First Break April 2019

VO L U M E 3 7 I I S S U E 4 I A P R I L 2 019

SPECIAL TOPIC

Passive Seismic & Unconventionals TECHNICAL ARTICLES ATTRIBUTE ANALYSIS IMPROVEMENT

UNRAVELLING AN ANOMALOUS SEISMIC RESPONSE

INDUSTRY NEWS BP PREDICTS BIG RISE IN RENEWABLE ENERGY

- 3.0 s

- 3.5 s

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Vintage 2010 PSTM

Vintage 2015 PSDM DAZ

CORNERSTONE EVOLUTION

2018 initial raw LS-Q DAZ

Enhanced imaging increases resolution CGG Geoscience is currently reprocessing the 35,000+ km² Cornerstone multi-client survey in the Central North Sea using the latest cutting-edge imaging technology. The program merges a number of conventional long-offset and BroadSeis™ surveys, acquired at two different azimuths, to create a single contiguous volume with a dual-azimuth area.

Early-out products will be available in Q3 2019.

Our Subsurface Imaging experts are tailoring the processing to address the geological complexities, with model building benefitting from advanced Q-Tomo, Q-FWI and Q-RTM. Final PSDM data sets will include least-squares Q-Kirchhoff and wave-equation migrations.

cgg.com/cornerstone

FIRST BREAK® An EAGE Publication

CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD Peter Rowbotham (Peter.Rowbotham@apachecorp.com) EDITOR Damian Arnold (editorfb@eage.org) MEMBERS, EDITORIAL BOARD • Paul Binns, consultant (pebinns@btinternet.com) • Patrick Corbett, Heriot-Watt University (patrick_corbett@pet.hw.ac.uk) • Tom Davis, Colorado School of Mines (tdavis@mines.edu) • Anthony Day, PGS (anthony.day@pgs.com) • Peter Dromgoole, Statoil UK (pdrum@statoil.com) • Rutger Gras, Oranje-Nassau Energy (gras@onebv.com) • Hamidreza Hamdi, University of Calgary (hhamdi@ucalgary.ca) • Ed Kragh, Schlumberger Cambridge Research (edkragh@slb.com) • John Reynolds, Reynolds International (jmr@reynolds-international.co.uk) • James Rickett, Schlumberger (jrickett@slb.com) • Dave Stewart, Dave Stewart Geoconsulting Ltd (djstewart.dave@gmail.com) • Femke Vossepoel, Delft University of Technology (f.c.vossepoel@tudelft.nl) MEDIA PRODUCTION MANAGER Thomas Beentje (tbe@eage.org) ACCOUNT MANAGER ADVERTISING Amy Townsend (atd@eage.org) ACCOUNT MANAGER SUBSCRIPTIONS Jack McClean (jmn@eage.org) PRODUCTION Saskia Nota (layout@eage.org) Ivana Geurts (layout@eage.org)

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Hydraulic fracture monitoring and optimization in unconventional completions

Editorial Contents 3

EAGE News

12

Crosstalk

15

Industry News

Technical Articles

27

Attribute analysis improvement by means of smart averaging D. Krilov

35 Unravelling an anomalous seismic response using seismic modelling: a case study from Cauvery Basin, offshore East Coast India

Minakshi Mishra and Kumar Hemant Singh

EAGE EUROPE OFFICE PO Box 59 3990 DB Houten The Netherlands • +31 88 995 5055 • eage@eage.org • www.eage.org

EAGE RUSSIA & CIS OFFICE EAGE Russia & CIS Office EAGE Geomodel LLC 19 Leninsky Prospekt 119071, Moscow, Russia • +7 495 640 2008 • moscow@eage.org • www.eage.ru

49 Preventing frac hits and well interferences with fast marching simulation using embedded discrete fracture models constrained by poroelastic geomechanical modelling of enhanced permeability

A. Ouenes, A. Bachir, R. Smaoui, C. Hammerquist and M. Paryani

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

Special Topic: Passive Seismic & Unconventionals

43 Regional appraisal of shale resource potential within the Permian, Anadarko and Arkoma basins: how does the Alpine High stack up?

Alex Bromhead and Thomas Butt

55 The use of the instantaneous phase attribute for monitoring hydraulic fracturing stimulation in the Niobrara Formation, Wattenberg Field, Colorado

Stephen Paskvich and Thomas Davis 63 Hydraulic fracture monitoring and optimization in unconventional completions using a high-resolution engineered fibre-optic Distributed Acoustic Sensor

P. Richter, T. Parker, C. Woerpel, Y. Wu, R. Rufino and M. Farhadiroushan

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

69 Croatian Pannonian Basin licence round hydrocarbon potential assessment

Karyna Rodriguez, Neil Hodgson and Howard Nicholls

EAGE LATIN AMERICA OFFICE Carrera 14 No 97-63 Piso 5 Bogotá, Colombia • +57 1 4232948 • americas@eage.org • www.eage.org

83 Characteristics of surface wave Green’s function for anisotropic ambient seismic noise field – a case study in Limburg, The Netherlands Soumen Koley, Henk Jan Bulten, Jo van den Brand, Maria Bader, Frank Linde and Mark Beker

EAGE MEMBERS CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTIFICATION Send to: EAGE Membership Dept at EAGE Office (address above)

91 Feature

FIRST BREAK ON THE WEB www.firstbreak.org ISSN 0263-5046 (print) / ISSN 1365-2397 (online)

75 Unconventional petroleum potential in the Mowry Shale, Southern Powder River Basin, Wyoming

Stephen A. Sonnenberg

94 Calendar cover: An aerial view of the Rocky Mountains with an interplay of light and cloud causing the red band. This month Stephen Sonneberg demonstrates the unconventional potential of the Mowry Shale near the Rockies (photo courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey).

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European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers

Board 2018-2019 Jean-Jacques Biteau President

Near Surface Geoscience Division George Apostolopoulos Chair Alireza Malehmir Vice-Chair Micki Allen Contact Officer EEGS-NA Riyadh Al-Saad O&G Liaison Xavier Garcia Committee Member Peter Bergmann Technical Programme Representative Esther Bloem Technical Programme Representative Albert Casas Membership Officer Ranajit Ghose Editor in Chief Near Surface Geophysics Musa Manzi Committee Member Andreas Kathage Liaison Officer First Break Koya Suto Liaison Asia Pacific Musa Manzi Committee Member Jiangha Xia Liaison China

Oil & Gas Geoscience Division

Peter Lloyd Vice-President-Elect

Michael Pöppelreiter Vi c e-President

Colin MacBeth Education Officer

Caroline Jane Lowrey Chair Caroline Lowrey Chair Michael Peter Suess Vice-Chair John Brittan Past chair Rick Donselaar TP Representative (Geology) Xavier Garcia NSGD Liaison Julianne Heiland TP Representative (Geomechanics) Francesco Perrone YP Liaison Ann Muggeridge IOR Committee Liasion Aart Jan Wingaarden Technical Programme Officer Martin Widmaier TP Representative (Geophysics) Michael Zhdanov NSGD Liaison Philip Ringrose Editor-in-chief (Petroleum Geoscience) Tijmen-Jan Moser Editor-in-chief (Geophysical Prospecting) Conor Ryan Resource Evaluation Committee liaison Sebastian Geiger Resource Evaluation Committee liaison

SUBSCRIPTIONS First Break is published monthly. It is free to EAGE members. The membership fee of EAGE is € 50.00 a year (including First Break, EarthDoc (EAGE’s geoscience database), Learning Geoscience (EAGE’s Education website) and online access to a scientific journal.

Caroline Le Turdu Membership and Cooperation Officer

Ingrid Magnus Publications Officer

Everhard Muijzert Secretary-Treasurer

Companies can subscribe to First Break via an institutional subscription.

Every subscription includes a monthly hard copy and online access to the full First Break archive for the requested number of online users.

Orders for current subscriptions and back issues should be sent to EAGE Publications BV, Journal Subscriptions, PO Box 59, 3990 DB, Houten, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 (0)88 9955055, E-mail: subscriptions@eage.org, www.firstbreak.org.

First Break is published by EAGE Publications BV, The Netherlands.

However, responsibility for the opinions given and the statements made rests with the authors.

COPYRIGHT & PHOTOCOPYING © 2018 EAGE All rights reserved. First Break or any part thereof may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying and recording, ­without the prior written permission of the Publisher.

Aart-Jan van Wijngaarden Technical Programme Officer

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George Apostolopoulos 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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Rock physics workshop is back for the fifth time in Milan

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Lecture tour will present Baysian methods to students

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Hackathon heaven in Kuala Lumpur

Make your vote count in annual election of Board members

From left to right: Dirk Orlowsky, Everhard Muyzert, Ingrid Magnus, Erika Angerer and Lucy Slater.

The annual EAGE Board elections are due to take place, with voting online beginning on 9 April. We encourage all members to participate in the upcoming ballot as it represents an important opportunity for you to have a say in how the Association is run on your behalf.

The Board is responsible for developing appropriate policies to achieve the objectives of EAGE in the interests of you, the members.

This year you can vote for candidates in five vacant positions of Vice-President-Elect, Finance Officer, Publications Officer and Chair of the Oil and Gas Division to be filled from June 2019.

The names of each candidate and the position they are standing for are listed below and the biographies of each candidate will be published on the EAGE

website. Last year we introduced the opportunity for each candidate to provide on the EAGE website some background on their experience and reasons for offering themselves as candidates for the positions available. You will be able to access this information online to help you with your voting decisions. A personal invitation with login credentials will be sent by email to all members to enable them to vote. The ballot is open from 9 April to 7Â May, 2019.

Vice-President-Elect Candidate for Vice-President-Elect is Dirk Orlowsky. He has worked for over 25 years in exploration and engineering geophysics, and is a department head managing international projects for DMT, based in Essen, Germany. He is a former chair of the Near Surface Division and EEGS-ES. FIRST

Finance Officer Everhard Muyzert, after completion of his first two-year term, is standing for a second term.

Publications Officer Ingrid Magnus, after completion of her first two-year term, is standing for a second term.

Oil and Gas Division Chair Erika Angerer is a senior geophysicist with OMV, Vienna. She worked at WesternGeco and CGG before joining OMV in 2005.

Lucy Slater has 20 years experience in the oil industry, currently as geophysical advisor with CNOOC having worked previously at Amerada Hess, Shell and more recently as head of geophysics with Atlanta Petroleum.

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EAGE NEWS

Borehole geophysics workshop continues its successful run

Het Binnenhof buildings in The Hague.

Despite the challenging circumstances the industry has experienced in the past few years, the support and interest in the EAGE Borehole Geophysics workshops have not only remained strong but broke a record in the number of delegates at the fourth workshop held in Abu Dhabi in 2017.

This continued success has persuaded the technical committee of the workshop to plan and prepare the programme and venue for the fifth in the series. We have a lot to look forward to during Borehole Geophysics 2019 with the theme ‘Bridging the Gap Between Surface and

Reservoir’ to be held on 18-20 November 2019 in The Hague.

