be? Although I had no electronics background as such I felt (perhaps naively) confident that I would find these black diamonds of the electronics industry.

It turns out that I greatly underestimated this task, high temperature components that exceed an operating temperature of 150 °C is such a specialised market that after the long lost hours of a day spent searching I am lucky to find one component that is eligible for entry onto the high temperature database. Hours and hours of searching the likes of Google and Yahoo to the more specialised search engines of GlobalSpec, The Sandia Government Labs and NASA and I’m still left out in the cold. Oh I’ve been trying to think out of the box alright and I think NASA is right up there with them! Turns out the usual response to such a request is ‘you want what? A component that operates above 150°C? …..Are you insane?’  – Oh yes, I’m getting there!

AVX, Cissoid, Novacap, Holystone and your little gems like TRS Technologies and of course the flames on the icebergs, Texas Instruments & Micropac, through to Honeywell, are all names that I am now well versed in and who have rightly earned their place on the database.

Yet I find myself disappointed, labouring under the misapprehension that there would be a whole lot more out there. Unless I’m missing something, unless this is a cruel initiation for the inexperienced and I have yet to discover the password that gives access to oracle of the electronics industry who will take my hand and show me the light! Which leads me to a problem which I have encountered many times on this journey, whilst the manufacturers themselves are very helpful; the suppliers aren’t quite so forthcoming.

Even as a rookie of the electronics industry I have quickly realised with a market so specialised that the parts I seek are few and far between. I can’t imagine for one minute that these suppliers use them in a game of tiddly winks whilst on their tea break, so why do people insist that they cannot deal with me until I provide them with technically specific information (did i mention I wasn’t an engineer!)? So as my frustration grows so does my disappointment, after all I am a customer and times are challenging, we all need a little help.

So naturally the concluding question is why is it so hard to find high temperature electronic components, surely high temperature electronics is a growing market, as industries seek to increasingly enhance monitoring and control using intelligent technologies with the emphasis on  aircraft engines, downhole drilling and well completions, the industry doesn’t appear to be matching the demands of the users.

As yet I don’t have the answer but I will continue on this long hard road to perdition….. where it’s oh so hot and don’t all your components work so well in such extreme temperatures…. can you give me the name of any good suppliers?!

Despite the economic downturn being experienced globally, 2012 is set to be an exciting year for companies operating in the oil and gas industry. There is a real sense of optimism, with renewed confidence around the world.

Surging demand for oil and natural gas means that commodity values continue to remain high, despite political tensions in key regions, increasingly demanding exploratory environments and the resultant impact of rising costs on operators. Regardless of these factors, the industry is nothing short of vibrant.

This buoyancy is reflected in the jobs market too, according to the latest joint report from OilCareers.com, the international jobs board for the oil and gas industry, and partner Air Energi, a global provider of manpower solutions to the energy sector.

The Global Oil & Gas Workforce Survey: Expectations for hires and pay rates in the oil and gas industry (H1) 2012, suggests that the real challenge this year will be in preparing for the future, ensuring the continued flow of adequately skilled professionals.

While the ‘great crew change’ remains high on the agenda, there are signs that the industry is beginning to take its role more seriously by making attempts to combat the issue. Solutions are innovative and wide ranging; from internships and virtual mentorship, to supplementary offsite education programmes and more flexible government allowances towards working retirees.

Activity levels across Africa, the Americas, Asia Pacific, Australasia, Caspian, Europe and the Middle East will remain high, with the expectation for both contract and salaried pay rates to increase as a result across a number of these regions.

For the UK, 2012 was met with welcome news, as 46 new production licences were handed our during the country’s most recent licensing round. This is evidence of a revival in domestic activity, and will ward off pressure from other countries, Australia in particular.

Permanent staff are increasingly being given preference over contractors. They come with less flight risk, slightly lower rates and can easily be mobilised within organisations, either in terms of succession planning or to other postings abroad. However, as project development activity ramps up over the next 12 months, favourability could return to contractor positions.

Fabrication, operations and production personnel are amongst the highest in demand, but given the increasingly technical nature of offshore exploration in the UKCS, professional sciences and engineering credentials are also highly valuable and proving difficult to find.

Scandinavia too, is enjoying renewed success, with the focus switching from maximising existing reserves to new discoveries. Three major finds by Statoil, as well as a historically large licensing round, have reaffirmed the region’s position as a leader in the industry.

Mainland Europe paints a slightly different picture. A few cautious approaches to staffing have been observed, with a slight preference towards contractors. This will allow companies to be more flexible, enabling them to make rapid adjustments to headcount as required, in response to some continued uncertainty around the economy.

Mark Guest, managing director of OilCareers.com, said: “Despite all the challenges, I believe our industry remains fundamentally attractive. Energy demand continues to grow and oil and gas look set to remain important parts of the energy mix for the foreseeable future, with many of the world’s largest finds being discovered, creating new energy hubs.

