First Break September 2020 - Reservoir Geoscience and Engineering

VO L U M E 3 8 I I S S U E 9 I S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0

SPECIAL TOPIC

Reservoir Geoscience and Engineering TECHNICAL ARTICLE Predicting variability in well performance using machine learning INDUSTRY NEWS TGS bids $600 million for PGS’ multi-client library CROSSTALK Contemplating oil’s mortality

Vp

1/Q

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Legacy multi-client data

Reprocessed Cornerstone Evolution multi-client data

CORNERSTONE EVOLUTION De-risk 32nd Round Awards with over 50,000 km2 of reprocessed Central North Sea data Cameron Grant +44 1293 68 3340 Cameron.Grant@CGG.com

Paul Godwin +44 1293 683436 Paul.Godwin@CGG.com

cgg.com/cornerstone

FIRST BREAK® An EAGE Publication

CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD Peter Rowbotham (Peter.Rowbotham@apachecorp.com) EDITOR Damian Arnold (editorfb@eage.org) MEMBERS, EDITORIAL BOARD • Paul Binns, consultant (pebinns@btinternet.com) • Patrick Corbett, Heriot-Watt University (patrick_corbett@pet.hw.ac.uk) • Tom Davis, Colorado School of Mines (tdavis@mines.edu) • Anthony Day, PGS (anthony.day@pgs.com) • Peter Dromgoole, 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) • Angelika-Maria Wulff, Kuwait Oil Company (AWulff@kockw.com) MEDIA PRODUCTION MANAGER Thomas Beentje (tbe@eage.org) ACCOUNT MANAGER ADVERTISING Peter Leitner (plr@eage.org) PRODUCTION Saskia Nota (layout@eage.org) Ivana Geurts (layout@eage.org) EAGE EUROPE OFFICE PO Box 59 3990 DB Houten The Netherlands • +31 88 995 5055 • eage@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE RUSSIA & CIS OFFICE EAGE Russia & CIS Office EAGE Geomodel LLC 19 Leninsky Prospekt 119071, Moscow, Russia • +7 495 640 2008 • moscow@eage.org • www.eage.ru EAGE MIDDLE EAST OFFICE EAGE Middle East FZ-LLC Dubai Knowledge Village Block 13 Office F-25 PO Box 501711 Dubai, United Arab Emirates • +971 4 369 3897 • middle_east@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE ASIA PACIFIC OFFICE UOA Centre Office Suite 19-15-3A No. 19, Jalan Pinang 50450 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia • +60 3 272 201 40 • asiapacific@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE AMERICAS SAS Calle 93 # 18-28 Oficina 704 Bogota, 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)

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Enhanced Oil Recovery as a second revenue stream in a gas storage facility; understanding and monitoring the Humbly Grove Field, Hampshire, UK

Editorial Contents 3

EAGE News

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Crosstalk

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Industry News

Technical Articles

35 Bayesian lithology analysis with seismic-driven likelihood to anisotropic medium: a case study from Northwest Australia

Takashi Yamatani 43 Predicting variability in well performance using the concept of shale capacity: An application of machine learning techniques

Ritesh Kumar Sharma and Satinder Chopra

Special Topic: Reservoir Geoscience and Engineering

51 Exploration workflow for real-time modelling of rock property and AVO feasibilities in areas with complex burial history — a Barents Sea demonstration Per Avseth, Ivan Lehocki, Laurent Feuilleaubois, Tore Nordtømme Hansen, Kristian Angard and Cyrille Reiser 57 Why the resistivity log should not be used to calculate or predict pore pressure in the North Sea

Carl Fredrik Gyllenhammar 65 Fibre-optic sensing and microseismic monitoring evaluate and enhance hydraulic fracturing via real-time and post-treatment analysis

Peyman Moradi, Suresh Dande and Doug Angus 73 New node acquisition design delivers unprecedented results with Dynamic Matching FWI — case study from the Gulf of Mexico

Henrik Roende, Duncan Bate, Jian Mao, Yi Huang and Dan Chaikin 79 Enhanced Oil Recovery as a second revenue stream in a gas storage facility; understanding and monitoring the Humbly Grove Field, Hampshire, UK Arthur Satterley, Potcharaporn Pongthunya, Jonny Imber, Ken McCaffrey, Jon Gluyas Max Wilkinson, Andrew Sowter, Stefan Nielsen, Nicola de Paola, Richard Jones, Paul Jordan and Arthur Moors

Feature

89 Velocity formats and the value of the SEGY EBCDIC header

Peter Rowbotham 90 Calendar

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

cover: This month we showcase the latest reservoir geoscience techniques for petroleum engineers in the field.

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European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers

Board 2020-2021

Everhard Muijzert President

Dirk Orlowsky Vi c e-President

Pascal Breton Secretary-Treasurer

Near Surface Geoscience Division Alireza Malehmir Chair Esther Bloem Vice-Chair George Apostolopoulos Immediate Past Chair Micki Allen Contact Officer EEGS/North America Riyadh Al-Saad Oil & Gas Liaison Hongzhu Cai Liaison China Albert Casas Membership Officer Eric Cauquil Liaison Shallow Marine Geophysics Deyan Draganov Technical Programme Officer Ranajit Ghose Editor in Chief Near Surface Geophysics Hamdan Ali Hamdan Liaison Middle East Vladimir Ignatief Liaison North America / Russia Andreas Kathage Liaison Officer First Break Musa Manzi Liaison Africa Myrto Papadopoulou Young Professional Liaison Andreas Pfaffhuber Liaison Infrastructure & BIM 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

Alireza Malehmir 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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HIGHLIGHTS

EAGE MEMBERS

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ROAD TO

Unexpected seismic inversion in Porto.

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Support Student Fund on International Charity Day

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Laurie Dake Challenge winners declared.

Near Surface Geoscience 2020 to join Annual Meeting in Amsterdam

It’s never happened before, but this year the annual Near Surface Geoscience Conference and Exhibition (NSG) will be held alongside the 2020 Annual Conference and Exhibition (Annual Meeting) on 7-11 December 2020 in Amsterdam.

The EAGE Board decided this was the best option to ensure that the already planned NSG 2020 programme was not lost following the need for health and security reasons to move the event from its scheduled Belgrade venue in the first week of September.

‘It was a difficult decision,’ says Marcel van Loon, EAGE executive director.

‘Everyone understands that members of the near surface community value the independence of their annual meeting. But in the time available, joining the Annual Meeting in Amsterdam seemed the most realistic and economic solution. We hope it will offer some unexpected benefits for all those intending to attend, providing a unique opportunity to participate in both of the meetings. Delegates to either the NSG or the Annual Meeting will have the chance to get a good feel for our fully multi-disciplinary offering all under one roof.’

Prof Alireza Malehmir, chair of the Near Surface Geoscience Division, welcomes the initiative as the most pragmatic choice: ‘This is a landmark in the history of the Division and the Association and we very much hope this co-location and

the parallel events will be a success for all concerned. The 200+ abstracts received, the planned technical programme and our great exhibitors were all good signs that our near surface event was on the right track.’

The priority will be to ensure that the two meetings retain their own identity in terms of their core technical programmes.

For the NSG event the parallel conference structure will run as planned. That means that in additon to the 26th edition of the European Meeting of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics, both the Geophysics for Mineral Exploration and Applied Shallow Marine Geophysics meetings will be included in the December programme.

The exciting prospect for all delegates will be that they will be able to move freely between presentations organized by both meetings. We believe this provides a significant bonus for everyone coming to Amsterdam.

Additionally, many activities can be shared offering special networking possibilities. The traditional major exhibition at the Annual Meeting will be enhanced by the addition of a dedicated area for near surface equipment and services providers open to all delegates. All of our exhibitors will therefore benefit from the potential contact with additional visitors representing a wider spectrum of disciplines. There will also be the opportunity for all delegates to take an interest in the dedicated sessions of our FIRST

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special interest communities, the various interactive forums, and the student activities, all of which are distinctive features of the Annual Meeting.

This year’s co-location arrangement and the earlier change of date for the Annual Meeting from June to December have of course been necessitated by the extraordinary circumstances of the global Covid-19 pandemic. 2021 is expected to return to the normal separate meeting arrangements for these two EAGE flagship events.

The EAGE Annual Conference & Exhibition 2021 will be held in Madrid on 31 May to 3 June whereas we are taking NSG to Bordeaux, France on 29 August to 2 September 2021.

Looking ahead Prof Malehmir says: ‘Following our co-location, the meeting in Bordeaux is up next. It will include our 2nd Conference on Geophysics for Infrastructure Planning Monitoring and BIM after its first successful kick-off. Also the proposed addition of the Hydrogeophysics parallel conference should facilitate a great return in 2021 after successfully passing through the pandemic situation.’

Meantime all those planning to come to the combined EAGE Annual Meeting and NSG 2020 are advised to look out for continuing announcements on the EAGE website as the operational arrangements for the co-location of the two events are finalized.

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EAGE NEWS

The Dutch connection behind the Annual Meeting

ROAD TO

With this edition of the Road to Amsterdam, we focus on the Dutch connection and how the Netherlands, Amsterdam and Dutch geoscience community have played a key role in the history of EAGE and in our Annual Meetings for more than six decades.

Amsterdam in winter.

The link between EAGE and the Netherlands is as old as the Association itself.

It goes back to the founding of the European Association of Exploration Geophysicists (EAEG), EAGE’s predecessor, in 1951. Its first home was an office in Shell, an Anglo-Dutch company, and the first president, Arie Van Weelden (namesake of the respective EAGE annual award), was Dutch. Since then, 11 of our presidents (including current president, Everhard Muijzert) have been Dutch nationals, and to this date the most prestigious EAGE Award is dedicated to the XV Century Rotterdam-based scholar, Desiderius Erasmus. In addition, the Association has its headquarters in Houten, near Utrecht, with many of our staff from the Netherlands.

When looking at Annual Meetings, the connection has always been strong, so much so that these days Amsterdam regularly host the conference. Our first Annual Meeting took place in The Hague in May 1951 with around 30 to 40 delegates and hour-long presentations! It is rather different today. For Amsterdam 2020 we have over 1000 presentations, and 20 minutes for each one. The EAGE Annual 2020 will also be the first one of its kind to feature online components for the conference. The Netherlands has been home to the Annual Conference & 4

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Exhibition on 10 occasions, five of which have been in Amsterdam.

In recent years, we’ve organized workshops, conferences and education tours in Dutch cities such as The Hague, Utrecht, Delft, and Amsterdam. Recently the 2019 Near Surface Geoscience Conference & Exhibition was held in The Hague. This year, given the exceptional circumstances, the Near Surface Geoscience Conference & Exhibition will once again be held in The Nerherlands, and for the first time ever, co-located with our Annual meeting.

Summer 2019 also saw the creation of our Local Chapter Netherlands - a group of dedicated members who have been organizing a wide range of events since the establishment of the group. In a sense this is a somewhat belated development because the Netherlands has been associated with the oil and gas industry since 1959. This was when the giant Groningen gas field was discovered by Dutch Petroleum Company (Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij; NAM). Since then it has supplied more or less the whole Dutch population with natural gas, not to mention households in the neighbouring countries of Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. Today the field is in decline and due to be phased out sometime around 2030.

The Dutch subsurface is of course of ongoing interest to the geoscientific

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community if only because it is one of the ‘Low Countries’ with nearly one third of its territory below sea level. The city of Amsterdam is a challenging 2 m below sea level, with its dwellings built predominantly on clay. The use of piling to support houses dates back to the 17th century with subsidence a perennial issue for the city.

A case in point for engineers has been Amsterdam’s metro network. The first metro lines were only laid in 1977. Most of those lines led to residential areas outside the centre, so there remained a need for a metro line that would pass under the city centre, problematic because of the subsurface conditions. Every building in the city centre is supported by wooden posts driven deep into the ground. The metro network had to be tunnelled under those posts, initially considered technically and financially unfeasible.

Eventually the decision was made to construct the 9.2 km Noord/Zuidlijn, the metro line running from the northern part of Amsterdam under the IJ River and down to Station Zuid with construction work beginning in 2003.

The opening date, originally scheduled for 2011, ended up being postponed eight times before eventually starting up on 22 July 2018. Nonetheless it is a significant engineering achievement indicative of the innovative spirit that the Dutch connection continues to bring to EAGE. Many key energy companies, research institutes and universities present in the country will be present to welcome you to Amsterdam this December. Make sure to register before 25 October to save on your attendance fee. Oh, remember to bring a warm coat. Dutch gezelligheid may be a warming experience, but the weather most likely won’t be!

If you want to know more about the EAGE Annual 2020 programme, visit our website at www.EAGEANNUAL2020.org.

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EAGE NEWS

Expect the unexpected at first seismic inversion conference in Porto The vibrant city of Porto should form an idyllic backdrop to the First EAGE Conference on Seismic Inversion scheduled for 26-28 October 2020. The conference will focus on current progress, recent breakthroughs and future trends in seismic inversion methodologies and application. But participants could be in for a few surprises.

