First Break January 2020 by EAGE

VO L U M E 3 8 I I S S U E 1 I J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 0

SPECIAL TOPIC

Land Seismic TECHNICAL ARTICLE Step-out well positioning using seismic inversion INDUSTRY NEWS World first in automated seismic acquisition CROSSTALK Favourable forecast for wind energy

Geoscience - Software

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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

The operational impact of nodes on large-scale seismic operations

Editorial Contents 3

EAGE News

Crosstalk

Industry News

Technical Article

43 Step-out well positioning using hydrocarbon indicators from seismic inversion: a case study Taner Arpacı and Hüseyin Özdemir

Special Topic: Land Seismic

Quality control of land nodal seismic recording systems Tim Dean, Matt Grant, Hoang Nguyen

The operational impact of nodes on large scale seismic operations Jason Criss

63 WSGF - Time for a change part 1: Damped Harmonic Oscillators and the Vibrator/Ground model Spencer L. Rowse and Robert G. Heath 73 Potential stratigraphic fans and fan deltas in the Older Cambay Shale – an emerging play type in the Northern Cambay Basin Sreedurga Somasundaram, Rahul Singh, B.N.S. Naidu and Neeraj Kumar 79 Where next for Land Nodal systems? Steve Wilcox 82 Calendar

EAGE ASIA PACIFIC OFFICE UOA Centre Office Suite 19-15-3A No. 19, Jalan Pinang 50450 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia • +60 3 272 201 40 • asiapacific@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE LATIN AMERICA OFFICE Carrera 14 No 97-63 Piso 5 Bogotá, Colombia • +57 1 4232948 • americas@eage.org • www.eage.org 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: WiNG a fully integrated nodal acquisition system with a single data collection platform to manage operations more easily and efficiently.

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

SUBSCRIPTIONS First Break is published monthly. It is free to EAGE members. The membership fee of EAGE is € 50.00 a year (including First Break, EarthDoc (EAGE’s geoscience database), Learning Geoscience (EAGE’s Education website) and online access to a scientific journal. 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 © 2020 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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19.070

HIGHLIGHTS

EAGE MEMBERS

Image a legend for the 2020 Photo Contest

Workshop provides insight into challenges of Sakhalin exploration and production

Discussions on Russian exploration challenges made ProGREss in Sochi

Embracing the change: Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s start the new decade Michael Poppelreiter, president, EAGE, reflects on the new decade and where it will take our Association.

Michael Poppelreiter at the EAGE Annual 2019.

Dear Colleagues, I have been reflecting on the new decade we are entering and what this may hold in store for our geoscience and engineering community. I believe, that we are entering a period of unprecedented transformation: in our professions and disciplines. First and foremost, mitigation of the impact of climate change and the associated energy transition is destined to bring about a major re-evaluation of the role and relevance of geoscience. For example, water shortages and surpluses will require geoscientists more than ever

in many regions of the world. Simultaneously other areas will be impacted by rising ground water and flooding as seawater levels rise faster than predicted. I know from personal experience that all these issues are paramount for the academic world. In due course the focus of businesses in which EAGE members are involved will alter too. The global geoscience community, consisting of only 15% in the oil and gas industry, some 30% in finding and supply of water, 30% in environmental and sustainability projects and 30% in FIRST

other varied near surface applications, is set for re-skilling and intense knowledge transfer within the disciplines. The other development that is going to increasingly affect our work in the geosciences is the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The processes associated with digitalization, common, uniform data depositories in the Cloud, such as the Open subsurface data universe, will make most datasets accessible to advanced data analytics and machine learning. The oil and gas industry was perhaps slow to grasp the potential initially. Now the major oil companies are all committed to realizing the incredible value of the digitalization in terms of cost effective exploration and production. Geoscientists will very soon make decisions based on suggestions delivered by digital algorithms. Training, calibrating and utilizing machine-generated interpretations will be part of the daily working routine. No geoscience application, whether in oil and gas or the near surface environment, can expect to work without digital solutions. This will require us as geoscientists and engineers to focus on efficiency, lowering the environmental

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EAGE NEWS

impact of our work but also dramatically enhancing our productivity. Dear colleagues, let’s embrace this change, let’s get re-skilled, let’s compete with innovative solutions towards zero emissions as fast as possible, clean water for the needed by digitally managing the resources on a regional and on a global scale, and building new cities that adopt solutions developed over millions of years in nature instead of destroying the beauty of our planet. In the words of a well known Nobel Laureate (Bob Dylan):

innovative, taught by our brightest experts, and tailor-made for the needs of all professions that we serve. Events like those on geothermal, digitalization, sustainability, high performance computing, machine learning and smart cities are all expressions of our desire to meet the future head on and establish cross-learning platforms. Lets spend more time listening to each other, the computers will do the donkey work which currently takes up too much of our time better used to innovate and optimize.

‘Your old road is rapidly agin’. Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand. For the times they are a-changin (Bob Dylan).’ The next generation geoscientists have the advantage of growing up in multi-disciplinary research, able to contribute expertise to collaborative projects in a variety of areas. For those in the geoscience and engineering community willing to stick with this vision in the new decade, what I would like to emphasize is that our Association will play a crucial role in supporting our members as the role of the geoscientist evolves in the coming years. This works in two ways. First we make sure that our events and education programmes are the most

Our main strength is our passion for geology, our enthusiasm to meeting the challenges of the changes that lie ahead. In this respect we have made great strides and must surely be the envy of our sister societies. Each year we have been adding new Local Chapters (four in 2019) and Student Chapters. This means EAGE is recognized as a global community of far-sighted professionals who believe in the value of sharing knowledge and experience in meetings and activities at a local and more informal level. In 2019 Local Chapters worldwide organized over 50 events, but plen-

ty more have been organised without much publicity. Some of these events received assistance via the EAGE PACE Event Support Programme. All EAGE communities – Local Chapters and special interest groups – can benefit from this resource. Gratifyingly, most Local Chapters make the leap towards being self-sufficient and organizing activities for local members with the involvement of institutions, companies and universities in the area. These sponsor organizations often volunteer their premises to host meetings. We are proud of all the hard work behind each of these events by volunteers and our staff. Our community strategy embodied in the forming of special interest groups within the Association has also provided members the opportunity to network and discuss specific issues and professional concerns. We started with the Women in Geoscience and Engineering group but now have Young Professionals, Decarbonization and Energy Transition, and Artificial Intelligence communities, all with growing profiles. One of my predecessors as president themed his year in office as ‘Forward Together’. That idea continues to resonate as we start out on a new decade tinged with both promise and uncertainty. For now, I wish everyone in our EAGE community a prosperous, healthy and fulfilling 2020.

SEASON'S

GREETINGS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! 21841-Seasons greetings 2019/2020 extern ENG 1_3.indd 1 4

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25-11-19 16:13 2020

HUNGRY FOR MORE THAN THE OTHERS ARE SERVING? What a mouthful! The only fully integrated cloud offering with the lot. 250 PF of powerful compute. Very smart software. And a full range of service available on an as-needed basis. All built just for geo and running in DUGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own convenient and secure cloud environment. Want fries with that? Run your own proprietary programs as part of the stack. To see the full menu and a full range of services available as needed, contact Mick (McCloud) Lambert on +1 713 408 7471 or email mickl@dug.com

Want to discover what DUG McCloud can do for your business? Visit www.dug.com/dug-mccloud for more information.

EAGE NEWS

HPC advances continue to enthrall at Dubai workshop

WORKSHOP

REPORT

Report on the 4th edition of the EAGE Workshop on High Performance Computing (HPC) for Upstream held in Dubai on 7-9 October 2019. The main players in HPC from oil and gas companies, the IT sector and academia gathered in a convivial atmosphere to share their advances and challenges. About 60 delegates enjoyed the variety and quality of the presentations gathered under the theme of ‘HPC through the 4th Industrial Revolution’. Besides a high

showcased by Siberian research institutes. A review of the different strategies to optimize stencil kernels (found at the heart of every wave-based equation algorithm) was delivered by ARM. A pragmatic adaptation of the finite-element method on regular meshes aiming to reduce the computational

Happy crowd at HPC meeting.

level technical programme, top-notch keynotes, breakout sessions on selected subjects, and the one-track setting of the workshop (where everyone watches and hears the same programme) were the genuine ingredients that made this a successful event. To introduce the 4th Industrial Revolution paradigm, Prof David Keyes from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) opened with a keynote on the convergence of Big Data and large scale simulation that our industry is currently witnessing. In this line of thought, the race for increased performance was the main topic of the day. Saudi Aramco presented an HPC platform specifically designed to handle large scale seismic applications and the ever-growing volume of field data. The benefit of a hybrid CPU/GPU implementation for the one-way migration was 6

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workload in the context of exploration geophysics was presented by Saudi Aramco. To further improve the utilization of CPU capabilities, an advanced technique to maximize in-cache data for stencil kernels, so-called time blocking, presented by KAUST concluded the morning session. In the afternoon, a breakout session led by Andrew Jones from NAG demystified the common pitfalls encountered in benchmarking HPC hardware based on real cases and a rigorous analysis. The alternating programme of technical presentations, keynotes and breakout sessions was nicely received by the audience. At the end of the day, Dr Robert Sutor from IBM delivered a keynote on quantum computing (QC) as a preamble to a breakout session on this very high-tech subject scheduled at the end of the workshop.

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The second day was devoted to emerging HPC technologies. In his keynote, Prof Felix Hermann, from Georgia Institute of Technologies, presented current efforts of academia to cope with industrial challenges. To be successful, he highlighted the necessity to combine the expertise from different domains. Because of the complexity of both hardware and software components, and the constraints in terms of human resources, it is almost impossible to embrace all fronts from a single entity. For instance, the desire to relieve geophysicists from intricate implementation on various HPC architectures is a noble quest. In this respect, the framework Devito, presented by the Imperial College, is a step towards this objective. Implementing a domain specific language, equations can be abstracted and the end result would be a flexible and portable code across multiple platforms including CPUs and GPUs. In Devito, most of the intelligence is built in the compiler and the generated code exhibits good performance. With the most powerful industrial supercomputer listed in the top 500 (at present ranked position #11 in www.top500.org), Total has taken the deep dive into GPU for seismic imaging. In its presentation, Total announced a radical move from a pure CPU-based system with a large number of nodes to a more compact system with ten times fewer nodes, but fat GPU-based nodes. The main programming model adopted is OpenACC, which has been compared in different scenarios and with different levels of optimizations to CUDA. The fact that the biggest industrial system belongs to an oil and gas company is a testimony of the importance of HPC in our business. Obviously investing in hardware is a key factor, however this is not enough. As shown by CGG, this has to be combined with an appropriate strategy on the

EAGE NEWS

software side. Special attention should also be paid to the sustainability and scalability of deployed solutions. In a session devoted to performance analysis, two major applications were investigated: pore-scale flow modelling by Shell and high resolution seismic tomography by Total. As HPC is a fast-paced industry, looking ahead is definitely crucial. This was the topic of the keynote given by Philippe Thierry from Intel who has been working for several years on performance modelling and prediction of applications. He presented a multi-level simulator going from the basic instructions and computing core levels to the higher levels of abstraction of the full application and system. For the sake of the audience, the analysis was showcased on a 3D finite difference kernel, where performance is assessed with the roofline model. The speaker showed impressive results of performance up to ten generations of Intel CPUs. Regarding emerging applications on the Cloud, a solution to use the Cloud and HPC resources seamlessly developed by UnitX was presented and showcased with a RTM benchmark from PetroBras. The solution provides easy access to resources, interactivity like a remote desktop for pre-post processing, as well as on-demand licensing of software. To conclude this session on emerging technologies, Saudi Aramco provided a shallow dive (as the presenter described it) into quantum computing (QC). It is important to understand the position of QC in today’s world and the presenter nicely introduced the subject with a Gartner hype cycle in order to position QC at the right level, hence lowering the expectation of the gener-

al audience about this technology. As discussed, there are still many open challenges in QC such in the case of quantum least square solvers. While in that case the computation can go from O(n) to O(log(n)), the measurement of the solution to be accurate requires n time repeats in order to get the results, hence losing the advantage gained by computing O(log(n)). However, QC has a lot of promise and it is expected to have a profound impact in science, once the technology is mature enough. At the end of this second day, all attendees enjoyed a lively panel session chaired by Andrew Jones from NAG. This panel was an opportunity to address questions in an informal and pleasant atmosphere, including questions outside of the traditional content of the technical programme, such as the place of women in HPC. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, more women are now registering in computer science programmes than men. The workforce is key for HPC in our industry as CGG underlined during the discussion. More focused joint consortiums would accelerate innovation in our industry as well as open-sourcing non-key parts of its software. Compute capability is on an aggressive rise across our segment which is already in the lead across all industries. As many more compute options are available, accelerator technologies need to be considered from a competitiveness perspective. NEC is aware of the challenges associated with bringing new HPC technologies to market and, especially, for consideration in the energy sector. The final day of the workshop opened with a keynote from Suha Kayum, R&D engineer specialized in HPC at Saudi Aramco, who has been working on the devel-

opment of both in-house basin and reservoir simulators. Traditionally, reservoir simulation has benefited from increased resolution and incorporating more physics, hence the evolution from POWERS, GigaPOWERS, to now TeraPOWERS. Instead of the traditional route, she discussed the future of reservoir simulation in the context of the 4IR. With the examples of incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) to flash calculations, AI-based well placement and ‘intelligent’ adaptive mesh refinement, she demonstrated where machine learning can have an impact on reservoir simulation while maintaining fidelity of results. The replacement of parts of the simulator, or the entire simulator, by surrogate, or proxy, models that are learned from physics and run at a fraction of the computational cost could be in our near future. The workshop featured another breakout session called ‘Quantum Computing 101’ given by world expert Dr Sutor. In such a session the presenter can explain a certain topic in more depth than a keynote or a normal presentation, yet, it is not as involved as a full class. Sutor covered the introductory notation of bras & kets, discussed the building block of quantum logic: the Bloch sphere and Hadamaar gates. Finer topics involved the construction and topology of Quantum chips. He also went over some misconceptions that lead to inaccurate popular mainstream articles (e.g. Quantum computers will un-encrypt all of our communications soon…). Finally, for the first time after five years, the technical committee awarded a first ‘Best Paper Recognition Award’ to Suha Kayum from Saudi Aramco. The next event is planned for September 2021.

