First Break September - Machine Learning

VO L U M E 3 7 I I S S U E 9 I S E P T E M B E R 2 019

SPECIAL TOPIC

Machine Learning TECHNICAL ARTICLE Tomographic Bayesian uncertainty estimation CROSSTALK Geoscientists solve the water crisis?

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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, Equinor UK (pdrum@equinor.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 Keziah Starrenburg (ksg@eage.org) PRODUCTION Saskia Nota (layout@eage.org) Ivana Geurts (layout@eage.org) EAGE EUROPE OFFICE PO Box 59 3990 DB Houten The Netherlands • +31 88 995 5055 • eage@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE RUSSIA & CIS OFFICE EAGE Russia & CIS Office EAGE Geomodel LLC 19 Leninsky Prospekt 119071, Moscow, Russia • +7 495 640 2008 • moscow@eage.org • www.eage.ru EAGE MIDDLE EAST OFFICE EAGE Middle East FZ-LLC Dubai Knowledge Village Block 13 Office F-25 PO Box 501711 Dubai, United Arab Emirates • +971 4 369 3897 • middle_east@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE ASIA PACIFIC OFFICE UOA Centre Office Suite 19-15-3A No. 19, Jalan Pinang 50450 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia • +60 3 272 201 40 • asiapacific@eage.org • www.eage.org

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Net reservoir discrimination through multi-attribute analysis at single sample scale

Editorial Contents 3

Eage news

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Crosstalk

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Industry News

Technical Article

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Tutorial: tomographic Bayesian uncertainty estimation

Special Topic: Machine Learning

Ian F. Jones, Rodrigo Felicio, Angeliki Vlassopoulou and Claudia Hagen

51 Automatic QC of denoise processing using a machine learning classification

Maïza Bekara and Anthony Day 59 Drivers of imbalance in machine learning uptake across geology and geophysics

Samuel R. Fielding and Lorin Davies 65

Transfer learning and Auto-ML: A geoscience perspective Ehsan Zabihi Naeini and Joshua Uwaifo

73 Physics-guided neural networks for predicting unconventional well performance – using Unconventional Rate Transient Analysis for smarter production data analytics

A. Bachir and A. Ouenes 77 Net reservoir discrimination through multi-attribute analysis at single sample scale Jonathan Leal, Rafael Jerónimo, Fabian Rada, Reinaldo Viloria and Rocky Roden 87

Spatial aliasing removal using deep learning super-resolution A. Garg, A. Vos, N. Bortych, D.K. Gupta and D.J. Verschuur

Feature

93 Detection of near-surface heterogeneities at archaeological sites using seismic diffractions

Jianhuan Liu, Quentin Bourgeois, Ranajit Ghose and Deyan Draganov 98

Calendar

EAGE LATIN AMERICA OFFICE Carrera 14 No 97-63 Piso 5 Bogotá, Colombia • +57 1 4232948 • americas@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE MEMBERS CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTIFICATION Send to: EAGE Membership Dept at EAGE Office (address above) FIRST BREAK ON THE WEB www.firstbreak.org ISSN 0263-5046 (print) / ISSN 1365-2397 (online)

cover: A data processing centre. This month geoscientists give their latest insights into how machine learning is transforming the industry.

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European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers

Board 2019-2020

Michael Pöppelreiter President

Dirk Orlowsky Vi c e-President Elect

Everhard Muijzert Secretary-Treasurer

Near Surface Geoscience Division George Apostolopoulos Chair Alireza Malehmir Vice-Chair Micki Allen Contact Officer EEGS/North America Riyadh Al-Saad Oil & Gas Liaison Esther Bloem Technical Programme Officer Hongzhu Cai Liaison China Albert Casas Membership Officer Eric Cauquil Liaison Shallow Marine Geophysics Ranajit Ghose Editor in Chief Near Surface Geophysics Hamdan Ali Hamdan Liaison Middle East Andreas Kathage Liaison Officer First Break Musa Manzi Liaison Africa Myrto Papadopoulou Young Professional Liaison Koya Suto Liaison Asia Pacific Catherine Truffert Industry Liaison

Oil & Gas Geoscience Division

Caroline Le Turdu Membership and Cooperation Officer

Ingrid Magnus Publications Officer

Colin MacBeth Education Officer

Michael Peter Suess Chair; TPC Caroline Jane Lowrey Immediate Past Chair; TPC Lucy Slater Vice-Chair Rick Donselaar TPC Xavier Garcia NSGD Liaison Juliane Heiland TPC Francesco Perrone YP Liaison Ann Muggeridge IOR Committee Liasion Aart-Jan van Wijngaarden Technical Programme Officer Martin Widmaier TPC Michael Zhdanov NSGD Liaison Philip Ringrose Editor-in-chief Petroleum Geoscience Tijmen-Jan Moser Editor-in-chief Geophysical Prospecting Conor Ryan REvC Liaison Sebastian Geiger Member

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.

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.

Aart-Jan van Wijngaarden Technical Programme Officer

George Apostolopoulos Chair Near Surface Geoscience Division

Michael Peter Suess Chair Oil & Gas Geoscience Division

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

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

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

COPYRIGHT & PHOTOCOPYING © 2019 EAGE All rights reserved. First Break or any part thereof may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying and recording, ­without the prior written permission of the Publisher.

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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Gelendzhik twin event strategy proves a winner

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EAGE takes on the digital mantle

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Role of geoscience in decarbonization initiatives: work in progress

New ideas and latest technologies promised for Saint Petersburg 2020

Saint Petersburg event continues to stay the main geosciences event in Russia and CIS.

Saint Petersburg is already preparing to host EAGE once again. The 9th International Geological and Geophysical Conference Saint-Petersburg 2020 is due to be held on 6-9 April 2020 with the theme ‘Geosciences: Converting Knowledge into Resources’.

EAGE Saint Petersburg International Conference is the largest geoscience event in Russia, organized every two years offering a technical programme, short courses, company displays and a student programme. The conference committees include leaders of top Russian and international companies such

as Gazprom Neft, BP, OMW, Aramco, GKZ, Rosgeologia, Rosnedra, Lukoil, Repsol, and others as well as the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation.

In 2018, over 500 visitors (local and non-local) from more than 200 companies and 31 countries attended. Since 2003, the event has become a platform for geoscientists from all over the world to share experiences and ideas, establish partnerships and get up to speed on the latest technological advances, while enjoying the historical heart of Russia, the beautiful city of Saint Petersburg.

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A wide range of issues will be discussed at the conference including hot topics like industrial development of the Arctic and the application of modern technological and digital solutions for exploration and development activities. Reflecting the latest trends in the industry, the list of topics has been extended to cover re-evaluation of remaining potential in producing regions, classification of reserves and resources, broadband seismic data, top and fault seal analysis and, especially, experiences with artificial intelligence and machine learning in the E&P industry. Presentations will be made in both English and Russian with simultaneous translation.

We invite all geoscientists to contribute to the technical programme. The deadline to submit extended abstracts is 1 October 2019. Please refer to the event website www.eage.org for more information on the guidelines, the submission process and other relevant information.

We also invite companies to support the event by taking advantage of the extensive sponsorship programme. As a sponsor of EAGE Saint Petersburg 2020, you get high visibility in a qualitative and uncluttered environment that makes your message stand out.

Deadline for company display and commercial presentation applications is 1 December 2019, details at the EAGE website, or contact at spb2020@eage.org.

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EAGE NEWS

Data science courses to debut at first Education Days Amsterdam

Machine learning will be the main theme of Education Days Amsterdam 2019.

Education Days is coming to Amsterdam for the first time in November. The two courses featured are part of the new ‘Data Science’ learning catalogue aimed at addressing the growing need for education in machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), deep learning and big data. We asked the two course instructors Dr Bernard Montaron (Fraimwork SAS) and Dr Ehsan Naeini (Ikon Science) for their perspective on the growing influence of ML and how professionals can benefit from staying ahead of these developments.

How has AI impacted the oil and gas industry and how will it shape the near future?

BM: You could argue that AI has already contributed quite a lot in the E&P domains during the last 40 years to change the way we analyze data and extract information from it. I like to refer to J.K. Ali’s paper Neural Networks: A New Tool for the Petroleum Industry?

It states that ‘Neural networks (NN) have made strong advances in pattern recognition, classification of noisy data, non-linear feature detection, market forecasting and process modelling. These abilities make NN technology very well suited for solving problems in the petroleum industry [including] seismic pattern recognition, identification of sandstone lithofacies, drill bit diagnosis, and analysis and improvement of gas well production.’ That is exactly how AI is expected to impact our industry in the 4

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near future… but this paper was written 25 years ago (SPE, 27561).

EN: ML has already shown great success in a variety of application domains. As an active area of research and development, it will continue to offer new modalities of applications. Hence it will naturally open new opportunities. In geoscience these are likely to begin with improving efficiency, e.g., saving time on laborious tasks. It would then extend its domain to other possibilities such as improving the accuracy of geoscience workflows.

In Ikon Science we have a pragmatic view of ML, which is to develop algorithms that, in combination with physics-based solutions, offer the most efficient and accurate products.

What progress has been made and what can we expect in the future?

BM: The small neural networks that were, and still are, used for classification purposes in petrophysics 20 years ago were very limited. They typically had less than 100 parameters and several days of CPU time were needed to calculate them. Today, Deep Neural Networks (DNN) with more than 100 convolutional layers, having hundreds of thousands of parameters can be trained to recognize objects in pictures better than human beings! We can expect the same to happen regarding other kinds of applications like geoscience, drilling optimization and production optimization.

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G&G experts, drillers, reservoir and production engineers, think that they’ve got the best workflows… well, let’s try and see if deep learning can do better!

Until last year the oil and gas industry was moving slowly regarding applying AI technologies to exploration and production.

But things are changing now. Everybody has launched ML initiatives and we can expect to see some breakthrough case studies published in the coming 12 months.

What relevant skills or knowledge do professionals in the field need to develop?

EN: Basic knowledge of ML and some hands-on coding experience are beneficial skills for geoscience professionals. My aim in this course is not to transform participants into programmers, but rather to equip them with an adequate level of skill and knowledge to enhance their understanding and utilization of ML products. I also encourage any students enrolled in geoscience programs to get an early initiation into coding and AI as these skills will play a great role in the future of their careers.

The EAGE Education Days Amsterdam takes place on 26-27 November 2019. You can register at the early bird rate before 22 September 2019.

For group registration inquiries, email eage.events@eage.org.

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EAGE NEWS

Gelendzhik twin event strategy proves a winner

Conference participants ready for the start of field demonstrations on a sunny afternoon.

During a sunny spring, Gelendzhik hosted the 15th Engineering and Mining Geophysics Conference and Exhibition, held jointly with an inaugural Marine Technologies event.

The organizing committee for the engineering and mining event was headed by V. Shevnin, professor of geophysical methods and author of more than 87 articles and 16 monographs. For the marine technologies, V. Ignatyev, commercial director, GEODEVICE, chaired the organizing committee.

Gelendzhik’s Blue Wave Resort brought together more than 200 participants, including scientists and representatives of world-leading mining companies. The keynote sessions included a course of lectures delivered

by V. Kulikov. He spoke about using rock polarization properties for solving engineering and mining problems, and demonstrated IP-method capabilities for shallow exploration. Another keynote course on marine electrical exploration was delivered by E. Ageenkov.

During the 14 sessions of the event, more than 120 oral and poster presentations were delivered. As is the tradition, authors of the best reports were awarded grants to cover expenses to visit EAGE’s Near Surface Geoscience 2019 in The Hague. The first-day sessions were followed by a reception where the partici6

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pants could not only sample local cuisine but also to discuss the issues of the day.

The second day’s programme included a special session chaired by A. Shamurzaev on ‘Engineering Geophysics in Permafrost’ focusing on geophysical surveying in the northern parts of Russia.

