Device responsive
As part of on-going research to help us understand what we can do better, we established that mobile users wanted their browsing experience improved. Over the last months we’ve used much time and investment to do just this. The result is an all-new responsive platform, which makes using our site on smartphones and tablets much easier and more satisfying.
Easily accessible content
Upstream has the largest news team in the oil and gas industry with reporters on five continents. Every week the newspaper offers readers around 100 new articles with a further 150 or so available online. Add Upstream Technology, our special focus issues and show dailies. Then look back over the 20-year lifespan of Upstream – altogether thousands and thousands of articles that users can retrieve. The challenge is making them aware of what’s out there and reducing the time they use getting to it.
“We needed to make our news more accessible,” says Editor-in-Chief Erik Means. “Before our new site was launched, users would have to dig deep to find relevant articles. Now we’ve improved our search and introduced news carousels prominently across the site to bring out the newest and most important content. Furthermore, our reporters are briefed to link the most relevant and recent back articles to each story they produce, and add more informational graphics and video. In this way, site users and particularly subscribers – as we are bringing newspaper and premium-content articles to the fore – get more out of Upstream,” states Means.
Better navigation
With so many reporters spread around the globe dedicated to providing oil and gas news on their territories and specialist subject areas, we deliver a wide spread of both regional and international news. On our new site, perhaps you’ve noticed the possibility of navigating through to local news within each region? Now, for example, if you take the Asia and Oceania region, you can then select from five sub-regions – North Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania – to find your specific area of geographic interest. With this improved filtering it should mean you’re able to find the news you want faster and easier.
There are also convenient new departments that cater to easy navigation – such as field development, production and rigs & vessels, just to name a few – that will aid our readers in their day-to-day efforts to stay abreast with the news that matches their particular areas of interest.
Greater focus on technology, shale and LNG
Upstream Technology is changing. From 1 January, we’re bringing more news online with a greater number of articles covering ground-breaking technologies advancing our industry. In-depth Spotlight features will be published monthly with a whole host of different themes planned for next year (see box). Greater emphasis is also planned for the important shale and LNG sectors.
2017 Upstream Technology Spotlight features
- January: Subsea systems
- February: Gas/LNG
- March: Drilling
- April: Topside processing
- May: Seismic
- June: Enhanced recovery
- July: Inspection, maintenance and repair
- August: Unconventional oil and gas
- September: Flowlines and umbilicals
- October: Floating production
- November: Downhole technology
- December: Safety systems
Same high editorial standards
If there’s one thing that isn’t changing, it’s our standard of editorial. We’re strongly committed to our policy (see box), which underpins all content.
“In the last month alone we’ve broken a vast number of important news stories – from Samsung’s lead in the Mad Dog 2 race and Petrobras’ latest moves on the Libra and Sepia floater projects, to Saudi Aramco’s tender for 17 steel jackets and Statoil’s move to pre-qualify contractors for the Johan Castberg FPSO award,” says Erik Means. “Our experienced team of reporters are on the ground following stories and looking for local news from their regions or specific areas of expertise. The dedicated online team works around the clock, five days a week to provide continual updates. We can confidently say that no other oil and gas industry publisher matches us on news delivery, which is one reason why our subscribers are so loyal. Research shows that 84% of subscribers credit Upstream with identifying leads or business opportunities for them,” he explains.
Free site-wide access until 14 November
For the first two weeks of November, our new website is fully open to all users, so now’s the time for non-subscribers to enjoy complimentary access to all content. Make the most of it. Take a good look around and let us know what you think.
Upstream’s editorial policy
Upstream relentlessly pursues accurate, exclusive and independent news coverage of the entire upstream oil and gas industry in every corner of the globe. The focus is on business, policy and the key players. The daring news content is supported each week by features and profiles offering an inside view of the issues and the people that make a difference in the industry.