Technical committee member Todd Bredbeck of Wintershall DEA explains: ‘It was difficult to know what to expect

prediction in the early Palaeozoic, timelapse wave-equation inversions, Markov chains, compaction trends, wavelets, and advances in geostatistical methods for a very strong agenda’.

Leonardo Azevedo, Assistant Professor, Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal, is also enthusiastic about the likely discussion. ‘We have a high-quality technical programme covering a broad range of hot topics in seismic inversion,’ he says.

Seismic deployment in reservoir characterization.

for submissions given the numerous challenges around the world, but we’ve attracted an excellent group of contributors over nearly the full range of inversion topics. Over three days we’ll see porosity

‘I am particularly excited to learn more about the recent advances on geostatistical inversion methods, new methods on full waveform inversion and what is the role of machine learning in seismic inversion.’

The featured keynotes include Patrick Connolly of PCA on ‘Facies Probabilities – Seismic Inversion Coming of Age’ and Dario Grana, associate professor, University of Wyoming on ‘Reservoir Models, Geophysical Data, and Bayesian Methods: An Integrated Approach to Subsurface Characterization and Monitoring’.

The conference programme will also feature discussions addressing issues around energy transition facing the industry and maximizing current efficiency and capital expenditure. Leading up to the conference, Sara Grant, a BP geophysicist, will host a digital webcast on ‘Seismic Inversion in a Net Zero Carbon World, Future Applications and Opportunities’. On the final day of the conference, Øyvind Kjøsnes of Aker BP will host an interactive discussion entitled ‘Barriers to Industry Adoption of Seismic Inversion: Value, Integration and Communication’.

The First EAGE Conference on Seismic Inversion will be held in a hybrid format. This means that participants will have the choice of participating in person or virtually. For more details on the conference, visit www.seismicinversion.org.

EAGE Education Calendar 10-11 SEP

A COMPREHENSIVE OVERVIEW OF SEISMIC DATA PROCESSING STEPS, BY PIET GERRITSMA

ONLINE

14-17 SEP

MICROSEISMIC MONITORING IN OIL AND GAS RESERVOIRS, BY LEO EISNER

ONLINE

21-22 SEP

GEOSTATISTICAL RESERVOIR MODELING AND UNCERTAINTY QUANTIFICATION, BY DARIO GRANA

ONLINE

24-25 SEP

MACHINE LEARNING FOR GEOSCIENTISTS WITH HANDS-ON CODING, BY EHSAN NAEINI

ONLINE

28 SEP - 1 OCT

FUNDAMENTALS AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF SPE-PRMS FOR CONVENTIONAL AND UNCONVENTIONAL RESERVOIRS, BY VICTOR ALEXEI HUERTA QUIÑONES

ONLINE

5-8 OCT

UNDERSTANDING SEISMIC ANISOTROPY IN EXPLORATION AND EXPLOITATION: HANDS ON, BY LEON THOMSEN

ONLINE

12-15 OCT

INTEGRATED METHODS FOR DEEP-WATER RESERVOIR CHARACTERIZATION, BY JON ROTZIEN

ONLINE

19-20 OCT

EET: SEISMIC RESERVOIR CHARACTERIZATION: AN EARTH MODELING PERSPECTIVE, BY PHILIPPE DOYEN

ONLINE

21-22 OCT

EET: MICROSEISMICITY: A TOOL FOR RESERVOIR CHARACTERIZATION, BY SERGE SHAPIRO

ONLINE

23-26 OCT

VALUE OF INFORMATION IN THE EARTH SCIENCES, BY JO EIDSVIK

ONLINE

29-30 OCT & 2 NOV

EET: SEISMIC MULTIPLE REMOVAL TECHNIQUES: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE, BY ERIC VERSCHUUR

ONLINE

4-5 NOV

PETROLEUM EXPLORATION STRATEGY, BY JEAN-JACQUES BITEAU

ONLINE

PLEASE ALSO CHECK THE CALENDAR OF WEBINARS ON THE LEARNING GEOSCIENCE WEBSITE. FOR MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION PLEASE VISIT WWW.EAGE.ORG AND WWW.LEARNINGGEOSCIENCE.ORG.

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EAGE NEWS

Local Chapter Aberdeen webinars flourish Webinars on ‘Facies Probabilities: Seismic Inversion Coming of Age’ and ‘How Geology Shapes Scotland’ have been the latest topics for Local Chapter Aberdeen as it adapts to social distancing.

In June Patrick Connolly gave a fascinating insight into the past and future of seismic inversion techniques, reminding us that impedances inversion stretches at least as far back as Lindseth’s 1979 paper. One focus of the talk was the Low Frequency Model and how understanding of this has evolved. With the latest facies inversion techniques overcoming limitations of earlier inversion frameworks, Connolly held out the hope that efforts at reliably capturing a true representation of uncertainty was within our grasp.

Our July presenter Angus Miller is more accustomed to leading tourists through the streets of Edinburgh and through Scotland on his GeoWalks. For

Highland geology of Scotland.

us he turned his hand to a whistle-stop tour of some of the geological puzzles that Scotland has to offer. We were challenged to consider the why of the landscape: why are there so few islands on the east coast?, why the Southern Uplands have formed a natural border with our neighbours to the south?, why was the fishing village there?, why do roads in the Highlands follow the routes they do? Through this we gained a better appreciation of how our ancestors lived and adapted to their environment and the underlying geological factors.

Being based in Aberdeen with silver

granite, it was interesting to hear about building stones in the Edinburgh port of Leith. There the local yellow sandstone was supplanted by red sandstone from SW Scotland by Victorian fashion. With remote attendees ranging from India to USA, Russia to England, whether expat Scots or those looking to hear about a different region, we all appreciated the new insights into the ‘Shape of Scotland’.

After the summer break, we plan to welcome new students at Aberdeen University to join our September webinar on 4D Seismic.

Abstracts invited for First EAGE Workshop on Borehole Geology in Asia Pacific Let’s welcome the First EAGE Workshop on Borehole Geology in Asia Pacific due to be held on 30-31 March 2021 in Perth, Western Australia. It is the first of its type foregrounding the Australasian region and builds upon the success of similar EAGE supported workshops in other parts of the world.

Borehole imagers provide high resolution, oriented data used to characterize subsurface geology for petroleum, mining and geothermal industries. Understanding the rocks at the borehole is the first step to predicting the geology away from the borehole, and key to making sound financial decisions related to the safe exploration and development of earth resources. Wellbore

images provide essential structural, sedimentological and in-situ stress information.

R&D into wellbore imaging tools continues and has resulted in recent advances in oil-based mud imaging technology. Further innovation in LWD deep reading resistivity tool technology has recently improved its usefulness for navigation-while-drilling for petroleum development wells.

With this in mind, the Call for Abstracts is now open inviting geoscience and engineering professionals to share their expertise borehole geology with the event participants.

Deadline for abstract submissions is 20 November 2020 via the event website - events.eage.org.

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Wellbore imaging tools.

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EAGE NEWS

All set for big near surface meeting in Chiang Mai Chiang Mai, Thailand is where you need to be on 2-4 November 2020 to catch EAGE’s third Asia Pacific Meeting on Near Surface Geoscience and Engineering (NSGE).

Two complementary events which were hits at the last meeting in Kuala Lumpur are coming back as an extra

enticement: the SEGJ Seminar on ‘Application of Geophysical Methods to Engineering and Environmental Problems’ and the Short Course on ‘A Practical Guide to Multi-Dimensional ERT and TEM Surveys and Data Interpretation” by Dr M.H. Loke of Geotomo Software and Dr Toke Søltoft

of Aarhus Geosoftware at Chiang Mai University. Both of these side events will take place on 4 November 2020 following the Conference.

Don’t miss out on this exceptional regional event and that early bird fee which is valid until 20 September via events.eage.org.

Support the EAGE Student Fund on International Day of Charity

In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly declared 5 September an annually recurring International Day of Charity to commemorate the life work of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Theresa. For us it is an opportunity to highlight our own charity represented in the work of the EAGE Student Fund, one of the key ways the Association supports the development of students in geoscience and engineering globally.

Many of the traditional activities supported through the Fund hinge on in person interaction between students, lecturers and chapter members. An 8

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important section of its mission is to celebrate and stimulate student excellence at conferences. Since March this has obviously required both students and the Fund to pivot to a different approach. Online engagement within and between student chapters presented the key.

Creation of the monthly Student e-Summits, where student and Young Professionals panellists are invited to share their experiences on a variety of topics, has been one initiative. Student chapters themselves have also turned to online meetings in many instances. The

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have also worked with EAGE local chapters and special interest communities.

Participating students and judges involved in the Laurie Dake Challenge have also been confronted with the challenge of completing the competition online. The contest is one of the key projects supported by the EAGE Student Fund comprising dedicated teams from around the globe. The challenge traditionally has its finals in June each year, where contestants have the chance to present their work to our jury. With students unable to access university and the computation power that comes with this, the final round took place online on 29 July (see p. 12)!

The EAGE Student Fund intends to continue adapting to the changing circumstances in order to deliver relevant experiences and support. Thankfully, students have proven to be a resilient group and make good use of the support provided by the Fund.

We want to thank our generous donors for their support in making this work possible. Through the EAGE membership community and corporate support we have been able to help thousands of students since the inception of our work in 2019. If you would like to contribute, you can donate through the EAGE Student Fund website or contact us today at info@eagestudentfund.org. Many thanks in advance for your support!

EAGE NEWS

Meet the winner of the 2019 YP Award Dr Zoya Heidari was the 2019 winner of the EAGE Arie van Weelden Award for ‘significant contributions to geosciences and the Association by a young professional’. Here she tells us about about life in the award winning lane.

Dr Zoya Heidari, recipient of numerous academic awards, is an associate professor in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her PhD in 2011. She was founder and director of a Joint Industry Research Programme on ‘Multi-Scale Formation Evaluation of Unconventional and Carbonate Reservoirs’ from 2012 to 2015 and since 2016 has headed the Industrial Affiliates Research Programme on ‘Multi-Scale Rock Physics’ since 2016. She has published over 120 peerreviewed and high-impact journal and conference papers receiving many accolades, including the 2017 SPE Cedric K. Ferguson Medal and the 2017 SPWLA Distinguished Presentation Recognition. In 2015 she also received SPE Innovative Teaching Award.

What have you been most pleased about in your career so far, and where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?

Every day of my professional life includes developing novel methods and understanding mysteries of complex formations, which makes it very rewarding. I am particularly gratified when these new findings are applied successfully to actual energy-related problems in our industry.

Moreover, my academic career has given me the opportunity to work with students, the next generation of engineers and scientists in my field, who can initiate big changes in the world. To work with many brilliant individuals and lead them to excel in their careers is something I value a lot.

No words can describe what a splendid feeling it is to receive a phone call, text, 10

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or email from a former graduate and learn about their achievements in life, or to see my current or former students shining by pioneering new methods in our field, and meeting their goals.

I particularly enjoy integrating computational and experimental research for analyzing multi-physics formation data in multiple scales. In 10 years from now, I hope to be leading a world-class research group for performing multi-scale rock physics research. We will be expanding our experimental and computational capabilities for development of advanced rock physics models and experimental/ computational methods for integration of multi-scale formation data.

As an academic, what change would you like to see in student education?

Students need to learn how to develop new ideas and methods to tackle our industry’s challenges. It is not sufficient to memorize formulas and learn how to use them to solve the problems, or to follow recipes to get the work done. Machines can do the same thing these days. Fast computational capabilities have already impacted our industry.

Now that we are expanding our expertise and tools for analyzing and using of data for fast and reliable decision making, it will be very important to learn how to develop more efficient and dependable unconventional methods for (a) collecting good-quality and real-time data and (b) interpreting data honouring the physics of our complex reservoirs. Method development is something that still requires the wonderful capabilities of the human brain and distinguishes us from machines. Our brains can create and we need to employ them to further develop our educational system.

What advice would you give to someone considering a career in academia?

My first advice is to be enthusiastic about teaching and research. Integration of the

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two brings so much life to the classroom and enhances learning outcomes.

The second piece of advice would be to dream big, and leave your comfort zone every now and then. In my case, leaving my comfort zones has provided me the opportunity to expand and advance my research, becoming stronger, and experiencing new adventurous moments. An academic career provides the intellectual freedom to allow you to work on each and every problem you are interested in.

It just requires bravery and motivation to try new ideas. Finally, it is very important to be resilient.

You are a member of different professional societies including EAGE, SPE and SPWLA and also volunteer for some of them. How do you manage along with your daily work and how does this contribute to your professional path?

I consider service to professional societies to be very important. My philosophy is that giving makes the world a better place to live for all of us. I would like to make such a contribution during my life. Moreover, I believe each and every service to the community and the professional societies is a learning opportunity and a great chance to meet and collaborate with others. The collaboration, gaining of knowledge, and connections can significantly contribute to one’s professional path.

