First Break January 2018

VO L U M E 3 6 I I S S U E 1 I J A N U A R Y 2 018

SPECIAL TOPIC

Land Seismic EAGE NEWS EAGE President Jean-Jacques Biteau’s half-year report TECHNICAL ARTICLE An experimental aeromagnetic survey

IN EVERY WITH CGG SUBSURFACE IMAGING Exceptional People - Remarkable Technology - Outstanding Service

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CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD Trude Støren (elna@emgs.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) MANAGER MEDIA PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Arjan Kors (aks@eage.org) MEDIA PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Thomas Beentje (tbe@eage.org) ACCOUNT MANAGER ADVERTISING Charles Callaghan (ccn@eage.org) ACCOUNT MANAGER SUBSCRIPTIONS Hicham el Ghoulbzouri (hgi@eage.org) PRODUCTION First Break BV 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 Novocheremushkinskaya Str. 65 Build. 1 117418, 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

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The state of land seismic

Editorial Contents 3

EAGE News

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Crosstalk

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Industry News

Technical Article

39 An experimental aeromagnetic survey using a rubidium vapor magnetometer attached to the rotary-wings unmanned aerial vehicle

Boris Sterligov, Sergey Cherkasov, Dmitry Kapshtan and Victoria Kurmaeva

Special Topic: Land Seismic

46 Nodal land seismic acquisition: The next generation

Tim Dean, John Tulett and Richard Barnwell 53

Confidence in data recorded with land seismic recorders Nicolas Tellier and Steve Wilcox

61 In-field QC of a land node seismic system Jaime Checa, Mauricio Sánchez, Juan Fonseca, Guillermo Quintero, Walter Mora, Marcela Pineda, and Jack Caldwell 65

The state of land seismic Doug Crice

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Surface seismic for structural imaging and reservoir characterization Anastasia Poole and Phillip Bilsby

77 The low-frequency seismic vibrator: design and experimental verification

Zhouhong Wei, Jason Criss, Andy Bull, Fuhe Liang and Yongsheng Wu 85 The future of land exploration: brute force and ignorance, or adherence to the science?

Bob Heath 90 Calendar

EAGE LATIN AMERICA OFFICE Carrera 14 No 97-63 Piso 5 Bogotá, Colombia • +57 1 4232948 • americas@eage.org • www.eage.org 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: INOVA’s G3i HD system deployed in the Xinjiang region of NW China on a high channel count broadband vibroseis project. Read more about this broadband technology on p 77.

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European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers

Board 2017-2018 Jean-Jacques Biteau President

Near Surface Geoscience Division Oliver Kuras Chair George Apostolopoulos Vice-Chair Micki Allen Contact Officer EEGS-NA Riyadh Al-Saad O&G Liaison George Apostolopoulos Awards Committee Representative Peter Bergmann Technical Programme Representative Albert Casas Membership Officer Ranajit Ghose Editor in Chief Near Surface Geophysics Heinrich Horstmeyer Education Officer/Conference Liaison Officer Andreas Kathage Liaison Officer First Break Koya Suto Liaison Asia Pacific Endre Törös Awards Committee Representative Jiangha Xia Liaison China

Oil & Gas Geoscience Division

Juan Soldo Vice-President

Michael Poppelreiter Vice-President-Elect

Jorg Herwanger Education Officer

Caroline 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

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Walter Rietveld Technical Programme Officer

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Oliver Kuras Chair Near Surface Geoscience Division

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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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20th Geomodel conference is as timely as ever

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EAGE education events on CCS coming soon

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Why you should be at Near Surface 2018 in Porto

Meeting the challenge of change Jean-Jacques Biteau reflects on his first six months as EAGE president I welcome this opportunity to share my experience so far as president of the Association that continues to represent the interests of all our members. I would also like to look ahead at where the EAGE is heading.

climate affecting the oil and gas industry where so many of our members spend their professional lives. The impact has taken a little while to materialize, but we are now witnessing some significant reductions in

Jean-Jacques Biteau giving the Paris 2017 opening speech.

I believe that we are rapidly approaching, or may already have arrived at, a watershed in the affairs of EAGE where we cannot simply continue as we were, however successful we have been in following that path. At our Board meetings we are constantly confronted with the need to adapt to the changing world around us and that reality has been reinforced over the last six months, as I have travelled around the world and met with many EAGE members.

The change I am talking about comes in many different forms. First of all, we cannot ignore the very different economic

oil and gas company and service sector geoscience staff, notably with increasing retirements at senior or even junior levels.

Positively, for EAGE, the potential shortfall in membership is being partly offset by a continued impressive growth in regions supported by EAGE, including South-East Asia, India, the African continent and Latin America. Also Near Surface division members have increased in number, which is excellent.

However, it does call for an important adjustment in the conduct of our affairs, highlighted by my predecessor Chris Ward.

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EAGE needs to focus on being more diverse in the way we conduct our business and make room for a greater contribution from members outside the traditional European/North American nexus. This should include, but is not limited to: a Board that better reflects the worldwide EAGE family; our publications should see more research from a wider spectrum of authors; and our Awards should honour work in more countries.

Of course, achieving diversity cannot happen overnight, but members from our regions should be encouraged to stand for Board and committee positions, be recommended for awards, be invited to submit articles and be involved in EAGE activities.

The same also applies to achieving a better gender balance in the governance of EAGE, hence our support for the Women in Geoscience and Engineering Special Interest Group and its goals.

Recognizing the changing composition of EAGE does have financial and resource implications. We need to invest in events and services to meet demand in new areas, and possibly review our existing portfolio in traditional locations. This presents a dilemma for the Association and the Board because our budget is under pressure.

Organizations across the board are having to carefully consider their sponsorship and advertising spending, and how many participants they can support at events.

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EAGE NEWS

Up till now at least, the quality of EAGE’s offerings has provided excellent value and our revenues have not been overly affected. We have also kept an eye on our costs. Restructuring and right-sizing internally have been handled with the minimum of fuss but with an effect on the bottom line. We are now emerging with a much tighter and more focused organization and I would like to pay tribute to the staff for their forbearance, especially given the promised efficiencies of a new IT system have taken much longer than expected to come into effect.

Members can be assured that the Board and the full-time management are working to re-establish a positive result for the Association’s activities. We are also considering, but have come to no firm conclusions about, rebalancing the functions of the organization so that the Board adopts a more strategic/oversight role, which could be a more effective management model.

As I have hinted already, the need to adapt to the new economic realities presents EAGE with an extraordinary opportunity going forward. We are being as proactive as possible in reflecting the changing circumstances of our members. In our traditional oil and gas E&P geoscience interest area, we are increasing the emphasis on electronic, web-based methods to deliver our education and training services. This makes our distinguished list of world experts in virtually every specialist field accessible to a much wider audience at a fraction of the

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19977-Seasons greetings 2017/2018 advert 1_3.indd 1 FIRST

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cost. The feedback from online lectures and webinars has been very positive, suggesting that this is an effective supplement and, at times, sometimes substitute for actual meetings. Just how that balance will work out in the future remains to be determined.

Another very positive development has been the first success of EAGE’s support for the EU Horizon 2020 project (reported in December, First Break). We are now partnering in an EU-funded geophysical project to develop environmentally-friendly tools and methods for exploration of sustainable mineral resources.

This is a very promising departure, but not the only one as EAGE re-evaluates future directions and possibilities and this opportunity brings us back to diversity. We have to recognize that the oil and gas industry itself is in flux and therefore offers a less certain future for professional geoscientists and engineers. Accordingly, the Board has sanctioned a strategy of being open to collaborative agreements with a variety of geoscience-related societies previously not on our radar but where there could be mutual interest in combined events, for example in fields such as geothermal, carbon sequestration, mining, etc.

The calendar of events for this year is beginning to reflect these important initiatives. It also raises the issue of how to best organize a multi-disciplinary professional society such as ours with such a diverse spread of specialist interests. This is something that the Board is currently addressing,

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with a possible change in the divisions as one option.

Although I have described EAGE as being on the cusp of significant change, I should emphasize that we are not losing sight of our origins and geoscience core. At meetings in many parts of the world over the past six months, I have been reminded of the vibrant nature of the geoscience community that EAGE serves, despite the economic clouds that shroud the oil and gas business. I have visited Aramco in Saudi Arabia, and represented the Association at SEG Houston, at EAGE’s first workshop in Luanda (Angola), at an international sedimentology congress in Toulouse (France), at AAPG in London (UK), at the Geology Society of America in Seattle (USA), at EAGE Maputo (Mozambique), as well as at APGCE in Kuala Lumpur and Petronas UTP (Malaysia, a fantastic audience made up of UTP students and professors, a very well organized event by Michael Poppelreiter, our new EAGE Vice-President-Elect).

In all of these locations I can report on the enthusiasm of our geoscience colleagues and the continuing high regard with which EAGE is held.

My intention for the rest of my term as president is to foster the continuing evolution of EAGE whilst respecting our heritage. I wish every one of you and your families ‘Bonne Année’ for 2018, and I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible at the 80th EAGE Annual Conference & Exhibition in Copenhagen in June.

13/12/17 11:35

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EAGE NEWS

‘Model before you drill’ is message from Perth workshop Nearly 80 delegates from 29 organizations representing seven countries took part in some lively discussions during the EAGE Workshop on Seismic Inversion for Reservoir Characterization on 16–17 November 2017 in Perth, Australia. This is the report.

In the first keynote, sketching the business environment, Darryl Harris (Woodside Energy) highlighted the need for professionals to be adaptable to survive and thrive. In the second keynote, with emphasis on new technologies, Dries Gisolf (Delft Inversion) examined the consequences of linearizing the relationship between measured data and properties delivered by AVO inversion and presented a new approach to AVO inversion that goes beyond linearized approaches that have been the norm since the 1970s.

After the opening session, the workshop consisting of subtopic specific presentations and dedicated slots for interactive discussions, then followed in

a typical structure of a seismic inversion based reservoir characterization project.

Rock Physics Four papers were presented, two by industry professionals Margarita Kongawoin (Quadrant Energy) and Mark Sams (Ikon Science) and two from the academic research sector by Zubair Ahmed and Boris Gurevich (Curtin University). The topics varied greatly, which highlighted the breadth of the field. One common theme was the focus on small scale detail. This is natural for research but suggests that industry is now becoming more aware of the impact at seismic scale of such detail. The discussion that followed, however, indicated that there

Dries Gisolf presenting a new approach to AVO inversion with workshop attendees.

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is still much to understand about how to effectively interpret seismic data in light of these implications. Perhaps there is a need for more applied theoretical rock physics and ensuring that petrophysicists, petrologists and geologists are part of the conversation.

Seismic Modelling Mark Sams demonstrated via use of synthetic models, how the general practice of ignoring anisotropy in inversion can lead to distorted results. The discussion centred on the difficulty of finding and using suitable anisotropy parameters. Ran Bachrach (Schlumberger) demonstrated the integration of time-lapse seismic effects such as amplitude change and time-shift changes within full-field scale models (surface to below reservoir) to monitor fluid and stress changes. Discussion focused on the challenges and approaches to upscaling and downscaling. Andrea Paxton (Schlumberger) demonstrated a fast and simple feasibility approach to estimating the surface seismic response to a known resource response through rock physics and acoustic modelling.

Mark Sams presented the fourth paper describing the challenges of deriving

EAGE NEWS

suitable wavelets for broadband seismic data when inverting. This again clearly demonstrated the wavelet extraction pitfalls with synthetic models and wavelets with known responses.

Data optimization for AVO applications Martin Storey (Well Data QA) reminded the audience of the many pitfalls when well data are unfit for seismic inversion, and Tim Conroy (Woodside Energy) illustrated how machine learning-based workflows, can automate many well editing workflows and perhaps more excitingly, accommodate many valid high-resolution features that may otherwise be smoothed out by manual editing.

Bill Shea (Sharp Reflections) described a proprietary technical inversion solution that bypasses the traditional intermediate classification step to output a suite of products that facilitate improved data conditioning as well as an improved understanding of the uncertainties and sensitivities in the final inversion results.

Finally, Vincent Ganivet (CGG) reinforced the virtues of early stakeholder engagement and systematic workflows, including horizon-based amplitude QC, for optimal AVO processing.

Seismic Inversion Tariq Alklhalifah (KAUST) started this session by showing how to constrain and parameterize the many degrees of freedom in full waveform inversion.

Then James Gunning (CSIRO) gave a comprehensive review of the science underlying a joint facies and elastic property inversion algorithm. Up next was Shane Squire (Santos) who gave an example from the offshore Browse Basin where a novel relative inversion and iteratively updated scheme using facies was applied. Finally, Mark Sams presented an onshore Cooper Eromanga Basin example where density derived from a joint facies inversion was discussed and ultimately challenged.

