VO L U M E 3 8 I I S S U E 1 I J A N U A R Y 2 019
SPECIAL TOPIC
Land Seismic EAGE NEWS Half-term interview with Jean-Jacques Biteau TECHNICAL ARTICLE Measured soundwaves in ice-covered shallow water
PRIME PROSPECT
Northern Viking Graben (NVG) Southern Extension Fast-track line from the NVG South with FWI velocity overlay
CGG is acquiring a southward extension of its NVG survey into Stord Basin, an underexplored part of the Norwegian North Sea.
Approximately 8,700 sq km were acquired in 2018, with a further extension planned for 2019.
The fast-track FWI PSDM is available now and the final PSDM will be released in H2 2019.
The right data, in the right place, at the right time
Existing NVG survey with FWI velocity model, showing extension to the south.
datalibrary.scan@cgg.com
cgg.com/multi-client
FIRST BREAK® An EAGE Publication
CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD Peter Rowbotham (Peter.Rowbotham@apachecorp.com) EDITOR Damian Arnold (editorfb@eage.org) MEMBERS, EDITORIAL BOARD • Paul Binns, consultant (pebinns@btinternet.com) • Patrick Corbett, Heriot-Watt University (patrick_corbett@pet.hw.ac.uk) • Tom Davis, Colorado School of Mines (tdavis@mines.edu) • Anthony Day, PGS (anthony.day@pgs.com) • Peter Dromgoole, Statoil UK (pdrum@statoil.com) • Rutger Gras, Oranje-Nassau Energy (gras@onebv.com) • Hamidreza Hamdi, University of Calgary (hhamdi@ucalgary.ca) • Ed Kragh, Schlumberger Cambridge Research (edkragh@slb.com) • John Reynolds, Reynolds International (jmr@reynolds-international.co.uk) • James Rickett, Schlumberger (jrickett@slb.com) • Dave Stewart, Dave Stewart Geoconsulting Ltd (djstewart.dave@gmail.com) • Femke Vossepoel, Delft University of Technology (f.c.vossepoel@tudelft.nl) MEDIA PRODUCTION MANAGER Thomas Beentje (tbe@eage.org) ACCOUNT MANAGER ADVERTISING Charles Callaghan (ccn@eage.org) ACCOUNT MANAGER SUBSCRIPTIONS Jack McClean (jmn@eage.org) PRODUCTION Saskia Nota (layout@eage.org) Ivana Geurts (layout@eage.org) EAGE EUROPE OFFICE PO Box 59 3990 DB Houten The Netherlands • +31 88 995 5055 • eage@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE RUSSIA & CIS OFFICE EAGE Russia & CIS Office EAGE Geomodel LLC 19 Leninsky Prospekt 119071, Moscow, Russia • +7 495 640 2008 • moscow@eage.org • www.eage.ru EAGE MIDDLE EAST OFFICE EAGE Middle East FZ-LLC Dubai Knowledge Village Block 13 Office F-25 PO Box 501711 Dubai, United Arab Emirates • +971 4 369 3897 • middle_east@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE ASIA PACIFIC OFFICE UOA Centre Office Suite 19-15-3A No. 19, Jalan Pinang 50450 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia • +60 3 272 201 40 • asiapacific@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE LATIN AMERICA OFFICE Carrera 14 No 97-63 Piso 5 Bogotá, Colombia • +57 1 4232948 • americas@eage.org • www.eage.org
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The use of nodal seismic acquisition systems to acquire limited-scale surveys
Editorial Contents 3
EAGE News
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Crosstalk
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Industry News
Technical Article
35 Measured sound levels in ice-covered shallow water caused by seismic shooting on top of and below floating ice, reviewed for possible impacts on true seals Helene Meling Stemland, Tor Arne Johansen, Bent Ole Ruud and Ana Sofia Aniceto
Special Topic: Land Seismic
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The enigma of arrays Jason Criss
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Low-frequency Vibroseis: current achievements and the road ahead? Nicolas Tellier and Gilles Ollivrin
55 The use of nodal seismic acquisition systems to acquire limited-scale surveys Tim Dean and Denis Sweeney 61 High-resolution land seismic acquisition with Broadsweep Tagir Galikeev, Alexander Zhukov and Ilya Korotkov 67 Applying full-azimuth depth processing in the Local Angle Domain for Frequency Absorption versus Azimuth) (FAVAz) analysis to predict permeable, oil-saturated fractures Alexander Inozemtsev, Gali Dekel, Zvi Koren and Alexander Galkin 75 High-frequency acoustic land full-waveform inversion: a case study from the Sultanate of Oman Sedova, G. Royle, T. Allemand, G. Lambaré and O. Hermant 83 Safer seismic energy source for complex geological imaging David Vidal, Juan Ledezma, Jose Luis Calle, Bladimir Ballesteros and Juan Miranda 86 Calendar
EAGE MEMBERS CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTIFICATION Send to: EAGE Membership Dept at EAGE Office (address above) FIRST BREAK ON THE WEB www.firstbreak.org ISSN 0263-5046 (print) / ISSN 1365-2397 (online)
cover: Sercel’s 508XT wireless acquisition system in action. Read more in our Land Seismic Special Topic that starts on p. 44.
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European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
Board 2018-2019 Jean-Jacques Biteau President
Near Surface Geoscience Division George Apostolopoulos Chair Alireza Malehmir Vice-Chair Micki Allen Contact Officer EEGS-NA Riyadh Al-Saad O&G Liaison Xavier Garcia Committee Member Peter Bergmann Technical Programme Representative Esther Bloem Technical Programme Representative Albert Casas Membership Officer Ranajit Ghose Editor in Chief Near Surface Geophysics Musa Manzi Committee Member Andreas Kathage Liaison Officer First Break Koya Suto Liaison Asia Pacific Musa Manzi Committee Member Jiangha Xia Liaison China
Oil & Gas Geoscience Division
Peter Lloyd Vice-President-Elect
Michael Pöppelreiter Vi c e-President
Colin MacBeth Education Officer
Caroline Jane Lowrey Chair Michael Peter Suess Vice-Chair Øistein Bøe Resource Evaluation Committee liaison Phil Christie Chief Editor Petroleum Geoscience Rick Donselaar Technical Programme Representative (Geology) Xavier Garcia NSGD liaison Sebastian Geiger Resource Evaluation Committee liaison Olivier Gosselin Technical Programme Representative (Reservoir), Resource Evaluation Committee liaison Juliane Heiland Committee member David Halliday Technical Programme Representative (Geophysics), YP liaison Tijmen Jan Moser Editor-in-Chief Geophysical Prospecting Ann Muggeridge IOR Committee liaison Walter Rietveld Technical Programme Officer Michael Welch Technical Programme Representative (Geology), NSGD liaison Martin Widmaier Technical Programme Representative (Geophysics) Paul Worthington Resource Evaluation Committee liaison Michael Zhdanov NSGD liaison Conor Ryan Resource evaluation committee Francesco Perrone Young professionals liason
SUBSCRIPTIONS First Break is published monthly. It is free to EAGE members. The membership fee of EAGE is € 50.00 a year (including First Break, EarthDoc (EAGE’s geoscience database), Learning Geoscience (EAGE’s Education website) and online access to a scientific journal. Caroline Le Turdu Membership and Cooperation Officer
Ingrid Magnus Publications Officer
Everhard Muijzert Secretary-Treasurer
Companies can subscribe to First Break via an institutional subscription. Every subscription includes a monthly hard copy and online access to the full First Break archive for the requested number of online users. Orders for current subscriptions and back issues should be sent to EAGE Publications BV, Journal Subscriptions, PO Box 59, 3990 DB, Houten, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 (0)88 9955055, E-mail: subscriptions@eage.org, www.firstbreak.org. First Break is published by EAGE Publications BV, The Netherlands. However, responsibility for the opinions given and the statements made rests with the authors. COPYRIGHT & PHOTOCOPYING © 2019 EAGE All rights reserved. First Break or any part thereof may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying and recording, without the prior written permission of the Publisher.
Aart-Jan van Wijngaarden Technical Programme Officer
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Caroline Jane Lowrey Chair Oil & Gas Geoscience Division
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PAPER The Publisher’s policy is to use acid-free permanent paper (TCF), to the draft standard ISO/DIS/9706, made from sustainable forests using chlorine-free pulp (Nordic-Swan standard).
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HIGHLIGHTS
EAGE MEMBERS
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SE Asia sees second near surface event in KL
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Local Chapter Houston: the first year
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EAGE/TNO workshop report
Cautiously optimistic for 2019 EAGE president Jean-Jacques Biteau offers some thoughts on what 2019 has in store for the Association.
EAGE president Jean-Jacques Biteau at the 2018 Annual Meeting in Copenhagen.
Before writing this half yearly report to members from your president, I happened to be reviewing with some admiration the workshop programme in the Second Announcement brochure for the forthcoming EAGE Annual Meeting in London in June.