I owe my success to everyone who voluntarily helped me to learn, to persist, and to progress. I would like to do the same for others to ignite impactful changes in the world. This creates a pleasant feeling of happiness in my heart. However, I should mention that maintaining a balance between different aspects of your career such as service, research, and teaching is not easy. It is very normal for me to work long hours and even over weekends and holidays. Success requires patience, time, and of course lots of support from family and mentors.

EAGE NEWS

Artificial intelligence proves ideal topic for online meeting Panos Doulgeris writes: The Covid-19 pandemic outbreak has undoubtedly brought a number of constraints to the activities of EAGE local chapters.

However, digitalization offers a number of opportunities for efficient knowledge dissemination via online events.

After the success of two online events in May and June on Decarboni-

geophysicist of Aramco Overseas Company, on machine learning (ML) in seismic data processing. His philosophy on AI is to build applications that are ‘good, fast and simple’ in order to address one of today’s greatest challenges in seismic data processing, e.g., reducing turn-around time from 6-12 to 1-3 months.

Artificial intelligence changes the world.

zation and Energy Transition, organized in collaboration with the EAGE Special Interest Community and Local Chapter of Paris, the Netherlands Local Chapter hosted its first online event on ‘Artificial Intelligence in Oil & Gas’ on 2 July 2020. It featured Dr Paul Zwartjes and Norbert Dolle as speakers and was attended not only by a large number of members of the Local Chapter, but participation of the EAGE Local Chapters of Paris, Oslo, London and Aberdeen, a first.

Dr Diego Rovetta, president of the EAGE Local Chapter Netherlands, opened the event underlining the significance of artificial intelligence (AI) in oil and gas by presenting key figures and facts. The Association recently set up the EAGE Special Interest Community on AI has organized a number of relevant events and workshops (EAGE Digital in Vienna and a workshop on optimizing project turnaround performance in London).

The first talk of the event was given by Paul Zwartjes, senior research

Identifying whether an AI-driven or AI-supported strategy is required for every process seems to be the key to having a seamless integration of AI tools in seismic data processing workflows. This was clearly demonstrated in three impressive case studies (first break picking, blending noise attenuation and inversion) where AI outperformed standard geophysical tools, both in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. Closing, Zwartjes shared his vision on the future acceptance and deployment of AI tools by the seismic data processing community.

Norbert Dolle, co-founder and managing partner of White Space Energy, delivered the second talk of the evening on ‘From superhuman performance in games to augmented decision making in the real world’. Establishing routine planning exercises in oil and gas, like maintenance planning, share a far more complex decision space than chess.

Dolle effectively substantiated the deployment of modern artificial intelligence techniques for decision making.

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The way to achieve this is to obtain superhuman insights, i.e., turning every complex decision into a game in which we deploy an AI agent to become an expert and come up with a strategy to win. The case studies Dolle shared with the audience on well trajectory planning and maintenance planning using deep reinforcement algorithms proved that there are great opportunities for process optimization still to be harnessed.

Interaction with the audience was achieved via an online Q&A session and a poll conducted on behalf of the Special Interest Community on AI. The poll results suggest that EAGE can be most helpful on the topic of AI in O&G by organizing online talks and by setting up and supporting an online user community.

Participants in the event highlighted the importance of AI. This was further confirmed by majority (62%) aiming to obtain the required skills to build their own ML/deep learning applications. It is worthwhile mentioning that a large part of the audience (46%) had more than 15 years of professional experience and already indicated some inclination towards ML without fully mastering the subject (47%).

One of the key takeaways from this virtual meeting was that audience engagement can be achieved even during an online event. Despite the lack of social contact, these virtual meetings can connect members and enable them to share knowledge. Of course, such online events can only work provided that the requisite IT is in place and we are thankful for the support of Aramco Overseas Company in this case.

A digital recording of the event talks is available on the EAGE Communities YouTube channel https://www.youtube. com/eagechannel.

If you want to contact the EAGE Local Chapter Netherlands, join its LinkedIn group or e-mail to eagelcnetherlands@gmail.com.

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Mexican students declared Laurie Dake Challenge winners

2020 Laurie Dake Challenge winning teams announcement.

Students from the Mexican Institute of Petroleum, Mexico deserve special congratulation for their win in the 2020 Laurie Dake Challenge.

Judges said it was a closely contested final round, with the teams from University Technology Petronas, Malaysia and Institute Technology Bandung, Indonesia claiming second and third place respectively.

But the big achievement by the Mexican students and the runners-up was to triumph in the special circumstances of this year’s Laurie Dake Challenge. The contest is tough enough involving two qualifying rounds before the final, and the assignment each team works on is always a serious test. In 2020, a whole new level of difficulty was introduced as our teams not only had to deal with a challenging data set but also had to adapt to the entire final round being contested online under lock-down conditions.

With university facilities being inaccessible, our teams had to work with limited resources and computational power to develop their results. We want to acknowledge the resilience and adaptability of all the participating teams in being up for the challenge, and for the quality and innovative suggestions presented by all the finalists.

After a lot of deliberation it was the Mexican student team that eventually won the judges’ vote. The jury was impressed in particular by the team’s focus on the final presentation of the field development plan.

Claudia Steiner-Luckabauer, Student Affairs Committee (SAC) co-chair and member of the jury said: ‘In previous years, we often had the winner very clearly on the table. Not so this year: at least this was my impression. The quality of the presentations was throughout very good as was the technical content. I believe

the multi-level review by the judges of received applications is paying off.’

Pierre- Olivier Lys, SAC co-chair and member of the jury agreed: ‘Although we had to organize this final remotely, I think the overall level of the finalists was quite homogeneous this year, compared to what we had a few years ago.

Every year the level is more and more consistent, and the students know better what we expect from them. I believe this is due to the combination of the selection process and the fact that the SAC has communicated widely (First Break, EAGE Student’s website) on what was expected during the challenge.’

Member of the jury Bill Richards, added: ‘A very consistent, high, standard this year, essentially a best practices template for an integrated project. For those of us who have coached teams it makes the job much harder and quite intimidating.’

Notice for students! You should already be considering the formation of a team to enter the Laurie Dake Challenge 2021, supported by the EAGE Student Fund (ESF) and Repsol. The contest will once again invite university students to work on a cross-disciplinary geoscience and engineering integration challenge. If you have a team interested in participating in the Laurie Dake Challenge and having a shot at becoming the 2021 winners, look out for the opening of applications for the 2021 edition on 22 October 2020. The first prize of a €2000 cheque for your team and the possibility of meeting with senior oil and gas company geoscientists could be waiting for you.

EAGE Student Calendar 2-4 NOV

NEAR SURFACE GEOSCIENCE & ENGINEERING CONFERENCE (REGIONAL GEO QUIZ)

CHANG MAI,THAILAND

16-19 NOV

9TH INTERNATIONALGEOLOGICAL AND GEOSCIENCE CONFERENCE (STUDENT ACTIVITIES)

SAINT PETERSBURG,RUSSIA

8-11 DEC

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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Case Study

FWI LSM

Orphan Basin, Canada

Minimizing Drilling Risks and Improving Reservoir Understanding with FWI and LSM From Regional Prospect Screening to Reservoir Insight www.pgs.com/OrphanBasin

Partnership

EAGE NEWS

Italian graduate students win Gustava Sclocchi awards For the first time categories in this year’s recently announced 2019 Gustavo Sclocchi Awards included renewable energy, alternative feedstocks for green refinery, and energy economy and management.

The Gustavo Sclocchi Award is a joint initiative between EAGE, SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers – Italian Section) and Assomineraria (Italian Petroleum and Mining Industry Association – Hydrocarbon and Geothermal Resources Sector) to encourage and reward young professionals at the beginning of their career in the industry. Up to now awards were usually assigned to the best theses in geosciences and petroleum engineering presented by any university and diploma graduating, and PhD students from Italian universities as well as by Italian nationals graduated abroad. This year commission included the new categories.

The awards started in 1993 and since 2001 have been associated with the late Gustavo Sclocchi, an Eni manager who was the main promoter of the event. Over the last 25 years, 641 theses have been submitted of which 138 have won awards.

This year 36 theses were submitted. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the awards ceremony was held entirely online on 15 July with participants joining from European countries and even outside Europe.

This year the awards were assigned as follows: Category A: Masters and PhDs First Prize: Margherita Bruscolini, Università

di Milano (Masters) - ‘BYF cements: an eco-friendly alternative to ordinary Portland cements’; Luca Bianchin, Università di Trieste (PhD) - ‘Low-frequency Reconstruction Methods for Elastic Parameter Estimation’; Chiara Zuffetti, Università di Milano (PhD) - ‘Characterization and modelling of complex geological architectures: The Quaternary fill of the Po Basin at the Po Plain-Apennines border (Lombardy, Italy)’.

Category B: Bachelor’s thesis & 2nd Level Masters First Prize: Giuseppe Battista Abbate, Università di Vienna (Masters) – ‘Defining the path to implement predictive maintenance on an offshore drilling business’; Ahmed Mohammed Sadek Elgendy, Politecnico di Torino (Masters) – ‘Carbon Capture & Storage: Modelling Prospective’.

Special Mentions: Martina Balestra, Università di Roma (PhD) - ‘Structural-Thermal evolution of the Apenninic-Maghrebian fold-and-thrust belt in NW Sicily: insight from 1D to 3D modelling’; Magdalena Vera Chena, Politecnico di Torino (Masters) – ‘Risk assessment of a continuous circulation system – heart of drilling (HoD) applied to drilling operations’; Iwan Setiawan, Università degli Studi di Perugia (Masters) - ‘Characterization of a Late Miocene Calciclastic Deep-Water Fan in the Phu Khanh Basin, Offshore Vietnam’; Carlo Cristiano Stabile, Politecnico di Torino (Masters) – ‘Data Analytics Approaches

Online award ceremony in progress.

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for the Distribution of Heterogeneous Carbonate Reservoirs’; Marco Teodori, Politecnico di Milano (Masters) – ‘PIG data processing for oil and gas pipeline integrity assessment’.

Each winning thesis under category A was awarded €2400 and a plaque. Under category B, €1200 and a certificate was the prize.

For further information on the event, see EAGE-SEG Italian Section at https:// www.eageseg.org/en/2020/07/2019-sclocchi-award-awards-ceremony/.

Erratum 2020 Nigel Anstey Award Ian F. Jones Tutorial: the mechanics of waveform inversion, published in First Break, Volume 37, No 5, May 2019, pp. 31 - 43.

Full waveform inversion (FWI) methods are becoming widely used to provide high resolution velocity models for use in migrating data from complex regions, and constraining impedance inversions.

This paper is pitched perfectly and appeals to a range of readers, from students entering FWI and wanting to understand the basics, to industry professionals looking for a clear discussion of the subject.

The detailed explanation of how each step of the FWI process is carried out is particularly helpful.

The excellent list of references provided allows readers to delve further into the subject. Ian Jones paper provides an exceptionally well explained overview of the FWI method, and is already being used widely as a go to reference on the subject.

EAGE NEWS

Saint Petersburg 2020 prepares to welcome geoscience student community

Student session in progress.

Saint Petersburg is already preparing to host the 9th International Geological and Geophysical Conference & Exhibition (Saint Petersburg 2020) being held on 16-19 November 2020 with the theme ‘Geosciences: Converting Knowledge into Resources’.

The event will feature an extensive student programme with English as the official language focusing on new knowledge and exchanging ideas. It will include special lectures, workshops as well as the EAGE Geo-Quiz, the legendary competi-

tion between university teams. This year the EAGE Geo-Quiz will be held in a hybrid format, allowing students to participate in person or virtually. The programme is designed for geosciences students of all disciplines from around the world who are looking to develop their knowledge and skills to benefit their future career in an international industry environment.

The Saint Petersburg is one of the biggest biannual geoscience meetings in Russia with a programme consist-

ing of oral and poster presentations, R&D workshops, lectures by leading experts and scientists, special training courses and an exhibition. The event is gaining ever more prestige and importance from year to year. Its sessions, seminars, and round tables touch upon the most vital issues in exploration and geology as a whole.

For more detailed information please refer to the Saint Petersburg 2020 website or contact us at spb2020@eage.org.

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

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The Game-Changing Ocean Bottom Node

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CROSSTALK

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

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Contemplating oil’s mortality It’s always disappointing to learn that some legendary sayings by mencing may still be unclear, but cruise lines are apparently famous people are actually misquotes. The observation by a very reporting plenty of bookings for 2021. Similarly, fear of flying much alive Mark Twain that ‘Reports of my death are greatly has been spoken of as a trend likely to outlive the pandemic. The exaggerated’ must rank as one of the most cited of the American number of would-be tourists in Northern Europe already queuing writer’s many humorous quips. But he never actually said, not to up to wing it to warmer climes when allowed suggests otherwise.