Presentations were delivered by both geophysicists and design engineers, so the audience had the opportunity to hear the problems from two perspectives.

Such knowledge sharing was considered

Marine equipment demonstration.

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to be very useful by all participants, prompting a move to continue this discussion in the future. A volleyball tournament organized by the EAGE team provided the perfect end of the day.

The lure of the third day was a field demonstration of geophysical equipment showing off the many capabilities of Russian instrumentation. An opportunity to see the marine equipment in action was provided on the last day of the events when everyone was invited on board research vessel Borey moored in Gelendzhik harbour. It goes without saying that Marine Technologies 2019 has now won a corner in the hearts of participants and paves the way for future events of this kind.

The 16th conference and exhibition Engineering and Mining Geophysics 2020 takes place next May in Perm, one of the biggest industrial centres of Russia. This event is seen as an opportunity for regional subsoil users to meet key manufacturers and service providers for knowledge sharing and finding ways to solve the problems they face on a daily basis with mining development and production. Leading mining companies have already expressed their interest in participating in the event.

EAGE NEWS

Value of integrating core and seismic data for facies mapping of lacustrine turbidite fans in the North Falkland Basin

WORKSHOP

REPORT

As part of this year’s EAGE Annual Conference in London, the British Geological Survey (BGS) hosted a workshop focusing on the importance of integrating core data to ground-truth seismic data interpretation, at the National Geological Repository in Keyworth, Nottingham.

Dave McCarthy (BGS-Lyell) and Tom Dodd (BGS-Lyell) summarise the outcomes.

Tom Dodd in his element surrounded by dusty, oil-filled core from the Sea Lion turbidite fan.

The workshop brought together geoscientists from several international universities and supermajor companies to discuss the importance of evaluating core in conjunction with seismic data to understand the distribution and properties of reservoir lithologies within deep-lacustrine basins.

Using core material as a central discussion tool, supplemented by viewing of the seismic data, the workshop addressed issues such as: (i) the importance and value of core data; (ii) how an appreciation of core data can be used to enhance and guide seismic interpretation; (iii) the identification of potential upsides that might have been missed during initial phases of seismic interpretation; and (iv) how these strategies can lead to more accurate reservoir characterization.

Accurate reservoir characterization is essential for maximizing success of an oil field development, which is largely carried out using seismic reflection data and wireline logs. While seismic data provides most of the geometrical and physical attributes required to develop reservoir models, it lacks resolution. The calibration or ‘ground-truthing’ of these techniques 8

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is based on interpretations from detailed core logging.

The goal of reservoir modelling is to try to capture all of the geological uncertainties (reservoir distribution, porosity/permeability properties, and compartmentalisation) and upscale them in a geocellular model to help determine the best production strategy, in order to maximize recovery. Unfortunately, many of these geological heterogeneities are inherently difficult to upscale. The aim of the workshop was to highlight some of the complexities found at core scale, using material from the Sea Lion Fan in the North Falkland Basin, but also illustrate how to effectively use this information to guide iterative seismic interpretation.

Since 1992, the BGS has provided impartial hydrocarbon exploration advice and services in support of hydrocarbon exploration, regulation, licensing and development activities to the Falkland Islands Government. Through this role, BGS has developed an extensive knowledge of the geology of the Falkland Islands and their surrounding basins, in particular the prolific North Falkland Basin (NFB).

Over the last decade, the NFB has been the location for a number of significant hydrocarbon discoveries, in particular the Sea Lion Fan, of which a vast array of data is held by BGS on behalf of the Falkland Islands Government.

Some of the Sea Lion core stored at the National Geological Repository (courtesy of Douglas McClymont).

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The Sea Lion Fan (a.k.a the Sea Lion Main Complex) provides a worldclass example of a hydrocarbon filled deep-lacustrine turbidite fan system. Sea Lion, initially discovered and appraised

by Rockhopper Exploration, is currently in early development stages with Premier Oil as operators. It is estimated to hold ~1.6 billion barrels of oil initially in place, the recoverable portion is considerably smaller. The so-called ‘recovery factor’ (typically 25–35% of the initial resource) is controlled by a range of geological, physical and economic elements. The main factor is of course the geological heterogeneity, or simply put ‘how complex is the reservoir?’

During the exploration and appraisal phases a phenomenal 503 m of conventional core was collected from across the Sea Lion Fan and the laterally adjacent fan systems of Casper, Beverley and Zebedee.

Core was collected from different parts of the Sea Lion Fan (proximal to distal and axial to lateral) and offers us an excellent resource for understanding these reservoirs, furthering our knowledge of facies distribution in deep-lacustrine turbidites as documented in a recent paper in Sedimentology (Dodd et al., 2019) (https://onlinelibrary. wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/sed.12483).

During the workshop, we viewed over 450 m of core material along with wireline logs. Participants had time to make and discuss their own interpretations via an in-depth walk through. Additionally, seismic sections and amplitude extraction maps of key reservoir intervals were interrogated alongside the core, providing a live interpretation process for attendees. Overall, the combined core-seismic workshop provided a rich platform for exchanging ideas and knowledge, which was enhanced by participants sharing their own experiences.

Moreover, there have been a number of requests from attendees to organize a repeat of the workshop, so watch this space!

EAGE NEWS

Decarbonization & Energy Transition SIC states its mission at London Annual The newly launched Special Interest Community (SIC) on Decarbonization & Energy Transition held its face-to-face session at the recent EAGE Annual.

The session included four exceptional speakers addressing different aspects of decarbonization. It was the first opportunity to interact directly with the wider EAGE community and establish a presence within the multi-disciplinary mission of the Association.

Participants reported this a topic that should be part of the conversation more frequently. Discussion about decarbonization was said to open pathways from different sectors, industries and countries by building a holistic view of what energy transition is and how to create a network for knowledge and experience sharing.

This can be translated into programmes and actions and, as was observed, ‘the link with what our industry does is obvious, and these sessions answer questions that everyone is asking about our work’.

The Q&A that followed was an inspiring example of how a good mix of technical insight and wide-ranging vision can trigger a productive exchange.

In the words of one of the attendees, ‘it was relevant. I liked being in a room full of passionate people wanting to improve our businesses. I thought the Q&A session was the most interesting part’.

Following the session feedback and applications received, a formal committee will soon be established to guide the SIC forward. The new group

aims intends to be the reference EAGE platform to promote knowledge and develop skills among geoscientists and

ipating in the organization of future events on decarbonization and energy transition, and connecting with a world-

Prof Iain Stewart presenting at the launch session in London.

engineers working with decarbonization and energy transition technologies, on both the geoscientific and engineering aspects of surface and subsurface decarbonization. This includes CO2 sequestration and the advancement of renewables such as geothermal energy production.

Members of this group are invited to join discussions, circulate news and ideas, and discover all the opportunities offered by EAGE, including the possibility of becoming a reviewer, co-chairing technical sessions, partic-

wide network of professionals. The network is open to all members active in these fields or interested in exploring possibilities.

Ever since its announcement, on the occasion of the Bryan Lovell meeting, organized by the Geological Society of London in January and supported by EAGE, the group has received significant interest from members. If you would like to follow its updates and get involved, please join the ‘EAGE – Decarbonization & Energy Transition’ group on LinkedIn.

EAGE Education Calendar 17-18 SEP

EDUCATION DAYS LONDON: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

15 SEP

EAGE EDUCATION TOUR 1, BY ERIC VERSCHUUR

SAN ANTONIO, USA

23-26 SEP

EDUCATION DAYS MEXICO CITY: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO

27 SEP

EAGE EDUCATION TOUR 13, BY IAN JONES

STANFORD, USA

23-24 OCT

EDUCATION DAYS OSLO: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

OSLO, NORWAY

26-27 NOV

EDUCATION DAYS AMSTERDAM: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

12-15 NOV

EDUCATION DAYS HOUSTON

HOUSTON, USA

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

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EAGE NEWS 

EAGE takes on the digital mantle

No doubt about it, EAGE is taking a leading role in adapting to the opportunities and challenges of what some refer to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the coming era that builds and extends the impact of digitization in new and unanticipated ways.

Latest development has been the launch of a new EAGE Special Interest Community (SIC) dedicated to Artificial Intelligence, an initiative inspired by our membership. A launch event is due to take place in 2020 featuring dedicated

discussions on this most crucial aspect of the digital transformation.

Watch out for the First EAGE Digitalization Conference and Exhibition on 6-9 April in Vienna, Austria (EAGE Digital 2020). It will feature panel discussions with industry leaders, in-depth technical presentations plus a unique exhibition supported by companies leading the way in digitalization for the energy industry.

You can learn more and get involved at www.eagedigi.org. If you want to

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participate directly in the discussions, there is an opportunity to submit an abstract for the planned conference by 19 January 2020.

Throughout 2019 EAGE saw its digital content grow, with a number of successful standalone digitalization events focused on high-performance computing and artificial intelligence.

The Digital Transformation area of the Exhibition of the EAGE Annual 2019 was a good example. It attracted a record number of companies, including heavy hitters such as DellEMC and Lenovo.

Meanwhile another EAGE workshop on High-Performance Computing for Upstream in the Middle East is coming this autumn in Dubai (7-9 October).

EAGE is also a supporter of the privately organized Machine Learning Symposium in Houston on 30 October, when leading experts will gather to discuss advances in machine learning.

EAGE NEWS

YP consider low carbon future at London Annual Meeting The Young Professionals (YP) Special Interest Community (SIC) organized a meeting at EAGE London 2019 for the fifth time with a special session on ‘New Energies for a Low Carbon Future’. The focus was on what this will mean for those aged below 35, who are faced with important decisions for their future careers The programme, coordinated by the YP Committee 2018-2020, included four presentations and a timed roundtable session where speakers swapped tables every 10 minutes to interact directly with as many participants as possible. Iain Stewart (director, Plymouth University Sustainable Earth Institute), Anne Strømmen Lycke (CEO, Norsar), Gareth Burns (vice president and managing director, Equinor Energy Ventures) and Ted Urbancic (strategic advisor, Meta Innovation Technologies) were the speakers and covered a range of interesting angles from

communication skills for geoscientists to flexible career mindset, and from how technology will support education in the future to where the oil and gas industry is addressing the needs of the new energy sector.

The YP Team in London was also in the lead for the one-day Symposium on ‘Your Career’, entirely developed by SIC. Thanks to the positive experience and the input from the participants of last year, the Symposium was organized again at the EAGE Annual. This time the attention turned towards digital skills for young professionals with five participating experts with different backgrounds. From large service companies to start-ups, the audience experienced a sample of the full-range of possibilities for their future careers as shaped by digitalization.

The format was highly interactive.

Each presentation included or was a prac-

tical exercise making the event a truly immersive experience. This year’s speakers were Patrick von Pattay (head of digitalization, Wintershall), Jon R. Rotzien (president, Basin Dynamics), Matthew Lamont (founding partner and managing director, DUG), Didac Gese Jarque (geosciences director of software training & global Petrel training manager, Schlumberger) and Dirk Hesse (programme manager digital safety, security & sustainability, Equinor).

Thanks to the enthusiasm and feedback of the members, the YP have been able to present more initiatives in the past year and to improve on its work. The YP community is also active in developing collaborations with other groups of young professionals worldwide and exploring new projects. For more of these activities and to become part of this collaborative network, join the ‘EAGE – Young Professionals’ via LinkedIn.

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EAGE NEWS

Aberdeen Local Chapter looks to build on prize-winning success Winning the 2019 Best Local Chapter (LC) prize and the cheque for €1000 that went with it was deserving recognition of the achievements of the Aberdeen LC since its formation just two years ago. The prize was accepted by Paul Mitchell, president of the LC, during the EAGE President’s Evening Dinner at the Annual Conference in London in June.