The main Technical Programme has of course still to be selected, but we know that we can anticipate a collection of world class oral and poster presentations for which EAGE conferences are rightly renowned. However, I was struck by the fact that we already have 19 workshops advertised for London 2019, a tribute among other things to hard-working committees and individual member initiatives. In addition to traditional seismic focused topics such as reservoir characterization and monitoring, inversion issues, and the processing of multi-component and broadband data, the workshop programme includes geomechanics, marine electromagnetics, machine learning, geothermal reservoirs, induced seismicity, core studies, geology and ‘decarbonisation’. I hope you will agree this package of workshops constitutes an exceptional opportunity for members to learn or update their knowledge in many areas of our geoscience and engineering disciplines. This diversity and inclusiveness is an important part of EAGE’s mission, which we also witnessed in action at the very successful Near Surface event in Porto last September. That occasion attracted a record attendance, continuing to pursue our newly established formula of combining three conferences under FIRST
one roof. It enables members to share science and networks over a number of fields. When we collaborate for the first time with EEGS on the organization of SAGEEP in Portland, Oregon in March, we shall bring the same idea of more than one conference at the same venue to broaden the appeal, a wider range of near surface geoscience interests and the possibilities of cross-fertilization of ideas. Indicative of the growing interest in near surface worldwide is this year’s upcoming event in Kuala Lumpur, jointly organized by EAGE Asia Pacific region and the Geological Society of Malaysia. It is a follow-up to the successful inaugural meeting in 2018 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, which is being enthusiastically endorsed by the regional geoscience community. To my mind, these are examples of the direction our Association must travel as we move into an era of energy transition. It is a path of diversity and integration, bringing as many different perspectives as possible to bear on the challenges we face and working together. For example, we may find that the traditional duality between Near Surface investigations and Oil and Gas E&P applied geophysics has to be revisited. We can already see that near surface
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EAGE NEWS
technology is becoming more mainstream. It is receiving increasing attention from the corporate world attracted by the range of applications for which it can be used. Recognizing the trend, the Board is in the midst of considering the optimum strategy to ensure that in the coming years we are in a position to provide the relevant services and events to meet anticipated demand. One priority is to explore the potential to better integrate near surface thinking and methodologies with the geophysical and geological approaches traditionally associated with the resource industries such as oil and gas. In this way, EAGE may one day be seen as a ‘one-stop shop’ for geoscientists and engineers regardless of the field to which they ostensibly adhere. As president fulfilling an unprecedented two terms in office due to unforeseen circumstances, I have had the privilege to travel and re-visit many locations around the world where EAGE is
the geosciences by way of supporting events and offering the many services available, including publications and web-based initiatives, are greatly appreciated. Indeed the common refrain is ‘we would like more’. The main frustration is that we could do more if economic circumstances allowed. In the E&P oil and gas sector particularly, companies have not been able to devote the resources they would like to education and training initiatives. This in turn has compelled the Association to be especially careful to live within its means. I am pleased to say we have tightened our belt without significantly affecting the overall quality of services to members. Instilling a more cost-conscious ethos in the office has been a priority. I acknowledge very sincerely the part EAGE staff has played in applying stringent budgeting metrics to all our activities and accepting some necessary restructuring to reduce expenses and be
‘EAGE may one day be seen as a ‘one-stop shop’ for geoscientists and engineers regardless of the field to which they ostensibly adhere.’ actively involved with local professional and academic communities. Recently I have visited Cape Town, Lagos and Nairobi in Africa and will be present at a new event in Algeria in January 2019. I was in Bahrain in December and earlier participated in various events closer to home in Europe. I am particularly excited by the reception we are receiving in the Africa region where in the past we hardly ever ventured. It is heartening to see that EAGE can make a difference in these countries both for geoscience students and professionals and bring new blood into the Association. We have welcomed new Local Chapters in Luanda and Lagos. Travels on behalf of the Association have provided me with a great insight both into how EAGE’s offerings are currently regarded and what we can do to better our services in the future. I can say unequivocally that our role in promoting 4
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more efficient. As a result our headcount has reduced substantially; we should be budget positive for 2018 after two years of losses, and we expect further progress this year in establishing a healthy economic base from which we can expand our services through better selection and fine tuning and in so doing attract new members. I should add that the Board has subjected itself to some self-examination. It is important that we apply the same standards of efficiency and effectiveness that we ask of others, for example by better communication, which we are addressing. We have also reviewed Board member representation at events and are encouraging more direct involvement in workshops and other new projects, working with the relevant committees to achieve the best result. We are also aware that, as EAGE becomes increasingly global in membership and outlook, this should be reflected in the Board’s
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composition. This same thinking applies to all our committees and the acceptance of editorial contributions to our journals. As we look ahead to 2019 and beyond I believe we have good cause to be encouraged. We are in control of our finances and a number of new initiatives, some already mentioned, are paying off. Our active involvement in the EU Horizon 2020 project through the research and innovation project ‘Smart Exploration’ was highlighted at the Near Surface meeting in Porto. The policy of sharing the organization and revenues of certain events with sister societies has been a positive move, especially in the regions. Costly duplication is avoided, attendances are better, so it is a win-win for both the societies and event participants. At the same time it is vitally important that EAGE retains its special identity and established appeal to the global geoscience and engineering community. That means moving with the times. In this context I believe we are setting the right example in pursuing various ‘green’ initiatives, including specific events on sustainability and CO2 mitigation where the geoscience world has something to offer. Geoscience-oriented students often express their desire to work towards a ‘cleaner’ oil and gas industry. Our new Minus CO2 Challenge, sponsored by Equinor, Total and Schlumberger, demonstrates how fundamental the issue is for the Association, as well as offering a valuable experience for the next generation of geoscientists whom we must recruit. Cautious optimism is how I would best describe the prospects for EAGE in 2019. I shall be at the helm until June 2019 during which time I look forward to continuing work with my fellow Board members, our hard working staff and many selfless volunteers who give their time freely to serve the Association. Most of all, I will cherish the opportunities to meet with many more of you, the members, and learn how we can better meet your professional needs. Je vous souhaite à tous une bonne et heureuse année ainsi qu’une excellente santé!
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EAGE NEWS 
Latin America: HPC workshop provides source of stimulating discussion Carlos J. Barrios H. (SC3UIS), Amik St-Cyr (Shell), Pedro M. Silva e Cruz (NVIDIA) and Gilberto Diaz (SC3UIS) provide these reflections on the recent EAGE Workshop on high-performance computing held in Piedecuesta, Colombia. Latin America is a beautiful continent with a known important wealth of resources, including existing and upcoming developments for the oil and gas industry. As such it is a significant mover in the economy of the developed world. This is why the First EAGE High-Performance Computing (HPC) Workshop for Upstream in Latin America vindicated the value of the region. This importance is not only in natural resources but also in human knowledge as well as technological and scientific development supported by public and private investments in research. The Latin America oil and gas
the competitiveness of regional actors. The authors and speakers present at the workshop showed novel techniques in HPC and their direct impact in the decision-making process in our upstream business. The alliance between technology, people and knowledge, supported by the EAGE, allowed the creation of a space to discuss important subjects related to simulation methods using traditional techniques up to more recent techniques such as artificial intelligence and machine and deep learning. Discussion during the workshop revolved around HPC practices, tools, techniques, methods and harness-
Host venue Pieecuesta, Colombia.
community is a significant protagonist on the worldwide scene, contributing to the growth in production through the use of leading technologies. Digitalization will be a make-or-break opportunity for oil and gas majors, and high-performance computing and highend data analytics will play leading roles in this transformation paving the way to increased scientific knowledge and to the development of natural resources. This first HPC workshop in Latin America was an acknowledgement of the importance of the use of new technologies and emerging knowledge which highly impacts the industry and contributes to 6
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ing the power of computation, all in a sustainable fashion. The attendees could recognize trends, major opportunities and, most important, propose new directions and challenges in a collaborative way. The other highlight of the workshop was the collaboration of the student volunteers from EAGE student chapters in Colombia. Their efforts contributed to making the event a success. The forum was co-organized and hosted by the Industrial University of Santander (UIS), via the High-Performance and Scientific Computing Centre (SC3UIS) at the Guatiguara Technology Park, in collaboration with the Colombian Petrole-
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um Innovation Institute of the Colombian Petroleum Company (ICP-Ecopetrol) in Piedecuesta, Santander, Colombia. The province of Santander is at the heart of the energy and oil and gas industry in Colombia and SC3UIS is the most important HPC centre in the country and one of the most important in Latin America, with a special focus in the development of research for the petroleum industry. For instance, SC3UIS was one of the first centres to propose the use of GPU computing to solve science and technology problems and the alliance with NVIDIA was a natural relationship to perform better science through the use of HPC. Important thought-provoking keynotes were presented by Dr Andres Mantilla, director, Innovation and Technology Centre at ICP and executive vice president, Ecopetrol; Dr Renato Cerqueira, senior research manager, Natural Resources Solutions, IBM Research Brazil and Dr Francisco Ortigosa, director, geoscience technology, exploration and production, Repsol. Their talks, offered major discussion points on how computational power is not, alone, sufficient to perform high-performance-computing. After each presentation, the interaction between the participants and speakers was very intense, enjoyable and it was obvious that new knowledge and directions were being shared, given the questions and the challenges posited by our keynote speakers. The accepted high level abstracts also contributed to discussion of new HPC methods and technological possibilities in our upstream production. At the conclusion of the workshop, the interest was high regarding the possibility of another workshop in Latin America. Meantime a summary of the main oral sessions can be found in the abstracts on EarthDoc (https://events.eage.org/en/2018/first-eage-workshop-on-high-performance-computing-for-upstream-in-latin-america/ technical-programme/proceedings).
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EAGE NEWS
Special Interest Communities initiative first joint mentoring programme The two Special Interest Communities (SIC) of EAGE are to collaborate on a joint programme for the first time. The Women in Geoscience & Engineering and Young Professionals interest groups were established in 2013. Since then they have been growing in parallel supporting each other through regular sharing of information and opportunities. Now for the first time they will work together on a joint initiative: the 2019 EAGE Mentoring Programme. It will involve a six-month exchange process on career development for pairs of EAGE members, who will be matched based on their goals, interests and profiles. Mentoring is not new to EAGE. The proposed programme draws on the experience of the Women in Geoscience & Engineering group, which has run two successful e-Mentoring projects in 2016 and in 2018 including constructive feedback received from both communities. Besides experience, this new edition will be enriched by opportunities for those attending the EAGE Annual to meet face to face in London while still giving the possibility to others to follow a distance-based track. The new managing team of Young Professionals, renewed in September 2018, will also actively contribute to the organization of this activity and participants will have a chance to
network with both SICs at their special sessions at the London event. All EAGE members are welcome to join by sending an application via the EAGE Annual website. A joint WGE-YP Committee will coordinate the matching process and connect pairs with similar interests. Different matching options are possible. For young professionals seeking career guidance, there are several EAGE senior geoscientist volunteers who can provide valuable advice from experience. For those in mid-career and considering their next step, it’s possible to talk it over with someone who has been in the same situation and might be able to point the way forward. For those interested in learning about a different path, there is the option to connect with a professional from another field. Finally, some women may choose an appropriate matching to address the challenges faced by female professionals in the work environment. All participants – mentors and mentees - can benefit from the mentoring programme. In the words of a participant of the WGE e-Mentoring Programme 2018: ‘It was a really nice opportunity to get to know somebody who is doing the career I want to do and to get her perspective on all things geological. My mentor was helpful, encouraging and our chats ranged quite a lot. It was brilliant to
be able to run through ideas with someone who had been in my position before’. Another said: ‘It is a great opportunity to share one’s knowledge and experience with others that may now be following a similar path. I also found it motivating for myself as a mentor.’ One hundred percent of those who responded to the feedback survey stated that they plan to keep in touch with their mentor/ mentee, indicating that the programme was successful in projecting benefits beyond the scheduled six months and could create long lasting links. 73% of mentors/mentees said their exchanges produced constructive input for career development and were a motivational experience. Mentoring is also one way to become more engaged with members of the Association and learn about new opportunities, especially those generated by being part of a large interest of communities. ‘This programme has been a bit of a kick-start for me becoming involved in networks focused on gender diversity,’ was the comment from one mentor, adding, ‘And I hope to become even more involved in the future. Networking is the key to success and sharing experiences with someone outside your [personal] network is very important. The earlier you do this in your career, the better for your future. Learning with curiosity should be a habit for your success.’
Rebel will advise on China EAGE’s Asia Pacific office in Kuala Lumpur is looking forward to working with Hendrik (‘Henk’) Rebel who is joining the EAGE family as country advisor for China. In his career with Shell spanning some 30 years, Rebel held some 14 different positions in E&P geology, geophysics and management in eight different countries with nine years of this time in China. Most recently he was with the Beijing-based company Geosciences and NBD of AE&E 8
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Technologies which specializes in combining geomicrobial and geochemical technology surveying for hydrocarbon detection from surface soil or sea bottom sediment samples. It is hoped that Rebel’ experience with local service providers and universities will enable him to provide valuable advice on technical collaboration, strategy, partnership, education, and training to support future EAGE China and Asia Pacific initiatives. He said: ‘After my years of
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working internationally for Shell, I feel this is the perfect time for me to come and give back as well as to share my experiences with younger technical professionals and provide lectures to students’. At the EAGE Annual Meeting in Copenhagen, Rebel received an award at the President’s Evening for his 2017 Student Lecture Tour in China entitled ‘Raising the bar: How game-changing technology and “4G” integration can improve exploration success and ways-of-working’.
