First Break December 2017

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SPECIAL TOPIC

Data Processing EAGE NEWS Time to nominate Association Board members TECHNICAL ARTICLE Full-Azimuth Depth Imaging in the Local Angle Domain

IN EVERY IMAGE

Full-Waveform Inversion Utilizing Both Refraction and Reflection Data

CGG Multi-Client & New Ventures Gulf of Mexico StagSeis survey data before (top) and after (bottom) FWI update.

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In the example above, CGG’s advanced full-waveform inversion technology utilizes both refraction and reflection data to improve salt model accuracy and subsalt images.

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FIRST BREAK® An EAGE Publication

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

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Applying full-azimuth depth imaging in the local angle domain to delineate hard-to-recover hydrocarbon reserves

Editorial Contents 3

EAGE News

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Crosstalk

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Industry News

Technical Article 37

ACCOUNT MANAGER ADVERTISING Daan van Ommen (don@eage.org) ACCOUNT MANAGER SUBSCRIPTIONS Hicham el Ghoulbzouri (hgi@eage.org) PRODUCTION First Break BV EAGE EUROPE OFFICE PO Box 59 3990 DB Houten The Netherlands • +31 88 995 5055 • eage@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE RUSSIA & CIS OFFICE EAGE Russia & CIS Office EAGE Geomodel LLC Novocheremushkinskaya Str. 65 Build. 1 117418, Moscow, Russia • +7 495 640 2008 • moscow@eage.org • www.eage.ru EAGE MIDDLE EAST OFFICE EAGE Middle East FZ-LLC Dubai Knowledge Village Block 13 Office F-25 PO Box 501711 Dubai, United Arab Emirates • +971 4 369 3897 • middle_east@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE ASIA PACIFIC OFFICE UOA Centre Office Suite 19-15-3A No. 19, Jalan Pinang 50450 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia • +60 3 272 201 40 • asiapacific@eage.org • www.eage.org

Global gravity field from recent satellites (DTU15) — Arctic improvements O.B. Andersen, P. Knudsen, S. Kenyon, J.K. Factor and S. Holmes

Special Topic: Data Processing 43

Applications of least-squares pre-stack depth migration in complex geology around the world Shouting Huang, Zhao Wang, Ming Wang, Adel Khalil, Ping Wang, Xiaodong Wu, Yi Xie, Francesco Perrone and Chu-Ong Ting

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Applying full-azimuth depth imaging in the local angle domain to delineate hard-to-recover hydrocarbon reserves Alexander Inozemtsev, Zvi Koren and Alexander Galkin

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Integration of SMTI topology with dynamic parameter analysis to characterize fractureconnectivity related to flow and production along wellbores in the STACK play Adam M. Baig, Ellie P. Ardakani, Ted Urbancic, Dan Kahn, Jamie Rich, David Langton and Ken Silver

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Sierra de Reyes 3D seismic survey (onshore Argentina): depth imaging complex geology by applying multi-focusing, Kirchhoff, Beam and RTM workflows Pablo Borghi, David Curia, Martín Alayón, Paul Veeken, Ignacio Lescano and Daniel Justo

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3D shallow water seismic survey planning to deliver sub-salt imaging in South Gabon Paolo Esestime, Laura Arti, Milos Cvetkovic, Karyna Rodriguez and Nei Hodgson

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Calendar

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

cover: The Cryosat-2 satellite provides for the first time altimetry throughout the Arctic Ocean up to 88°N. Read more in our Technical Article from O.B. Andersen et al. on p. 37 (photo courtesy of ESA/AOES).

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European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers

Board 2017-2018 Jean-Jacques Biteau President

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

Oil & Gas Geoscience Division

Juan Soldo Vice-President

Michael Poppelreiter Vice-President-Elect

Jorg Herwanger Education Officer

Caroline Lowrey Chair Michael Peter Suess Vice-Chair Øistein Bøe Resource Evaluation Committee liaison Phil Christie Chief Editor Petroleum Geoscience Rick Donselaar Technical Programme Representative (Geology) Xavier Garcia NSGD liaison Sebastian Geiger Resource Evaluation Committee liaison Olivier Gosselin Technical Programme Representative (Reservoir), Resource Evaluation Committee liaison Juliane Heiland Committee member David Halliday Technical Programme Representative (Geophysics), YP liaison Tijmen Jan Moser Editor-in-Chief Geophysical Prospecting Ann Muggeridge IOR Committee liaison Walter Rietveld Technical Programme Officer Michael Welch Technical Programme Representative (Geology), NSGD liaison Martin Widmaier Technical Programme Representative (Geophysics) Paul Worthington Resource Evaluation Committee liaison Michael Zhdanov NSGD liaison

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Walter Rietveld Technical Programme Officer

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Oliver Kuras Chair Near Surface Geoscience Division

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Caroline Jane Lowrey Chair Oil & Gas Geoscience Division

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PAPER The Publisher’s policy is to use acid-free permanent paper (TCF), to the draft standard ISO/DIS/9706, made from sustainable forests using chlorine-free pulp (Nordic-Swan standard).

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HIGHLIGHTS

EAGE MEMBERS

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Workshop talks up the value of borehole imaging

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Time to nominate EAGE’s Board for 2018

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Southern France hosts Geoscience Olympiad for students

EAGE to partner in EU project for sustainable mineral exploration As part of its commitment to the Horizon 2020 initiative, EAGE is to be a partner in an EU-funded project to research initiatives in sustainable mineral exploration in Europe.

EAGE and its partners in the Smart Exploration project are celebrating the successful application for a three year grant of over €5 million from the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 funding programme.

A consortium of 27 partners from industry, academia/research institutes, geological surveys, and other agencies in EU countries including the EAGE are running the project on ‘Sustainable mineral resources by utilizing new exploration technologies’ (Smart Exploration).

The multi-disciplinary consortium consisting of a research and application team, supported by a group of technologically advanced SMEs and mining companies, will take part in the Research & Innovation Action. They will primarily focus on developing cost-effective, environmentally-friendly tools and methods for geophysical exploration, although other aspects such as geological and geochemical target vectoring and generations will not be ignored.

The main targets will be highly challenging brownfield areas, but new innovative ideas will also be tested for greenfield exploration to increase the potential of

finding new major deposits of relevance to the EU. The intention is for solutions aiming to meet the ever-increasing community (social acceptance) and environmental issues, as well as reduce the return time (from exploration to production).

The project is due to begin in December 2017 and to be coordinated by Prof Alireza Malehmir, Uppsala University, Sweden. EAGE will lead the Dissemination and Exploitation activities and support project management.

The project includes partners from 11 countries and six exploration sites within

the EU. Partners involved are from Sweden (Uppsala University, Geological Survey of Sweden, Nordic Iron Ore, Ludvika Kommun, GeoVista, MIC Nordic, BitSim, and Amkvo); Finland (Yara, University of Helsinki and University of Turku); Denmark (SkyTEM Surveys and Aarhus University); Netherlands (Delft University of Technology, Seismic Mechatronics and EAGE); Italy (Polytechnic University of Turin); Portugal (Somincor and National Laboratory of Energy and Geology); Germany (Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg); Poland (Institute of Geophysics,

EAGE support for Horizon 2020 in action.

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EAGE NEWS

Polish Academy of Sciences, Geopartner and Proxis); and Greece (National Technical University of Athens, Helas Gold, Seismotech and Delfi Distomon).

Although funded by the EU, an international advisory board has been appointed for the project consisting of Gilles Bellefleur (Geological Survey of Canada, Canada), Ute Weckmann (GFZ-Germany, Germany), Chris Wijns (First Quantum Minerals, Australia), Richard Hillis (DET CRC, Australia), Milovan Urosevic (Curtin University, Australia), John Carranza (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) and Giuseppe Di Capua (IAPG, Italy).

The project arises from the EU requesting calls under the Horizon 2020 funding instrument to support Research & Innovation Action (RIA) and to address

a number of key societal challenges (research to market) within the European Innovation Partnerships (EIP) approach.

This year, the Work Programme ‘Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials’ included the call for ‘New Sensitive Exploration Technologies’. The call asked for development of new and more sensitive environmentally sound exploration technologies and solutions (such as remote sensing technologies, innovative multi-method approaches to reprocess existing or new geophysical data) that are capable of identifying targets for detailed exploration on the land with lower costs, leading to finding new deposits and to re-assessing the mineral potential for the EU. Smart Exploration will primarily aim at developing seismic, electromagnetic

Research

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Research Institutes

Smart Exploration Mining Companies

SMEs

Innovation

Action Validation

Overall structure of the Smart Exploration consortium illustrating how the partners complement each other, for different aspects of the project (new technologies – new data and targets – validation), to reach the three pillars of the call: Research-Innovation-Action.