Aberdeen LC has focused its efforts on building a community of geoscientists and engineers in Aberdeen through informative evening meetings and collaboration with other societies. It is particularly proud of the strong relationship that has been built up with PESGB and SPE. Two evening meetings each year are shared with PESGB, and the LC played a key role in developing the SPE’s annual Seismic conference in Aberdeen. Another point of pride is the relationship that has been developed with the University of Aberdeen. LC meetings are held at the prestigious Sir Duncan Rice

Library at the University, and a new EAGE Student Chapter has been formed. Holding LC evening meetings at the University fosters a strong relationship with academia and provides students easy access to industry experts.

There is a busy schedule of events planned for the rest of the year and much to look forward to in 2020. Upcoming talks cover a diverse range of topics including shallow seismic, velocity model building and carbon capture and storage. Next year will see a similar range of talks, active involvement in Seismic2020 and, hopefully, a return of the EAGE Educations Days to Aberdeen.

The LC serves as an important focal point for the geoscience and engineering community in Aberdeen and provides a local presence for EAGE. Through collaboration with other local societies and academia it is hoped to grow the community and continue to build on existing relationships.

Paul Mitchell receiving the Best Local Chapter Prize for LC Aberdeen.

The LC needs support from the community and there are many opportunities to get involved – from participating in its activities, to volunteering for the committee that runs the group. If you would like to get involved, please contact the LC by sending an email to EAGELCAberdeen@gmail. com or through the LinkedIn page (EAGE Local Chapter Aberdeen)

Local Chapter Nigeria: the journey so far and the road ahead

Team photo of LC Nigeria.

EAGE Local Chapter (LC) Nigeria has been celebrating its ‘Best Newcomer Chapter’ prize awarded at the 81st EAGE Annual Conference and Exhibition in London. The cash prize will be spent on developing programmes aimed at equipping its members with new knowledge and tools to be more effective and successful.

LC Nigeria was inaugurated in November 2018 with 10 members coordinating the group with a large following of students, academics and professionals in the country’s

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geoscience and engineering community. A sub-group of students and young professionals was also established. The first event organized by LC Nigeria had over 200 participants in attendance and was streamed online, creating a great learning and networking platform for everyone involved.

The Young Professional (YP) team has identified the need to have qualified geoscientists and engineers to meet the growing demand for energy resources. A series of technical meetings were organized in which young graduates acquire basic knowledge needed for the industry. Some of the topics covered were ’Unravelling SandFilled Channels from Mud-Filled Channels on Seismic’ presented by Omotoso Ezekiel (Belemaoil), ‘Repositioning for the Next Level in Your Energy Career’ by Dr Ifeanyi Ezuka (Neconde Energy Limited), and

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‘Reducing Reservoir Risk in Exploration Plays Using AVO Intercept Gradient Method’ by Adeleke Orimolade (SAPETRO).

The LC has ambitious plans for activities to come, including local training programmes, lectures for students and young and senior professionals. As the world goes digital, topics in the pipeline include Big Data and Artificial Intelligence.

Another initiative of LC Nigeria is a local mentoring programme intended to run for three months aimed at the young professionals of the group. The mentors are expected to provide technical knowledge and soft skills (leadership, management, communication, etc) for their mentees. A work plan has been created to provide a roadmap for the mentoring programme so that YPs receive the needed guidance and direction to advance in their careers.

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EAGE NEWS

The Netherlands opens a new Chapter The official opening event of EAGE LC Netherlands proved a big a success pointing to a promising future. More than 60 enthusiastic geoscientists from the industry, universities and independent research institutes attended the meeting at the Senaatszaal of Delft University.

The programme began with a short introduction to the new LC by its president Diego Rovetta, followed by an overview of the EAGE by the Association’s secretary-treasurer Everhard Muyzert. Both speakers noted that considering the EAGE’s Dutch roots and 68-year history, the creation of LC Netherlands was long overdue.

In an engaging presentation, the main speaker of the evening, Prof Jacob Fokkema, reflected on the question whether geoscience is a science or a technology.

He concluded with his vision for the role of Geosciences in the energy transition.

After a Q&A with Professor Fokkema, the evening ended with a well-attended reception and buffet.

We would like to express our gratitude to the EAGE, Delft University and Aramco Overseas Company, who made the event possible with their help and support.

Looking forward, we would like to welcome you at our upcoming events.

Welcome Local Chapter Netherlands!

On 8-12 September we will be present at the EAGE Near Surface Geoscience Conference and Exhibition 2019 in The Hague. Also mark the date September 26 when we will have an informal networking event in Delft. In October we will present our ‘Geothermal Energy’ lectures, supported by Deltares in Delft, and in November (together with the EAGE Student Chapter at TU-Delft) we will host a social event bringing together students and companies. There is more: we are working on a series of upcoming events covering diverse topics including High Performance Computing in Geoscience, the Energy Transition, Artificial Intelligence in Geoscience, and Climate Change.

Join our LinkedIn page for the latest updates.

We are also enthusiastic about working closely together with EAGE special interest groups Women in Geoscience and Engineering, and EAGE Artificial Intelligence in the near future.

Communication is top issue for Local Chapter Summit Introductions for newcomers and special awards honouring outstanding performance were all part of this year’s Local Chapter (LC) Summit at the EAGE Annual in London in June.

Only established in May this year, representatives from LC Netherlands were welcomed to the gathering as were LC Nigeria and LC Paris, both attending for the first time.

Every year prior to the event, all LCs are asked to submit their annual reports and compete for the Best LC prizes. This year LC Aberdeen was nominated Best Local Chapter 2019 and LC Nigeria won the ‘Best Newcomer’ award. LC Kiev (established in 2004) and LC London (2017) were accorded Honourable Mentions in appreciation of their services to the EAGE community.

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The main item on the Summit agenda was how LCs can best communicate.

Most of their activities take place in the area – city or region – immediately around them. But increasingly they want to collaborate on common projects and connect with other EAGE communities.

This is the rational for representatives from all LCs to meet at the LC Summit during the EAGE Annual to discuss best practices and ideas.

Kick-starting this year’s meeting was a short course presented by a professional LinkedIn coach to discuss and assess the different communication tools and strategies that could maximize the exposure of LCs online. The purpose is to generate a bigger network of participants, contributors and volunteers, all of which are key for the successful

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development of a Chapter. The course covered examples and tips for effectively delivering a message across social media channels, using individual and group networks to build communications, increase members engagement and improve the promotion of local events. It was a useful experience for all: members can already find most of the LCs on LinkedIn or Facebook (the complete list is available at lc-eage.org), and we hope the course will help them as they move forward.

The Summit concluded with an interactive discussion on key issues and areas where LCs are keen to develop in the future, such as involvement of young professionals, emerging new topics, collaborations and sharing of information. Thanks are due to everyone who attended.

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© 2019 TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA. All rights reserved.

EAGE NEWS

International student gathering to remember The student-led and organized International Geosciences Student Conference (IGSC) was back again this summer for its eighth outing, this time in Uppsala, Sweden on 16-20 June. This is the student organizers’ report.

IGSC 2019, closing ceremony.

With the increasing importance of climate change and the energy transition this year’s leading theme was ‘Sharing ideas.

Responsibly securing natural resources’.

The aim of the conference was to draw student’s attention to the role of geosciences in shaping the future.

Practical skills and hands-on experience in trending geoscience topics could be gained in four workshops presented by Equinor, SGU, Guideline Geo and Uppsala University (UU). A soft-skill workshop on pitching was delivered by Drivhuset Uppsala to empower all participants for future presentations. Also, a CV Point was set up on location by UU Careers.

IGSC provides a platform where students from various earth science backgrounds can come together to exchange ideas, present their research and enhance knowledge. Discussing and listening allow for a more elaborate understanding of the complex and diverse field of geosciences.

It also enables the student community to face challenges together and profit from exchanging knowledge and viewpoints.

This year we hosted 38 students from 11 different universities with 15 different nationalities . In the mix were 10 BSc and 19 MSc students as well as nine students pursuing a PhD. The gender balance was maintained with 42.1% female and 57.9% male participants.

Eight oral and 15 student poster presentations were given in the fields of energy, water, sustainability, geohazards and raw materials to make up the core activity of the conference. The topics nicely complemented each other and the depth of questions from the audience was impressive.

Representatives from academia and industry joined us to deliver keynotes on geophysics, geology, raw materials, energy, climate action, and sustainability as well as to take part in a discussion

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panel. A good mix of the speakers from 12 different universities, industries and geoscience organizations provided a demonstration of the diversity of possible future geoscientific career paths as well as respecting gender balance.

Two field trips led to interesting visits outside of town, at the Sala Silver Mine tour and the Ytterby mine with its rare earth elements history.

The event was nicely framed by social activities such as the EAGE Geo-Quiz, the SEG European Challenge Bowl, an ice-breaker party, city-walk, social evenings and a farewell party. As students from Uppsala, we acknowledge the privilege of living and studying in the open-minded and diverse city of Uppsala and we were happy to have all IGSC attendees become part of this community.

Such a conference would not exist without the determination of the organizing team, the contributions of all attendees, the support and the time contributed by so many people that acted behind the scenes. Moreover, IGSC became a reality due to the great support from our sponsors Uppsala University, SEG, EAGE, EIT Raw Materials, DIRAC, Agnico Eagle Sweden as well as our partners North Sea Core, Smart Exploration project, Drivhuset Uppsala, Equinor, SGU and Guideline Geo. As the organizing team of this year’s IGSC, we are very happy to hand the torch to students from Aachen University who will organize the next IGSC in 2020.

EAGE NEWS

Role of geoscience in decarbonization initiatives: work in progress

WORKSHOP

REPORT

At the EAGE Annual in London a workshop on ‘Geoscience and Decarbonization: current status and future directions’ was held to review the role that geoscience and the subsurface could play in decarbonization. This is the report compiled by Michael H. Stephenson, British Geological Survey, Nottingham, UK; Andreas Busch, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK; Sebastian Geiger, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK; and David Schofield, British Geological Survey, Edinburgh, UK

Research drilling in carbon capture and storage (CCS) at Green River, Utah (Courtesy of Andreas Busch).

At the 2015 United Nations international climate change conference in Paris (COP21), 197 national parties committed to limit global warming to well below 2°C. But current plans and pace of progress are still far from sufficient to achieve this objective. Our workshop mainly focused on carbon capture and storage (CCS) and geothermal, with speakers from universities, oil and gas companies, and the British Geological Survey (BGS).

Mike Stephenson (BGS) introduced the session with a brief talk on the importance of geographical clusters in decarbonization describing a meeting that he attended a few weeks before, hosted by the Northwest Hydrogen Alliance in the UK. The meeting brought together 200 representatives of companies, local authorities, scientists, engineers and central Government. The signs of a nascent hydrogen economy were said 18

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to be present in the northwest around Chester, Warrington and Liverpool in the sense that electrolyzers are present, small scale hydrogen storage in salt caverns can easily be created by converting existing natural gas caverns, and there is a small market for municipal hydrogen buses. But the leap to a major regional scale hydrogen economy would require methane steam reforming, large-scale hydrogen storage in salt or aquifers, and carbon capture and storage offshore.

This is being discussed in the northwest of England but implementation is far off. Knowledge of the natural geological advantages that would provide for CCS and hydrogen storage is lacking amongst the stakeholders and is holding back large-scale hydrogen economy implementation.

Andreas Busch of Heriot-Watt followed up with a talk describing the need for a scale up in geological storage of

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CO2 as well as geothermal energy production. Both are currently happening, but at a scale that is rather insignificant.

