As U.S. shale plays mature, oil and gas operators face an intensification of a longstanding challenge: managing water efficiently. Given that produced water represents the largest by-product or waste stream associated with oil and gas production, coupled with the potentially costly treatment methods and environmental impacts, effectively handling produced water becomes a challenging task. The […]
2024 Midstream Outlook: Business as usual
The midstream industry had a favorable year in 2023, witnessing higher investment, M&A, and notable progress in infrastructure development. Looking forward to 2024, we expect a mixed but business as usual outlook for the midstream industry. Key trends to keep an eye on are the following: The Permian takeaway capacity outlook remains a difficult balancing […]
2024 Upstream outlook: Opportunities, growth, and industry trends
In 2024, the upstream oil and gas industry is expected to experience notable changes influenced by developments in 2023. From the ongoing wave of consolidation and the maturation of the U.S. shale sector to pivotal shifts in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, the industry is adapting to new dynamics. Technological advancements, particularly in digitalization and […]
2024 LNG Outlook: Growing stability yet uncertainty in the global LNG market
The ripples in the global LNG markets induced by geopolitical conflict seemed to have died down and greater import and export capacity coupled with continued growth in the share of renewable energy will result in a relatively stable yet uncertain LNG market in 2024. Key trends to look out for include the following: Global LNG […]
Cost optimization in the shale patch
Leading shale operators from oil majors such as ExxonMobil and Chevron to the E&P independents including ConocoPhillips, Pioneer, Oxy, and Diamondback have committed to growing production without compromising returns and sustainability. Achieving this aspiration will require significant cost optimization where recent ADI research and consulting is showing significant progress by E&P companies. These cost optimization […]
Optimizing crude oil pipeline capacity with drag reducing agents
The U.S. built a little over 3,000 miles of crude oil pipeline capacity during 2018 to 2020 to reach 84,816 miles in 2021, transporting 1.2 billion barrels of crude oil that year. No significant oil pipeline capacity additions have been made since and U.S. oil production averaged 11.9 million barrels per day in 2022 that […]
From Russia with love: Tracking Russia’s fossil fuel market
Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, western countries have spent a lot of time cutting ties with Russia and enacting sanctions to financially pressure them, with a particular emphasis on their fossil fuel industry. With more than a year passing since the start of this war, in this blog, we take look […]
Wax on, wax off: Growth of waxy crude in the Uinta basin
The Uinta basin, located in northeast Utah, is starting to gain some attention from oil and gas players. The basin’s ~120 thousand bpd of production pales in comparison to the Permian’s ~5.6 million bpd produced today. However, production of the basin’s waxy crude has rapidly been increasing (Figure 1), and refiners continue to desire this […]
Snakes aren’t the only thing rattling in Texas
Over the last several years, earthquakes in the Permian basin have increased in both number and intensity. In 2022 there were more than 8x the number of magnitude 3 earthquakes or greater than those that occurred annually in in the years from 2015 to 2019. (Figure 1). In fact, two of the five largest tremors […]
2023 Refining Industry Outlook: A year of recalibration
Going into this past year, 2022 was meant to be the beginning of the end for petroleum refiners, but another spanner was thrown in the works. With most countries coming out of lockdown and entering post-COVID life, the expectations were that a lot of the trial and tribulations of the past two years would leave […]