Historical analysis of the importance of technology in the oil industry at the national and international level

The first important thing is to know why technology began to be so important for the maintenance of the oil business not only in Venezuela but in the rest of the world. The operational activities that were quite complex to cover the demand of exploration and production activities with the need to optimize the processes made the oil industry go through a series of phases in which technology has been and is the great protagonist.

The implementation of various activities ranging from the gigantic task of discovering oil fields and deposits to drilling wells and putting them into production under the strictest production standards, have made it necessary to consolidate a technological infrastructure, capable of reconciling the original or acquired possession of technologies with their performance.

This performance of technology in the incorporation of the oil industry is increasingly in demand, since low oil prices mean that production costs have to fall further and further to make oil extraction profitable, and this feasibility is only possible under the constant incorporation of technology.

It is important to understand that in this process of technology transfer within the oil industry it is not believed that technology is only associated with the incorporation of new equipment, but that the incorporation of technology is also acquired every time there is a transmission and capture of knowledge that raises the development in the production of hydrocarbons.

As a personal experience and being an oil engineer I can tell you that technology will never cease to have the importance that it has always had and will continue to have within the oil industry, there are new challenges to be overcome by the new technological incorporations, sometimes I think and analyze if in the future it will be possible to drill oil wells without the use of any drilling fluid but at the same time with the incorporation of some technology that removes the debris from the bottom of the well to the surface and that controls the pressures of the subsoil.

I also think about the possibility of applying mechanisms of primary, secondary and tertiary recovery where practices that attempt against the environmental balance are not used, just as if practices such as francking attempt against the environment, that is why I end this brief tour saying that just as the technological evolution has been in my country, surely other countries will be expecting to continue improving their processes and make them profitable and environmentally friendly.