Large-scale implementation will require geologists and engineers with skills that extend from pore-scale to field-scale and across a wide range of subsurface disciplines. Students need to be taught subsurface geoscience and engineering, hence more dedicated courses at universities are required to support such a scale up. Furthermore, there needs to be more cross fertilization between private sector companies and universities in order to become more cost-effective and to demonstrate long-term safety to regulator and society. There is still a large scope in universities to deploy research capacity in subsurface geoscience and engineering and social science. Most of all, universities and academics need to be less dogmatic and need to concentrate on solutions rather than always highlighting problems, looking for the next grant opportunity.

Dominique Copin of Total described the economic possibilities of CCS envisaging, in the North Sea, a business as large as the present day oil and gas business. He suggested that this could happen not by focusing on costs too much but on the value created by CCS. The particular advantages that CCS provides amongst the array of decarbonization tools is (1) the capability to achieve very high emissions reductions from power and energy-intensive industry; (2) it can be applied to existing and future assets; and (3) it can be scaled up for negative emissions in the event of emission reductions not falling within the envelope needed to comply with the Paris agreement. But Copin also noted that the oil and gas industry is changing, and as its business model adapts to

EAGE NEWS

the requirements of the Paris agreement and profit margins potentially decrease, its industrial capacity (large-scale engineering, high capex projects) will also likely decrease. So perhaps oil and gas companies will be less and less able to participate in CCS. Stuart Haszeldine of Edinburgh University picked up the discussion started

by Copin commenting that CO2 emission reduction finance should be picked up by the taxpayer and the state in the same way that other forms of environmental clean-up are taxpayer-funded.

An example given by Haszeldine was rubbish collection on the streets being organized by local councils and funded by ratepayers.

In a change of tack, Jon Busby (BGS) described the potential for geothermal in the context of decarbonized heat and electricity in the intra-plate geological environment that is the UK. Busby considered geothermal power to be an unlikely option for the UK, but direct heat from deep sandstone and limestone might be an option, as might ground source heat pumps. Clearer policy signals from the UK Government are emerging, for example the ‘Future Homes Standard’ which imposes a ban on fossil fuel heating in new homes from 2025. But to greatly improve the potential for geothermal as a substitute for fossil fuels

in home heating, large-scale geothermal exploration - for example, supported by 3D seismic survey - might be needed.

Nearer to fruition might be mine water heat or heat from abandoned coal mine workings. The new Glasgow Geothermal Research Field Site (GGERFS), a part of the BGS UK GeoEnergy Observatories (UKGEOS; https://www.ukgeos. ac.uk/) may act as a much needed market failure fix to enable coal mine heat.

Large scale geothermal is held back by lack of appropriate legislation which means that exploiters of heat cannot protect their investments. Similarly, in the UK there is no insurance available to drillers, as there is in countries which are more positive about geothermal, such as the Netherlands.

The lively discussion following the talks centred on the need for imaginative financing of geothermal and CCS, looking at public private partnerships, the need to create solutions rather than continual exploration of problems, and the ever present problem of being able to sell the importance of geoscience and its role in decarbonization to a partly sceptical government and public. Sebastian Geiger (Heriot Watt University) described the need for a compelling story behind every large market disruption. He described the way that Tesla, the electric

car manufacturer, has in some parts of the world told a compelling story of personal transport decarbonization while at the same time backing up the vision with a practical framework of electrical charging facilities and servicing support, as well as a supportive Government policy environment encouraging electric car use. This was a great help in getting a new idea going.

The overall conclusion reached at the workshop was that geoscience is critical to decarbonization, but that the geoscience community must influence decision-makers so that the value of the subsurface to decarbonization is understood. A highlighted topic is the need for researchers and influencers to communicate risks and benefits of technologies to the general public. This requires partnerships between geoscience, engineering and social science. Furthermore, pilot schemes are needed, and appropriate regulatory and licensing frameworks to support technologies such as geothermal.

In the technical area we need to develop and design effective and cost-efficient monitoring techniques, and improve scientific understanding of how fluids flow in the subsurface as they pertain to decarbonization technologies such as underground energy storage, CCS and characterization of geothermal resources.

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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Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink News of a coming global water crisis seems to trickle out largely

by Italy. The report notes that water is an inherently local issue so unremarked in most industrialized nations. There are of course that quite large communities within a country with low rated water exceptions – chronic drought in Australia would be one. stress can still experience high stress levels. New Mexico in the US For most of us, water supply is taken for granted. The only is cited as an example. In Europe, not specifically mentioned in the interruption comes from the routine call for restricted use in the WRI report, Rome came close to water shut-off in 2017 as a result summer. This even applies to abundantly provided regions like Britof drought, and a recent Polish government agency report warning ish Columbia, western Canada, where a significant proportion of the of impending water shortage was entitled Poland, European Desert. province’s power is generated by hydro-electricity. Such limitations For doom and gloom merchants there are studies which idenare treated as a minor inconvenience, a common tify where water wars of the future may occur. sense measure to mitigate seasonal factors.

‘For most of us, water One from the European Commission’s Joint How much longer can this apparent comResearch Agency (JRC) refers to hydro-politsupply is taken for placency endure? Probably for some time is ical issues where certain areas have problems the selfish answer since there is apparently no accessing fresh water, e.g. from a lake or river granted.’ immediate cause to fear catastrophe at least in and where a ‘transboundary’ to water exists. continental Europe and North America, according to a new report The research team led by Fabio Farinosi used machine learning to put out by the World Resources Institute (WRI). It was not able to model the factors that might cause a fight of some sort. The chances comment on the impact, if any, of this year’s European heat waves, of such conflict are put at 75-95% in the next 50 to 100 years, in but it did find that water withdrawals globally have more than other words, more or less a dead cert according to current analysis. doubled since the 1960s and show no signs of slowing down.

Unsurprisingly, the five most vulnerable hotspots highlighted in the The study ranks countries facing extremely high levels of study are all around rivers, as in the Nile, Ganges-Brahmaputra, water stress, defined as where irrigated agriculture, industries and Indus, Tigris-Euphrates and Colorado. municipalities withdraw more than 80% of their available supply A popular knee jerk reaction would be to blame this all on clion average every year. Countries in this category are vulnerable to mate change. Obviously less snow, disappearing glaciers, increased fluctuations such as droughts not to mention so called ‘Day Zero’ water evaporation from high temperatures, etc., have an impact, where the water supply for a municipality runs dry, a scenario but the pictures is much more complex. Population growth and narrowly averted by the South African city of Cape Town last year. increasing demand for water is always the number one reason cited Using its Aqueduct analysis tool, WRI states that 17 countries, for increasing scarcity. There were six billion people on the planet home to one-quarter of the world’s population, are already found to in 1999 and we will be up to 8 billion by 2023. An increasingly high be under extremely high baseline water stress. This largely agrees percentage of those people will be city dwellers, as many as 70% by with statistics quoted by the UN and others, for example, which 2050 by some estimates. That adds to the pressure on water supply. state that more than two billion people live in countries experiencing A second reason is the dwindling amount of water available high water stress and 700 million people or more worldwide could as a result of all manner of pollution. A third is farm production’s be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030. appetite. 70% of the world’s fresh water goes to grow crops and No European country is mentioned in the worst afflicted feed animals leading to overuse and also run-off of water carrying countries named by WRI apart from - rather oddly - Republic of San fertilizer and pesticide pollutants into rivers, lakes and streams.

Marino, the wealthy micro state (population 33,000) surrounded Run-off of water in cities is another issue, where much potential

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rainwater is not collected and is drained too quickly into the ocean, discipline of hydrogeophysics. It only really surfaced in the late or is simply too polluted. Then there is water wastage in the home, 1990s but arguably has the potential to provide an increasingly simply from turning on the dishwasher too often, unnecessary long relevant and exciting focus for the geoscience community now and showers, and so on. It all adds up. a professional career path for students in the future.

In looking for solutions, there are advocates for all kinds of The authors state that hydrogeophysics initially focused on measures. A recent sustainability survey poll on water conducted aiding in the development of conceptual subsurface models, but

by GlobeScan and SustainAbility, respectively an opinion research now applications of hydrogeophysics have evolved to provide new agency and a business strategy consultant, canvassed more than insight into subsurface mechanisms. This helps in the parameteriza1200 sustainability experts worldwide. Their top ‘solution’ was the tion of subsurface flow and transport models, and to advance new need for education to change consumption and lifestyles in the protools for monitoring the hydrological and biogeochemical status of cess of making the problem better understood. Other key measures the subsurface environment. They acknowledge there are challengrecommended included invention of new conservation technologies, es, principally that ‘geophysical measurements do not generally improved recycling of wastewater, better irrigation and agricultural provide direct information about hydrogeophysical properties or practices, water pricing, development of energy efficient desalinastates and, as such, their effective use is governed by the strength of tion plants, improved water catchment and harvesting, containing the relationships between estimated geophysical properties and the pollution, and various appeals for better governance at local and properties of interest.’ international level, not forgetting climate change mitigation.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) recognizes that hydrogeoReviewing the challenges and proposed solutions prompts the physics emphasizes a more fully integrated approach to the study question as to whether geoscience can make a relevant contribution of hydrology and geophysics, from project planning through data to address these problems? The answer is a qualified yes, as near collection and into data analysis and interpretation. It states that this surface geophysicists have a track record in groundwater and theme runs through much of the applied research conducted by the hydrology projects but usually with limited organization’s Office of Ground Water, Branch ‘Can geoscience parameters. That’s because the story is compliof Geophysics, particularly in the areas of concated: the study of water is multi-disciplinary can make a relevant taminant detection and geophysical monitoring. and hard to track down.

Tools of the trade include flow meters, electrical There is an excellent report Higher educa- contribution to address resistivity, electromagnetic induction, spectral tion in the Water Sector: A Global Overview gamma logging, gravity, borehole imaging, these problems?’

by Prof Colin Mayfield for the UNU-INEW potential field magnetics, nuclear magnetic res(United Nations Institute for Water, Environment and Health) which onance, neutron logging, radar, seismic, hydraulic, and temperature illustrates this point. It explains how diverse and complex water monitoring methods. programmes can include elements of engineering, biology, chemA seminal moment in the evolution of hydrogeophysics was istry, physics, hydrology, hydro-geology, geography, earth sciences, the Hydrogeophysics Advanced Study Institute held at the Trest public health, sociology, law and political sciences. The percentage Castle in the Czech Republic in July 2002, funded by NATO. That of universities offering programmes in water ranges from 40% in was when around 60 hydrologists and geophysicists met to assess the US and Europe to 1% in sub-Saharan Africa. The report argues the state of the discipline. A contemporary report on the meeting that the multitude of possible institutions and pathways to acquire noted that the shallow surface of the Earth yields much of our a qualification in water means that a better ‘roadmap’ is needed to water resources, supports our agriculture, serves as the repository chart the programmes. The same thinking also applies to students for most of our municipal, industrial and government wastes and seeking a career in the water area of expertise. contaminants, and supports our infrastructure.

This confusion belies the need to ‘improve our understanding It also referred to the urgent need for better understanding of of processes within the subsurface environment which are due the subsurface in view of increased use of chemical pollutants to drivers, including demands on provision of suitable quantities associated with the technological development of countries with of groundwater at appropriate quality; determining the legacy evolving economies and the increased need to develop sustainable of industrial, agricultural, and military sources of groundwater water resources and infrastructure for growing populations. contamination; quantifying terrestrial carbon cycling feedbacks to This admirable mission statement nearly 20 years ago provides climate; ensuring food security; and understanding water resource a benchmark of sorts for progress in the adoption of a hydrogeoimpacts on ecosystem function.’ physics approach to many global water challenges. The literature This statement comes from The emergence of hydrogeophysics indicates that advances have been made in this period, emanating for improved understanding of subsurface processes over multiple mainly from research centres in the developed world. That is perscales (Andrew Byles et al., Water Resour Res., 51(6), 3837–3866). haps inevitable. Hopefully there is no undue delay in the transfer of The paper provides an admirable introduction to the developing this technology and expertise to the places where it is most needed.