EAGE Education Calendar 12 JAN

SHORT COURSE, BY BERNARD MONTARON

DHAHRAN, SAUDI ARABIA (IPTC)

FEB

EAGE EDUCATION TOUR 13, BY IAN JONES (DATE TBC)

CAIRO, EGYPT

7 JUN

SHORT COURSE, BY JEAN JACQUES BITEAU

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

8 JUN

SHORT COURSE, BY MARTIN LANDRØ,

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

12 JUN

SHORT COURSE, BY EHSAN NAEINI

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

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

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LC Netherlands is a already busy Chapter EAGE’s Local Chapter Netherlands officially opened in May this year and has already staged a number of successful events bringing together geoscientists and engineers from the industry, academia and research institutes in the Netherlands. The opening event in June at the Senaatszaal of the Technical University

Group Chapter photo.

Chapter presentation in progress.

of Delft was enthusiastically attended by more than 60 members who enjoyed a presentation by Prof Jacob Fokkema on the meaning of geoscience and its role in the energy transition, followed and a spirited Q&A session. In September the Chapter contributed to the EAGE Near Surface Geoscience Conference 2019 in The Hague with a talk at the EAGE booth during the Welcome

Reception. An informal networking event at the Bierfabriek in Delft was also organized to welcome members back from summer vacation. Another very successful meeting on geothermal energy was held in October at the Deltares Colloquium in Delft. Dr Marit Brommer, executive director of the International Geothermal Association, gave a brilliant presentation entitled ‘Overview of geothermal energy and geothermal crossover technologies’, followed by a talk on ‘Measuring and monitoring the subsurface for geothermal applications’ by Dr Pauline Kruiver from Deltares. The event was attended by 45 geoscientists and engineers joined remotely by 17 participants from the Oslo Society of Exploration Geophysicists. In November the Chapter collaborated with the EAGE Student Chapter of Delft University and PGK YP association to organize a geoscience networking event to bring MSc students to interact with early career professionals from a variety of backgrounds in geoscience. The event was very well attended by about 30 students and seven selected young professionals (see article p.14). A social event at the end of November at Bierfabriek in Delft included a talk by Chapter member Dr Marcin Dukalski, scientist at Aramco Overseas Company, on ‘Internal multiple suppression with a minimum phase argument’. This was the first experiment of a new formula for the social event where one of the

members a turn at showing a ten minute a 10min presentation about himself and his current work activity. This new concept has been well received by an enthusiastic audience. The New Year will start with the opening event of ‘EAGE Women in Geoscience & Engineering in the Netherlands’ on 31 January at de Buccaneer in Delft with a talk by Dr Aletta (Nikoletta) Filippidou, senior petrophysicist at Shell, on ‘the 4 stages of a woman’s career’. On 13 February another important formal event will take place at the Shell Headquarters in the Hague with two lectures on ‘Seismicity in Groningen: the recording network’ by Dr Elmer Ruigrok, senior seismologist at KNMI, and on ‘The earthquakes in Groningen: geophysical studies’ by Jan van Elk (Development Lead Groningen Asset at NAM). On 19 March there will be a social event at Bierfabriek in Delft with a 10min presentation by Chapter member Dr Panos Doulgeris, business developer at Delft Inversion, on ‘Wave Equation based seismic inversion: turning cool technology into value’. A series of upcoming events in the following months will also cover interesting topics including artificial intelligence in the oil and gas industry and climate change. Stay informed about the chapter activities through the Linkedin page https:// www.linkedin.com/groups/13690220/ and become a member by sending an email to eageLCNetherlands@gmail.com.

Young professionals go big in Amsterdam There is one big event in 2020 which all existing and aspiring EAGE Young Professionals (YP) should be looking forward to. With both the EAGE Annual Conference and the YP Summit scheduled for Amsterdam this year, the opportunity to build a larger meeting emerged with greater networking and knowledge sharing opportunities. 8

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It has been decided to merge the yearly YP Summit, which is a collaborative event between EAGE, PESGB and SPE, with the annual symposium ‘Your Career’, which has been organized by the EAGE YP community for the past two years. The result will be an even stronger meeting dedicated to early career professionals to be held on 8 June 2020. A joint committee will draw on

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the experience of previous events to put together an agenda that will tackle common career challenges and new trends in the market to help young geoscientists seize opportunities. Experts with different backgrounds will share their experience and views on emerging sectors, skills and technologies. Students in their last years and YPs are encouraged to attend.

Patent Pending

Autonomous Seismic Data Recorders • • • • • • • • • • •

• • • • • • • • • • •

GCL

No Connectors or Pins Single-Component 5 Hz or 10 Hz GS-ONE Geophone Internal Battery 60 Days Continuous Recording Comprehensive Battery & Asset Management Wireless QC with Auto Assignments Decreased Need for Logistical Resources No Handheld Needed for Deployment Full Suite of Automatic Tests Go/No Go LED

GCL-3

No Connectors or Pins 3-Component 10 Hz High Sensitivity Geophones Internal Battery 40 Days Continuous Recording Comprehensive Battery & Asset Management Wireless QC with Auto Assignments Decreased Need for Logistical Resources No Handheld Needed for Deployment Full Suite of Automatic Tests Go/No Go LED

www.geospace.com

EAGE NEWS

Hackathon at EAGE Digital 2020 will reveal the subsurface citizen data scientist in you! Could you be a closet subsurface citizen data scientist with skills that can be unlocked to benefit both your personal growth and the organization you work for? The way to find out is to attend the EAGE’s inaugural Digitalization Conference and Exhibition (EAGE Digital 2020) taking place on 6-9 April in Vienna. That’s when a special hackathon sponsored by Cognite is being held which will reveal if participants have what it takes to be a subsurface citizen data scientist. The concept of citizen data scientists has been described by the research/ analytics company Gartner as those who can ‘bridge the gap between mainstream self-service data discovery by users and the advanced analytics techniques of data

scientists’. In other words they are not specialists but have enough knowledge and skill in their specific domain to provide the ‘context’ for what data means, thereby unlocking the path from data to value. This idea is highly relevant in the E&P oil and gas industry where data-driven decision-making is becoming the norm, and a broader range of skills is needed for organizations to maximise value. Empowered by modern digital tools, geoscientists and engineers can become citizen data scientists and further accelerate the transformation of their organizatons. This raises some questions. Are you a curious and enthusiastic geoscientist or engineer working for an E&P organization

or a student/researcher in academia? Do you have basic python script skills, or do you want to learn them? Are you willing to share challenges and ideas about optimizing insights from big data extracted from diverse data sources? Do you want to bring your passion to propose new solutions, enthusiasm in learning and sharing software or geoscience knowledge, and curiosity in exploring new ways of working, while being part of the technical innovation culture for the geoscience community? If yes to all or even some of the above, then you should join us at the first hackathon dedicated to subsurface citizen data scientists. Keep an eye on eagedigital.org for more information!

Image a legend for the 2020 Photo Contest It is time to review your best memories of 2019 because the next edition of the EAGE-EFG Photo Contest is about to start! All members of EAGE and those national geological societies affiliated with the European Federation of Geologists are invited to submit contributions

to the contest, and of course we all get to vote the winners later in the year. Following the popularity of last year’s topic, we’ll continue to focus on ‘Legends of Geoscience’ and encourage entries that depict your experience and passion in different fields. Geosciences drive the

Some shots from our Photo Contest.

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innovations that impact our daily life and inspire our future in many different ways, for example, 2019 saw the launch of the largest wind turbine ever built (260 m high with a capacity of 12 MW) and several new applications of carbon capture and storage (CCS). So what inspires you? We encourage you to capture extraordinary actions or aspects - big or small - in all fields of geoscience. In 2020 the Photo Contest again with the theme ‘Legends of Geoscience’ will include three categories under which to submit - Geosciences for Society; Women Geoscientists; and Landscapes and Environment. Legends can be anything from individuals to entire disciplines, as seen through your eyes. Submissions are open from 1 January to 10 March 2020. After the submission period, all members will have the opportunity to cast their vote for the 12 best pictures on the website. Great prizes will be awarded to the top three photographs. The winners will be announced in October 2020.

EAGE NEWS

Italian young professionals win research grants

Hot topic for Paris LC meeting

The winners of the Licio Cernobori young professionals (YP) geoscience research competition in Italy were announced on 15 November at the 38th Gruppo Nazionale di Geofisica della Terra Solida (GNGTS) Congress in Rome. Grants for three researchers below the age of 35 presenting at the Congress were the prizes in the competition to which the EAGESEG Italian Section contributes every year as part of its mission to promote geophysical science and training in Italy. The winners in the three subject categories were 1) Geodynamics: • Federica Sparacino (Sparacino, M. Palano, J.A. Peláez, Insight on seismic hazard of the Ibero-Maghrebian region from seismic and geodetic moment-rates comparison); 2) Seismic characterization • Mariano Angelo Zanini (M.A. Zanini, L. Hofer, F. Faleschini, K. Toska, C. Pellegrino, Seismic risk breakdown at the territorial level based on results from seismic risk maps of Italy) and 3) Applied Geophysics • Dora Francesca Barbolla (F. Barbolla, M. Fedi, S. Negri, CWT analysis of geo-electrical data).

Photo op at Paris gathering.

At an after work meeting in November, EAGE Local Chapter Paris had occasion to reflect on the role of geothermal energy in the energy transition sponsored by ENGIE. The speakers for this ‘hot’ topic were Giovanni Sosio (Schlumberger), Quentin Barral (Geosophy), and Thomas Schaaf (Storengy). This panel of professionals provided some key insights into the transferable knowledge possibilities from oil E&P to the deep geothermal industry, the shallow geo-energy solutions for heating and cooling buildings, and the state of advancement of a geothermal project under progress in France aimed at heating an area of the Bordeaux agglomeration. The audience of around 40 people asked many questions and engaged in lively discussions in the following networking session. The day after the geothermal event, a two-day DigitalGeoHack event focused on exploring ideas

for digitalization and automation in geophysics took place at Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris. The event was organized by John Armitage, Milena Marjanović, Matthias Meschede, Fernando Villanueva and Miao Yu, a diverse group of young professionals from academia and the private sector. During the hackathon, four teams worked on automatic recognition of Raman spectra of minerals, faults detection in bathymetry data, log data prediction using machine learning, and extracting storm features using Rayleigh waves. In the coming months, in collaboration with the EAGE DET special interest community, the newly formed EAGE IFP School Student Chapter, and other professional associations, LC Paris will continue to explore various aspects of geosciences and energy and to provide the local geosciencecommunity in Paris with opportunities for networking.

Congratulations to all! For more details and the announcement of the 2020 YP Licio Cernobori Prize, make sure to connect with the EAGE-SEG Italian Section, the meeting point for Italian applied geophysicists for EAGE and SEG members.

EAGE Student Calendar 12 MAR

EAGE ONLINE GEO-QUIZ (STUDENT CHAPTERS ONLY)

ONLINE

16-19 MAR

GEO 2020 - STUDENT CONFERENCE

BAHRAIN, THE KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

30 MAR

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DENVER, USA

06-09 APR

9TH INTERNATIONALGEOLOGICAL AND GEOSCIENCE CONFERENCE (STUDENT ACTIVITIES)

SAINT PETERSBURG,RUSSIA

20-22 APR

NEAR SURFACE GEOSCIENCE & ENGINEERING CONFERENCE (REGIONAL GEO QUIZ)

CHANG MAI,THAILAND

7-JUN

LAURIE DAKE CHALLENGE FINAL

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

8-JUN

LAURIE DAKE CHALLENGE ANNOUNCEMENT

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

8-11 JUN

EAGE ANNUAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2020 / STUDENT ACTIVITIES

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

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

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EAGE NEWS

Workshop provides insight into challenges of Sakhalin exploration and production

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Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Russia) hosted Far East Hydrocarbons 2019, the fifth science and applied research workshop organized by the EAGE on 1-3 October 2019, in cooperation with Sakhalin Energy. Alexander Darishchev, (Sakhalin Energy) reports.

Mikhail Novikov handing the EAGE Award Plaque to Ruslan Oblekov for the assistance and support of Sakhalin Energy in organizing and carrying out the workshop.