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and potential-field methods and instruments to be used separately and/or jointly for exploration in highly noisy, near-mine environments and at the required exploitation depths (e.g., 300-1500 m), along with common Earth 3D geo-models.

Six exploration sites in Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Greece and Kosovo will be targeted. Commodities covered include sheet-like iron-oxide apatite- and REE-bearing (associated with V-W-Sn) deposits of the Bergslagen mineral district in central Sweden; the apatite- and likely REE-bearing Siilinjärvi (phosphate mine) carbonatite complex in central Finland; base-metal, Cu-Zn-Au (also enriched in Sn, In, Pt) deposits of Neves-Corvo in the Iberian Pyrite Belt of Portugal; bauxite deposits of Gerolekas, and Cu-Au (associated with Mo, As, Sb, Ag) porphyry deposits of Skouries in Greece; the chromium (also associated with Cu-Au-Co-Ni-PGEs) deposits of Kosovo greenfield sites. The exploration sites were chosen based on existing data (for validation purposes), but also for the likelihood that they can offer new exploration targets.

Smart Exploration will employ and/ or educate more than 20 post-graduate students, five post-docs and a number of short-term researchers within the partner organizations.

The project kick-off meeting will take place on 15-17 January 2018 in Uppsala, Sweden when the project adviser from European Commission will be present to share her insights. The first hours of the meeting will be open to the public and for those who cannot join in person, a remote webinar connection will be available.

Those who would like to attend this meeting may contact EAGE’s EU Public Affairs department at eupublicaffairs@eage.org.

Further information regarding the project and kick-off meeting will be available on www.smartexploration.eu.

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EAGE NEWS

Workshop talks up the value of borehole imaging

WORKSHOP

REPORT

There was a lot to talk about borehole data sets at the Second EAGE Borehole Geology Workshop held in Malta on 9-11 October 2017. This is what transpired.

This was a workshop to facilitate knowledge sharing and promote discussion on a multi-disciplinary approach to borehole imaging data. The programme included a one-day field trip and two-day technical programme focused on the acquisition, processing and interpretation of borehole images.

Increasingly higher resolution data sets are the hallmark of the latest developments in borehole image logs. This has rejuvenated the industry’s interest in more accurate geological characterization of reservoirs and the potential value for reservoir understanding and management. Borehole image data sets can be used throughout the field development lifecycle and are regarded as increasingly important as hydrocarbon recovery becomes more complex either through the development of more complex static models or the need for IOR/EOR. Applications of these data sets include constraining property modelling with lithofacies, electrofacies and sedimentary body geometries, through to completion design based on quantitative fracture analysis.

The workshop opened with an inspiring keynote presentation from Mohammed Ameen, principal professional geomechanics, Northern Arabia Unconventional Gas Assets Department, Saudi Aramco, followed by the session on the role of borehole images in static models.

Baker Hughes presented a newly developed semi-automated workflow to set up a structural Earth model from geological structures identified on borehole images. The model is designed for processing formation evaluation logs in HAHZ wells to correct for the influence of adjacent beds and beds boundaries which are typically more prominent in HAHZ wells than in vertical wells.

Saudi Aramco then demonstrated the result of integrating core, borehole imag-

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Ready to go, the group leaves for the field trip on the Maltese late Oligocene Lower Coralline limestone formation.

es and conventional open hole log-scale physical modelling within a consistent geological model. Utilization of the IBP methodology in conjunction with neural network analysis, rock texture and dip interpretation provides high resolution electrofacies. The benefits of the resulting stratigraphy and rock quality scheme were presented as an improved understanding of the heterogeneities in the petrophysical properties of different sand bodies encountered in the studied area to optimize field exploration, as well as realistic production prediction and reservoir development.

The second session on integrated workflow/geomechanics covered the integrated use of borehole imaging data for geomechanical understanding.

Collectively, these presentations demonstrated improved understanding of how the interaction of stress, geological surfaces and lithological contrasts can be realized through integration of borehole images with other subsurface information – core data, conventional wireline logs, production data, etc.

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Baker Hughes Denmark presented an atlas of image log observations from their studies of wells across the Algerian Sahara Desert. Many examples demonstrated lithological controls on the presence and nature of stress related features and this theme was continued throughout the excellent training course exploring differences between image artefacts, stress related and natural features.

The topic was further addressed

by Saudi Aramco identifying critically stressed fractures in weak carbonates combining fracture observations at a variety of scales with geomechanical analysis. The session was brought to a close by Eriksfiord discussing the relation between stresses and natural fractures observed from image logs in the Polish shale belt. Various 2D numerical models showed stress conditions that could replicate less common patterns of stress related deformation.

The day ended with a session devoted to various applications of borehole images by integrating with other disciplines across the field development

EAGE NEWS

lifecycle. The session was kicked-off by Schlumberger highlighting utilization of the high resolution borehole image logs for sand and shale portions separation in conglomerates for the precise matrix properties computation. This study represents an approach towards complex hydrocarbon-play generation, estimation of reservoir properties and further supplies input to reservoir modelling and production.

Naftagas discussed methodology for integrated analysis of borehole images and conventional wireline logs for qualitative assessment of fractured reservoirs, including secondary porosity evaluation and stresses anisotropy analysis. The presentation demonstrated positive results of this approach in several case studies from the Pannonian basin, naturally fractured metamorphic schists, vertical anisotropy in clastic reservoirs, hostile borehole conditions and intervals with secondary porosity.

The session was concluded by Schlumberger with a talk illustrating the geosteering decision-making process through integration of logging-while-drilling borehole image logs and 3D seismic data in the Satah Al Raz Boot field, Arab D formation, UAE. The proposed technique builds real-time 3D models for enhancement accuracy of the layers modelling and improving the well placement process. A well appreciated one-hour training course by Task Fronterra Geoscience on ‘Borehole Geology Clastic Environment Structural Interpretation’ closed the day.

The second day started with the most controversial session (Novel acquisition) with an almost equal split of opinion among participants. Schlumberger gave an excellent presentation on the technique for analysis of the secondary porosity contribution into hydrocarbon volumes and flow. This methodology can be used to select the best productive zones and to predict the behaviour of reservoir rocks during the production.

A case study in carbonate reservoir confirmed the methodology results. This was followed by Eriksfiord underscoring the necessity to understand the logging

principles, physics and interpretation by users of the borehole images. Acquisition theory, various types of borehole imagers, comparison of raw and processed data and processing techniques were discussed.

A service company, proposed a new technique for quantitative analysis of the pseudo grain size distribution based on interpretation of borehole images helping to produce continuous microfacies log. The case study from fan delta depositional environments supported the analysis results. They demonstrated another novel technique for resolving multiple boundaries making possible the visualization of the conductive features of limited thickness crossing the wellbore using the logging-while-drilling images in horizontal wellbores. This experience illustrated that the latest generation of deep azimuthal electro-magnetic technology integrated with near-wellbore measurements is able to detect conductive features corresponding to fractures extending several metres far from the wellbore providing new interpretation perspectives.

Baker Hughes continued with a presentation on the characterization of the complex large-scale fault zones, observed on seismic but difficult to determine the orientation and sense of movement of the fault on an image log.

In this case, detailed interpretation of the image log helped resolve an ambiguity in the interpretation of the seismic data that increased understanding of the role of faults as seals or flow conduits in the reservoir. Finally, Schlumberger showed extracted and ‘flattened’ resistivity variation from borehole images to analyze the cyclicity of the derived resistivity in order to give quantitative information on the bedding and link cyclicity to depositional environments.

The last session of the workshop on integrated workflow opened with a presentation by OMV on a a systematic approach to identify respective characteristics, preferable logging conditions, and factors affecting quality and resolutions of borehole images. It presented the added value borehole imaging brings within geological model construction,

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and how it integrates with various other scale and physics measurements. It was acknowledged that petrophysical, geological or rock mechanics analysis comes at a cost. Careful planning and supervision of all the steps of a borehole imaging project from the initial data acquisition, the data processing and close out with the final interpretation results are technically challenging.

