The new high-definition viewing capability facilitates easy on-the-fly detection of dot abnormalities such as pin-holing, bridging, doughnuts and halos. Images are captured at 2500dpi and made instantly accessible through the ICONTM user interface, so that dot quality detail can be analysed by the human eye as soon as ink is transferred to the substrate.
‘SpectralCam HD provides an instant means of identifying dot abnormalities that until now could only have been discovered by stopping production and analysing a magnified sample of printed work offline. The operator has reassurance that dot abnormalities will be detected to a much higher standard than was previously possible, without compromising production up-time levels,’ comments Laura Casale, project manager at QuadTech.
The enhanced viewing capability enables print operators to react faster to changes in pressure or plate anomalies and take appropriate remedial action in a shorter time, thereby reducing material waste and reject levels.
SpectralCam HD is likely to be of particular benefit in flexible packaging printing situations, where the ability to view dot profiles is paramount, and to operators of central impression-flexo presses, which require significant pressure adjustment. The device performs at up to 1076 m/min (3500 ft/min) and is capable of working with a wide range of paper and film substrates.
Another innovation found in the Color Measurement System is a web stabilising unit that allows precise spectral colour measurement of transparent and opaque films on-the-fly without risk of substrate corrugation.
The web stabiliser device consists of a flat-top, low-friction platform, on to which the moving web is momentarily stabilised by suction, to enable colour measurement over two ceramic tiles: one black, to measure opacity, and one white, to measure transparency. The tiles meet the British Ceramic Research Association (BCRA) ceramic colour standard, guaranteeing a long-term constant backing value The tile assembly is removable for easy cleaning.
The substrate is sucked into contact with the tile, in order to take colour readings without wrinkles, bubbles and shadows that may result in distortion. Suction occurs when a vacuum is created around the tiles, by pumping pulses of high-pressure air through a channel and out through small holes along the side of the tile. After being held for no more than the few milliseconds necessary to take a reading, the substrate is released. The low friction-coefficient of the contact area prevents scratching or scuffing of either the surface area or substrate. Multiple targets can be captured at one time.
The web stabiliser device provides an alternative to white rollers whose large surface areas are prone to contamination, difficult to clean, and fail to give a constant backing solution.
Laura Casale, project manager at QuadTech, commented, ‘In package print, the need to measure colour off-line is a major barrier to achieving lean production management. With the Color Measurement System, we empower packaging printers to achieve optimum spectral colour quality without interruption to the printing run, whatever the substrate or application, and further drive waste out of the workflow.’
2011年11月8日星期二
2011年5月22日星期日
Quicksilver Resources counting on a big year
Quicksilver Resources CEO Glenn Darden expects 2011 to be "a breakout year" as the company advances into the development phase of its Horn River Basin project in Canada, moves into oil exploration and continues amping up natural gas production from North Texas' Barnett Shale.
"It looks like it's going to be a fabulous year," Darden said at last week's annual shareholders meeting of the Fort Worth-based natural gas producer, which has a healthy $500 million capital budget for 2011. "We're moving more toward oil, but we're still a gas company, and we'll always be a gas company," Darden told shareholders at the downtown Fort Worth Club.
Quicksilver will soon start to show "how valuable Horn River is," as it completes more natural gas wells in cold, remote northeast British Columbia and benefits from new pipeline links allowing it to transport more gas to market more cheaply, Darden said. The company is also testing for oil there.
With 130,000 net acres leased at Horn River, Quicksilver has drilled eight natural gas wells there and completed four, which cumulatively are producing 30 million cubic feet a day. It expects to complete the other four wells this coming winter, when drilling equipment can be transported on ice roads. In warm weather equipment bogs down in the swamplike terrain called muskeg.
Horn River potential
Quicksilver estimates that each Horn River well will have an exceptional "estimated ultimate recovery," or lifetime output, ranging from 8.8 billion to 19.4 billion cubic feet of gas. Those numbers far exceed the 1 billion to 5 billion cubic feet estimated for most Barnett Shale gas wells, although operating costs are considerably lower in the Barnett.