Reservoir Characterization There were three presentations from the industry by Sagar Ronghe (DUG), Shahid Ur Rehman (Chevron) and James Shadlow (KUFPEC) and one other from research by Rafael Souza (UWA) char-

acterizing reservoirs in exploration all the way through to production. Topics varied from simultaneous to statistical inversion with the integration of reservoir modelling. The technical discussion which followed was lively with debate over the application of seismic inversion. What happens to most inverted seismic? Discussion that came out from this was that we do not often consider over-pressure when characterizing reservoirs. The session ended with what appeared to be strong agreement that we should not get ‘lost in the QI sandcastle’.

We cannot rely on inversion alone and need to integrate and work together with other subsurface disciplines.

Case Studies Five very interesting case studies were presented in this session of the workshop. Rob Ross (Qeye Labs) presented a land case history over the Waitsia gas field using a cost-effective inversion workflow. The use of seismic inversion as a tool for screening a large area in the exploration phase was presented

by Cristina Angheluta (Woodside Energy). Anton Egorov (Curtin University) showed how elastic FWI can be used with VSP data to extract physical properties of the subsurface. Justin Ugbo (Shell) showed how to incorporate broadband AVO inversion with geological support to de-risk Triassic traps offshore Western Australia. Lastly, Jimmy Ting (CGG) presented an example of a seismic-to-simulation workflow using a geostatistical inversion to build a reservoir model.

In summary, the presentations highlighted the wide and diverse range of technologies being applied to solve

problems in the Australasia region. It was truly rewarding to see technical experts from all over the globe discussing the various aspects of characterizing hydrocarbon reservoirs. We look back on an exciting workshop in Perth and would like to thank all others in the workshop programme committee especially the workshop co-chairs, Paul Bouloudas (Quadrant Energy) and Paul Spaans (Woodside Energy) for their commitment and contributions in making the event a success. A special thank you goes to the workshop main sponsors

Tariq Alkhalifah sharing insights during an interesting discussion session.

Woodside Energy and Shell for their support and contribution.

Preceding the workshop, three EAGE Education Days courses were held on Best Practice in Pore Fluid Pressure and Fracture Pressure Prediction by Richard Swarbrick, Wave-equation based AVO Inversion for High Resolution Reservoir Characterization by Dries Gisolf, and Rock Physics for Quantitative Interpretation by Mark Sams, all of which generated some good participation.

Following the success of the workshop, EAGE Asia Pacific is developing plans for the next workshop in 2018.

Stay tuned for updates at www.eage.org or email asiapacific@eage.org for more information.

Attendees networking at the reception after an intense day of technical presentations.

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EAGE NEWS

We have a new membership card for you!

For those of you who have renewed your membership or have just joined the Association, there should be a stylish new membership card winging its way to you.

Over the course of the upcoming weeks everyone subscribing to EAGE membership in 2018 will receive the new card on their doormat. The new design personal card will clearly show your membership type and your membership number (M-number).

In addition, the new membership card will also show the expiry date of your current membership. This means that, say, you renew for three or five years, one membership card will be valid for the entire duration of your membership.

The new card and longer possible validity

dates allow us to cut back on the amount of paper and plastic we send out annually, reducing our ecological footprint and costs.

If you have not renewed your annual EAGE membership for 2018 yet, make sure to do this as soon as possible to

ensure you can enjoy all the benefits. Even better, opt for some peace of mind and renew for three or five years in one go.

You can renew through eage.org/renewmembership. If you have any questions regarding your membership, don’t hesitate to contact us at membership@eage.org.

20 th Geomodel conference is as timely as ever

Resort environment of Gelendzhik.

Once again the process of preparing for another EAGE Geomodel oil and gas geology conference in the Black Sea resort town of Gelendzhik has begun. A call for papers has been announced for the 20th anniversary event being held on 10-14 September 2018.

Igor Kerusov (Lukoil-Engineering) and Tatiana Olneva (Gazpromneft), 8

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co-chairs of the Programme Committee, say that at the 20th anniversary conference, ‘we feel it important to review the research and development experience gained over two recent decades as the basis for further progress.’

It was 1999 when geologists and geophysicists met for the first Geomodel conference in Gelendzhik. At that time oil prices had fallen to $9 per

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barrel with the economy and science struggling. The goal of that inaugural event was to resuscitate the geoscience community and to stimulate the sharing of views on the geosciences and their future. A new format of round tables, debate clubs, training courses, and commercial presentations was used to discuss the introduction of novel technologies, integration of different fields of science, broadening the scope of objectives, economy, education and many other issues.

Geomodel has provided a model for the way of organizing events of this kind in Russia. The topics of the very first conference remain relevant today. From year to year, the event has been gathering ever more people willing to share their ideas and experience. Although the specific conference programmes change in accordance with ups and downs of the world economy and the industry, the event has always aroused the interest of numerous participants and offered solutions to many challenges.

The Call for Abstracts is open till 20 May 2018. Details of the event are available on www.eage.org and www.eage.ru.

EAGE NEWS

London back with another great Education Days experience The 2018 series of EAGE Education Days is kicking off in London in March, with a total of 11 events due to take place around the world.

Education Days London on 19-23 March will be the 15th occasion offering an ideal platform to increase knowledge and awareness of new methodologies and technology for geoscience specialists. The 2018 version consists of multiple one-day and two-day short courses on a variety of geophysics, geology and reservoir characterization topics.

Six courses will be delivered by industry and academia experts from EAGE’s network of instructors. Dr Jaap C. Mondt will teach ‘Basic Geophysical Data Acquisition and Processing’, which treats various geophysical methods, from gravity to magnetics, electrical, electro-magnetic, refraction and reflection seismic. Dr Dirk Nieuwland will present ‘Natural Fracture Systems and Fractured Hydrocarbon Accumulations, Mechanics and Management’, which covers the fundamental geomechanics required to achieve a sound understanding of natural fracture systems, to predict the basic elements of natural fracture systems and to extract the wealth of information contained in natural fault and fracture systems.

Dr David Wiprut is presenting ‘Oilfield Geomechanics: Application to Drilling, Completions, Reservoir, Production, Geology and Geophysics’. This will provide participants with a solid understanding of rock mechanics, rock mechanical properties, and the associated laboratory measurements and procedures used to determine these properties. Dr Bjorn Wygrala will teach his course ‘Basin and Petroleum Systems Modeling: Applications for Conventional and Unconventional Petroleum Exploration Risk and Resource Assessments’. In this course, the term ‘petroleum systems’ and the technology of ‘basin and petroleum systems modelling’ will be introduced by showing applications in areas with critical exploration challenges, including salt basins and thrust belts.

Dr Anthony Fogg will offer ‘AVO in an Inversion World’, a course which covers the basics of AVO theory and how it is used to create attributes or inversion volumes from seismic reflection data that reveal the rock and fluid characteristics of the subsurface. Lastly, Cedric Fayemendy will teach the course ‘Time-Lapse Seismic: A Multi-disciplinary Tool for Effective Reservoir Management’, which provides a combination of production monitoring with repeated seismic acquisition and geological and reservoir informa-

tion in order to teach reliable estimates of static and dynamic reservoir parameters.

This year’s event will be held at the Holiday Inn Express London Heathrow T5, which is accessible for all participants travelling from central London or any London Airport.

Registration is already open for all the courses and until 15 February you can take advantage of the early bird fee.

The registration conditions apply to both EAGE and PESGB members.

In addition, EAGE under its Economic Hardship Programme will assist long-term members who are currently unemployed by providing contributions towards educational programmes. Members currently unemployed can attend short courses at Education Days London event for a discounted course fee equivalent to €75 for either one- or two-day course.

We strongly encourage you to participate in one or more of these excellent short courses on offer. For more information see our event website via the online calendar of events at www.eage.org.

EAGE also offers excellent sponsorship opportunities to create high visibility at Education Days London. Contact us via education@eage.org and check out the possibilities.

EAGE Education Calendar 29 JAN

DLP WEBINAR ON CO2 INJECTION

ONLINE

14 FEB

SHORT COURSE ON GEOPHYSICAL MONITORING OF CO2 STORAGE

HOUTEN, THE NETHERLANDS

6 FEB

EAGE EDUCATION TOUR 12

LAGOS, NIGERIA

21 FEB

SHORT COURSE ON VELOCITY MODEL BUILDING

LONDON, UK

4 MAR

SHORT COURSE ON SEISMIC STRATIGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES

MANAMA, BAHRAIN

19-23 MAR

EDUCATION DAYS LONDON: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

LONDON, UK

9 APR

SHORT COURSE ON ENGINEERING GEOPHYSICS

YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA

16 APR

SHORT COURSE ON EXPLORATIONAL ROCK PHYSICS

ABU DHABI, UAE

14-18 MAY

EDUCATION DAYS BUENOS AIRES: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

10-15 JUN

EAGE ANNUAL CONFERENCE: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

9-13 JULY

EDUCATION DAYS BEIJING: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

BEIJING, CHINA

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION PLEASE VISIT WWW.LEARNINGGEOSCIENCE.ORG.

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EAGE NEWS

EAGE education events on CCS coming soon Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS), the process of capturing and storing CO2 below the Earth’s surface, is becoming recognized as a significant option in the efforts to mitigate the impacts of increasingly higher concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere. This is why EAGE in 2018 is planning a series of events on the topic.

CCS plays a critical role in mitigating the impacts of CO2 emissions on climate.

Recent developments in CCS technologies and applications have introduced a stronger confidence for this solution, which now ranks high in the climate policies of various countries, such as the Netherlands where the government recently released a plan for accelerating the national measures to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.

CCS is expected to play a significant role in this and will involve multiple stakeholders.

Key to the success of this operation is a solid understanding of geophysical and geological aspects: appropriate storage sites need to be identified (usually rock formations located several miles below the ground, depleted oil and gas fields), saturation and pressure effects need to be calculated, and an effective monitoring system should be in place for early detection of harmful leakages.

Our education programme on this topic is starting with a Distinguished

Lecturer Programme (DLP) Webinar by Dr Peter Haffinger, co-founder of Delft Inversion, on 29 January. DLP Webinars are a complimentary benefit of EAGE membership offering live connections with some of EAGE’s DLP instructors.

Dr Haffinger will discuss ‘Quantitative Prediction of Injected CO2 at Sleipner Using Wave-Equation Based AVO’ and looks forward to a lively Q&A. Another highlight item for geoscientists interested in CCS will follow on 14 February when Prof Martin Landrø from the Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU) will be at EAGE HQ in Houten, Netherlands to teach his course ‘Geophysical Monitoring of CO2 Storage’.

The course is designed to help participants understand the possibilities and challenges involved in geophysical monitoring of a CO2 injection process. Places for these upcoming events are limited, so make sure you book your place soon. Read more at www.LearningGeoscience.org

Dr Jones to present new velocity modelling course worldwide Dr Ian Jones, one of EAGE’s most eminent lecturers and authors, will soon be presenting a new course on velocity modelling, a topic in which he is an acknowledged international authority.

As part of a new EAGE Education Tour programme, Dr Jones, who is a distinguished advisor at ION Geophysical, will be presenting his course at multiple locations all over the world giving EAGE members and geoscientists affordable access to latest developments in an important area of geoscience.

The course arises from a new EAGE publication being completed by Dr Jones entitled titled Velocities, Imaging, and Waveform Inversion - The Evolution of Characterizing the Earth’s Subsurface.

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published by EAGE in 2010 with one reviewer commenting that ‘the last couple of chapters were among the most interesting that I have seen in any geophysical text’.

The course he is preparing will cover the building of detailed velocity models for imaging, and briefly discusses the inherent limitations on our ability to build a detailed model. Current-day practice will be covered, exemplified via case studies and newer techniques such as waveform inversion and least-squares migration. Dr Jones stresses that the approach will be non-mathematical, concentrating on an intuitive understanding of the principles, demonstrating them via case histories.

The course is designed for practising geoscientists and students who wish

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to better understand the principles and limitations of both current and emerging technologies involved in subsurface parameter estimation and imaging. The first course will be held on 21 February in London, UK.

Interested in hosting an EET? Hosting an EET course is a great deal! In exchange for local arrangements including venue and catering, EAGE will include your company logo in promotional material and reserve 10 free registrations for your staff. If your company would like to host an EET course, write to education@eage.org

Pull your data from the

The GSX-C, with its cellular modem, can provide Status, Spread Noise, and even Raw Data through our GCS Cloud-based app running on the Microsoft Azure platform.

The GSX-C provides you attributes and seismic data retrieval on demand via the 4G LTE network.

Process it in — or pull your data from — the Cloud.

www.geospace.com

EAGE NEWS

Why you should be at Near Surface 2018 in Porto The near surface geoscience community is already looking forward to the Near Surface Geoscience Conference and Exhibition 2018 to be held in Porto, Portugal.

If you still need persuading, here are some reasons to attend.

The event scheduled for 9-13 September comprises three conferences, and an impressive exhibition of some of the world’s most important companies working in the geoscience and engineering field.

A special feature of the event is that it brings together three excellent academic conferences under one roof. Coming to Near Surface 2018 in Porto will offer you access to the 24th European Meeting of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics, the 3rd Applied Shallow Marine Geophysics Conference and the 2nd Conference on Geophysics for Mineral Exploration and Mining, some of the world’s foremost meetings on these topics.