Statoil introduced a CT imaging technique at the core scale in petrophysical evaluation demonstrating new insights in formation evaluation when combined with existing logging data (conventional and borehole image logs). It was shown that, while borehole images are complex to interpret, CT scans can be a very valuable complement to assist evaluation and ensure a proper interpretation for non-cored wells.

The day was closed by a very interesting training hour by Schlumberger on ‘Carbonate Environment Facies Textural Analysis’.

The workshop was complemented by a field trip focused on the Maltese late Oligocene Lower Coralline limestone formation led by Daniel Sultana, lecturer at the University of Malta.

Committee member Ingelinn Aarnes (BHGE) thanks Brice Fortier (Statoil) for his contribution to the Technical Programme.

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EAGE NEWS

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Saint Petersburg 2018: counting on a successful event!

Success of the Eighth Saint Petersburg International Geological and Geophysical Conference & Exhibition being held on 9-12 April 2018 looks to be almost a foregone conclusion. That’s because the Organizing Committee received more than 350 abstracts from geoscientists in 33 countries from all continents of the world, which is 30% more than during the previous Saint Petersburg Conference.

The 2018 event, the largest geoscience event in Russia, will have the theme ‘Innovations in Geosciences – Time for Breakthrough’. As ever, EAGE will be calling together directors of enterprises and reputed geoscientists and practitioners from Russia and many other countries to share experience and ideas, initiate new professional contacts and, at the same time, enjoy the most splendid city, Russia’s northern Venice, in its spring beauty.

In addition to the technical programme, there is the student programme comprising student lectures, an exhibition tour, as well as the EAGE Geo-Quiz, a legendary contest between university teams.

On Monday, 9 April 2018 delegates will have an opportunity to attend presentations by Dr Jorg Herwanger (MP Geomechanics) on ‘Applied Oilfield Geomechanics’ and by Igor Shpurov (State Reserves Committee under the RF Ministry of Natural Resources) on ‘Tight and unconventional oil reserves: definitions, calculation and development specifics’. Participation is included in the registration fee, but delegates are asked to register for lectures beforehand as the number of participants is limited.

The exhibition, held simultaneously with the conference, is a great opportunity to obtain the latest information on developments in the industry, as well as

Combine visiting scientific conference and enjoying Russia’s northern Venice!

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The topics of the 2018 conference cover mainstream lines of research in geology and petroleum exploration; regional-scale studies; key issues related to the development of the Russian Arctic; innovative technologies of data acquisition and processing for exploration, including hardly recoverable reserves; discoveries in economic geology; support of small and medium enterprises in Russia in terms of information, analytics, and human relation strategies; as well as issues relating to the conservation of the environment.

network and exchange ideas. Participants can also look forward to a lively social programme. All registered family members have access to the exhibition and to the social programme, which includes the icebreaker reception and the conference evening.

The congress centre of the Park Inn by Radisson Pulkovskaya hotel is the venue for the event on the beautiful Moskovsky Avenue with easy access to downtown Saint Petersburg.

The early registration deadline is 25 January 2018. All information is available at www.eage.org.

EAGE NEWS

Siberian event puts challenge for geoscientists in perspective Geoscience professionals associated with Eastern Siberia, the Far East and the Asia-Pacific region should already be looking forward to GeoBaikal 2018 Conference being organized by the EAGE for the fifth time in Irkutsk (Russia) on 11-17 August 2018. The event will be enhanced by two significant geological workshops plus two field trips around Lake Baikal.

exploration; hydrocarbon field drilling and development; petrophysics; core analysis; and rock physics. The technical programme will also include specifics of geological exploration in offshore fields; business approaches to project development, exploration and development of mineral deposits; near surface studies and engineering geophysical methods; and

Remarkable geological workshops around Lake Baikal are also part of GeoBaikal 2018.

GeoBaikal should be of special interest because geological and geophysical surveys in East Siberia are particularly challenging, so that sharing experience is the principal key to success.

The Organizing Committee is accepting abstracts on themes such as geology of Eastern Siberia and Far East; seismic for hydrocarbon exploration: theory and practice; non-seismic methods for hydrocarbon exploration; integration of geophysical methods for hydrocarbon

industrial safety in geological exploration: culture, people, efficiency.

There is still time to submit an abstract before the deadline of 1 May 2018. All information regarding submission can be found on the event page at www.eage.org.

During the event companies will be providing commercial presentations both in the conference hall and outside to demonstrate their equipment.

An extra bonus is that free of charge short courses will be offered for all con-

ference participants on the subjects of ‘Geology of Eastern Siberia’ and ‘Modern Application of Electromagnetic Survey for Hydrocarbon Exploration’.

In addition, two geological field trips are being organized for interested participants. The first workshop ‘Southern Baikal Region as a Model Site for Studying Late Proterozoic Deposition and Oil Generation History’ will appeal to oil and gas specialists and takes place on 11-12 August 2018. The trip includes land (bus) and water (boat) transport. The boat will cover 60 km of the southwestern Baikal shoreline between Listvyanka and Bolshoe Goloustnoye villages, where spectacular outcrops expose rocks that store the longest records of the Earth’s history. The number of participants is limited to 12.

The post-conference trip ‘Geology and Tectonics of the Olkhon Geodynamic Site (Western Baikal Region)’, organized

by EAGE and the Institute of the Earth’s Crust (Irkutsk) on 16-17 August, will take participants to Minor Sea of Lake Baikal, central western Baikal area to give them an idea of local geology and history and show well-shaped folds, faults, and traces of glacial and karst activity.

GeoBaikal 2018 offers excellent sponsoring opportunities. For the full list of these opportunities, please refer to the website www.eage.org or contact us at gbk@eage.org.

EAGE Education Calendar 28 NOV - 1 DEC

EDUCATION DAYS HOUSTON 2017

HOUSTON, US

EAGE EDUCATION TOUR 4: SEISMIC IMAGING

HO CHI MINH, VIETNAM

SHORT COURSE ON GEOSTATISTICS

MUMBAI, INDIA

6 DEC

EAGE EDUCATION TOUR 4: SEISMIC IMAGING

YANGON, MYANMAR

8 DEC

EAGE EDUCATION TOUR 4: SEISMIC IMAGING

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

21 FEB

SHORT COURSE ON MIGRATION AND VELOCITY MODEL BUILDING

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

9 APR

ENGINEERING GEOPHYSICS IN FLOOD PROTECTION AND GEOHAZARD ASSESSMENT

YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA

10 APR

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO MULTI-DIMENSIONAL ERT SURVEYS AND DATA INTERPRETATION

YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA

SHORT COURSES EAGE ANNUAL 2018

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

4 DEC 4-5 DEC

10-16 JUN

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

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China’s future unconventional oil and gas is up for discussion A highly relevant workshop on ‘Unconventional Oil and Gas: the next 10 years’ will be held in Chengdu, China on 5-7 September 2018. The Technical Programme Committee is being led by chairperson Wu Qi (E&P company of PetroChina) and co-chairpersons Zhang Bin (BP China Upstream) and Dr Bernard Montaron (Fraimwork).

The dramatic oil price drop in the last three years has had a significant impact on unconventional oil and gas development all around the world, forcing operators to cut costs, to improve well construction and production efficiency, and to stop projects deemed non-economical. Participants at this international workshop will be encouraged to discuss and share their experiences in addressing specific exploration, development, and production challenges.

The three-day workshop will cover key issues such as drilling efficiency,

improved fracturing and completion techniques, well clean-up and flowback, production optimization, development strategies, declination analysis and EUR estimation, integrated workflows for sweet spot mapping, and how to deal with high stress anisotropy.

Unconventional oil and gas is high on China’s agenda. In 2016 the production of unconventional gas in China reached 12.4 billion cubic meters (bcm) with 4.5 bcm from coal bed methane and 7.9 bcm from shale gas. Unconventional gas production is expected to rise close to 20 bcm in 2017 with shale gas jumping to 15 bcm, the Fuling field in the Chongqing municipality contributing about two thirds of this. The 30-bcm shale gas production target set for 2020 by the Ministry of Land Resources, the NDRC, and the NEA, is supported by clear objectives in the China 13th Five Year Plan to accelerate exploration and

exploitation of shale gas in five regions, including the Changning-Weiyuan region in Sichuan, and Fuling field. The plan also sets goals for tight oil, oil sands, and to the comprehensive development and utilization of oil shale.

For more information on the workshop, please visit the event website: https://events.eage.org/en/2018/unconventionals-in-china.

Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province.