In previous workshops, the quality of the technical submissions has been excellent with representation from a wide cross-section of the industry from around the world - operators, consultants, contractors, and academics. For this fifth workshop, we anticipate using the same proven formula by providing a forum for professionals interested in borehole geophysics to share latest research findings, case studies, successes and lessons learned, all built around a technical programme of oral papers and posters.

Borehole geophysics is a key component in linking surface measurements with the reservoir; data acquired in the well provide high resolution geological and geomechanical measurements vital to validate and constrain the processing of surface data (e.g., surface seismic) used across the field. Although the technical programme may have a principal focus on acquisition and processing of borehole seismic data (vertical seismic profiles), the workshop will be open to discussion on a wider range of geo-

physical techniques that utilize gravity, electromagnetic (EM), and microseismic surveys, to name but a few. Discussion is also welcome on advances in borehole geophysical data processing, including full waveform inversion (FWI), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and solutions enabled by data analytics and cloud computing.

The workshop will be divided into four distinct sessions: Latest borehole geophysics data acquisition technology; Pushing borehole geophysical data processing; Integration of borehole and surface geophysical methods; and Bridging the scale gap in reservoir characterisation and monitoring. There will be a social programme to allow time for relaxation and networking opportunities between delegates. A one-day technical course on Advanced Elastic Anisotropy Calibration will be offered in addition to the workshop sessions.

The Call for Abstracts is now open and interested parties are encouraged to submit abstracts in the standard EAGE format of 2-4 pages before the deadline of 31 May 2019.

Rock physics workshop is back for the fifth time in Milan The call is out for abstracts to prepare for the fifth EAGE Rock Physics workshop in Milan on 26-28 November 2019. The event follows the previous well-supported meetings in the series held in Dubai 2012, Oman 2014, Istanbul 2016 and Abu Dhabi 2017.

The workshop has over time offered a great platform and opportunity to gain insight into the recent advances in rock physics modelling and its applications in exploration, development and reservoir monitoring. This fifth edition of the workshop will focus on the interaction with other disciplines and geophysical domains, as well as on some key trending aspects in rock physics, such as anisot-

ropy, uncertainty and modelling of tight and fractured rocks.

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Rocks naturally balanced.

The programme is scheduled to include seven technical sessions: Geomechanics and Pore Pressure Prediction, Unconventional Resources, Quantitative Seismic Interpretation and Uncertainty, as well as Experimental Rock Physics EOR and Time-Lapse Rock Physics. One of the highlighted sessions will also look ahead at how artificial intelligence techniques will impact the current industry practices and help overcome some of the key challenges faced by the rock physics community.

At this point the technical committee welcomes paper abstracts for consideration at the workshop on case studies or technologies. The deadline for submissions is 31 August 2019.

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EAGE NEWS

Lecture tour will present Baysian methods to students Patrick Connolly is embarking on a Student Lecture Tour on Probabilistic Seismic Inversion for Reservoir Properties. Here he tells us something about his preparation, expectations and his career.

SLT lecturer Patrick Connolly.

Patrick Connolly is a consultant geophysicist specializing in seismic reservoir characterization with particular expertise in AVO methods and inversion including elastic and extended elastic impedance, seismic net pay and probabilistic inversion. He has over 40 years industry experience, mostly with BP, retiring in 2015 as BP’s senior advisor for geophysical analysis. He was an EAGE Distinguished Lecturer in 2007, SEG Distinguished Lecturer in 2010, and was awarded the 2001 SEG Virgil Kaufman Gold Medal for his development of elastic impedance. His presentation ‘Probabilistic Seismic Inversion using Pseudo-Wells’, with co-author Mark O’Brien, was awarded Best Paper at the 2017 SEG Annual Meeting.

What is new and important about the probabilistic seismic inversion method you will be talking about?

Subsurface characterization is an inherently uncertainty process and we need methods that account for this uncertainty. It’s not just a case of putting error bars on the answer, ignoring uncertainty risks introducing bias to the answer.

In my talk, I discuss the sources of uncertainty and the effects of ignoring them and show how Bayesian methods 6

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can account for uncertainties to provide better results.

Commercial probabilistic inversion algorithms have only become available in the last few years. There are now perhaps three or four on the market. As an industry we’re still learning how to adapt Bayesian methods to seismic inversion so we’re all on a very steep learning curve as we begin to understand how these algorithms perform in different environments.

Most Bayesian inversion algorithms use dependent, McMC sampling methods but the one I describe uses independent sampling. I argue that the seismic inversion problem can be configured to have low dimensionality allowing independent sampling, and analytic methods, to work and to avoid the disadvantages of McMC methods.

How much knowledge will you be able to assume that the students already have?

On Bayesian methods none at all. Very few industry professionals currently have any training in Bayesian methods so, when giving my training course, I have to start from scratch. University education is beginning to catch up so I find students are often better prepared than professionals.

What do you hope that students will take away from the lecture?

I hope they’ll pick up some of the excitement involved in an area of rapid

technology development and gain an appreciation of the impact that technology can make.

You were involved in some major BP developments around the world. What were the highlights in terms of applying your particular expertise?

I worked on two major appraisal projects for BP - Foinaven, West of Shetlands and Greater Plutonio, offshore Angola. The first was around 1995 and the second around 2000. Both relied extensively on geophysics. It was for Foinaven that I developed elastic impedance to allow quantitative analysis based on far offsets only and some of the first application of extended elastic impedance was on Greater Plutonio.

About eight appraisal wells were drilled for Foinaven but none for the static definition of the much larger Greater Plutonio development. In the space of five years the business had moved from a heavy dependence on wells to a belief that, in favourable circumstances, quantitative geophysics could provide much of the information required to characterize the reservoir.

Appraisal was always my preferred part of the life cycle; exploration is often dominated be geology and production by engineering but but, in appraisal, geophysics can take centre stage.

A sunset view of the illuminated PSVM (Plutão, Saturno, Venus and Marte fields) located NE of Block 31 in Angola.

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EAGE NEWS

How relevant in your field is the new trend in AI, Big Data, machine learning, etc.?

I think it unlikely that data driven processes will replace the physics based methods that currently dominate processing and inversion. Most recent improvements, particularly in processing, have resulted from putting in more physics, not less.

However, physics only takes you so far, limited, for example, by our inability to accurately estimate velocities. This leaves space for machine learning (ML) algorithms to help optimize parameter selection. But it relegates ML to having a tactical rather than strategic impact on our discipline.

Can we expect major advances in seismic processing, analysis and interpretation in the future?

If so, what is likely to be the focus?

I’m sure we can but, based on previous attempts to answer similar questions, I would say my ability to predict the future is poor (ML enthusiasts take note). Cur-

rently I see a lot of promise in improved understanding and greater uptake of Bayesian methods and in elastic FWI, or some related method, that allows simultaneous inversion of amplitude and travel times.

What was your educational path into working for BP? Unusually by today’s standards I only have a first degree, in physics. When I graduated in the seventies far fewer had degrees and the marketplace wasn’t international as it is now. That, coupled with a rapidly expanding industry in the wake of the first oil shock and the opening of the North Sea, meant there were plenty of jobs. I initially joined a seismic contractor, SSL, and then another oil company, Britoil, which was subsequently acquired

by BP.

Frivolous last question. Is there really a Prudhoe Bay Golf Club as per the logo on your sweater (see photo)?

That’s an old T-shirt that I picked up on a visit to Prudhoe Bay in the nineties. BP’s operations on the North Slope are quite something. Particularly memorable was driving out to the tip of Endicott Island in the Beaufort Sea. As for whether there’s actually a golf club I’m not too sure – I don’t play but golfers seem to be pretty resourceful in the face of adversity so perhaps there is.

The EAGE Lecture Tour series is made possible with the support of the EAGE Student Fund. For more information, visit eagestudent.org.

Do you have any career advice for today’s generation of geoscience students?

Stay flexible, stay technical, stay connected and learn to code.

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Tel: + 1 832 772 3333 (US)

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Tel: + 44 208 327 4210 (UK)

EAGE NEWS

International business and exploration conference to debut in Sochi

Sochi to welcome First ProGREss Conference in November.

In a new initiative, EAGE is to hold the inaugural ‘ProGREss 2019 - Exploration as a Business’ conference, in Sochi, Russia on 5–8 November 2019. This will bring together top geoscientists and managers of petroleum companies to discuss business problems and exploration solutions.

Located on the coast of the Black Sea with the snow-covered Caucasus Mountains half an hour away, Sochi is the largest sea resort in Russia. It was

the host of the 2014 Winter Olympics in the subtropics, is one of the host cities for the 2018 FIFA World Cup 2018, and continues to host the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Representatives from the following companies have already confirmed their participation: Repsol, Total, IPA, Rystad Energy, Schlumberger, Rosneft, Gazprom neft, NOVATEK, Tatneft, Wintershall, Belorusneft, Bashneft-Dobycha, Irkutsk Oil Company and others.

The programme is being based on relevant topics identified after a survey among international oil and gas company managers and exploration professionals.

Topics encompass eight themes, namely Oil and gas exploration as business, Capitalization of exploration projects; Safe and efficient production, cost reduction; Digital transformation, Qualitative leap in analysis and data accounting; Future potential, promising areas under exploration; Best practices in petroleum exploration; Field development role at appraisal and exploration stages, science engineering; New technologies in petroleum exploration and Cooperation, venture projects.

Abstracts are currently being invited for consideration in the technical programme; these should be submitted via online form before 20 June 2019.

Those abstracts included in the conference technical programme will be published in the EarthDoc online database (www.earthdoc.org) and have official publication status.

Registration details for this first event are on the website. Take advantage of early pricing by booking before 20 June! There are also many excellent opportunities for event sponsoring, details of which can be also be found at www.eage.org.

EAGE Education Calendar 3-4 APR

EDUCATION DAYS BUENOS AIRES: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

6 MAY

EAGE EDUCATION TOUR 5

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA

8 MAY

EAGE EDUCATION TOUR 5

LIMA, PERU

10 MAY

EAGE EDUCATION TOUR 5

SANTA CRUZ, BOLIVIA

19 JUN-2 JUL

EDUCATION DAYS BEIJING: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

BEIJING, CHINA

24 JUN-2 JUL

EDUCATION DAYS KUALA LUMPUR: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

27 JUN-9 JUL

EDUCATION DAYS PERTH: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

PERTH, AUSTRALIA

26-30 AUG

EDUCATION DAYS RIO DE JANEIRO: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

17-20 SEP

EDUCATION DAYS LONDON: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

LONDON, UK

23-27 SEP

EDUCATION DAYS MEXICO: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO

21-25 OCT

EDUCATION DAYS OSLO: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSE PROGRAMME

OSLO, NORWAY

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

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EAGE NEWS

Hackathon heaven in Kuala Lumpur EAGE Asia Pacific in February put together an extremely ambitious event called the ‘Earth-Hack Hackathon’ in Kuala Lumpur. This is how it went down.