Quicksilver's latest annual report said Horn River "appears to be the largest gas find in the company's history and has the potential to quadruple our current total company reserves." The company estimates that it could recover 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from Horn River, or nearly double what it expects from the Barnett.
As of Dec. 31, Quicksilver's proved reserves were equivalent to 2.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, with 2.6 trillion from the Barnett. The reserves are 99 percent natural gas and natural gas liquids such as propane and butane.
Getting more 'oily'
Crude oil accounts for a tiny 1 percent of Quicksilver's reserves, but that could rise. U.S. energy producers are increasingly focusing on oil and natural gas liquids, which command higher prices than natural gas. Quicksilver is pushing this year to become more "oily."
The company expects to complete a horizontal well in the Exshaw formation at Horn River this summer, with oil the target instead of natural gas. Quicksilver has "gotten great oil shows" there, Darden said, from both the Exshaw and from natural gas in the Muskwa and Klua formations below it.
Darden said Quicksilver's biggest thrust into oil this year will be in the emerging Niobrara play in the Green River Basin, where the company has 200,000 net acres leased in northwest Colorado. The company expects to drill up to six exploratory wells there this year.
"We're in oily country, and we're very excited about it," Darden said. "The Niobrara has about 1,500 feet of thickness, so it's a very big target."
Quicksilver is also launching some oil prospecting in the Bakken formation in northern Montana, where it has 175,000 net acres.
The company is also "targeting multiple formations" in the Delaware Basin in West Texas that could yield oil, said Rick Buterbaugh, Quicksilver's vice president for investor relations and corporate planning. These targets include the Bone Springs formation that is attracting increasing attention.
The company has 54,000 net acres leased in Culberson, Reeves, Jeff Davis and Presidio counties and expects to acquire more.
Quicksilver can move quickly in West Texas by re-entering "noncommercial natural gas wells" the company drilled in the West Texas portion of the Barnett Shale, Buterbaugh said. The clay content in the Barnett zone made the results from fracking "less than desired," Buterbaugh said.
With the new oil plays, Quicksilver has "some very high-potential prospects that can really change the look of this company," Darden said.
The company has had lackluster earnings the past two years, primarily because of weak gas prices and related write-downs. The company's stock (ticker: KWK) closed Friday at $14.44, up 14 cents. The stock is down about 2 percent this year.
Quicksilver, however, generally has been a low-cost operator and profited from the sale of its majority interest in Quicksilver Gas Services, which helped trim its debt to a manageable $1.7 billion, with major debt maturing in late 2015. It had 65 cents of debt per 1,000 cubic feet of reserves as of Dec. 31, down 44 percent from $1.17 two years earlier.
Barnett still mainstay
The company's bread-and-butter revenue source this year should continue to be the Barnett Shale, where Quicksilver hopes to boost production by 20 percent. Some of the company's biggest gas wells, with estimated lifetime production of 4 billion to 5.5 billion cubic feet, are in the Alliance and Lake Arlington areas, but smaller wells in the southern Barnett provide more natural gas liquids.
Although natural gas prices have barely topped $4 per 1,000 cubic feet, Darden said Quicksilver will benefit by hedging most of its 2011 gas production at just under $6.
In the company's annual report, Darden said Quicksilver doesn't believe today's abnormal price disparity between oil and natural gas will continue. And at the shareholders meeting he said company officials believe its stock is undervalued.
"We believe this presents a tremendous opportunity to invest in natural gas at the bottom of the cycle," he concludes in the annual report.
"It looks like it's going to be a fabulous year," Darden said at last week's annual shareholders meeting of the Fort Worth-based natural gas producer, which has a healthy $500 million capital budget for 2011. "We're moving more toward oil, but we're still a gas company, and we'll always be a gas company," Darden told shareholders at the downtown Fort Worth Club.
