Technology key to unlocking additional offshore reserves

The use of technology is the cornerstone of the oil and gas industry's future, according to subject matter experts at this year's Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston.
Technology has saved the domestic oil and gas industry and will be the key to US energy security, said Michael Smith, Assistant Secretary of the Office of Fossil Energy at the United States Department of Energy. The biggest challenge to the industry is to raise gas production from the Gulf of Mexico, Smith said, which has remained level despite increased drilling. Without the technology to extract a greater percentage of the discovered reserves, the US will soon fall far short of its domestic gas needs, he added.
"At best, we are simply running in place," said Melanie Kenderdine, Vice President of the Gas Technology Institute.
"The technology need has never been higher," added Matt Simmons, President of Simmons and Co. International.
Despite the difficulties, many offshore operators are confident of finding ways to increase productivity. Describing the outlook of the industry, Luke Corbett, CEO of Kerr McGee Corporation, noted that optimism is one of the industry's most powerful weapons. "Impossible is what nobody can do until somebody does it," he said.