“A number of companies are developing unparalleled project queues this year, with such investments impacting positively on the employment market. We’re seeing examples of this through increased hiring globally and, with plenty of opportunities on the table it’s an exciting time to be involved in the energy sector.”

Ian Langley, group executive chairman of Air Energi, added: “The Air Energi-OilCareers.com survey provides an indication of the trends that the industry can expect to see across the remainder of the year.

“With increased exploration activity across all regions, a lack of suitably qualified labour will continue to remain a concern. Many companies, however, are now giving the longstanding skills gap their full attention, ensuring they have the capability to maximise the abundant opportunities on offer worldwide.”

Source: Roustabout Energy International, issue 485

ITF hosts its Annual Technology Showcase on the 1st of November 2012

The Technology Showcase provides an ideal opportunity for both developers and operators to meet directly to showcase and find out about innovative technologies, operator needs and challenges, as well as discover other technology developments in the area.

In 2011,  hundreds of oil and gas professionals attended ITF’s Annual Technology Showcase to see some of the industry’s cutting edge innovations in action, with the event being a huge success.

This year, Trevor Garlick, Regional President of BP North Sea will open the showcase with a keynote address.

source: http://www.oil-itf.com/

image courtesy of BP

The Oil & Gas industry gears up for another innovative & progressive year at the Offshore Technology Conference 2012.

OTC 2012 will be held at Houston, Texas on 30th April to 3rd May on what will be it’s 53rd year. Founded in 1969, the Offshore Technology Conference is the world’s foremost event for the development of offshore resources in the fields of drilling, exploration, production and environmental protection.

Each year OTC attracts more than 60,000 attendees and 2,000 exhibiting companies representing for than 110 countries.

Technical Program Highlights

OTC will have a series of presentations by major independent and national oil companies as well as independent operators who will present their views on future industry directions, operational integrity and risk management.

Browse the complete technical program

You can keep up to date with OTC news and views via Twitter and Facebook

Source: http://www.otcnet.org/2012/index.php

ITF, the global oil and gas technology facilitator, has announced the challenges that its membership of operator and service companies want to see tackled as priorities in 2012.

Up to 100% funding will be available for the right solutions to some of the industry’s most pressing challenges and ITF aims to secure around £50 million investment directly from its members over the next three years.

A series of workshops will be held in international locations throughout the year on the top global priorities including:

• Unconventional reservoir characterisation
• Heavy oil
• Subsea (including subsea power, extra long tie-backs, produced water, separation and cleaning and replacement of valve actuators)
• Down hole pressure and temperature monitoring

The first Technology Challenge Workshop on unconventional reservoir characterisation will take place in Aberdeen on 13 March where members will prepare a roadmap to define the issues ahead of a further workshop in Houston in June. A global call for proposals will then be issued inviting technology developers to submit their innovative solutions.

The organisation tasked with driving new technology solutions also revealed that it will be establishing membership clusters in the Middle East, Australia, US and Europe to focus on the unique regional challenges and bring forward more specific Joint Industry Projects (JIPs).

Neil Poxon, managing director of ITF said: “Members want to see game-changing technologies in a number of key areas and our workshop programme will kick off with unconventional reservoir characterisation which was voted as one of the top priorities. Our internationalisation strategy and establishment of four regional clusters means that we will also be targeting the issues that directly affect exploration and production in these areas with the issue of calls for proposals.”

A not-for -profit organisation, ITF is owned by its operator and service company members and has launched more than 180 JIPs from early stage projects through to field trials and commercialisation. ITF has set up bases in Abu Dhabi, Houston, Kuala Lumpur and Perth, Australia and aims to continue to grow international membership in 2012 and launch 25 JIPs across the regions.

Mr Poxon added: “ITF has been extremely successful in securing funding for JIPs and our membership is at its highest level. I would urge interested companies to come to us with their innovative technologies whether they are at the early concept stage or closer to commercialisation as there are opportunities to secure investment and also the buy-in of major operators, whilst retaining intellectual property.”

source: http://www.oil-itf.com

High reliability electronics provider, C-MAC, have announced the launch of their blog dedicated to high temperature electronics for the Oil & Gas industry.

Whether you are designing tools for operating temperatures over 200°c or intelligent completions requiring 10 years at 150°c, it is intended that this is the place to ask questions, share opinions and become more informed.

With a pedigree in Aerospace products spanning more than 60 years, C-MAC has maintained its position at the forefront of high reliability electronic components, modules and systems for applications in harsh environments. The blog provides a platform for discussions, opinions and news items, bringing up to date information to the growing high temperature electronics community in the Oil & Gas industry with an ever increasing need for maximum reliability.  New content and comments will be added regularly and C-MAC invite companies and individuals interested in these fields to participate with  thoughts, ideas, comments and questions.