The issue regarding the oil industry is how much have the mention penned, those words. It hasn’t deterred living celebrities from referencing them when they inadvertently find themselves in basic dynamics of oil supply and demand changed in the last few the obituary columns. months. Not a lot could be the answer. Every estimate of future oil The more prosaic story is that in 1897 Twain (who lived until consumption post Covid-19 is based upon massive assumptions 1910) was hanging out in Europe when a journalist from the New about human behaviour and frankly guesswork.

York Journal invited Twain to comment on rumours about him As a consequence, we are currently being barraged with a dying in poverty in London. Twain is quoted as saying: ‘I can smörgåsbord of scenarios from which you can take your pick. understand perfectly how the report of my illness got about. I There is of course no right answer here and you have to sympahave even heard on good authority that I was dead. James Ross thize with those analysts tasked to tell our oil future. Countries, Clemens, a cousin of mine, was seriously ill two or three weeks companies, investors and the like all have to have some notion of what’s ahead. Yet, in these troubled times, making sense of the ago in London, but is well now. The report of my illness grew out of his illness. The report of my death was an exaggeration.’ factors involved is truly mind-boggling.

The popular version of Twain’s remark has Uncertainty is so pronounced that putting specific numbers on, say the average price a much better ring to it and can be applied in ‘Common sense many contexts, for example, the oil and gas of oil in 2021 or the amount of production suggests that the industry. Analysts are currently falling over from non-OPEC+ next year, is bound to be themselves to deem that fall-out from the speculative. death knell talk is Covid-19 pandemic disruption will hasten the What we can do without fear of contraindeed exaggerated.’ diction is list some of the key factors that will end of the oil era. It is said that ‘peak oil’, the surplus kind not shortage, may already have have a bearing on the post-pandemic oil and been reached, oil companies need to more rapidly adapt their gas natural gas industry and the services that support it. There is business models to embrace energy transition, etc, etc. no particular order because no one knows which of a plethora of Common sense suggests that the death knell talk for the oil observable trends will have most influence. business is being over-done, is indeed exaggerated. Of course the BP’s eye-popping $6.7 billion loss in the second quarter (total Covid-19 global outbreak continues to be a shock to the system, impairments of $17.4 billion) and the slashing in half of the divibut the idea that everything will change in the aftermath seems dend was not what sparked the latest rash of headlines predicting improbable. Take these examples from everyday living. Everyone the age of oil is over. The rest of the supermajor gang – ExxonMowas talking about the devastating impact of Covid-19 on holiday bil, Shell, Total, Eni, Chevron and ConocoPhillips – have all been cruises: surely no one would contemplate again the idea of being reporting equally shocking results during the pandemic crisis. confined on the potential death trap of a ship with thousands of Meantime the investment community has for some time been others for weeks on end. Guess what? The timeline on recomdowngrading the status of energy stocks. The energy component

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now makes up less than 3% of the S&P 500 Index, compared with is cracked up to be, it is in fact in decline. Furthermore, they say more than 10% in 2009. How about this irresistible jewel culled oil demand has not been impacted nearly as much as originally feared, Outside OPEC+, the needed increases in supply will not from the musings of Bloomberg: ‘Once the undisputed king of Wall Street, Exxon today is worth less than Home Depot, which be achieved. This is partly because the pandemic caused the has less than half the revenue.’ It was recently placed 31st on the shutdown of a lot of production already on its last legs. Goehring & Rozencwajg concludes that ‘energy will be the most important S&P 500.

What caught the attention of investors, trend spotters and investment theme of the next several years and the biggest uninenvironmentalists was the unveiling by Bernard Looney, newly tended consequence of the coronavirus’.

The popular idea that we are set for a period of cheap oil appointed CEO of BP, of his company’s new strategy first outlined and stranded assets that companies will never exploit is open to in February. BP plans to cut its fossil fuel production by 40% serious challenge in other respects. As the events of earlier this by 2030, increase its low-carbon spending ten-fold in the same year have shown, the supply side is extraordinarily vulnerable timeframe to $5 billion a year out of a total budget of around $15 to international power plays and the vulnerability of many oil billion, and boost its renewable power generation to 50 gigawatts. producing regimes, such as Venezuela, Libya, Iraq, Iran and even In Europe, Shell, Eni, Total, and Equinor have also announced Saudi Arabia and its neighbours. The ugly competition between plans to retreat from oil and gas production, but nothing quite as Saudi Arabia, Russia and the US for market share is not going to dramatic as the BP strategy. Are we therefore left to conclude that go away. oil companies themselves see the beginning of the end? Across In some respects the demand side is even more unpredictable. the Atlantic, ExxonMobil and Chevron appear to be taking a more Post-industrialized countries, notably in Europe, may gradually be robust view of their oil and gas assets although still claiming enerweaning themselves off oil dependence, but that is a big ask for gy transition credentials. More harshly some critics have pointed regions that now matter most, i.e., China, India and ultimately the out that 20 years ago BP under Lord Browne rechristened itself African continent where industrial develop‘Beyond Petroleum’ and turned the company’s ment is the priority. gas stations green, but that didn’t work out.

‘Climate change Climate change activists have been quick We do know that for the time being the activists have been to acknowledge the paradox of a continuing supermajors and the national oil companies will not in the short term be looking for new quick to acknowledge low oil price environment, should that occur.

It may dampen oil company E&P investment exploration plays. The priority will be to the paradox.’ but consumers may be less compliant. For focus on efficiency and further development example, arguably the biggest contribution of existing and near-field reserves to maintain individuals can make to ‘save the planet’ is to switch to an electric production. This still leave oil companies with the dilemma of vehicle. Up to now, especially in North America, this has really knowing how much to invest in the future oil needs of the world. been a discretionary choice open mainly to those who can afford a It is an impossible calculation.

Tesla. Price has been the predominant deterrent, although worries The emerging ‘green’ influence in oil company strategy stems over the range possible and the lack of charging points have also from stakeholder sustainability concerns, regulatory requirements played their part. So, assuming no huge hikes in petrol at the and, let’s face it, appeasing increasingly hostile public opinion. pump, the transition to electric vehicles could be stalled.

That’s why we are seeing more serious attention to measures Accurately or not, Canadian energy commentator Geoffrey such as reducing greenhouse emissions from existing production Cann noted that after the pandemic there will still be 1.2 billion facilities, deployment of renewables in field operations and CO2 gasoline cars on the world’s roads, 300 million heavy trucks sequestration. hauling goods to market, 53,000 merchant and military ships Oil companies look to be betting on peak oil demand sooner plying the world’s oceans, 30,000 aircraft flying the unfriendly rather than later and are effectively diversifying as the global skies, and 697 refineries around the world able to process north of thirst for oil diminishes. But what if they are mistaken? A very 100 million barrels of oil every day. compelling market commentary entitled ‘On the verge of an ‘What is remarkable,’ Cann states, ‘is the resilience (so far), of energy crisis’ by investment advisors Goehring & Rozencwajg the world’s energy delivery systems which stand in sharp contrast suggests everyone, including the International Energy Agency, to the fragility of the healthcare system, the collapse of the retail has got the metrics wrong. In their view a spike in oil prices, and sector, the gutting of the tourism sector, the stalling of the services by extension the fortunes of the oil industry, is on the horizon and industry. Our energy systems are built to last, and frankly, during may last years. This is based on the not unreasonable premise that a pandemic, society is most grateful that is the case.’ the supply balancing provided by US shale is no longer a given.

That should perhaps be the starting consideration when They have for some time argued that the shale reserves have contemplating the end of the oil age. matured faster than expected. In addition, non-OPEC+ is not all it

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

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dGB Earth Sciences announces the release of their fully integrated E&P Machine Learning platform Paul de Groot1 and Nanne Hemstra1 explain why OpendTect’s Machine Learning plugin is a game-changer in the E&P digital revolution. The authors outline how researchers, and general and operational geoscientists can utilize Machine Learning in this new environment.

Introduction Machine Learning is regarded as one of the most promising technologies in the petroleum industry in the last 50 years, ranking alongside 3D seismic and long-reach horizontal drilling. Data owners are sitting on gold but to unlock the potential requires new tools and diligent work by a new breed of geoscientists who understand data analytics. Twenty-five years ago dGB Earth Sciences introduced artificial Neural Networks to the E&P industry. Shortly after that, development of OpendTect began, dGB’s seismic interpretation platform.

Initially, OpendTect was a Neural Network-based system for seismic pattern recognition and attribute analysis. The Neural Networks plugin continues to be one of OpendTect’s most successful commercial plugins. In recent years great strides have been made in deep learning R&D. Against this background dGB took the decision to develop the world’s first truly integrated system for seismic interpretation and Machine Learning R&D.

Newly trained models can be shared with others ensuring rapid deployment in operational settings. Researchers can accelerate their Machine Learning research by programming in a Python environment that takes care of data IO and visualization.

Deep learning models created in this environment are directly available in the Machine Learning Plugin for further use.

Figure 2 XGBoost (ensemble of Random Forest models) prediction of pore volume at a blind test well. Left and middle: input logs. Right: predicted (green) vs real (red) pore volume.

Supported Models

Figure 1 U-Net Fault predictor example (from the Great South Basin dataset).

OpendTect Machine Learning Platform The platform combines OpendTect’s seismic interpretation system with the R&D world of Python, TensorFlow, Keras, and Scikit Learn. Trained Machine Learning models can be deployed directly on both seismic and well data. This allows operational geoscientists to benefit directly from all the latest Machine Learning algorithms without needing programming skills. The environment also allows you to develop new workflows and train models to add value to your data. This is done with the existing tools and models available in the OpendTect platform.

1 dGB Earth Sciences Corresponding author, E-mail: info@dgbes.com Website: www.dgbes.com

For seismic predictions, the first Machine Learning release supports Convolutional Neural Networks and AutoencoderDecoders implemented in Keras (TensorFlow). A trained U-Net (Autoencoder-Decoder) fault predictor model is included in the software. This model transforms 3D seismic data to fault probability volumes. Fig. 1 shows the result of the U-Net fault predictor after application of a thinning algorithm. For logto-log and seismic-to-log predictions the Machine Learning platform offers a range of cutting-edge algorithms from Scikit Learn, including: linear regression, multi-layer perceptrons, support vector machines, and ensemble methods including Random Forests, Adaboost and Gradient boosting. Fig. 2 shows an example of predicting Pore Volume from DT, RhoB, RD and GR logs with eXtreme Gradient boosting of Random Forest Models.

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Norway sets out plans for rest of year

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DNV GL launches hydrogen consortium to cut carbon emissions

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ION to carry out first 3D survey in Mauritania

TGS bids $600 million for PGS’ multi-client library

Kristian Johansen, CEO of TGS.

TGS has submitted a conditional offer for the multi-client data library of PGS for $600 million.

The offer values the multi-client data library in excess of the $565 million book value and secures PGS liquidity to repay its $135 million revolving credit facility due this month.

TGS is proposing a collaboration agreement for future PGS multi-client projects and preferential rights for PGS to offer its 3D-fleet for future TGS data acquisition.

A successful offer will broaden TGS´ multi-client geophysical data offering in all major mature and frontier basins wordwide. The offer will be financed by cash, a new term loan facility and new equity.

Kristian Johansen, CEO of TGS, said: ‘We see a strong complement between our existing business and the PGS data library and the opportunity to leverage our expertise and scale to improved returns. Concurrently, a refocused and refinanced PGS will be a world-leading and highly innovative provider of acquisition technology and marine acquisition capacity, providing a strong platform for creating long-term value for the company´s stakeholders.

We believe the consolidation and further partnership between our two companies carries a strong industry logic and we look forward to initiating the dialogue with the management and board of PGS.’ FIRST

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Over the past few years in the seismic industry there has been a sharp drop in aggregate return on capital caused by a combination of a lower oil price, a more consolidated customer base and over-capacity on the supply side, said TGS. As a result, industry players have changed their strategy towards specialization such that most companies have become either pure vessel operators or pure multi-client providers, it added.

TGS has since its inception focused on an asset light multi-client operation and has grown to become a global multi-client seismic company.

PGS has built a significant multi-client library and is a key player in the seismic industry. As opposed to TGS, PGS has been an integrated operator, and is the only remaining player in the industry pursuing both data acquisition and multi-client seismic strategies.

‘Following recent market developments, TGS is of the view that a combination of the TGS and PGS multi-client businesses will improve the ability of the industry to deliver best in class services to its customers while creating value for its owners and other stakeholders,’ said a company statement. ‘TGS strongly believes that the combination contemplated under the offer will deliver more scale, better data and increased efficiencies in the seismic industry. At the same time, the transaction would position PGS credibly as one of the most solid in the I

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seismic vessel and acquisition industry, supported by a robust balance sheet and strong technologies.’

The offer comprises the entirety of the multi-client data library of PGS, including all existing data and work-in-progress.