Quicksilver will soon start to show "how valuable Horn River is," as it completes more natural gas wells in cold, remote northeast British Columbia and benefits from new pipeline links allowing it to transport more gas to market more cheaply, Darden said. The company is also testing for oil there.
With 130,000 net acres leased at Horn River, Quicksilver has drilled eight natural gas wells there and completed four, which cumulatively are producing 30 million cubic feet a day. It expects to complete the other four wells this coming winter, when drilling equipment can be transported on ice roads. In warm weather equipment bogs down in the swamplike terrain called muskeg.
Horn River potential
Quicksilver estimates that each Horn River well will have an exceptional "estimated ultimate recovery," or lifetime output, ranging from 8.8 billion to 19.4 billion cubic feet of gas. Those numbers far exceed the 1 billion to 5 billion cubic feet estimated for most Barnett Shale gas wells, although operating costs are considerably lower in the Barnett.
Quicksilver's latest annual report said Horn River "appears to be the largest gas find in the company's history and has the potential to quadruple our current total company reserves." The company estimates that it could recover 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from Horn River, or nearly double what it expects from the Barnett.
As of Dec. 31, Quicksilver's proved reserves were equivalent to 2.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, with 2.6 trillion from the Barnett. The reserves are 99 percent natural gas and natural gas liquids such as propane and butane.
Getting more 'oily'
Crude oil accounts for a tiny 1 percent of Quicksilver's reserves, but that could rise. U.S. energy producers are increasingly focusing on oil and natural gas liquids, which command higher prices than natural gas. Quicksilver is pushing this year to become more "oily."
The company expects to complete a horizontal well in the Exshaw formation at Horn River this summer, with oil the target instead of natural gas. Quicksilver has "gotten great oil shows" there, Darden said, from both the Exshaw and from natural gas in the Muskwa and Klua formations below it.
Darden said Quicksilver's biggest thrust into oil this year will be in the emerging Niobrara play in the Green River Basin, where the company has 200,000 net acres leased in northwest Colorado. The company expects to drill up to six exploratory wells there this year.
"We're in oily country, and we're very excited about it," Darden said. "The Niobrara has about 1,500 feet of thickness, so it's a very big target."
Quicksilver is also launching some oil prospecting in the Bakken formation in northern Montana, where it has 175,000 net acres.
The company is also "targeting multiple formations" in the Delaware Basin in West Texas that could yield oil, said Rick Buterbaugh, Quicksilver's vice president for investor relations and corporate planning. These targets include the Bone Springs formation that is attracting increasing attention.
The company has 54,000 net acres leased in Culberson, Reeves, Jeff Davis and Presidio counties and expects to acquire more.
Quicksilver can move quickly in West Texas by re-entering "noncommercial natural gas wells" the company drilled in the West Texas portion of the Barnett Shale, Buterbaugh said. The clay content in the Barnett zone made the results from fracking "less than desired," Buterbaugh said.
With the new oil plays, Quicksilver has "some very high-potential prospects that can really change the look of this company," Darden said.
The company has had lackluster earnings the past two years, primarily because of weak gas prices and related write-downs. The company's stock (ticker: KWK) closed Friday at $14.44, up 14 cents. The stock is down about 2 percent this year.
Quicksilver, however, generally has been a low-cost operator and profited from the sale of its majority interest in Quicksilver Gas Services, which helped trim its debt to a manageable $1.7 billion, with major debt maturing in late 2015. It had 65 cents of debt per 1,000 cubic feet of reserves as of Dec. 31, down 44 percent from $1.17 two years earlier.
Barnett still mainstay
The company's bread-and-butter revenue source this year should continue to be the Barnett Shale, where Quicksilver hopes to boost production by 20 percent. Some of the company's biggest gas wells, with estimated lifetime production of 4 billion to 5.5 billion cubic feet, are in the Alliance and Lake Arlington areas, but smaller wells in the southern Barnett provide more natural gas liquids.
Although natural gas prices have barely topped $4 per 1,000 cubic feet, Darden said Quicksilver will benefit by hedging most of its 2011 gas production at just under $6.