This year’s version of the workshop held every two or three years brought together representatives of leading petroleum and service companies of Sakhalin and participants from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Tyumen, Irkutsk and other cities of Russia. A welcoming word was given by Ruslan Oblekov, technical director of Sakhalin Energy. He underlined the importance of interaction and collaboration between science and industry. Mikhail Novikov, director general of EAGE Regional Office for Russia & CIS countries, thanked Sakhalin Energy for its supporting of the workshop since its inception in 2011 and commorating the occasion by awarding the company an EAGE Plaque. The keynote presentation delivered by Yury Ampilov, professor at M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), discussed the current challenges for Sakhalin offshore exploration and production in a four hour presentation 12

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which was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the workshop. This year’s event included three thematic sessions to tackle the issues of geophysics, geology and production and a round table on development and structural features of the Sakhalin shelf. The first day was devoted to geophysical research chaired by Sakhalin Energy’s senior seismologist Andrey Lekomtsev. Speakers pointed out the importance of integration techniques and underlined the advantages of modern programming and computing. The presentation by Maria Petrova (Sakhalin Energy) on 4D seismic data interpretation from the Lunskoye field was acknowledged as the best in the session. The second day on ‘Complex Analysis of Geological Data and Petroleum Systems Modelling’ chaired by Elena Gretskaya, deputy chief geologist, Dalmorneftegeophisika, and Vadim Shegay,

potential prediction. Elvira Latypova and colleagues of Saint-Petersburg State University presented the results of an interpretation study using gravity and magnetic data used in collaboration with RosGeo, to characterize the structural model of the Kurils – Eastern Kamchatka Region. The report acknowledged to be the best in the session was prepared by Evgenia Leushina, Elena Kozlova and Mikhail Spasennykh (Skoltech) on the capabilities of 2D gas chromatography analysis for hydrocarbon exploration and development tasks based on the Bazhenov Formation example. The third day was focused on issues in Sakahlin offshore E&P projects such as: integration of different research methods and new data to improve the efficiency of drilling and production operations, such as real-time geosteering and the using of reservoir pressure data for updating stratigraphic correlation and

Participants and organizers visiting Sakhalin island surroundings, Okhotsk Sea, Pacific Ocean.

leading project geologist, PetroTrace, provided scientists from Siberian Research Institute of Geology, Geophysics and Mineral Resources the opportunity to underline the importance of integrated data analysis for hydrocarbon

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reservoir connectivity; the use of multi-variate geological and hydrodynamic modelling for uncertainty analysis and for selecting a strategy and concept of field development; estimation of hydrocarbon potential; and application

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of modern programming and computing plus integrated modelling to optimize and improve the efficiency of offshore field development. All these advancements have been achieved thanks to the effective co-operation of experts and specialists in different fields. The report by Mikhail Snachev and Elena Zhukovskaya (Gazpromneft Science & Technology Centre) on ‘Approach to geological modelling and production

Yury Ampilov and Dmitry Gluschenko chairing the round table.

simulation on the basis of a single appraisal well in Ayashsky license area’ was acknowledged to be the best of the session. The round table discussion on the ‘History of Development and Structural Features of Target and Perspective Sakhalin Shelf Deposits’ chaired by Professor Yury Ampilov, MSU, and Dmitry Gluschenko, integrated reservoir modelling group lead, Sakhalin Energy, provided a fitting close to the workshop. Participants appreciated presentations by Vadim Shegay (PetroTrace) devoted to recent data on the Nutovo sedimentary complex in the East Odoptu area of the Sakhalin Shelf; and by Vladislav Tsarev (Institute of Geology and Fossil Fuel Development) on the assessment of oil and gas potential of the inter-mountain basins of the South Sakhalin area taking into account the features of the territory’s geological structure. On the final day of the workshop, delegates had an opportunity to tour around Sakhalin island and enjoy its beauty and history during an organised excursion.

Azerbaijan conference reviews geological challenges of the Caspian region The third joint conference on the ‘Geology of the Caspian Sea and adjacent areas’, organized by EAGE LC Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan Society of Petroleum Geologists (ASPG) together with the EAGE under the operatorship of SPE, was held in Baku on 16-18 October 2019. The conference which unites the geoscience societies of Azerbaijan (ASPG, NCGA and EAGE, SPE, and SEG) is a special event which this year attracted over 550 delegates, more than in 2015 and 2017, with representation from 156 organizations and 26 countries. Dignitaries speaking at the Opening Ceremony included Shauna Noonan, 2020 SPE President, Khoshbakht Yusifzadah, first vice president, SOCAR; John Stephenson, vice president production, BP; Denis Lemarchal, managing director, TOTAL E&P Azerbaijan, Elchin Babayev, rector, Baku State University, and Mikhail Novikov, director, EAGE Moscow office, Russia & CIS. The scientific sessions with over 30 high quality presentations covered a wide range of topics, including environmental issues in oil and gas exploration and production. Among the scientific presentations, there were notable contributions

from Dr Sergey Astakhov, Director, KONTIKI; Dr Nazim Abdullaev (BP) and Mikola Yakimchuk, president EAGE LC Kiev; Vasily Bogoyavlensky, deputy director, Science, Institute of Petroleum Geophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, and Masters students Ayten Seidova, Telli Gamzaeva, Gunay Najafzadeh and others from ASUOI and BSU highlighted annual scientific research work sponsored by ASPG. On the third day of the conference, a special section was devoted to geophysical tools applied to study hydrocarbon potential of Caspian Sea and similar territories, organized by the National Committee of Geophysicists of Azerbaijan (NCGA). Two geological field trips to Dashgil volcano and to Kirmaki valley were included in the programme. During the conference, EAGE’s Mikhail Novikov and Akif Narimanov, president of EAGE LC Azerbaijan met with student members of EAGE Student Chapter UFAZ to discuss future plans which will include a future on-site seminar and field trip for student sponsored by Gulf Drilling Co. Thanks are due to main sponsors of the event SOCAR, BP, Total, Equinor, and Gulf Drilling Co.

Azerbaijan landscape.

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EAGE NEWS

Time to recognize the importance of carbonates in the classroom Dr John Humphrey is touring the Middle East and Africa with his EAGE student lecture on mudrock carbonates. We asked him about the project. Can you explain the context and importance of carbonate research and how it became your special interest? I was introduced to carbonate geology during my senior year in college when I enrolled in a graduate course in carbonate sedimentology. I was already leaning toward pursuing sedimentary geology, and the more I learned about the crossover between sedimentology and geochemistry, the more interested I became. With conventional carbonates hosting over 50% of the world’s oil and gas, understanding carbonate systems is clearly economically compelling.

Dr John Humphrey.

Dr John D. Humphrey has been associate professor and assistant chairman of geosciences at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia. He started his academic career teaching in the faculty of geosciences at the University of Texas at Dallas for five years before joining Colorado School of Mines (CSM) in 1991 where he was a professor of geology and geological engineering. He was interim director of the CSM Chevron Centre of Research Excellence from 2013 to 2015 when he retired, taking up his appointment at KFUPM in 2017. His areas of specialization include carbonate diagenesis and geochemistry, carbonate sedimentology and stratigraphy, carbonate reservoir characterization, unconventional carbonate reservoirs, stable isotope geochemistry, and paleoclimatology.

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What are the particular issues regarding mudrock carbonates? Carbonate mudrocks differ from what many think of as ‘shales’, in that much of the fine-grained carbonate matrix material has a biogenic origin. It therefore responds to environmental and chemical factors in addition to shale hydrodynamics. Are there any particular breakthroughs you would like to see in your area of carbonate research? I believe we recognize that to fully understand these unconventional carbonate systems requires a multi-disciplinary approach. This would involve input from researchers working in diverse areas such as process sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy, inorganic and organic geochemistry, geomechanics, micropaleontology, and petrophysics. It’s hard to know from where the breakthroughs will emerge given that diversity, but we’re confident that bringing together talent from all sides is how our understanding with move forward. What would you like students to take away from your lecture? Most university courses in sedimentology/ stratigraphy only cover carbonates in genJANUARY

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eral for a couple of weeks of the term. I would like the students to be exposed to a component of carbonate geology that typically isn’t addressed in most university sed/strat programmes. In your experience is there a difference in teaching students in North America and the Middle East? If so, do you have to adapt your approach to the local student community? I’m fortunate to be at one of the best universities in the Middle East. I never feel that I need to ‘talk down’ to our students. I have to be mindful that they are mostly non-native English speakers, so that can require careful wording on exams (for example). But really, I find the students very much the same. Can you describe some of the rewards and frustrations of university research and teaching? I have been an academic my whole adult career. I’ve had the great fortune to have chosen a profession that excites me as much today as when I was a starting assistant professor. The favourite part of my day is walking into the classroom and talking geology with the students. I love the challenges, discovery, and surprises that are inherent in doing research. I appreciate the freedom of the academy. While there will always be frustrations, I don’t dwell on those, and I believe the rewards greatly outweigh the frustrations. Students would probably like to know what prompted you into a career in geology and geoscience more generally? My parents instilled in me a love of nature at the earliest age. My mother had been a zoology major in college and my father was a chemical engineer. From my mother I learned about trees

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and flowers and lizards and constellations and all about the natural world, including rocks! My paternal grandmother was a geology major in the 1920s! She encouraged me and would give me children’s geology books. I had started collecting rocks when I was probably five years old. I had influential teachers in the third and eighth grades who helped with my collections. But it wasn’t until college that I realized I would major in geology. I had started as a chemistry major, and took on a work-study job in the geochemistry lab, basically cleaning glassware. But as soon as I walked into that geology building, I said, ‘Wait! You can major in this?’. Nobody had told me this along the way. So, I switched my major to geology, even before I had taken my first geology course. The rest, as they say, is history. Would you recommend a career in the oil industry these days given the negative publicity often associated with oil and gas companies? One of the great things about the petroleum industry is that geoscientists have an opportunity to apply their science to benefit society. Like it or not, our modern standard of living is strongly tied to the availability of energy resources, and that for now, we are a hydrocarbon-based society. This will change over time to renewable energy sources, but for current students, their children and probably their grandchildren, there will continue to be challenges and rewards working in the petroleum industry. Do you have any special interests outside your research and teaching which you can share? I love to travel, and being a geologist has opened the world for me. Although I haven’t had much chance lately, I’m an avid fly fisherman (mainly trout) and I tie my own flies. I ski and play squash, but I also like spectator sports. I’m particularly fond of live music, especially good old rock and roll.

SAGEEP 2020 will put students to the test Like never before students are going to be a big focus at this year’s 33rd Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems (SAGEEP) being held on 29 March to 2 April, thanks to input from EAGE. EAGE has been cooperating with the Environmental & Engineering Geophysical Society (EEGS) on the organization of the SAGEEP annual conferences for a couple of years now. With the 2020 edition, the strengths of both associations will contribute to the event’s augmented student activities with the added incentive of being able to tap into a wide range of nearby universities. Colorado is home to a number of excellent earth science organizations and the central location in the USA helps to draw people in from other states. A dedicated EEGS team is taking the lead in developing a strong student participation at the conference. Key to this will be the dedicated student event on 30 March. EAGE will be overseeing a version of the ever-popular Geo-Quiz, being introduced for the first time at a SAGEEP conference and hopefully providing a major attraction for geoscience students. The stakes are high, as the winning team has a chance to win travel grants to one of EAGE’s main European conferences in 2020. Those who have attended EAGE meetings may be familiar with the Geo-Quiz format. The quiz is a fast-paced competition between small groups of students. Teams try to come up with the right multiple-choice answers with the clock ticking. Winning requires both a multi-disciplinary team and good dose of knowledge. The big question is how well will students at SAGEEP do! Another highlight for students is the dedicated evening

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providing an opportunity to meet representatives from companies and governmental agencies to learn more about career possibilities, to take part in career speed dating as well as connect with peers from other universities. If you are considering attending SAGEEP and are currently involved in Bachelor, Masters or PhD studies, make sure not to miss out on this dedicated student event. Early bird registration fees for students will be available. You can learn more on the SAGEEP website (sageep.org/students) to register and learn about the latest updates on the programme. This year’s SAGEEP with the theme ‘20/20 ‘Visionary Geophysics’ is being is joined by the 1st Munitions Response Meeting – a parallel meeting developed by the National Association of Ordnance Contractors (NAOC). The conference is set to bring in a wide range of experienced geoscientists, but also aspires to provide a place for the next generation of experts in geoscience and engineering – students currently at university.

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EAGE NEWS

EAGE and HGS event starts conversation on E&P opportunities in Latin America

Houston, Texas.

Latin America has become one of the hottest regions for explorers with over 120 basins seeing the drill bit in the last decade, from wrenches to rifts to passive margins. This is to say nothing of the 2200 exploration wells drilled and the over $1 trillion spent by the oil and gas industry. These were some of the points made by Alana Tischuk of Wood Mackenzie’s Exploration Research team at the inaugural conference on Latin America organized by a first successful collaboration between EAGE and the Houston Geophysical Society (HGS) held in Houston.

Tischuk attributed the successful activity in Latin America to the region’s diversity of plays and the opportunities in the corporate landscape, with larger companies focusing on deepwater plays with the potential for giant discoveries and smaller companies zeroing in on modest prospects in mature basins with establish infrastructure. However, she noted, that whether the prospects are small or large, tectonically complex or simple, the most successful companies in the region are those applying new concepts and technologies to get the most out of their resources.

After a very successful first edition, with over 170 particpants, EAGE and HGS plan to continue the partnership by holding a major conference on 19-20 November 2020 in the majestic city of Cartagena, Colombia. This second edition will provide the perfect occasion for the industry players and academia to futher the conversation on Latin American E&P with a focus on geoscience and engineering sharing knowledge and generating new ideas. The accompanying exhibition will also offer an excellent networking opportunity, showcase latest technologies and develop new business.

Dutch students consider their next career step The career concerns of students and young professionals (YPs) were the exclusive focus of a geoscience networking event organized on 20 November at TU Delft by a collaboration of the EAGE Student Chapter of TU Delft, PGK YP and LC Netherlands. The goal of the event was to enable MSc students to interact with early career professionals. About 30 students and seven YPs took part in the event. The YPs came from a variety of backgrounds and held different positions in their com16

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panies, thereby providing the students insight into a variety of geoscience, as well as illuminating the many different possibilities for career paths within companies or academia. Prior to the networking event, two members of the EAGE Student Chapter of Aachen University stepped in to inform the students about the 2020 International Geoscience Students Conference and invited them to participate in this exciting event. Everyone then participated in the networking event, which began with

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quick pitch presentations by the invited speakers, after which everyone divided into focus groups with each speaker. Groups switched at time intervals so all participants had a chance to talk to one another. Later, speakers and students mingled over some drinks and food to continue their discussions. Overall this was another successful collaboration bringing communities closer together and providing concrete bridges for EAGE students about to make their next career step.

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Discussions on of Russian exploration challenges made ProGREss in Sochi

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ProGREss’19.