Hackathon fans celebrate.

The hackathon involved teams of geologists, programmers and machine learning experts working together on geological datasets (well logs, seismic, thin section photos, structured and unstructured datasets, etc) to put forward the best software solutions that they could come up with in the two and a half days the event ran.

Nearly 60 participants had come from all over the world; from local institutions in Malaysia to as far as Norway, bringing laptops, tablets, adaptors and in some cases even sleeping bags for the inevitable late night programming.

It wasn’t all work; Nina Hernandez (Iraya Energies), leading the organizing committee of the event, had the foresight to provide participants with an archery

range, mini-golf and even a movie/ karaoke room where the ‘hackathoners’ could rest and take their minds off the work.

The participants did not have to go through the journey alone. The event was supported by Microsoft, volunteered cloud server space and onsite support allowing participants huge amounts of computing power in order to run vast simulations and machine learning algorithms. We were also grateful to Saudi Aramco, DellEMC, CGG and MaGIC for sponsoring this event and helping to make it happen.

There were a set of 11 given problems that teams could work on building software solutions for; well log curve prediction, data extraction from scanned documents, automated seismic interpretation, well ties, or thin section analysis.

Each team would choose a problem to work on, or, for the more ambitious teams, more than one problem! On the final day, after 48 hours of hacking, the organizers called for a ‘code freeze’ and everyone had to stop working and prepare their presentations to the panel of judges. The winning team ‘Satelitte Bois’ took home the grand prize of RM10,000 (€2000).

The approaches taken by the various teams, some made up up entirely of computer science professionals, were indeed fascinating to the judges. They approached the problems ‘unclouded’ by prior knowledge or experience with working in geological environments, from a pure data perspective, and so some of the solutions they found were very interesting indeed! Apart from that, industry mentors were present to offer their expert guidance to the teams towards geologically appropriate solutions. It was also great to see many teams willing to share members with more experience in a show of true hackathon camaraderie.

The event was an eye-opening look into the current possibilities offered by machine learning algorithms applied to oil and gas. Many of these software solutions are becoming an essential part of the geological toolkit; where geoscientists and machine learning algorithms work together as two pairs of eyes looking at the same problem. If what could be produced in just two days at Earth-Hack is any indication of what is possible, then the next decade is a very exciting time to be working in the oil and gas.

Local Chapter Paris off to a strong start in 2019 Local Chapter (LC) Paris started their annual programme of events with a technical lecture on ‘Assessing the Uncertainty in Geoscience’. The event on 17 January gathered 45 professionals and students from the local geoscience community and three exceptional speakers: Ali Karagül from Total, Xavier Freulon from Mines ParisTech and Thierry Coléou from CGG. Their presentations were followed by a Q&A session and discussion.

This first event of the year aimed to foster knowledge on the concept of

uncertainty in geosciences and how it impacts results. Participants were enthusiastic to take part in a technical discussion around the new insights on uncertainties estimation. Shortly after, on 21 February, LC Paris organized a DLP webinar session for its local members.

Asbjørn Sæbø (Equinor) was the lecturer with a presentation on ‘Grane – Better seismic imaging: lower price for higher production!”.

LC Paris continues to organize regular events, which can be followed on LinkedIn! FIRST

Chapter proceedings in Paris.

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EAGE NEWS

Uppsala students provide a Swedish accent to international student event

Students leading the organization of the 8th International Geosciences Student Conference.

After a two-year break, the International Geosciences Student Conference (IGSC) is back, this time in Uppsala, Sweden on 16-20 June with the EAGE Student Fund as one of the sponsors.

The event, led and organized by students, is being held for the eighth time, after successful meetings in Katowice, Prague, and Berlin among other venues.

IGSC provides an excellent opportunity for students to build leadership skills, network with peers and sponsors, and make a difference in the community. This year the focus will be on ‘Sharing ideas.

Responsibly securing natural resources’

with the intention of highlighting the role of geosciences in shaping our future.

The Uppsala student hosts say they are looking forward to abstracts on the themes of raw materials, energy, water, geohazards, and sustainability. ‘We want to create a platform where students from various earth science backgrounds come together to exchange ideas, present their research and enhance knowledge. We want the meeting to be a platform for connection and a cornerstone for collaboration and friendship. We acknowledge our privilege of living and studying in the very open-minded and diverse city

of Uppsala, and want to invite fellow students and speakers to become part of this community’.

During the five days of the conference, participants will get a chance to listen and/or to present their own research in oral or poster presentations. Additionally, they will be able to participate in workshops led by industry leaders where they can gain practical skills and hands-on experience in trending geoscience topics.

The conference agenda will also include keynote speakers both from academia and industry who will interact with the audience by providing interesting insights from their work. At the core of the IGSC lies networking, with the Icebreaker and Farewell parties creating a collaborative and informal atmosphere. Students will get a chance to test their knowledge by participating in a European Challenge Bowl with the cheering support of the audience. At the end of the conference, students will also have the opportunity to take part in one of the exciting field trips on offer.

Registration will be open until 15 April. Be sure not to miss out on this great opportunity to learn, network and have fun. More information about the event is at www.igsc2019.org. Also be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @IGSConference.

EAGE Student Calendar 24 APR

STUDENT LECTURE TOUR EUROPE

BERLIN, GERMANY

25 APR

STUDENT LECTURE TOUR EUROPE

FREIBERG, GERMANY

26 APR

STUDENT LECTURE TOUR EUROPE

CHE˛CINY, POLAND

22 MAY

STUDENT LECTURE TOUR

LATIN AMERICA BOGOTA, COLOMBIA

24 MAY

STUDENT LECTURE TOUR

LATIN AMERICA HUILA,, COLOMBIA

27 MAY

STUDENT LECTURE TOUR

LATIN AMERICA CIUDAD DE MEXICO, MEXICO

29 MAY

STUDENT LECTURE TOUR

LATIN AMERICA RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

2-6 JUN

81ST EAGE CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION

LONDON, UK

2 JUN

LAURIE DAKE CHALLENGE FINAL

LONDON, UK

3 JUN

MINUS CO2 CHALLENGE FINAL

LONDON, UK

4 JUN

GEO-QUIZ 2019

LONDON, UK

16-20 JUN

THE 8TH INTERNATIONAL GEOSCIENCES STUDENT CONFERENCE (GSC)

UPPSALA, SWEDEN

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

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EAGE NEWS

Significance of salt dissolution in hydrocarbon A little studied E&P issue was topic for Houston Chapter meeting.

A worldwide tour of salt deposits currently being dissolved in Iran, Gulf of Mexico and the Santos Basin offshore Brazil was the topic of Local Chapter (LC) Houston’s first invited speaker for 2019.

Dr Clara Rodriguez, a senior geoscientist with the Schlumberger WesternGeco Exploration team gave the talk at the Ikon Science Americas premises in Houston and she was able to call on her 17 years of experience in reservoir characterization and seismic interpretation, mainly focused in sedimentary basins offshore East and West Africa, Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico.

She explained that few studies have used 3D seismic data to characterize the expression and impact of salt dissolution, despite its significance for hydrocarbon exploration and development. Most of the current knowledge about salt dissolution comes from observations of sub-aerially exposed salt.

Sub-aerial salt karst studied in salt glaciers in the Zagros Mountains, Iran, resembles reservoir-prone carbonate karst imaged by seismic data. However, salt dissolution also occurs in submarine conditions. 3D seismic analysis in Salina del Istmo Basin, southern Gulf of Mexico, indicates that allochthonous salt sheets

Salt dissolution illustration from Iran.

are currently exposed at the seafloor due to slumping of supra-salt strata towards structurally-lower minibasins. Observations in Salina del Istmo Basin also suggest that submarine salt dissolution occurs under relatively thin (< 100 m) supra-salt strata leading to rotation of the overburden and the development of sinkholes.

Moreover, 3D seismic attribute analysis in the Orca Basin, northern Gulf

of Mexico, highlights salt karst at the seafloor indicating that several salt diapirs are currently being dissolved by NaCl-undersaturated seawater leading to the formation of a highly-studied deepsea hypersaline anoxic lake. Details for the salt deposits in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil are due to be published in an extended paper by Dr Rodriguez when the images are released.

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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CROSSTALK

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Games people play Let’s face it, announcing to anyone but colleagues that you are a expense of others. In 1894, a left wing radical Quaker, Lizzie career professional in the oil business is rarely met with unbridled Magie, patented Landlord’s Game in which players circled the enthusiasm. That’s invariably because people know very little board buying up railroads, collecting money and paying rent. It about it and/or they are persuaded by the widespread anti-oil included the peril of landing on a ‘Go to Jail’ square. She said her sentiment very effectively perpetrated by environmentalists and hope was that men and women would ‘discover that they are poor others, typically focused on issues such as fracking and marine because Carnegie and Rockefeller, maybe, have more than they pollution, or simply the power of Big Oil. In addition, emerging know what to do with.’ alternative energy solutions tend to make oil operations look bad, The game’s development history, best found in The Monophowever essential their products remain for everyone’s daily life, olists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World’s objectors included.

Favorite Board Game by Mary Pilon, did not result in the ending In the circumstances, anything that can at least promote some Magie would have hoped for. By the 1930s, her creation had understanding of, if not sympathy for, the complexity of the oil been rebranded by Parker Bros, which bought the rights, and business and its central role in the world economic and political was gaining rapid popularity as Monopoly. Pilon observes that, order should be encouraged. That’s why the current board game instead of being a critique of American greed, the game now craze may offer some opportunity. taught generations to ‘cheer when someone goes into bankruptcy.’

Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific countries are curDecades later in 1978, Prof Bertell Ollman, a maverick polirently witnessing an unpredicted boom in the board games tics professor at New York University (NYU) specializing in the market. Analysts at ResearchAndMarkets.com teachings of Karl Marx, somewhat recklessly and Beige Market Intelligence forecast signifin view of the prevailing Cold War, created the ‘Board games can icant growth, in one case at something like a board game Class Struggle. It was an admitted be informative, compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9% homage to Magie’s initial purpose, subtitled to a $12 billion market by 2023. The surpriseducational and on ‘To prepare for life in capitalist America – an ing aspect is the apparent ‘digital pushback’ educational game for kids from 8 to 80’. The occasion polemical.’ game is said to have sold around 250,000 on the part of millennials who are leading this consumer trend. The modern board game is sets before being discontinued in the 1990s. seemingly viewed as a means of socializing, a pretext for physMeanwhile, Prof Ollman’s current claim to fame is the C minus ically getting together with friends around a table to discuss and grade he awarded to Sean Hannity, the Fox News presenter and have fun. It is effectively a rejection of the video gaming’s highly Trump acolyte, when a student in his politics class. Hannity has individualized and arguably isolating experience. Evidence for been whining ever since about this blight on his NYU academic this social phenomenon can be inferred by the emergence of cafes record from a Marxist sympathizer. and bars in numerous cities that encourage customers to meet for The purpose of a board game set in the modern oil enviboard games. ronment should be explanatory rather than subversive. At best More to the point, board games can be informative, educait should try to recognize all the factors in play and the actors tional and on occasion polemical. Monopoly, the most celebrated involved. To capture the full oil business experience, even with and best selling board game of all time, was originally conceived some simplification, might be beyond a developer’s capability. as a warning against the evils of accruing massive wealth at the There are oil industry board games out there, some of which have

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There’s no space here to explain all the rules and intricacies. been in the catalogue for a long time. They are generally focused Briefly, one player is the ‘dungeon master’ (DM) and the rest on commercial oil exploration, some with a geoscience edge. of the participants are ‘player characters’ (PCs) who assume the A helpful list compiled by Tom Anderson, an exploration role of adventurers (using fantasy archetypes such as, wizards, geologist and board game blogger, identified Black Gold (now halflings, barbarians, etc) while the DM creates challenges for the Gigaten), Crude: the Oil Game (now McMulti), North Sea Oil, PCs to overcome (such as monsters and traps).