Each conference is chaired by acknowledged authorities such as Fernando Santos of Lisbon University, Maarten Vanneste of the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute and Michael Zhdanov of the University of Utah.

Another exciting feature is the exhibition including key international com-

panies working in the near surface sector.

Adjacent to the technical programmes of all three conferences, the exhibition will allow you to get up-to-date with the latest industry advancements, network with

rooms and exhibition space. Wide open spaces encourage walking, talking and networking in the sun! Attendees and exhibitors will get to enjoy the lovely weather of a Portuguese autumn, delicious

Porto is the place to be in September.

industry experts from across the world, and meet with some of the most globally significant companies working on near surface applications.

One of the biggest draws is the location of the event. Next September we will welcome you to the beautiful Alfândega Porto Congress Centre. Once Porto’s custom house, the Congress Centre is spectacularly situated in the historical centre of Porto on the banks of the Douro River. The venue features large session

local delicacies and the breath-taking sights of ancient Porto, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

For more information and the latest updates, check out our dedicated website at www.nearsurfacegeoscience2018.org.

There you will find out more about the technical programmes, the venue and registration. Updates will include details of our planned field trip, our expert panels and a list of the companies that will be exhibiting.

EAGE Student Calendar STUDENT LECTURE TOUR MIDDLE EAST

ABU DHABI, UAE

13TH MIDDLE EAST GEOSCIENCES CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION/GEOQUIZ

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN

EAGE ONLINE GEO-QUIZ (STUDENT CHAPTER ONLY)

ONLINE

STUDENT LECTURE TOUR ASIA PACIFIC

MUMBAI, INDIA

SAINT PETERSBURG 2018/ GEOQUIZ/ STUDENT PROGRAM

SAINT PETERBURG, RUSSIAN

11-12 APR

EAGE/HAGI 1ST ASIA PACIFIC MEETING ON NEAR SURFACE GEOSCIENCE & ENGINEERING (REGIONAL GEO-QUIZ)

YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA

16-26 APR

STUDENT LECTURE TOUR AFRICA

AFRICAN CITIES

10 JUN

LAURIE DAKE CHALLENGE FINAL

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

11 JUN

LAURIE DAKE ANNOUNCEMENT

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

8-15 JAN 7 MAR 12 MAR 26-30 MAR 9-12 APR

STUDENT PORGRAM IN THE 80 ANNUAL & CONFERENCE EAGE

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

13 JUN

GEO-QUIZ

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

3-8 JUL

ACEG, SEMANA TECNICA DE GEOCIENCIAS DE LA ASOCIACIÓN COLOMBIANA DE ESTUDIANTES DE GEOLOGÍA

MANIZALES, COLOMBIA

11-14 JUN

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION PLEASE CHECK THE STUDENT SECTION AT WWW.EAGE.ORG

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Ears Are More Reliable Than Feet In some cultures the rabbit’s foot is believed to bring good fortune. However, it’s the ears that increase discovery success. PGS FWI (Full Waveform Inversion) uses rabbit ears i.e. back scattered seismic energy, to build high-resolution velocity models at greater depths. This enables better inversions for robust ranking and more reliable derisking of prospects.

Visit our website to read more about PGS FWI.

A Clearer Image | www.pgs.com/rabbit-ears

A sustainable Copenhagen 2018 will meet student expectations

Classic Copenhagen.

The EAGE Student community has a lot to look forward to at the upcoming Annual Meeting in Copenhagen. Sustainability and the opportunities of the anticipated transition to alternative energies, issues at the top of the agenda for most geoscience students today, are now also a priority for most international oil companies.

Appropriately ‘Turning challenge into opportunities’ is this year’s topic for the Copenhagen Student Programme, a theme aimed at revealing what the industry needs and the great capability of the new generation of geoscientists and engineers worldwide. Although oil companies are likely to continue producing hydrocarbons for decades, most big companies have launched initiatives to offer cleaner energy, by shifting their portfolio towards more gas, by investing in alternative, lower carbon energies such as solar or wind, and by producing their hydrocarbon resources more efficiently and safely. Many oil companies will be highlighting those challenges and the opportunities for renewal and transfor-

mation making EAGE Copenhagen 2018 the right place for students who want to participate in the discussion along with a great variety of activities tailored to students’ needs.

Judging from the record numbers in Paris last year, around 600 students are expected to attend EAGE Copenhagen to experience a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary programme, sponsored and supported principally by EAGE Student Fund and oil companies.

The programme organized by the Students Affairs Committee (SAC) in conjunction with the Local Advisory Committee(LAC) provides a complete package, Student Chapters, which are steadily increasing in number worldwide showing the dynamism of the student community, will have a meeting with a special workshop. Students will be able to show their most recent research in the separate student technical programme.

As usual, the Geo-Quiz will bring a lot of fun and excitement between the competing teams, This year sees the introduction of a more demanding FIELD Challenge contest, now called the ‘Laurie Dake Challenge’, as a tribute to the famous reservoir engineer. After the application process and the first round of selection, students currently face a very interesting exploration round simulated

by Maersk Oil. The SAC will select ten semi-finalists from the 35+ competing teams. Each team will have worked very hard developing a plan for a discovered hydrocarbon resource, in the process familiarizing themselves with the type

of skills and characteristics that define an outstanding professional.

The final will take place on 10 June in Copenhagen. The winning team will receive a trophy with a grant sponsored

by Maersk during the Opening Ceremony, an example of the EAGE Board’s commitment to the student community.

During the conference, a series of trial interviews will give students access to some of the skills required for their next step as future professionals. In Copenhagen, students are also encouraged to benefit from the networking café where they can meet some outstanding professionals working in oil companies worldwide. Meanwhile a highlight will be the Students Evening, with the participation of the EAGE Board, the Local Advisory Committee and SAC members in a wonderful celebration.

EAGE welcomes the annual increase in student participation. As Claudia Steiner, co-chair of the SAC says, ‘the industry needs students thinking outside the box, being able to peak into other disciplines in order to come up with an overall, integrated solution. She adds that students must be willing to turn challenges into opportunities not only in their technical competencies, but in their soft skills as well.

To get up to date with the latest developments in this year’s Student Programme in Copenhagen, the best place to go is the EAGE Students website (http://students. eage.org/). Students are welcome to propose their help and ideas to continually improve the various activities organized by the EAGE.

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.

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EAGE NEWS

We would like to thank our sponsors for their generous support to EAGE in 2017!

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We thank all our valued advertisers for their loyal support in 2017!

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We would like to thank our exhibitors for their generous support to EAGE in 2017!

A AAarhus GeoSoftware • ABEM Instruments • Abitibi Geophysics • Acceleware Ltd. • ADVANCED GEOSCIENCES EUROPE SL • AGH University of Science and Technology • Ali I. Al-Naimi Petroleum Engineering Research Center, KAUST • All Ukrainian Association of Geoinformatics (AUAG) • ALNAFT Algeria • ALT s.a. (Advanced Logic Technology) • Amplified Geochemical Imaging LLC • ANCAP • Applied Acoustic Engineering Ltd • Archimedes • ARK CLS Ltd • Asociacion de Geologos y Geophysicos Espanoles del Petroleo (AGGEP) • Association of Geophysicists and Environmentalists of Serbia (AGES) • Association of Hungarian Geophysicists (MGE) • Atlas Fluid Controls • Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists (ASEG) • Austrian Geophysical Society (AGS) • Avalon Sciences Ltd • Azerbaijan Society of Petroleum B Baker Hughes • Balkan Geophysical Society (BGS) • BeicipFranlab • BGP Inc. • Brazilian Geophysical Society (SBGf) • Brechbuehler AG • BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minière C Carl Zeiss Microscopy • CGG • Chinese Geophysical Society (CGS) • Commission for the Geological Map of the World • Cray • Curtin University - Exploration Geophysics • CVA • Czech Association of Geophysicists (CAAG) D DANA Energy - Geophysical Services • De Regt Marine Cables BV • DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG • Decennial Mineral Exploration Conferences • DECO Geophysical Software Co, (RadExPro) • Delft Inversion • Dell EMC • Design Bureau Electrometrics • Deutsche Geophysikalische Gesellschaft (DGG) (German Geophysical Society) • dGB Earth Sciences BV • DMT GmbH & Co. KG • DMT Petrologic GmbH • DownUnder GeoSolutions • DUG • Dynamic Graphics, Inc. • Dynamic Technologies E E & P Geo Field Services • Earth Signal Processing Ltd. • East Sea Star • ELIIS • Elsevier B.V. • EMGS ASA • Engenius Software • Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society • EOST - University of Strasbourg • EPI Group • Esri • ESTIMAGES • EU Horizon 2020 Brokerage Stand (EAGE) • European Federation of Geologists (EFG) • European Geoscience Union (EGU) • Exprodat Consulting Ltd F Faculty of Geology, Lomonosov Moscow State University • FairfieldNodal • FEBUS OPTICS • FracGeo • Fraunhofer ITWM • French Association of Geothermal Professionals (AFPG) • Frogtech Geoscience • Fugro G Gardline Geosurvey Limited • GEM Systems Inc • GEO 2018 • GEO ExPro (GeoPublishing Ltd) • GEO Marine Survey Systems • Geodevice • GEOFIZYKA TORUN S.A. • GEOKINETICS INC • GEOLAB Ltd. • Geological Survey of Sweden • Geologists (ASPG) • Geology Without Limits • Geometrics • Geonics Limited • GEOPARTNER SP Z.O.O. • Geophysical Data Systems Ltd • Geophysical Insights • Geophysical Technology Inc • GEOSIGNAL • Geosoft Inc. • Geospace Engineering Resources International • Geospace Technologies • GeoTeric • Geotomographie GmbH • GEOVARIANCES • GeoVista AB • GEUS • GF Instruments • GiGa infosystems GmbH • GISCO • GLOBE Claritas • GO GeoEngineering • Government of Western Australia - European Office • Group of companies Logis-Geotech • Guideline Geo AB | ABEM | MALÅ H Halliburton • Hefei Guowei Electronics Co., Ltd. • Hellenic Geophysical Union (HGU) • Heriot-Watt University • High Performance Computing • HOT Engineering GmbH • Hydenlyne Limited I IDS Georadar • IFP ENERGIES NOUVELLES • IFP School • IGA - International Geothemal Association • I-GIS • Ikon Science • ImpulseRadar • InApril AS • Innoseis • INOVA Geophysical Inc • INSTITUT DE PHYSIQUE DU GLOBE DE PARIS • INSTITUTO TECNOLOGICO METROPOLITANO (ITM) • INT, Inc • Intel Corporation • International Seismic Co • ION • Iranian Geophysical Society (IGS) • Iranian Petroleum Geomechnicas Association (IPGA) • IRIS Instruments SA • Isle of Man Government • Italian EAGE-SEG section J JSC VNIIZARUBEZHGEOLOGIA K Kappa Offshore Solutions • Katalyst Data Management • King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals • KMS Technologies • Kongsberg Seatex AS • KOPADIA • Kuwait Oil Company • Kyoto University L Lenovo M MagSeis AS • MALÅ Geoscience • Malta - Continental Shelf Department • MaP - Microstructure and Pores • Marac Enterprises Inc. • Marine Arctic Geological Expedition (MAGE) • Maritim Management AS • Metronix • Micro-g Lacoste/Scintrex • Midland Valley • Mitcham Europe • Mitcham Industries, Inc. • Mitcham Seismic Eurasia, LLC • Mørenot Offshore AS • Moroccan Association of Geosciences (MAG) • Mount Sopris Instrument Co., Inc. N Nanometrics • National Petroleum Institute • NCS SubSea Inc • NORSAR Innovation AS • Norwegian Petroleum Directorate • Nova Scotia Department of Energy O OCTIO AS • Offshore & Trawl Supply AS • Oil and Gas Authority • Onhym Morocco • OvationData Limited • OYO Corporation P Palladian Publications • PanTerra Geoconsultants • Paradigm B.V. • Parallel Geoscience Corporation • Pars Petro Zagros • PartnerPlast AS • P-Cable 3D Seismic AS • Perigon • Petroleum Agency South Africa • Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain (PESGB) • Petroleum Geologische Kring (PGK) • Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) • PetroMarker AS • PetroSkills • PetroStrat • Petrosys Europe Ltd • Petrotechnical Data Systems • PGS • Phoenix Geophysics • Phoenix Geophysics Ltd • Polarcus • Polarcus • Poseidon Offshore (Safety and Health) Ltd Q Qeye Labs ApS • Quad Geometrics Norway AS R R.T. Clark Companies Inc. • Reservoir Imaging Ltd • RESINEX • Rock Flow Dynamics • Rock Solid Images (RSI) • ROGII • Romanian Society of Applied Geophysics (RSAG) • Romanian Society of Geophysics (RSG) • Roxar Software Solutions • RPS Energy S SAExploration • SAFT • Sander Geophysics • SAS E&P • Saudi Aramco • Scandinavian Visualization Society (SCANVIZ) • Schlumberger • Science & Technology center NISNaftagas • Scientific Association of the Oil and Gas Industry Engineers and Technicians (SAOGIET) • Seabed Geosolutions • SeaBird Exploration Cyprus Ltd. • Seamap Pte Ltd • Seamap UK Limited • Searcher Seismic • Seismic Image Processing • Seismic Instruments Inc. • Seismic Mechatronics BV • Seismic Source Co. • Seismic Wave Analysis Group • Seismotech sltd • SERCEL • SGS Horizon B.V. • Sharp Reflections • Shearwater GeoServices • Siberian Geophysical Research Production Company (SGRPC LLC) • SibGeofizPribor • Silixa Ltd. • SINOPEC GEOPHYSICAL CORPORATION • SmartSolo, a DTCC company • SNPC • Societe Geologique de France (SGF) • Society of Exploration Geophysicists • Society of Exploration Geophysicists of Japan (SEGJ) • Solgeo srl • Sonardyne International Ltd • Sound Oceanics LLC • Spectrum • Spotlight • Springer Nature • Staatsolie Suriname IPC • Stingray Geophysical • Strata Technology LTD T Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg • TechnoImaging • TEEC GmbH • Teledyne Marine • Tensor Research • Teradata • TERRASYS Geophysics • TGS • The EOR Alliance • The Geological Society of London • THE NATIONAL SCHOOL OF GEOLOGY • Thermo Fisher Scientific (Formerly FEI) • TOTAL • TRE ALTAMIRA • Trimble • Troika International Ltd U Ulmatec Baro AS • Unión Geofísica Mexicana (UGM) • University of Kansas - TORP • University of Malta • University of Manchester • Uppsala University • Upstream AS • UralGeoPole Geophysical Exploration V Vibrometric Oy • VINCI TECHNOLOGIES • Vista Clara Inc • VNIGNI • VNIIOkeangeologia • Volume Graphics GmbH • VSProwess Ltd W W&R - Instruments, s.r.o. • W&R Instruments • Waseda University • Weatherford • WEIHAI SUNFULL GEOPHYSICAL EXPLORATION EQUIPMENT • Wintershall Holding GmbH • Wireless Seismic, Inc. • World Petroleum Congress X Xi’an Senshe Electronic Technology Corporation Y YCOS Inc. Z ZEISS Microscopy • Zhaofeng Sensor Equipment Co., Ltd • Zonge International, Inc. • ZZ Resistivity Imaging Pty. Ltd.

