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Integration of geoscience and engineering in the oil industry — just a dream?

Nature volume 426, pages 360–363 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

The past two decades of the twentieth century have been very 'rocky' for the oil industry, as shown by the overall negative perception of the oil companies by the general public. Fluctuating oil prices, many rounds of staff redundancies, environmental disasters and budget cuts supported the overall image of the oil industry as being 'the technology impaired and environmentally insensible giant'. But advances and positive changes have been quietly happening in most of the oil companies. In the twenty-first century, we will witness the metamorphosis of the oil and gas companies into energy businesses — the era of cleaner and safer oil and gas production, and alternative energy resources such as wind, solar and hydrogen is already underway.

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Figure 1: Virtual-reality room for state-of-the-art subsurface visualization.
Figure 2: A shoal of fish swimming through an offshore jacket — part of a programme for establishing marine life on a decommissioned offshore plant.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank J. Westrich, D. Briggs, M. Nosiara and R. Hilliard for review and valuable suggestions during work on this Commentary. Box 1, apart from the knowledge gathered during my tenure at Shell, is based on interviews and information provided by the following colleagues: S. Lorimer, F. Pattee, J. Siler, L. Morgenthaler, J. Westrich and A. Kornacki. The comments are the views of the author and not necessarily those of Shell.

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  1. Shell International E&P, B.V., Volmerlaan 8, Rijswijk, 2280 AB, The Netherlands

    B. Artur Stankiewicz

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  1. B. Artur Stankiewicz
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Correspondence to B. Artur Stankiewicz.

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Stankiewicz, B. Integration of geoscience and engineering in the oil industry — just a dream?. Nature 426, 360–363 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02136

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