Game of Oil, Gushers ‘n Dusters ConfuEach player has a cheat sheet to explain sion Flats: an Exploration Game, Denbury ‘Many (games) are his/her character, and the game essentially Resources Oil Game, International Oilman Game, Gusher King Oil, Oil Power, Explora- probably too gung-ho involves the creation of a narrative guided by the DM in which the players contribute to an tion: the Seismic Game of Oil and Gas, Oil: for modern tastes.’ unscripted outcome. the Great Adventure, Wildcatter, North Sea, Obviously Turmoil would not be fantasy.

Oil Barons, Oil: the Slickest game in Town, (Homer of the TV show The Simpsons complained that after Total depth: an Oilman’s Game, La Conquête du Pétrole, Oil playing D&D for three hours, he was slain by an elf). However, Well, Oil Tycoon, Offshore Oil Strike, and Petróleo. it is possible to imagine that this new game could be based on Fun though many of these games may be, most are probably the roles of the many players involved in the real business of oil too gung-ho for modern tastes, revering the risk and riches to and the challenges they face. The purpose would be to make the be gained from oil investment. The perhaps prematurely named subject matter engaging, i.e., a game, but also informative.

Peak Oil probably comes closer to contemporary expectations.

The number of players and possible scenarios is formidable, It challenges players as top managers of big oil companies to so it may be practical to create a themed series. At the macro lead their enterprises into a future without oil, while trying to level, strategies of oil-rich countries and their impact on the world squeeze the last drops from oil fields around the world. This is economy alone could justify a board game. Witness some of the a game that takes advantage of the board game culture which extraordinary complications and contradictions playing out in welcomes crowd funding or other charitable sponsorship for the today’s international oil world. We see the US going flat out for development of more message-driven games. maximum oil production from its new found shale riches, while Ideally a fresh approach would see the invention of a board OPEC and Russia exercise restraint. Many countries struggle game that engages players at different levels of the oil business with the optimal hydrocarbons development strategy to meet their from international and government policy makers and oil comeconomic needs in the prevailing economic climate. panies to service companies and everything in between. It would Arguments also range over pipeline and transportation need to include an ethical and environmental twist. Should such options. The new gas pipeline from Russia is a case in point. a game ever be feasible, Turmoil might be a good working title.

Russia wants a route to exclude Ukraine which Germany, for its By and large the existing range of oil-related games are made own economic reasons, approves, while others worry about the up of boards, maps, cards, tiles and oil-themed pieces, such as implications for dependency on Russian gas. In North America, a drilling rig. Most have left unexplored some of the growing the province of oil-rich Alberta is struggling to choice of genre being invented as board game find pipeline export routes for its production creators have become increasingly innovative.

In some cases digital assistance via smart- ‘The number of players amid objections from British Columbia to the phone apps has been introduced. Although and possible scenarios west and the US to the south.

Oil trading, upstream and downstream regarded with suspicion by hardcore board is formidable.’ operations, technology interventions … enthusiasts, it does allow more information, the possibilities are endless for players to sophistication and complication to be added. explore and make decisions against the background of public One significant trend is towards co-operative games where, rather suspicion of the oil business and the evolution of alternative than player against player, the players jointly do battle against the energy sources. game itself. Role-playing is another development transforming As such Turmoil is most likely destined to remain a fantasy, in the board game concept. Players take on characters and develop a the sense of being beyond the ingenuity of board game developnarrative with no predetermined outcome. This would seem to be ers. But the challenge is fun to consider. It offers an opportunity the most effective way to provide the uninitiated with a feel for to identify the extraordinary number of pieces and players that all the levers determining the global operation of the oil business. would be involved. Doing so might invite better understanding For example, the game could take its cue from a venerable and maybe respect for individuals and organizations innocently table top game such as Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), created engaged in the real-life world of oil, while of course not denying in 1974. Said to be world’s most popular game of its sort, the ‘dragons’ and ugly scenarios.

D&D combines role-playing with turn-based tactical combat.

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’ wins contract to save company from insolvency

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Equinor deploys PRM at Johan Sverdrup

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CGG enhances machine learning in its reservoir characterization

BP Energy Outlook predicts huge rise in renewable energy use

Renewables will meet 85% of increased demand.

Global energy demand will increase by around a third by 2040, driven by demand in India, China and across Asia but the vast majority of the increase will be met by renewables, according to the 2019 edition of The BP Energy Outlook.

Some 85% of the growth in energy supply will be generated through renewable energy and natural gas, with renewables becoming the largest source of global power generation by 2040.

‘The pace at which renewable energy penetrates the global energy system is faster than for any fuel in history,’ says the report.

Demand for oil grows in the first half of the Outlook period before gradually plateauing, while global coal consumption remains broadly flat. Across all the scenarios considered in the Outlook, significant levels of continued investment in new oil will be required to meet oil demand in 2040.

As a result, global carbon emissions will continue to rise, signalling the need for a comprehensive set of policy measures to achieve a substantial reduction in carbon emissions, the report says.

‘The outlook again brings into sharp focus just how fast the world’s energy systems are changing, and how the dual challenge of more energy with fewer emissions is framing the future. Meeting this challenge will undoubtedly require many forms of energy to play a role,’ said Bob Dudley, BP’s group chief executive..

‘Predicting how this energy transition will evolve is a vast, complex challenge.

In BP, we know the outcome that’s needed, but we don’t know the exact path the transition will take. Our strategy offers us the flexibility and agility we need to meet this uncertainty head on.’

Energy consumed by industry and buildings accounts for around 75% of the increase in energy demand, while growth in energy demand from transport will slow sharply as gains in vehicle efficiency accelerate.

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‘More energy will be needed to enable billions of people to move from low to middle incomes. There is a strong link between human progress and energy consumption; the UN Human Development Index suggests that increases in energy consumption of up to around 100 gigajoules (GJ) per head are associated with substantial increases in human development and well-being,’ says the report. ‘Today, around 80% of the world’s population live in countries where average energy consumption is less than 100 GJ per head. In order to reduce that number to one-third of the population by 2040, the world would require around 65% more energy than today.’

The Outlook has produced a rapid transition scenario of policy measures that result in a 45% decline in carbon emissions by 2040. This fall reflects a combination of gains in energy efficiency; a switch to lower-carbon fuels; use of carbon capture usage and storage; and, of particular importance in the power sector, a significant rise in the carbon price.

‘The power sector is currently the single largest source of carbon emissions from energy use and it is therefore critical that the world continues to seek ways to reduce emissions from this sector.

‘Polices aimed at the power sector are central to achieving a material reduction in carbon emissions over the next 20 years,’ said Spencer Dale, BP’s chief economist.

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Even in the rapid transition scenario, a significant level of carbon emissions remain in 2040. In order to meet the Paris climate goals, in the second half of the century a key development would be a near-complete decarbonization of the power sector – requiring greater use of renewables and carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) in conjunction with

natural gas – together with greater electrification of end-use activities (including transport). For those end uses that cannot be electrified, other forms of low-carbon energy and energy carriers will be crucial, potentially including hydrogen and bioenergy.

The report was published as news emerged that Norway’s $1 trilllion sov-

ereign wealth fund is expected to sell some of its $37 billion worth of oil and gas shares.

The Norwegian government operated fund owns shares in companies such as BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total, but has indicated that it is looking to sell some $8 billion worth of shares in smaller oil and gas companies.

CGG reports fourth quarter 2018 net loss of -$790 million CGG has reported a fourth quarter net loss of -$790 million on revenues of $370 million in Q4 compared to a net loss of -$120 million on revenues of $320 million in the third quarter of 2018 and -$75 million on revenues of $361 million in Q4 2017.

Income was impacted by a ‘discontinued operations’ impairment of $488 million related to the company’s transition to an asset light model and exit from contractual data acquisition, non-cash impairment charges of $240 million mainly linked to the US Gulf of Mexico StagSeis data library ($197 million) and the Sercel inventory provision of $30 million .

Geology, Geophysics and Reservoir revenue of $255 million was up from $192 million in Q3 2018 but down from £333 million In Q4 2017. Geoscience revenue was $109 million with demand solid across all regions for high-end imaging and reservoir delineation services.

Multi-Client revenue was $224 million with strong after-sales at $117 million up 35% year-on-year. Prefunding sales were up 48% year-on-year at $107 million .

Two vessels were active for offshore multi-client surveys in the North Sea and Australia.

GGR segment was impacted by a $94 million amortization estimate, including $57 million for surveys more than four years old. After year-end impairments of $226 million, mainly attributable to the $197 million US Gulf of Mexico StagSeis survey, the segment library Net Book Value stood at $519 million at the end of December 2018.

Equipment segment revenue was $108 million, up from $94 million in Q3 2018 but down from $116 million in Q4 2017. Land equipment sales represented 74% of total sales, compared to 58% last year, driven by strong land channel and geophone deliveries in India and China.

Marine equipment sales represented 15% of total sales, compared to 34% last year, in a continued weak data acquisition marine market. Downhole equipment sales were up 35% at $9 million on the back of strong unconventional activity in the US. Full year 2018 segment revenue was $1.23 billion, with operating income of

$142 million and net loss of -$96 million, compared with 2017 income of $1.03 billion with operating income of $48 million and a net loss of $514 million in 2017.

CGG’s net debt stands at -$733 million.

Liquidity is $434 million.

In 2019 the company expects ‘high single digit revenue growth’ in line with the increase in E&P spending. Segment operating income in the range of $75125m, including multi-client amortization of -$365-385 million. Total capex will be in the range of $330m-365 million with multi-client cash capex at $250-275 million, with a cash prefunding rate above 70%, and Industrial and R&D capex at $80-90 milllion.