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Seismic shift in technology When accused of regularly forecasting a gloomy future for the is the number of OBS projects underway or being commissioned marine seismic business as currently set up, this column is guilty worldwide. The percentage share of OBS in the marine seismic as charged. There is no reason to rehearse all the reasons why survey market has in fact been creeping up over the last ten years or the current economic model does not work. From a shareholding so. However, we are now seeing a much sharper increase. In 2005, perspective over a couple of decades, there are only one or two the share was no more than 5%, which rose to over 15% by 2015. companies that have consistently made money on the acquisition This was followed by a dramatic dip in 2016 attributed to delays in side (where the big money is to be made). Their formula for success tendering, permitting and mobilization. However, 2018 looks like can be summarized in the two words ‘asset light’. Others have being a bumper year with some analysts predicting a 30% share by profited from the highs of the good years but not enough to offset 2020 and still rising. That would be a market approaching $2 bilthe lows of the cycle. lion in value. Compare that with the towed streamer market which Despite this financial malaise, a feature of the period in quesanalysts estimate to have been worth a little over $3 billion in 2016. tion, and earlier years, has been the extraordinary inventiveness of There are currently eight bonafide seabed seismic survey the community of geoscientists which serve the industry. The hall operators of which Seabed GeoSolutions (SBGS), the joint venture of technology fame would include 2D, followed by 3D and then 4D between Fugro and CGG; FairfieldNodal, WesternGeco, BGP and marine seismic, controlled source electromagMagseis, a relative newcomer to the big time, netic (CSEM) surveys, ocean bottom seismic ‘Ocean bottom seismic are the main players. More on the fringes are including permanent reservoir monitoring, and Geokinetics, OceanGeo, a subsidiary of ION (OBS), is finally shaking Geophysical, and SAExploration (SAE). To this solid streamers. Not many industries can claim off its niche status’ this level of innovation, and the list excludes mix should be added Geospace Technologies, the less capital-intensive changes in acquisition a significant supplier of nodes and cables, and methods such as broadband, dual sources, and wide-azimuth. It also inApril. This latter Norwegian company is bidding to enter the marleaves out the huge advances made in seismic survey navigation ket as the first independent supplier of a low cost automated node and positioning, the use of massive computing power to process deployment and recovery system. phenomenal volumes of data, plus imaging, visualization and other The scope of current OBS surveys is unequivocally worldwide interpretation/data integration aids. meeting a variety of E&P oil company objectives. Applications also The trouble with much of this enterprising technology has been vary in scale and water depth confirming growing oil company the near prohibitive capital cost and the inability to reap sufficient confidence in the technology and its economic viability. Some rewards in an over-supplied, highly competitive and volatile marhighlights of recently completed, current or commissioned work for ketplace.

FairfieldNodal include offshore Trinidad for BP, Shell and EOG, Arguably a catalyst for a necessary disruption to the business offshore Brazil for Petrobras (Libra), in the Gulf of Mexico for model is nigh. It is coming from technology that has been with us BP (Mad Dog) and various North Sea projects for AkerBP; SBGS for a long time but conforms almost perfectly to the 30 year rule, has projects for Petrobras (Libra and Buzios) plus a likely contract i.e., three decades to reach full adoption by a notoriously conservafor Shell’s Bonga field, offshore Nigeria, in addition to historic tive oil and gas industry. long term work in the Middle East; WesternGeco has been heavily We are of course talking about ocean bottom seismic (OBS), involved in the Gulf of Mexico for Pemex, and will be on Oseberg which is finally shaking off its niche status. The obvious evidence (Statoil) this summer; BGP has a large scale BP survey offshore

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improvements have come at just the right time for oil companies.

Indonesia; and Magseis continues a long term project with BGP in Because of severe budget restraints and the adequate supply of the Red Sea for Saudi Aramco and did recent work on Eldfisk in the crude worldwide, their short-term strategy has typically concentratNorth Sea for ConocoPhillips. ed on optimizing production from existing resources and near field In 2018 more OBS contracts, likely involving more of the availprospects which, if developed, can be tied into existing platform, able players and equipment suppliers, are expected to cover some pipeline or other export facilities. This is exactly the market which notably large scale and/or long-term projects, in the Middle East, OBN is best suited for.

South America, the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa and the North Sea. With every step forward in efficiency and competitive price, the The rise in the fortunes of OBS is the result of big improveprospect of OBN becoming a serious rival to towed streamers in the ments in the operations and equipment and more acceptance of exploration field looms larger. One or two OBN-related companies the technology from oil companies. This perfectly coincides with a clearly see as an end game a scenario where towed streamer will significant shift in the requirements of the oil and gas E&P sector only be the preferred option for large seismic exploration projects, operating in the ‘new normal’ lower oil price environment. which are already less common. FairfieldNodal, SBGS, Magseis Even in the early days of ocean bottom cable (OBC) and ocean and inApril are developing asset light portable solutions that can bottom nodes (OBN) in the 1990s, there was never any doubt that operate from a vessel of opportunity. inApril already markets its, placing recording sensors on the seabed would produce an imaging as yet untried, Venator equipment as a complete, off-the-shelf, result far superior to anything towed-streamer could provide. The fully automated OBN system available for installation on a variety problem for both systems was the cost, low speed, complexity and of vessels. SBGS (Manta), FairfieldNodal (ZXPLR) and Magseis reliability of seabed operations. Early on, the processing of mul(MASS), which has a research agreement with Shell, are in their ti-component data was also considered a challenge. However, the different ways heading in the same automation value for limited reservoir characterization and monitoring projects was at least recognized and ‘Virtually every tender direction in order to drive the costs down.

TGS, which has already had experience some bigger oil companies availed themselves for OBS specifies with OBS, is said to be looking at more mulof the limited options. a node solution’ ti-client projects, so it is game on with regard It remained the case that if OBS could to the exploration aspirations of the OBN ever develop rapid deployment and retrieval of operators and suppliers. The surprise is that none of the major equipment from the seabed at a reasonable cost, it would be a killer towed-streamer seismic contractors have entered the OBS market. application for oil companies. For a long time, however, a techRight now lack of finance for R&D or technology acquisition may nology debate raged over the virtues of cable versus node thereby be hard to justify to stakeholders. WesternGeco is the exception to confusing a risk averse, potential oil company clientele. the extent that it is renting node equipment for specific projects, In the meantime, the towed streamer operators managed to some of which require a hybrid approach employing both towed muddy the waters, so to speak. They were able to undermine the streamer and OBS to provide full coverage. But parent company claims for OBS by satisfying the demand for 4D seismic with Schlumberger is not thought to be developing a solution of its own. much cheaper monitoring and repeat data acquisition using towed PGS withdrew from the OBC market many moons ago and streamer technology. Oil companies were therefore prepared to forenow only retains a seabed seismic interest in fibre-optic solutions go the better quality data promised by far costlier seabed seismic for permanent reservoir monitoring (PRM). The PRM market options. Many of the same cost-benefit arguments applied when oil remains problematic. A popular view is that nodes will be able to companies began to balance the benefits of towed streamer against provide the requisite life of field reservoir monitoring without the OBS for wide-azimuth surveys to image complex geology. Towed need for recording cable buried in the seabed with all the associated streamer again tended to win out. reliability risks.

It is hard to pinpoint exactly when oil company perceptions Encouraging perhaps for PGS is that Geospace Technolgies, the about OBS began to change. The most significant technology breakprovider of all the conventional seabed cable PRM systems worldthrough was probably persuading oil companies that OBN solutions wide, says the only potential projects being talked about will be were the way forward. Deploying and retrieving nodes compared fibre-optic based. In the meantime, FairfieldNodal recently bought with cable was shown in most applications to be more flexible, less WGP from Thallasa Holdings, which provides the monitoring sercomplicated and include a healthy element of redundancy in case of vice for most existing PRM projects. node failure. In fact, nodes have proved to be almost 100% reliable As part of the deal, the company agreed to purchase a 20% stake and are no cause for concern. in an acoustically operated ‘flying node’ seabed seismic project Today virtually every tender for OBS specifies a node solution. being developed by WGP sister company Autonomous Robotics This also reflects the R&D investment by OBS operators and equip(ARL). Fanciful though this concept may be, it suggests that OBN ment manufacturers. This has been focused on providing the most has a previously unanticipated profitable future. cost-effective deployment and recovery of nodes. The resulting

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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EMGS records Q3 profits

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UK’s National Trust refuses permission to carry out 3D survey

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PGS completes survey offshore Indonesia

UK releases $20 million of seismic data covering UK Continental Shelf The UK Oil and Gas Authority has released the results of its £20 million ($27 million) million UK Government-funded seismic programme to promote exploration activity in under-explored areas of UK Continental Shelf.

This data, acquired in the summer of 2016 by PGS and WesternGeco,

The UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) comprises those areas of the sea bed and subsoil beyond the territorial sea over which the UK exercises sovereign rights of exploration and exploitation of natural resources. The map shows how the UKCS has been extended since the mid 1960s.

will support the 31st Offshore Licensing Round in mid-2018. They comprise close to 19,000 km of newly acquired broadband seismic data, new gravity and magnetic surveys, approximately 23,000 km of reprocessed legacy seismic data, a rejuvenated set of digital well data, in addition to various supplementary reports.

The new marine 2D surveys, acquired during Summer 2016, cover the East Shetland Platform and South West Britain areas, with reprocessed datasets stretching along the English Channel and up the western areas of the UK as far as the Hebrides. Together with data from the 2015 seismic programme, this provides a regional exploration dataset for almost all of the UK’s underexplored offshore shelf, in regions where no substantial activity has occurred in decades.

PGS and WesternGeco were awarded the contracts to acquire and process seismic data from the East Shetland Platform and South West Britain respectively.

Acquisition was completed in late 2016, mirroring the 2015 seismic programme which saw more than 40,000 km of new and reprocessed data successfully released to industry.

PGS vessel Nordic Explorer carried out seismic surveys across the FIRST

East Shetland Platform which includes the East Orkney Basin, East Fair Isle Basin and Dutch Bank Basin. The WesternGeco vessel WG Magellan carried out seismic surveys around South West Britain, including; the Celtic Sea, Western English Channel, Bristol Channel, St George’s Channel and the Irish Sea. The data have been published under open licences, and the key data packages can be downloaded for free, with complete data packages (including field data) available from www.UKOilandGasData.com. The larger data packages will be available on digital media only, for which a nominal charge will be made to recover media, handling, and delivery costs.

