Water conservation in Alberta's in situ oil sands industry has always been a topic of both great concern and innovation but the recent implementation of Directive 081, has now made it mission-critical. Consolidating various aspects of water management requirements for thermal in situ oil sands operations, the directive sets strict two key restrictions that are now driving operator water innovation plans; water disposal limits and detailed requ...

As we continue to grapple with the challenge of improving fleet reliability and availability with reduced maintenance budgets and an increasing demand for traffic, there has never been a greater need for TOCs and ROSCOs to drive efficiencies in rolling stock fleet maintenance. The next stage of questions that must be answered if we are to continue to increase fleet performance for the lowest cost are: To what extent can condition-based monitor...

Following the string of extreme weather events impacting the breadth of the nation, electric utilities are under increasing pressure from regulators to perform rapid restorations and invest in cost-effective storm hardening to minimize outages after a storm. In 2012 alone, the cost of weather related outages to the US economy has been estimated to be as much as $52Bn. To alleviate the cost of outages, speed up response and meet regulatory and...

An unexpected yet highly prosperous volume of crude condensate is now being produced alongside the vast amounts of oil and natural gas being recovered from North American shale plays such as the Bakken and Utica. The Eagle Ford alone reached 153,322 bpd of condensate in 2013 making up an astonishing 40% of total hydrocarbon production in the play. There is a huge commercial opportunity for E&P companies in producing condensate; the number...

Graphene's incredible properties have potentially game-changing implications across an enormous range of industries and applications; the possibilities for which are expanding dramatically since its discovery in a Manchester laboratory 9 years ago. Despite the opportunity, the absence of production scale-up has failed to pull graphene out of research and into mass market, leaving many to ask: how can the critical challenges and adoption barrie...