Indonesia hosting its first near surface geoscience meeting Next April (11-12) will witness a piece of geoscience history when the first Asia Pacific Meeting on Near Surface Geoscience and Engineering is held at the Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The event is organized by EAGE and HAGI (Indonesian Association of Geophysicists) with the theme ‘Geosciences and Technology for Our Communities’.

The technical committee headed by Ade Anggraini (UGM) with co-chairs Randy Condronegoro (HAGI) and Koya Suto (EAGE) plan a programme intended to enhance the ties between near-surface geoscientists and engineers. Contributions are invited on the whole spectrum of near surface geoscience methods and applications ranging from geotechnical, geohazards to archaeology and geotour-

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ism. Call for Abstracts is now open with a deadline of 15 December.

Ahead of the main event a short course will be scheduled on 9 April by Dr Ernst Niederleithinger (BAM, Berlin, Germany) on ‘Engineering Geophysics in Flood Protection And Geohazard Assessment’.

Dr Niederleithinger is a senior scientist at BAM and a lecturer at RWTH Aachen.

He has led a national research project on the evaluation of geophysical techniques for river embankment investigations and was co-author of a resulting handbook.

The course is designed to shed some light on the various ways to design, perform and interpret geophysical surveys for near surface geology and river embankments and to provide guidance along the way.

On the 10 April, a further short course on ‘Data Collection and Interpretation of

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Multi-Dimensional ERT Surveys’ will be presented by Dr Meng Heng Loke, director of Malaysian company Geotomo Software and a specialist in the field. In addition, participants at the event can look forward to a seminar on ‘Application of Geophysical Methods to Engineering and Environmental Problems’ in cooperation with Society of Exploration Geophysics of Japan (SEGJ).

Six Japanese experts will cover their specialized subjects in near surface geophysics.

After the meeting an intriguing fieldtrip to the Borobudur temple and Merapi Volcano is scheduled for 13 April. Registration for the event will open on December 2017.

Sponsorship and exhibition opportunities are available for interested parties and organizations to showcase company product and services. For all information see the events section of the EAGE website.

EAGE NEWS

First workshop on Evaluation and Drilling of Carbonate Reservoirs The challenges, uncertainties and solutions in the evaluation and drilling of carbonate reservoirs were the focus of the first workshop on on this highly topical industry issue.

Co-chairs Maria Mutti and Anne Bartetzko report.

The workshop was hosted and co-organized with the University of Potsdam. More than 30 participants from academia, research institutions, operators, consultants, and service companies discussed the various aspects and properties of carbonate systems. The workshop was chaired by Anne Bartetzko (Baker Hughes) and Maria Mutti (University of Potsdam).

During the two-day workshop, two keynote speeches, 16 talks and three posters were presented. The first day covered various aspects of different scales of heterogeneity of carbonates systems, their evolution through time, diagenetic processes and also the roles of fractures. These topics were introduced by the keynote presentations given by Maria Mutti (University of Potsdam) and Stephen Ehrenberg (The Petroleum Institute). The talk by Mutti addressed the importance of recognizing the different scales of heterogeneities superimposed in carbonate systems and the need to recognize the processes responsible for generating heterogeneity at each particular scale. The talk also highlighted the need to integrate sequence stratigraphic and facies analysis when modelling subsurface data, as a tool to tailor the modelling algorithms to the scale properties of the data.

Additional topics in the session included assessing subsurface reservoir potential of Devonian and Carboniferous reservoirs in the Dutch subsurface (B. Jaarsma), modelling Triassic shoals in outcrop (A. Petrovic), assessing a Jurassic carbonate aquifer for geothermal exploration (K. Beichel) and the use of forward modelling for process-oriented carbonate reservoir characterization (G. Winterleitner).

The talk by Steve Ehrenberg presented a case study highlighting the combined effects of stratigraphic and diagenetic properties on heterogeneity and on the origin of secondary porosity in subsurface setting.

Additional presentations on this theme included organic-inorganic interactions

during reactive fluid flow in carbonates (H.M. Schulz) and the characterization of open fractures using X-ray computed tomography (O.P. Wennberg).

The second day of the workshop focused on topics such as geomechanics and rock properties, petrophysics of carbonates, fluid flow, and also drilling and completion in carbonates. Studies on fractures in carbonates with various aspects were the subject of several presentations during the day. This included studies applying different fracture identification methods in outcrops and wells (I. Becker), modelling the net stress effect on reservoir properties (A. Rozkho), modelling based on petrophysical rock types (B. Koehrer), and also mico-scale models to study matrix – fracture interaction (S. Jonoud). The importance of using multi-disciplinary approaches was pointed out in a presentation on Paleozoic carbonates of the Nordland Ridge (J. Garland and P. Farzadi).

The session on drilling and completion in carbonates was about technical solutions for drilling the overburden salt intervals to successfully enter the underlying carbonate reservoirs in Brazil (R. Cremonini) and new tool developments for hydraulic fracturing (P. Wang). Looking a little bit beyond carbonates, for the last presentation of the workshop, Ulrich Harms (GFZ Potsdam) was invited to give an overview of drilling activities in the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP).

Both days closed with discussion sessions picking up the outcome of the presentations and adding new perspectives.

Important discussion points were the different scales of heterogeneities and the associated uncertainties and challenges for modelling and upscaling, comparability of carbonates systems of different age, mechanisms for generation of porosity at burial depths and the interaction between strata, pores, and fractures. Furthermore,

University of Potsdam hosted the workshop on carbonate reservoirs.

How the heterogeneity of carbonates challenges the selection of appropriate analogue rock samples for testing was addressed in a presentation on chemical extended oil recovery in carbonates (F. Schulze). The application of digital image analysis to carbonate reservoirs was addressed by two presentations. The method was utilized to integrate different rock properties relevant for carbonate rock classification in a semi-automated manner (E. Kiefer) and for analyzing pore systems with respect to their genetic properties in space and time (S. Maerz).

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discussion brought the use of dynamic data into focus, i.e., using production data for reservoir characterization and to assess how much detail is needed in static and dynamic models. The role of digitalization in outcrop data, fractures and pore systems is certainly increasing and is helping to close the gap between qualitative outcrop studies and subsurface reservoir characterization.

One of the wishes emerging from informal talks at the end of the workshop was to organize a second workshop on this topic in the coming years.

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EAGE NEWS

Geophysical monitoring of CO2 injection back on the agenda and more relevant than ever

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M. Verliac and the organizing committee: T. Daley (chair), P. Ringrose (co-chair), M. Dean, O. Eiken, E. Gasperikova, W. Harbert, M. Landro, D. Lawton, R. Pevsner, and D. White provide this report on the ‘Geophysical Monitoring of CO2 Injection (CCS and CO2 EOR) workshop held in Trondheim, Norway.

Poster session in full swing.

Eight years after the first SEG Summer Research Workshop on ‘CO2 Sequestration Geophysics’ held in Banff (Canada) in August 2009, EAGE and SEG jointly organized a follow up this year on August 28-31. About 60 people attended the threeday event.

Half day sessions were organized around topics including: ‘Case Studies (CCS and CO2 EOR, Passive and Active Seismic)’, ‘Pre-Injection Baseline Monitoring and Characterization’, ‘Differentiation of Saturation, Pressure and Rock Strain’, ‘Overburden Monitoring and Leakage Detection’, and ‘Non Seismic Methods (Gravity Field, InSAR and electromagnetics (EM))’. The poster session covered all the topics. More than 30 contributors presented their work, either through technical talks or posters.

The audience enjoyed four keynote talks. The first one was given by Grant Bromhal on ‘Overview of US DOE Fossil Energy Subsurface Research’. Bromhal, a senior scientist at the United States Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory, insisted on the need for long-term research but also mentioned that contributing causes for some earlier project failures were related either to surface

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conditions, public acceptance issues, or to poor reservoir properties (petrophysics, injectivity or capacity). He emphasized the need to progress in a step-by-step fashion.

The second keynote delivered by Sally Benson from Stanford University on the ‘Objectives and Metrics for Monitoring CO2 Storage’ covered four objectives of a good monitoring programme: safety, performance, local environmental impact and greenhouse gas accounting. Among the interesting points made was the question of ‘What is a leak and how to control it?’. The discussion with the audience focused on the question: if industry is relatively confident in monitoring injection and detecting a serious leak, it is maybe time to consider working on how to control or stop a leakage event?