The OGA has also released a set of regional studies on the East Shetland Platform and SW Approaches Basin and a comprehensive set of regional maps across the Southern North Sea to supplement maps published earlier this year for the Central North Sea and Moray Firth.

The East Shetland Platform and SW Approaches studies were funded by the OGA through the 21st Century Exploration Roadmap (21CXRM) initiative and the contract for a second phase of studies in these areas, jointly funded

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by the OGA and an industry group, was recently awarded to APT. Jo Bagguley, OGA principal regional geologist said: ‘The seismic acquisition programme is a vital part of the OGA’s plan to help revitalize exploration with up to £40 million already spent to provide modern coverage of nearly all underexplored regions of the UKCS. This new data will provide valuable insight to companies identifying new plays and prospects ahead of the 31st Offshore Licensing Round in 2018.

The WG Magellan.

Malcolm Fleming, chief executive of CDA, the Oil & Gas UK subsidiary which manages UKOilandGasData.com said: ‘The significant improvement in the quality and availability of the data over these areas will allow geoscientists to re-evaluate previous interpretations, leading to a rethink of the prospectivity and potential of the petroleum systems in place and reappraisal of discoveries previously thought to be uneconomic, as well as the discovery of new prospects for exploration drilling.’

CGG reports a third quarter net loss of $-124.4 million CGG has reported a third-quarter net loss of $-124.4 million compared with a net loss of $-169.7 million in the second quarter of 2017 and a net loss of -$87.9 million in the third quarter of 2016.

The company recorded a Q3 operating loss of $-24 million compared with $-3.5 million in Q2 and $-39 million in Q3 2016.

Third quarter 2017 revenues of $320 million, compared to Q2 revenues of $349 million and Q3 2016 revenues of $264 million.

Third quarter multi-client revenue was $105.5 million compared to second quarter multi-client revenue of $132.7 million and Q3 2016 multi-client revenue of $99 million. Multi-client revenue was boosted by good sales connected to Brazilian licensing rounds.

Q3 Prefunding was $70 million compared to $73.3 million in Q2 and $88 million in Q3 2016. Q3 after sales revenue was $35.4 million, compared with $59.4 in the second quarter and $10.2 million in Q3 2016. Multi-client capex was $54 million with 131% prefunding.

At the end of the third quarter, net debt was $2.571 billion and liquidity $333 million.

Jean-Georges Malcor, CGG CEO, said: ‘The year-to-date revenue was

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$919 million, up 6% from last year, despite still very low equipment sales. On this basis, we reiterate our 2017 outlook, with an EBITDA level expected to be in line with 2016 and with lower cash flow generation.

Third quarter GGR revenue was $186 million, down 4% year-on-year and 16% sequentially. This included $106 million in multi-client revenue and $80 million was subsurface imaging and reservoir revenue, down 15% year-on-year and 9% sequentially.

Equipment revenue was $40 million compared with $53 million in the second quarter of 2016 and $53.5 million in the third quarter of 2016.

CGG’s Oceanic Vega.

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Contractual Data Acquisition was $99 million up 20% from $82 million in the second quarter and 158% from $38.2 million in the third quarter of 2016. Contractual marine data acquisition was $71 million, up 306% year-on-year. ‘The increase in revenue can mainly be explained by the higher dedication to contractual surveys, as 67% of the fleet was executing contractual jobs versus 29% in Q3 2016,’ said the company’s release statement.

Land and Multi-Physics Data Acquisition revenue was $28 million, up 33% yearon-year and 31% sequentially. The company said that land activity had increased during the quarter and airborne was beginning to pick up in the mining market.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Shearwater Geoservices has been awarded a 3D broadband marine seismic acquisition contract by ONGC for the planned 2017/2018 field season. The surveys are expected to take approx. five months with the main streamer vessel mobilizing to the APAC Region in Q4.

Irene Waage Basili, CEO of Shearwater said: ‘This is the second consecutive year Shearwater will work for ONGC. We know the operational area well and in the challenging market we are all experiencing today, we are very pleased to have secured this contract which gives us full utilization for one of our vessels through the winter season.’

Shearwater has been operative since December 2016. ‘We are proud to say that we have been able to maintain our solid financial platform despite a very challenging market situation through 2017,’ added Waage Basili.

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Seismic reprocessing shows higher prospectivity offshore northwest Australia Melbana Energy has reported encouraging results from a recent 3D seismic broadband reprocessing of data on its permits offshore Northwest Australia.

The reprocessing has identified the potential for additional prospectivity in the permits AC/P50 and AC/P51, including an amplitude-supported objective immediately above the existing Ramble On prospect. In the right conditions, an amplitude anomaly can be a direct indicator of hydrocarbons.

The 3D seismic broadband reprocessing was undertaken by incoming joint venture partner Rouge Rock at its own cost as part of the agreement by which it earned a 45% participating interest in the permits. The reprocessing work undertaken

by Rouge Rock cost approx. $1.15 million.

Melbana is currently undertaking a detailed evaluation of the reprocessed data and the resulting suite of enhanced technical products which are intended to characterize any new prospects and leads as well as further de-risk the identified prospects and

leads, facilitating a potential further farm-out of the permits to fund future discretionary exploration drilling.

The 2017 reprocessing highlights the improved seismic data quality in general and specifically the presence of an amplitude anomaly, previously not identified, in a prospective sequence directly overlying the deeper Ramble On prospect. Further detailed analysis will now be undertaken to quantify this newly identified zone of interest.

Melbana Energy’s CEO and MD Peter Stickland said: ‘The recent substantial seismic reprocessing study has significantly improved the seismic imaging in an area with historically poor data quality. We are already seeing some additional prospectivity in this proven oil area that was not visible on the old data. Melbana’s technical team will now proceed to integrate the reprocessed seismic with existing datasets in the area with a view to further defining this potential new play type.’

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Magseis’ third quarter profits rises towards $10 million Magseis has reported a third quarter net profits of $9.7 million and EBITDA of $13.9 million on revenues of $28.7 million compared to a Q3 2016 net loss of -$8.8 milllion and EBITDA of $3 million on revenues of $13.1 million.

In the first nine months of 2017 the company’s net profit was $16.5 million with EBITDA of $30.7 million on revenues of $69.1 million compared to Q3 2016 net loss of $-16.8 million and EBITDA of $3 million on revenues of $39.9 million.

The company reported full utilization during the quarter, which included an extension to a project in the Red Sea and the completion of ConocoPhillips’ Eldfisk 4D survey using the Magseis’ new modular ROV crew.

Idar Horstad, CEO said: ‘The good performance comes as a result of two simultaneous and efficient operations in the Red Sea and in the North Sea. The Mobile ROV operation in the North Sea has been a success and demonstrated the high efficiency that can be achieved by dual ROV operations due to the small size of our nodes.’

‘The safe and efficient operation in the Red Sea continued throughout the quarter and the shooting performance delivered by our partner BGP remains stable and above our initial projections.

We are in a good position to continue working for Saudi Aramco in this important region which is estimated to contain as much as 30% of their potential resources.’

‘We are working on the revised design for our next cable vessel and we plan to complete the rigging towards the end of Q2 next year. At the end of Q1 next year, we will be operating 14,000 MASS nodes plus another 6000 nodes by the end of the year.

‘Earlier this year we signed an exclusive agreement with Seismic Apparition for a new technology for more efficient shooting on OBS projects. Source Isolation is applicable for 4D surveys and we performed a field test in the North Sea during the third quarter. The results are very encouraging and the plan is to commercialize this technology during 2018, potentially reducing project cost by 30-50%.

‘Although we have seen that some of the jobs announced in the North Sea next year have been postponed, we see a steady increase in other regions and our estimates for the total market in 2018 still remains at above $1.2 billion.’

EMGS records third quarter revenues of $10 million EMGS has recorded third quarter revenues of $10 million, up from $4.5 million in the third quarter 2016 and down from $10.6 million in the second quarter 2017.

Contract and other sales totalled $0.7 million, while multi-client sales amounted to $9.3 million. The company has reduced its quarterly cost base, consisting of all operational costs including multi-client investments, from $14.2 million in the third quarter last year to $9.2 million this quarter. The company recorded EBITDA of $2.9 million, up from -$6.2 million in the third quarter of 2016.

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multi-client surveys in the Norwegian Sea and in the Barents Sea, while the BOA Thalassa has been off-hire.

Vessel utilization for the third quarter 2017 was 77% compared with 52% for the third quarter of 2016. For the first nine months this year, the vessel utilization was 85%, whereas the utilisation for the same period last year was 61%.

‘We are pleased to see another quarter with a positive EBITDA as a result of a relatively healthy amount of revenues and low operational costs,’ said CEO of EMGS, Christiaan Vermeijden. ‘The commercialization of the DeepBlue (JIP) was a major milestone in the company as this will give our customers the ability to use CSEM to image smaller prospects and prospects at greater depth below mudline.’

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The Atlantic Guardian was busy during Q3.

Meanwhile, EMGS has won two contracts worth $2.8 million for prefunded multi-client acquisitions offshore Indonesia, which the company expects to start in December 2017.

INDUSTRY NEWS

UK’s National Trust refuses Ineos permission to carry out 3D survey in country park INEOS is appealing to the UK Oil and Gas Authority to intervene after Britain’s National Trust refused to allow the company access to land in the East Midlands so that it can carry out a 3D seismic survey.

Ineos has obtained licences from the UK government to explore for oil and gas underneath 1.2 million acres in England.

The company has submitted an application to the National Trust to allow it access to Clumber Park – a country park with woodland walks that is open to the public.

However, Ineos said that the trust, which owns the land in Nottinghamshire, has refused all offers of meetings.

Ineos told The Times newpspaper that more than nine out of ten other landowners had granted Ineos access in return for an undisclosed fee. A National Trust spokesman said: ‘The trust is opposed to fracking on its land and will reject any fracking requests or inquiries.

Consistent with this, we will always say no to surveying on our land for fracking purposes.’

Ron Coyle, CEO of Ineos Shale said: ‘The National Trust’s position is overly and overtly political and throughout this process they have refused to engage with us or the science.’

The application, if granted, will allow Ineos to seek a court order enforcing its rights under licence to acquire seismic data over Clumber Park. Under the Mines (Working Facilities & Support) Act 1966 Ineos has the right to carry out a seismic survey if a court agrees that a landowner is unreasonably refusing it access to do so and that the survey is in the national interest. ‘Ineos believes the Trust has behaved unreasonably, it is firmly in the national interest and that a court would back its position.’

The government licence carries with it an obligation to comprehensively investigate the subsurface with 3D geological surveys. ‘The geological surveys are classed as non-intrusive,’ said Ineos in a statement. ‘They involve the use of specialist trucks to create and record soundwaves in order to map rocks deep

underground. The condition of the land is recorded before the survey and restored to the same condition afterwards. Ineos has agreed to share the results with the national archives for the benefit of the nation and future generations. Hundreds of other landowners have already agreed to the surveys.’

ers will interfere with the company’s legal rights.

‘Ineos’s business activities are lawful. The [campaigners] wish Ineos to stop carrying on those activities and wish to put pressure on Ineos to stop. However, on my findings in this judgment, the [campaigners’] means of putting pressure

Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire in the UK’s East Midlands is open to the public.

Meanwhile, the UK High Court has extended a ban on anti-fracking campaigners at sites operated by Ineos in Britain, in a ruling that could lead to other energy companies seeking similar injunctions.

Anyone who obstructs the company’s fracking activities in the Midlands and North West of the UK faces being jailed, fined, or having their assets seized.

Mr Justice Morgan dismissed a legal challenge brought by two anti-fracking campaigners, Joe Corré, the son of fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, and Joe Boyd.

Boyd said he will launch an appeal against the ruling, which he called ‘profoundly troubling’ and ‘an unprecedented restriction on our fundamental rights’.

In his ruling Morgan said that he agreed with Ineos’s argument that it faced ‘an imminent and real risk’ that campaignFIRST

on Ineos involve unlawful behaviour on its part, including criminal acts’. He added that the injunction related primarily to trespass and obstructing public roads.

Ineos, which had been granted an interim injunction in July, said that ‘militant activists have a long history of intimidation, threats and dangerous direct action’ against the fracking industry.

Its lawyers presented more than 3000 pages and videos – which they said showed that Ineos is facing a ‘significant degree of hostility’ from campaigners, including threatening comments by protesters on social media. It added that other fracking companies had been subjected to ‘repeated acts of unlawful trespass’.

At a three-day hearing in October, Alan MacLean, Ineos’ QC, said that it did not seek to block lawful protest.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

GG release 35,000 km2 dataset of Norwegian C Northern North Sea CGG has delivered the final time-processed data from its Northern Viking Graben multi-client 3D BroadSeis-BroadSource survey, which offers exploration companies more than 35,000km2 of subsurface images across the Norwegian Northern North Sea. The Northern Viking Graben survey was acquired in 2014-2016 and the new broadband seismic data set provides contiguous and uniform coverage over this highly productive area of the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).

