Digital Oil Fields ?  

Rig Zone reports on the tech boom in the oil industry.

The digital oil field of the future has taken shape in ChevronTexaco Corp.'s new headquarters in Houston since early January - and it looks like the set of a Cold War melodrama.

In a screen-filled war room, technicians monitor real-time data flowing via fiber-optic cable and satellite links from sensors behind the drill bit below a Gulf of Mexico platform.

By looking at the acoustic, temperature and pressure information, engineers can almost hear and feel the pulse of the drill, and receive e-mail alerts of any emergency to their Blackberries if they're out of the office.

Developments like these could help add 125 billion barrels to global reserves in the next 10 years, according to Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

CERA analysts predict digital oil fields could improve reserve recovery by 6%, raise production rates by up to 10% and cut operating costs by up to 25% through better reservoir management and reduced on-site crews. The technology would be a boon for oil companies being pressured to find and pump more oil amid a shortage of qualified labor.

Rig Zone is also speculating that OPEC may now be more afraid of an oversupply than a shortage - "OPEC Fearing An Oil Glut ?". Assuming the figures coming out of ODAC and the like lately are correct, its hard to imagine that this would be anything other than temporary - but they could be right if it turns out the peak is still a way off.

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