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Introduction to this special section—Producing the Oilfield

A Multidisciplinary Look

Houston, USA

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

One of the sessions of most interest during the 2004 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston was the one on Hubbert's Peak, so named because King Hubbert predicted in 1956 that oil production in the "lower 48" United States would peak about 1970 and decline thereafter. His bell-shaped curve was remarkably accurate even though there were many doubts at the time (by the way, did you know that Hubbert was a geophysicist?). Extending the concept of Hubbert's Peak to world oil production is an active area of discussion. Data from the North Sea indicate that peak production has nearly been reached and, in fact, is expected to decline in the near future. In addition, given that 70% of today's oil comes from fields that have been in production for more than 30 years (various sources confirm this), peak production will occur in the near future in many other oil-producing regions.

Given the above outlook and the current price of oil, it is anticipated that substantial technology research and development will be undertaken to increase . . . [Full Text of this Article]