CGG said that the completed dataset offers the industry a ‘powerful tool for further exploration in this mature region, where significant accumulations of hydrocarbons are still being discovered in the established Jurassic plays, and new plays are also emerging, as demonstrated by the Cara discovery last year’.

High-resolution imaging of the shallow stratigraphy and improved imaging below the Base Cretaceous Unconformity deliver more accurate interpretation of

potentially prospective reservoirs at all levels.

Jean-Georges Malcor, CEO, CGG, said: ‘The Northern North Sea is one of the world’s most prolific hydrocarbon provinces and is expected to hold significant remaining resources. CGG’s expansive Northern Viking Graben dataset creates a new baseline for future activity in the region, benefiting players at all E&P stages, from early exploration to development and production.’

BGP carries out seismic survey offshore Nigeria

The BGP Prospector will acquire the data.

A joint venture of BGP and Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL) have started acquiring 3D data offshore Nigeria for

the the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 83 and 85.

IDSL managing director Diepiriye Tariah said that the vessel BGP Prospector would acquire 901 km2 of 3D marine seismic data over a 74-day period.

Bank-Anthony Okoroafor, chairman of Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), said that the project would boost Nigeria’s ability to carry out seismic studies in-house.

‘The project is also expected to align with the Federal Government’s effort to drive down the cost of marine seismic acquisition in the country,’ Okoroafor added.

The licences are jointly owned by the NNPC (60%) and First Exploration and Production (40%).

Mining company turns to seismic data to map geology of zinc mine in Ireland Gallego Technic Geophysics and Rees Onshore Seismic have completed a 40.6 km 2D survey for client Hannan Metals over its County Clare licence area in Ireland, which holds the Kilbricken zinclead-silver deposit.

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November by Gallego Technic Geophysics and Rees Onshore Seismic. A crew of 34 people have been deployed to shoot four lines of seismic data.

The survey will cover the most prospective areas of the 32,223 Ha licence area and is designed to map the geological structures that host and control base metal mineralization.

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Michael Hudson, CEO and chairman of Hannan, said: ‘The application of an innovative technology such as seismic to our exploration programme provides Hannan with the opportunity to greatly accelerate the discovery rate at our County Clare project. Hannan is one of the few hard rock companies to apply seismic surveying to mineral exploration.’

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INDUSTRY NEWS

PGS completes multi-client 3D survey offshore Indonesia PGS Apollo has completed a triple source multi-client 3D survey in North Madura, offshore Indonesia as part of PGS’ support for the MIGAS plan for licensing new areas in the North Madura/East Java Basin and beyond.

The North Madura 3D is the first multi-client 3D survey that has been acquired in Indonesia for more than six years. PGS Apollo towed a triple source configuration and an efficient spread designed to deal with operational constraints in the locality.

The company has applied acquisition-based wavefield deghosting, which allows a raft of tailored imaging solutions using its dual sensor GeoStreamer technology.

GeoStreamer imaging of intra-carbonate reflectors will enable improved

porosity estimations at the Kujung (Mid Miocene) level, where there are still a number of untested leads. The modern broadband data will provide improved illumination under the carbonates to open up the deeper Ngimbang play as well as a potential basement play. The Ngimbang play (re-proven by the recent Sidayu well) is prevalent in the survey area.

‘North Madura has never lacked drillable prospects. However, the key to success is understanding the petroleum system. In the past, this has posed a serious challenge,’ said a PGS statement. ‘Older seismic data has suffered from limited offsets and restricted depth, making it difficult to image newer, deeper plays. The new data is expected to revolutionize the understanding of the

North Madura Platform and its associated grabens.’

The North Madura 3D multi-client data will ready in Q1 2018.

The PGS Apollo towed a triple source configuration.

Spectrum and WesternGeco shoot data offshore Mozambique Spectrum and WesternGeco have started a 2D seismic survey offshore Mozambique on behalf of the Institute of National Petroleum (INP).

This new 2D seismic programme of up to 19,000 km will be undertaken utilizing a 10,000-m long offset with continuous recording to enable extended recording lengths and high fold data. It is being acquired to complement existing

2013 seismic data located in the Mozambique Channel area which is also available through Spectrum. Gravity and magnetic data will be acquired in conjunction with seismic data to allow for independent verification of structure.

Spectrum EVP of the Africa Region, Graham Mayhew said: ‘This new multi-client survey will play a key role in refining our understanding of the hydro-

carbon potential offshore Mozambique between the Southern Rovuma Basin and the North-East of the Zambezi Delta, and accelerate exploration in an area considered to be significantly more oil-prone.

In addition the data will also provide the basis for future licence rounds as planned

by INP.’ The processed data will be ready in Q3 2018.

Reabold invests $2 million in Romania licence after 3D survey Reabold Resources is investing $2 million in the Parta exploration licence in Romania to fund two re-drill wells planned in the second half of 2018.

The programme will test 33 BCF of prospective and contingent resources defined on recently acquired 3D seismic 28

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data, spread over a total of five gas reservoirs.

Additional prospective resources of approx. 300 BCF of gas and 45 MMbbl of oil have been identified on the basis of existing 2D seismic data in the rest of the Parta permit which can now be targeted

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with the recently permitted 3D seismic programme.

Reabold has farmed into Danube Petroleum, which is owned by ADX. ‘The investment gives Reabold a foothold in the region,’ co-chief executive Stephen Williams said.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Jean-Georges Malcor to stand down as CEO of CGG Jean-Georges Malcor has announced that he is standing down as chief executive officer of CGG when the companies financial restructuring is complete in Q1 2018.

‘After eight years as chief executive officer of CGG, Jean-Georges Malcor has decided, in agreement with the board of directors, not to pursue his mandate of chief executive officer once the restructuring process is completed,” said a statement on CGG’s website.

The CGG Board said that it would be launching the search for a new CEO ‘immediately’.

‘Jean-Georges Malcor will complete the financial restructuring process in the first quarter of 2018. He will then step

down as chief executive officer when his successor is appointed. Jean-Georges Malcor will remain in the company until his retirement on 1 October, 2018 in order to support him/her in taking office.’

Malcor added that the companies financial restructuring to avoid insolvency is on course for completion.

‘We achieved progress in our financial restructuring process initiated early in the year, in obtaining approval from the lenders’ committee and bondholder general meeting in France on the safeguard plan on 28 July, and approval from the American Court on the Chapter 11 plan on 16 October.

‘With the favorable decision of the Paris Commercial court approving the

safeguard plan further to the approval of the resolutions necessary to implement the plan by the extraordinary general meeting and the confirmation judgment for the Chapter 11 in the United States, the next procedural step of CGG’s financial restructuring is the hearing scheduled on 21 December, 2017 to consider the motion for the recognition of the ruling approving the safeguard plan within the context of the Chapter 15 proceedings.

‘This proposed plan would result in a $2 billion net debt reduction and would provide the necessary liquidity to support the company’s turnaround, while allowing shareholders to participate to the recovery.’

Eleven companies apply for licences in Norwegian 24th round The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has reported that 11 companies have applied for production licences in the 24th licensing round on the Norwegian shelf by the 30 November deadline.

The companies that have made applications, alone or in groups, are: Shell; AkerBP; Centrica Resources; DEA; Idemitsu Petroleum; KUFPEC; Lundin; OMV; RN Nordic Oil; Statoil; and Wintershall Norge.

A total of 102 blocks or parts of blocks were announced in the licensing round, including nine in the Norwegian Sea and 93 in the Barents Sea. The oil companies nominated many areas in this round, and the authorities have listened and responded with an extensive announcement. ‘We have received applications in both the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea,’ said Torgeir Stordal, exploration director in the NPD. ‘Most applications received are for the Barents Sea, and the companies are particularly interested in the announced acreage in the northwestern part of the region.

‘In this round, the announced blocks are mostly in frontier areas. We see that the list of applicants is dominated by large and medium-sized companies with good technical and financial capacity to conduct exploration in such areas.’

Twenty-six companies applied for production licences in the 23rd licensing round. No new acreage was opened in the 24th licensing round, as was the case prior to the 23rd round. At the same time, the predefined areas (APA) were expanded earlier this year, and there was substantial

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interest in APA 2017, with 39 companies delivering a record-breaking number of applications, said the NPD. ‘The applicant landscape could indicate that some parties are prioritising exploration in mature areas this time around,’ it said in a statement.

The announced blocks have been mapped by the NPD to ensure a good evaluation process. The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy aims to award the new production licences before the summer of 2018.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Port of Rotterdam carries out microseismic survey for geothermal project

Trial borings near the port are expected to take place in 2019.

The port of Rotterdam is commissioning a microseismic study on exploiting geothermal energy for some of its power needs.

The study in Rotterdam’s western port area, being carried out by the Port

Authority and NAM, will identify locations for trial borings that are expected to take place in early 2019.

The technical survey is analysing the available seismic data relating to the Dinantian rock strata, some 4 to 8 km

below the surface of the Netherlands, which are thought to offer good prospects for the extraction of geothermal energy.

Preliminary research has indicated that the most promising sites in the port area for undertaking such a project are the Maasvlakte and the western section of Europoort, where in both cases the Dinantian system is situated some 5 km below the surface.

The study into the utilization of geothermal energy in the western port area is part of the Green Deal Ultra Deep Geothermal Energy, signed in June, 2017. As part of the agreement, seven private consortia and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs agreed to explore opportunities to utilize geothermal energy at locations throughout the Netherlands. The signatories to the Green Deal have agreed to share knowledge and experience.

Over 15 systems in the Netherlands presently make use of geothermal energy.

Magseis wins extension to OBS survey in the Red Sea Magseis and BGP have won an extension to their contract with BGP and Saudi Aramco to acquire additional ocean bottom seismic data in the Red Sea. The new survey has an expected duration of more than seven months and will commence in January 2018. The survey features complicated surface and geological conditions with a combination of deep and shallow marine work. The combination of Magseis’ OBS technology (MASS) and BGP’s transition zone expertise ensured the extension to the consortium. Artemis Athene, Magseis’ OBS vessel, will be used for the survey.

Meanwhile, Magseis has won a twoweek contract from an undisclosed client for 4D seabed seismic acquisition survey in the North Sea using the company’s

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proprietary MASS system. The two-week survey is expected to start in the 2018 North Sea summer season.

Finally, Magseis CEO Idar Horstad has announced his resignation for personal reasons and Per Christian Grytnes

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will take over as acting CEO. Grytnes started his career as a researcher at Rogaland Research and then joined Saga Petroleum. He later worked in market intelligence first at ODS-Petrodata and then at IHS Energy.

C A LL FO R A B S TR AC T S

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Physical Modelling Reservoir Modelling Computational Methods Workflows and Computing

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INDUSTRY NEWS

UK announces tax measure to boost investment in oil and gas fields The UK has announced a tax measure that it hopes will unlock further investment in the UK North Sea by enabling vendors to pass on the tax history of an asset to buyers and potentially enable them to benefit from tax relief that a vendor has built up.

Deirdre Michie, chief executive of Oil & Gas UK, said: ‘We very much welcome the Chancellor’s action to enable the implementation of transferable tax history. This is a vital step that can bring in new investment to increase recovery from existing fields and fund fresh investment which is key to generating activity

for our hard-pressed supply chain. It will also help extend the lives of many mature fields and postpone decommissioning.

‘While there have been a number of deal announcements in the basin over the last year, these have mostly been for less mature assets, have been extremely complicated and taken a very long time to negotiate. This tax measure should help complete deals more quickly and in a more efficient way.’

Currently existing owners of oil and gas fields are unable to pass their tax history on to a buyer. This means the buyer perceives

the field to be less attractive commercially, partly because they are unlikely to be able to access the same level of tax relief than the current owner when decommissioning.

Enabling the transfer of tax history allows the purchaser to value the asset on a similar basis to the vendor and removes a significant barrier to asset trading.

The UK has also announced a technical consultation on petroleum revenue tax deductions for decommissioning and is providing clarification on how tariff income is treated within the ring-fenced corporation tax regime.

UK attracts nearly 100 bids in 30 th licensing round The UK’s latest offshore licensing round has attracted 96 applications covering 239 blocks in the main oil and gas pro-

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ducing areas of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). Applications were received from 68 companies including new country entrants.

The 30th Licensing Round, which closed on 21 November, offered significant opportunities to acquire acreage in the UKCS’s main basins, including the Southern, Central and Northern North Sea, the West of Shetland and East Irish Sea, with an aggregate area totalling 114,426 km2.

The UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) openly provided several digital data packages, and co-hosted a technology event with the Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC). Applicants applied used the new Innovate Licence, developed by the OGA in collaboration with industry. The OGA intends to offer awards to successful applicants during Q2 2018.

Nick Richardson, Head of Exploration and New Ventures at the OGA, said: ‘Despite the difficult economic environment, industry has responded strongly to this round, confirming the high remaining potential of the UKCS. The focus on regions with existing infrastructure provided companies with an excellent opportunity to take a fresh look at a large inventory of opportunities from which

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to rebuild their portfolios to help sustain future production.