The cash transaction contemplates a post-closing collaboration between the parties that comprises a framework arrangement for future acquisition services by PGS to TGS as well as the opportunity for TGS to participate in future multi-client opportunities pursued by PGS. The offer would be financed by on-balance cash, a new term loan facility of $200 million and new equity. TGS claimed that with its ‘very robust balance sheet’, it has strong support for the debt financing of the offer and is in the position to execute.

At the time of writing the offer presented to PGS is valid until 16 August 2020.

‘The company believes that, with a mutual commitment to a process, a definitive agreement could be entered into by the end of August.

TGS foresees no material issues in relation to the securing of regulatory approvals, i.e. in view of the moderate size of acquired annual sales relative to the $4+ billion total seismic market. TGS expects that completion of the transaction could take place in 60-90 days after the signing.’

PGS had not responded publicly to the formal offer when First Break went to press. Rune Olav Pedersen, president and chief executive officer said in PGS’ second quarter results statement: ‘Resetting our cost base and reducing capital expenditures to a minimum is necessary to preserve liquidity and navigate the current challenging market environment, both operationally and financially. We are in negotiations with the banks supporting our revolving credit facility to seek extension of the scheduled $135 million step down in September, and to amend covenants. We are also in discussions with other lenders to get amortization holidays to further preserve liquidity.’

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PGS releases offshore Brazil data

The vessel Ramform Tethys acquired more than 80 km2 a day.

PGS has released a contiguous prestack GeoStreamer data covering 13,000 km2 in Brazil’s Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. The data covers key offshore discoveries in the SEAL Basin. This extends coverage into deepwater areas relevant for recent leasing, and where future open acreage will be offered in upcoming Brazil bidding rounds.

The latest volume includes the recently reprocessed SEAL Bonita 3D PSDM and SEAL Pirambu PSDM in a single contiguous dataset. The data have been imaged with TTI PSDM to delineate the Cretaceous source and subtle AVO response of the Late Cretaceous reservoirs. The project has been seamlessly combined throughout the prestack depth migration velocity modelbuilding sequence and final TTI PSDM images.

PGS acquired the 4547 km2 BM-SEAL 4-10-11 in 2014, delivering final time and depth data in 2015. This GeoStreamer 3D dataset covers Petrobras discoveries such as Barra, Farfan, Cumbe, Moita-Bonita, Muriu and Poco-Verde.

The company returned to the basin in 2018 and acquired an additional 8425 km2 MC3D data in the outboard deepwater area. For the SEAL Pirambu MC3D project, Ramform Tethys utilized a 16 x 100 x 8100 m dual-source configuration, achieving production rates of more than 80 km2/day in the challenging offshore Brazil environment, again delivering GeoStreamer data. The full integrity PSTM products were delivered in 2019 and PGS embarked on anisotropic PSDM processSEPTEMBER

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ing of the Deepwater SEAL Pirambu portion.

Then, PGS preprocessed the SEAL 4-10-11 with the latest signal processing, multiple attenuation, and noise attenuation workflows, and combined it with Pirambu to create a TTI KPSDM volume covering nearly 13,000 km2. A full integrity KPSTM is also available.

In recent years, Petrobras has reported light oil, natural gas and condensate discoveries in the deepwater Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. These potentially significant discoveries are characterized by an efficient marine source rock with accumulations in Upper Cretaceous turbidite reservoirs.

PGS’ Bonita MC3D reprocessing covers these key up-dip discoveries, where it is understood Petrobras is promoting farm-in opportunities.

Appraisal work of these discoveries has been continuing and in late February 2020 Petrobras communicated the start of an extended well test (EWT) of the Farfan discovery, with an estimated test duration of 180 days. Petrobras operates block BM-SEAL-11, where the Farfan discovery lies, with a 60% interest. It is partnered by IBV Brasil, a 50:50 Indian joint venture between state-controlled Bharat Petroleum and privately run Videocon Industries, which hold the remaining 40% interest.

The reservoir intervals for these Petrobras discoveries potentially extend along strike and into deeper water. PGS’ mapping of the proposed source interval shows a mature source for the area. Exploration for these intervals is expected to continue.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Norway sets out plans for the rest of the year The Norwegian government has further cut oil production for the rest of the year to stabilize the oil market amid low prices and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The authorities have decided to cut Norwegian oil production by 250,000 barrels a day in June and by 134,000 barrels a day in the second half of the year.

Norway’s production figures for June 2020 show an average daily production of 1,857,000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate. Average daily liquids production in June was 1,543,000 barrels of oil, 298,000 barrels of NGL and 17,000 barrels of condensate.

er postponing them until next year,’ said director general Ingrid Sølvberg.

As of 30 June, 88 fields were in production: 66 in the North Sea, 20 in the Norwegian Sea and two in the Barents Sea. Two new fields have come on stream so far this year, Skogul in the North Sea and Ærfugl in the Norwegian Sea. Both are subsea developments tied into existing fields.

So far in 2020, cessation plans have been submitted for Heimdal, Vale and Knarr, all in the North Sea. Eighteen development projects are under way; 12 in the North Sea, five in

Norwegian oil production has been cut by 134,00 barrels a day for the rest of the year.

Total petroleum production in the first half of 2020 amounted to 115.2 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of oil equivalents (o.e.), including 49.1 million Sm3 of oil, 56.7 billion Sm3 of gas and 9.4 million Sm3 of NGL and condensate.

In spite of the consequences of Covid19, oil production was around 11 million Sm3 higher than in the first half of 2019.

This was primarily caused by the first phase of Johan Sverdrup starting full production this spring. The field has delivered beyond initial forecasts, said the Norwegian Production Directorate.

Gas sales for the first half of 2020 are 4.6 billion Sm3 lower than the corresponding period last year.

Eighty-four development wells have been drilled so far this year, close to the same level as last year. ‘Exploration activity has declined. However, companies are not cancelling exploration wells, but rath24

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the Norwegian Sea and one in the Barents Sea. Several of these developments could be delayed as a result of the Covid-19 restrictions. Total investments for these projects amount to more than 300 billion NOK ($32 billion), and overall recoverable resources are estimated at more than 833 million Sm3 of oil equivalents.

Another 100 discoveries are still being evaluated, and plans for development and operation (PDO) have not yet been submitted.

The authorities have received three development plans so far this year: partial electrification of Sleipner, redevelopment of Hod and the Northern Lights CCS project. PDOs are expected from Breidablikk, Troll electrification, Gråsel and Blåbjørn-Lysing in 2020.

Twelve exploration wells were completed in the first half of 2020. Ten of them were wildcat wells. Five discoveries

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were made; three in the North Sea and two in the Norwegian Sea. Wintershall Dea made the largest discovery so far this year as operator of production licence 836 S. Between 4 and 15 million Sm3 of recoverable oil equivalents were discovered in Bergknapp, located in the Åsgard area in the Norwegian Sea. The second half of the year is also off to a positive start with three discoveries near infrastructure in the North Sea. The NPD expects that about 30 exploration wells will be drilled in 2020. Fifty-eight exploration wells were drilled in 2019. ‘We’ve noted that as many as 12 exploration wells have been postponed for operational and preparedness reasons in connection with the pandemic. We expect these wells to be drilled no later than during 2021. It also seems that five other wells could be postponed’, said the NPDs director of exploration Torgeir Stordal.

Work to systematically map seabed minerals in deep water in the Norwegian Sea continues with full force this year. One seabed mapping expedition has already been completed in collaboration with the University of Tromsø, acquiring seabed data across the southern parts of the Knipovich Ridge using the research vessel Kronprins Haakon.

An expedition is under way to the Mohns Ridge in collaboration with the University of Bergen (UiB) and the K.G. Jebsen Centre for Deep Sea Research, which is acquiring data using the research vessel G.O. Sars.

The NPD is also planning a separate expedition to the Mohns Ridge in August-September to collect core samples for information about mineral and metal content in the subsurface. The UiB has analysed 21 sulphide samples from the NPD’s own expedition to the Mohns Ridge last year.

The NPD is continuing to digitize Diskos, the national database which includes well data, seismic and production data on the Norwegian shelf. Work is underway on Diskos 2.0. The new solution will give companies, research institutions and others access to data where they are.

NPD expects to award the contract for Diskos 2.0 in October.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Polarcus reports second quarter loss of -$21m Polarcus has reported a second quarter net loss of -$21 million on segment revenues of $23 million, compared with a net loss of -$0.6 million on revenues of $65 million in the second quarter of 2019. Vessel utilization of 50% has dropped from 72% in Q2 2019.

The company’s CEO, Duncan Eley, said: ‘The company’s Q2 2020 results were negatively impacted by low utilization as E&P companies reassessed their near-term exploration plans following the global economic slow-down which has also delayed tender processes.

The outlook for the second half of 2020 remains challenging, but the recent marine seismic industry restructuring alongside current oil price developments provide favourable foundations for activity levels to build during 2021, said the company’s results statement.

The revenue decline was driven largely by reduced utilization as a result of the cancelled and terminated contracts announced in Q1 2020 and lower effective day rates on contract.

Gross cost of sales in the quarter have dropped 60% to $23.5 million compared to $59.5 million in Q2 2019 and segment general and administrative costs dropped 29% to $2.7 million compared to $3.8 million in Q2 2019.

Cash flow from operating activities in the quarter improved to $12.7 million compared to $4.9 million in Q2 2019.

Total cash at quarter-end was $44.8 million compared to $46.7 million at the end of Q1 2020.

Backlog at 30 June 2020 was estimated at $141 million compared to $200 million at the same time last year.

The company’s fleet is 40% booked for

the remainder of 2020. Tender activity significantly reduced during Q2 2020 with many tender processes and decisions deferred.

However, clients also indicate that 2021 activity is expected to rebuild with a number of projects and tenders rescheduled to next year, said Polarcus in its statement.

‘The reshaping of the seismic industry that has occurred, resulting in an increased number of multi-client companies without vessels, has led to an improved industry structure,’ said Polarcus. ‘However, continued supply-side discipline observed during Q2 2020 with three vessels removed from the global vessel count of 22 vessels is critical for the future market balance. Further reductions in active vessels are expected during H2 2020.’

Fugro completes geophysical site investigation of Qatar gas field and gets busy offshore New Jersey Fugro has completed the first phase of its multidisciplinary offshore site investigation for Qatargas’ North Field Production Sustainability’s Compression Phase.

The fieldwork started in March and, while phase one marks completion of the geophysical scope, the geotechnical scope in phase two was due to run as planned until August. The fieldwork is being performed by in-country project teams from Fugro’s vessels Proteus and Adventurer and includes cone penetration testing and P-S logging results. Final data – comprising a bathymetric and geophysical survey and a geotechnical appraisal of the soils encountered – will be used to optimize jacket platform pile foundation design, and pipeline and cable-route engineering in Qatar’s North Field.

The North Field is the largest non-associated gas field in the world and is located 80 nautical miles off the north coast of Qatar.

Meanwhile, the company has mobilised two additional vessels off the coast of New Jersey to support site characterisation work for Atlantic Shores Offshore

Wind, a joint venture between Shell New Energies US and EDF Renewables North America.

analysed to characterise site conditions, including bathymetry, seafloor morphology, subsurface geology, environmental

Fugro vessels performed cone penetration testing and P-S logging.

Operating in the Atlantic Shores lease area since May, Fugro now has three vessels on site with a fourth to be added later this month.

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and biological sites, seafloor obstructions, soil conditions and archaeological resources.

Weather permitting, the field programme will continue through the autumn and winter. Fugro is performing nearreal-time geophysical data processing, made possible by Fugro’s Back2Base data packaging and transfer technology.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

PGS reports second quarter net loss of -$111 million

PGS Apollo is one of three vessels to have been cold stacked in the second quarter.

PGS has reported a second quarter net loss of -$111 million on revenues of $139 million, compared with a net loss of -$49 million on revenues of $216 million in Q2 2019.

Segment EBIT (excluding impairments and other charges) of $7 million, compared to $17.7 million in Q2 2019.

From a cash investment of $64 million, segment multi-client pre-funding revenues were $66.2 million, with a corresponding pre-funding level of 102%, compared to $66.8 million and 102%, respectively, in Q2 2019. Multi-client late sales were approx. $36 million. Contract revenues ended at $31 million.

Cash flow from operations of $67.5 million, compared to $108.1 million in Q2 2019.

Rune Olav Pedersen, president and chief executive officer, said: ‘The Covid-19 pandemic has caused widespread disruptions in the oil market and a significant reduction in energy companies’ 2020 budgets. This has led to reduced demand for seismic data

and deferral of seismic projects, requiring a rapid response from PGS to manage vessel supply and costs. However, client feedback indicates the reduction this year is to protect cash flow and that their exploration models are generally intact with projects deferred rather than cancelled.

‘During Q2 we cold-stacked PGS Apollo and Sanco Swift, and we have completed the stacking of Ramform Vanguard in early Q3. Further capacity reductions will be evaluated, and we are prepared to react quickly. We are in the process of completing a comprehensive reorganization whereby our office-based personnel is reduced by approximately 40%, including reductions implemented earlier this year.