Sophie Zurquiyah, CGG CEO, said: ‘As the market continues its gradual recovery, CGG in its new profile delivered excellent 2018 operating results, which were above expectations. Our Geoscience, Multi-Client and Equipment businesses generated $134 million of segment free cash flow validating our strategic decision to refocus the company on its high value-add and profitable businesses.

US launches latest lease sale in Gulf of Mexico The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is offering 78 million acres in Lease 252, which includes all available unleased areas in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The fourth offshore sale under the 20172022 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Programme (National OCS Programme) will include approx.

14,696 unleased blocks in the Gulf’s Western, Central and Eastern planning areas in water depths ranging from nine to more than 11,115 feet (three to 3400 m).

The Gulf of Mexico OCS, covering about 160 million acres (64 million hectares), is estimated to contain about 48 billion barrels of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and 141 trillion ft3

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4 million m3 of undiscovered technically recoverable gas.

BOEM has set a 12.5% royalty rate for leases in less than 200 m of water depth, and a royalty rate of 18.75% for all other leases issued pursuant to the sale, in recognition of current hydrocarbon price conditions and the marginal nature of remaining Gulf of Mexico shallow water resources.

INDUSTRY NEWS

UK plans to ensure all data in its waters is made public The UK Oil and Gas Authority has published guidance on proposed new rules to ensure that seismic and other data must be disclosed publicly by the end of the calendar year.

Developed in collaboration with industry, the guidance outlines what information and samples must be reported under the Energy Act 2016. It explains how they must be reported, to whom (or where) and by what time.

It also explains how the OGA will disclose information and samples, where relevant. This will mostly be done through the soon-to-be-launched National Data Repository (NDR) which comes online early this year.

The guidance is designed to underpin the OGA’s strategy of data transparency — making as much petroleum-related information available as soon as

possible, to help maximize value from the United Kingdom Continental Shelf UKCS).

‘The disclosure regulations and this guidance means that new data types not previously widely published will be available as soon as possible, for use by industry, academia and the supply chain in the broadest terms possible,’ said an OGA statement. ‘In many cases, the OGA has after consultation shortened the disclosure periods for information and samples – meaning they will be available for use even sooner in future.’

Nic Granger, director of corporate at the OGA said: ‘Information and samples play a highly significant role in the UK oil and gas industry, particularly in the digital age. High quality digital data is vital to the UK economy and is helping to power a 4th industrial revolution.

‘The OGA is committed to providing high-quality data at scale on digital infrastructure platforms such as the OGA Open Data Portal and the NDR where they may be used to derive insight and value using such tools as Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).’

After publication of the guidance, the OGA will issue reporting notices to companies using powers already in force under the Energy Act 2016 to obtain information and samples. These are expected to be issued this month.

‘The OGA will issue a retrospective s.34 notice to cover those surveys that took place in 2018. In relation to 2018 and subsequent surveys, previous voluntary Guidelines for the Release of Proprietary Seismic Data will be discontinued and such data will be disclosed under the Disclosure Regulations’.

EMGS’ wins contract to save company from insolvency EMGS has won a $20 million plus contract for a proprietary data acquisition survey in south-east Asia, which has effectively enabled the company to continue as a going concern.

EMGS expects to deploy the vessel BOA Thalassa by the end of the first quarter to perform the contract for an undisclosed client.

The company has also won an $8 million contract from Equinor for licensing of Barents Sea, Norwegian Sea and North Sea data from the company’s existing multi-client library, as well as prefunding for a new multi-client acquisition in the North Sea. EMGS said that the contract awards are very important given the challenging market and company’s poor liquidity.

There has been uncertainty about EMGS’ ability to meet its obligations under the $2.5 million free cash covenant as part

of its convertible bond loan and bank facilities. Sufficient additional backlog and/or late sales from the company’s multi-client library are needed to keep EMGS solvent.

‘The letter of award marks an important step in securing such additional backlog. This alone is not sufficient to ensure the short-term revenue and cash flow needed by EMGS to be able to meet its obligations under the free cash covenant and continue operations.

Therefore, the company has implemented a number of cost cutting and other measures to address the liquidity situation, in addition to intensifying efforts to secure backlog and multi-client late sales, and obtain further financing,’ said a company statement.

EMGS said that additional details on cost cutting will be announced in due course.

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Polarcus reports fourth quarter net loss of -$18 million Polarcus has reported a fourth quarter net loss of -$18.1 million on revenues of $67 million compared with a net loss of -$8.4 million on revenues of $87 million in the third quarter of 2018 and a net loss of $92 million on revenues of $37 million in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The company made a $5.4 million operating loss on segment revenues of $58 million compared to an operating loss of $1 million on segment revenues of $55 million in Q3 2018 and an operating loss of $20 million on segment revenues of $202 million in Q4 2017.

Third quarter proprietary contract revenue was $45 million, bareboat charter was $7 million and reimbursables were $ 6 million. Multi-client funding was $0.3 million.

The company said that cash from operations of $11.5 million was up from $0.4 million in Q3 2018. Total cash balance of $31 million (excluding an undrawn bank facility of $40 million) was up from $28.4 million at the end of Q3 2018.

Polarcus recorded its highest ever vessel utilization of 96%, up from 86% in Q3 2018. Eight contracts have been awarded since the start of Q4.

Full year segment revenues of $202 million are up 13% from $179 million in 2017.

Segment EBITDA of $29.1 million was up 60% from 18.2 million in 2017.

Tender activity is up 20% compared to 2017. Polarcus said that pricing improved throughout the year. The company’s backlog

of $232 million is up 40% compared to the same time last year. Eight new contract awards since the end of Q3 2018 demonstrate improvements in both pricing and contractual terms compared to 12 months earlier.

Polarcus’ fleet is 100% booked for the first half of 2019 and 70% booked for the full year 2019.

Polarcus CEO Duncan Eley said: ‘Polarcus saw revenue growth for the fourth consecutive quarter. The 6% increase in segment revenue was driven by strong utilization and improved day rates. The fourth quarter has traditionally been a quiet period for the industry, however Q4 marked the company’s highest ever utilization.

Continued improvements in the underlying business were partly offset by reduced revenue from vessel management fees and multi-client late sales compared to Q3.

‘The improved revenue for the quarter was accompanied by increased cost. Gross cost of sales increased to $46.5 million compared to $39.8 million in Q3. Reimbursable costs also increased in the quarter to $5.5 million from $5 million in the third quarter. The higher cost level was driven by high utilization, and elevated project specific costs.

‘Segment EBITDA for the quarter was positively impacted by an improved margin from our core proprietary contract business, however negatively impacted by the reduction in vessel management fees

and multi-client late sales. As a result, segment EBITDA reduced sequentially to $2.5 million from $7.3 million in Q3 2018.

Looking ahead to 2019, Eley said; ‘Recent oil price volatility has reintroduced some uncertainty around E&P companies’ spending outlook. However, based on discussions with clients, we hold a positive view on 2019. With the oil price around current levels, pricing in the seismic market is expected to continue to improve over the short to mid-term driven by the continued increase in demand from E&P companies and supply discipline from a reduced number of global vessel operators. As exploration activity and pricing levels are both expected to be higher in 2019, we plan to deliver improved EBITDA and cashflow in 2019 compared to 2018. We anticipate some operating cost increases in 2019 to support elevated operational activity and a number of projects taking place in higher cost areas.

‘Polarcus is in the midst of a transforming competitive landscape, with fewer operators enabling more disciplined supply of high-end 3D and 4D seismic vessel services for a growing client base comprising both E&P companies and pure-play multi-client companies. With increasing demand in 2019 from both segments of the client base we expect to see our margins continue to improve as pricing levels increase and the benefits of our operational leverage are realized.

Elixir commissions 2D survey in Mongolia Elixir Petroleum is commissioning a 200km-long 2D seismic survey over the Nomgon IX Coal Bed Methane (CBM) Production Sharing Contract (PSC) in the South Gobi region of Mongolia.

Australian energy company will conduct a survey to identify and image coal seams in the subsurface up to 1500-m deep to enable the optimal location for two CBM core-holes scheduled to be drilled in the second half of 2019.

The seismic programme was developed using integrated technical data including gravity, magnetics and surface mapping to develop a model of potential coal bearing seams within the PSC area; geological focus on shallow (less than 1500 m); and Tertiary to Permian sediments in depositional sub-basins within the PSC. The programme consists of a series of ‘dip oriented’ seismic profiles across the depocentres.

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Eight seismic contractors lodged tenders, including Chinese national oil companies as well as Mongolian seismic acquisition companies. The company is assessing the tenders and the survey is expected to get underway in the second quarter.

Elixir has hired specialists from the Mongolian Academy of Sciences and associated bodies to undertake archeological and paleontological studies over the area.

No issues arose.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Echo completes 3D survey onshore Argentina Echo Energy has completed the 3D survey across the eastern cube on Tapi Aike, near the southern tip of Argentina.

Initial indications suggest very good data quality and the seismic equipment is now being mobilized to the western cube to start acquisition.

The eastern cube (Chiripa Oeste) covers 414 km2 and the western cube (Travesia de Arriba) covers 790 km2 and will underpin the Tapi Aike drilling campaign.

Echo is utilizing the results of mechanical stimulation at the EMS-1001

Echo will shoot a 414 km2 survey to underpin the Tapi Aike drilling campaign.

well at the company’s Fracción C licence, onshore Argentina, to refine a mechanical

stimulation design for the ELM-1004 well.

ION reports a fourth quarter 2018 net loss of -$19 million ION Geophysical has reported a net loss of -$19 million on revenues of $74.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, which compares with a net loss of -$7.4 million on revenues of $47 million in the third quarter of 2018 and a net loss of $1.4 million on revenues of $57.9 million in Q3 2017.

The company reported adjusted EBITDA of $36.5 million for the fourth quarter 2018, up from $13 million in Q3 2018 and $23.8 million in Q4 2017.

E&P Technology and Services revenue was $60 million, up from $36 million in Q3 2018 and $48 million in Q4 2017.

Operations Optimizaton segment revenue was $14 million, up from $11 million in Q3 2018 and $10 million in Q4 2017.

Once again Ocean Bottom Integrated Technologies made no revenues and the majority of the -$36.5 million impairments reported by ION in the third quarter related to this sector.

In the quarter data library revenues were $25.5 million, a 74% increase on Q4 2017, which was the result of sales of recently completed programmes, particularly in Brazil.

The Imaging Services revenues were $5.4 million, a 74% increase on Q4 2017, propelled by a continued increase in proprietary ocean bottom nodal imaging projects.

Within the Operations Optimization segment, Optimization Software & Services revenues were $6 million, a 43% increase from the fourth quarter 2017.

The increase in Optimization Software & Services revenues was due to the continued increase in subscription-based software revenues and hardware sales of ION’s Gator ocean bottom command and control system. Devices revenues were $8.1 million, also a 43% increase from the fourth quarter 2017. However, the business continues to be impacted by reduced towed streamer seismic activity.

The Ocean Bottom Integrated Technologies segment had no revenues during the fourth quarter. The remaining elements of its next generation ocean bottom nodal system, 4Sea, will be commercialized in 2019.