‘Efforts by the OGA to provide new data, analysis and insights has stimulated a number of high quality applications.

Together with the added advantages of flexible licensing, technology development and improvements to the oil and gas fiscal regime, this has evidently created the right conditions to support continued investment in the UKCS.’ Attention will now turn to the 31st Round, scheduled to be launched in mid2018, which will provide high-impact exploration opportunities in under-explored areas of the UKCS. To support the next licensing round, the OGA has made available almost 19,000 km of newly acquired, broadband seismic data, together with approx. 23,000 km of reprocessed legacy seismic data and well data packages.

The data covers the East Shetland Platform, North West Scotland, South West Approaches, East Irish Sea, Celtic Sea, Cardigan Bay, Morecambe Bay, Bristol Channel and English Channel.

The data will be accompanied by new geotechnical studies commissioned by the OGA to investigate the key subsurface uncertainties in these areas and support further activity.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Norwest carries out 3D survey offshore Western Australia Norwest Energy will carry out a 3D seismic acquisition programme over the Xanadu structure, offshore Western Australia.

The Xanadu prospect will be mapped.

After a successful drilling programme at Xanadu-1, the joint venture has agreed to start on the 3D programme over its TP/15 permit that currently has limited 2D seismic coverage.

By acquiring 3D seismic data, the Xanadu structure will be mapped in much greater detail. While the primary purpose of the seismic data will be to map the northern updip region, it will also be used to map the southern downdip structure, where significant volumes of oil are believed to be located. The joint venture is considering extending the acquisition envelope to encompass the western flank of the Xanadu structure, where further accumulations of oil are possible.

A reservoir engineering study will be carried out in Q1 2018, and the results will be integrated with the Xanadu-1 well data and 3D seismic data. This will form the basis for well completion concepts, future well locations, productivity estimates, a conceptual development plan, and oil-in-place/recoverable volume calculations that can subsequently be provided to the market.

Strategen Environmental has been engaged to commence the regulatory approvals process on behalf of the TP/15 joint venture, and a community consultation plan is under development.

Norwest is currently reviewing proposals from seismic acquisition vendors and the acquisition was due to take place in late Q1 2018.

The Xanadu-1 well has confirmed intersected hydrocarbon-bearing intervals as demonstrated by elevated gas readings, oil shows, fluorescence and cut-fluorescence while drilling.

Oil and fluid testing from Xanadu-1 samples confirmed similarity with the oil produced at the Cliff Head oil field located approx. 14km to the north-west of Xanadu, and can now be definitively used as an analogue in developing future exploration, appraisal, production and development scenarios at Xanadu.

Norwest managing director Shelley Robertson said that the results of surveys so far were ‘very promising’.

Norwest is the operator of the permit in joint venture with Triangle Energy, Whitebark Energy and the 3C Group.

Seismic reprocessing shows higher prospectivity offshore northwest Australia Melbana Energy has reported encouraging results from a recent 3D seismic broadband reprocessing of data on its permits offshore Northwest Australia.

The reprocessing has identified the potential for additional prospectivity in the permits AC/P50 and AC/P51, including an amplitude-supported objective immediately above the existing Ramble On prospect. In the right conditions, an amplitude anomaly can be a direct indicator of hydrocarbons.

The 3D seismic broadband reprocessing was undertaken by incoming joint venture partner Rouge Rock at its own cost as part of the agreement by which it earned a 45% participating interest

in the permits. The reprocessing work undertaken by Rouge Rock cost approx. $1.15 million.

Melbana is currently undertaking a detailed evaluation of the reprocessed data and the resulting suite of enhanced technical products which are intended to characterize any new prospects and leads as well as further de-risk the identified prospects and leads, facilitating a potential further farm-out of the permits to fund future discretionary exploration drilling.

The 2017 reprocessing highlights the improved seismic data quality in general and specifically the presence of an amplitude anomaly, previously not identified, in a prospective sequence directly overlying FIRST

the deeper Ramble On prospect. Further detailed analysis will now be undertaken to quantify this newly identified zone of interest.

Melbana Energy’s CEO and MD Peter Stickland said: ‘The recent substantial seismic reprocessing study has significantly improved the seismic imaging in an area with historically poor data quality.

We are already seeing some additional prospectivity in this proven oil area that was not visible on the old data. Melbana’s technical team will now proceed to integrate the reprocessed seismic with existing datasets in the area with a view to further defining this potential new play type.’

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Companies from Greece and India submit bids in Israel offshore licensing round

Israel, where 24 blocks are offered.

Spectrum and BGP start 2D survey offshore Argentina Spectrum and BGP have started a large multi-client 2D seismic survey covering the Austral and Malvinas basins offshore southern Argentina after receiving authorization from the country’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals.

Data is being acquired with a 12,000-m streamer with continuous recording to enable extended recording lengths and high fold data to enable full interpretation from Moho to water bottom. The data will be processed with Pre-Stack Time Migration, Pre-Stack Depth Migration, Full Waveform Inversion and broadband products with first deliveries in early Q2 2017.

The new data will be utilized to assist the ministry in placement and design of parcels for the future licensing

Israel’s Ministry of Energy has received bids from India and Greece in its first ever offshore oil and gas exploration licensing round in its exclusive economic zone.

Energean from Greece and a consortium of Indian companies including ONGC Videsh, Bharat PetroResources, Indian Oil Corporation and Oil India, have submitted bids.

This first bid round includes 24 blocks each of a maximum size of 400 km2.

Companies are required to prove financial capability of a minimum $400 million total assets and $100 million in equity, and the operator is required to present proof of at least half those amounts. Also, the operator is required to prove professional capabilities in oil and gas offshore exploration and production.

Licences will be awarded for three years and can be extended by three additional years as long as the licence-holders have implemented the work plan and commit to carrying out more drilling. In order to ensure the implementation of the work programme, the licence-holders will make a deposit of $2.5 million to $10 million.

The Ministry of Energy will launch another licensing round in 2018 incorporating conclusions that will be drawn from the current round, and thus continue the effort to develop these strategic assets in Israel’s exclusive economic zone.

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rounds offshore Argentina. The expected survey size is around 14,500 km but Spectrum said it may vary based on input from participating clients.

Richie Miller, EVP multi-client Americas, said: ‘The strong support and interest Spectrum generated for the ongoing Argentine deepwater programme allowed us to continue to build on our Argentine multi-year programme with the addition of the Austral Malvinas programme. The industry appreciates the need for new, modern, long-offset broadband data to help it evaluate the full potential of the area prior to the expected licensing round in H2 2018.

Spectrum expects to collect, process and deliver more than 50,000 km of data to industry in time for these rounds.’

FairfieldNodal makes progress with land survey in New Mexico FairfieldNodal has completed the first phase of the Red Tank multi-client survey project in New Mexico, US, and 985 km2 of fast-track data is now available.

The company was due to make the final PSTM data available in mid-December and a PSDM product is expected in early Q1 2018.

The Red Tank project, which began earlier this year, is in the heart of the New Mexico portion of the Delaware Basin. This high-resolution 3D survey adds to the company’s regional contiguous database of 7770 km2.

The acquisition target for this survey is the Bone Spring through Wolfcamp formations, which FairfieldNodal said would provide operators with crucial information they

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need to make the right decisions in these highly productive zones.

Meanwhile, FairfieldNodal has announced that it will begin a large Z700 4D acquisition project in the North Sea in June 2018. This acquisition project is expected to take less than two months to complete.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Polarcus’ 3D survey offshore Australia gets boost Polarcus has reported ‘significant industry prefunding’ after it was granted an environmental permit for a broadband 3D marine seismic project in Australia.

This extension of Polarcus’ Cygnus multi-client 3D survey represents the next step towards unlocking the complex geology of the Vulcan Sub-basin through the application of Polarcus’ XArray acquisition methodology.

The project is due to start in Q4 2017 and will run for approx. four weeks. As a result of this timing, the previously announced Australian projects will commence in 2018 extending the Polarcus Australian campaign into Q2 2018.

Meanwhile, Polarcus was scheduled to start the six-week Zenaide multi-client broadband 3D marine seismic project in the Bonaparte Basin, offshore Australia by the end of the year.

ION offers 30,000 km data package offshore Argentina ION Geophysical has processed 30,000 km of 2D multi-client data package over the Austral and Malvinas basins offshore Argentina.

The company has reinterpreted its 11,500 km ArgentineSPAN dataset along with an additional 20,000 km of vintage data to provide a regional overview of relatively unexplored regions in advance of the 2018 licensing round.

ION’s interpretation report will detail the exploration history, the geologic framework and an inventory of potential leads in advance of the anticipated licensing round in 2018.

Joe Gagliardi, SVP of ION’s Ventures group, said, ‘Acquiring access to this unique dataset has provided the opportunity for ION to get information into the hands of our clients at an early stage, which can be used for both acreage evaluation and assessment if other data is necessary for operators to build and execute a rapid evaluation strategy for the region in advance of the licensing round.’

INDUSTRY NEWS

Brazil confirms 15th round will be held in March 2018

The Campos and Bacia basin were blocks will be offered in June, 2018.

Brazil will hold its 15th licensing round on 29 March, 2018 and the 4th round of bids for production sharing on 7 June, 2018.

In the 4th Round of Production Sharing, the Três Marias, Dois Irmãos, Uirapuru, Saturno and Itaimbezinho blocks will be offered, located in the Campos and Santos basins, within the Pre-salt Polygon.

According to the legislation, Petrobras will need to express its interest in acting as operator within 30 days of publication of the Brazil’s National Energy Policy Council (CNPE) resolution containing the technical and economic parameters of the areas to be offered in the 4th round of production sharing.

Seventy blocks will be offered in the 15th round, 49 in the maritime basins of Ceará, Potiguar, Sergipe-Alagoas, Campos and Santos, including two blocks adjacent to Saturn. In addition, 21 are being offered in the land basins of Paraná and Parnaíba.

The supply of blocks located in the Foz do Amazonas Basin was postponed to 2019, in order to allow the completion of the environmental licensing process for the blocks awarded in the 11th Round.

The blocks in the Pernambuco-Paraíba Basin will be offered in 2019 when more technical data will be available.

For ground blocks the minimum percentage of mandatory local content has been set at 50% for the exploration phase and 50% for the development stage. For offshore blocks, the minimum percentage of local content will be 18% for the exploration phase.

Meanwhile, Brazilian government sources have said that it expects to raise around $916.98 million in signing bonuses in the fourth pre-salt auction, scheduled for June 2018. Brazil’s government raised $1.88 billion in signing bonuses for the six blocks it awarded in October for the second and third pre-salt auctions.

Velseis completes 2D CBM survey in Botswana Velseis has completed a 2D seismic programme for client Tlou Energy at its Lesedi and Mamba Coalbed Methane (CBM) projects in Botswana.

The seismic survey covered 250 km of the Lesedi and Mamba projects including part of the Mining Licence area.

The Australian seismic acquisition and processing company completed the survey in late November. Tlou said that early signs from data processing showed that the new seismic data is of ‘excellent quality and will serve to provide a more accurate picture of the subsurface target coal horizon’.

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SRK Consulting (Australasia), Tlou’s geological consultants and independent reserve certifiers, was due to carry out the seismic interpretation after Velseis had completed the processing. This will include integration of the new seismic data with existing well and aeromagnetic data sets. A report on the data is anticipated in early Q1 2018.

Tony Gilby, Tlou’s managing director, said: ‘This new seismic data appears to be excellent quality and has the potential to guide us towards the delineation of further gas reserves and contingent resources and enable us to determine the optimum

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location for the first phase development wells planned for 2018.’

Meanwhile, three new core-holes have been completed using two drilling rigs and a number of coal samples have been taken from the target coal seam and sent for gas analysis.

The core-holes are designed to provide additional data along with the seismic survey to assist with enhancing the company’s gas reserve and contingent resource certification. The core-hole information will also be used to plan the first phase of development drilling planned for 2018.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Brazil puts hundreds of blocks up for permanent sale Brazil is opening up 846 oil and gas blocks to permanent offers for exploration.

The fields include those offered in previous rounds and also blocks returned to the agency. Blocks were selected from 13 Brazilian sedimentary basins, totalling 285,399.65 km2.

The selected areas include blocks in the terrestrial mature basins of the Recôncavo, Potiguar, Sergipe-Alagoas and Espírito Santo. Blocks will also be offered in the basins of the new frontier

BRIEFS Sercel has entered into a partnership with Fotech Solutions to develop borehole seismic data and distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) monitoring technology.

Fotech Solutions will contribute DAS measurement solutions that enable 4D borehole seismic surveys to be conducted during production as well as fibre-optic technology that allows for true-phase measurement over the length of the optical fibre, thereby providing full coverage.

Sercel will contribute downhole seismic tools and software for subsurface seismic operations as well as tools for source management, real-time and remote data quality control.

of Acre, Amazonas, Paraná, Parnaíba, São Francisco and Tucano, and in the sea basins of Pará-Maranhão, Sergipe-Alagoas, Campos and Santos.