Views expressed in Crosstalk are solely those of the author, who can be contacted at andrew@andrewmcbarnet.com.

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Australia launches 2019 offshore licensing round

Seismic firms still waiting for major upturn

Polarcus has posted a small net profit for Q2.

Second quarter results of seismic acquisition companies show that oil prices averaging $69/b in the second quarter and the tight budgets of oil and gas companies have led to a slower recovery than was hoped for at the start of the year.

Of all the publicly listed big companies that include seismic acquisition as a major part of their offering, only Polarcus reported a small second quarter net profit of $600,000 on revenues of $65 million.

The company also reported an operating profit of $9 million on the back of some big contract wins including a wide-azimuth project in the Americas and the industry’s biggest 4D survey. In its outlook, Polarcus said: ‘An oil price around recent levels is a positive driver for E&P spending.

This will increase demand for seismic data acquisition from both E&P companies and multi-client companies.’

However, TGS reported a small second quarter net loss of -$1.7 million on revenues of $105 million (operating profits

$4.6 million) and said in its outlook that the global market for seismic data has yet to fully recover from the downturn of 2014 to 2017. ‘As E&P companies’ cash flow has improved substantially, driven by lower costs and recovering oil prices, the global market for seismic data has gradually improved since the cyclical trough in 2016. However, E&P companies maintain a cautious approach to spending and the size of the market is still below the average level observed over the past 15 years.’

CGG (net loss of -$98 million on revenues of $335 million) and PGS net loss of (-$49 million on revenues of $216 million) were among the seismic acquisition and geophysics companies that took big hits in the second quarter.

More positive for the sector, is that operating profits show that evolving business models are starting to bear some fruit. For example, CGG’s second quarter operating profit was $52 million, compared to $20 million in Q1 2019 and $39 million in the second quarter of 2018. CGG said that a major reason for the improvement was a surge of activity for its Equipment business, which ‘continued to benefit from the strong land equipment market. With the encouraging first half, we significantly improved cash generation as compared to last year,’ said Sophie Zurquiyah, CGG CEO. PGS, which reported a second quarter operating loss of $-7 million, an improvement on an operating loss of -$43 million FIRST

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in the first quarter of 2019, said that its contract acquisition had made a strong recovery, but that multi-client performance had tipped the company into an operating loss. ‘Contract revenues of close to $100 million in the quarter benefited from a strong price increase and good vessel productivity. I am pleased that we are back to making a solid profit and generating significant cash flow from our contract activities,’ said Rune Olav Pedersen, PGS president and chief executive officer. ‘Our multi-client late sales did not benefit from any specific licensing rounds or transfer fees in the quarter, and were lower than normal. We expect late sales to pick up again in the second half of the year.’

ION Geophysical, which reported a net loss -$8.6 million on revenues of $41.8 million said in its outlook that it expected big improvements in ocean bottom seismic sector while while the towed streamer sector would continue to experience only modest improvement.

Chris Usher, ION’s president and chief executive officer, said: ‘While 2019 E&P spending levels are projected to be up slightly, it continues to be unclear how robust exploration activity and funding will be this year. However, we remain cautiously optimistic. Indications from our customers are that the towed streamer space is experiencing modest improvement, while the ocean bottom segment is continuing to expand with strong double digit growth.’

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CGG reports second quarter net loss of -$98 million CGG has reported a second quarter net loss of -$98 million on group revenues of $335 million, compared with a net loss of -$15 million on group revenues of $271 in the first quarter of 2019 and net profit of $49 million on group revenues of $250 million in the second quarter of 2108.

Second quarter operating profit was $52 million, compared to $20 million in Q1 2019 and $39 million in the second quarter of 2018.

Q2 segment revenue of $340 million was up from $282 million in the Q1 2019 and $274 million in Q2 2018. Q1 Segment operating income was $53 million, compared to $11 million in Q1 2019 and $53 million in Q2 2018.

Sophie Zurquiyah, CGG CEO, said: ‘As global offshore exploration continues to gradually recover and our clients maintain focus on improved efficiency, near field exploration and reservoir development, our Geoscience technology and services along with our portfolio of multi-client data are increasingly key profitability levers. Also, our Equipment business continued to benefit from the strong land equipment market. With the encouraging first half, we significantly

improved cash generation as compared to last year and confirm our 2019 full year financial targets. The strategic partnership with Shearwater that we recently announced is a major milestone in our transition to an asset light, people, data, and technology company and we are well on track to close this transaction by yearend.’

Q2 Geology, Geophysics and Reservoir revenue was $220 million, up from $180 million in Q1 2019 and $203 million in Q2 2018. GGR operating income was $40 million compared to $5 million in Q1 2019 and $64 million in Q2 2018.

Sophie Zurquiyah, CGG CEO.

Q2 multi-client revenue was $128 million, up from $89 million in Q1 2019 and $111 million in Q2 2018. Prefunding revenue was $49 million up from $42 million in Q1 2019 and $24 million in Q2 2018.

After-sales were $78 million, up from $47 million in Q1 2019 and down from $87 million in Q2 2018.

CGG’s multi-client programmes were focused on offshore projects in the North Sea, Brazil, and the US Gulf of Mexico.

Q2 Equipment revenue was $123 million, up from $105 million in Q1 2019 and $83 million in Q2 2018. Equipment operating income was $20 million (a margin of 16%) compared to $15 million in Q1 2019 and $1 million in Q2 2018.

External sales of $120 million were up 70% year on year. Land equipment sales were around 70% of total sales, driven by demand in the Middle East and North Africa. Equipment capital employed was $0.6 million at the end of June 2019.

The segment library net book value was $458 million, split 91% offshore and 9% onshore. GGR capital employed was $2 billion.

CGG’s net cash flow in in the first half of the year was $13 million. Q2 net cash flow was -$31 million.

UK offers four licences in 31st round The UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has offered to award four licences to three companies in the 2019 31st Supplementary Offshore Licensing Round, which closed for applications in May 2019.

Eleven blocks were originally on offer in this Supplementary Round which was focused on the Greater Buchan Area of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).

This was the first time the OGA has linked a licence round offer with an Area Plan and the application process included the requirement for applicants

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to demonstrate their wider area plan development concepts and to seek to collaborate with other area licensees and applicants.

The round offered blocks under flexible terms, enabling applicants to define a licence duration and phasing that will allow them to execute the optimal MER UK work programme.

In all, four applications covering five blocks were received and the OGA announced that it is now ready to make offers of award in respect of four licences covering the five blocks.

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Two of the awards are for work programmes that will proceed straight to Second Term, either for potential developments, or redevelopments of fields where production had ceased and the acreage had been relinquished. The remainder of the licences will enter the Initial Term (exploration stage).

Scott Robertson, CNS Area manager, said: ‘From bringing together interested parties at an early stage to releasing extensive digital data in advance of the licence round, the OGA sought to

INDUSTRY NEWS

Shearwater completes 3D survey offshore Cambodia Shearwater has completed a 1200 km2 3D seismic survey in the Cambodia Block A concession, offshore Cambodia, for client KrisEnergy.

SW Vespucci acquired 1200 km2 of data.

ModelVision Magnetic & Gravity Interpretation System

The vessel SW Vespucci acquired around 200 km2 in the Apsara development area to improve imaging of geological faults and sand bodies to aid in the finalization of the design of well trajectories ahead of development drilling that it is hoped will lead to the discovery of first oil.

The other 1000 km2 was acquired over a large prospective area in the southwest portion of the concession area, which has been sparsely explored by old 2D seismic lines, to improve data quality over the prospective trend in the western section of Cambodia Block A. The latest seimsic survey was completed on time.

All sensors Processing 3D modelling 3D inversion Visualisation Analysis Utilities

Minerals Petroleum Near Surface Government Contracting Consulting Education

Polarcus reports small net profit Polarcus has reported a second quarter net profit of $600,000 on revenues of $65 million, compared with a net loss of -$5.3 million on revenues of $67 million in Q1 2019 and a net profit on $2.8 million on revenues of $40 million in Q2 2018.

The company reported an operating profit of $9 million compared to an operating profit of $2.8 million in Q1 2019 and an operating loss of -$0.8 million in Q2 2018.

Polarcus CEO, Duncan Eley said: ‘Polarcus achieved increased earnings in Q2 2019 with revenue and EBITDA improving significantly year-on-year. Tender activity remains elevated and we expect strong levels of demand to continue.’

Segment revenues of $64.8 million in Q2 2019, increased 34% year-on-year driven by a 50% improvement in day rates compared to the same quarter last year.

Revenue growth was achieved despite a reduction in utilization of the company’s fleet to 72% compared to 85% in Q2 2018 as vessels were repositioned early in the quarter for new projects. The revenue increase was also supported by the first Polarcus hybrid project (towed streamer

and ocean bottom node) that was completed during the quarter.

Cost of sales of $45.1 million increased 19% year-on-year mainly due to the operating costs related to the hybrid project.

Total cash at the quarter end was $23.8 million (excluding the $40 million working capital facility), compared to $29 million at the end of the previous quarter.

The company was awarded a multi-vessel wide-azimuth project totalling six vessel months which will commence in August 2019.

Polarcus’ backlog at 30 June 2019 is estimated at $200 million compared to $150 million at the same time last year.

In its outlook, Polarcus said: ‘An oil price around recent levels is a positive driver for E&P spending. This will increase demand for seismic data acquisition from both E&P companies and multi-client companies.’

The company’s fleet is 80% booked for the second half of 2019.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Oil majors report more modest second quarter profits

Oil majors reported weaker than expected second quarter results as a result of average oil prices remaining below $70 a barrel and continued cautious exploration spending.

Equinor has reported second quarter revenue $3.15 billion, down from $4.31 billion in Q2 2018, and $1.13 billion after tax in the second quarter of 2019, down from $1.7 billion in Q2 2018. Operating income was $3.52 billion, down from $3.84 billion in 2018, and the IFRS net income was $1.48 billion, up from $1.22 billion in Q2 2018.

The company delivered total equity production of 2012 mboe per day in the second quarter, on a par with the same period in 2018. Expected natural decline was offset by increased production from new fields and new wells.

At the end of second quarter 2019, Equinor had completed 21 exploration wells with seven commercial discoveries.

Cash flow amounted to $11.96 billion for the first half of 2019 compared to $13.22 billion in the same period of 2018. Organic capital expenditure was $4.82 billion for the first six months of 2019.

BP has reported second quarter underlying replacement cost profit of $2.8 billion, similar to a year earlier.

Operating cash flow, excluding Gulf of Mexico oil spill payments, was $8.2 billion for the second quarter. Reported oil and gas production for the quarter averaged 3.8 million barrels a day of oil equivalent, 4% higher than a year earlier.

First half highlights include the startup of Culzean in the North Sea and four upstream major projects starting production. Final investment decisions were taken in the quarter for new upstream major projects in India and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as agreement for additional investment in Angola.

Bob Dudley, group chief executive, said: ‘At the midpoint of our five-year plan, BP is right on target. And this is also allowing us to grow businesses that can make a significant contribution in the energy transition, helping deliver the energy the world needs with lower carbon.’

Total reported second quarter net income of $2.9 billion and a 9% increase

in production year on year. Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said: ‘Markets remained volatile with Brent averaging $69/b in the second quarter, an increase of 9% compared to the previous quarter, but natural gas prices were down 36% in Europe and 26% in Asia.’

Highlights for the quarter include an agreement with Occidental to acquire the African assets of Anadarko for $8.8 billion; the sale of its mature fields in the UK North Sea for $600 million; the start of production at Kaombo Sul in Angola and the Culzean field in the UK North Sea; the launch of the second development phase for the giant Mero field in Brazil and the third development phase of the Dunga field in Kazakhstan and the start up of a second solar plant in Japan.