EAGE NEWS
Geomodel is 21 this year and going as strong as ever Alexey Shevchenko (PetroTrace Services), chair, Geomodel 2019 Organizing Committee, extends this invitation to EAGE members to take part in Geomodel 2019, the 21st EAGE conference on oil and gas geological exploration and development on 9-13 September, once again in Gelendzhik. Russian geology and geophysics have vast and long-lasting traditions and this is your chance to become a part of it. The conferences EAGE organizes in Russia attract more and more attention of professionals in the oil industry who come to deliver case studies and research. More and more professionals cite our publications. What makes Geomodel different from any other conference is the opportunity for communication and development available to young professionals. At the conference, they can learn a great deal and participate in scientific discussions, make themselves visible in their profession. For many of us, Geomodel is a place where we reflect on what has been done during a previous year, estimate our successes and
failures and try to understand what has been achieved by our colleagues. Several specialized sessions are run simultaneously during the conference. This allows consideration of theoretical and practical problems of exploration, prospecting and development of oil and gas fields. Within the framework of the conference there will be research and practical presentations (oral and poster); short courses on relevant topics in geological and geophysical research; commercial presentations of software packages and techniques; and a geological field trip. Our conference provides a unique chance to measure your achievements against those of your competitors and a leap forward to future discoveries. Work-
Alexey Shevchenko.
ing together we can review afresh old methods and developments and help to discover new approaches through sharing our thoughts and ideas. Details of the event are available on www.eage.org and www.eage.ru. Call for abstracts is open until 20 May 2019. Please note that Russian is the working language at Geomodel Conference.
SE Asia sees second near surface event in Kuala Lumpur EAGE and its associated society, the Geological Society of Malaysia are to host the 2nd edition of Near Surface Geo-
Kualq Lumpur lit up.
sciences Asia Conference & Exhibition (NSGE) in Kuala Lumpur on 23-26 April 2019. Following last year’s successful inaugural gathering in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, co-organized with HAGI, the local geoscience association, this event promises to be another excellent opportunity for geoscientists from all parts of the world to get updated on research, technology and services in the near surface field. One of the highlights this year will be keynote addresses by three well known speakers; Prof Kenneth H. Stokoe (University of Texas at Austin), Prof Dr M. Atilla Ansal (Ozyegin University, Istanbul) and Prof Dr Joy Jacqueline Pereira (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia).
FFIRST
Prior to the conference, Dr Meng Heng Loke (Geotomo Software) and Dr Toke Søltoft (Aarhus Geosoftware) will present their one day short course entitled ‘A Practical Guide to Multi-Dimensional ERT Surveys, Interpretation and Data Integration.’ A side event will see a discussion on ‘Application of Geophysical Methods to Engineering and Environmental Problems’ with the delegation from Society of Exploration Geoscientists of Japan (SEG) on 23 April 2019. The event is grateful to Guideline Geo (platinum sponsor) ZZ Resistivity Imaging (silver sponsor) and GTR (delegate bag sponsor) for their supports. Registration on the event website opens on 2 January 2019.
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Egyptian students on a roll with annual conference EAGE Suez University Student Chapter students last September successfully organized for the fifth time in a row the annual International Petroleum and Geo-Science Conference (IPGC), held at the Amarante Pyramids Resort in Cairo, Egypt.
Student participants in IPGC Conference 2018.
The opening address by conference chairman Mohamed Al-Arabywas was followed by a motivational speech from Radi Alnashaar, former general manager, BP-Egypt. Then Ali Bakr, a well known Egyptian geologist and CEO of Rockserv Reservoir Modelling Company led a session on ‘Exploration in The Nile Delta.’
Day two started with a well control case study, presented by Ahmed Hatem, drilling engineer at the Egyptian Drilling Company (EDC). Three representatives from Halliburton Services - Ashraf Elshorbagy, Dr Mohsen Abd Al-Fatah, and Dr Diab Saad - gave separate interesting talks on respectively mud logging, carbonate
reservoir characterization, and directional drilling, respectively. The day closed with a panel session, featuring an open discussion between Halliburton speakers and the students attending the conference. A remarkable aspect of the first two days was the deep interaction between the professionals and the students, the eagerness of the students to maximize the benefit from the sessions, and the openness of the VIPs in answering every question, technical or not. Schlumberger reservoir engineer, Amr Ismail, started the third day with a session on a modular dynamic tester (MDT), then continued with a lecture about hydraulic fracturing. The day also featured a talk from a representative of the Middle East Training Centre (METC), followed by a student paper contest. The winners were awarded discounted courses from METC, and valuable prizes from the EAGE Student Chapter. The third day was closed by a lecture and workshop from Bahaa Hamdy, an exploration geoscientist at Shell Egypt, on seismic interpretation and hydrocarbon exploration. An exhibition was held during all three days, including the EAGE Bookshop.
EAGE Education Calendar APRIL
EDUCATION DAYS ARGENTINA: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
JUNE-JULY
EDUCATION DAYS BEIJING: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME
BEIJING, CHINA
JUNE-JULY
EDUCATION DAYS KUALA LUMPUR: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
JUNE-JULY
EDUCATION DAYS PERTH: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME
PERTH, AUSTRALIA
AUGUST
EDUCATION DAYS RIO DE JANEIRO: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL LONDON, UK
SEPTEMBER
EDUCATION DAYS LONDON: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME
SEPTEMBER
EDUCATION DAYS MEXICO: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
NOVEMBER
EDUCATION DAYS HOUSTON: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME
HOUSTON, USA
NOVEMBER
EDUCATION DAYS MOSCOW: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME
MOSCOW, RUSSIA
NOVEMBER
EDUCATION DAYS ABERDEEN: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME
ABERDEEN, UK
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION PLEASE VISIT WWW.EAGE.ORG AND WWW.LEARNINGGEOSCIENCE.ORG.
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EAGE NEWS
A journey of discovery with LC London
Local Chapter London in September hosted Mark Thompson, senior advisor in reservoir geophysics at Equinor, who gave a talk on ‘Permanent Reservoir Monitoring of the Snorre and Grane Field: A Journey of Discovery. Our guest took the audience through the developing story of how his company develop and continually monitor fields offshore Norway. He focused on two of the fields in the Norwegian oil company’s portfolio that have a large technical potential for increased oil recovery. His job is to extract the additional resources out of the ground, using permanent reservoir monitoring as a tool. Since 1990 Equinor has established a history of applying various methods for monitoring fields through different seismic acquisition techniques. In 1993, 4D seismic was first implemented for the Gullfaks field and the Troll field began continuous review through 2D seismic used for 4D. Fast forward to 2010 and Sleipner is now being monitored with 4D broadband seismic data. However, this has still meant returning to the field
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every few years to re-acquire seismic. This has not only been an expensive and logistically difficult operation, but also the frequency of seismic acquisition was not necessarily enough to give a full picture of the changing reservoir as hydrocarbons are extracted. Ultimately, this leads to increased uncertainty in drilling decision when wanting to further develop the field. 4D permanent reservoir monitoring (PRM) achieved by deploying seismic cables on the seafloor was considered to be the solution for keeping the geo-model as up to date as possible. Snorre and Grane both presented strong business cases for PRM. Snorre was discovered in 1979 and is structurally complex. Grane, which was discovered in 1991, has a simpler structure but the stratigraphy provides a challenge. The Paleocene Heimdal reservoir formation is very thin and sand injectites are also present. Before PRM was installed in 2013, Snorre had repeated surveys carried out every three years due to the long process of shooting and processing. The introduction of PRM means the field has new seismic twice a year, every year. The cables for the Grane field’s PRM were installed in 2014. Previously surveillance of the reservoir had been via ocean bottom cable (OBC) carried out by towed streamers every 2-3 years. PRM reduced the impact of shadow zones from platforms and stopped cable
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Local Chapter London members attending recent talk.
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movement, which increased the quality of the seismic image. Overall, the installation of PRM has reduced financial costs as a result of being able to safely monitor and decrease uncertainties in choosing locations to drill. It has changed the order in which drilling of wells over these fields was planned. The improved surveillance has had some interesting 4D effects, e.g., the frequency of the surveys means you can differentiate between spring and summer shoots by seeing the pressure drop and ride as gas is injected and water stops. Thompson proudly provided an example of increased well performance since the implementation of PRM. A new gas injector was put in two days after the start of PRM acquisition with the effect seen on seismic after just 4-5 days. This proved the packers were working and showed a new phenomenon of gas migrating southwards. The talk offered a compelling story of the lives of these fields. To date 18 PRM surveys have been completed demonstrating the real benefits of the technology in prolonging the life of our industry. Great thanks for this lecture, which highlighted the EAGE Distinguished Lecturer Programme (DLP) and continues a series of successful Local Chapter events in London. Stay tuned for more, as the Local Chapter prepares to welcome the EAGE Annual Conference 2019!
EAGE NEWS
Kazan Local Chapter focuses on support for students
Kazan students in the frame.
LC Kazan is one of eight Local Chapters active in Russia, established in 2004. This year, its main focus has been students, particularly those at the Institute of Geology and Petroleum Technologies of the Kazan Federal University. At LC meetings, current and prospective student members have learnt
about the opportunities and conferences offered by EAGE. LC members also worked closely with some graduates and undergraduates on laboratory experiments on the elastic and geomechanical properties of core material. This specific research employed a range of petrophysical methods to simplify the
selection of the optimal technology for the development of hard-to-recover oil reserves. Geomechanical research today plays a special role as it has the potential to solve the problems of development and operation at all scales, from core data to entire fields. Together with employees of the university, LC members worked on this project and obtained results that will be processed and used in the future to modulate the elastic and geomechanical rock properties of the samples. Students were encouraged to present their results at EAGE conferences, including the Saint Petersburg Conference in April 2018. For 2019 the Local Chapter plans to continue to actively interact with students and develop new ideas and topics for future reports at the EAGE conference.
A new Local Chapter is born in Paris EAGE president Jean-Jacques Biteau and Membership and Cooperation officer Caroline Le Turdu were present at the inaugural meeing of Local Chapter Paris, the latest addition to EAGE’s growing number of chapters around the world. Local Chapter Paris members intend to promote geosciences and connect with the local community through various activities. It expects to facilitate connections with other local societies and promote activities that extend beyond a single discipline. Their first event took place on 30 November hosted by the Schlumberger office in downtown Paris. A start-up pitch contest was organized, followed by a networking session. It was a fantastic opportunity to present future activities and create links among members.
New Local Chapter Paris with EAGE Board members Jean-Jacques Biteau and Caroline Le Turdu.
On 17 January, the newly established Local Chapter will be introducing Ali KaragĂźl, (Total), who will give a talk on the importance of assessing Uncertainty in Geoscience in
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Local Chapter Houston: the first year Local Chapter Houston was established on 11 May 2018 with a leadership group comprised of a president, vice-president, secretary and representatives of the two EAGE special interest communities. The first technical meeting took place on 26 June when Dr Lev Vernik discussed ‘Selecting Fit-to-purpose Rock Physics Models (RPMs) for Reservoir Characterization’. He covered a huge quantity of RPMs using data from all over the world and showed which ones worked and which didn’t in his own inimitable fashion! The message was definitely to test your choice of RPM using local data from a similar environment. The next talk was by Ge Jin of ConocoPhillips who spoke about ‘Hydro-Frac’ing Geometry Characterization’ using low frequency digital acoustic sensing (DAS) in the borehole. Jin’s co-author was present and the talk was followed by a 15-minute Q&A session and then a 20-minute session at the screen. The audience was diverse, including some engineers, and highly engaged by the presentation. A third talk on ‘Unlock the Rock’ on 28 August gave Nick Brooks of
What’s in the box?
