Oil technology still key, even at low prices:execs
HOUSTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Lower oil prices could slow the most difficult drilling projects, but energy companies will keep spending on new technology to stay competitive and prepare for the future, executives said at a conference Tuesday.
"Some really challenging projects might be postponed, but I don't think, in the long run, we'll lose anything," said Lars Ostlund, who markets high-tech oilfield tubing for Sandvik (SAND.ST). "The need for oil and gas is so huge."
The industry will need technological advances even if prices fall and projects in the Arctic or new oil shale trends are slowed, said Michael Bahorich, executive vice president of exploration technology for Apache Corp (APA.N).
"In the lower price environment, you're actually going to have more of a focus on technology that lowers cost," Bahorich said.
In some cases, particularly in some oil shale plays, companies have invested so much in leases that they will work hard to find tools and techniques to produce them economically, even at lower prices, Bahorich said.
Both men spoke on the sidelines of the E&P Technology Summit, a conference focused on innovation in oil and gas exploration and production.
The conference took place against a background of sharply declining oil and gas prices that have caused some analysts to question whether oil companies will cut back on difficult projects and technologies needed to develop them.
Benchmark oil prices have declined by more than 50 percent since peaking over $140 a barrel last July. Natural gas has fallen from about $12 per thousand cubic feet last summer to around $6.
Joe Jacquot, a marketing manager for Fugro-Jason Inc (FURGF.PK), which sells computer analysis of petroleum reservoirs, said most companies never relied on peak prices to make decisions, softening the impact of declining prices.
"Sixty dollars seems to be a common price plan," Jacquot said in an interview at his company's exhibit booth. "You'd have to get to $30 or $40 a barrel. That's when you'd start getting a lot of projects canceled." (Editing by Christian Wiessner)