Royal Dutch Shell’s second-quarter profit slumped to a 30-month low due to weaker gas prices and refining margins, falling far short of expectations and denting a steady recovery in recent years. Second quarter income of $3 billion compared with $6 billion in Q1 2019 and $6 billion in Q2 2018.

Tullow Oil has reported first half revenue of $0.9 billion and $100 million profit after tax. First half 2019 capex was $248 million; 2019 capex forecast remains unchanged at $570 million.

CGG reprocesses 3D data offshore southeast Australia CGG is reprocessing data in the offshore Gippsland Basin offshore southeast Australia, for client 3D Oil in the hope of uncovering previously unrecognized hydrocarbon traps 3D Oil has won the permit VIC/ P74 covering 1006 km2 on the southern side of the Gippsland Basin, adjacent the giant Kingfish Oil Field offshore southeast Australia.

The company said that the rationale for buying the acreage is based on ‘the likely significant enhancement of the of 3D seismic data in the basin as a result of reprocessing being undertaken by CGG. 26

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‘Exploration of this region has been previously hampered by severe depth conversion issues related to velocity complexities in the shallow section above the reservoir target. Recent advances in reprocessing techniques have made significant improvements in relation to this technical issue as evidenced in 3D Oil’s other Gippsland permit VIC/P54,’ said 3D Oil in a statement.

3D Oil added that it was hopeful that the permit has the potential for significant hydrocarbon accumulations as evidenced by the neighbouring Kingfish Field — the largest oil field ever discovered in Austral-

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ia, which to date has produced more than one billion barrels of oil.

The National Offshore Petroleum Title Administrator (Nopta) has awarded 3D Oil the permit that also contains the Omeo gas and condensate discovery.

3D Oil holds interests in three other offshore permits – VIC/P57, also in the Gippsland Basin (3D Oil 24.9%), T/49P in the Otway Basin adjacent to the Thylacine Gas Field (3D Oil 100%), and WA-527-P (3D Oil 100%) in the Bedout sub-basin adjacent to the recent significant oil discovery at Dorado.

INDUSTRY NEWS

TGS reports second quarter net loss of -$1.7 million TGS has reported a second quarter net loss of -$1.7 million on revenues of $105 million compared with a net profit of $4 million on revenues of $100 million in Q1 2019 and a net profit of $24 million on revenues of $108 million in Q2 2018.

Operating profit was $4.6 million compared to an operating loss of -$500,000 in Q1 2019 and an operating profit of $30 million in Q2 2018.

Q2 segment revenues were $166 million with an operating profit of $43 million, compared to Q1 revenues of $110 million with an operating profit of $17 million in Q1 2019 and revenues of $158 million with an operating profit of $54 million in Q2 2018. Improved revenue was driven by strong late sales in Latin America and North America, said TGS.

Multi-client investments were $87 million compared with $37 million in Q1 2019 and $55 million in Q2 2018. Net prefunding levels were $28 million compared with $14 million in Q1 2019 and $21 million in Q2 2018. Net late sales were $134 million compared to $91 million in Q1 2019 and $136 million in Q2 2018.

Kristian Johansen, CEO of TGS, said: ‘TGS delivered solid sales in Q2 2019 despite high oil price volatility during the quarter. I’m particularly pleased with the strong performance in the Latin America region, where we are starting to see the results of the investments made over the past couple of years.’

Financial guidance for 2019 (excluding Spectrum) shows growth in multi-client investments of approximately 20%.

Pre-funding of new multi-client investments expected to be 40-45%.

TGS’s cash balance at the end of the quarter was $354 million. Net cash flow from operations for the quarter, after taxes and before investments, was $59.7 million compared to $127.8 million in Q2 2018.

TGS’ backlog at the end of Q2 2019 was $130 million, compared to $63 million at the end of Q4 2018 and $86 million at the end of Q2 2018.

TGS had six 3D seismic vessels (four operated under joint venture agreements), one 2D vessel and two multibeam/coring vessels in operation in Q2 2019. In addition, TGS had one OBN crew operating in the Gulf of Mexico during the quarter, and started the second season of the OBN campaign in the North Sea.

ION reports second quarter net loss of -$8.6 million ION Geophysical has reported second quarter revenues of $41.8 million with a net loss of -$8.6 million, up from revenues of $37 million with a net loss of -$24 million in the first quarter of 2019, and

Screenshot of ION’s Marlin software.

revenues of $24.7 million and a net loss of -$25 million in the second quarter of 2018.

Adjusted EBITDA of $7.3 million for the second quarter of 2019 was up from -$4.6 million in Q1 2019 and -$7.9 million in Q2 2019.

The company said that its improved results were driven primarily by a significant increase in data library sales, an increase in marine equipment replacement and repair revenues, and continued increases in Marlin deployments.

At 30 June, 2019, the company had total liquidity of $67.6 million, consisting of $29.6 million of cash in hand and $38 million of available borrowing capacity under its $50 million revolving credit facility.

‘We had a strong quarter, especially given the continued fiscal discipline among E&P operators,’ said Chris Usher, ION’s president and chief executive officer. ’As expected, we had very focused engagement from our E&P clients on targeted exploration programmes primarily in North and South America.

‘We have sanctioned six new multi-client programmes so far this year. We also made significant headway on the commercialization of 4Sea and SailWing, which target one of the real growth segments in our industry. In addition, we leased our first SailWing system and new rechargeable battery technology. We are also continuing to expand and enhance our Marlin offshore operations optimization software for both E&P and adjacent markets. Our Optimization Services revenues were at an all-time high, driven by Marlin deployments.’

E&P Technology & Services segment revenues were $28.5 million, up from FIRST

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$27 million in Q1 2019 and $15 million in Q2 2018.

Multi-client revenues were $22.8 million, a year-on-year increase of 132%. Data library revenues increased 932%, driven by demand for data in North and South America.

Imaging Services revenues of $5.7 million increased 7% year-onyear. However, a ‘significant number of new projects closed during the quarter, further increasing Imaging Services backlog to its highest level since 2015,’ said ION. Operations Optimization segment revenue was $13.2 million, up from $9.8 million in Q1 2019 and $9.5 million in Q2 2018.

Optimization Software & Services revenues were $5.7 million, a 19% increase from the second quarter 2018 due to an increase in deployments of ION’s Marlin offshore operations optimization software. Devices revenues were $7.5 million, a 58% increase from the second quarter 2018, driven by an increase in marine equipment replacement and repairs.

Operating expenses were $22.1 million, compared to $21 million.

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TGS speeds up customization of data TGS has increased speed of access to its geoscience database with the launch of the EIQ TGS Data Loader, developed in collaboration with EnergyIQ. Companies can automatically blend data with proprietary customer data in an enterprise well master data management platform for advanced analysis and decision making.

The EIQ TGS Loader processes data by automatically accessing and processing TGS web services. This data is matched, validated and blended with other proprietary and third-party sources within a PPDM gold compliant data model to create the most trusted version all available

data in a single repository. The data is then provided in a 10/12/14 digit format for consumption by enterprise, interpretation, and analytics applications.

Carl Neuhaus, TGS vice-president for well data products, said: ‘Customers are now able to further shorten cycle times by seamlessly integrating interpretation-ready data into their daily workflows and analytics tools.’

Steve Cooper, EnergyIQ president, said: ‘Our customers can now blend their TGS subscription data with in-house and other data sources.’

Users can schedule the loading of daily, incremental data from TGS

Validated Well Header and TGS Well Performance data sources directly to the EnergyIQ TDM database. Once the data from TGS automatically flows into TDM, it can then be scheduled to be loaded into a user’s preferred GG&E platform, including Petra, Kingdom, Geographix, Openworks, Petrel, Aries, and Wellview.

In addition, blended data can be delivered directly to business intelligence platforms such as Spotfire, Tableau, Power BI and map (GIS) applications, ensuring that businesses have the best data available, in the most effective format, said TGS.

Equinor wins contract for large-scale windfarm offshore New York Equinor’s Empire Wind has won a contract to build New York State’s first largescale offshore wind farm.

The project is expected to be developed with 60-80 wind turbines, with an installed capacity of more than 10 MW each. Total investments in the scheme will be approx. $3 billion, and the project will be able to power more than 500,000 homes in New York, with an expected start up in late 2024.

Two years after Equinor secured an 80,000-acre lease area in the New York Bight for Empire Wind, the company has been selected to negotiate a longterm contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for offshore

wind renewable energy certificates (ORECs).

‘Empire Wind represents a breakthrough for Equinor’s global offshore wind ambitions and is an important step in our development as a broad energy company,’ said Pål Eitrheim, executive vice-president for Equinor New Energy Solutions.

‘We have demonstrated that we can be successful in fierce competition, with our first wind project outside of Europe. The project will be the biggest wind farm under contract in our portfolio so far.’

The 816 megawatt (MW) offshore wind project will help to meet the state’s renewable energy and climate goals, including its goal of 9000 MW of offshore wind by 2035.

TGS wins five-year data processing contract for US federal agency TGS has been won a five-year contract renewal for digital well log data processing with the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), a federal agency tasked with overseeing offshore oil and gas activities.

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TGS will be continue to be the agency’s official release agent for new offshore well data and will carry out all the digital well log processing for all four BSEE regions (Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, Alaska, and Atlantic).

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TGS has been providing Digital Well Log Data Processing services to BSEE since 2004. The TGS well data library includes more than 1.6 million immediately available LAS files, as well as more than 6.2 million raster log images in the US.

INDUSTRY NEWS

GulfSlope plans seismic study offshore Louisiana

GulfSlope Energy has announced it is planning a seismic amplitude package ahead of drilling a replacement well at the Ship Shoal block 336 on its Tau Prospect, offshore Louisiana in the Outer Continental Shelf.

After being granted a three-year extension on the licence by the US federal Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management, GulfSlope will prepare the seismic amplitude package immediately below 16,500 feet (5300 m) will map the T, U and V sands that produce oil at the nearby Mahogany Field, as well the deeper M-3, M-4, M-5 and M-6 Miocene levels.

Based on proprietary mapping of reprocessed 3D seismic data coupled with advanced noise suppression technology, the total resource potential in the Tau Prospect is estimated to be in excess of 300 million barrels of oil equivalent.

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Santos gets on with drilling for shale in Australia Santos has received approval for the first Environmental Management Plan (EMP) to be awarded for onshore shale gas exploration in Australia’s Northern Territory since the moratorium was lifted in early 2018.

The company, which recently acquired 2D seismic data across the area, can now proceed with drilling Tanumbirini 2H and Inacumba 1/1H wells in Exploration Permit 161 in the McArthur Basin, east of Daly Waters.

Santos managing director and chief executive officer Kevin Gallagher said approval of the Drilling EMP is an important milestone that clears the way to restart onshore shale gas exploration in the resource-rich McArthur Basin.

‘We drilled Tanumbirini 1 in 2014 and liked what we saw, so we are delighted to be in a position to resume exploration drilling,’ Gallagher said. ‘With the new regulatory regime in place to ensure that the environment and water resources are protected, we’ll be moving as quickly as possible and doing our best to beat the approaching wet season.’

Santos is the operator of, and has a 75 per cent interest in, the permit. It is currently completing drilling of the Dukas 1 well in the Amadeus Basin.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

PGS reports second quarter net loss of -$49 million

PGS has reported a second quarter group net loss of -$49 million on revenues of $216 million, compared to a net loss of -$65 million on revenues of $141 million in Q1 2019 and a net profit of $10 million on revenues of $199 million in Q2 2018.

The company made a Q2 operating loss of -$7 million compared with an operating loss of -$43 million in Q1 2019 and an operating profit of $31 million in Q2 2018. PGS made a second quarter segment operating profit of $18 million, compared with a loss of -$29 million in Q1 2019 and a segment operating profit of $14 million in Q2 2018.

Q2 contract revenues were $94 million, up from $30 million in Q2 2018.