The third keynote talk by Andrew Chadwick from the British Geological Survey provided an introduction to the Passive and Active Seismic session. He shared his outstanding experience of the seismic challenges of the Sleipner project and the measurement of small changes. The final keyote by Mike Carpenter, senior advisor at Gassnova, Norway offered the audience an overview of the new full-scale CCS projects being launched in Norway near to the Troll

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field where up to 1.5 million tonnes per year of CO2 is planned to be injected over 25 years starting in 2022.

After an opening ice breaker, the technical workshop started with a morning session on Case Studies/CCS & CO2 EOR and an afternoon session on Pre-Injection Baseline Monitoring and Characterization. The first three talks (V. Oropeza Bacci, M. Urosevic, D. White) reviewed three major projects (Quest, Otway and Aquistore) and presented the results of monitoring strategies using surface and borehole seismic (conventional or distributed acoustic sensing (DAS)) at different stages of injection. Repeatability is key for maximizing sensitivity and utilization of permanent buried sensors is a good option in this regard. Further advancement may be attained by deployment of (buried) permanent sources.

A point discussed with the audience was related to the DAS sensitivity with offset. A new test site in UK was presented later in the morning by C.J. Vincent (BGS).

Although it is not operational so far, this site will focus in the near future on leakage detection near the surface. The two last talks of the morning focused more on technologies for monitoring rather than project updates. H. Ruiz presented the advantages of 4D gravity monitoring and P. Eliasson talked about full waveform inversion (FWI) and controlled source EM inversion for saturation estimation.

The afternoon talks mainly concerned the characterization of two sites; the Containment and Monitoring Institute (CaMI) Field Research Station (FRS) in Alberta (A. Gordon, M. Macquet) and the Otway site in Australia (M. Urosevic). The FRS project will provide a very interesting test site with multiple technologies being com-

EAGE NEWS

pared (surface versus downhole, optical versus electric, ground deformation, etc).

The Otway papers reinforced the need for high definition imaging solutions in order to detect small leakage paths. The last paper of the day by D. Grana showed the results of a rock physics study based on logs and cores.

The following day, participamts enjoyed eight technical talks followed by the afternoon poster session with nine presentations on different topics. Several presentations covered the use of vertical seismic profiling (VSP) - DAS or conventional - or innovative technologies such as permanent and buried arrays (R. Smith, S. Bussat), P-Cable (M.W. Waage) or FWI applied to VSPs (T. Tsuchiya, Ch. Barnes). Again, the necessity of recording data with high repeatability (permanent systems) was highlighted by all, and R. Smith went further to explain how buried arrays were mandatory to achieve the objectives in desert conditions.

A.K. Furre presented the monitoring challenges for the future Norway CCS project, where CO2 will be collected at three points of emission near Oslo, shipped to the west coast of Norway before being injected

through a pipeline into a saline aquifer.

On the poster side, B.P. Goertz-Allman (Norsar) won the ‘Best Poster Prize’ for the poster ‘Integrating Active with Passive Seismic Data to best constrain CO2 Injection Monitoring’ based on the ADM-Decatur CCS project in Illinois.

The next day morning session had presentations on different innovative technologies to detect leakage (Z. Xue demonstrating that deep ground deformation can be detected using optical fibre, M. Dean presenting an experiment to detect sea floor bubbles with interferometry, M. Landro comparing real 4D data and laboratory experiment to track gas migration in sediments).

On the field test sites, D. Lawton gave an extended overview of the FRS surface seismic with geophones but also DAS sensors, VSPs, crosswell experiments and EM technologies. C. Nussbaum closed the session with a small-scale experiment talk.

The last few workshop talks were delivered

by T. Daley on a combination of crosswell EM and seismic datasets at FRS, while A. Bouchedda gave us a comparison between magnetometric resistivity (MMR) and elec-

tric resistance tomography (ERT). A. Rucci closed the meeting by presenting the recent advances in InSAR monitoring for ground deformation.

As a conclusion, the workshop had a general discussion of status and R&D topics for geophysical monitoring of CO2. Examples include: ‘Are we ready for gigatonne scale up?’, ‘How do we bring monitoring costs down?’, ‘Can we use shallow leakage experiments to test mitigation?’ and a discussion of induced seismicity issues.

The general feeling is that current technologies exist for CO2 injection characterization and monitoring, although technical and economic challenges remain. Permanent buried seismic arrays should help the industry to reach the required levels of accuracy. After some low activity in the past years, new projects are being initiated (e.g., FRS and Gassnova). The next mid-term objective for the industry could be more focus on leakage control. Furthermore the synergies between CCS and CO2 EOR have not reached their full potential.

It was decided to propose the next workshop in North America in 2020 and not to wait for nine more years!

Time to nominate EAGE’s Board members for 2018 EAGE needs a skillful and diverse Board to steer its important work for the good of its members and the professions they represent. As an EAGE member, you have the right to participate in the organization’s governance. We need you to help bring the best people from our professional community to fill the positions of Vice-President-Elect, Education Officer, Technical Programme Officer, Membership and Cooperation Officer and Vice-Chair NSGD, with service beginning in June 2018.

The primary goal of the EAGE Board is to act in the best interests of its members and support initiatives that aim to achieve the multi-disciplinary objectives of the Association. Diversity is key and the Board membership intends to become

more versatile in terms of discipline, sector, division, geographical location, nationality and gender.

Please do not hesitate to nominate an exceptional professional in your network.

Please refer to the EAGE website > About

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EAGE > Ballot, for all the Board Election details. As per the constitution, the current Board will nominate one or more candidates for each of the available positions.

Please keep in mind that the deadline for nomination by petition is 1 February 2018.

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EAGE NEWS

High-performance computing developments take the stage at Athens workshop

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Workshop group outside Athens’ Acropolis.

In its third installment, the High-Performance Computing for Upstream workshop was taken back to its birthplace of Greece, and, more precisely, in viewing distance of the Acropolis in Athens.

The workshop brings together experts in order to understand state-of-the-art key applications employed in the upstream industry and anticipate what ambitions are enabled by increased computational power. Close to 60 registered participants from all around our industry, academia and HPC vendors demonstrated the resiliency of this workshop. High-performance-computing and high-performance analytics are major contributors to making exploration and exploitation in our industry ‘faster, cheaper and better’, the underlying theme of the conference, especially in the context of the massive digitalization efforts happening across the oil and gas industry.

The workshop follows a one-track format favoured by its participants devoting their full attention to each topic at hand. Sessions covered subjects normally found in a typical HPC event, such as ISC or supercomputing, but also featured topics and discussions at the

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crossroads of our industry and HPC. It was also the first time that topics in data analytics, cloud technologies, and big data were included. The meeting started with an icebreaker reception where participants had the opportunity to meet and greet their colleagues while overlooking the beautifully lit Acropolis.

The technical presentations opened with a keynote from a two-time Gordon Bell Prize recipient, Omar Ghattas from UT Austin. He presented his latest advances in Bayesian inversion for seismic problems, a feat feasible at high resolution only through the efficient marshalling of HPC resources. This was followed by the first session of the workshop on scaling. Billion-cell reservoir simulations are now possible using a fraction of the computing resources needed in the past. Scaling the throughput of simulations versus investment cost is also critical and a glimpse into how this is done in our industry was shown by Saudi Aramco.

The computing hardware in HPC follows an exponential growth, hence, it can be very difficult to adapt simulation codes to leverage the latest and

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greatest hardware. A way to help can be found in symbolic computation, the topic of the second session. A team from Imperial College London showed how to develop seismic applications rapidly while running them efficiently through use of domain specific languages. This was followed by advances made by CGG in creating an algorithmic framework (in Python and C++) that enables efficient parallelism from multi-node to multi-threads through task-trees and constrained execution order. Although a general approach, this was applied in the context of geostatistical inversion. Finally, Total demonstrated how to simplify the coding for so-called joint inversion for FWI by using a symbolic expression parser for automatically generating the correct chain rules based on which parameters (and propagators) are selected for the inversion: avoiding costly mistakes and saving developer time.

The container and cloud third session of the day focused on the achieving of top performance while on cloud resources while containerizing HPCenabledapplications. RStor described its (successful) efforts through the use

EAGE NEWS

of singularity and Saudi Aramco talked about containerizing their reservoir simulator through dockers, where performance penalty was shown to be small.

Total discussed its experience with various proof-of-concept experiments related to moving seismic imaging and reservoir simulation workflows to the cloud.