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FractureID the opportunity to show the Local Chapter some data from a three coordinate accelerometer placed in a sub directly behind a PDC drill bit. The drill bit responds to variations in the rock as well as drill bit wear. Operators are said to have found that they can achieve a higher percentage of successful stages with successful perforations if they group like-rock into each stage. This is because a mixture of weak and strong rock in a single stage will preferentially fracture the weaker rock first when the pressure is increased. A fourth talk on ‘Optimizing Horizontal Well Completions through Use of Drilling Data’ was given by Bill Katon (Drill2Frac) on 25 September. Drill2Frac is a service company that processes with proprietary software drill data conventionally acquired at the surface. The object is to characterize the rock by its strength in order to design stages and perforations of like-rock. Katon showed a lot of data and displayed the effect of frac hits, bore holes crossing bedding interfaces at faults and areas with high curvature. As well as depleted areas where lower pore pressure makes the formation stronger. This information is of value to drillers and also those interested in reservoir characterization since it augments the limited MWD data usually acquired in horizontal bore holes and provides measurements of the rock state at the time of drilling. Katon showed a number of comparisons of logs derived from drilling data and MWD logs. It makes sense to measure rock strength directly rather than try to derive it from MWD logs designed for a different purpose, for example MWD GR. Independent studies of using well and drilling data to design stages and perforations show 20% improvements while reducing drilling time, thus reducing costs by two methods. Next in the series of technical talks organized by LC Houston was ‘Geomechanically constrained 3D frac design
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and Fast Marching Method simulation using well logs derived from surface drilling data and corrected mechanical specific energy’ given by Mohit Paryani of FracGeo on 30 October. This was a description of many workflows starting
Houston technical meeting.
with drilling and well data conventionally acquired at the surface, to estimates of strain along the borehole. The strain predictions can then be used to create a geo-mechanical model of the reservoir, which in turn can be used by a very fast simulator to predict the effect on net present value (NPV) of any changes in drilling plans. This can prevent much re-engineering that will have little effect on profitably. LC Houston is keen to develop new collaborations and to continue the schedule of monthly meetings in 2019. To follow its updates, make sure to connect via LinkedIn!
EAGE NEWS
Emerging geosciences meeting returns to Budapest The Association of Hungarian Geophysicists and EAGE Local Chapter Hungary recently joined forces again to organize a series of lecturers on ‘Emerging Geosciences’ with support of EAGE. The autumn session took place on 21 November in the lecture hall of the Mining and Geological Survey of Hungary in Budapest with over 80 people in attendance. Among the presentations, Balázs Magyar summarized the background of the Paks2 Nuclear Power Plant and the new geophysical results obtained by this research project. László Gombár presented the results of measuring 3D and 2D seismic sections which were analyzed to map the tectonic structures of the area.
László Tóth illustrated the results of the seismic hazard assessment and introduced
to produce a better image of the tectonic structures, mainly the near surface area. A
Full house for lectures.
the new network to survey the microseismicity in the area. Finally, Tamás Tóth presented seismic and multi-electrode sections
discussion followed the presentations and those present look forward to more of these collaborative events.
LC Pau pleases with talks programme EAGE Local Chapter Pau in November had the pleasure of welcoming Anne Mercier and Clément Blaizot, co-founders of a French start-up company Geospace based in Pau. The company is dedicated to the observation of oceans and lands through optical and satellite radar data. The lecture was focused on the methodology for operating offshore seep studies from satellite data retrieval and
manual seep interpretation. The ultimate goal is to transfer knowledge acquired in oil exploration (offshore seeps studies detection) to the broader world of geoscience disciplines such as rare gas, water, geothermal energy storage, etc. This can be performed through real-time and near real-time monitoring applications to make the most of today’s massive amounts of available satellite images. The presenters
were delighted to be able to interact with the audience, which showed plenty of interest emerged in the during the lecture and networking. The next evening lecture will be held on 22 January 2019 when Ali Karagul (Total) will present his talk on ‘Assessing the Uncertainty in Geoscience’. Stay tuned for more by LC Pau in 2019!
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EAGE/TNO workshop continues consideration of field optimization challenge Dries Hegen, TNO, the Netherlands, describes what happened when experts on field development optimization methods gathered in Barcelona for the EAGE/TNO Workshop on OLYMPUS Field Development Optimization, which took place on 7 September 2018, the day after the ECMOR XVI event. The turn out for the workshop consisted of 65 attendees (from industry, research organizations and academia).
Panel discussion on the way forward.
Experts on the field were able to share and discuss their experiences and views on the potential of state-of-the-art methods for optimization under uncertainty arising from the OLYMPUS Field Development Optimization Challenge, launched in early 2017. The challenge was developed by TNO together with ENI, Petrobras, Equinor and Delft University of Technology within the framework of ISAPP2 research consortium. It is based on the realistic yet fictitious OLYMPUS oil reservoir and consists of three exercises on optimization under uncertainty: one exercise on well control optimization, one on well placement optimization and one on joint optimization of well placement and control.
Since the launch of the challenge more than 20 groups from industry and academia have worked on the challenge. The workshop served as the platform to present, share and discuss the results obtained by the different participants. A keynote lecture by Prof Albert Reynolds, University of Tulsa, addressing the past, present and future challenges in field development optimization, provided the perfect start to the workshop. This was followed by nine oral presentations and 11 dedicated poster presentations. Following the oral and poster presentations, the workshop was concluded with a panel discussion on the main learnings from the workshop and brainstorming on the way forward. The panel moderated by Rahul-Mark Fonseca consisted of members from the OLYMPUS Scientific Committee, Prof Jan-Dirk Jansen, Ernesto Della Rossa, Alexandre Emerick and Remus Hanea. The friendly atmosphere of the workshop (and the discussions) continued at networking drinks that closed the event. A Computational Geosciences Special Issue with peer-reviewed proceedings from the workshop will be published in the summer of 2019. All positive feedback and outcomes of discussions during and
after the workshop have led us to begin the brainstorming on further benchmark challenge ideas as a follow-up to the OLYMPUS Challenge. Having attended over the last years several EAGE events, it was a pleasure to be involved in the facilitation of the OLYMPUS workshop. Along with the participants a special mention to EAGE and the Scientific Committee for all their efforts to make this workshop a resounding success! For more information on the background of the challenge and the dataset of reservoir models, please visit: www.isapp2. com/optimization-challenge.html.
Inspiring oral presentations in Barcelona.
The EAGE Student Fund supports activities that help bridge the gap between the university and professional environments for students of geosciences and engineering. Thanks to our Student Fund contributors we can continue supporting students around the globe and through this securing the future of our industry. For more information to become a Student Fund contributor, please visit eagestudentfund.org or contact us at students@eage.org. SUPPORTED BY
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We would like to thank our sponsors for their generous support to EAGE in 2018!
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CROSSTALK BY AN D R E W M c BAR N E T
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Down to earth poetry Of all the geosciences, geology is probably the one lending itself Some of the Romantic poets (not just the Lake District School), best to poetic expression. Commendably the Geological Society of including Wordsworth, Coleridge, John Keats and William Blake London (GeolSoc) continues to encourage this association between would come to despise some of the perceived heartless technolscience and art at a time when poetry as a literary form seems in ogy of the industrial revolution. Keats referred to ‘unweaving a retreat. rainbow’, subsequently the title of a book by Richard Dawkins On Poetry Day, 1 October 2020, Geological Society of Lonexpounding a more positive relationship between science and the don will host Geopoetry 2020 in Edinburgh (www.geolsoc.org.uk/ arts from the perspective of a scientist. geopoetry20) as a follow-up to the inaugural event which took place Since those days, poetry has undergone many transformations in London in 2011, this time with support from the Scottish Poetry as a literary form. The advent of free verse and an increasingly Library, the GeolSoc’s Central Scotland Group, analytical, quasi-academic approach has often and Heriot-Watt University. ‘The impact of mass meant the sacrifice of conventional meter, The 2020 organizing committee includes rhyme, stanzas, rhythm and other devices by media has to be the which we once recognized the poetic form. This two EAGE luminaries, Philip Ringrose, former main culprit’ president and as it happens longstanding poet has likely affected its appeal outside a narrow (see poetpip.org) and Prof Patrick Corbett, community of poetry buffs, as has the subject ex-chairman of the Student Affairs Committee, first person to hold matter, which to this observer at least has become increasingly a chair in geo-engineering (at Heriot-Watt University) and now a esoteric. A challenge facing the geopoetry community, therefore, is convert to geopoetry, among other things, as a teaching aid. The aim to restore the relevance of poetry. of the GeolSoc meeting is said to be ‘bringing together poets and Today poetry in general lies marginalized on the periphery of geoscientists to further encourage the rocks to speak’. our everyday cultural consumption. Rarely if ever does a single For traditionalists, perhaps the most obvious examples of poem or a collection of poems come up in everyday conversation geopoetry would be the Romantic period English Lake district as, say, a newly published book, latest movie, or concert. Ironically poems of the 1800s by the likes of William Wordsworth, Samuel poetry is more accessible than it has ever been thanks to the Internet. T. Coleridge and Robert Southey. They all found inspiration and But, research reveals that Google searches for poetry are on the alluded to the scenic topography and lithology of the area. In decline although there are numerous poetry blogs for the curious. Wordsworth and the Geologists (1995), John Wyatt, first warden The publishing landscape for poetry tends to be confined to the of the Lake District National Park, explores the dialogue between high-brow end of print media. Also, compared with the 20th Century, the English-speaking world today lacks poets of the iconic status Wordsworth and geologists of the day. He cites this allusion in of Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, T.S Elliot, Ode to Lycoris to a contemporary catastrophic explanation of the W.H. Auden, W.B. Yeats, Emily Dickinson, Silvia Plath and many landscape: others. Nor do we have talented bad boys such as Dylan Thomas or Long as the heat shall rage, let that dim cave Brendan Behan, whose colourful lifestyle at least kept the profesProtect us, there deciphering as we may sion of poet in the public eye. At a guess, this same fading profile Diluvian records; or the sighs of Earth of poetry applies to literatures in other languages around the world. Interpreting; or counting for old Time Looking for reasons for the decline in interest in poetry, His minutes, by reiterated drops. more marked than for any other form of literature, the impact of
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mass media has to be the main culprit. We live in an audio-visual world with very little room for the quiet contemplation of poetry’s emotion, insight, metaphor and play with words. Arguably much of poetry’s essence has morphed into contemporary musical expression, including rap with its powerful lyrics and rhythm. Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen provide great examples in the modern era of the classic poetic form being put to music to find an audience, in Dylan’s case recognized with a Nobel Prize for Literature. The reward for successful blending of poetry into the geoscience world would be a step towards bridging the age-old cultural divide between arts and science. The silos did not always exist. Notably Roman poet Lucretius (99-55 BC) and the Persian scientist and thinker Avicenna (980-1037), as well as numerous other sages of the past in many cultures, employed verse to describe or explain a scientific or natural phenomenon. The habit of versifying science has not entirely died. In 1984 an Australian physicist J.W.V. Storey found that he had landed the dreaded last presentation slot at a meeting of the Astronomical Society of Australia. His paper on The Detection of Shocked Co/Emission from G333.6-0.2 can be found in the subsequent proceedings in the form of a 38-stanza poem, stating upfront:
necessary, where poetry, thought and science can come together, in a climate of reciprocal inspiration, but a place where all kinds of specific disciplines can converge, once they are ready to leave over-restricted frameworks and enter into global (cosmological, cosmopoetic) space.’ Geopoetry has more grounded ambitions. It focuses on accessible poetry created by geoscientists for a non-specialized audience as well as professional colleagues, and on the poetry of non-geoscientists written using geoscientifc concepts. These are a couple of poetry extracts randomly selected from the 2011 GeolSoc event website: Here is a rhyme of rocks and ale, lecture learning, & old field trip tales Hammer here and hammer there, smashing outcrops everywhere Isle of Wight, Dorset coast and Arran geomorphology Dave was the very model of a student of geology. (From Dave was the very model of a student of geology by Stuart Harker) I touch the planed remains of folded mountains formed from dried ocean’s ooze, a docked strip overlain by flash floods from a desert Scotland. I try to remember
Let me say, to be last speaker, There are very few things worse. And so
Silurian-Devonian timescales,
this talk, to get revenge, Will be entirely in verse.