Second quarter multi-client revenue of $67 million with a prefunding level

of 102% was up from $30 million with a prefunding level of 48% in Q1 2019 and $94 million and a prefunding level of 116% in Q2 2018.

Multi-client late sales of $45.6 million were down from $61 million in Q1 2019 and $69 million in Q2 2108.

Cash flow from operations was $108 million (65% multi-client), compared to $122 million in Q2 2018 and $120 million in Q2 2018.

The company’s order book stood of $300 million, up from $238 million in Q1 2019 and $187 million in Q2 2018.

Rune Olav Pedersen (pictured), PGS president and chief executive officer, said: ‘Our order book increased by 26% in the second quarter. Pricing for recent contract awards is consistent with our earlier indication of more than 35% increase of 2019 prices compared to 2018 average.

‘Contract revenues of close to $100 million in the quarter benefited from a strong price increase and good vessel productivity. The seismic market continues to improve. The order book increase in the quarter is mainly driven by a higher volume of contract work. At the same time we are progressing on firming up multi-client programmes for the second half. We are now fully booked for the third quarter, and also fully booked for seven vessels in the fourth quarter, which

is one additional vessel compared to the six vessels we operated last winter season.

‘In May we initiated a refinancing which was subsequently withdrawn due to a negative change in capital market conditions. We expect to generate positive cash flow and reduce net debt in 2019.

Our existing capital markets debts still have 17 and 20 months to maturity and are at attractive terms. We expect to refinance these facilities in 2019.’

In its outlook, PGS said that it expects ‘significant cash flow generation among clients and an increase in exploration and production spending, including offshore spending, to contribute to further recovery of the marine seismic market fundamentals going forward. Contract seismic is the activity currently benefiting the most from the improvement, driven by more 4D acquisition and generally higher demand for new proprietary seismic data.’

Based on current operational projections PGS said that it expects full-year 2019 gross cash costs of approximately $550 million. Full-year multi-client cash investments are expected to be approximately $225 million.

Approximately 50% of 2019 active 3D vessel time is currently expected to be allocated to multi-client acquisition.

Capital expenditure for 2019 is expected to be approximately $70 million.

US launches latest sale in Gulf of Mexico The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) offered 77.8 million acres in its latest region-wide lease sale on 21 August. The sale included all available unleased areas in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Lease Sale 253 is the fifth offshore sale under the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Programme and included approx. 14,585 unleased blocks, located from three to 231 miles (4.8 to 372 km) offshore, in

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the Gulf’s Western, Central and Eastern planning areas in water depths ranging from nine to more than 11,115 feet (2.7 to 3400 m).

The Gulf of Mexico OCS, covering about 160 million acres, is estimated to contain about 48 billion barrels of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and 141 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered technically recoverable gas.

Leases resulting from this proposed sale would include stipulations to protect

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biologically sensitive resources, mitigate potential adverse effects on protected species, and avoid potential conflicts associated with oil and gas development in the region.

Additionally, 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, in recognition of ‘current hydrocarbon price conditions and the marginal nature of remaining Gulf of Mexico shallow water resource’.

INDUSTRY NEWS

ION launches 3D reimaging programme offshore Denmark to support future licensing rounds ION Geophysical has launched a 3D multi-client reimaging programme offshore Denmark.

The initial 2200 km2 phase of the 10,250 km2 programme is aligned with the Danish Energy Agency’s objective to boost exploration activity by providing a modern, affordable 3D depth-imaged data set. The programme will support upcoming biannual licensing rounds, the ninth of which is expected to open in 2020. Initial data is expected to be delivered this month and final data in January 2020.

‘The North Sea is one of the most prolific hydrocarbon basins in the world and the Danish sector has been producing oil and gas for nearly five decades,’ said

Joe Gagliardi, senior vice-president of ION’s Ventures group. ’As a stable and attractive oil and gas investment area with an estimated 3 billion barrels of reserves, the fresh turnover of blocks and new players provides an exciting opportunity for a regional depth-imaged 3D survey to help drive a new wave of exploration success. We are leveraging our proprietary imaging experience and advanced model building and imaging tools, including full waveform inversion, to tackle the imaging challenges associated with the area. We are confident this product will support E&P operators as they seek to maximize the value of these remaining reserves.’

Seabird West Africa survey delayed by Digistreamer technology problems Seabird expects to report an EBITDA loss for the second quarter of 2019 of -$1.7 million, which includes a -$1.3 million loss relating to the delayed West Africa 3D survey, now due to complete by mid-September 2019.

Harrier Explorer and the Nordic Explorer are rigged with the ‘Digistreamer’ technology and both vessels are affected by difficulties with availability and lead-time of select seismic streamer equipment parts. This includes a significant increase in the repair period for streamer sections because repair facilities and certain components were significantly downscaled after the 2014 downturn.

The company placed orders for repair of streamers and for new streamer-related equipment shortly after the contract awards. However, the combined effect of the worse-than-expected condition of the Nordic Explorer streamer pool equipment increased the repair period and has delayed the project by some two months.

The survey is now being acquired with two streamers versus four streamers as originally planned. The extended survey duration will result in increased

Repairs to the Nordic Explorer have contributed to Sea Bird’s Q2 loss.

operating expenses and generate an estimated project loss -$1.4 million.

The continuing 2D survey in the Americas is expected to be completed in September 2019 which is about two months later than the original plan. The delay will result in a near zero project margin.

Meanwhile, Osprey Explorer is starting a two-month source project in the Norwegian Continental Shelf with an estimated completion late September/early October.

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Finally, Seabird has completed the purchase of the vessel BOA Galatea following on from the acquisition of BOA Thalassa on 13 June. A total of 23,055,372 new shares have been issued as part consideration for the vessel. As a result, the company has 538,931,387 shares, each of par value $0.01. Seabird said that the new vessels are ‘well suited for source and 2D operations, as well as EM seabed logging’.

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Fugro sells data in Newfoundland Fugro and partner Amplified Geochemical Imaging (AGI) have sold multiple licences for data from frontier regions off the east coast Canada.

The data were acquired during two separate hydrocarbon seep surveys in the Orphan Basin (2017) and Carson Basin (2018), both situated on the continental margin of Newfoundland.

The data packages are being licensed

by Fugro and include multi-beam echo sounder data (bathymetry, backscatter intensity and water column), sub-bottom profiler data, heat flow measurements and shipboard geochemical screening analyses; and advanced geochemical analyses, including biomarkers on select samples.

The Orphan Basin package covers an area of 11,070 km2 and the Carson Basin package covers an area of 18,880 km2.

Each survey was followed by heat flow and geochemical sampling and analysis.

‘Both programmes were planned so that purchasing clients would have the data in advance of the upcoming lease rounds, so data could be used in derisking their potential investment. Purchase post lease round is also advantageous from numerous perspectives including guiding – and potentially reducing the scope of expensive 3D seismic surveys. Geochemical datasets (shipboard, conventional shore-based and AGI adsorbent-based analyses) all suggest the presence of thermogenic hydrocarbons,’ said Fugro.

Fugro will also lead further investigations, including the establishing of environmental baselines, evaluation of seafloor geohazards and preliminary planning for field development.

‘With the keen interest in these licences to international E&P companies, and recent record-breaking bids in the Orphan Basin, it is clear to us there is much excitement surrounding Canada’s growing offshore industry and Newfoundland and Labrador’s licensing rounds,’ said Keith Kneale, Fugro’s business development director for the Americas.

Nalcor Energy-Oil and Gas was a partner in these work programmes.

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Seismic data identifies leads in eastern Australia Vintage Energy has processed and reprocessed seismic data to identify 27 new leads and prospects within the Galilee Basin permits in eastern Australia, with one lead progressed to ‘drill ready’ status.

This data was generated from the recently completed 336 km Koburra 2D seismic survey within the Galilee Basin ATPs 743, 744 and 1015, as well as from the reprocessing of 896 km of existing 2D seismic data.

The main objectives of the Koburra 2D seismic survey were to identify regional trends across a wide area of the permits for future seismic acquisition, and develop a number of existing leads towards drillable prospect status. One of the areas of focus was the prospective Lake Galilee structure, over which four new lines were acquired. The Lake Galilee structure is approx. 20 km2 and adjacent to the existing Lake Galilee-1

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well, which appears to have been drilled outside of structural closure and provides significant potential.

The recovery of oil and gas to surface from the down-dip Lake Galilee-1 well, drilled in 1964, has underpinned a ‘high level of optimism for the potential of the Lake Galilee structure,’ said Vintage..

The interpretation work undertaken by the joint venture has also added four new leads and prospects, taking the total to leads and prospects within the Permits to 27. It is expected that these leads and prospects will be subject to further seismic acquisition.

Vintage has 15% of the Galilee Basin Deeps Joint Venture (Comet 85%). This will increase to 30% on the completion of the Stage 2 farmin funding obligations relating to the completed Koburra 2D seismic programme and the drilling of Albany-2 and Albany-1/ST1.

UK decommissioning costs come down The estimated cost of decommissioning the UKCS’s remaining oil and gas infrastructure is continuing to reduce, according to the latest analysis by the UK Oil and Gas Authority.

The UKCS Decommissioning Cost Estimate 2019 report shows strong progress towards the target of reducing decommissioning costs by at least 35%.

Estimated costs have been cut to £51 billion in 2019 (compared to £59.7 billion in 2017) despite including more assets and infrastructure than the 2017 inventory.

The OGS said that the reduction has been primarily driven by continued improvement in planning and execution practices, leading to reductions in the estimated cost of well plug and abandonment in the Northern

2019

North Sea (NNS) and Central North Sea (CNS); platform running costs in the NNS; platform and subsea infrastructure removals in the NNS and CNS and reduced contingency associated with improved estimating.

The analysis also reveals that actual decommissioning expenditure in 2018 was reported to be £400 million lower than estimated the previous year, which is around 90% of the actual total project cost reduction.

INDUSTRY NEWS

UK oil and gas industry improves environmental performance The UK offshore oil and gas industry has delivered good environmental performance while the sector has increased production levels, according to a report published by the industry group OGUK. The 2019 Environment Report, which analyses and interprets data gathered and monitored by the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED), reported a 3% reduction in CO2 emissions in 2018, compared to 2017, while production increased by 4% year-on-year; upstream oil and gas operations contributed 3% (14.65 million tonnes CO2) of total UK greenhouse gas emissions; just under 120,000 tonnes of waste in 2018, a 22% decrease on 2017; a 39% increase in decommissioning waste from 2017 – however, 72% was either re-used, recycled or used for power generation; 293 accidental

Emissions related to the UK oil and gas industry fell by 3% last year.

oil releases totalling 14 tonnes, the lowest annual total since 2011.

Louise O’Hara Murray, OGUK’s environment manager, said: ‘OGUK is actively working with its members to understand solutions to meet our commitment to the UK’s net-zero ambition by 2050 and the expectations of society whilst maintaining sovereignty of supply.

‘We need a diverse energy mix in the transition to a net-zero future to maintain our security of supply. The forecast demand for oil and gas in the UK in 2050 will exceed current estimates of supply from the UK Continental Shelf, and maintaining energy sovereignty means avoiding premature cessation to UKCS production and displacement of production to other basins.’

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Seabed Geosolutions wins contract for 4D contract in West Africa Seabed Geosolutions has won contract for a 4D ocean bottom node (OBN) monitor survey in West Africa for a major oil company. The project, for which the data is expected to be acquired over a two-month period during the third quarter of 2019, will cover 151 km2 in water depths up to 600 m. The ocean bottom nodes will be deployed by remotely operated vehicles.