On the second day of the workshop, the keynote was delivered by Andrew Jones from NAG. He provided a compelling talk about HPC and at the same time challenged the claims of six ‘magic wands’ (GPUs → solves all your performance problems, Cloud → solves all of your cost and flexibility problems, Languages/DSLs → solves all of your programming problems, everything ‘Open’ → solves adoption problems, AI /ML/ Cognitive → solves all your <anything> problems and, finally, Quantum computing → solves all your problems at the same time!).

The focus for the day was fast wave propagation on various types of hardware through two sessions: wave models and performance. A presentation from INRIA explained how to save on memory for 3D Helmholtz problems by hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin methods: savings were achieved by a smaller sparsity pattern leading to less usage in the parallel direct solver. Total discussed its experience in harnessing performance through OpenACC for finite-difference stencil calculations on GPUs. OpenACC also enabled a team of self-avowed non-experts in HPC at KAUST to transform its CPU code into an efficient GPU-based application.

Saudi Aramco, Intel, and KAUST presented joint work in joining spatial and temporal blocking through use of the wavefront diamond titling. The latter is combined to a runtime system threading the work to a multi-core architecture.

Intel/Shell/Vortech presented work in optimizing a complex wave propagator (TTI) to various x86 architectures including KNL. Finally, Saudi Aramco described the various complications with overlapping computation with message-passing communications.

These two sessions were separated by a very lively panel discussion from

leaders in our industry (IBM, HPE, NAG, and Curtin University) on the topics of big data, high-performance data analytics, and machine and deep learning (ML/DL).

On the last day of the workshop, David Lecomber from ARM delivered a keynote on the need for a parallel debugging tool-chain that meets the needs of HPC users with the ever-evolving hardware landscape. Two sessions followed.

The first was concerned with algorithms while the second one was dedicated to I/O. The Barcelona Supercomputing Centre presented the SPIKE algorithm for solving large banded/sparse matrices arising in time-harmonic (wave) equations. Although considered a direct solver, the latter uses a truncated Neumann series to compute selected inverses during the factorization process (lowering memory requirements and improving scalability). Next, Skoltech discussed how the multigrid algorithm enabled the solution of on-the-field, small compute resources, systems of linear equations arising from elliptic problems at the crux of fracturing design tools/software.

Baker Hughes presented the acceleration/parallelization in the forward modelling of the quasi stationary Maxwell equations employed in electromagnetic logging. Its approach used a nested threading strategy with task oversubscribing the compute resource. The final keynote was delivered by Franz-Josef Pfreundt who talked about the work happening in HPC at the Fraunhofer ITWM. He showed the ITWM expertise through various key algorithms (Kirchhoff, FD-RTM, iterative solvers, machine learning) and their application to problems in the O&G industry. In the I/O session, Saudi Aramco discussed host-aware I/O writer’s assignment in MPI massively parallel reservoir simulator. The method determines and recommends better mapping of writers that enhances the balance of I/O workload across hosts and maximizes overall I/O performance during the lifespan of the simulation. Tullow Oil has developed a parallel I/O library (ExSeisPIOL) to address heavy data loads for seismic

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applications with a particular focus on seismic imaging. Main goals of the library were to increase productivity of development and increase performance (it is open source software!). Finally, Total showed the results of a performance study on proxy application and on RTM for different HPC systems in the context of checkpointing. It was shown that usage of the ADIOS library provides decent performance, manages more efficient I/O and reduces meta-data contention.

The last discussion session of the workshop was concerned with I/O. Several points were discussed and raised by the audience on this topic, such as: i) the variety of available storage I/O solutions in the HPC domain (examples: DDN, GPFS, Lustre), ii) Intel’s position on the Lustre file system since dropping support. Intel’s goal is to bring it back to the open source community to further contribute to its development.

Other attendees shared their experiences, opportunities and challenges of I/O in the HPC /O&G domain.

The opportunity to ride the waves of capability in the hardware-software-algorithm ecosystem and the expanding needs of the industry in locating and exploiting more difficult hydrocarbon resources together point to the importance of a reconvening of HPC in Upstream in the autumn of 2019.

Chairman David Keyes (KAUST) thanking Omar Ghattas (University of Texas) for his presentation.

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EAGE NEWS

Field trip to launch Muscat workshop on fractured reservoirs

There is going to be a special preliminary to the Third EAGE Workshop on Naturally Fractured Reservoirs (NFR) to be held in Muscat, Oman on 5-7 February, 2018.

The theme of the workshop is ‘Calibration Challenges in NFR’ and builds on the two successful meetings held previously in 2011 and 2013.

The difference this time is the workshop will open with a field trip to a worldclass, real-life, analogue of an NFR. The aim of the trip is to discuss the spatial organization, mode of formation and impact of natural fractures in a carbonate reservoir. The field observations also have

wide-ranging implications for many fractured reservoirs in different geological contexts. The trip will therefore offer the perfect backdrop to introduce the many issues to be discussed at the workshop.

Due to their complex heterogeneities, NFR are notoriously difficult to characterize and pose significant challenges when modelling fluid flow and making reliable forecasts about future reservoir performance. The workshop technical sessions will focus on three main questions: (1) What makes a good analogue for calibration? (2) At what scale do we need to build a model that we can calibrate?

And (3) How do we use dynamic data to calibrate? The papers selected for the workshop are designed to represent a good balance between contributions from academic and industry authors, whilst a series of keynote presentations will set the scene and present the latest technologies and state-of-the-art practices. There will be an opportunity to collate these papers into a special issue for Petroleum Geoscience.

Details of the workshop, including online registration can be found on the EAGE website (https://events.eage.org/ en/2018/third-eage-workshop-on-naturally-fractured-reservoirs).

Geophysical Prospecting special issue to feature instrumentation and acquisition A paper on instrumentation and acquisition appearing in the geophysical literature is a comparative rarity, and even then it usually focuses on analysis of the data not the collection. That’s the view of Peter Hanssen (Statoil), Robert Stuart (University of Houston), and Susanne Witte (Shell). They are editing a special issue of Geophysical Prospecting for which they are inviting contributions on ‘all geophysical methods onshore, offshore, airborne or in space, which describe the instrumentation and acquisition in detail, and possible special processing if necessary’.

Their rationale is that the current period of financial restraints is a good time to talk about more efficient methods to collect data, cheaper and better instrumentation, and also about collaboration to save development costs.

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The editors are aware that a lot of projects are secret, have publication restrictions or have not gathered enough data for a full-blown paper. They say ‘Even if it is just a brilliant idea you would like to bring down to paper, then we are open to publish your idea in the form of a smaller letter/paper’. However, they caution that pure advertisement, the excessive use of company names or any other publication for commercial benefits only will not be acceptable.

The idea is to encourage the geoscience community to be open for collaboration, so everyone can benefit from less-noisy MEMS, environmentally friendlier sources, lower seismic frequencies, autonomous receivers, and any other new idea/concept/ system which can bring forward more cost-efficient acquisition, less environmental impact and, last but not least, better data.

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Authors are invited to prepare their manuscripts according to the ‘Guidance for Authors’ published on the website gp.eage.org.

Submissions should be addressed to Geophysical Prospecting by the deadline of 1 March 2018 using the normal procedure via the Scholar One system (https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/gp).

Please mention the ‘Special Issue on Instrumentation & Acquisition’ in your accompanying letter.

For those planning on submitting a paper proposal, you are asked to send an email to either Peter Hanssen (PetHan@Statoil.com), Rob Stewart (rrstewart@uh.edu), or Susanne Witte (susanne.witte@shell.com) in advance with your suggested title and co-authors.

This will greatly assist the planning of the issue.

EAGE NEWS

Fourth success for Egyptian student international conference

Dr Hesham El Kaliouby with the participants attending his Student Lecture Tour (SLT) at the Amarante Pyramids Resort in Cairo, Egypt.

The Suez University Student Chapter has chalked up another successful organization of the annual International Petroleum & Geo- Science Conference (IPGC) held at the Amarante Pyramids Resort in Cairo on 18-20 September, 2017.

The conference now in its fourth year, was opened by Mahmoud Shalaby, secretary of the student chapter, and followed by a brief presentation by a sponsor Brightness Company. A lengthy session on the Egyptian Mediterranean Sea and the history and future hydrocarbon potentially was then offered by Dr Ali Bakr, CEO of Rockserv Reservoir Modeling Company, followed by a presentation from Dr Hesham El Kaliouby, founder of the

EAGE Student Chapter at Sultan Qaboos University.