In combination with other initiatives, these measures are expected to reduce our annual gross cash cost run rate to approximately $400 million, compared to approximately $600 million at the start of the year.

In its outlook statement PGS said that a large portion of postponed projects relates to either 4D or licensing com-

mitments and are very likely to proceed when the oil market stabilizes. ‘The recent partial recovery of the oil price has not caused energy companies to revise their 2020 spending cuts significantly and PGS expects 2020 to be very challenging. If the improved balance in the oil market and recovery of the oil price continues in the second half when most energy companies set their budgets for next year, we expect activity levels to improve in 2021.

‘Despite the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis, energy consumption is expected to continue to increase in the future with oil and gas continuing to play an important role in the energy mix. Offshore reserves will be vital for future supply and support the demand for marine seismic services. The expected future recovery of the seismic industry is likely to be strengthened further by another round of industry capacity reductions and a pent-up exploration and production demand.’

Based on current operational projections, with five vessels in operation for the remaining part of 2020, PGS expects full-year 2020 gross cash costs to be approximately $450 million, excluding severance and other restructuring costs of approximately $35 million. For 2020 multi-client cash investments are expected to be in the range of $175-200 million.

Capital expenditure for 2020 is expected to be $40 million. The order book totalled $155 million at June 30, 2020 (including $39 million relating to multi-client). The order book was $217 million at 31 March 2020 and $300 million at 30 June 2019.

Magseis Fairfield and CGG secure prefunding on North Sea survey Magseis Fairfield and partner CGG have secured pre-funding from another oil major for the extension of the OBN Cornerstone multi-client survey in the North Sea. The UK Oil and Gas Authority’s 32nd offshore licensing round includes a signif-

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icant number of blocks in the project area and is expected to generate further interest in the Cornerstone multi-client data.

The project had already been granted partial pre-funding from another oil major when it was announced in November

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2019. The survey commenced in March 2020 and will with this extension run to the end of 2020 North Sea season.

Planning for next year’s programme is well underway, as not all prefunded areas will be covered during this season.

INDUSTRY NEWS

EMGS revenues halve EMGS has recorded second quarter revenues of $7.5 million, down from $14.5 million in the second quarter of 2019 and down from $11.3 million in the first quarter of 2020.

Adjusted EBITDA was -$2 million, down from $2.1 million in the second quarter of 2019.

Free cash decreased by $6.2 million to $9.8 million.

A renegotiated charter agreement for the Atlantic Guardian has been agreed.

As a result, the day rate applicable while the vessel is cold stacked (for a period not to exceed 12 months) is significantly

ModelVision

reduced, leading to a reduction in the company’s operational cost base from June to December 2020 of more than $1.5 million. The charter agreement has been extended by 12 months, with a new expiry of the firm period in October 2022.

During the quarter, the vessel Petrel Explorer completed acquisition of two multi-client surveys on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The vessel has now been demobilized and returned to the vessel owner.

The Atlantic Guardian has been cold-stacked.

Magnetic & Gravity Interpretation System All sensors Processing 3D modelling 3D inversion Visualisation Analysis Utilities

Minerals Petroleum Near Surface Government Contracting Consulting Education

The Atlantic Guardian has been cold stacked until further notice.

PGS completes 3D survey offshore Ivory Coast PGS has completed imaging 12,000 km2 of broadband data unveiling key plays in the West Africa Transform Margin offshore Ivory Coast.

Recent 3D GeoStreamer acquisition over blocks CI-526/707/708 has been combined with reprocessed GeoStreamer data acquired in 2015 over CI-602/603, to target the deepwater area offshore Ivory Coast.

Upper Cretaceous-aged turbidite channel and fan complexes provide the primary target in the deepwater Ivory Coast Basin. Extensive 3D GeoStreamer coverage provides an unprecedented view on the distribution and detail of

depositional systems held in stratigraphic pinch-out traps. Increased high and low frequency content provides clearer imaging of depositional features.

Meanwhile, PGS’ Nigeria multi-client data library is providing 2D and 3D seismic coverage over recently announced blocks in the 2020 Marginal Fields Bid Round.

A total of 57 marginal fields are on offer, including a number in shallow-water terrains. The PGS Nigeria MegaSurvey offers prospective block licensees the opportunity to integrate 3D seismic data with available horizon interpretation into block evaluations.

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Tensor Research support@tensor-research.com.au www.tensor-research.com.au Tel:

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Big energy companies report big second quarter losses Royal Dutch Shell has reported a second quarter loss of -$18.1 billion, which included an impairment charge of $16.8 billion post-tax ($22.3 billion pre-tax), as a result of revised price and refining margin outlook assumptions in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Adjusted earnings were $0.6 billion for the second quarter 2020. Cash flow from operating activities for the second quarter 2020 was $2.6 billion, which included negative working capital movements of $4 billion. Cash flow from investing activities for the quarter was $2.3 billion.

Equinor has reported adjusted earnings of $0.35 billion and $0.65 billion after tax in the second quarter of 2020. IFRS net operating income was -$0.47 billion and the IFRS net income was -$0.25 billion.

BP has reported a second quarter loss -$16.8 billion, compared with a profit of $1.8 billion for the same period a year earlier, including a net post-tax charge of $10.9 billion for non-operating items. This included $9.2 billion in post-tax non-cash impairments across the group largely arising from the revisions to its long-term price assumptions and $1.7 billion of post-tax non-cash exploration write-offs.

Exxon Mobil has reported second quarter revenue of $5.4 billion, down 28% sequentially.

International revenue of $4.1 billion decreased 19% sequentially. North America revenue of $1.2 billion decreased 48% sequentially. Cash flow from operations was $803 million and free cash flow was $465 million.

ConocoPhillips has reported second quarter 2020 earnings of $0.3 billion compared with second quarter 2019 earnings of $1.6 billion. Excluding special items, second quarter 2020 adjusted earnings were a loss of -$1 billion compared with second quarter 2019 adjusted earnings of $1.1 billion.

Total has reported second quarter adjusted net income of $130 million. Cash flow from operations is $3.5 billion.

Eni has reported a second quarter net loss of -€4.41 billion ($5 million) as a result of impairments of €2.8 billion ($3.3 billion) and a €1 billion ($.1.2 billion), alignment in book value recognised in the quarter. The company reported an operating loss of €0.43 billion ($0.5 billion) which compares to a profit of €2.28 billion ($2.7 billion) in the second quarter 2019.

CGG reports second quarter net loss of -$147 million CGG has reported a second quarter net loss of -$147 million on revenues of $239 million compared with a net loss of -$98 million on revenues of $335 million in Q2 2019.

A Q2 operating loss of -$32 million compared with an operating profit of $51 million in Q2 2019.

The company booked $94 million of non-recurring charges related to cost cutting and impairments as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The company’s liquidity is $546 million and net debt is $626 million.

Sophie Zurquiyah, CGG CEO, said: ‘The geoscience market continued to deteriorate this quarter as clients reprioritized portfolios to factor in reductions in E&P spending. We are swiftly taking actions necessary to align our cost structure with the new baseline, while maintaining focus on our differentiated technologies and key multi-client investments.’

GGR segment revenue was $144 million, down 35% year-on-year. Geoscience 28

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The company sold ten of its 10 Nomad vibrator trucks.

revenue was $83 million, down 11% yearon-year. New businesses in geothermal, carbon monitoring and environmental science were established. Multi-client revenue was $62 million, down 52% year on year. Prefunding revenue of multi-client projects was $46 million. Multi-client cash capex was $73 million and the prefunding rate was 63%. After-sales were at $15 million, down 80% year-on-year. GGR segment operating income was -$39 million after $48 million of non-recurring charges. GGR capital employed was down to $1.7 billion at the end of June 2020.

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Equipment segment revenue was $58 million, down 53% year-on-year.

All second quarter sales were external.

Land equipment sales represented 78% of total sales, including more than 60,000 thousand 508XT channels and 10 Nomad 90 trucks. Marine equipment sales represented 17% of total sales. Activity in the streamer market remains low with mostly spares for Sentinel sections.

Equipment segment operating income was $7 million. Equipment capital employed was down to $500 million at the end of June 2020.

INDUSTRY NEWS

UK sets out energy’s contribution to carbon reduction The UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has launched its Energy Integration Project which sets out how energy industry can contribute to the UK’s carbon reduction targets.

The report found that the integration of offshore energy systems, including oil and gas, renewables, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage, could contribute 30% of the UK’s total carbon reduction requirements towards meet the 2050 net zero target.

There are more than 30 energy integration projects already underway across the UKCS, with more than ten actively being engaged by the OGA alongside this study.

Oil and gas platform electrification is essential to cutting sector production emissions in the near term, and critical to the industry’s social licence to operate, says the report. Electrification could abate operational emissions by 2-3MtCO2 p.a. by 2030. This is the equivalent of reducing 20% of today’s production emissions, rising to 40% by 2030.

Oil and gas capabilities, infrastructure and supply chain are crucial to energy integration, and can potentially support further offshore renewables expansion, including floating wind power, said the OGA. Reusing oil and gas reservoirs and infrastructure could accelerate carbon capture and storage (CCS), connecting to onshore net zero hubs and saving 20-30% Capex on specific projects.

The UK needs to develop around 20 C02 stores for a total capacity of more than 3GtCO2 by 2050 (with large CCS projects featuring multiple stores). Blue hydrogen (produced from natural gas) has the potential to decarbonise around 30% of the UK natural gas supply by 2050, potentially supporting circa half of CCS expansions in the same timeframe.

Green hydrogen (from renewables) could support significant expansion of offshore renewables in the 2030s and beyond, providing an efficient storage and energy transportation solution.

Reducing the costs of the technology involved (electrolysis) would be needed

to support the faster uptake of this technology.

OGA chief executive Dr Andy Samuel said: ‘The UK Continental Shelf has the potential to make a meaningful impact on the UK’s overall net zero target and offshore energy integration can be the game changer. By closely co-ordinating our energy systems a secure energy supply can continue to be delivered from a diverse mix of production, while unlocking more and more of the green energy and carbon capture needed to help take the UK to net zero.’

Oil infrastructure can support wind power.

ExxonMobil makes breakthrough in industrial CO2 capture Scientists from ExxonMobil, the universities of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have discovered a material that could capture more than 90% of CO2 emitted from industrial sources, such as natural gas-fired power plants, using low-temperature steam and requiring less energy for the overall carbon capture process.

Laboratory tests indicate the patent-pending materials, known as tetraamine-functionalized metal organic frameworks, capture carbon dioxide emissions up to six times more effectively than conventional

amine-based carbon capture technology. Using less energy to capture and remove carbon, the material has the potential to reduce the cost of the technology and eventually support commercial applications.

By manipulating the structure of the metal organic framework material, the team of scientists and students demonstrated the ability to condense a surface area the size of a football field, into just one gram of mass that acts as a sponge for CO2.

‘This innovative hybrid porous material has so far proven to be more effective, requires less heating and

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cooling, and captures more CO2 than current materials,’ said Vijay Swarup, vice-president of research and development at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company.

ExxonMobil’s team, led by senior research associate Simon Weston, along with UC Berkeley’s professor Jeffrey Long have been working collaboratively for eight years to develop this potential carbon capture solution that demonstrates stability in the presence of water vapor, without oxidation, allowing carbon dioxide to be captured from various sources, under a number of conditions.

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DNV GL launches hydrogen consortium to cut carbon emissions from manufacturing

The first field demonstration is planned at Nedmag in Veendam (the Netherlands).

DNV GL has launched an international consortium to develop technology for a gradual transition from natural gas to hydrogen as a fuel in energy-intensive industrial production processes.

‘Existing burner and burner control technology to decarbonize industrial production processes is not yet market-ready, despite great interest and the advantages of hydrogen as a low carbon fuel in high-temperature industries. Our programme aims to have new burner concepts available within two years,’ said Sander

Gersen, project leader, DNV GL – Oil & Gas. The industry consortium, launched

by DNV GL in collaboration with Dutch glass production expert company Celsian, comprises more than 30 private and public partners throughout the hydrogen value chain, including industrial end users, technology suppliers, fuel suppliers and traders, gas transport companies, knowledge institutes and the Dutch government.

‘We are looking at how we can best integrate new technology in industrial

processes and hydrogen value chains.

At the same time, we are conducting field demonstrations in various industrial environments,’ said Johan Knijp, country manager DNV GL – O&G Netherlands.

The consortium will work to ensure product quality is not affected in the first phase of the research by putting strong emphasis on understanding heat transfer from the hydrogen flame to the product.

Secondly, it will ensure security of supply, enabling the end-user to be able to switch back (temporarily) to natural gas.

Finally, it will work to ensure the solution is relatively easy and cost-effective to integrate into existing installations.