Net cash flows from operations were $14.4 million during the fourth quarter 2018. At December 31, 2018, the company had total liquidity of $75.5 million, consisting of $33.6 million of cash on hand, and $41.9 million of available borrowing capacity under its maximum $50 million revolving credit facility.

Brian Hanson, ION president and chief executive officer, said, ‘While our fourth quarter revenue improved sequentially, driven primarily by the success of our Brazil 3D reimaging programmes, FIRST

we experienced geopolitical headwinds that further delayed Mexico and Panama data sales. In addition, typical year-end spending didn’t materialize in the way we anticipated for key customers, likely due to the commodity price slide experienced in the fourth quarter of 2018.

‘We continue to expect near-term oil price volatility and for E&P capital preservation to take priority over reserve replacement, with very focused exploration spending. That said, the international market is anticipated to grow for a second consecutive year and we are seeing increasing momentum across all our E&P and adjacent market businesses. We believe market fundamentals will continue to improve as it becomes increasingly critical to meet production demand in the next decade. In 2019, we expect an increase in new programme development, the completion of our 4Sea commercialization and greater adoption of Marlin in both E&P and adjacent markets.

As usual, we expect 2019 to be back-end loaded given the timing of client budget spending, licensing rounds and new programme activity.’

For the full year 2018, the company reported revenues of $180 million and a net loss of -$71.2 million, compared to revenues of $197.6 million and a net loss of -$30.2 million in 2017.

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CGG carries out airborne survey over the south coast Papua New Guinea CGG has has completed a regional multi-client airborne gravity, gravity-gradiometry and magnetics survey covering the transition zone of the Gulf of Papua for client Searcher Seismic.

The Roho Airborne Gravity, Gravity-Gradiometry and Magnetic Survey covers approx. 60,700 km2 along the south coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG).

The AGG survey covered 60,700 km2 over PNG.

The survey complements several marine seismic and geochemical projects recently completed by Searcher aimed at assessing the hydrocarbon potential of the Gulf of Papua and adjacent Coral Sea areas offshore PNG. The data were acquired with a 1 km line spacing in the northern Gulf of Papua, and 2 km line spacing extending along the coastline to SE PNG. Much of the area covered by the Roho Survey were comprised of shallow water transition zone environments where seismic operations are difficult and expensive. The survey was acquired by CGG Multi-Physics, using a Basler BT-67 and a DHC-6 Twin Otter twin turbine fixed wing aircraft.

Andrew Weller, geoscientist and Asia-Pacific sales manager for Searcher Seismic, said the survey was designed to bridge the gap between the onshore areas of PNG where many wells have been drilled, providing good geological control points, with the offshore regions in the Gulf of Papua and Coral Sea, where a

substantial database of new, high-quality seismic data is now available, and well data is sparse or absent all together.

The Roho Survey complements Searcher’s existing 2D seismic coverage which currently stands at more than 87,000 km, 3888 km2 of 3D data as well as a geochemical survey, offshore PNG. Final data for the Roho Survey reveals a complex history of extension and compression along the southern margin of the East Papuan Peninsula. On the Fly River Plateau at the northern end of the Gulf of Papua, a more comprehensive picture has emerged on the Pre-Cenozoic structural geometry, delineating a Mesosoic rift complex blanketed by a Cenozoic foreland cover.

Along the southern East Papuan Peninsula, recent extensional events have been identified associated with the development of the offshore basins to the north.

By contrast the western margin of the East Papuan Peninsula is characterized by discrete foreland basin development.

ExxonMobil increases its reserves estimation ExxonMobil has added 4.5 billion oil-equivalent barrels of proved oil and gas reserves in 2018 partly as a result of updated seismic studies and analysis of reservoir performance.

The company’s proved reserves totalled 24.3 billion oil-equivalent barrels at year-end 2018. Liquids represented 64% of the reserves, up from 57% in 2017. The company’s reserves life at current production rates is 17 years.

During 2018, proved additions from unconventional plays totalled approx.

1.2 billion oil-equivalent barrels. Significant additions in the Permian Basin are supported by ExxonMobil’s growth plan including increased drilling activity and infrastructure development.

A downward revision of approx.

800 million oil-equivalent barrels in the Netherlands was a result of an agreement with the Dutch government to curtail production at the Groningen field.

ExxonMobil added 1.3 billion oil-equivalent barrels to its resource base in 2018 through exploration discoveries and strategic acquisitions, primarily in Guyana and Brazil.

In Guyana, the estimated gross recoverable resource from the Stabroek Block is approx. 5.5 billion oil-equivalent barrels.

That compares with the updated resource estimate late last year of more than 5 billion oil-equivalent barrels.

‘Multiple new discoveries offshore Guyana, continued growth in the Permian Basin and a strategic acquisition in Brazil greatly enhanced our already strong portfolio of high-quality, low-cost-of-supply opportunities,’ said Darren W. Woods, ExxonMobil chairman and chief executive officer.

Meanwhile, the company has updated its growth plans and expects annual earnings potential to increase by more than 140% by 2025 from 2017, assuming an

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oil price of $60 per barrel and based on 2017 margins.

ExxonMobil’s updated earnings projection compares with last year’s estimated increase of 135% between 2017 and 2025, based on 2017 adjusted earnings. Cumulative earnings potential from 2019 through to 2025 has increased by about $9 billion, supported by further improvements to the company’s investment portfolio and divestment plans.

Finally, ExxonMobil has made a natural gas discovery offshore Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean at the Glaucus-1 well. The well, located in Block 10, encountered a gas-bearing reservoir of 133 m. The well was drilled to 4200 m depth in 2063 m of water. The discovery could represent an in-place natural gas resource of approx. 142 billion to 227 billion m3.

Further analysis in the coming months will be required to better determine the resource potential, the company added.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Europa completes seismic surveys offshore Ireland Europa has completed Pre-Stack Depth Migration (PSDM) reprocessing of 770 km2 of 3D seismic data over the Inishkea prospect in the Slyne basin (which includes the Corrib gas field) in Atlantic waters offshore Ireland.

The data shows that Inishkea’s gross mean un-risked prospective gas resources are 1.5 trillion cubic feet (TCF).

In addition, Europa has purchased 1544 km2 of released 3D seismic data shot over, and immediately adjacent to, the LO area, 5000 km of regional 2D and 13 wells. Europa has also purchased Ocean Bottom Cable 3D seismic data over the Corrib gas field and used it to successfully benchmark and calibrate the PSDM data and the resulting geophysical interpretation and mapping. The Corrib gas field is interpreted as a salt-cored anticline in the Triassic Corrib Sandstone Formation (formerly the Sherwood Sandstone). The gas is dry,

believed to be sourced from the underlying Carboniferous. Recoverable Reserves for Corrib are approximately 1 TCF. Inishkea is a large fault-bounded Triassic structure. It lies to the northwest of the Corrib gas field and is 11 km from Corrib at its nearest point. The reservoir is Triassic age Corrib sandstone sourced from the underlying Carboniferous. The trap is provided by a combination of Triassic Uilleann Halite top seal and fault seal. Engineering studies demonstrate strong positive economics for a range of porosity outcomes, including outcomes significantly poorer than Corrib. Europa’s view of porosity at Inishkea is supported by velocity data from new PSDM data.

Given the company’s confidence in trap and reservoir quality and the nearby producing Corrib gas field, prospect risk is regarded as low based on in-house technical work.

A drilling location for a first exploration well on Inishkea has been identified.

Europa intends to acquire a site survey in the summer of 2019, enabling a well to be drilled at this location in 2020.

The company is negotiating farm-in agreements with a major international oil and gas company in respect of the licensed areas.

Europa’s CEO, Hugh Mackay, said: ‘Our very detailed and thorough technical work confirms Inishkea to be a large, robust, low risk, gas prospect. The early promise we identified has been validated and the prospect has now been de-risked significantly. Inishkea’s location is in a proven play, and in close proximity to the nearby Corrib gas.

‘Since opening the farmout dataroom in December 2018 we have had several large oil companies review the prospect.’

Equinor deploys permanent reservoir monitoring system at the Johan Sverdrup field Equinor is to deploy cabled subsea instrumentation from Sonardyne International to help increase the accuracy of time-lapse seismic data at the giant Johan Sverdrup oil field.

From first production Equinor plans to use seafloor-based seismic cable permanent reservoir monitoring (PRM) technology to observe what is happening in the reservoir over time to help maximize recovery rates.

Equinor said that it hoped that the PRM technologies would increase the amount and quality of data about their reservoir because processing it can sometimes be complicated by changing environmental conditions, such as water velocity and tidal height.

To solve this challenge, Equinor has engaged Subsea 7 to install a Sonardyne Pressure Inverted Echo Sounder (PIES) at 110-120 m water depth at Johan Sverdrup.

PIES instruments continuously measure

The company will deploy seafloor-based seismic cable PRM equipment at the oil field.

the two-way travel time of sound waves propagated through the water column from the seabed to the sea surface as well as the pressure (depth) at the seabed. This data is then used to calculate a continuous time history of average water velocity and tidal variation throughout the whole water column.

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This will be only the second time that PIES units are hardwired into topside power and communication infrastructure, which means Equinor will have instant and continuous access to its data. PIES data is normally collected acoustically by a passing surface vessel, including unmanned surface vessels.

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CGG enhances machine learning in its reservoir characterization CGG has launched reservoir characterization solutions Jason 10.0, HampsonRussell 10.4 and PowerLog 10.0, which feature advanced machine learning capabilities and greater cross-product integration.

The three new releases already run seamlessly on Microsoft Azure’s Cloud Environment and will soon be available on other major cloud platforms. Geoscientists can now implement compute-intensive workflows and run very large projects, to process thousands of wells, faster than ever before, said CGG. HampsonRussell Emerge now delivers deep learning in the form of Deep Feed Forward Neural Networks for better prediction of reservoir properties. An open Python ecosystem in PowerLog enables the routine use of machine and deep learning in workflows to increase automation and achieve more accurate facies predictions.

The new Deep Feed Forward Neural Network (DFNN) HampsonRussell 10.4 provides more detailed porosity predictions from seismic attributes and well data compared to multi-linear regression.

The new releases feature integration advancements, such as the ability to ‘load once, use everywhere’ to streamline

cross-product workflows. HamsonRussell 10.4 updates Advanced Seismic Conditioning to improve seismic data quality for better inversion outcomes and AVO Modelling now offers a wider range of tools for investigating the seismic

to-depth conversion and depth inversion.

PowerLog 10.0 advancements enable users to efficiently interpret groups of wells and apply machine learning to solve petrophysical challenges using the PowerLog Ecosystem.