Stephan Midenet, CEO of Seabed Geosolutions said: ‘We are excited to secure another survey for this repeat customer, creating a better understanding of the development of their reservoir. It will secure backlog continuity for our CASE Abyss crew and the Hugin Explorer vessel.’

xxxx

ION and iSEISMIC team up to develop seabed acquisition technologies ION Geophysical has agreed to collaborate with iSEISMIC on seabed acquisition technologies. iSEISMIC plans to utilize the full suite of ION’s next generation 4Sea ocean bottom acquisition and imaging technology for seabed surveys.

‘This collaboration validates our component approach and provides ION with an exciting opportunity to further participate in the growing, high-value seabed market and extract recurring revenue from the value our technology delivers, without compromising our asset light strategy,’ said Chris Usher, ION’s president and chief executive officer. ‘Deploying 4Sea as a complete system will enable iSEISMIC and our multi-client customers to gain maximum benefit from this fully integrated transformational architecture for exceptionally efficient OBS data acquisition .’

Carl Berg, iSEISMIC’s chief executive officer, said: ‘This partnership 34

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presents a unique opportunity for both companies to leverage significant synergies to gain a strengthened foothold in the OBS market. ION is an ideal partner as their multi-client business development, imaging expertise and revolutionary technology nicely complements our team’s aggregated operational experience acquiring over 150 surveys, including more than 50 OBS surveys, while deploying a range of new technologies.

After considering a number of industry alternatives, we believe the full suite of ION’s 4Sea technologies will enable us to achieve a radical breakthrough in OBS performance and give us a range of competitive advantages, he added. ‘As a first mover with the complete 4Sea platform, including the fully automated deployment and retrieval system, we will have the fastest operational speed in the industry, significantly faster than today’s standard.’

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EMGS nearly doubles Q2 revenue yearon-year EMGS has reported second quarter revenues of $14.5 million, up from $7.9 million in the second quarter 2018 and $10.8 million in the first quarter 2019.

Adjusted EBITDA of $2.1 million is up from a loss of -$3 million in the second quarter 2018.

The company’s quarterly cost base, consisting of all operational costs including multi-client investments and vessel and office lease expenses, increased from $10.9 million in the second quarter last year to $12.4 million this quarter.

Backlog at the end of the quarter was $97 million.

EMGS CEO, Bjørn Petter Lindhom, said: ’The award from BP for a survey in Mauritania and Senegal, marks our return to Africa, and shows that our efforts and focus on getting the majors to use our technology in the Atlantic Margin is starting to pay off.’

Meanwhile, EGMS has won a $1 million contract from Nabirm Global for a proprietary 3D CSEM survey over Block 2113A, Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL 0058) in the Walvis Basin offshore Namibia.

Under the contract, EMGS will also provide processing, inversion and interpretation services to Nabirm post acquisition.

The acquisition is expected to take place in Q1/Q2 2020, with a backstop date (automatic termination in the event if no vessel availability) of May 2020.

EMGS revenues are up to $14.5 million.

NEWS RELEASE

August 15, 2019.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Australia launches 2019 offshore licensing round The Australian Government has announced the 2019 Offshore Petroleum Acreage Release, comprising 64 areas, the largest since 2000. More than 120,000 km2 of

Some 120,000km2 of acreage is on offer.

acreage will be released for a single round of work programme bidding.

BRIEFS The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has signed an agreement with state-owned Indonesian energy company Pertamina for oil and gas collaboration. The agreement covers participation in the United Arab Emirates’ upstream oil and gas sector and globally.

‘This will be the first release of acreage under a new streamlined system which delivers an annual investment cycle that simplifies bidding, offers greater transparency and responds faster to the market demand,’ said a statement from the Australian government.

Areas are available for exploration across five basins in Commonwealth waters off Western Australia, Victoria and the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands. All areas in the 2019 Acreage Release are based on industry nominations and were subject to public consultation.

Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Matt Canavan: ‘Areas for this year’s release are heavily concentrated in the north-west. I am pleased to see industry interest in petroleum exploration in south east Australia, with nominations leading to seven areas being available for bidding.’

Maps for the 2019 acreage release and information on the bidding process can be found at industry.gov.au/2019-acreage-release.

Aker BP has completed drilling wildcat well 25/2-21 in the central part of the North Sea in reservoir rocks from the Early Miocene period (the Skade formation). The discovery is estimated to contain between 13 and 32 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil. The company has also completed the Liatårnet exploration well in licence 442 in the north of the Alveim Krafla Askja (NOAKA) area in the North Sea. The well has proved oil with a gross resource estimate of 80-200 mmboe.

Zion Oil and Gas has commissioned an unnamed contractor to carry out a 3D survey over its Megiddo Jezreel licence area in northern Israel. The contractor has begun obtaining necessary infrastructure permits, acquiring accurate landowner identification for the seismic area, meeting with landowners and authorities, and obtaining permits for importation of the seismic source vehicles and equipment from Europe.

Energean wins licences offshore Israel Energean Oil and Gas has won four new licences for oil and gas exploration in Israel’s Exclusive Economic Zone after the country’s second offshore licensing round.

In partnership with Israeli Opportunity (20%), it won licences in Block D, located 45 km off the Israeli coast – including 55,56,61,62. Energean has identified a prospect within Zone D analogous to the prolific Tamar Sand fields (Karish, Tamar, Leviathan) offshore Israel. The prospect is believed to extend towards the SW of the licence contingent to further seismic processing.

A relatively shallow Mesozoic prospect was also identified (four-way closure).

Bids were made for 12 out of 19 oil and gas blocks, including offers from

British companies Cairn Oil and Soco in partnership with Israel’s Ratio Oil. The 19 licences, each up to 400 km2, were grouped into five zones (Zones A-E), each up to 1600 km2.

Minister of energy Dr Yuval Steinitz, said: ‘The proposals that we received will increase significantly the number of oil and gas exploration licenses in Israel’s Exclusive Economic Zone, from 8 to 20.

‘The arrival of additional European companies to Israel, combined with the fact that the Leviathan platform will soon be connected to the shore and the ongoing work on the development of the Karish field, will lead to the break-up of the monopoly and enhance competition in this sector.’

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The UK Oil and Gas Authority has launched a restricted ’Out of Round’ offer of two blocks 3/24c and 3/29c, around the Northern North Sea Rhum Field. The offer is open for 90 days and will close on 30 October 2019.

Decisions are expected in Q4 2019.

Equinor is investing $270 million in a water injection plant on the Gudrun field to improve reservoir recovery.

This will extend the field life by three years compared to the original plan. The water injection project will produce water from the Utsira formation and reinject it into the reservoir for pressure support and increased production. In addition, a new production well will be drilled.

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How much would you value a faster seismic simulation?

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Arm is known for working with silicon partners to bring highly efficient and performant chips and new platform choices to HPC. But did you know we offer the leading professional tools suite for optimizing seismic simulations and reservoir models on any platform? Hence you can use the tools whether or not you have access to a new Armbased cluster.

Arm Forge is a powerful parallel Linux debugger, profiler and performance analysis tool, helping a broad range of customers in Oil and Gas to run their computational research faster by removing code-related bottlenecks in scalable applications such as RTM and reservoir modeling.

Take a free trial of the market-leading optimization suite, Arm Forge, to discover how to run your simulations faster.

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Special Topic

MACHINE LEARNING

The modelling, acquisition, processing and imaging and interpretation of seismic data is being transformed by the development of machine learning.

Geophysicists are increasingly utilizing artificial intelligence to do the work that was once done by human minds. People are consequently freed up to look more at the bigger picture. This month our new special topic on machine learning showcases its applications in a number of areas in the industry.

Maïza Bekara et al describe a new approach to automate the quality control of denoise processes in seismic data processing using machine learning.

Samuel R. Fielding uses ML to interrogate factors driving uptake in various geoscience domains.

Ehsan Zabihi Naeini et al demonstrate the efficiency of Transfer Learning in obtaining a model for new wells investigated and highlight the usefulness of automated machine learning or Auto-ML for short.

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

Jonathan Leal et al present a new approach to discriminate Net Reservoir using multi-attribute seismic analysis at single sample resolution, complemented by bivariate statistical analysis from petrophysical well logs.

A. Garg et al use a deep learning super-resolution network to upscale the data by a factor of two in the spatial direction and remove the spatial aliasing present in the data.

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 EAGE’s ScholarOne website: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fb

July

Energy 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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CALENDAR

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 24-25 OCT

First EAGE Workshop on Pre-Salt Reservoir in Rio de Janeiro

www.eage.org Rio de Janeiro Brazil

September 2019 1-6 Sept

29 th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry (IMOG 2019) www.imog.eaog.org

Gothenburg

Sweden

2 Sept

Young Professionals Summit 2019 www.eage.org

Aberdeen

Scotland

2-5 Sept

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

8-12 Sept

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

Palermo

Italy

8-12 Sept

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

The Hague

Netherlands

9-12 Sept

24th World Energy Congresss www.worldenergy.org

Abu Dhabi

UAE

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

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CALENDAR

October 2019 1-3 Oct

Sakhalin – Far East Hydrocarbons 2019 www.eage.org

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

Russia

6-9 Oct

16th SAGA Biennial Conference & Exhibition www.sagaconference.co.za

Durban

South Africa

7-9 Oct

Fourth EAGE Workshop on High Performance Computing for Upstream in the Middle East HPC Through the 4th Industrial Revolution www.eage.org

Dubai

United Arab Emirates

14-17 Oct

Third Borehole Geology Workshop www.eage.org

Muscat

Oman

21-25 Oct

ASF 2019 - 17ème Congrès de Sédimentologie https://asf2019.sciencesconf.org

Beauvais

France

24-25 Oct

First EAGE Workshop on Pre-Salt Reservoir in Rio de Janeiro www.eage.org

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil

29-30 Oct

Asia Petroleum Geoscience Conference & Exhibition (APGCE 2019) www.eage.org

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

30 Oct

2019 Oil & Gas Machine Learning Symposium http://www.upstreamml.com

Houston

USA

30-31 Oct

First EAGE/AAPG Forum on Human Resource Role in the E&P Industry www.eage.org

Manama

Bahrain

November 2019 5-8 Nov

ProGREss’19: Exploration as a Business Oil and Gas International Exploration Conference www.eage.org

Sochi

Russia

11-13 Nov

EAGE Workshop on Faster Subsurface Characterisation for Reservoir Modelling - integrated and innovative workflows from geoscience to dynamic simulation www.eage.org

Perth

Australia

14-15 Nov

Second EAGE/AMGP/AMGE Latin-American Seminar in Unconventional Resources www.eage.org

Mexico City

Mexico

18-20 Nov

Fifth EAGE Workshop on Borehole Geophysics Bridging the Gap between Surface and Reservoir www.eage.org

The Hague

Netherlands

18-20 Nov

Third EAGE WIPIC Workshop: Reservoir Management in Carbonates www.eage.org

Doha

Qatar

19-21 Nov

Second EAGE Eastern Mediterranean Workshop www.eage.org

Athens

Greece

19-20 Nov

First HGS/EAGE Conference in Latin America www.eage.org

Houston

United States

25-27 Nov

Fifth EAGE/AAPG Tight Reservoirs www.eage.org

Dhahran

Saudi Arabia

28-29 Nov

1st Indian Near Surface Geophysics Conference & Exhibition www.eage.org

New Delhi

India

December 2019 2-4 Dec

2 nd EAGE-VPI Conference on Reservoir Geoscience www.eage.org

Hanoi

Vietnam

3-5 Dec

First EAGE Western Africa E&P Workshop www.eage.org

Accra

Ghana

5-6 Dec

First EAGE Workshop on Pre-Salt Reservoir www.eage.org

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil

EAGE Events

Non-EAGE Events

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Get to your target faster with TGS’ Machine Learning technologies

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TGS has developed a modern analytics workflow, SaltNet, that proves to reduce cycle time by up to 80% when picking top and base of salt within a seismic dataset. With TGS’ new predictive workflow, operators can automatically build salt models which can be efficiently integrated into the salt prediction process.

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