Most intriguing on day one was the talk by EL Sevier Company, one of the important partners in the Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB). The session was mainly about Geofacets, one of the solutions presented by the EKB to help geoscientists accelerate exploration and research activities in regards to stratigraphic data, well logging and hydrology.

Unlocking hydrocarbon resources using geophysics was the first topic of day two. Dr Hatem Farouk Ewida, the triocean energy exploration general manager at NOSPCO JV, opened, followed by an evaluation of bid round blocks by Bahaa

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Eldin Hamdy, an exploration geoscientist at Shell, Egypt. After an animated workshop, Mohamed Sami from APEX Dubai, a training and event consultancy spoke about the Dubai Knowledge Park. Following the speech, a small competition was held and its two winners were given free certified courses of their choice, related to the oil and gas industry and offered

by APEX Dubai. Further technical presentations were given Dr Ibrahim Tantawy and Amir Shokry, (Middle East Training Centre) on well stability and by Ahmed Abo El Kheir (Petrobel) on well control.

Dr Hesham El Kaliouby, professor of geophysics at the National Research Centre of Egypt, started the third day with his Student Lecture Tour (SLT) on near surface electromagnetics in the Middle East and Africa. A student competition then followed with courses awarded to the three winners at Halliburton Egypt and the METC Middle East Training Center. The exhibition was held all three days of the conference and it included the EAGE Bookshop. The fifth IPGC is due to be held in August next year.

EAGE Student Calendar 24 DEC

LAURIE DAKE CHALLENGE FIRST ROUND SUBMITION

ONLINE

STUDENT LECTURE TOUR MIDDLE EAST

ABU DHABI, UAE

13TH MIDDLE EAST GEOSCIENCES CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION/GEOQUIZ

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN

EAGE ONLINE GEO-QUIZ (STUDENT CHAPTER ONLY)

ONLINE

STUDENT LECTURE TOUR ASIA PACIFIC

MUMBAI, INDIA

SAINT PETERSBURG 2018/ GEOQUIZ/ STUDENT PROGRAM

SAINT PETERBURG, RUSSIAN

11-12 APR

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

YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA

16-26 APR

STUDENT LECTURE TOUR AFRICA

AFRICAN CITIES

10 JUN

LAURIE DAKE CHALLENGE FINAL

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

11 JUN

LAURIE DAKE ANNOUNCEMENT

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

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

STUDENT PORGRAM IN THE 80 ANNUAL & CONFERENCE EAGE

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

13 JUN

GEO-QUIZ

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

3-8 JUL

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

MANIZALES, COLOMBIA

11-14 JUN

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

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Ears Are More Reliable Than Feet In some cultures the rabbitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s foot is believed to bring good fortune. However, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the ears that increase discovery success. PGS FWI (Full Waveform Inversion) uses rabbit ears i.e. back scattered seismic energy, to build high-resolution velocity models at greater depths. This enables better inversions for robust ranking and more reliable derisking of prospects.

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EAGE NEWS

France hosts geoscience Olympiad for students Top high school students from around the world met in August on the French Riviera to compete in the International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO). The event in France for the first time, under the ægis of the University of the Côte d’Azur and the rector of the Academy of Nice, was being held for the eleventh time.

The IESO is an annual international competition with each country selecting a team of four candidates and two adult chaperones (mentors). The students are faced with written and practical tests on topics related to geology, meteorology, hydrology, astronomy, and the environment. On this occasion a record 117 ‘Olympians’ from 29 national teams took part with a total of 35 countries represented including mentors and spectators.

IESO 2017 was held under the umbrella of the University of the Côte d’Azur and the French Ministry of Education, and hosted bh International Centre of Valbonne.

The heart of the Olympiad consists of individual written and practical examinations. Historically, this young Olympiad has focused on subjects traditionally based on pure knowledge in the different areas of geoscience. This time the French organizing committee to asked to work on tests stressing the scientific method by better linking geoscience to societal problems and by offering more field investigations.

Besides individual exams, IESO has original tests by team. As part of the International Team Field Investigation (ITFI), each team of seven or eight students from different countries, is placed in an environ-

Student competitors ready for the tests.

ment where the geology has to be analyzed.

IESO thus offers students the opportunity for innovative teamwork. There was also a team poster competition on ‘How does our knowledge of the Earth allow us to envisage life on other planets?’.

The opening ceremony for the event was at Polytech Sophia with a parade of delegations, each with its own flag.

The closing ceremony in the UCA’s main auditorium on the Valrose campus in Nice, involved students in an agonizing wait for the announcement of results.

GEO 2018 aims to shape energy landscape The Middle East’s leading geoscience event is just a few months away from its next instalment. On 5-8 March 2018, the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre is set to play host to the 13th Middle East Geosciences Conference and Exhibition (GEO 2018).

Held under the patronage of the Prime Minister of Bahrain HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, over 3500 geoscientists and petroleum industry professionals from over 50 countries are expected to attend the biannual event established 24 years ago. It incorpo-

rates a four-day high-level conference under the theme ‘Pushing the Technical Limits: Shaping the Energy Landscape’ organized by the world’s three largest professional geoscience associations (AAPG, EAGE and SEG). There is an accompanying three-day exhibition organized by UBM AEM featuring over 100 exhibitors from 20 countries.

GEO 2018 is supported by an organizing committee of NOCs, IOCs and major service providers. Ahmad Al Eidan, GEO 2018 general chair and deputy CEO - drilling & technology

directorate, Kuwait Oil Company, said: ‘The conference will host a number of executive sessions led by technical influencers and we encourage professionals to take this opportunity to participate and share valuable ideas and knowledge.

The conference will focus on geological studies, reservoir challenges and the role of geoscience in the environment, safety, risk management and innovation.’

Pre-registration for GEO 2018 is open at www.geo2018.com. An early bird discount is offered on conference fees up until 5 February 2018.

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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In the bleak midwinter Over the last four years since the price of oil collapsed, the Arabia and Iran or some Trump-inspired US overseas intervention, seismic business sector has experienced an unprecedented decline would there be an immediate drive to explore for new oil reserves. in demand for its services from oil and gas E&P companies.

As it is, oil companies are showing no inclination to increase Optimistically, geophysical contractors and suppliers of equiptheir exploration budgets. They have spent the last years getting ment and services have held to the belief that recovery was just their costs under control and delivering shareholder value, and around the corner and that normal service could be resumed. This so far see no need to change track. There has been relatively assumption has been based largely on the need for oil companies little predatory behaviour with Total’s $7.5 billion takeover of to replenish their depleting reserves and/or the price of oil rising Maersk Oil the only notable recent big asset acquisition. Global sufficiently to stimulate exploration spending. capital spending in 2018 will increase by As we look ahead (if not forward) to 2018, ‘A return to business as a modest 4%, down from 2017 growth of the truth is dawning that these scenarios are 8%, according to the reported preliminary usual … is now most results of Barclays’ midyear global spending wishful thinking. A return to business as usual, particularly for the marine seismic sector, is survey of more than 200 companies. If 2019 probably a mirage’ now most probably a mirage. There is a limit to is to herald the first increase in year-on-year how long contractors and many suppliers of equipment and services offshore spending since 2014, Barclays argues this would can continue to run up year-on-year deficits. A likely consequence is require oil prices of more than $60; accelerating decline rates that the latest restructuring announced last month this time by Petrofor IOCs’ existing portfolios; and, accelerating oil field service leum Geo-Services (PGS) will be the harbinger of an inescapable cost inflation in US land operations that makes the return profile transformation in how seismic services are provided. of deep water projects preferable to shorter-cycle opportunities.

Those hoping for a rise in oil price to stimulate new E&P That seems a tall order. spending have been encouraged by the recent rise of Brent crude It is also worth asking what the outcome of increased oil to more than $60 per barrel. Most analysts regard this as a blip company E&P budgets would actually look like. In the current in a generally flat trend. This will see oil prices hover around potentially unstable economic and political environment, heavy the $50-60 mark for the foreseeable future. The uptick was put spending on high risk deep water exploration targets that can take down to political uncertainty in the Middle East, some supply up to a decade to develop are unlikely to be high on the agenda. interruptions, a draw down of US oil inventories plus a momenOptimization of existing reserves and incremental developtary slowdown in shale output. One dissenting voice, the bank ment of new accumulations are more likely to be the projects Morgan Stanley, says by the second quarter of 2018 Brent crude under review. In addition, those companies with holdings in will average $63, based on a surprisingly high rate of growth in US shale will wonder why they should look any further than demand, a rapid drop in US crude inventories, and OPEC and expansion of their unconventional reserves when compared with other oil exporters including Russia agreeing to keep 1.8 million the higher finding costs per barrel anywhere else. There is also the barrels off the market through next year. discomforting view that shooting new seismic data is no longer In the more generally agreed interpretation, only in the event regarded as a priority. Oil companies have masses of data covof a major upheaval, such as the unravelling of Saudi Arabia in ering the world already at their disposal and may elect to deploy the wake of modernization moves orchestrated by Crown Prince latest digital technology to mine that data for better understanding Mohammed bin Salman, escalation of hostilities between Saudi of a structure at a fraction of the cost of a new survey.