Screenshot of CGG’s Jason software, which now has greater cross-product integration.

response of pre-stack data. Jason 10.0 makes it easy to design or vet facies classifications from petrophysical logs and immediately sees the effects in the elastic inversion domain. It also has improved velocity calibration for time-

Kamal al-Yahya, senior vice-president, GeoSoftware & Smart Data Solutions, said: ‘Greater product integration is key for inter-disciplinary workflows as links between geophysics, geology and petrophysics grow ever stronger.’

Wintershall and DEA announce planned job cuts The merger of Wintershall and DEA will lead to nearly a quarter of their combined workforces being made redundant.

Of 4200 jobs worldwide (full-time positions including joint ventures), around 1000 will be lost, of which approximately 800 jobs will be in Germany. In Norway around 200 job cuts are planned, mainly related to the completion of large development projects.

More than half the job reductions in Germany are planned within the corporate functions at both locations in Hamburg and Kassel. Additional staff reductions are planned at the German production sites. Wintershall DEA’s future Business Unit Germany will be led from Hamburg.

The merger of the German companies is expected to close in the first half of 2019 to create the largest independent gas and oil producer in Europe. Synergies of at least €200 million ($226 million) a year are expected from production increases and cost reductions.

The new company seeks to increase Wintershall’s and DEA’s joint average daily production of about 575,000 barrels of oil equivalent by around 40% to 800,000 barrels between 2021 and 2023.

This growth is expected to come from both companies’ existing portfolio as well as new production regions such as Mexico, where DEA has made a recent entry, and Abu Dhabi, where Wintershall entered into a new oil and gas concession.

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Within the merged company, Barnstorf (Lower Saxony), the current headquarter of Wintershall’s German operations, will comprise a production site with different well services, the recently opened technology centre, the central core storage facility and the centre for the vocational training.

DEA’s laboratory and core storage facility in Wietze, Lower Saxony, will be relocated to Barnstorf. The Wietze location will be closed.

Wintershall and DEA have guaranteed that there will be no forced redundancies until 30 June 2020.

Likewise, there will not be any site closures in Germany during the same period.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Equinor increases its natural gas trading Equinor sold natural gas for around $26 billion in 2018, an increase of 29% from 2017, the company has revealed.

As more countries prepare for the energy transition, Equinor sees strong market opportunities for gas and expects global demand to grow by around 10% towards 2030, the company said.

Equinor is the largest producer of natural gas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and the second-largest gas supplier to Europe. The company also has a significant gas portfolio outside Norway.

‘The world needs more energy, but lower emissions. Natural gas is well positioned to provide secure, competitive and

sustainable energy to consumers and industry: reducing CO2 emissions by 50% when replacing coal, providing needed back-up to renewables and offering a long-term solution for the low carbon future if converted to hydrogen,’ said Irene Rummelhoff, Equinor’s executive vice-president for marketing, midstream and processing.

In an energy scenario consistent with the 2-degree climate target, global gas demand would only be slightly lower than today even in 2050. That entails massive needs for investment in future gas supply in the decades to come. Equinor is actively exploring for gas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

In 2018, Equinor sold a total of 100 bcm of gas worldwide. As more liquified natural gas (LNG) and intermittent renewables enter the market, Equinor said that it is preparing to capitalize on increased price volatility.

‘The traded gas markets are developing rapidly and a key to success will be agility and ability to respond quickly to price fluctuations, said Tor Martin Anfinnsen, Equinor’s senior-vice president for marketing and trading.

‘The demand for shorter dated indices is increasing and our response is to reflect this development in our trading, added Anfinnsen.’

TGS launches 3D survey in Oklahoma TGS has announced a new multi-client onshore 3D seismic project, South Hackberry 3D, on the east flank of the Anadarko Basin in Garfield, Kingfisher and Logan Counties, Oklahoma.

The South Hackberry 3D seismic survey extends TGS’ seismic data coverage in the core of the STACK trend. This new project will encompass 353 km2 and when merged with the Hackberry

Map of the Anadarko Basin.

Complex 3D, the combined surveys will encompass approximately 1062 km2.

The survey extends TGS’ contiguous 3D data coverage in the STACK where the subsurface is characterized by a strong structural overprint with faulting at the Mississippian and deeper levels.

Recording will commence in Q3 2019 and will be completed before the end of the same quarter. The data will be processed by TGS and the company will offer a full suite of reservoir characterization products. The South Hackberry 3D is complemented by TGS’ geologic products which include a basin stratigraphic model that is derived from an extensive library of TGS-owned high-quality well data in the Anadarko basin.

ION launches offshore Brazil 2D reimaging ION Geophysical has launched a new 2D multi-client reimaging programme offshore Brazil. The first phase of the Farofa programme covers the deepwater Campos basin that will be available for licensing this October in Brazil’s upcoming Round 16.

The programme will reimage ~10,000 km of existing data to provide an updated view of the outboard salt basin area. This programme will extend the

Picanha 3D programme into the Round 16 area. The limited 3D data available in this area makes the Farofa dataset critical in providing valuable insights of the pre-salt potential. Initial data is expected to be available in Q1 2019 and the programme will complete in May 2019.

‘Brazil has continued to draw strong interest from large E&P companies, attracting an astounding $5.5 billion in signature FIRST

bonuses in less than two years,’ said Joe Gagliardi, senior vice-president of ION’s E&P Business Development. ‘The Round 16 area covered by the Farofa programme has extremely complex salt bodies that overlie and mask the extent of the pre-salt play. The complex nature of this area creates challenges in imaging relative to the inboard part of the Campos Basin, making it an exciting opportunity for new exploration.’

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Spectrum and BGP shoot 2D survey offshore Argentina

BGP Pioneer is acquiring the data with a 12-km streamer with continuous recording.

Spectrum and BGP are shooting a 20,000 km 2D survey in the Colorado and Salado basin offshore Argentina.

The vessel BGP Pioneer is acquiring the data with a 12-km streamer with

continuous recording to image deep reflection and high fold data. This will support full interpretation from Moho to water bottom. The data will be processed with PSTM, PSDM and Broad-

band products with first deliveries in Q2 2019.

The programme ties with Spectrum’s existing 35,000 km survey that was acquired in 2017 for the first offshore licensing round.

‘The Colorado 2D survey is in line with our growth strategy to develop an extensive 2D database for regional evaluation of these high potential offshore basins,’ said Rune Eng, CEO of Spectrum. ‘The new seismic data will be utilized to assist the ministry in placement and design of sectors for future licensing rounds offshore Argentina. It is anticipated that the shelf area of these basins will be included in the second offshore licensing round, expected to open in 2019.’

TGS and Shearwater shoot 3D survey offshore Brazil TGS and Shearwater are shooting a multi-client 3D seismic survey in the Campos Basin offshore Brazil. The survey will cover approx. 11,200 km2 and be acquired by Shearwater vessel Amazon Warrior.

The survey will provide contiguous 3D coverage over the highly prospective Brazil Round 16 blocks located

in the outer Campos Basin. TGS will utilize advanced imaging (RTM) and velocity model building (FWI) technologies to create accurate and high-resolution images of the prolific pre-salt objectives.

Fast Track products will be available in Summer 2019 ahead of Round 16 with final products available in Q2 2020.

‘With our third multi-client programme in Brazil over the past year, the Campos 3D confirms TGS’s commitment to the country,’ said Kristian Johansen, TGS CEO. ‘Furthermore, the survey provides additional visibility to our guided multi-client investments for 2019, with more than $200 million already committed.’

Australia acreage cash auction raises $11 million Three offshore petroleum exploration permits have been awarded after the cash bid auction for Australia’s 2018 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release.

The three new cash bid permits are in Commonwealth waters offshore Western Australia and Victoria. Lattice Energy; Woodside/KUFPEC; and Chevron have paid a total of $11.1 million to secure the right to explore these areas for six years.

The V18-3 release area in the Otway Basin, 50 km south of Warrnambool,

Victoria, was awarded to Lattice Energy after a cash bid of $4 million.

The W18-7 release area in the Northern Carnarvon Basin, 150 km west of Dampier, Western Australia was awarded to Woodside Energy and KUFPEC after a cash bid of $5.1 million.

The W18-10 release area in the Northern Carnarvon Basin, 240 km west of Onslow, Western Australia was awarded to Chevron Australia after a cash bid of $2 million .

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Bidders were given free access to the Geoscience Australia Petroleum Data Repository.

INDUSTRY NEWS

UK oil and gas production rises to highest level since 2011 Oil and gas production in the UK increased by more than 4% in 2018, averaging 1.7 million boe per day, according to a new report from the UK Oil and Gas Authority.

The Projections of UK Oil and Gas Production and Expenditure Report estimates that UK oil and gas production over the period 2016-2050 is projected to be 3.9 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe).

In 2018, oil production alone rose to 1.09 million barrels per day — up 8.9% on the previous year and the highest UK oil production rate since 2011.

This increase can be attributed to more than 30 new fields coming onstream since 2015, improved production efficiency and asset integrity, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects and the UK’s offshore licensing rounds’.

Meanwhile in 2018, gas production fell by 3.5% to 0.61 million boe per day; operating costs rose slightly and capital

expenditure again fell significantly in the basin.

The estimates are based on data collected from the OGA’s UKCS Stewardship Survey. Detailed field-by-field data was provided to the OGA in early 2019 by all current UKCS oil and gas operators.

The report also found that total operating costs rose by 6.4% driven by higher activity, while unit operating cost rose by 2.2%, from £11.4/boe in 2017 to £11.6/ boe in 2018.

Capital expenditure fell for the fourth straight year but is expected to rise slightly in 2019.

Annual decommissioning expenditure rose by 9% from 2017 to 2018 to £1.45 billion.

Head of performance, planning and reporting at the OGA, Loraine Pace, said: ‘New discoveries such as Glendronach and Glengorm highlight the future potential of the basin.’

Beehive 3D survey offshore Australia shows exciting prospect Melbana Energy’s fast-track processed data from the Beehive 3D Seismic Survey offshore northwest Australia has helped to produce an estimate of 388 million barrels of oil equivalent.

‘The quality of the 3D data received from Canadian company McDaniel & Associates is excellent with vastly improved imaging when compared to the 2D seismic data, leading to clearly

The prospect is estimated to hold 388 million barrels.

improved definition of the Beehive structure and reservoir unit,’ said Melbana in a statement.

Total and Santos have an option to acquire a direct 80% participating interest in the permit in return for continuing to fully fund 100% of the costs of all activities until completion of the Beehive-1 well. The option must be taken up no later than six months from the final processed seismic survey data being accepted by Santos, Total and Melbana.

If the option is exercised, drilling is anticipated in 3Q 2020, with Melbana estimating the cost of the Beehive-1 exploration well to be within the $40$60 million range.

Melbana Energy’s CEO, Robert Zammit, said: ‘The data quality of the Beehive 3D Seismic Survey is much improved over the 1999 2D data and should help Total and Santos in their decision to exercise their option to drill the Beehive-1 well.

FIRST

BRIEFS The Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office (DPP) is preparing to prosecute Royal Dutch Shell for criminal charges directly or indirectly related to the 2011 settlement of disputes over Oil Prospecting Licence 245 (OPL 245) in Nigeria.