What does it take to attract investment in oil and gas projects in Russia? That was top of the agenda at the ProGREss 19 held in Sochi on 6-8 November, the first international and practical conference organized by EAGE and Gazprom Neft attracting some 280 top managers and experts of international oil and gas companies, service companies, contractors, and government officials companies. Michael Peter Suess, chairman of EAGE Oil and Gas Division, said: ‘We tried to shape the agenda to reflect only the most important issues for the modern

oil and gas industry: capitalization of exploration projects, technology development and development of its own it products, import substitution, venture projects, and safe production. I hope we managed to make the discussion really interesting and useful for our guests.’ The programme was so dense that participants did not always have time to go for a coffee break. In the two days of the event, there were eight round tables, six panel sessions, and two company pitch sessions. Topics discussed included the challenges of digitalization and ways to accelerate exploration, public-private partnerships, key competencies of modern exploration, calculating the cost of exploration projects and how to monetize exploration. The opening panel session attended by top managers of Shell, Repsol, OMV and Gazprom Neft talked about exploration trends and challenges facing the Russian oil industry, business development in joint ventures and partnerships between Russian and foreign companies. It was noted that prospective exploration areas in Russia are extremely tough. At the same time, sanctions, the complexity of admission to sites and research data were all significant deterrents to investing in Russian exploration projects. Chairman of the International Advisory Committee, Yuri Masalkin, head of exploration, Gazprom neft and general director, Gazpromneft-GEO: ‘I am sure that the future of exploration is in partner-

Delegates focusing on reception speech.

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ProGREss presentation.

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ships, in cooperation at a fundamentally new level. A good, confidential conversation between the ProGREss’s participants was not only about successful cases, but also about the difficulties we struggle with. I hope the conference will become a platform for effective communication and exchange of professional opinions and experience.’ Joseba Murillas, executive director, global exploration, Repsol, said: ‘All over the world, we work in consortia – a temporary coming together of companies united for the time to solve a specific problem. In Russia, this is not the case. We must first create a legal entity, become shareholders, and any changes are achieved only by making amendments to the contracts. This slows down the process. What we are looking for in Russian companies for partnerships, like in all other countries, is the ability to understand each other and the desire to share experiences to achieve a common goal, within the framework of a common project.’ Despite the busy programme, conference delegates were able to visit one of the Sochi Olympic venues - the ice Cube arena, where they took part in the Amateur Curling championship of ProGREss. Anyone could join the team, even those who had never ventured out on the ice with a curling mop. The final day was dedicated to a field trip geological seminar, held in almost summer Sochi weather.

EAGE NEWS

EAGE near surface experts to present at Canadian symposium EAGE is for the first time sending a group of Near Surface Geoscience Division members to participate in an event in Canada. They will be presenting a dedicated EAGE Session at a symposium of the Canadian Exploration Geophysicists Society (KEGS) in Toronto on 29 February. The symposium takes place immediately prior to the major international Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference providing an opportunity for EAGE to promote its role in geoscience applications for the mining and mineral resource industry. Four EAGE speakers at the symposium from Norway, Italy, Denmark and South Africa will discuss near surface geoscience topics as well as the Smart Exploration project in which EAGE is playing an active role in promoting collaboration within the geo-sector focusing on innovation in mineral exploration. Each presentation will deal with a different aspect of mineral exploration including infrastructure planning projects.

Alireza Malehmir, principal investigator of the Smart Exploration project and vice-chair of the Near Surface Geoscience Division, says, ‘This is a great opportunity to collaborate with KEGS at its symposium. Canadian companies are in the forefront of mineral exploration and have developed key solutions to tackle deep exploration. We’ve got a strong group of international speakers attending, and the linkage to KEGS makes this an interesting opportunity to get the word out on our upcoming Near Surface Geoscience conference and the Smart Exploration project’. Per Gisselø from SkyTEM will be presenting some recent initiatives in Denmark. ‘It’s a good opportunity for us to highlight our recent developments, and it is a pleasure to represent both EAGE and the Smart Exploration team at the symposium in Toronto. We have developed a new prototype for an airborne EM system focusing on improving the depth of investigation. We will present the prototype and will show example data from one of our exploration sites.’

The presence of EAGE at the KEGS symposium and PDAC is a logical step in our efforts to attracting a wider community of international scientific interest in the Near Surface Conference series. The upcoming Near Surface Geoscience 2020 conference in Belgrade will include the 3rd Geophysics for Mineral Exploration and Mining, a highly relevant topic for participants at the symposium in Toronto. Prior to the Belgrade event, we will also have the Best 2020 Mineral Exploration Geophysics workshop. Those attending PDAC can also learn about EAGE’s co-operation with EEGS on the organization of the SAGEEP 2020 conference in Denver, Colorado at the end of March. Malehmir states that organization of the dedicated session at the KEGS symposium is a good example of productive reciprocity between associations. ‘We look forward to meeting near surface and mining experts at the symposium and hope our EAGE contribution will encourage people to get involved in our upcoming near surface events.’

Kyiv geological monitoring conference records another success For the second year in a row, EAGE has been the main organizer of the International Conference on ‘Monitoring of geological processes and ecological condition of the environment (MGPECE). The history of the event goes back to 1999, when Taras Shevchenko of the National University of Kyiv hosted the first meeting, It is now organized by EAGE as Ukrainian geoscience has become more open to the European and world scientific community. This event is becoming increasingly multi-disciplinary, this year geologists and geophysicists were joined by hydrologists, meteorologists, specialists in Earth’s remote sensing equipment, and computer software designers. One of the major

objectives of the conference was to stimulate young people’s interest in geophysics and related geological disciplines and to promoting earth sciences as a high-precision and effective tool for studying the environment. Once again as per tradition the conference was held at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv on 12 to 15 November 2019, attended by more than 180 participants including students and post graduate students. Although mostly Ukrainian specialists, there were foreign participants from Poland, the UK, Azerbaijan and Belorussia. The Conference offered a rich scientific programme with 110 technical FIRST

presentations on topics including Modern technologies of geophysical monitoring and radioecology; Monitoring and modelling of natural hazards and new technologies for risk minimization and prevention; Geophysics for engineering geology, soil science, and archaeology; plus two new topics for the conference: Monitoring of aquatic environment and atmospheric air and Aerospace methods of environmental monitoring. For all interested specialists, MGPECE`20 will be held on 10-13 November, 2020 in Kyiv with another no less informative scientific agenda, plus a trip to the Chernobyl zone and a memorable social programme.

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Myanmar offshore oil and gas developments inspire fifth conference and exhibition

Yangon, Myanmar will host meeting.

Our Myanmar oil and gas industry event is on again already on 12-14 May for the fifth successive year, thanks to the popularity of the meeting which we organize in cooperation with AAPG and our affiliate, the Myanmar Geosciences Society.

Last November we wrapped up the highly successful 4th edition AAPG/EAGE Myanmar Oil and Gas conference in Yangon, Myanmar and have been encouraged to move right on to the fifth meeting in the series, this time adopting ‘A 2020 Vision of Myanmar’s E&P Challenges:

New Plays, New Technologies and New Research’ as the theme. Levels of exploration activity offshore Myanmar have remained high with new exploration, appraisal wells and exciting new 2-D/3-D seismic campaigns with new developments and field extensions in the planning phase. Hence the industry interest in the three-day conference in Yangon as the perfect venue to discuss ongoing developments and challenges. The conference will provide a platform and opportunity to understand and discuss with colleagues the significant progress made over the last 18 months. All the details of the event can be found on the EAGE website.

Young professionals to discuss future geoscience opportunities in Norway What is the role of young professionals for the future of geoscience in Norway? This is the ambitious title of the next event organized by the EAGE YP community. It will take place in Oslo on 13 February 2020. The meeting is a collaboration between our special interest group of Young Professionals and the YP network of CTBT, a community of young scientists and senior professionals working on monitoring and

verification of the Comprehensive NuclearTest-Ban Treaty. Other local stakeholders have joined forces to make this event a memorable occasion. The main goal of the event is to present different career tracks available to early career geoscientists and put them into the specific context of Norway. Various areas of geoscience will be covered, including oil and gas, nuclear monitoring, near surface geoscience and deep-sea min-

ing, in order to provide a truly multi-disciplinary perspective. Speakers will focus on current and future challenges faced by industry and academia in Norway as well as the opportunities for young geoscientists to contribute to a better future. After the talks, there will be time to network with the speakers and discuss their technical work and career path. Interested in joining? You can follow the updates and sign up via the YP group in LinkedIn!

The EAGE Student Fund supports activities that help bridge the gap between the university and professional environments for students of geosciences and engineering. Thanks to our Student Fund contributors we can continue supporting students around the globe and through this securing the future of our industry. For more information to become a Student Fund contributor, please visit eagestudentfund.org or contact us at students@eage.org. SUPPORTED BY

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We would like to thank our sponsors for their generous support to EAGE in 2019!

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We thank all our valued advertisers for their loyal support in 2019!

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Fairfield Geotechnologies • Faroese Geological

Gardline Limited • GAT Gesellschaft fur Antriebstechnik mbH • GEM Systems

Inc • GEO 2020 • GEO ExPro GeoPublishing Ltd • Geofizyka Torun S.A. • Geolab • Geolog • Geological Society of London • Geomatrix Earth Science Ltd • Geonics Limited • GEOPARTNER SP Z .O.O. • Geophysical Insights • Geophysical Technology Inc • Geoprovider • GEOREVA •

Geosoft Inc. • Geospace Technologies Corp. • Geotec SpA • Geotek Limited • GeoTeric • GeoTomo LLC • Geovariances •

Getech • GiGa infosystems GmbH • GK Processing • GNS Science • Government of Western Australia European Office • Guideline GEO AB/ ABEM/ MALA

Hefei Guowei Electronics Company Limited • HGS Limited • HGS Products B.V. • Horizon Geosciences

I-GIS A/S • Ikon

Science Ltd • Imaged Reality • IMC Geophysical Services LTD • ImpulseRadar Sweden AB • InApril AS • InnoSeis B.V. • INOVA Geophysical • INP - National Petroleum Institute • INT Inc. • Interica Ltd • International Seismic Co (iSeis) • Intrepid Geophysics • ION • Ireland, Department of Natural Resources • IRIS Instruments • iSeismic • ISS Group Ltd

JSC Marine Arctic Geological Expedition (MAGE)

Kappa Offshore Solutions • Katalyst Data Management • Kongsberg Evotec AS • Kongsberg Maritime CM AS

Kadme AS •

Lenovo • Leobersdorfer

Maschinenfabrik GmbH • Lim Logging • Lloyd’s Register • Lynx Information Systems Ltd M Magseis Fairfield ASA • Maillance • Marac Enterprises Inc. • Medusa Radiometrics BV • Microsoft • Mitcham Industries Inc. • Morenot Offshore AS Newfoundland and Labrador • NORSAR Innovation AS • Nova Scotia Dept. Energy University Press • OYO Corporation

NEC Deutschland GmbH •

OCTIO AS • Onhym • OvationData Limited • Oxford

PanTerra Geoconsultants BV • Parallel Geosciences Corporation • PartnerPlast AS • Petroleum

Experts Limited • PetroMarker AS • PetroSkills • Petrosys Europe Ltd • PetroTrace Limited • Petryx Ltd • PGS Exploration (UK) Ltd. • Phoenix Geophysics Limited • Polarcus DMCC • Polish Geological Institute - NRI • PRACE

Qeye Labs ApS • QITeam International

R.T. Clark

Companies Inc. • Realtimeseismic • Reservoir Imaging Ltd • Rock Flow Dynamics • Rock Physics Technology • RoQC Data Management • RPS Energy • RUDN University & Partners

S-Cube • SAExploration • Sander Geophysics • Saudi Aramco • Saudi Geophysical Consulting

Office • Sauer Compressors UK • SCF GEO • Schlumberger Technology Corporation • Scintrex • Searcher Geoservices • Searcher Seismic • Seiche • Seismic Image Processing Ltd • Seismic Source Company • Sensors & Software Inc. • Sercel • Sharp Reflections GmbH • Shearwater Geoservices Ltd. • Silixa Ltd • Sino Geophysical Company • Sinopec Geophysical Corporation • Society of Exploration Geophysicists • Sonardyne International Ltd • Sound Oceanics LLC • Spectrum Geo Ltd. • Spotlight • Springer-Verlag GmbH • Strata Technology LTD • SYRLINKS

TARGET Energy Solutions • TDI-Brooks International Inc. • TechnoImaging • TEEC GmbH • TEECware • Teledyne Marine •

TERRASYS Geophysics • TGS • The Open Group • Thermo Fisher Scientific • TOTAL S.A. • TRE ALTAMIRA • Troika International Ltd Gas Authority • United Geophysical Company LLC • Universidad Nacional de Colombia • University of Mancheste Global • Vinci Technologies • Vista Clara Inc. • VSProwess Ltd Inc. • Wood Mackenzie Limited • World Petroleum Congress

UK Oil &

Verif-i Limited • Verne

W&R instruments • WEIHAI SUNFULL • Wintershall DEA • Wireless Seismic

Xait • XtremeGeo

Zonge International Inc. • ZZ Resistivity Imaging Pty. Ltd.