The first field demonstration is planned at Nedmag in Veendam (the Netherlands), where magnesium salt is processed using high-temperature processes. By the end of 2020, an oil stove at the plant will be run on hydrogen obtained from the nearby Gasunie Hystock hydrogen production plant in Zuidwending.

Oil and gas project sanctioning set to fall by 75%, says Rystad Global project sanctioning is set for a 75% decline from 2019 levels, with the Covid-19 epidemic impacting on E&P spending much more than was expected at the beginning of the crisis.

Industry analyst Rystad Energy estimates total sanctioning value will end up at around $47 billion, an amount that would be even lower if not for recent developments in Norway and Russia.

Of total global sanctioning value in 2020, some $27 billion is expected to be for offshore projects, with the remaining $20 billion for onshore. In 2019, the total sanctioning value reached $197 billion, with $109 billion going to offshore projects and $88 billion to onshore projects.

So far this year, the projects that have been committed are worth a combined 30

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$29 billion, with $16 billion going to offshore and the remaining going to onshore.

Rystad Energy’s forecast is based on a scenario in which Brent averages around $40 per barrel this year, not far from its current market price.

‘At the beginning of this year, the project commitments forecast for 2020 were expected to be comparable to 2019, but the industry downturn thanks to Covid-19 has caused commitments to fall sharply.

Going forward, Rystad Energy estimates that sanctioning will not pick up again and recover to 2019 levels anytime soon,’ said Karan Satwani, energy service analyst at Rystad Energy.

On a positive note, Gazprom has awarded contracts for phase one of its Kamennomysskoye-More project and

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Gazprom and RusGazDobycha have taken a final investment decision on the Semakovskoye field development in onshore Russia.

Meanwhile, the tax relief package announced by the Norwegian government last month has helped oil and gas operators improve project economics in Norway. Spurred by the programme, Aker BP commenced development activities on its Hod redevelopment project.

Equinor also signed the letter of intent last month for both the Breidablikk and Askeladd West projects off the coast of Norway.

Lastly, Llog Exploration has taken a final investment decision for the Taggart deepwater development in the US Gulf of Mexico.

CGG agrees sale of its Multi-Physics group CGG has agreed to sell its Multi-Physics business to Excalibur Group.

The Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) provides for the sale of CGG’s entire Multi-Physics business, except its multi-client library. The transaction is expected to close in Q4.

Xcalibur Airborne Geophysics Group (XAGG), a global provider of ultra-high resolution for Magnetics-Radiometrics regional and detailed airborne geophysical services with offices in Spain, South Africa and Colombia.

Meanwhile, CGG Multi-Physics has updated its LCT potential field software suite. Oil and gas exploration geoscientists use LCT to model, process and interpret their gravity and magnetic data for guiding integrated subsurface imaging.

The LCT R2017.06 release enhances the software’s intuitive and powerful workflows, improving ease-of-use and increasing productivity.

Critical techniques required for comprehensive geological forward modelling, inversion, and management of potential field data have also been

extended to deliver a more accurate model of the subsurface: The new LightTable module supports and integrates LCT’s existing 3MOD and 2MOD modules for producing realistic geological models. Seamless integration of 2D and 3D gravity and magnetic modelling has never been easier.

Enhanced and streamlined features in GRDFFT, the interactive module for gravity and magnetic grid enhancement processing and filtering.

Greg Paleolog, SVP, Multi-Physics, CGG, said: ‘For over 20 years, our oil and gas company users around the world have relied on the tools in

A new GDE (Gravity Depth Estimation) software module offers an equivalent source-based processing and modelling tool for producing gravity-derived depth volumes co-rendered with seismic for seismic depth migration.

our LCT software to integrate potential field data into their exploration workflows. The technology updates we’ve included in this new release stem from our close relationship with them.’

TGS completes East Coast Canada mapping

The study has mapped key reservoirs.

TGS has completed the East Coast Canada Facies Map Browser and Play Fairway Analysis (ECC FMB & PFA). Using data acquired in partnership with PGS, this study offers seamless subsurface interpretation for the entire offshore east coast of Canada and is available for immediate licensing.

The ECC FMB & PFA study integrates all released exploration wells, with a vast seismic data library. It delivers a regional sequence stratigraphic interpretation, facies and play fairway maps that enable E&P companies to evaluate opportunities presented in the upcoming bid rounds.

The study provides detailed insights into the key reservoir and source facies within known plays, such as the Late Jurassic, within the proven Jeanne D’Arc and Flemish Pass Basins. Sig-

nificant upside in the prospectivity of the Paleogene and Cretaceous, especially within the underexplored basins such as the Hopedale, Flemish, Salar and South Whale Basins have also been revealed.

Delivered via the latest FMB 4.5.0 desktop browser, coupled with TGS’ extensive well data and seismic library, it provides insights to lease sale evaluations in the region.

Meanwhile, TGS is returning to Argentina to complete the previously announced 17,800 km2 Malvinas 3D multi-client survey. Acquisition is set to resume in Q4 2020 and will continue to grow the 3D library in a prospective basin where there has been healthy industry investment following the first offshore round in 2019.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Chevron buys Noble Energy Chevron has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Noble Energy in an all-stock transaction valued at $5 billion.

Noble Energy shareholders will receive 0.1191 shares of Chevron for each Noble Energy share. The total value, including debt, of the transaction is $13 billion.

‘Noble Energy brings low-capital, cash-generating offshore assets in Israel, strengthening Chevron’s position in the Eastern Mediterranean. Noble Energy also enhances Chevron’s leading US unconventional position with derisked acreage in the DJ Basin and 92,000 largely contiguous and adjacent acres in the Permian Basin,’ said Chevron.

Chevron chairman and CEO Michael Wirth said: ‘This is a cost-effective opportunity for Chevron to acquire additional proved reserves and resources.

Cost synergies of approximately $300 million before tax are expected to be achieved.

David Stover, Noble Energy’s chairman and CEO, said: ‘The combination with Chevron is a compelling opportunity to join an admired global, diversified energy leader with a top-tier balance sheet and strong shareholder returns. The deal is expected to add approximately 18% to Chevron’s year-end 2019 proved oil and gas reserves at an average acquisition cost

of less than $5/boe, and almost 7 billion barrels of risked resource for less than $1.50/boe.

Noble Energy’s assets will enhance Chevron’s portfolio in the US onshore sector. This includes the DJ Basin; the Permian Basin – complementary acreage that enhances Chevron’s strong position in the Delaware Basin; and an established position in the Eagle Ford basin.

In West Africa it will add a strong position in Equatorial Guinea with further growth opportunities.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020.

PGS completes survey in the North Sea with record-breaking wide sources

The Ramform Vanguard achieved a record of 250 m between outer sources.

PGS has completed its second GeoStreamer X seismic survey in the Viking Graben in the North Sea. Fast track data will be ready in Q4 and final PSDM results will be available Q2 2021.

‘The Ramform Vanguard managed its dense streamer spread in combination with record-wide sources, acquiring a survey that will deliver a dataset of excellent quality, with high resolution, optimal near-offset distribution for shal-

low imaging, improved demultiple, and AVO. The Norwegian exploration industry needs improved data quality in this area, to address a number of challenges.

PGS has addressed this with a novel and efficient multi-azimuth towed-streamer solution and bespoke imaging workflow,’ said Gunhild Myhr, VP New Ventures at PGS. GeoStreamer X solves known illumination challenges on the Viking Graben

associated with sand injectites, such as injectites cemented with anomalously high velocities (so-called ‘v-brights’), and injectites with reservoir potential that definitely require better illumination.

On this year’s Viking Graben survey, the ultra-near offsets were achieved with the wide-tow sources, yet achieved a record of 250 m between outer sources.

This solution is the widest ever towed from a single vessel.

The dense streamer spread included several long streamer tails that will provide the offset for optimal FWI at depth.

First data will be ready in Q4 and final depth imaging data will be available Q2 2021.

The project builds on the 2019 GeoStreamer X pilot project in the same area.

AGS announces cost cutting OBN survey specialist Axxis Geo Solutions (AGS) is reducing the size of the organisation after its current surveys in the North Sea and Egypt have completed.

AGS will put in place a ‘smart stack’ model which will significantly limit expenses until the market rebounds but 32

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will still allow for quick mobilization to new projects.

Vessels, nodes and other key equipment will be maintained in a state of readiness. AGS has agreed with key partners to allow for vessels and equipment to be ready and available for quick mobilization at minimal cash cost

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Meanwhile, staffing will be reduced by 20%. The company expects to cut running costs to less than $800,000 per month in smart-stack mode.

Should further work not materialise prior to the end of Q3, AGS will further reduce its running costs to less than $400,000 per month.

INDUSTRY NEWS

ION to carry out first 3D survey in Mauritania ION Geophysical has announced the first 3D multi-client programme in Mauritania in partnership with the West African country’s Ministry of Petroleum, Mines and Energy (MPME).

BRIEFS The Australian government has approved 3D Oil’s proposal to acquire the Sauropod 3D marine seismic survey in the Roebuck Basin, within exploration permit WA-527-P. The survey will take a maximum of 60 days and will be acquired from January to April 2021.

The company will integrate and reimage ~24,000 km2 of MPME-held 3D data.

ION said that the 3D volume has applications across the E&P lifecycle, helping to reduce risk at play, prospect and reservoir scales. ION expects the programme to commence in 2020 with final deliverables available in mid-2021.

Mohamed Abdel Vetah, minister of petroleum, mines and energy, said: ‘Through this project, ION will support the efforts of the ministry to improve its exploration strategy offshore and onshore in the Taoudeni area and attract more investors with the aim of developing the national resources.’

Joe Gagliardi, senior vice-president of ION’s Ventures group, said: ‘Recent world-class discoveries have identified huge volumes of natural gas. Mauritania’s subsurface has never been revealed on a regional 3D scale and we believe there is substantial potential to identify new prospective oil and gas opportunities in this proven, underexplored basin when viewed in this new context. We expect this data volume will play a pivotal role in unlocking Mauritania’s remaining hydrocarbon potential for years to come.’

Polarcus has entered into a contract with Eni for 3D seismic data acquisition services in Asia Pacific with an expected minimum duration of one month. The project is scheduled to commence in Q1 2021.

Halliburton has announced a net loss of -$1.7 billion for the second quarter of 2020. This compares to a Q1 net loss of -$1 billion. Adjusted net income for the second quarter of 2020, excluding impairments and other charges, was $46 million. This compares to adjusted net income for the first quarter of 2020, excluding impairments and other charges, of $270 million. Halliburton’s revenue in the second quarter of 2020 was $3.2 billion, a 37% decrease from revenue of $5 billion in the first quarter of 2020.

Schlumberger has announced a second quarter net loss before taxes of -$3.4 billion on revenues of -$5.4 billion. Net income excluding charges was $69 million.

dGB launches machine learning plugin for OpendTect dGB Earth Sciences has announced what it claims is the world’s first fully-integrated machine learning platform for E&P data. The machine learning plugin for OpendTect links its seismic interpretation system with the R&D world of Python, TensorFlow, Keras and Scikit Learn.

‘Geoscientists can deploy trained machine learning models to solve their seismic and well problems. No programming skills are required,’ said dGB. ‘Experimental geoscientists can develop new workflows and train models to add value to their data. This is done with the existing tools and models available in the platform. Newly trained models can be shared

Shell Australia is to acquire 100% of Select Carbon which partners with farmers and other landowners to develop carbon farming projects throughout Australia.

Select Carbon has developed and manages a portfolio of more than 70 projects covering about 9 million hectares across different ecosystems and agricultural uses, including in Australia’s diverse rangelands.

with others ensuring rapid deployment in operational settings. Researchers can speed up their machine learning research by programming in a Python environment that takes care of data IO and visualization.’

Deep learning models created in this environment are directly available in the machine learning plugin for further use. dGB Earth Sciences supports the FORCE Machine Learning Competition 2020. dGB offers the competition datasets pre-loaded in OpendTect format. The machine learning plugin and all other commercial plugins controlled by dGB will work on these special OpendTect projects without licence keys.

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Santos has commenced a concept study on hydrogen generation at the Cooper Basin. The concept study has been awarded to GHD. Natural gas would be decarbonized at its source to make ‘zero-emissions’ or ‘blue’ hydrogen. The carbon dioxide produced as a result would then be safely and permanently captured and stored in the same reservoirs that the gas came from.

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PGS completes 3D survey offshore Western Australia

The Keraudren 3D seismic survey covers part of WA-437-P and WA-438-P in the Bedout basin offshore Australia.

PGS has completed the Keraudred 3D seismic survey offshore Western Australia over targeted reservoir intervals discovered and appraised in the three Dorado wells drilled in 2018 and 2019.

The survey was acquired by the Ramform Hyperion for operator Santos and its joint venture partner Carnarvon Petroleum across exploration permits WA-437-P and WA-438-P in the Bedout Sub-basin, offshore Western Australia.