Magseis Fairfield has won a three-month data acquisition contract in the North Sea. The survey will commence in Q3 2019 and will be acquired by the vessel Artemis Athene.

Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina joint venture Arrow Energy has been granted leases for a $7.2 billion project to develop Australia’s biggest coal seam gas resource. The Queensland government has granted 14 leases to Arrow Energy for the Surat project, which is estimated to hold 140 billion cubic metres of gas. Arrow has agreed to a 27-year deal to sell output from Surat to the Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) project run by Shell.

Colombia hopes to increase its oil reserves by 1 billion barrels by auctioning 20 blocks.

Colombia last had an auction in 2014.The government held off recent bidding rounds because of low international crude prices, repeatedly postponing an auction that had been set to take place last year.

Brazil’s Energy and Mines Minister Bento Albuquerque has said that a long-awaited auction of the so-called transfer-of-rights area in which oil company Petrobras operates could happen in the last quarter of 2019.

Eni has won two exploration blocks onshore Egypt from the EGPC 2018 competitive bid round. The 3013 km2 ‘South East Siwa’ block is located in the Western Desert close by to the Eni ‘SW Melehia’ Concession, where two commercial oil discoveries have recently been announced.

The 1535 km2 ‘West Sherbean’ (Eni 50%, Operator; BP 50%) is located onshore Nile Delta, immediately southwest of the new Nile Delta concession assigned to Eni in August 2018 and where the Nooros field is located.

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BGP completes phase one of huge Abu Dhabi survey

Cuadrilla applies to change its fracturing fluid in the UK

BGP has completed the first phase of the onshore ADNOC 3D seismic survey, the world’s largest combined onshore and offshore 3D seismic survey contract.

The BGP onshore crew is mustering a brand new recording system and a large fleet of vehicle for the next phase of onshore projects.

The company mobilized equipment and installation of node handling ves-

Ineos puts faith in UK Continental Shelf

Fracturing site.

UK-based onshore shale gas operator Cuadrilla has submitted plans to vary the type of hydraulic fracturing fluid it uses at its Preston New Road site in the north of England.

Nick Mace, environment manager at Cuadrilla, said: ‘We would like to modify our fracturing fluid so that more sand can be carried into the shale rock with the water. To do this we propose adding some chemicals which have already been approved for use elsewhere in the UK by the Environment Agency. The fracturing fluid will remain non-hazardous to groundwater, as it must do under UK regulation, and additional additives we are proposing to use are commonly found in food, toiletries and other products used around the home.’

Meanwhile, IGas has reported that preliminary tests on shale samples from within the Millstone Grit Group at Tinker Lane are encouraging for the potential gas resources in the Gainsborough Trough basin.

The well in Nottinghamshire in the UK East Midlands has been plugged and abandoned and preparations are being made to fully restore the site.

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sels ten days ahead of schedule on 21 January, 2019 and achieved better-than-expected production efficiency (>10,000 shots per day) during phase one.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company awarded the $1.6 billion contract to BGP in July 2018 to acquire 30,000 km2 offshore and 23,000 km2 onshore. BGP will complete the work by 2024.

Ineos is to invest £1 billion in UK oil and gas projects.

The biggest investment of £500 million is in the Forties Pipeline System (FPS), which will transform the asset and extend the life of the pipeline by at least 20 years.

Ineos said it intends to overhaul the 500 km North Sea pipeline system, including modernising the environmental systems. Opened in 1975, FPS transports up to 600,000 barrels of North Sea oil onshore

for refining every day. The pipeline transports 40% of the UK’s oil and gas to the mainland.

Industry group Oil & Gas UK hailed the investment decision as a vote of confidence in the future potential of the industry. Upstream policy director Mike Tholen said: ‘The modernisation programme will provide operators with a greater degree of certainty when making investment decisions about the future development plans for their assets’.

Total buys TGS data offshore Ireland Total, Providence Resources and Sosina have licensed 1500 km2 of multi-client 3D seismic data over Frontier Exploration Licence 2/19 in the Porcupine Basin, offshore Ireland.

The data forms part of the larger Crean 3D seismic survey which was acquired by TGS in 2017. It should significantly improve the delineation of the Paleocene Avalon prospect and facilitate a drill-decision.

Dr John O’Sullivan, technical director at Providence, said: ‘These new 3D seismic data should greatly enhance 2019

our understanding of Avalon’s origins, resource potential as well as possible exploration well locations. As these data are ‘off the shelf’, they should greatly reduce the cycle time to the drill-decision for the Avalon prospect.’

Irish Coast overlooking the waters above the Porcupine Basin.

Processing & Imaging

Clearly Better.

Agile, responsive teams of experts, available when, where and for however long you need them. Get high-quality data rapidly, reduce costs and build in flexibility at the heart of your project.

Revealing possibilities shearwatergeo.com

Special Topic

PASSIVE SEISMIC & UNCONVENTIONALS The current rig count in the US shows that shale is back in a big way in 2019 but there are still rapid advancements in the design of wells making exploration more efficient and fruitful.

A big part of that is the practice of monitoring rock deformation within reservoirs through passive seismic techniques. As a result, interest in passive seismic techniques, particularly microseismic monitoring, is continuing to grow.

Alex Bromhead et al present a regional appraisal of shale resource potential within the Permian, Anadarko and Arkoma basins.

Ahmed Ouenes et al present a practical application of Embedded Discrete Fracture Models in a Fast-Marching Simulator where advanced poroelastic geomechanical simulation provides the enhanced permeability of the fractures that cause frac hits and well interferences.

Stephen Paskvich et al use time-lapse multi-component seismic data collected by the Reservoir Characterization Project and Anadarko Petroleum to monitor a hydraulic stimulation in a section of the Wattenberg Field.

P. Richter et al present an advanced optoelectronic Distributed Acoustic Sensor that utilizes a new generation of engineered optical fibre with 100x (20dB) improved sensitivity compared to that of standard fibres.

Karyna Rodriguez et al discuss an enhanced dataset revealing deeper potential within a proven Badenian hydrocarbon system.

Stephen A. Sonnenberg demonstrates that the Mowry Shale has the key attributes of source rock maturity, reservoir brittleness, overpressure, TOC content and reservoir thickness.

Soumen Koley et al discuss the results of the extracted surface wave Greenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s function when illuminated by an anisotropic distribution of noise sources.

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 & Unconventionals

May

Modelling/Interpretation

June

Embracing Change - Creativity For The Future

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 EAGEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ScholarOne website: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fb

July

Renewable Transition

August

Near Surface Geoscience

September

Machine Learning

October

Reservoir Geoscience and Engineering

November

Marine Seismic & EM

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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Data you can drill on

Tailored seismic acquisition, expert imaging, and library coverage in prospective areas.

Supporting exploration, optimizing production.

A Clearer Image | www.pgs.com

CALENDAR

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 7-9 MAY 2019

Second EAGE Workshop on Deepwater Exploration in Mexico: Knowledge transfer and collaboration from shelf to deepwater www.eage.org Cancun Mexico

April 2019 1-4 Apr

Second EAGE Workshop on Practical Reservoir Monitoring www.eage.org

Amsterdam

The Netherlands

4-5 Apr

Second EAGE/PESGB Workshop on Velocities www.eage.org

London

United Kingdom

8-9 Apr

EAGE/SPE Workshop on Shale Science 2019 www.eage.org

Moscow

Russia

8-11 Apr

20 th European Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery (IOR 2019) www.eage.org

Pau

France

15-16 Apr

EAGE First Borneo Deepwater Symposium – Managing Deepwater Assets through Geosolutions www.eage.org

Bandar Seri Begawan

Brunei

22-26 Apr

Engineering and Mining Geophysics 2019, 15 th Conference and Exhibition www.eage.org

Gelendzhik

Russia

22-26 Apr

Marine Technologies 2019 www.eage.ru

Gelendzhik

Russia

24 Apr

EAGE/DGMK Joint Workshop on Underground Storage of Hydrogen www.eage.org

Celle

Germany

25-26 Apr

DGMK/ÖGEW Spring Meeting www.dgmk.de

Celle

Germany

29 Apr 2 May

Sixth EAGE Shale Workshop www.eage.org

Bordeaux

France

EAGE Events

94

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37

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APRIL

2019

CALENDAR

May 2019 6-8 May

39 th Euroheat & Power Congress www.euroheat.org/events/ehp-congress-2019

Nantes

France

7-9 May

Second EAGE Workshop on Deepwater Exploration in Mexico: Knowledge transfer and collaboration from shelf to deepwater www.eage.org

Cancun

Mexico

13-17 May

GeoConvention 2019 www.geoconvention.com

Calgary

Canada

19-21 May

Second EAGE Workshop on Pore Pressure Prediction www.eage.org

Amsterdam

Netherlands

3-6 Jun

81st EAGE Conference & Exhibition 2019 Embrace Change - Creativity for the Future www.eage.org

London

United Kingdom

17-19 Jun

EAGE/AAPG Workshop on Reducing Exploration Risk in Rift Basins www.eage.org

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

17-20 Jun

First EAGE Workshop on Assessment of Landslide and Debris Flows Hazards in the Carpathians www.eage.org

Lviv

Ukraine

EAGE/SPE First Borneo Deepwater Symposium – Managing Deepwater Assets through Geosolutions www.eage.org

Bandar Seri Begawan

Brunei

June 2019

July 2019 29-30 Jul

August 2019 18-23 Aug

Goldschmidt 2019 www.goldschmidt.info/2019/

Barcelona

Spain

19-22 Aug

16th International Congress of the Brazilian Geophysical Society & EXPOGEf www.sbgf.org.br/congresso/

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil

September 2019 2-5 Sep

2 nd Australasian Exploration Geoscience Conference (AEGC2019) www.2019.aegc.com.au

Perth

Australia

2-6 Sept

Fourth EAGE Conference on Petroleum Geostatistics www.eage.org

Florence

Italy

2-7 Sept

29 th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry www.imog.eaog.org

Gothenburg

Sweden

8-12 Sept

Fifth International Conference on Fault and Top Seals 2019 www.eage.org

Palermo

Italy

8-12 Sept

EAGE Near Surface Geoscience Conference and Exhibition 2019 www.eage.org

The Hague

Netherlands

9-13 Sept

Geomodel 2019 21st conference on oil and gas geological exploration and development www.eage.org

Gelendzhik

Russia

10-12 Sept

EAGE Workshop on The Interpretation of Attributes to Impact Decision Making www.eage.org

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

18-22 Sept

10 th Congress of Balkan Geophysical Society (BGS) www.bgs2019.org

Albena Resort

Bulgaria

26-28 Sept

First EAGE Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Workshop www.eage.org

Paris

France

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

Russia

October 2019 1-3 Oct

Sakhalin – Far East Hydrocarbons 2019 www.eage.org

EAGE Events

Non-EAGE Events

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APRIL

2019

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