In recent years, there are fewer and fewer oil and gas fields that can be found and developed easily and cheaply (these oil/gas fields are referred to as “conventional oil/gas fields”). On the other hand, world hydrocarbon consumption has been increasing gradually and it is expected to continue to grow for the next 20 years or longer. In order to meet increasing hydrocarbon demands, it is inevitable to develop hydrocarbons from the fields that were considered difficult from technical and/or economical points of views in the past (these oil/gas fields are referred to as “unconventional oil/gas fields”).
“Technology” is one of the key factors for finding and developing unconventional oil/gas fields efficiently and economically. In this paper, some of the latest technologies that are used to find and develop unconventional hydrocarbons, particularly, in deep water, heavy oil, tight gas, and coal bed methane will be described.