Deploying the first-ever ‘negative offset’ source configuration in ‘wide source towing’ mode, the vessel configuration was designed to enhance the quality of the data over the four targeted reservoir inter-

vals discovered and appraised in the three Dorado wells drilled in 2018 and 2019.

According to Carnarvon, the Keraudren 3D data provides ‘a marked improvement’ over the previous Capreolus 3D data, which the joint venture used to define the Dorado prospect that led to the significant Dorado-1 oil find in mid-2018.

A dense multisensor GeoStreamer spread ensured that the data recorded rich frequency bandwidth, and the availability of ultra-long source umbilicals meant that the sources could be safely towed above the GeoStreamer spread without necessitating an expensive dedicated source vessel.

The ability to tow the sources with much larger lateral separation was introduced by PGS a couple of years ago to improve near offset coverage for all streamers. Together with the negative offset source deployment, this method provided a data platform optimized for removing seismic multiples in processing and providing high resolution shallow geological imaging in challenging data areas.

TGS reports net loss of -$80 million TGS has reported a second quarter net loss of -$80 million compared with a net loss of -$1.7 million in the second quarter of 2019. Segment revenues of $96 million were down from $166 million in the second quarter of 2019.

Net segment revenues for the second quarter came in at $96 million, a 55% decline compared to Q2 2019. Investments in the multi-client library totalled $77 million and were supported by $38 million (49%) in prefunding.

‘Despite the unprecedented weak market conditions in Q2, TGS generated improved cash flow from operations compared to Q2 2019. During the quarter, TGS’ cost level has been reduced significantly in light of the weak market conditions.’ said Kristian Johansen, CEO at TGS. Q2 2020 EBITDA adjusted for non-recurring items was $69 million, 34

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down 61% from $178 million in Q2 2019.

The company completed its restructuring during Q2 and recognized non-recurring items of $16.8 million and impairment of selected projects in the multi-client library of $30 million. The cash balance ending June 2020 was $198 million.

Organic multi-client investments of $77 million were 12% lower than the $87million invested in Q2 2019.

The company warned in its results statement that the market would continue to be particularly tough for seismic companies. ‘E&P companies have reduced their 2020 spending budgets 25-30% on average, with most of the cuts in discretionary (uncommitted) spending.

As the purchase of seismic data tends to fall into the discretionary category, geophysical industry revenues are likely to fall significantly more than the overall spending cuts.’

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UK automates its data repository The UK’s National Data Repository (NDR) has been automated so that well reports, logs and other digital files are more readily available to industry. The new Application Programming Interface (API) provides access to more than 4.8 terabytes of information and allows users to connect to certain data types and then download them from the NDR. This means that API users no longer need to search for, download and manage available data. They can have automated delivery of data to their organization’s systems and devices without the need to log into the NDR. The UK Oil and Gas Authority has reported that 20 companies have signed up to use the NDR API, including Neptune Energy, which was the first to use it. It has downloaded more than 650,000 files in eight days; achieving what all NDR users combined had managed in the first five months of the year using the established user-driven download method.

US set to launch postponed sale in the autumn The US government is offering 78.8 million acres for a region-wide lease sale scheduled for November 2020.

Lease Sale 256, the seventh offshore sale under the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Programme, will include 14,755 unleased blocks – all of the available unleased areas in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Lease Sale 256 was originally scheduled for August, but due to the need to conduct additional analysis to consider recent changes in the oil and gas markets, which were due in part to the Covid-19 pandemic, the sale was moved to the autumn.

Special Topic

RESERVOIR GEOSCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

The need to get the most out of the largest fields has never been a bigger game with more at stake. These efforts require geoscientists to raise the bar in terms of the ingenious reservoir geoscience and engineering solutions that they apply.

This month we look at the solutions for petroleum engineers to improve workflow and enhance recovery including full wave form inversion, AVO signatures, seismic stratigraphy, salt modelling and Principal Component Analysis.

Per Avseth et al describe an integrated workflow where full waveform inversion velocity data, well log data, seismic stratigraphy, basin analysis, and rock physics modelling are combined to produce 3D feasibility cubes of expected rock properties and AVO signatures for a given geological scenario. They show how AVO feasibility cubes can be updated in real time and used to guide quantitative interpretation studies, and to run sensitivity analysis to derisk potential prospects.

Carl Fredrik Gyllenhammar compares 98 wells from the North Sea with wells from several basins around the world using sonic, density, neutron, gamma ray and resistivity as well as Principal Component Analysis.

Peyman Moradi et al integrate microseismic with fibre temperature and strain data to evaluate stimulation performance for several stages of a horizontal well in the Marcellus shale.

Henrik Roende et al present ways of getting better reflections from beneath the salt in order to improve the modelling of the the salt.

Arthur Satterley et al document the geological and flow modelling work conducted alongside safety modelling – an essential part of gas storage operations.

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

Modelling / Interpretation

April

Passive Seismic / Unconventionals

May

Petroleum Geology

June

Data Processing

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

Machine Learning

August

Near Surface Geoscience

September

Reservoir Geoscience and Engineering

October

Energy Transition

November

Marine Seismic & EM

December

Delivering for the Energy Challenge: Today and Tomorrow

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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FEATURE: SOAP BOX

Velocity formats and the value of the SEGY EBCDIC header In this new occasional feature, which we are calling The Soap Box, Peter Rowbotham discusses two areas of common practice deserving better attention.

Interval velocities Practising geophysicists will recognise the following spreadsheet conundrum. When calculating interval velocity from columns of two-way time and depth values, should cell C10 read 2000*(B10B9)/(A10-A9) or 2000*(B11-B10)/(A11-A10)? Or should we put an empty row between each time-depth pair to signify the interval?

This simple illustration highlights a lack of consistency that exists in our industry for 3D interval velocity fields (Figure 1). A different perspective on this can be found by googling ‘interval velocity posting conventions’. An informal poll of contacts in four of the major seismic contractors revealed: • Two post velocities at the top of the interval they are describing • One posts at the bottom • One posts at the top for some software but centre for others More worrying was that different contacts within the same companies gave conflicting answers. If we stick with one software/ contractor/convention for all our projects, we are probably safe.

But importing SEGY interval velocities supplied by one company into software with a different convention will shift velocities and create errors, the magnitude of which will depend on velocity heterogeneity and velocity sampling. As an exercise, I suggest you shift a velocity or time-depth curve by one sample to quantify the impact. Now consider that migration velocity volumes are often supplied at 10 m or 20 m sampling, and you can easily produce 25 m errors between the velocity field as intended, and with the application of the wrong posting convention.

One solution suggested is to only transfer velocity models using RMS or average velocity. However, I for one am not convinced that if we are making a fundamental mistake with representing and loading interval velocities, that we will be any more consistent with RMS or average.

What’s my solution? For suppliers/users of data, specify/ ask about the convention. Check how your data is being loaded

with simple QCs. Use the first golden rule of seismic – what’s happening at the seabed, or if you’re not fortunate enough to be working with nice marine data, what is the seismic telling you at a prominent isolated reflector? A velocity contrast either higher or lower than your reflector should raise suspicions.

EBCDIC headers in SEGY And another thing …

My heart sinks when I find a file written 10 years ago named ‘final.segy’ and the EBCDIC header contains the sole information ‘Exported by XX software’. Probably there was a Powerpoint explaining all about it, but not included with the data.

The EBCDIC is the only place we can store metadata about our seismic and velocity data which is certain to stay with the data.

Fortunately, there have been improvements over the years, with some software on reading segy now keeping this information live in the internal format.

So why are we still not using EBCDIC consistently and well? If the SEGY is what we are delivering, it does not matter how wonderful the data look in our software if we do not supply enough data to make the data shine on our customers’ screens.

Likewise, I challenge everyone to think back over the work they’ve done over the past n years (choose your own n – and if you have moved on to a new organisation, how detailed was your handover?); do you know where the data are, do you know who else is looking at your produced data now, would you be able to understand the data still and remember all the relevant details?

Interval velocities? Let’s get the posting convention stated in the EBCDICS. And let’s all take the pledge to never create a segy with a meaningless EBCDIC ever again.

If you have a burning technical issue you would like to get off your chest and bring to the EAGE membership, please get in touch.

Figure 1 Left – simple 1D velocity profile. Right – the interval over which a velocity will be applied in the different interval velocity posting conventions.

Views expressed in Soap Box are solely those of the author, who can be contacted at peter.rowbotham@apachecorp.com.

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CALENDAR

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 30 NOV - 3 DEC

First EAGE Digitalization Conference and Exhibition Vienna, Austria www.eage.org

September 2020 7‑10 Sep

EAGE/AAPG Digital Subsurface For Asia Pacific Conference www.eage.org

Online

7‑11 Sep

Geomodel 2020 www.eage.org

Gelendzhik

8-9 Sep

First EAGE Online Latin America Workshop: A Multidisciplinary Approach Led by Women www.eage.org

Online

8-10 Sep

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

Online

14-17 Sep

ECMOR XVII 17 th European Conference on the Mathematics of Oil Recovery www.eage.org

Online

17-18 Sep

September Mineral Exploration Symposium www.eage.org

Online

22‑24 Sep

First EAGE Conference on Machine Learning Americas www.eage.org

Online

Russia

October 2020 5-9 Oct

Geobaikal 2020 6th Scientific Conference www.eage.org

Irkutsk

6-8 Oct

SPE/EAGE Virtual Workshop: Advances in Reservoir Characterisation and Modelling www.eage.org

Online

8-9 Oct

First EAGE Online Workshop on Near Surface in Latin America www.eage.org

Online

12‑14 Oct

Second EAGE Conference on Sulfur Risk Management in E&P www.eage.org

Online

21‑22 Oct

Third EAGE Workshop on Unconventional Resources www.eage.org

Online

26‑28 Oct

First EAGE Conference on Seismic Inversion www.eage.org

Porto

Portugal

26-28 Oct

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

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

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Russia

CALENDAR

November 2020 2-4 Nov

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

Chiang Mai

2-4 Nov

2-4 Nov, EAGE Workshop on Fiber Optic Sensins for Energy Applications in Asia Pacific www.eage.org

Online / Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

10-13 Nov

XIV International Scientific Conference “Monitoring of Geological Processes and the Ecological Condition of the Environment” www.eage.org

Kyiv

13 Nov

EAGE/BVG/FKPE Joint Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Development www.eage.org

Online

15‑17 Nov

Second EAGE Workshop on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles www.eage.org

Muscat

Oman

16‑18 Nov

1st EAGE Geoscience & Engineering in Energy Transition Conference www.get2020.org

Strasbourg

France

16-19 Nov

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

Saint Petersburg

Russia

17 Nov

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

Saint Petersburg

Russia

17-19 Nov

First EAGE/SBGf Online Symposium on Rerservoir Monitoring www.eage.org

Online

30 Nov 3 Dec

First EAGE Digitalization Conference and Exhibition www.eage.org

Vienna

Austria

Thailand

Ukraine

December 2020 1‑3 Dec

Second HGS and EAGE Conference on Latin America in Cartagena www.eage.org

Cartagena

Colombia

6-7 Dec

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

Amsterdam

Netherlands

6-7 Dec

EAGE/SEG Research Workshop on Geophysical Aspects of Smart Cities www.eage.org

Amsterdam

Netherlands

6-7 Dec

Eighth EAGE Workshop on Passive Seismic www.eage.org

Amsterdam

Netherlands

7‑9 Dec

First EAGE Workshop on Geothermal Energy and Hydro Power in Africa www.eage.org

Nairobi

Kenya

7‑9 Dec

International Conference of Young Scientists «GEOTERRACE-2020» https://openreviewhub.org/geoterrace

Lviv

Ukraine

7-11 Dec

Near Surface Geoscience Conference & Exhibition www.nsg2020.org

Amsterdam

Netherlands

8 Dec

Third Young Professionals Summit http://yp-summit.org/

Amsterdam

Netherlands

8-11 Dec

82 nd EAGE Conference & Exhibition 2020 www.eageannual2020.org

Amsterdam

Netherlands

First EAGE Workshop on Optimizing Project Turnaround Performance www.eage.org

London

United Kingdom

1‑3 Mar

EAGE GeoTech 2021 First EAGE Geophysical Monitoring Technology Conference and Exhibition www.eage.org

The Hague

Netherlands

10‑12 Mar

Second EAGE Workshop on Machine Learning www.eage.org

Amsterdam

Netherlands

14‑18 Mar

SAGEEP 2021

Denver

United States

February 2021 22‑24 Feb March 2021

EAGE Events

Non-EAGE Events

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Overcome the Limitations of Standard FWI with Dynamic Matching FWI TGS’ Dynamic Matching FWI is the only FWI technology that uses data-driven interpretation to automatically update the velocity model, allowing for superior, geologically-coherent, unbiased models. E&Ps can expect: • More timely and efficient processing • Significant improvements in modeling and mapping • Reduced cycle times and lower costs • Reduced uncertainty to de-risk prospects/wells

See the energy at TGS.com Amendment OBN data in partnership with