“We wanted to introduce this new blog to share some of our knowledge and to engage all of you who are interested in this topic in discussions and in sharing ideas and opinions. Please read the articles and discussions and I look forward to hearing your thoughts, ideas, comments and questions.” Karen Oddey, CEO C-MAC Oil & Gas

Visit the blog: http://hitempelectronics.com/

Neopartners Ltd are in the process of updating and up rating their in house high temperature capacitor database which will be available to buy via the website this Autumn 2011.

The database provides comprehensive knowledge and up to date sourcing information for components for the bill of materials (BOM) required to build and develop the companies high temperature designs.

The database also stands alone as a useful tool to many industries including oil & gas, aerospace, geothermal, the process industry and R&D companies.

To find out more about the Neopartners HT capacitor database, including cost and level of detail included, contact the Neopartners team:

T: 0044 (0)1326 318444

E: info@neopartners.co.uk

The 2011 Saudi Aramco EXPEC ARC Technology Quest symposium is due to take place on 10^th – 12^th October in Aberdeen.

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest integrated petroleum company, is hosting an invitation-only symposium bringing together the world’s top scientists and researchers to discuss opportunities with Saudi Aramco in the development of breakthrough upstream technologies.

Leading technologists from around the globe will gather for a unique opportunity to meet with representatives from Saudi Aramco’s EXPEC Advanced Research Centre (ARC) and to collaborate during the conceptual/research stages of technology development by submitting proposals that meet highly potent upstream technology challenges.

The invitation only event, hosted by the Aramco Overseas Company Ltd. is the 3^rd of its kind, with previous quests being held in Houston, Texas in 2007 & 2009 both of which were hugely successful. In 2009 more than 70 requests for proposals were extended to candidates.

Research domains for the quest include:

Computational modelling technology, Geology technology, Production technology, Reservoir engineering technology and Drilling technology.

Neopartners Ltd has strong capability in the Production Technology domain and will attend the event in October to discuss various collaborative solutions to challenges noted in the 2011 technology quest.

Details of this year’s quest can be found here www.techquest2011.com

The deadline for proposal submission is 16^th September 2011

Source: www.techquest2011.com

But exactly how embracing has the Oil & Gas industry been of this phenomenon?

‘Twitter’ celebrated its fifth birthday with the news that daily tweeting posts had risen from 50 million to 140 million in the last year. But despite the numbers are businesses yet to realise the income generating potential that social media poses?

Sceptics remain unconvinced that this new media can provide any lasting advantage or aid business development yet the advocates claim quite the opposite, attributing continued business growth and transformation to online communication.

The oil & Gas industry has been cautious in its approach to social media, with some companies dabbling at a very non-committal level with facebook pages and twitter accounts.

It could be argued that the very nature of the industry prevents service companies and oil and gas giants from being sociable. With tight confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements news and technology updates can be scarce and when you can’t discuss what’s happening what do you twitter about? And, if you’re potential clients aren’t yet using this channel then why join?

To be effective, social networking must be fully integrated into a marketing strategy. It’s cost effective, targeted and timely. So what’s not to like? Never have we had the ability to talk to our customers so informally or alter the way clients perceive us so simply and perhaps it’s these fast paced changes that make us tip-toe around the brave new networking world, terrified of poorly representing our businesses.

Really we are just communicating the same ethos that our businesses always had, just in a newer, faster, more experimental way.

Whether you’re a sceptic or an avid social fanatic it always comes down to considered, strategic, planned communication in business and this especially applies to social networking platforms.

The oil & gas industry have kept it at arm’s length until now but there is no doubt that it is on the minds of many an industry professional and the topic at various trade exhibitions and conferences. Rumblings of tweeting and status updates can be heard from afar so the industries launch into social media may well be on its way.

Cassandra Manning, Marketing Manager – Neopartners Ltd.

11th May 2011

17th March 2011

Global demand for additional oil and gas resources has led to several offshore discoveries in the recent past. Most of these discoveries have been in the less explored, offshore areas of the globe. Currently, Latin America and Africa have become attractive investment destinations globally for oil and gas due to major offshore discoveries with huge amounts of reserves. The offshore oil and gas discoveries made in these regions have abundant proved reserves with high production potential.  

During the period 2007–2010, 82 offshore oil and gas discoveries have been made in Africa and 111 in Latin America. Asia-Pacific and Europe occupy the top positions in the number of offshore oil and gas discoveries made during this period, but Latin America and Africa have seen giant offshore oil and gas discoveries that have much bigger reserves. Moreover, the number of discoveries in Latin America and Africa has remained more or less consistent, showing considerable increase over the past years.

National Oil Companies are Dominating Global Offshore Oil and Gas Discoveries

There were 543 global offshore oil and gas discoveries during the period 2007–2010. Among these, the top 10 global offshore oil and gas companies contributed 248 (46%). Two National Oil Companies (NOCs) – Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) of Brazil and Statoil S.A (Statoil) of Norway – have together contributed to around 21% to the total global offshore oil and gas discoveries.

Source: offshoretechnology.com