Drilling Contractor features the work of RAPID student Jian Chu working with Drs. Ashok, Chen and van Oort on bit image analysis and bit damage forensics. The work underscores the leading role that RAPID has played / is playing in improving bit bull grading and extracting useful information from bit… read more 

An article by Stephen Whitfield in Drilling Contractor (link here) on making the Geothermal Anywhere concept, a topic of study by RAPID-GT, a reality.

A series of 2021 articles in the Journal of Petroleum Technology (links here and here) and Oil and Gas Journal (link here) on the benefits of automated mud measurements.

A 2021 feature by Judy Feder in JPT on the next steps in geothermal well construction. Link is here. See also Dr. van Oort’s recorded graduate lecture on Youtube here.

On a traditional rig, dozens of workers assemble the oil pipes and carefully feed them down the well to get the oil out of the ground. Oil wells will always require some workers on-site, but robots will be doing more and more of the work, according to Eric van Oort,… read more 

Views in Renewable Energy World by the UT-GEO team, including Dr. van Oort, on the leadership position of Texas in the geothermal domain. Link to 2019 article is here.

An interview with NPR at the occasion of the movie Armageddon’s 20th anniversary, where Dr. van Oort explains what is right (not much) and wrong (a lot!) about the movie, and how it paints a distorted, unflattering view of the drilling industry. Moreover, drilling in space is a real thing… read more 

Eric van Oort, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s petroleum engineering department, is at the forefront of the changing technology in the oil field. His classroom includes a room that feels something like an Imax theater. Three large chairs with joysticks face a huge video screen displaying… read more