Fifteen mature areas in the terrestrial basins of Espírito Santo, Potiguar and Recôncavo will also be offered.

Bidding will formally start by the end of April 2018, by which time Brazil’s oil and gas agency ANP will have disclosed the rules for participation and the technical and economic parameters.

Environmental campaigners have brought a case in the Norwegian courts claiming that Norway’s plan for Arctic oil exploration is unconstitutional because it violates the right to a healthy environment. Lawyers representing Greenpeace and the Nature and Youth environmental group are arguing that a 2015 oil licensing round in the Arctic violates the constitution.

A partnership of Ecopetrol and Repsol has been awarded four blocks in Lease Sale 249 in the US the Gulf of Mexico. Blocks Garden Banks 77, 78, 121 and 122 are include prospects such as the ‘Blacktail’, close to production platforms, which would allow, in case of a discovery, early production.

The award grants the right to the two companies to explore the blocks for five years at an approximate water depth of 240 m.

An oil platform in waters off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Energistics appoints three new directors The upstream oil and gas industry’s data standards body the Energistics Consortium has announced the appointment of three new directors to its board.

Bettina Bachmann is vice-president for subsurface and wells software for Shell and has been recruited for her knowledge of current software integration and technical data management challenges.

Gavin Rennick, president of software integrated solutions for Schlumberger, has been appointed for his experience in leading the largest software and associated services organization in the industry.

Tommy Inglesby is managing director of upstream and oil field and equipment services for Accenture.

Ross Philo, president and CEO of Energistics, said: “Their close involvement in the digital transformation of their companies brings valuable insights and crucial perspectives to the task of providing strategic guidance to the consortium.’

The consortium was established more than 25 years ago to develop and deploy open data exchange standards and to address oil and gas information sharing challenges. Its members consist of integrated, independent and national oil companies, oilfield service companies, hardware and software vendors, system integrators, regulatory agencies and the global standards user community.

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Iraq will invite companies to bid for nine new oil and gas blocks bordering Iran and Kuwait. The oil ministry said the oil blocks are located in the south and east of the country and include one offshore block.

Chevron has announced a 2018 capital spending programme of $18.3 billion, down for the fourth consecutive year.

Chairman and CEO John Watson said, ‘We’re fully funding our advantaged Permian Basin position.’

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EPC’2018 THE 14TH TUNISIAN PETROLEUM EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION CONFERENCE APRIL 23rd- 25th, 2018 GAMMARTH-TUNIS, TUNISIA EFFECTIVE UPSTREAM: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

A North African and Mediterranean Oil and Gas event attracting NOCs/IOCs, Experts and Academics since 1988.

2018 Conference includes: - 3 Opening Keynotes - 4 Workshops - 14 Topics - 2 Field Trips - An Exhibition Area - A social Program Abstracts Submission Deadline: January 25th, 2018 Register Now! http://www.etap.com.tn/EPC2018

With the support of:

www.etap.com.tn

Avenue Mohamed V 1073 Tunis - TUNISIA Tel : (+216) 70 838 051 / 70 838 440 / 71 285 300 / Fax : (+216) 71 285 280

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NOMINATE A NEW EAGE

BOARD MEMBER! F I V E P O S I T I O N S AVA I L A B L E Go to www.eage.org and nominate a candidate!

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Special Topic

LAND SEISMIC Land seismic systems continue to develop to facilitate upwards of 200,000 channels as well as cableless systems to ensure that efficient acquisition can take place in all terrains and with very little down time. New developments are also making systems more hard wearing so that they can operate at higher temperatures. Bigger kit is facilitating larger surveys with longer sweeps in the Middle East and in the US. This month’s papers also speculate on the future of land seismic acquisition and what needs to happen for innovation, greater efficiency, lighter weight and lower cost land seismic equipment despite one of the industry’s most painful and prolonged recessions.

Tim Dean et al discuss new systems and make some suggestions about where future developments should lie.

Nicolas Tellier et al discuss how land recorders have evolved and the impact of quality control.

Jaime Checa et al describe quality checking for a node system used to acquire two 3D surveys in Colombia in 2016 and 2017.

Doug Crice assesses the prospects for improvement for the land seismic equipment industry after several difficult years in which manufacturers have suffered big losses.

Nastasia Poole et al demonstrate a step change in the applicability of seismic measurements to a multi-purpose dataset suitable for both structural interpretation and advanced reservoir characterization.

Zhouhong Wei et al present a newly designed low-frequency vibrator with the potential improvements in imaging quality and production rates.

Bob Heath considers the changes that are necessary to revitalize the industry.

Submit an article

Special Topic overview January

Land Seismic

First Break Special Topics are covered by a mix of original articles dealing with case studies and the latest technology. Contributions to a Special Topic in First Break can be sent directly to the editorial office (firstbreak@eage.org). Submissions will be considered for publication by the editor.

February

Reservoir Monitoring

March

Petroleum Geology

April

Passive Seismic

May

Modelling/Interpretation

June

Energy, Technology, Sustainability - Time to open a new chapter

It is also possible to submit a Technical Article to First Break. Technical Articles are subject to a peer review process and should be submitted ia EAGE’s ScholarOne website: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fb

July

Unconventionals & Carbon Capture and Storage

August

Near Surface Geoscience

September

EM & Potential Methods

October

Reservoir Geoscience and Engineering

November

Marine Seismic

December

Data Processing

You can find the First Break author guidelines online at www.firstbreak.org/guidelines.

More Special Topics may be added during the course of the year.

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Technical Contents Technical Article An experimental aeromagnetic survey using a rubidium vapor magnetometer attached to the rotary-wings unmanned aerial vehicle Boris Sterligov, Sergey Cherkasov, Dmitry Kapshtan and Victoria Kurmaeva

Special Topic: Land Seismic Nodal land seismic acquisition: The next generation Tim Dean, John Tulett and Richard Barnwell Confidence in data recorded with land seismic recorders Nicolas Tellier and Steve Wilcox In-field QC of a land node seismic system Jaime Checa, Mauricio Sรกnchez, Juan Fonseca, Guillermo Quintero, Walter Mora, Marcela Pineda, and Jack Caldwell The state of land seismic Doug Crice Surface seismic for structural imaging and reservoir characterization Anastasia Poole and Phillip Bilsby The low-frequency seismic vibrator: design and experimental verification Zhouhong Wei, Jason Criss, Andy Bull, Fuhe Liang and Yongsheng Wu The future of land exploration: brute force and ignorance, or adherence to the science?

Bob Heath

INTERESTED IN OUR TECHNICAL CONTENT? Our Technical Articles and Special Topics are available to all EAGE Members.

C l i ck

Read more on how to become a member at www.eage.org/membership

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CALENDAR

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 21-23 February 2018

First EAGE/PESGB Workshop on Velocities www.eage.org • London, UK

January 2018 SPE/EAGE Tar Mats & Heavy Oil Workshop: Fluid Characterization and Development/ Operational Challenges

30-31 Jan

Dubai

UAE

Muscat

Oman

Lagos

Nigeria

Cairo

Egypt

Leoben

Austria

Sydney

Australia

Abu Dhabi

UAE

London

UK

Offenburg

Germany

Manama

Bahrain

Nashville

USA

Kraków

Poland

www.eage.org

February 2018 5-7 Feb

Third EAGE Workshop on Naturally Fractured Reservoirs

6-8 Feb

West African International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference

12-14 Feb

Egypt Petroleum Show 2018

12-15 feb

DGG Spring Meeting 2018

19-21 Feb

First Australian Exploration Geoscience Conference

20-21 Feb

SPE/EAGE Workshop: Reservoir Life Cycle Management - How to Maximize Value

21-23 Feb

First EAGE/PESGB Workshop on Velocities

www.eage.org

http://waipec.com

www.egyps.com

http://dgg2018.dgg-tagung.de

www.aegc2018.com.au

www.eage.org

www.eage.org

March 2018 1-2 Mar

GeoTHERM 2018

5-8 Mar

GEO 2018 - 13th Middle East Geosciences Conference and Exhibition

25-29 Mar

Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems (SAGEEP) 2018

www.geotherm-germany.com/en

geo2018.com/

www.eegs.org/sageep-2018

Seventh EAGE Workshop on Passive Seismic 2018

26-29 Mar

www.eage.org

EAGE Events

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CALENDAR

April 2018 8-13 Apr

EGU General Assembly 2018

9-12 Apr

EAGE Saint Petersburg 2018

11-12 Apr

EAGE-HAGI 1st Asia Pacific Meeting on Near Surface Geoscience & Engineering

16-19 Apr

Second EAGE/AAPG Hydrocarbon Seals of the Middle East Workshop

18-19 Apr

DGMK Spring 2018

23-27 Apr

Engineering and Mining Geophysics 2018

23-25 Apr

14TH TUNISIAN EXPLORATION & PRODUCTIONS CONFERENCE

25-26 Apr

EAGE SECOND SPE/EAGE WORKSHOP ON INTEGRATED GEOMECHANICS IN E&P

www.egu2018.eu www.eage.org www.eage.org www.eage.org www.dgmk.de www.eage.org www.etap.com.tn www.eage.org

Vienna

Austria

Saint Petersburg

Russia

Yogyakarta

Indonesia

Abu Dhabi

UAE

Celle

Germany

Almaty

Kazakhstan

Tunis

Tunisia

Abu Dhabi

UAE

Cancun

Mexico

Kiev

Ukraine

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

May 2018 14-15 May

First EAGE Workshop in Deepwater Exploration

14-16 May

EAGE GEOINFORMATICS 2018

14-16 May

EAGE/SEG Workshop on Marine Multi-Component Seismic

23-25 May

Unconventionals in China – The Next 10 Years www.eage.org

Cheng Du

China

11-14 Jun

80th EAGE Conference & Exhibition

Copenhagen

Denmark

17-20 Jun

7th International AEM Conference and Exhibition

Kolding

Denmark

Irkutsk

Russia

Barcelona

Spain

Barcelona

Spain

Gelendzhik

Russia

Porto

Portugal

Palermo

Italy

Barcelona

Spain

www.eage.org www.eage.org www.eage.org

June 2018 www.eage.org www.conferencemanager.dk/AEM2018

August 2018 11-17 Aug

GeoBaikal 2018 www.eage.org

September 2018 3-6 Sept

2018 EAGE ECMOR XVI

7 Sept

EAGE/ TNO EAGE/TNO Workshop on Olymous Field Development Optimization

10-14 Sept

2018 EAGE Geomodel 2018

12-15 Sept

2018 EAGE 24nd European Meeting of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics, Near Surface Geoscience

www.eage.org www.eage.org www.eage.org

www.eage.org

16-20 sept

2018 EAGE Fifth International Conference on Fault and Top Seals

17-20 Sept

DMG Gas Tech

EAGE Events

www.eage.org www.gastechevent.com

Non-EAGE Events

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First EAGE/PESGB Workshop on Velocities 22-23 February 2018 – London, United Kingdom

PES

Despite considerable improvements in seismic data quality and imaging algorithms, velocities and earth models remain the key challenge for depth prediction. Therefore EAGE and PESGB have joined forces to establish a series of workshops to address this and other issues involved in velocities. In this first workshop we focus on all aspects of reducing uncertainties, with a special focus on the following topics: • • • • • • • • • •

www.eage.org

Case Histories Regional Challenges and Solutions in Velocity Modelling Seismic Aquisition for Velocity Estimation Full Waveform Inversion Anisotropy Estimation The Use and Integration of Borehole and Non-seismic Measurements Velocities for Geohazard Identification and Pore Pressure Prediction Velocities as an Interpretation Product Understanding Uncertainty in Velocity Models Other

Register Now!

Ea Regi rly s t ra dead tion 15 J a l i n e : nua 2 018 r y

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Second EAGE Workshop on Geochemistry in Petroleum Operations and Production Rock-fluid Interactions in Oil and Gas Fields 1-4 October 2018 – Muscat, Oman The Technical Committee invites you to submit an abstracts of 2–4 pages, including optional figures, on the following topics: • Rock-fluid interactions leading to oil degradation, H2 S and CO2 formation • Rock-fluid interactions controlling porosity/permeability development and changes in wettability • Rock-fluid interactions during enhanced recovery procedures (e.g. scaling, sea and low salinity water injection) • Geofluids as new indicators for source, thermal maturity, fluid migration, mixing, compartmentalization and proximity to pay zone Deadline: 1 April 2018

www.eage.org

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Call for Abstracts is Open!

15/11/17 12:36

TGS provides industry-leading seismic, interpretation products and services and geological data using an innovative mix of technologies and unmatched imaging capabilities. Through strategic partnerships, we provide a comprehensive collection of advanced marine acquisition technologies for enhanced reservoir delineation and characterization. TGS delivers the E&P industry unlimited potential with our collection of advanced offshore data including Declaration M-WAZ 3D survey, Fusion M-WAZ 3D, Otos Multibeam and Seep and Gigante 2D Multibeam and Seep programs.

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