but it doesn’t matter; I recognise
More seriously, in The Abacus and the Rose a poem by Jacob Bronowski, the legendary Polish-born British scientist and communicator, addressed the two cultures debate. This had been initiated by the novelist/scientist C.P. Snow with a volcanic riposte from literary critic F.R. Leavis, the spat becoming an academic talking point even to this day. According to one reviewer Bronowski’s more considered view was along the lines that one desirable (if ultimately unreachable) goal of scientific communication is clarity and singleness of meaning. ‘Poets often seem bent on just the opposite goal, intentionally using words and grammatical constructions that support more than one interpretation (but not just any interpretation), and using concrete words like abacus and rose to stand for more general ideas.’ Bronowski himself once said that ‘science aims to resolve ambiguity, while art aims to put unresolved ambiguity on display.’ The conclusion would be that the perspectives of the artist/ poet and the scientist are complementary. That is just the starting point for the International Institute of Geopoetics, which is locally represented in the organization of Geopoetry 2020. It was founded in 1989 by a poet/essayist/academic Kenneth White, a languages graduate from the University of Glasgow who has gravitated to an intellectual life mainly spent in France, among other things as chair of 20th century poetics at the Sorbonne from 1983-1996. Poetics originates from literary theory promulgated by Aristotle. Geopoetics, as envisioned by White in volumes of beguiling prose, ‘provides not only a place, and this is proving more and more
a Hutton-sized hiatus when I see it. (From Siccar Point By Colin Will)
Prof Corbett believes that putting thoughts into poetic form can help his geoscience students. On occasion he has invited them to pen an eight-line poem at the end of their academic papers summarizing their findings. He says the students learn valuable lessons about crystallizing their thinking and seeing the issues from a different perspective. A poem can also be a teaching tool as in: When you are asked for a contact, Free Water Level (FWL) is Fixed, a Fact, Oil water contact (OWC), an Opinion from Observation, this the cause for much conversation! Not easily illustrated here, but Prof Corbett has experimented with the shapes of poetry text to resemble rock formations, for example Purbeck Stone. He is by no means the first to have done so. For example, it was Lewis Carroll of Alice in Wonderland fame who first came up with the square stanza, so that the words are arranged in perfect symmetry and thus can be read horizontally or vertically. Geopoetry to date seems focused on geology, rocks and their formation providing understandable inspiration. The next step will be to make poetry matter for other ‘geos’, maybe a paean to geophysics and seismic data processing?
Views expressed in Crosstalk are solely those of the author, who can be contacted at andrew@andrewmcbarnet.com.
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HIGHLIGHTS
INDUSTRY NEWS
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Terrex Seismic starts 2D survey in eastern Australia
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PGS reports successful trials eSeismic and plastic collection concepts
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First shale gas produced from contentious UK site
Five companies prepare to carry out seismic surveys in the Atlantic
The North Atlantic right whale is found in the Atlantic waters where surveys are planned.
The Trump Administration is set to allow five companies to perform seismic surveys in Atlantic waters despite protests that the geological tests involve loud airgun blasts that will harm marine mammals. The US National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) will issue ‘incidental harassment authorizations’ to TGS, WesternGeco, CGG, Spectrum and ION Geophysical permitting them to dis-
turb marine mammals that are otherwise protected by federal law. ‘NOAA Fisheries reviewed five separate applications from companies involved in geophysical surveys using airgun arrays in the Atlantic Ocean and issued final authorizations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act to incidentally, but not intentionally, harass marine mammals to companies proposing to conduct geophysFIRST
ical surveys in support of hydrocarbon exploration in the Atlantic Ocean,’ the organisation said in a statement. The companies must still win individual permits from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management before they can conduct the work, but those are widely expected to be granted. The seismic surveys would be conducted in Atlantic Ocean waters along the US East Coast, from Delaware to central Florida. Conservationists say the blasts are so loud they jeopardize the hearing of dolphins, cause whales to beach themselves and disrupt animals’ mating and feeding habits. The harassment authorizations will lay out steps the geophysical companies must take to mitigate damage to animals, including limitations blocking surveys during the calving season for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. Observers on board geophysical survey vessels will be required to listen and watch for marine life and alert operators if a protected species comes within a certain distance. They will be required to carry out acoustic monitoring to detect marine mammal vocalizations beneath the ocean surface. The survey must be shut down when certain sensitive species are observed.
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Increases of seismic activity must be gradual to alert animals in the area and reduce the potential for exposure to intense noise. Diane Hoskins, a campaign director with the conservation group Oceana, said that any mitigation measures would be inadequate. ‘The seismic air guns are firing blasts that are so loud, they create one of the loudest man-made sounds in the ocean, and they fire every 10 seconds. The blasts are repeated every 10 to 12 seconds, weeks or months at a time, and the sound travels extremely far in the ocean — the distance of a flight from New York to Las Vegas.’ Supporters stress that similar seismic surveys are already being conducted for scientific research and are used to find sites for wind turbines off the East Coast. They argue that despite extensive use, there has been no documented decline in marine mammal populations from the work. It has been decades since the last seismic surveys for oil and gas along the East Coast and those only touched a small percentage of the territory the Trump administration is considering for energy development. The US Interior Department is developing a proposal for selling offshore drilling rights over the next five years, after putting almost all US coastal waters — including the Atlantic — on the table for leasing in a draft plan last January. The Obama administration denied pending seismic applications in Atlantic waters in January 2017. However, President Trump streamlined government permitting of seismic surveys in an April 2017 executive order. Within days, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had issued an order resuming evaluation of the seismic permit applications that had been rejected. Nikki Martin, president of the International Association of Geophysical Contractors, said: ‘The assessment of the resource is critical; it’s critical knowledge for the states and critical knowledge for the Federal Government in determining future decisions regarding offshore exploration and development.’ 24
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Oil majors report excellent Q3 profits Oil majors have reported improved third quarter earnings as the industry continues its recovery. Equinor has reported third quarter net income of $1.7 billion and operating income of $4.6 billion. The company delivered total equity production of 2066 mboe per day in the third quarter, an increase of 1% from 2045 mboe per day in the same period in 2017. In the first nine months of the year Equinor completed 15 exploration wells with seven commercial discoveries. The appraisal of the Cape Vulture discovery confirmed the doubling of the remaining reserves at Norne. Exploration expenses in the quarter were $239 million, down from $416 million in the same quarter of 2017. Cash flows provided by operating activities before tax amounted to $20.4 billion in the first nine months of 2018 compared to $15.2 billion for the same period last year. ExxonMobil has reported third quarter 2018 earnings of $6.2 billion, up from with $4 billion a year earlier. Cash flow from operations and asset sales was $12.6 billion. Capital and exploration expenditures were $6.6 billion, up 10% from Q3 year. Oil-equivalent production was 3.8 million barrels per day, down 2% from the third quarter of 2017. BP has reported third quarter earnings of $3.8 billion, more than double a year ear-
lier and its highest quarterly result in more than five years. Oil and gas production was 3.6 million barrels of oil equivalent a day. Upstream underlying production was 6.8% higher than a year earlier, driven by rampup of new projects. Shell has reported third quarter earnings of $5.6 billion, compared with $4.1 billion in the third quarter 2017. Cash flow from operations of $14.7 billion mainly reflected increased earnings. ConocoPhillips has reported third-quarter 2018 earnings of $1.9 billion compared with third-quarter 2017 earnings of $0.4 billion. Cash provided by operating activities was $3.4 billion, while third-quarter production of 1224 MBOED grew 6% overall. Meanwhile, Chevron has announced a 2019 capital and exploratory spending programme of $20 billion.
Residents win licence to explore for oil off UK island An oil company called Crogga set up by local residents of the Isle of Man has won a licence to explore for oil and gas off the UK island’s seabed in the Irish Sea. Two bids were received last December and assessed by the British government with the assistance of the British Geological Survey. The UK government
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is now expected to approve seismic surveys across the licensed area of 266 km2 off the east coast of the Isle of Man. The data collected will form the basis for a decision on exploratory drilling. Crogga is formed of local people with experience in the oil and gas sector.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Seismic surveys are expected offshore Australia after permit awards Several big seismic surveys will be commissioned offshore Australia after the country’s government awarded seven new offshore exploration permits offshore Western Australia, Victoria and the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands. The AC17-3 release area in the Timor Sea was awarded to Carnarvon Petroleum. Carnarvon proposed a $4.25 million guaranteed work programme including licensing 542 km2 of Cygnus multi-client 3D seismic data. The secondary work programme totals $30.5 million and includes an exploration well. The V17-1 release area in Gippsland Basin, southeast of Lakes Entrance, was awarded to Cooper Energy. Cooper Energy proposed a $31 million guaranteed work programme including one exploration well. The secondary work programme totals $31 million and includes one well The W16-6 release area in the Canning Basin, north of Broome, was awarded to
INPEX Browse E&P. INPEX proposed a $9.3 million guaranteed work programme comprising acquiring 5005 km of 2D seismic data and 1035 km2 of 3D seismic data. The secondary work totals $26 million and includes one exploration well. The AC17-4 release area in the Timor Sea was awarded to Shell Australia. Shell proposed a $76.5 million guaranteed work programme including licensing and reprocessing 478 km2 of Cygnus MC3D seismic data and one exploration well. The secondary work programme totals $70.2 million and includes one exploration well. One other bid was received for this area. The AC17-5 release area in the Browse Basin, off Western Australia, was awarded to Shell Australia. Shell proposed a $30.5 million guaranteed work programme including licensing Caswell and Heywood multi-client 3D data and acquisition of 2910 km2 of new 3D seismic data. The secondary work programme
totals $70.2 million and includes one exploration well. The W17-3 release area in the Browse Basin, adjacent to the AC/P65 permit, was awarded to Shell Australia. Shell proposed a $10.6 million guaranteed work programme including licensing 753 km2 of Caswell multi-client 3D seismic data and 1697 km2 of Heywood multi-client 3D seismic data. The secondary work programme totals $72.4 million and includes acquisition of 330 km2 3D seismic data and one exploration well. The W17-7 release area on the Exmouth Plateau was awarded to BP, which proposed a $6.4 million guaranteed work programme including licensing Olympus 3D seismic data. The secondary work programme totals $68 million and includes one exploration well. These permits will potentially lead to more than $530 million in exploration investment over the next six years.