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CROSSTALK BY AN D R E W M c BAR N E T

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Favourable forecast for wind energy For followers of wind power engineering, the highlight of last year The global growth in wind turbine farms onshore and offshore for was the arrival and installation last October in Rotterdam of all the generation of electricity is a better-sweet evolution. the massive components to assemble the prototype of the largest The green credentials of this alternative source of energy are offshore wind turbine in the world. It is expected to capture more close to impeccable, with some relatively minor qualification annual energy production (AEP) than any other offshore wind such as their intrusive appearance and operation when sited in turbine even at times of low wind. environmentally sensitive areas. There is also the danger posed to In typical German North Sea weather, it is reckoned that one migrating birds and sometimes bats by the rotation of the turbine’s of these 260 m high monster GE Renewable Energy Haliade-X 12 blades. For example, the Egyptian Gabal-El-Zeit 580 MW onshore MW turbines can generate up to 67 GWh of gross annual energy wind farm, claimed to be the largest in the world, has a bird control production. This is said to be enough clean energy to power 16,000 system to stop its hundreds of turbines from spinning when migrant European households and save up to 42,000 tonnes of CO2, which birds are passing. is the equivalent of the emissions generated by 9000 vehicles in There can be no serious argument about the value of continuing one year. to develop wind turbine technology, hopefully becoming an unsubThe nacelle of the turbine that houses sidized, true competitor to traditional fossil all of the generating components including fuels and indeed nuclear. Few governments ‘The global growth the generator, gearbox, drive train, and brake dare to contemplate this latter as an option in wind turbine farms despite its current longstanding adoption worldassembly weighs 675 tonnes. It was shipped from St Nazaire, France to Rotterdam by barge. onshore and offshore wide and non-polluting operation (assuming Lifting it into place required two 1350-tonne no accidents and an eventual solution to the is a better-sweet fully rigged crawler cranes. The structure has disposal of radioactive waste). a rotor diameter of 220 m and blades with a From a societal, climate change mitigation evolution.’ length of 107 m making it the biggest offshore viewpoint wind power represents a zero emiswind turbine globally. sion source of power to be fostered. For geoscientists, however, this Ahead of testing and commissioning of the prototype, the aspect of the great energy transition offers none of the job opportufirst orders for the new machine for locations in the North Sea nities that historically have come from oil and gas exploration and and off the US east coast have already been placed, with Equinor production and the mining of coal. There is a need for subsurface a predictable customer. The Norwegian company as part of its investigation of sites for intending wind farms especially offshore, continuing commitment to renewable energy solutions plans with but that’s small beer. The same applies to any intensification of its joint venture partner SSE to install the GE turbines in its Dogger the search for rare earth minerals like neodymium. This is used Bank wind farm project. It will be the world’s biggest offshore to create the permanent super magnets used in the generation of wind farm development with a total installed capacity of 3.6 GW. electricity in some but not all windmills. The Total project is expected to produce enough energy to power Alarm has been expressed about China’s current dominance the equivalent of 4.5 million UK homes. of the market in rare earth minerals that as a group are an essential Reviewing this milestone in wind turbine construction, many ingredient in consumer goods such as cell phones, TVs and battery geoscientists engaged in the resource extraction industry might technology. In fact rare earth minerals are found in abundance in ruefully reflect that it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good. a number of other countries including the US, Canada, Brazil,

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CROSSTALK

Australia, and India. The challenge of interest to geoscience would via production tax credits exempting wind energy equipment from be identifying deposits sufficiently concentrated to be a viable sales taxes to reduce capital investment. mining proposition. Production itself is apparently a hazardous, The subsidy issue is a dilemma for the many governments that environmentally unfriendly exercise that works for China with are embracing the potential of wind power and other renewable its cheap labour regime. This doesn’t have many fans elsewhere options. Tax credits and other incentives have been widely adopted although China is gradually losing its grip on the market. In fact as the way to attract investors into the alternative energy market. rare earth mineral projects are beginning to proliferate in other Warren Buffet once remarked that wind turbines don’t make sense countries to meet the obvious growing demand worldwide and without the tax credit. stymie the threat of a Chinese monopoly. The cost of building and installing wind turbines has actually Wind power’s steadily increasing impact on the global energy come down dramatically over the years with improved technology, mix and the electricity supply of some countries does not garner the for example in the reduction of the number of turbines needed headlines. May be this is because, according to the BP Statistical to capture the wind. However, the upfront capital cost is still Annual Review 2019, wind energy provided a modest 4.8% of substantial. The pay-off is the guaranteed contract revenue over global power in 2018. That is going to change. the 20 years or so of a unit’s lifetime once established. Even then Global capacity additions are expected to sit at an annual averrecouping the original outlay takes a number of years. age of 71 GW from 2019 to 2023 and 76 GW from 2024 to 2028, In what may be a sign of the times, UK subsidies have fallen according to new analysis from Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewto a record low. A government auction last September revealed ables. Its report Global Wind Power Market Outlook Update: Q2 that the new generation of wind farms due to enter the grid in 2019 has upgraded its global wind power outlook by 11 GW from 2025 will involve £39.65 per megawatt hour, nearly a third less 2019 to 2028, a 1.5% increase from the previous quarter. than the three years ago and reduction of two-thirds since the Luke Lewandowski, Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables 2015 auction. The subsidy comes in the form of a guaranteed director, said: ‘A 5GW upgrade in the global minimum price households and businesses offshore sector will yield 129GW of new will pay for the energy generated over a ‘The subsidy issue is capacity and a compounded annual growth 15-year period. a dilemma for many rate (CAGR) of 26%. Overall, the outlook Offshore prospects, if viable, are almost is positive and global wind power continues unlimited compared with onshore not least governments.’ to prosper due to both economic and social because ocean wind tends to be more forceful benefits.’ in most locations and more reliable. The global market grew China with installed capacity of 221 GW has over a third of the nearly 30% per year between 2010 and 2018, benefiting from world’s capacity, according to Power-Technology. The US (96.4 rapid technology improvements and about 150 new offshore wind GW) is second behind China, followed by Germany (59.3 GW), projects are in active development around the world, according India (35 GW), Spain (23 GW), UK (20.7 GW), France (15.3 GW), to a World Energy Outlook special report published in October Brazil (14.g GW). Canada (12.8 GW) and Italy (10.1). by the International Energy Agency (IEA). It stated that offshore Wind now meets 14% of the EU’s power demand on average, wind has the potential to generate more than 420,000 TWh per but 41% in Denmark, Ireland 28%, Portugal 24%, Germany 21% year worldwide, projecting a 15-fold increase in global capacity and Spain 19%. Last year there was cause for some celebration by 2040 in what will be a $1 trillion industry over the next two when it emerged that Scotland’s wind turbines generated 9.8 decades, thereby matching capital spending on gas- and coal-fired million megawatt-hours of electricity between January and June, capacity predicted over the same period enough to supply power to more than twice the number of homes Enthusiasm for wind power has to be tempered by some signifin the country. The US president, who recently touted the erroneous icant stumbling blocks. Transmission from remoter locations where idea that wind farms cause cancer, was probably not amused. He wind farms can be located is an issue. It is of course an intermittent famously lost his legal challenge to the building of a proposed ‘ugly’ source of energy that is dependent on specific wind conditions that wind farm offshore the Aberdeenshire coast arguing that it would don’t necessarily coincide with demand. So a turbine’s electrical spoil the view for golfers playing at the nearby luxury golf course output is only about a third and at best 50% of its rated capacity, at Balmedie opened in 2012 by Trump International Golf Links. and to date there is no commercial scale method to store the energy Notwithstanding the views of its president, the power industry created. Energy authorities are therefore left with a balancing act to in the US has been forging ahead and currently produces around integrate wind power into the grid. 6% of the electricity in the US. Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa Growing investment in renewables research and development produce approximately half of the wind-generated electricity with will likely take care of most of these problems giving cause for California also a significant contributor. Future expansion is cursome celebration of technological innovation. Geoscientists won’t rently being clouded by a proposal to end federal financial support expect to be invited to the party.

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

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TGS launches major survey offshore Senegal

Northern Lights project drills carbon capture well in North Sea

PGS completes imaging of Moray Firth in North Sea

Total and ADNOC develop world’s first automated seismic acquisition system

Dart comprises wireless geographical sensors that are dropped by the drone fleet to ‘carpet’ the exploration area.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Total are deploying what they claim is the world’s first automated seismic acquisition system in Abu Dhabi. The pilot project, performed with Total’s Multiphysics Exploration Technology Integrated System (METIS), uses drones and a ground vehicle to drop off and retrieve seismic sensors without human intervention, therefore at lower cost. Khadija Al Daghar, vice-president, research and technology development at Adnoc, said: ‘The purpose of this collaboration is to be able to jointly develop a safer, faster, more efficient and cost-effective acquisition system to acquire 3D and 4D high-resolution seismic images of the subsurface, which can be processed in real-time to build a clearer understanding of the subsurface, lowering geoscience and drilling uncertainties and optimizing field production.’ The Downfall Air Receiver Technology (DART) comprises dart-shaped

wireless geographical sensors that are dropped by the drone fleet to ‘carpet’ the exploration area and deliver high-resolution images of seismic traces to the processing centre in real time. The fleet can drop up to 400 receivers per square km, at a rate of up to 4000 DARTs a day. The solution, which is also hailed for giving energy companies the ability to more easily to install nodes to acquire seismic data in harsh and inhospitable environments, will be deployed throughout the emirate of Abu Dhabi, to contribute to onshore exploration and appraisal campaigns. The seismic sensors will be dropped by six autonomous aerial drones and will later be retrieved by an unmanned ground vehicle — whereas they are conventionally manually deployed and recovered by ground-based teams. After successful trials of METIS conducted by Total at the end of 2017 in Papua New Guinea, the project will FIRST

be undertaken by ADNOC Onshore to test the versatility and upscaling ability of the system in a 36 km2 desert environment. Alan Nelson, chief technology officer at ADNOC, said: ‘METIS is a pioneering automated technology with the potential to conduct seismic surveys in harsh environments, such as the desert, which are tough on people and equipment.’ Dominique Janodet, vice-president R&D of Total, said: ‘Total is focusing on innovation in seismic acquisition to minimize surface impact of petroleum activities and improve the quality of sub-surface images, while increasing our overall operational efficiency. In addition, METIS is a major technology to reduce the environmental footprint of our onshore exploration and appraisal campaigns, which is completely in line with our environmental commitments and our ambition to be the responsible energy major.’

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Shearwater and PGS win contracts for surveys offshore South Africa

PGS Apollo will shoot a 3D survey.

Shearwater and PGS have won contracts for 2D and 3D seismic programmes on Block 11B/12B offshore South Africa from operator Total. Shearwater will carry out the 2D seismic survey and PGS will then shoot a 3D seismic survey on the block. Both surveys were expected to begin in December 2019 and continue through to April 2020. Shearwater will acquire an initial programme of 3650 linear km of 2D

seismic data using the multi-purpose vessel SW Cook with onboard processing. The 2D seismic programme will attempt to define the lead and prospect inventory of the largely under-explored area in Block 11B/12B to the east of the Paddavissie prospects. PGS will acquire 2200 km2 of 3D seismic data using the PGS Apollo seismic vessel. In this second phase of 3D seismic work on the block, Total plans to cover the remainder of the Paddavissie Fairway to better delineate the prospects and leads identified on the previous 2D and 3D surveys. After the Brulpadda oil and gas discovery in the Paddavissie Fairway in February 2019, Polarcus conducted a 570 km2 3D survey in March and April. Total and its joint venture partners have now analysed the coring and logging data and integrated the fast-track 3D data from the Polarcus survey. This data enabled the Total-led JV to choose the location of the next exploration well, Luiperd-1, which is expected to spud in Q1-2020. The 3D data validated the use of seismic data as a direct hydrocar-

bon indicator, significantly de-risking the remaining prospects. The first phase of 3D data also provided more insight into the geometry and thicknesses of the reservoir sequences, confirming the large resource potential of the Paddavissie Fairway. Total remains committed to drilling up to three exploration wells on Block 11B/12B in 2020. The Luiperd-1 well will be drilled some 40 km northeast of the Brulpadda discovery. Block 11B/12B is located in the Outeniqua Basin 175 km off the southern coast of South Africa. The block covers an area of approx. 19,000 km2 with water depths ranging from 200 to 1800 m. The Paddavissie Fairway in the southwest corner of the block includes the Brulpadda discovery and several large submarine fan prospects that have been significantly derisked by the discovery and subsequent 3D seismic work. Total is operator and has a 45% interest in Block 11B/12B, while Qatar Petroleum and Canadian Natural Resources have 25% and 20% interests, respectively. Main Street 1549 Proprietary Limited has a 10% participating interest.

Magseis defeats Seabed move to invalidate patent infringement case Magseis Fairfield has claimed a victory in its continuing patent infringement claim against Seabed Geosolutions relating to ocean bottom node technology. It has accused Seabed’s MANTA system of infringing its 268 Patent in a lawsuit pending in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Seabed sought to invalidate the ’268 Patent through an Inter Partes Review before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, but a final written decision has rejected all of Seabed’s invalidity arguments. ‘Magseis Fairfield looks forward to continuing its patent infringement lawsuit against Seabed and recovering all

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available remedies for Seabed’s past and ongoing infringement of the ’268 Patent, including lost profits, a reasonable royalty, and an injunction against the MANTA system,’ said Magseis Fairfield in a statement. Seabed said in a statement that it would continue to vigorously defend Fairfield Magseis’ claim: ‘Seabed Geosolutions categorically denies infringement and categorically denies those patents are valid, and Seabed Geosolutions has raised defences and counterclaims in the lawsuit that are separate and apart from the issues raised in the inter partes review of the ‘268 patent.

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‘Accordingly, Seabed Geosolutions considers the claims raised by Magseis Fairfield to be baseless and frivolous and will continue to vigorously defend itself against Magseis Fairfield’s patent infringement claims at the District Court if and when the District Court stay is lifted.’ Meanwhile, Magseis Farfield has agreed with an unnamed seismic contractor to participate in a multi-client project, in the first quarter of 2020. ‘This is the first phase of a multi-year campaign which will bring industry-leading nodal acquisition and data processing to reimage a mature basin,’ said Carel Hooijkaas, CEO of Magseis Fairfield.

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PGS embarks on megasurvey along coast of Peru PGS has won a contract with Perupetro to a shoot a 3D megasurvey along the coastline of Peru.

The 3D survey comprises 23,000km2.

