The September issue of SPE Drilling & Completion features papers ranging from real-time monitoring and completion to minimizing erosion and cement additives. Subscribe to SPE's journals to unlock a wealth of knowledge from across industry and academia. PetroWiki is a free resource from SPE created to answer many basic petroleum engineering and operational questions. SPE members can update or add to PetroWiki content to share their expertise. Your section or chapter can encourage primary and secondary students to pursue careers in science, math, technology, and engineering by participating in classroom visits.

Environmental advocates say some of America's most iconic species are getting squeezed under policies intended to boost American energy dominance. Trump administration officials counter that they are taking reasonable steps to protect wildlife while opening up public lands to more drilling. The US Interior Department on 7 August launched an overhaul to an Obama-era plan to protect sage grouse that it says aims to preserve the species of bird while expanding opportunities for oil development in western states where they live.

Market dynamics and costs drive the search for solutions. In California, where water is needed, producers are finding potential for reuse of waste water. Produced water has typically been viewed as a waste product to be disposed. A recent webinar explored ways that this waste can be turned into value through treatment and reuse. Available options vary with the quality of the produced water.

Unconventional oil and gas have come to dominate the exploration and development scene in Western Canada since 2005, much as they have in the US. As usually happens with new play ideas and trends, appraisal and development have generated a broad spectrum of results in Canadian Unconventional plays. The Energy East Pipeline involves the conversion of an existing TransCanada gas pipeline to oil service, as well as the construction of 1500 km of new pipeline. With a capacity of 1.1 million B/D, it will eliminate the need to import foreign crude oil to refineries in Quebec and New Brunswick.

This article highlights interesting applications of machine learning in the oil and gas industry in drilling, formation evaluation, and reservoir engineering. Each project uses a data-driven model to solve a previously complex problem using machine learning to augment an existing solution. The BP Statistical Review of World Energy is an institution in the energy world. Who's behind assembling and managing the mountain of data that goes into it?

In response to questions from lawmakers on whether federal law adequately provides for the prosecution of "criminal activity against infrastructure," the Department of Justice recently committed to "vigorously" prosecute those who damage "critical energy infrastructure in violation of federal law." Water management for upstream will transform over the next few years. In many cases, more-effective water management will only be possible with water infrastructure.

When SPE’s international health, safety, and environment conference opens in April, it will bring together professionals from around the world. This gathering of professionals, on top of the technical information shared, is what makes the conference so important, said Jack Hinton, program cochair. Independent Project Analysis (IPA) partnered with the sustainability department of a major integrated oil company to study the effect of core sustainability practices on capital project outcomes. IPIECA has partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Finance Corporation to develop a shared understanding of the implications of the UN SDGs for the oil and gas industry and how the industry can most effectively contribute. Water management for upstream will transform over the next few years.

Water management for upstream will transform over the next few years. In many cases, more-effective water management will only be possible with water infrastructure. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke on 12 May announced that the Bureau of Reclamation awarded USD 23,619,391 to communities in seven states for planning, designing, and constructing water recycling and reuse projects.

Management of produced water is driving subtle yet potentially consequential changes in certain regions. By assessing these common elements, partial risk profiles for both conditions can be assessed. Stanford researchers have mapped local susceptibility to man-made earthquakes in Oklahoma and Kansas. The new model incorporates physical properties of the Earth’s subsurface and forecasts a decline in potentially damaging shaking through 2020. Stanford geoscientists have found a way to detect thousands of tiny tremors around hydraulic fracturing operations that could serve as predictors of eventual larger earthquakes.

The Netherlands will reduce production of its Groningen gas field by 10% from October to limit the risk of earthquakes, the country’s economy minister said in a letter to parliament on 18 April. The Pawnee Nation filed a lawsuit on 3 March in tribal court in Oklahoma against 27 oil and gas producers, seeking damages for an earthquake they said was caused from man-made activity related to hydraulic fracturing.