Blowout preventers: rams, annulars and the stack
A tour of the blowout preventer stack from the annular down to the wellhead: what each ram does, how the accumulator closes them, and how a crew shuts in a kick.
Gas and OilExpoReports from the oil and gas show floor

Latest report · Natural Gas & LNG
A unit-by-unit tour of a gas plant: slug catchers, amine towers, sulfur recovery, glycol contactors, the cold box, the demethanizer and the fractionation train.
Blowout preventers: rams, annulars and the stackNovember 4, 2026
Calgary and the oil patch: how a city became Canada's energy capitalSeptember 8, 2026
Pipeline integrity: corrosion, cathodic protection and inspectionJune 18, 2026
Going to an energy trade show? Use the checklist to prepare, and come home with notes you can act on. More »
A tour of the blowout preventer stack from the annular down to the wellhead: what each ram does, how the accumulator closes them, and how a crew shuts in a kick.
From a Turner Valley gas well in 1914 to Leduc No. 1 and the oil sands: how a ranching town on the Bow River became the head office city of the oil patch.
What wears a buried steel pipeline down and how operators keep ahead of it: coatings, cathodic protection, smart pigs, pressure tests, direct assessment and 811.
Field crews, trades and office roles each have their own way in. How people start in oil and gas: the jobs, the safety tickets, apprenticeships and courses.
Where methane escapes on oil and gas sites, how crews find it with gas cameras, sniffers and aircraft, and what US and Canadian rules ask operators to record.
How a horizontal well is fractured one stage at a time: plug-and-perf and sliding sleeves, the frac spread, fluid and sand, pressure watching and flowback.
We write about the oil and gas industry the way a good trade show shows it: one hall at a time, with the equipment in front of you and someone on hand to explain it. Drilling and completions, heavy oil and the oil sands, natural gas and LNG, pipelines, safety and the careers that hold it together. Read more about the site.