The survey comprises 21,000 km2 of 3D seismic data that will be matched and merged, together with 23,000 km of 2D data. The dataset will be converted into depth from a seismic-horizon-constrained

velocity model that extends through five different basins, from the prolific Talara basin in the north to the frontier basins in the extreme south. MegaSurveys are very large, merged, post-stack datasets consisting of multiple surveys that have been rebinned to a common grid and then matched to produce a phase-balanced and uniformly scaled contiguous regional volume, said PGS. Their regional nature permits fuller exploration of tectonic and basin developments, leading to a greater understanding of existing and potential petroleum systems. ‘The PGS Peru MegaSurvey covers both existing discoveries and licensing opportunities in open blocks. It can be used to pick prospects or to evaluate the successes and failures so far across the entire region,’ said PGS. The Peruvian continental margin is characterized by the Peru-Chile trench,

where the Nazca Plate converges obliquely and subducts beneath the South American Plate. This margin is a classic accretionary prism, comprising a series of Mesozoic-Cenozoic fore-arc basins that form the continental slope. These basins are separated by rotated basement highs, generated by strike-slip faulting. Intermittent reactivation of these basement faults caused the extension and inversion of several offshore basins during the Cenozoic period. The diverse regional geology provides a range of structural and stratigraphic traps with reservoir intervals spanning the Paleozoic-Tertiary period, including mature basins with producing fields to the north and underexplored frontier basins to the south. The first merged product from the PGS Peru MegaSurvey will be available from Q1, 2020.

CGG launches UK’s largest OBN survey CGG has announced the largest OBN multi-client survey ever conducted in the UK Central North Sea (CNS). Planned to start in early 2020, the survey has already received significant industry interest and is being prefunded in part by BP. First results are targeted for Q1 2021. In the CNS, where complex salt diapirism has created significant challenges

to imaging deeper reservoir targets, this new survey, with its long-offset, full-azimuth coverage and good low-frequency signal in a shallow water environment, will provide a step-change in seismic image and reservoir characterization quality. In the first phase of this multi-year programme, CGG aims to acquire more than 2000 km2 of OBN data.

Sophie Zurquiyah, CEO, CGG, said: ‘The programme will deliver a stepchange in development in this critical Central North Sea area. The new data set will also complement CGG’s extensive high-quality Cornerstone towed-streamer data library in the area and support the UK Oil & Gas Authority’s strategy for Maximizing Economic Recovery.’

TGS expands 3D survey offshore Argentina TGS has announced an expansion of the Malvinas 3D multi-client seismic programme offshore Argentina. The survey will now cover approx. 17,800 km2 of the highly prospective Malvinas Basin, representing a 10,500 km2 increase from the previously announced 7300 km2. The survey will now employ two Shearwater vessels rather than one, representing 11 vessel months in total,

with operations set to commence in Q4 2019 and run until Q2 2020. Initial products will be available in early 2021, with final products slated for H2 2021. The data will be processed by TGS. Irene Waage Basili, the CEO of Shearwater GeoServices, said: ‘Market visibility for 2020 has increased significantly and clients are booking capacity earlier than in previous years.’

The survey will now shoot 17,800m2.

Seabed sells OBC equipment for $10 million Seabed Geosolutions has signed a contract to sell its entire shallow water ocean bottom cable (OBC) recording equipment for around $10 million as the company repositions itself to provide purely ocean bottom node solutions. The OBC equipment was used on a recently completed project for Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the United Arab Emirates. Stephan Midenet, CEO of Seabed Geosolutions said: ‘The sale of our last

cable-based system completes the transformation of Seabed Geosolutions into a pure ocean bottom node (OBN) company. We are now largely focused around our Manta suite of technologies, comprised of both a proprietary node and deployment systems, and which has been designed to deliver leading efficiencies in all water depths.’ Meanwhile, Seabed Geosolutions has won a contract for another 3D ocean bottom node (OBN) survey in an active

area of the US Gulf of Mexico for a major energy company. The project will use Seabed Geosolutions’ Hugin Explorer vessel, equipped with CASE Abyss nodes that will be deployed by remotely operated vehicles. The survey, which will be performed in 2000 m water depths, will start in the coming months and take approximately three months to complete. The letter of intent includes an option for another survey.

SeismicCity offers full elastic depth imaging SeismicCity has upgraded its depth imaging to offer prestack depth migration (PSDM) services for full elastic wave equation. ‘Due to computational and algorithmic limitations, until recently most seismic data processing has been carried out under the acoustic assumption. However, a geological rock property model which better matches the response of the earth is an anisotropic elastic solid’ said Dan Kosloff, chief geophysicist of SeismicCIty. The model correctly predicts the generation of shear waves in addition to the pressure waves which are recorded in any seismic survey, both onshore and offshore. ‘There are numerous practical issues in implementing elastic solution schemes,’ added Allon Bartana, director of R&D for SeismicCity. ‘A large number of variables are required, and for realistic cases these variables do not necessarily fit within a compute nodes’ memory. By use of domain decomposition, and by incorporating optimized numerical schemes these algorithmic and optimization challenges are solved, enabling the move to full elastic imaging in a production environment.’ Elastic migration improves imaging and enables more accurate determination of the subsurface material parameters, said SeismicCity. Using elastic migration, two types of waves are present, P-waves and S-waves which usually travel in different

paths. As the subsurface is illuminated by both waves, in areas of poor illumination by one type of wave, there is a chance of good illumination by the other type. ‘Using both P-waves and S-waves in PSDM enable us to finally image low illumination zones beneath salt, helping our clients to achieve more successful drilling results in these challenging areas,’ said Jeff Codd, VP technology for SeismicCity. In addition, shear waves are travelling with a velocity which is different from the pressure waves and therefore its determination will help in resolving subsurface material properties. David Kessler, president of SeismicCity, said. ‘In the early 1990s ray-based Kirchhoff summation algorithms were used. These were based on the simpler ray trace solution of the wave equation. In the early 2000s we used the wave equation, but due to computer limitations had to use downward propagation algorithms that were limited in the ability to image steep dip structures. ‘Around 2010 we could finally use a more correct solution of the wave equation by industrial implementation of Reverse Time Migration (RTM). However, this was done still using acoustic assumptions (ARTM). As we move to the next decade, we can finally switch to using a correct representation for wave propagation in solid

material via a direct and complete solution of the elastic wave equation. This will result in an industry move from the use of Acoustic RTM (ARTM) to elastic RTM (ERTM) as the leading algorithm for PSDM. ‘With depth imaging results that we have seen so far by using the full wave field in PSDM (i.e. both P-waves and S-waves) we are pleased to provide operators with a step-change improvement in the ability to image seismic data in low illumination zones as well as increased seismic resolution by incorporating converted waves in the seismic image.

Left: PSDM image resulting from using the acoustic wave equation as the underlying algorithm. The no illumination zone beneath the salt is a result of the lack of recorded P-waves reflecting from this part of the sub-salt section. Right: PSDM image resulting from using the elastic wave equation as the underlying algorithm. Use of converted waves as part of the PSDM algorithm enables the complete imaging in the sub-salt section. The addition to the image are P-wave reflections that were propagated in the salt body as Sves. Elastic RTM enables the mode-converted calculation of the downward propagated wavefield.

INDUSTRY NEWS

TGS launches major survey offshore Senegal

The BGP Prospector will carry out the 5100km2 survey.

TGS is starting a new seismic survey in the MSGBC Basin, offshore north-west Africa. The Senegal North Ultra-Deep Offshore (SN-UDO-19) 3D survey covers more than 5100 km2. The project is being undertaken in partnership with GeoPartners using the vessel, BGP Prospector and has the full support of the Senegalese national oil company, Petrosen. This stand-alone survey is located in northern Senegal and is a continuation of the recently completed SS-UDO-19 3D acquisition in southern Senegal. The

survey has been designed to illuminate plays in ultra-deep water, enabling explorers to build on the success the basin has experienced with the Sangomar field, the GTA complex and Yakaar discoveries. The project has a 75-day acquisition timeline, with fast-track data available three months after acquisition, in time for evaluation of blocks available in the recently announced Senegal Offshore 2020 Licensing Round. The full dataset will be available by Q4 2020. Kristian Johansen, CEO of TGS, said: ‘This survey will provide the indus-

try with essential subsurface insight ahead of Senegal’s Offshore Licensing Round which is scheduled to commence early next year. SN-UDO-19 extends our coverage in a highly prospective region where TGS has been actively acquiring data for almost two years.’ Meanwhile, TGS has added a further 1500 km2 of 3D seismic data offshore The Gambia. This dataset will further expand TGS’ existing 3D multi-client library in the MSGBC Basin, which now totals more than 40,000 km2. The survey falls over Blocks A2/ A5 where sub-surface structures have been identified as being on-trend with the SNE discovery immediately north in Senegal. The dataset will be reprocessed and pre-stack merged into the Jaan programme, a 29,000 km2 3D covering the prospective paleo-shelf edge. Graham Mayhew, VP Africa, Mediterranean and Middle East at TGS, said: ‘We expect to see further discoveries made in this basin and believe our 3D data will be critical in providing exploration companies the ability to invest further.’

Senegal prepares to launch first offshore licensing round Senegal will this month launch the country’s first offshore licensing round, comprising ten blocks.

The MSGBC Basin is home to several recent high-profile oil and gas discoveries, set in a variety of play types, both on and off the carbonate shelf. These include 32

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the Albian sandstone shelf edge SNE oil field — the largest global discovery of 2014 — the 25 tcf Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project — the largest gas discovery of 2015 — and the Lower Cenomanian sandstone basin floor fan Yakaar-1 gas well — the largest global discovery of 2017. All are located offshore Senegal, within ~100 km of the Dakar Peninsula. TGS holds a range of data across this acreage to support the licensing round, including 2D seismic, 3D seismic, multibeam and seafloor sampling data. The company is also currently acquiring additional 3D seismic data to provide potential bidders with a greater subsurface understanding ahead of bid submissions.

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The national oil company of Senegal, Petrosen, said that exploration activity in the region has been limited. Two new wells are to be spudded in 2020 in AGC and Guinea-Bissau, south of Senegal and in close proximity to blocks in the upcoming licensing round. The Wolverine-1 (CNOOC) and the Atum and Anchova (Svenska/FAR) prospects will target shelf edge plays and give vital information about similar plays in the open blocks. The majority of the blocks and acreage offered are in ultra-deepwater, as operators plan to target the large, clean, well-sorted sands of the unrestricted basin floor. The round will be open for six months.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Big oil companies prepare huge asset sales Big oil companies are looking to sell assets worth a total of $27.5 billion, according to energy research and consultancy company Rystad Energy. These companies are shedding mature assets on a massive scale in a bid to finance higher-yielding investments elsewhere, with the added benefit of pleasing shareholders who are calling for stricter capital discipline. ‘The expected transactions mean some of the majors are poised to exit certain regions, giving regional players and independents a chance to buy into key fields and help keep them profitable through production-life extensions and new developments,’ said Ranjan Saxena, an analyst on Rystad Energy’s upstream team. Rystad said that ExxonMobil plans to divest assets worth $15 billion by 2021

as it focuses on developing oilfields in Guyana and the US Permian Basin, as well as gas projects in Mozambique and the US Gulf of Mexico. Chevron needs to raise capital for projects such as Tengiz in Kazakhstan, Contract 3 in Thailand, and its US shale positions in the Permian Basin. The company is considering a sale of assets in Nigeria which could be valued at up to $2 billion. BP is looking to offload some of the US shale assets that lie outside of its core areas in order to help fund last year’s $10.5 billion purchase of BHP’s North America subsidiary. It has put seven asset packages on the market, including the gas-rich San Juan Basin acreage on the Colorado-New Mexico border. A sale could fetch between $1.6 bil-

lion and $2 billion for all the packages combined. Total plans to divest assets worth $5 billion by 2021. The company is seeking to sell one-third of its 16.8% stake in the giant Kashagan field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, thought likely to attract offers of between $3.2 billion and $4 billion. Shell plans to divest assets worth $10 billion by 2021 and is reportedly looking to exit the Abadi LNG project in Indonesia, which could raise between $1 billion and $1.6 billion. ConocoPhillips has placed its entire 234,000-acre asset in the emerging Austin Chalk play of Louisiana on the market, about a year-and-a-half after the position was first unveiled. The valuation is expected to be below $1 billion.

PGS completes Viking Graben multi-azimuth survey in the North Sea PGS has completed acquisition of the GeoStreamer X Viking Graben survey in the North Sea and will release the first data due in Q1 2020. The prefunded GeoStreamer X multi-client multi-azimuth project, which used high-fidelity multisensor broadband technology and an efficient wide-towed source on the Viking Graben, started in September and was completed on 31 October. ‘This survey, carried out using one Ramform vessel, has proven beyond doubt that GeoStreamer X is a significantly faster method of achieving advanced offset- and azimuth-rich data than nodebased exploration,’ said Gunhild Myhr, PGS VP new ventures Europe. Despite challenging weather, all key targets were covered by two additional azimuths and will be processed together with a base GeoStreamer PURE data set over the survey area. PGS used a wide-tow triple source with 225 m separation between outer source arrays — the widest ever source separation towed by a single streamer vessel on a commercial project. The

Ramform Vanguard towed ten streamers of 6 km and two 10 km streamers.

extra-wide source solution significantly improved near-offset sampling, by recording the near-incidence angle information that will facilitate accurate AVO analysis of shallow targets. The wide tow sources also contributed to increased survey efficiency. The vessel Ramform Vanguard towed a streamer configuration of 12x85 m FIRST

spread with ten streamers of 6 km and two 10 km streamers to record longer offsets for even more accurate, FWI-driven velocity model-building. The GeoStreamer spread was towed in the depth range of 25m to 30m to acquire true broadband data with an optimal signal-to-noise ratio for high-resolution imaging and velocity model building.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

TGS launches reimaging programme in US Gulf of Mexico TGS has launched the ‘Declaration Refocus’ M-WAZ reimaging programme in Mississippi Canyon in the US Gulf of Mexico. The programme comprises data covering more than 380 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) blocks (~8860 km2) from orthogonal 3D WAZ programmes previously acquired by TGS using WesternGeco Q-Marine and CGG StagSeis seismic systems between 2010 and 2015. Full product delivery of Declaration Refocus is expected at the end of 2020. The new imaging project will process data from the prolific Mississippi Canyon, Viosca Knoll and De Soto Canyon areas. Particular attention will be given to increasing frequency content and resolution throughout the entire data section with additional focus on the Norphlet formations, said TGS.