PGS merges 34,000 km2 of data offshore Brazil PGS’ largest ever migration has been completed with more than 34,000 km2 of seismic data from 11 separate surveys merged into a single, broadband product covering a large swathe of the prolific Santos Basin, offshore Brazil. Challenges in the Santos Basin primarily relate to the reservoir targets, which are localized in presalt carbonate buildups underneath heterogeneously layered evaporate sequences (LES), i.e. salt, and interbedded with volcanic rocks. On legacy data the presalt image is not well expressed, so the complexity of the salt and the differing character of the post-salt carbonates throughout the area needs to be understood and incorporated into the velocity model building process. The high degree of complexity within the LES, and the presence of areas with good reflectivity and others with little or no reflectivity must be accounted for in the modelling to obtain clear images in the presalt. One major objective of the ‘Santos Vision’ reprocessing was to image the
presalt stratigraphic signature and rift architecture as these are directly related to the play type characterized by pre-salt carbonate build-ups along tilted or uplifted fault block highs. ‘Santos Vision delivers high granularity imaging of the base salt, reveals reservoir presence and accurate imaging of the rift fault patterns beneath the salt mitigates the risk of CO2 invasion,’ said PGS. Utilizing a velocity modelling process that avoids a hard velocity boundary at the base of the salt has enabled the production of a high-quality image, added PGS. A data-driven approach was favoured with continuous velocity updates throughout the salt and the presalt section using both Full Waveform Inversion (FWI) and tomography for velocity model building. The velocity updates were rigorously validated against geological conformity and structural constraints. A large, consistent velocity model was built using a combination of geological interpretation, hyperTomo and FWI FIRST
through the post-salt sediments to achieve an accurate velocity model of the area. Capturing the variability in the post-salt Albian carbonates and the avoidance of a hard velocity boundary at the base of the salt were key to this solution. On a regional level, a domain approach addressed the variability in post-rift architecture including the character of the dominant salt geometries and associated post-salt sediment cover. ‘The FWI utilizing the full wavefield was deployed and after the success of FWI in the post-salt sediments it was pushed deeper than ever before. Reflection-based FWI enabled robust velocity updates in the pre-salt section and down to the acoustic basement throughout the entire 34,000 km2 area,’ said PGS. Imaging deliverables include a full bandwidth Kirchhoff high-fidelity image and 35Hz RTM and Least Square Migration images, which feature illumination-based amplitude compensation for better pre-salt resolution and rift fault imaging.
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Terrex Seismic starts 2D survey in eastern Australia
Terrex Seismic is acquiring 300-400 km of new 2D seismic data across the Galilee Basin permits in eastern Australia owned by the Galilee Basin Deeps Joint Venture operated by Comet Ridge. The six-week seismic acquisition of permits ATP 743, ATP 744 and ATP 1015 is expected to be completed in early 2019.
The $3.5 million survey includes acquisition and processing of the newly acquired data and reprocessing of 619 km of pre-existing 2D seismic data. Under Stage 2 of the GBDJV farm-in commitment, Vintage Energy will fund 50% of the planned $10 million capital expenditure programme to earn an additional 15% interest in the joint ven-
ture. The 2D seismic programme is the first component of the Stage 2 farm-in commitment and Vintage will therefore fund 50% ($1.75 million) of the programme cost and bring its interest up to 30%. The 2D seismic acquisition will focus on identified Lake Galilee Sandstone leads and prospects to mature them to drillable status and also regional seismic data to investigate highly prospective structural trends with multi-level targets. The acquisition has been expanded from 275 km to between 300 and 420 km to address the increased prospectivity of the region resulting from the successful flow testing undertaken at Albany-1. The seismic data will be processed immediately to identify drilling targets for 2019 and areas for further infill seismic surveys.
Israel launches second offshore oil and gas round in eastern Mediterranean Israel has launched its second oil and gas licensing round in the eastern Mediterranean. In the new bid round, licences for 19 blocks will be issued in five zones. Each block measures up to 400 km2 and each zone, consisting of multiple blocks, can be as large as 1600 km2. The decision to market the blocks in zones is to allow better correlation between the exploration areas and subsurface geological structures that potentially contain oil and gas reservoirs. Holding larger interests will allow efficient subsurface evaluation and will increase the attractiveness of the zones to investors. The zones are in areas which have been previously licensed in part and have had seismic research and limited exploration activity, which indicates the potential for the discovery of hydrocarbons. The bid submission deadline is June 2019. Winners will be announced in July 26
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2018. Bidders are requested to purchase a data package to include geological and geophysical data from drilling and 2D and 3D seismic surveys. The basic participation guarantee amount for the first block licensed in a zone will be $2.5 million. Every additional block in the same zone will require another $0.5 million guarantee. The maximum guarantee required to receive four consecutive blocks (zone) will be $4 million. In addition, before drilling, the licensee will be required to place a $5 million additional guarantee. An exploration licence will be granted for an initial three years. During this period, the licensees will follow through with the work plan they have committed to, which constitutes exploration of the whole area granted in the licence. After completing the work plan, the licensee can request an extension for two years, with the condition that they submit a work plan
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that includes drilling in at least one of the licences in the zone. They will also need to submit an additional work plan that will be approved by the petroleum commissioner. After drilling and completing all the work plans, the licence term will be able to be extended by two additional years, to a maximum of seven years, with the condition of a commitment to drill in every licence which was granted by the end of the licence term. To broaden participation, the Israeli Energy Ministry has decided to limit the number of licences granted to any one party to eight licences. Licences will only be granted in areas approx. four miles or greater from the shoreline, according to the environmental survey conducted. An earlier round held two years ago granted six licences, some of which are expected to commence drilling in the upcoming months.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Equinor joins group committed to UN sustainable development goals Equinor CEO Eldar Sætre has joined a group of Nordic-based CEOs that have announced a joint initiative to speed up the realisation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The group consists of the CEOs of Equinor, Hydro, the GSMA, Ìslandsbanki, Nokia, SAS, Swedbank, Telenor Group, Telia Company, Vestas and Yara International. The CEOs have joined forces to highlight the need for new business models that will drive the transition to a 21st-century economy aligned with modern ethical, social and environmental priorities. The initiative also creates a platform for the Nordic prime ministers to engage directly with the CEOs on how to move from sustainability as a compliance exercise to purpose-driven companies. A key objective is to explore ways to deliver more impact through collaboration and responsible business practices. The group also discussed the importance of global trade and public-private partnerships as vital
preconditions for realizing the UN SDGs. ‘To be successful in the coming decades, companies must be part of the response to the great challenges facing the world,’ said Sætre. ‘We are inspired and guided in our activities by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and believe collaboration between governments and companies committed to long-term sustainable value creation will help make change happen.’ Meanwhile, Equinor will invest in the protection of tropical forest to supplement its own actions to mitigate climate change. The company has announced the latest step to underline its strong commitment to the Paris Agreement on climate change. ‘The most important climate actions for Equinor will still be reduction of emissions from our oil and gas production and considerable growth in renewables. But to reduce human-induced climate change we must all do more. That is why we want to also invest in the protection of
tropical forest, one of the most important and effective climate actions,’ said Sætre. The company hopes to stimulate a market in carbon trading and is preparing investments in reduced deforestation corresponding to the emissions from the company’s volumes from operated production in areas where there is no price on CO2. Emissions from this operated production were slightly below 1 million tonnes in 2017. ‘Investments in the protection of tropical forest may have a triple positive effect. Firstly, we help prevent deforestation, which we know is vital to reaching the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. Secondly, we voluntarily put a price on our own greenhouse gas emissions in areas with no current carbon pricing. Thirdly, we contribute to the development of an international market, enabling us and other companies to invest in the protection of tropical forest,’ added Sætre. Protection of forests and lands could provide up to one third of the world’s climate solution, said Equinor.
The 11 Norwegian CEOs will collaborate on business models to speed up the realization of the UN SNGs.
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UK 31st round draws 36 applications The UK’s latest offshore licensing round has attracted 36 applications covering 164 blocks in frontier areas of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). Applications were received from 35 companies. The 31st Licensing Round, which closed on 7 November, offered opportunities to acquire acreage across the UKCS’s frontier areas, including the Atlantic Margin, East Shetland Platform, Mid North Sea High, and English Channel, with an aggregate area exceeding 370,000 km2. The OGA is expected to offer awards to successful applicants as early as possible during Q2 2019. Dr Nick Richardson, head of exploration and new ventures at the OGA, said: ‘This is an encouraging set of applications, demonstrating that interest in UK offshore licensing opportunities has increased since the 29th frontier round held in 2016, with an almost 50% increase in the number of blocks applied for. The OGA has received applications on some blocks on the East Shetland Platform which have never been previously licensed, underlining the positive impact of government-funded data initiatives. ‘The recent publication by the OGA of a comprehensive re-evaluation of the UKCS’s yet-to-find potential points towards
an additional exploration resource base of 4.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (Bboe) in prospects and leads and 11.2 Bboe in plays, largely in frontier areas, with a bias towards gas-rich opportunities.’ Attention will now turn to the 31st Supplementary Round in the Greater Buchan Area, scheduled to be launched in Q1 2019, which will provide an opportunity to develop and explore for a cluster of opportunities in a prime area of the Outer Moray Firth. To support this effort, the OGA will be releasing a package of supporting data, and is encouraging companies to partner up and collaborate in an Area Plan approach to maximize value from the estimated 150-300 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) within this area. Meanwhile, the industry group Oil and Gas UK has said it is encouraged by the latest Oil and Gas Survey issued by Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, which reveals industry recruitment is on the rise as 33% of companies look to increase their UK workforce by 10% or more in 2019. Deirdre Michie, chief executive of Oil & Gas UK, said: ‘We do now see a more positive mood in the sector, with more projects approved this year than in the last three years combined. However, as we
continue to emerge from one of the toughest downturns in our history, industry remains focused on maintaining its attractiveness in a competitive global market.’
Map of the UK Continental Shelf 31st Licensing Round.
UK awards research funding for first carbon capture scheme Britain’s first carbon capture and storage project should be operational by the mid2020s, according to the UK government. Around $450,000 of research funding has been announced for a carbon capture scheme in Aberdeenshire in which carbon dioxide will be piped to storage sites under the North Sea. The Acorn Project will capture about 200,000 tonnes of CO2 from the St Fergus Gas Terminal near Peterhead and transport it for storage to one of three depleted gas fields using existing pipelines. In additional phases, the project could generate hydrogen from North Sea gas and store the carbon dioxide, which 28
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the process creates as a by-product. The hydrogen could then be used to heat people’s homes. Existing onshore pipelines could also be utilized to transport CO2 for storage from areas of heavy industry around Grangemouth. Project leader Alan James said: ‘With the right support, Acorn CCS could be operating in the early 2020s, making a substantial contribution to both UK and European emission reduction targets and helping to establish a commercially viable future for CCUS investment.’ The UK government was criticised in 2015 after a $1.3 billion competition to develop carbon capture and storage
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was dropped. However, it has promised to set out more details in 2019 about how it plans to develop the UK’s first Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) facility. It said it would invest £20 million in the technology at industrial sites across the UK including Teesside and Drax. Scotland’s energy minister Paul Wheelhouse said: ’We believe Scotland is in a position undertake this technology on an industrial scale. In addition, the opportunity to repurpose key existing pipeline infrastructure assets already in place in Scotland provides the most cost-effective pathway to the deployment of CCUS.’