In the company's annual report, Darden said Quicksilver doesn't believe today's abnormal price disparity between oil and natural gas will continue. And at the shareholders meeting he said company officials believe its stock is undervalued.
"We believe this presents a tremendous opportunity to invest in natural gas at the bottom of the cycle," he concludes in the annual report.
2011年5月10日星期二
Quicksilver Resources of Fort Worth lost $70.8 million in first quarter
In the same quarter a year earlier the Fort Worth-based producer earned $8.2 million, or 5 cents a share.
Quicksilver's revenue was $212.2 million in the most recent quarter, down $10 million from a year earlier. The company realized an average $5.07 per 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas, compared with $7.44 a year earlier.
The first-quarter loss included a $49.1 million write-down in the value of Canadian properties and $23.3 million in losses associated with hedging by BreitBurn Energy Partners, a California-based oil and gas partnership in which Quicksilver has a minority interest.
Excluding extraordinary items, the company earned $2.8 million, or 2 cents a share, compared with $33.8 million, or 20 cents a share, a year earlier.
"Our base operations continued to improve as production volumes once again set new records," Quicksilver CEO Glenn Darden said. He said Quicksilver "has assembled meaningful acreage positions in four developing oil plays and three natural gas plays" where the company "can use its expertise in unconventional resource development to cost-effectively grow our reserve base and production."
First-quarter production averaged the equivalent of 392.3 million cubic feet of natural gas daily, up 23 percent from a year earlier. The bulk was in North Texas' Barnett Shale, which averaged the equivalent of 318.6 million cubic feet a day, up 31 percent.
Quicksilver's Canadian production equaled 70.5 million cubic feet of natural gas a day, with 59.4 million cubic feet a day from the established Horseshoe Canyon coal bed methane field in Alberta and 11.1 million from its initial wells in the promising Horn River Basin in northeast British Columbia.
Production was 81 percent natural gas, 18 percent natural gas liquids and 1 percent oil.
In a conference call Monday with analysts, Quicksilver executives expressed optimism about significantly boosting oil production through substantial lease holdings in the Niobrara Shale in Colorado and the Bone Springs and Wolfcamp formations in West Texas, areas in which it plans to launch drilling projects this year.
Quicksilver's revenue was $212.2 million in the most recent quarter, down $10 million from a year earlier. The company realized an average $5.07 per 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas, compared with $7.44 a year earlier.
The first-quarter loss included a $49.1 million write-down in the value of Canadian properties and $23.3 million in losses associated with hedging by BreitBurn Energy Partners, a California-based oil and gas partnership in which Quicksilver has a minority interest.
Excluding extraordinary items, the company earned $2.8 million, or 2 cents a share, compared with $33.8 million, or 20 cents a share, a year earlier.
"Our base operations continued to improve as production volumes once again set new records," Quicksilver CEO Glenn Darden said. He said Quicksilver "has assembled meaningful acreage positions in four developing oil plays and three natural gas plays" where the company "can use its expertise in unconventional resource development to cost-effectively grow our reserve base and production."
First-quarter production averaged the equivalent of 392.3 million cubic feet of natural gas daily, up 23 percent from a year earlier. The bulk was in North Texas' Barnett Shale, which averaged the equivalent of 318.6 million cubic feet a day, up 31 percent.
Quicksilver's Canadian production equaled 70.5 million cubic feet of natural gas a day, with 59.4 million cubic feet a day from the established Horseshoe Canyon coal bed methane field in Alberta and 11.1 million from its initial wells in the promising Horn River Basin in northeast British Columbia.
Production was 81 percent natural gas, 18 percent natural gas liquids and 1 percent oil.
In a conference call Monday with analysts, Quicksilver executives expressed optimism about significantly boosting oil production through substantial lease holdings in the Niobrara Shale in Colorado and the Bone Springs and Wolfcamp formations in West Texas, areas in which it plans to launch drilling projects this year.
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