The imaging process will also provide enhanced velocity and salt models. The Declaration area will be subject to two licensing rounds every year under the BOEM 2017-2022 five-year programme.

Meanwhile, TGS has started its 2020 South Halfway 3D onshore seismic survey in the Inga/Fireweed area of North East British Columbia in Canada.

The South Halfway survey is the second multi-client onshore project this winter season in the NEBC Montney basin for TGS, complementing the recently announced Midnight 3D survey. When completed, the South Halfway project will have added nearly 100 km2 of high-quality 3D seismic data and ties into existing TGS’ 3D seismic coverage in the area — exceeding 3,000 km2 over the highly prospective Montney acreage. A full suite of AVO-compliant reservoir characterization products, in addition to a suite of pre-stack depth-migrated deliverables, will be available in early 2020. Kristian Johansen, CEO of TGS, said:‘The South Halfway 3D project further expands our comprehensive onshore library in the region.’

Shearwater wins largest ever 4D Asia Pacific contract

The vessel Amazon Conqueror will acquire data in up to six fields.

Shearwater Geoservices has been awarded the largest-ever 4D seismic campaign in the Asia Pacific region covering up to six fields operated by Woodside in Australia. The campaign, planned to commence in Q4 2019, covers new 4D acquisition 34

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over the Pluto, Brunello, Laverda, Cimatti and Vincent fields with an option for one additional field. The 4D seismic campaign will improve Woodside’s understanding of the fields’ production performance over time and provide data to guide future field developments. This is the second

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4D seismic campaign award by Woodside to Shearwater after the baseline 4D programme in Senegal earlier this year. Irene Waage Basili, CEO of Shearwater GeoServices, said: ‘Our Isometrix equipped vessels have been the 4D towed-streamer technology of choice through the North Sea summer season, and we are very pleased to see Woodside choose this platform for its extensive 2019-2020 North West Australia 4D campaign.’ The campaign will be executed using the vessel Amazon Conqueror. Meanwhile, Shearwater has won a seismic acquisition contract from Shell for a 600 km2 area in the western Black Sea. The one-month project will commence in Q4 2019 and will be conducted by the Polar Empress. ‘We will employ the Polar Empress in continuation of other successful work offshore Turkey this season,’ said Waage Basili.

INDUSTRY NEWS

PGS and TGS complete interpretation of data offshore Canada Quantitative interpretation is now available from the PGS/TGS 2019 GeoStreamer survey acquired over the northern part of sector NL04-EN in the Orphan Basin, offshore Canada. A second QI volume, created using data from the partners’ 2018 acquisition over the southern part of the sector, is also available. The recent North Tablelands and Tablelands surveys cover this highly prospective portion of the south-eastern Orphan Basin. Many AVO-supported leads have been identified in the NL04-EN sector, including anomalies with low Vp/Vs and low impedance corresponding with structural closure. Two new quantitative interpretation (QI) projects enable a greater understanding of these and the overall lithology and fluid distribution at the reservoir level. A Full Waveform Inversion (FWI) project over a select area of the Tablelands survey provided improvements to the velocity field, which were then used to drive the QI inversion and prestack depth imaging. ‘The new QI results are striking and should be essential viewing for E&P

The GeoStreamer survey was carried out over the Orphan Basin in 2019.

companies submitting bids on Eastern Newfoundland 2020 licensing opportunities,’ said PGS. A single, continuous high-resolution seismic dataset was expected to be completed this month, covering both the Tablelands and North Tablelands surveys. Meanwhile, PGS has announced that from 2020 all vessels in its fleet will share bathymetry information collected

using echo sounders with the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 project that aims to map the entire ocean floor by 2030. PGS had already launched an initiative in 2017 to release surplus environmental data from ocean surveys and activities for research on ocean development. Seabed 2030 has already mapped 15% of the ocean floor, doubling its coverage from the 6.4% mapped in 2014.

Boskalis completes purchase of Horizon Group Boskalis has strengthened its position in the marine geophysical and geotechnical survey market after acquiring the remaining 37.5% in the Horizon Group after buying 62.5% of the shares earlier this year. Horizon will continue to focus on its traditionally strong market position in the Middle East and northwest Europe and pursue opportunities to expand into the emerging offshore wind market in the Far East. Boskalis said that Horizon’s current activities make it ‘highly FIRST

complementary’ to the position already held by Boskalis through Gardline in northwest Europe and on the east coast of the US. Horizon was founded in 2004 and is located in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. Its activities are largely based in the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea. Its 2019 revenues are expected to exceed $100 million. Its clients range from oil and gas companies and EPCI contractors as well as offshore wind farm developers.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Northern Lights project drills carbon capture well in North Sea A well is being drilled south of the Troll field in the North Sea to investigate whether the reservoir in the deep Johansen Formation is suitable for storage of carbon dioxide (CO2). The Northern Lights project consisting of Equinor (operator), Shell and Total, is drilling wildcat well 31/5-7 Eos to prove sandstone and the storage potential for CO2 in the Cook and Johansen geological formations. The companies also want to examine the sealing properties of the overlying Dunlin shale. If the well indicates good reservoir

Formation may be well-suited as a storage facility for CO2’, said Wenche Tjelta Johansen, assistant director exploration. She added that the Johansen Formation is situated at a depth of around 2700 m and that the wells previously been drilled down into the formation are located on the Troll field, far from this well location. The project will be investigating the many tight layers of shale between the reservoir and the Johansen Formation to be certain that the CO2 will remain in place. Since 1996, CO2 has been removed

The well will be drilled to the south of the Troll Field in the Johansen Formation.

properties, the first CO2 injector will be drilled as a sidetrack from the wildcat well. ‘If the well proves sandstone with good flow properties, this part of the Johansen

from the Sleipner Vest gas and injected in the Utsira Formation. One million tonnes of CO2 are stored in the subsurface every year. Since 2007, 700,000 tonnes of CO2

per year has also been stored at the Snøhvit field. It is separated from the gas in the process facility on Melkøya before it is sent by pipeline down into a reservoir located around 140 km from land. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has mapped areas that may be suitable for safe, long-term storage in the Norwegian shelf. Estimates showed that, in theory, the reservoir volume on the shelf could accommodate more than 80 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to 1000 years of Norwegian CO2 emissions at the current level. The Northern Lights drilling is part of the Norwegian full-scale project for capture, transport and storage of CO2 (CCS). This project includes capture of CO2 from two industrial companies in eastern Norway, as well as transport of liquid CO2 to a terminal in western Norway. From there, the liquid CO2 will be transported via pipeline and pumped into a reservoir at a depth of nearly 3000 m under the North Sea where it will be permanently stored. Northern Lights will submit a plan for development and operation (PDO/PIO) in the spring. If the development plan gets the green light, Northern Lights has made a commitment to store 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 for the authorities, every year for 25 years. Norway issued feasibility studies on capture, transport and storage solutions in 2016, which showed the feasibility of realizing a full-scale CCS project.

Equatorial Guinea awards nine oil and gas licences in licensing round Equatorial Guinea has awarded nine oil and gas blocks to companies after its oil round launched in April 2019, which offered 27 oil and gas blocks. A partnership of Vaalco and Levene have won four blocks in the Rio Muni

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basin. Lukoil has won a block in the Niger Delta basin; Noble Energy has won a block in the Douala basin, Africa Oil Corporation has won a block in the Rio Muni basin and Walter Smith-Hawtai has won one block in the Niger Delta.

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All the winners will work in partnership with Equatorial Guinea’s national oil company GE Petrol. GE Petrol has won one block outright in the Rio Muni basin.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

CGG broadens its offer in the Middle East CGG has enlarged its geoscience centre in Abu Dhabi to deliver a broader suite of geophysical, geological and reservoir technology and support to clients across the Middle East. Its existing Abu Dhabi centre has been almost doubled in size, bolstered by carbonate sedimentologists, structural geologists and petrophysicists, as well as reservoir engineering and geomechanics experts from CGG’s Robertson Geology and Reservoir Sciences teams. In addition, CGG has seismic inversion, satellite mapping and multi-physics imaging experts available in the region. Clients can also benefit from CGG’s GeoTraining capability to develop their in-house talent with tailored geoscience training and learning path programmes.

The company's Abu Dhabi centre has been almost doubled in size.

Peter Whiting, SVP Geoscience EAME, CGG, said: ‘CGG’s Middle East Regional Geoscience Centre in Abu Dhabi now offers much more than the excellence in seismic imaging for which it has been well known since its launch

in 2001. It will serve as a strategic technology centre where our clients can engage directly with our highly experienced team of geoscientists to meet their technical challenges and business needs.’

Exploration round-up Ghanaian energy company Springfield has discovered more than 1.2 billion barrels of oil at the deepwater Afina-1x well in the West Cape Three Points Block 2. The 673 km2 West Cape Three Points Block 2 (WCTP2), awarded in 2016, is located in the Tano/Western Basin in water depths of of 100 m to 1700 m. BP has made a gas discovery with the Ginger exploration well, offshore Trinidad. The Ginger exploration well was drilled into two untested fault blocks east of the Cashima field in water depths less than 90 m, approx. 80 km off the south-east coast of Trinidad. PetroTal is drilling its second horizontal well in the Bretaña field, Peru. The well reached the target Vivian formation at a depth of 2696 m and 700 m of the planned 870 m horizontal section has been drilled. PetroTal is confident that the latest well will behave similarly to the 4H well, which produced 200,000 barrels of oil in 35 days. Cooper Energy has completed the four well appraisal programme at the Callawonga oil field, Cooper Basin, South

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Australia. Three wells showed oil and one was found to be dry. ConocoPhillips is drilling to a depth of 127 m in Block 25/7 in the North Sea to test the Hasselbaink prospect slightly west of the Balder/Ringhorne fields. It also is drilling a second well in production licence PL 917 in the North Sea about 12 km west of Ringhorne and 210 km northwest of Stavanger. Wintershall Dea Norge is drilling a wildcat well in production licence PL 894. The well will be drilled approx 56 km south of the Asterix discovery, 15 km east of the Balderbra discovery and 110 km southwest of the Aasta Hansteen field. Equinor is drilling wildcat wells 15/3-12 S and 15/3-12 A in production licence PL 025 in the North Sea. The well will be drilled about 4 km south of the 15/3-4 (Sigrun) discovery. It is also drilling a well in Block 30/6 in the North Sea to test the Helleneset prospect around 6 km from the Oseberg field. Water depth at the site is 107 m. Whitebark Energy has drilled a 3673 m-deep well at its Wizard Lake development Rex-3 prospect. Initial indications

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are of a reservoir with excellent oil shows and porosities up to 23% over horizontal intervals of at least 1800 m. i3 Energy has drilled the 13/23c-11 well at the Liberator field in the Valhall shale. The well has drilled to 67-m measured depth (MD) of sand in the Captain reservoir. Logs indicate oil in the upper Captain sand above the expected oil water contact (OWC) of 5270 ft total vertical depth subsea (TVDSS). Initial interpretation is that the sand thickness above the OWC is lower than anticipated. Malaysia’s Reach Energy has drilled well K-15 onshore Kazakhstan, targeting Mid-Triassic carbonate reservoirs. The well reached a total depth of 3802 m and has identified a highly graded hydrocarbon trap near the west flank of Kariman Field. Norwest Energy is drilling the EP368 exploration well in H1 2020 at Lockyer Deep offshore western Australia. The well is approx. 15 km east of the Waitsia gas field and directly on trend with the recent West Erregulla-2 gas discovery which has 2C contingent resources of 1.19Tcf gas.

INDUSTRY NEWS

TGS sells North Sea dataset for potential carbon capture well TGS has sold of one of its seismic datasets to OGCI Climate Investments’ Net Zero Teesside project, a carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) initiative planned for the North East of the UK. The data is to be used to verify the suitability for storage of CO2 in offshore reservoirs located in the Permian Gas Basin in the Southern North Sea. Net Zero Teesside is a CCUS project backed by OGCI Climate Investments, supported by BP, ENI, Equinor, Occidental Petroleum, Shell and Total. OGCI Climate Investments and its partners are working closely with the UK Government to enable the UK to become a leader and exporter of CCUS technologies globally.

BRIEFS Energean has committed to becoming a zero emissions company by 2050 and has announced its support for the United Nations’ Business Ambition for 1.5°C: Our Only Future campaign for businesses to do their part in limiting global temperature rises to 1.5%.

Colin McGill, Net Zero Teesside project director, said: ‘To be able to remove carbon dioxide emissions and store them deep underground means that we need to be 100% sure that the reservoir chosen is fit-for-purpose. Our agreement with TGS allows us to carefully analyse the geology of the reservoirs and make the correct decisions.’ Fredrik Amundsen, TGS’ executive vice-president, Europe and Russia, said: ‘The use of seismic data from TGS in the development of this landmark UK CCUS project is marks the start of what could become a growing business area in the coming years.’

Petrobras has completed the sale of its entire stake in 34 onshore production fields located in the Potiguar Basin, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, to Petroreconcavo for $266 million. Meanwhile, Petrobras has approved its Strategic Plan for 2020-2024. Capital spending over the five-year period is expected to $75.7 billion, of which 85% is allocated to the E&P segment. Divestments are expected to be between $20-30 billion. The Dominican Republic’s first oil and gas licensing round concluded with the award of one licence to Apache Corp of the SP2 block offshore in the San Pedro de Macorís basin. Unsold blocks in the first round will be available in the next round. Wintershall has drilled the longest well ever completed by the company in Norway. Reaching some 9023 m from the Brage platform, the well is around 200 m longer than Mount Everest is tall. When Wintershall Dea (then Wintershall) took over operatorship from Statoil (now Equinor) in 2013, the platform was granted a lifetime extension until 2030.

The data covers the southern North Sea.