INDUSTRY NEWS
Polarcus reports third quarter net loss of -8.4 million Polarcus has reported a third quarter net loss of -$8.4 million on revenues of $87 million compared with a net loss of $8.1 million on revenues of $45 million in the second quarter of 2018 and a net loss of $9.1 million on revenues of $58.5 million in the third quarter of 2017. The company’s operating loss of -$0.9 million compared with -$5.8 in the second quarter of 2018 and -$3.6 million in Q3 2017. Contract revenue increased by 14% to $50.5 million (Q2 2018: $44.4 million). Proprietary contract revenue increased by 7% to $34.9 million (Q2 2018: $32.5 million), driven by increased vessel allocation to contract. Multi-client prefunding revenue increased to $32.3 million (Q2 2018 nil) related to one Brazilian multi-client project for which processing was completed in the quarter. Vessel allocation to multi-client projects decreased to nil (Q2 2018: 4%). Multi-client cash investment decreased to $2.3 million (Q2 2018: $4.1 million). Multi-client late sales increased to $4.2 million (Q2 2018: nil). Gross cost of sales of $39.8 million, is down 3% on Q2 2018. Cash from operations of $0.4 million was impacted
Duncan Eley, chief executive officer, Polarcus.
by $9.2 million negative working capital movements. However, the company’s backlog of $170 million is up from $150 million last quarter and $125 million at the same time last year. ‘Q3 2018 marked the third consecutive quarter of improved utilization and increased revenue for Polarcus. Revenue was up 14% sequentially, driven by multi-client late sales and reimbursable revenue. ‘Focus on managing cost continues to be a high priority, reflected in the delivery of a 3% reduction in gross cost of sales
despite an increase in utilization. General and administrative costs were 8% less than the previous quarter,’ said Duncan Eley chief executive officer, Polarcus. ‘Global tender activity continued to improve, though near-term pricing remains competitive. The number of square kilometres tendered in the proprietary contract market during the first nine months of 2018 was up 15% year-on-year. The oil price continued to increase through Q3 2018 and is expected to have a positive impact on 2019 E&P company budgets that will be finalized during Q4 2018. Growth in tender activity, a strengthened oil price along with increasing E&P company exploration focus, point towards continued improvements to the 3D marine seismic acquisition market going in to 2019. ‘The company has 100% of the fleet booked for the remainder of 2018 and 70% booked for Q1 2019. This is a very different picture compared to the same time last year with utilization of the company’s fleet for this winter expected to be strong. Pricing levels of recent awards represent an encouraging improvement in the global marine seismic acquisition market,’ said Duncan Eley chief executive officer, Polarcus.
PGS completes 3D survey offshore Brazil PGS has completed its Potiguar-Aracati 3D GeoStreamer survey, offshore Brazil, in a bid to improve structural imaging of current discoveries and achieve more confident mapping of reservoir distribution and variability. Current discoveries in the area exhibit elements of both structural and stratigraphic trapping, and the data indicates a number of undrilled analogous features on trend with the established discoveries. The Equatorial Margin of Brazil has four potential hydrocarbon sources capable of supporting exploration prospects and play fairways, including the Aptian/
Barremian oil-prone source rock that has charged the majority of current production offshore Brazil, and the Albian/Cenomanian/Turonian marine black shales, which are a major source for the oils in the West African salt basins, as well as Late Aptian and Tertiary candidates. Regional shales from the Cretaceous to the Tertiary form effective seals, except where mass-wasting events in the Upper Tertiary may have caused seal failure for younger stratigraphic intervals. PGS has conducted a succession of multi-client broadband multi-component GeoStreamer 3D surveys to enhance
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exploration understanding and derisk play elements in the underexplored Potiguar and Ceará basins. Between 2015 and 2017 almost 20,000 km2 of 3D GeoStreamer data have been acquired with further expansion of this regional dataset being permitted and scheduled for acquisition in 2019. Seismic stratigraphy integrating recent well results with pre-stack seismic attributes from high-quality GeoStreamer 3D data have demonstrated that the current play fairways are generally under-explored on the Brazilian Equatorial Margin, and structural and stratigraphic traps remain to be fully exploited.
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PGS reports successful trials eSeismic and plastic collection concepts
PGS has reported successful research studies for eSeismic continuous recording of seismic data and using its vessels for plastic collection in the oceans. eSeismic uses continuous source and receiver wavefields for as long as it takes to acquire the sail lines. The field trial confirms reduced environmental impact, improved efficiency and better data quality. To use the method with existing equipment, individual air-guns are triggered in a near-continuous fashion with short randomized time intervals to generate a continuous wavefield. The emitted signals approach the properties of white noise making it possible to deconvolve the data with the total source wavefield. The recent small-scale eSeismic trial survey, co-funded by PGS, Equinor and the Research Council of Norway, was acquired with 16 x 8 100 m long multi-component streamers with 100 m streamer separation. A constant streamer tow depth of 15 m was used. The source set-up consisted of six sub-arrays with air-guns and each sub-array was equipped with six air-guns. Individual airguns were triggered with a mean interval between consecutive triggerings of several shots a second. The nominal separation between the sub-arrays of airguns was 16.67 m. Since the source deconvolution using the proposed method can solve for one point source per sub-array of air-guns, and six point sources in the cross-line direction, 30
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the nominal cross-line bin size for this survey is 8.33 m. In the inline direction the receiver gathers have a trace spacing of 12.5 m. For comparison, a conventional dual-source acquisition with the same streamer geometry would deliver a crossline bin size of 25 m. The peak sound pressure levels are significantly reduced by triggering one airgun at a time compared to triggering many airguns in an array simultaneously as in conventional marine seismic sources. The peak sound pressure levels are approximately 20-22 dB lower compared to conventional, whereas the sound exposure levels are 8-9 dB lower for eSeismic. Dense cross-line CMP spacing is achieved without compromising the acquisition efficiency. The 800m-wide sail-line is sampled with 96 common midpoints compared to 32 with a standard dual-source configuration. The bin size of the 3D migrated volume is 12.5 x 12.5 m. On the receiver side, all the continuous data are processed at once to maintain the continuity of the data. After receiver motion correction of each measured component, the measured data are in stationary receiver positions and the deconvolution of the emitted source wavefield can be performed. This is done by computing the entire emitted source wavefield that can contribute to each stationary receiver location. In order to enable a stable deconvolution of the source wavefield, the source
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wavefield needs to be as white as possible without deep notches in the spectrum. In addition to continuous seismic recording, near-field hydrophone data needs to be recorded continuously in order to be able to determine the wavefield emitted by the individual source elements. Meanwhile, PGS’ desktop trial of its plastic collection concept has shown that it may be valuable in certain areas and during seasons or events when plastic densities are high. The results of the feasibility study carried out by an independent consultant and funded by the investment bank Innovation Norway, shows that ‘pelagic microplastic densities are too low for surface plastic collection to be efficient on the open seas, but densities may be higher in certain areas or during certain seasons, or during flush-out events.’ A review of synthesis and modelling studies identified areas where plastic could be available in high densities, due to the likelihood of high input flows from run-off and rivers during wet seasons. These include the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and the West Coast of Africa around the north Atlantic Margin. PGS is carrying out a more detailed technical study that will include theoretical engineering and hydrodynamics considerations. Discussions are continuing with potential partners and suppliers for the boom arrangement, bubble curtain and collection unit. The next step will be to seek funding for a full-scale pilot test, which would involve a single seismic vessel towing a boom and skirt arrangement with a bubble curtain that lifts plastic to the surface for collection in a permeable collection bag. The pilot would be conducted offshore, over a period of approximately two months in either the Atlantic or the Caribbean. The pilot will test the efficiency of the collection concept both offshore and nearshore and conduct scientific research on the occurrence, density and characteristics of plastics in the ocean. Academic institutions will be invited to join the trial to conduct research on plastic pollution in the oceans.
INDUSTRY NEWS
ION reports ‘disappointing’ Q3 loss of -$7.5 million ION Geophysical has reported third quarter net loss of -7.5 million on revenues of $47.2 million, up from a net loss of -$26 million on revenues of $24.7 million in the second quarter of 2018 and a net profit of $5 million on revenues of $61.1 million in Q3 2017. Net cash flows from operations were -$7.1 million during the third quarter 2018, compared to $6.2 million in the third quarter 2017. At September 30, 2018, the company had total liquidity of $72.8 million, consisting of $30 million of cash on hand, and nothing drawn on the $42.8 million of available borrowing capacity under its recently amended maximum $50 million revolving credit facility. Brian Hanson, ION’s president and chief executive officer, said, ‘We are disappointed with our third quarter results as the originally anticipated improvement in deal flow was impacted by three key factors. First, the Panama licensing round has yet to be announced. Second, the recently elected president in Mexico has caused the E&P industry to pause spending on new acreage and seismic data in Mexico until there is better clarity on international investment after he takes office in December. Third, the continued E&P company disciplined focus on
procurement is restricting exploration spending and pushing deals into the fourth quarter. ‘While sales from our Panama and Mexico programmes were pushed out, we saw strong commitments and an acceleration of activity in Brazil with our Picanha 3D reimaging programme. Pent up demand for data is continuing to build a strong pipeline of opportunities for the fourth quarter and 2019. While long-term oil and gas fundamentals remain strong, near-term exploration spending continues to be lumpy and unpredictable.’ For the first nine months of 2018, the company reported revenues of $105.5 million and a net loss of $51.8 million, compared revenues of $139.7 million and a net loss of $28.8 million in the first nine months of 2017. E&P Technology and Services revenues were $36 million compared to $15 million in Q2 2018 and $52 million in Q3 2017. Within the E&P Technology & Services segment, new venture revenues were $18.2 million, a decrease of 58% from the third quarter 2017. Partially offsetting the overall decline in new ventures was an increase in data library and Imaging
Services revenues. Data library revenues were $14 million, an increase of 177%, attributable to sales of the recently completed phase of the Brazil 3D reimaging programme, along with India 2D data library sales. Imaging Services revenues were $4.1 million, an increase of 20%, propelled by a continued increase in proprietary ocean bottom nodal imaging projects. Operations Optimization segment revenues were $11 million compared to $9.5 million in Q2 2018 and $9 million in Q3 2013. Optimization Software & Services revenues were $5.5 million, a 46% increase from the third quarter 2017. The increase was due to the continued increase in subscription-based software revenues and hardware sales of ION’s Gator ocean bottom command and control system. Devices revenues were $5.4 million, a 2% increase from the third quarter of 2017. Devices continues to be impacted by reduced towed streamer seismic contractor activity. The Ocean Bottom Integrated Technologies segment contributed no revenues during the third quarter. Consolidated operating expenses, as adjusted, were $18.7 million, down 8% from $20.2 million in the third quarter of 2017.
US looks at environmental impact of Beaufort Sea lease sale The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in support of a potential 2019 oil and gas lease sale in the Beaufort Sea, off Alaska’s northern coast. The EIS will analyse the potential effects of exploration of oil and natural gas in the proposed lease sale area. The area identified for the potential lease sale includes the entire Beaufort Sea
OCS planning area. It extends from the 3-nautical-mile limit of State of Alaska submerged lands northward to latitude 75° N on its west side, and to latitude 74° N on its east side. It extends from longitude 156° W (roughly north of the village of Utqiagvik) on the west to the Canadian maritime boundary on the east. The area encompasses about 65.1 million acres.