Colombia awards 14 oil contracts Colombia’s ANH has awarded 14 blocks in its latest oil auction. Fifty-nine blocks were on offer, mainly concentrated near the country’s northern Caribbean coast and in its eastern plains. CNE Oil and Gas won three contracts. Gran Tierra Energy and Canada’s Parex Resources were awarded two contracts each. Ecopetrol and its subsidiary Hocol, Frontera Energy and Amerisur Resources were all awarded one contract each. A consortium of Ecopetrol and Parex was awarded one contract. A consortium of Hocol and Geopark was also awarded one contract.

Ansila Energy has completed hydraulic fracturing simulation, or mini-frac, of the perforated Carboniferous reservoir section at the Siciny-2 (Gora) site in Poland prior to a well test.

Block SN 26 was awarded to a consortium of La Luna and Captiva, who beat a rival submission from Hocol. Just one counter offer was tabled (by Parex) for block Llanos 124. In earlier bidding the block received bids from Parex and a consortium of Geopark and Hocol. The first auction in June led to the award of 11 contracts to companies including Royal Dutch Shell, Noble, Exxon, Repsol and Parex, which are expected to invest some $500 million. Colombia’s crude reserves are estimated at 1.96 billion barrels. Average production is 860,000 barrels a day. FIRST

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Dan Brouillette has been confirmed as the new US Energy Secretary by the US Senate, in a bipartisan vote of 70-15. Brouillette was previously the US Deputy Secretary of Energy. Ocean Infinity has won a contract from Total to conduct 2D ultra high-resolution seismic surveys and seabed soil sampling in Block 32 and Block 17 offshore Angola.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

BP migrates its European mega data centres to Amazon’s cloud BP is closing its European mega data centres and migrating all data and 900 key applications currently hosted there to Amazon Web Services as part of a programme to accelerate the digitization of its infrastructure and operations. In return, the energy company will power Amazon’s data centres with renewable energy. The two European mega data centres, the largest that BP operates globally, host data from across all BP’s businesses. BP said that moving to AWS would enable it to use a broad and deep portfolio of cloud services, including machine learning, analytics, storage, security, databases, and compute to gain greater insights and automate processes. BP has already migrated approx. half of its 65 ‘business critical’ SAP production environments to AWS, which it said has improved system performance and integrity. In addition, BP is creating a ‘data lake’ on Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), for use across its businesses, and will use Amazon Kinesis, a service that enables organizations to easily collect, process,

and analyse real-time, streaming data, to gain timely insights for its emissions monitoring operations. With this information and leveraging Amazon SageMaker, a machine learning (ML) service that provides organizations with the ability to build, train, and deploy ML models quickly, BP said that it will be able to make predictions that will help it make faster business decisions and drive efficiencies. BP CIO Steve Fortune, said: ‘Exiting our European data centres and migrating to AWS supports our digital transformation agenda, and we’re excited about the possibilities for increased flexibility, operational efficiencies, and opportunities to innovate while helping to advance the energy transition.’ Meanwhile, BP has struck a deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to supply renewable energy to the European data centres that drive the AWS cloud platform. Starting in 2021, BP will begin supplying AWS with renewable energy from more than 170 megawatts (MW) of wind and solar projects in Sweden and Spain

– enough renewable energy each year to supply more 125,000 European homes. The expectation is to grow this relationship to more than double the capacity in excess of 400 MW, said BP. In the first project, BP will provide AWS with 122 MW of new renewable power capacity from one of the largest onshore windfarms being built in Europe, in Västernorrland, Sweden from 2022. A new solar farm in Spain will deliver 50 MW to AWS from 2021. Robert Lawson, chief operating officer for Global Gas at BP Supply and Trading, said: ‘BP and AWS are both targeting reductions in emissions from their respective operations. One way BP can play an important role in helping our customers is by using our trading capability and scale to deliver innovative, reliable and flexible supplies of low-carbon and renewable power to major corporate customers and partners.’ BP said it is targeting other big companies for renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs).

Polarcus teams up with Argas to focus on Middle East and North Africa

Polarcus will be shooting seismic data in Malaysia for four months.

Polarcus has announced an agreement with Arabian Geophysical and Surveying Company (ARGAS) to collaborate on seismic projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. ARGAS provides regional expertise in land, transition zone

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and shallow water seismic data acquisition and associated data processing. The two companies will work to identify marine seismic opportunities in the region. Meanwhile, Polarcus has been awarded a XArray marine seismic

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acquisition project in Malaysia, which was due to start in late December 2019 with a duration of approx. four months. Following this award, the Polarcus core fleet is fully booked to early Q2 2020.

INDUSTRY NEWS

PGS completes imaging of Moray Firth in North Sea PGS has completed final depth imaging of three multiclient 3D GeoStreamer surveys covering nearly 7400 km2 in the Moray Firth area of the North Sea. Primary targets are located in the proven Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous plays, giving greater insight into

in the Orcadian Basin in both mature and frontier areas. The surveys enhance overall understanding of prospectivity of the mature Outer Moray Firth area and provide exploratory datasets around the West Bank High area and the Wick sub-basin and Caithness Ridge. The eastern Moray Firth survey targets Paleocene prospectivity as well as

the Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous sandstone reservoirs sourced by the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. The survey follows the Lower Cretaceous sandstone fairway of the Britannia and Captain sandstones entering the area from the north through the Witch Ground Graben and provides detailed imaging of a paleo shoreface shelf break, revealing low and high sea-level stands useful for local correlative sequence stratigraphy. Imaging of the reservoirs and petroleum systems of this mature area is significantly improved by high-quality GeoStreamer 3D seismic data. Quantitative interpretation reveals very thin sand stringers in the Upper Jurassic play, sourced by the Kimmeridge Clay, and potential up-dip hydrocarbon migration through sandstones. Good AVO correlation enables nearfield exploration. The western survey covers an immature area of the Inner Moray Firth and reveals Devonian–Lower Cretaceous sandstone reservoirs, with source rock potential in the Devonian, Middle, and Upper Jurassic plays, and even within the Cretaceous play. The survey incorporates the West Bank High atop the Orcadian

Basin, flanked by the Smith Graben to the north-west, and the Banff sub-basin to the east. High-density GeoStreamer data is a significant upgrade to the previous sparse, mainly 2D data available for this region. Initial sediment build-up in the Orcadian Basin is well imaged and enables mapping out of the lacustrine environment. The Brora coals and analog plays to the Beatrice field are situated to the west of the West Bank High, while the recognized Kimmeridge Clay is the more established source rock on the Banff side. The third survey focuses on the innermost area of the Moray Firth North, which, like the western survey, is frontier and provides new and significantly improved coverage. The key challenge in the area is the combination of masked deep structures, shallow water, and complex shallow Chalk Group overburden. Wells in the area indicate the petroleum system is working and is most likely sourced from the Wick sub-basin. The survey will help to determine the entry points of the Lower Cretaceous sandstones that are part of the Koppervik Fairway.

Oil and Gas UK sets out decarbonisation plans for Britain A report from industry group Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) has called for urgent action to progress low carbon technologies critical to the UK and Scottish Government’s net zero ambitions. Energy Transition Outlook Report calls on the British government and industry to work closer together to progress projects across the UK to capture, transport and store carbon dioxide from heavy emitting industrial processes including power plants. It also calls for joint action to increase the potential for low carbon hydrogen to heat homes and power cars. The report says that the UK’s oil and gas industry is leading the development

of carbon capture usage and storage, with five projects across the country currently being explored. It also finds that UK energy sector investment will need to double in order to achieve a decarbonised economy. OGUK chief executive Deirdre Michie said: ‘With the launch of Roadmap 2035: A Blueprint for Net Zero, we were one of the first industrial sectors to set out credible plans to support the UK and Scottish Government net zero emissions. Yet the oil and gas sector will have to earn its position in this new energy world, cutting its own emissions and working with governments and FIRST

regulators to progress the five CCUS projects which now need to move forward into the next phase and developing hydrogen. ‘As our report shows, there is lots of work to be done in a huge market which is only getting bigger as global demand for energy continues to grow. The Climate Change Committee report published at the beginning of this year noted CCUS was critical to our net zero ambitions. Our challenge, working with others including the OGTC’s Net Zero Solutions Centre, is to realise CCUS and other low carbon technologies as an opportunity for British businesses.’

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Special Topic

LAND SEISMIC

Land seismic systems continue to develop to facilitate ever more channels as well as cableless systems to ensure that efficient acquisition can take place in all terrains and with very little down time. New developments are also making systems more hard wearing so that they can operate at higher temperatures and harsher environments. Bigger kit and more sophisticated kit, including the increasing use of drones, is facilitating larger surveys with longer sweeps in the Middle East and in the US. Tim Dean et al examine the different types of nodal QC systems and discuss their relative advantages. Jason Criss discusses the development of the latest class of cable-less recording equipment and shows that greater demand for nodal operations is increasing the recorded trace density while decreasing HSE exposure, cost of operations and environmental impact. Spencer L. Rowse et al describe a Weighted Sum Ground Force technique whereby the vibrator and ground is treated as a Damped Harmonic Oscillator with the propagating wave being due to the output of the DHO and some of the ‘coupling’ effects attributed to the vibrator operations may be the normal response of a DHO to a time varying force. Sreedurga Somasundarama et al predict the possibilities of stratigraphic entrapment within the synrift Older Cambay Shale formation in India and attempt to identify stratigraphic potential from reservoirs within the syn-rift sequence of the Older Cambay Shale formation. Steve Wilcox examines the land wireless marketplace and forecasts how it may develop in the future.

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 via 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 12-14 OCTOBER 2020

1st EAGE Conference on Seismic Inversion

www.seismicinversion.org Porto, Portugal

January 2020 IPTC 2020

13-15 Jan

Dhahran

Saudi Arabia

February 2020 10-12 Feb

Fifth EAGE Workshop on Rock Physics www.eage.org

Milan

Italy

11-13 Feb

Fourth EAGE Naturally Fractured Reservoir Workshop www.eage.org

Ras Al Khaimah

United Arab Emirates

13 Feb

EAGE Young Professional Meeting Oslo www.eage.org

Oslo

Norway

17-18 Feb

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

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

24-26 Feb

SPE/EAGE Reservoir Lifecycle Workshop www.eage.org

Abu Dhabi

United Arab Emirates

25-27 Feb

1st AAPG/EAGE Papua New Guinea Petroleum Geoscience Conference & Exhibition www.eage.org

Port Moresby

Papua New Guinea

29 Feb

KEGS 2020 Symposium Success from Innovation

Toronto

Canada

2-4 Mar

The 20 th North Sea Decommissioning Conference https://npf.no/konferansen/the-20th-north-sea-decommissioning-conference

Stavanger

Norway

2-8 Mar

36th International Geological Congress

New Delhi

India

9-11 Mar

First EAGE Workshop on Fibre Optic Sensing www.eage.org

Amsterdam

The Netherlands

16-19 Mar

GEO 2020

Manama

Bahrain

23-26 Mar

Eighth EAGE Workshop on Passive Seismic www.eage.org

Prague

Czech Republic

March 2020

EAGE Events

FIRST

BREAK

Non-EAGE Events

VOLUME

JANUARY

2020

CALENDAR

29 Mar 2 Apr

SAGEEP 2020 www.sageep.org

Denver

United States

30 Mar 1 Apr

Fifth EAGE Eastern Africa Petroleum Geoscience Forum www.eage.org

Cape Town

South Africa

6-8 Apr

EAGE Workshop on Quantifying Uncertainty in Depth Imaging www.eage.org

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

6-9 Apr

EAGE Saint Petersburg 2020 Geosciences: Converting Knowledge into Resources www.eage.org

Saint Petersburg

Russia

6-9 Apr

First EAGE Digitalization Conference and Exhibition www.eage.org

Vienna

Austria

7 Apr

Marine Technologies 2020 2 nd scientific workshop www.eage.org

Saint Petersburg

Russia

19-21 Apr

EAGE Seabed Seismic Today: from Acquisition to Application www.eage.org

Abu Dhabi

United Arab Emirates

20-22 Apr

3 rd Asia Pacific Meeting on Near Surface Geoscience & Engineering www.eage.org

Chiang Mai

Thailand

7-9 May

GISTAM 2020 6th International Conference on Geographical Information Systems Theory, Applications and Management www.gistam.org

Prague

Czech Republic

12-14 May

5th AAPG/EAGE Myanmar Oil & Gas Conference www.eage.org

Yangon

Myanmar

12-14 May

Third EAGE Workshop on Offshore Development and Exploration in Mexico www.eage.org

Merida

Mexico

12-16 May

EAGE Engineering & Mining Geophysics 2020 www.eage.org

Perm

Russia

21-22 May

13 th SAOGIET Congress

Bobrka

Poland

8 Jun

YP Summit 2020 www.yp-summit.org

Amsterdam

Netherlands

8-11 Jun

82nd EAGE Conference & Exhibition 2020 www.eage.org

Amsterdam

Netherlands

25-26 Jun

First EAGE/NAPE Workshop on Emerging Exploration www.eage.org

London

United Kingdom

28-30 Jun

First EAGE Conference on Guyana Basins www.eage.org

Georgetown

Guyana

April 2020

May 2020

June 2020

August 2020 17-21 Aug

Geobaikal 2020 6th Sceintific Conference www.eage.org

Irkutsk

Russia

20-21 Aug

First EAGE Workshop on EOR Development and Evolution in Latin America www.eage.org

Bogotá

Colombia

24-26 Aug

GeoUtrecht 2020

Utrecht

Netherlands

25-27 Aug

Second EAGE Marine Acquisition Workshop www.eage.org

Oslo

Norway

30 Aug 3 Sep

Near Surface Geoscience Conference & Exhibition 2020 www.eage.org

Belgrade

Serbia

EAGE Events

Non-EAGE Events

FIRST

BREAK

VOLUME

JANUARY

2020

INCLUDING

R EGI S TE R NOW!

DELIVERING FOR THE ENERGY CHALLENGE: TODAY AND TOMORROW

WWW.EAGEANNUAL2020.ORG

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