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The Department of the Interior’s 2019-2024 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Draft Proposed Programme proposes lease sales in the Beaufort Sea in 2019, 2021, and 2023. BOEM last held a lease sale in the Beaufort Sea in April 2007. That lease sale resulted in the leasing of 90 blocks, and raised more than $42 million.
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PGS sells reservoir monitoring solution to Geospace for up to $25 million
PGS has sold its fibre-optic permanent reservoir monitoring solution, OptoSeis, to Geospace Technologies for an initial cash payment of $1.8 million and contin-
gent cash payments of up to an additional $23.2 million over a five-and-a-half year earn-out period. The contingent cash payments will be derived from revenues generated during the earn-out period from products and services utilizing the OptoSeis fibre-optic technology. ‘After reorganizing during the fourth quarter 2017, we started exploring opportunities to divest our non-core OptoSeis technology in early 2018. I am pleased that Geospace will continue to offer this unique solution to clients. PGS looks forward to
support and complement Geospace’s offering with survey planning, imaging and acquisition services as and when required by their customers,’ said PGS president and CEO Rune Olav Pedersen. Meanwhile, PGS has entered into a contract for a 3D survey in South America for an undisclosed client. PGS plans to use two Ramform Titanclass vessels for an estimated total duration of approximately 13 vessel months. Acquisition is scheduled to start in the second half of November and the contract value is estimated to be in excess of $75 million.
UK maps out 20-year production plan The UK’s petroleum reserves could sustain production for at least the next 20 years and beyond if additional undeveloped resources can be matured. The UK Oil and Gas Authority’s (OGA) UK Oil and Gas: Reserves and Resources report shows that overall remaining recoverable reserves and resources range from 10 to 20 billion barrels plus of oil equivalent. The OGA’s estimate for proven and probable (2P) UKCS reserves at the end of 2017 are 5.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent. In 2017, 400 million boe were added to 2P reserves and about 600 mmboe were produced which equates to a reserve
replacement ratio of 69%, with 100 mmboe matured from new field developments, 80 mmboe due to infield activities and approximately 220 mmboe reserves replacement due to field-life extensions. The UK’s contingent resource level is significant with a central estimate of discovered undeveloped resources of 7.5 billion boe. Much of this resource is in mature areas with 2.1 billion boe expected to be added through new field developments, 2.1 billion boe from incremental projects in producing fields, and the remaining 3.2 billion boe from undeveloped discoveries where no activity is currently being proposed.
Exploration success in 2017 delivered an additional 181 million boe contingent resources. During the last two years the OGA has worked with the British Geological Survey (BGS) to re-evaluate the UKCS mapped lead and prospect inventory which is now estimated at a mean value of 4.1 billion boe. The OGA has also undertaken statistical play analysis and an additional mean prospective resource of 11.2 billion boe is estimated to be contained in plays outside of mapped leads and prospects, with the proportion of gas being greater than 60%.
First shale gas produced from contentious UK site Cuadrilla has produced the first natural gas from its shale exploration well at the Preston New Road site. The gas returned to surface, along with water being recycled from the shale rock, after hydraulic fracturing of a small section of the shale surrounding the first horizontal exploration well. The UK Oil and Gas Authority had reported that operations at the Preston New Road site were continuing following 32
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the series of minor seismic events, including three that have exceeded the seismic magnitude 0.5ML limit, which required the operator to stop. During these pauses, the OGA compares the location, magnitude and ground motion of these minor seismic events to the operator’s approved Hydraulic Fracture Plan (HFP). To date, the OGA has been satisfied that these events have all been in line with the geological under-
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standing set out in the HFP and that the risk of induced seismicity is being appropriately managed.
INDUSTRY NEWS
CGG extends data centre contract with OMV CGG has extended its contract with OMV to operate a dedicated seismic data centre at the Austrian oil company’s head office in Vienna for another three years. During this period OMV will continue to benefit from onsite access to CGG’s subsurface imaging and reservoir characterization expertise and technology to interpret OMV’s geophysical data.
Sophie Zurquiyah, CEO, CGG.
The two companies have worked together as strategic partners since the
BRIEFS Polarcus has won a contract for a high-resolution 3D marine seismic acquisition project in North America. The 45-day project is expected to commence in Q2 2019. Polarcus has also won a contract for a 3D marine seismic acquisition project in West Africa. The award comprises two surveys of approx. three months each, with the first survey expected to commence Q2 2019 and the second survey in Q4 2019. Finally, the company has won a 3D marine seismic acquisition project in South East Asia. The four-month project is scheduled to commence in Q4, 2018.
centre opened in 1979. The tailored service delivered by in-house geoscientists gives OMV access to CGG’s latest technologies as well as the support of experts and compute capacity from CGG’s Paris and London hubs. Christopher Veit, SVP exploration, development and production, OMV Upstream, said: ‘Geophysical technology is a critical factor for future success in OMV’s upstream oil and gas business and I am very pleased that OMV will continue its strategic partnership with CGG. The continuation of our long-term co-operation with CGG will benefit OMV in terms of continuous advancement in seismic technology and capability.’ Sophie Zurquiyah, CEO, CGG, said: ‘The OMV centre is the longest-running of the 11 dedicated centres CGG operates for clients worldwide. The close in-house interaction constantly challenges us to develop and introduce new technologies and workflows that translate into business value that meets and often exceeds expectations.’
British energy company Ineos is in exclusive talks with ConocoPhillips to buy the US oil giant’s North Sea oil and gas fields that include its holding in the Clair Field. The assets are estimated to be worth $3 billion. Ineos is understood to have paid a deposit in return for three months’ exclusivity on the potential purchase. Seabird has taken delivery of the vessel Geowave Voyager from CGG and the vessel has been renamed Eagle Explorer. As part of the $17 million purchase of the fully rigged vessel with 40-km streamer and dual source, SeaBird will have a preferred supplier status with CGG when using the Eagle Explorer. SeaBird and CGG have entered into a contract for the vessel, operating as a source vessel. The contract is for 160 days with options for CGG to extend. The work will start in December, after the vessel has completed class renewal.
Western Australia lifts moratorium on fracking The Western Australian Government has lifted a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing for onshore gas projects. ‘The independent scientific inquiry has confirmed that properly regulated, hydraulic fracturing is a safe practice. Hydraulic fracturing has been used safely in Western Australia since 1958,’ said Dr Malcolm Roberts, Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association chief executive. ‘The inquiry shows there is no environmental or public health justification for maintaining the moratorium. The inquiry also rejects claims that onshore projects will mean a significant increase in emissions. ‘More than any other state, WA relies on investment in resource projects to
sustain jobs and economic growth. The government has made the right decision to respect the substantial investments already made by projects in the Kimberley region and the Perth basin.’ Dr Roberts added that prohibiting hydraulic fracturing would have crushed the viability of some of these projects. ‘The government has added a new regulatory requirement which will only allow these projects to use hydraulic fracturing for producing gas with the approval of the landowner,’ he said. ‘During the inquiry, many regional communities expressed strong support for local gas projects. The right of these communities to make their own decisions must be respected, including by anti-gas activists.’ FIRST
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Brazil’s incoming government plans to modify future pre-salt oil auctions and favours a concession model over the current production-sharing scheme, a senior transition team official has said. South Africa will relax a moratorium on gas and oil exploration licences implemented earlier this year to allow exploration and production applications already in the system to be granted.
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Magseis and WesternGeco team up to offer OBN services Magseis and WesternGeco have signed an agreement to offer joint services including ocean-bottom nodes (OBN) acquisition from Magseis and data QC and processing from WesternGeco. ‘We are delighted to partner with WesternGeco to deliver full system services for OBN surveys with a focus on 3D exploration and 4D reservoir monitoring,’ said Magseis CEO Per Christian Grytnes. Maurice Nessim, president, WesternGeco, Schlumberger, said: ‘WesternGeco is at the forefront of OBS processing and we are very excited about teaming up with Magseis to give our customers high-quality 3D exploration and reservoir management services that can help them accelerate hydrocarbon discovery.’
Spectrum reports third quarter net profit of $0.6 million Spectrum has reported third quarter net profit of $0.6 million on revenues of $30 million, compared with a net loss of $4.4 million on revenues of $23 million in the second quarter of 2018 and a net loss of $6 million on revenues of $17 million in Q3 2017. Operating profit was $7 million compared to a net loss of $2 million in the second quarter of 2018 and a net loss of $6 million in Q3 2017.
PGS claims patent infringement against Polarcus PGS is bringing legal action against Polarcus relating to its acquisition of seismic data on three surveys in Australia and the processing of that data. Polarcus said in a statement: ‘The proceedings follow three years of intermittent correspondence from PGS in response to which Polarcus, supported by leading patent counsel, has provided overwhelming evidence
Oman prepares to launch 2019 licensing round Oman will offer six new oil and gas blocks for investment as part of the 2019 Licensing Round to be unveiled in the first quarter of 2019. The new blocks are distributed across the play fairway onshore Oman in Blocks 70, 73, 74, 75, 76 and 58. The six blocks represent new acreage that is surrounded by existing oil and gas fields. They will be awarded against Exploration and Production Sharing Agreements (EPSA). In addition, two other blocks are also open for investment based on ‘One-to-One’ negotiations with qualified international parties with the technological wherewithal and resources required to unlock the challenging hydrocarbon potential of these concessions. They include Block 71, containing the Habhab field, home to a multi-billion barrel (STOIIP) ultra-heavy oil reservoir. The other concession is Block 43B.
Petrobras has announced the sale of its stake in 34 onshore production fields, located in the Potiguar Basin, in Rio Grande do Norte state, to 3R Petroleum for $453 million. The 34 concessions are mature fields in production for more than 40 years and located about 40 km south of the city of Mossoró-RN. The fields are being sold in a single package called Polo Riacho da Forquilha, whose current production is approx. 6000 barrels of oil per day. All concessions are 100% Petrobras except for the fields of Cardeal and Colibri, where Petrobras holds 50% stake
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Q3 late sales were $27 million compared with $14 million in Q2 2018 and $7.6 million in Q3 2017. Multi-client investments were $5.5 with a 60% prefunding rate compared to $15.6 million with a prefunding rate of 60% in Q2 2018 and $13.5 million with a 69% prefunding rate in Q3 2017. Operational cashflow was $8 million compared to $23 million in Q2 2017 and $23 million in Q3 2017
that Polarcus’ activity did not intersect the patent. The claim will be vigorously contested and has no impact on any project outside Australia.’ PGS’ principal claim under its patent has previously been held to be unpatentable by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and Polarcus intends to challenge the validity of all relevant aspects of PGS’ Australian patent.
Petrobras raises $800 million in oilfield sales alongside Partex as operator and the fields of Sabiá da Mata and Sabiá Bico-de-Osso, where Petrobras holds 70% stake alongside Sonangol as a partner and operator. Meanwhile, Petrobras has sold its stake in the Pargo, Carapeba and Vermelho fields in the so-called Polo Nordeste, to Perenco for $370 million. The fields are located in shallow waters off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state. The Pargo field was discovered in 1975, and the fields of Carapeba and Vermelho in 1982. Production started in 1988. The fields produce approx. 9000 barrels of oil per day.