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revenue from the right-sized operation can, without refinancing, At the Annual SEG Meeting in Houston in October, Stephen operate profitably and service its current debt of over $1 billion.

Greenlee, president of ExxonMobil Exploration, talked about the The competitors have all experienced the same issue. CGG value of geophysical data and the importance of a healthy and is now working its way through bankruptcy and Polarcus is competitive geophysical industry. He was quoted as saying: ‘This narrowly keeping its head above water post refinancing measures. is not about inexpensive seismic. This is not about cheap seismic.

Schlumberger’s intentions for WesternGeco are less clear, but This is all about quality of seismic. When we look at these big its operations remain marginal to the business as a whole. In a multi-client surveys, when we look at proprietary surveys, it’s all sense Shearwater is best positioned with no about supporting those decisions which lead to a low cost of supply portfolio.’

‘A big adjustment or debt, having risen from the ashes of Dolphin Geophysical. But at time of writing, its low Greenlee could not have expressed better transformation lies cost advantage has not translated into work; how oil companies have for decades conducted their business with the seismic services ahead for the seismic all four of its vessels were idle last month.

Even if there is a little more towed streamer sector, essentially insisting on top quality data community’ work forthcoming in 2018, financial stresses at the cheapest price possible. For their part, will begin to build up again unless operations are profitable. This contractors and suppliers have met their customers’ stipulations. will certainly be challenging if pricing continues to be problematic.

Now the adverse consequences are finally coming to roost.

One area of marine seismic acquisition projected to expand Exploration booms between the regular downturns in 1986, 1999, is ocean bottom seismic (OBS). Manufacturers and operators of 2008 and 2013 somehow blinded investors to the unsustainable the latest ocean bottom node solutions maintain that the cost of marine seismic business model. Essentially it is too capital operations is becoming competitive with towed streamers when intensive. it comes to the complex wide-azimuth and full offset surveys Marine contractors have consistently incurred highly levin subsalt locations such as the Gulf of Mexico. Furthermore eraged or unsupportable debt on behalf of their oil company the data is indisputably superior. It also suggested that targeted customers in order to make available ever more sophisticated exploration surveys to identify outlying reserve pockets outside acquisition equipment. The cost of developing cheaper, very a principal reservoir can be best served with some form of ocean impressive, acquisition and processing solutions has come out bottom node (OBN) survey. of the suppliers’ pockets ever since oil companies effectively The hope must be that this promising technology does not go outsourced seismic R&D nearly 20 years ago. the way of the towed streamer market. It is already under threat In all this time service providers have never been able of being swamped by too many competitors, even before the to reap the true rewards of their investments in improved participation of some of the main contractors who could decide technology because of intense competition and persistent and to enter the field. uncontrollable vessel over-capacity. So-called price discipline OBS services for the time being must be considered a has never applied in this business. In addition, the evolution of promising niche market but not one that will change the economic an attractive multi-client survey option for oil companies to save outlook for marine seismic acquisition. Assuming market condimoney has further weakened the hand of contractors. Their main tions remain more or less unchanged, business logic dictates concustomer/competitor operates very profitably with no vessels of solidation as the way ahead to allow marine seismic acquisition to its own and none of the attendant risk and overhead. It simply thrive. This may well be at the expense of surveys being formally markets seismic survey data (acquired by the contractors) to oil relegated to a commodity in the eyes of oil company customers. companies.

Any such development will have significant business impliThe prolonged downturn in E&P spending has now exposed cations because we are accustomed to the equipment and services like never before the fragility of this marine seismic business used to carry out marine seismic surveys and the data produced model. In November no more than a dozen 3D vessels with being the provider of most geoscience-related revenue and more than six towed streamers were working worldwide. That employment in the oil patch. A big adjustment or transformation means a very substantial fleet of modern vessels was lying idle. lies ahead for the seismic community, the shape of which is still It will take more than a flicker of recovery in survey demand, the to be determined. seemingly best scenario for 2018, to bring back many of these There are those that say it is only a matter of time before the boats currently stacked at a significant cost to operators. digital operational model, which has impacted other sectors via PGS has been the last of the major players to conclude that the likes of Google, Amazon, Uber, Airbnb, etc., will be applied drastic measures are required to address the new market reality. It to oil industry operations. It remains to be seen whether or not announced further reductions in its fleet size as part of $100 milthat popular prediction, to quote Charles Dickens’ A Christmas lion in savings through reorganization, cost cutting and reduced Carol, is ‘bah-humbug’. headcount. The question posed by the analysts is whether the

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

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Shearwater Reveal

Marine Acquisition

Processing & Imaging

Multi-Client

A fully interactive processing Software suite that couples a modern graphical user interface with advanced processing and imaging algorithms.

Operating a powerful fleet of modern seismic vessels that provide clients with the highest quality seismic data and fast track results.

Processing & re-processing land and marine seismic data by combining modern processing software, experienced geophysicists and efficient hardware.

Experience in building world class data libraries to help clients evaluate new plays in established hydrocarbon exploration and production areas.

Fully Integrated Geophysical Service Revealing possibilities www.shearwatergeo.com

HIGHLIGHTS

INDUSTRY NEWS

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Emerson buys Paradigm for $510 million.

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CGG wins airborne contract over Ivory Coast

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US proposes biggest ever oil and gas lease sale

PGS will restructure to cut costs by $100 million

PGS will now operate six core vessels.

PGS has unveiled plans for an immediate restructuring of the company that will reduce its overall gross cash cost by at least $100 million in 2018 and will lead to job losses at senior management level.

The company made the announcement as it reported a third quarter net loss of $190 million and warned that the market for seismic contractors in the short term would continue to be very difficult.

By the end of 2017 the Norwegian company will be streamlined into a centralized organization, based on two business areas: Sales & Services and Operations & Technology. In total there are expected to be 500 job losses, which include both onshore and offshore staff.

The vessel Ramform Vanguard will be cold-stacked.

The plans, which will cost $40-50 million to implement, are expected to deliver positive cash flow after debt servicing next year, assuming a similar market in 2018 as in 2017.

‘The seismic market is smaller, weaker and more uncertain than before, and

the multi-client share of acquisition has increased considerably. At the same time the world has become more digital and clients have centralized their decision-making process. The new PGS organization addresses these changes,’ said a company statement.

PGS intends to operate a fleet of eight vessels, of which PGS Apollo and Sanco Swift will be used selectively over the summer months ‘to address demand swings and market seasonality’. This will leave six core vessels comprising Ramform Titan, Ramform Hyperion, Ramform Atlas, Ramform Tethys, Ramform Sovereign and Ramform Sterling. The flexible capacity will be managed and crewed by a combination of regular and temporary employees.

‘This downturn has been longer and lower than anyone anticipated. We think the worst is behind us, but I cannot bet the company on a market recovery,’ said Rune Olav Pedersen, president and CEO of PGS. ‘We need to change what we can control ourselves. The reorganization, combined with more flexible vessel capacity makes us better positioned to address the current market environment and improve cash flow and profitability.’

Fewer business areas will result in a reduction of the executive management team, from six to four. Sverre Strandenes, currently EVP MultiClient, will be EVP and responsible for Sales & Services, while Per Arild Reksnes, currently EVP Operations, will be EVP and lead Operations & TechFIRST

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nology. Gottfred Langseth will continue as EVP & CFO. Guillaume Cambois, EVP of the now defunct Imaging and Engineering business area, will be leaving the company.

Sales & Services will contain three departments: Sales, New Ventures and Imaging. Sales will promote and sell all products and services through a co-ordinated customer and marketing approach.

New Ventures will be responsible for building new multi-client programmes worldwide and evaluate other cash-generating opportunities across the PGS product lines, including strategic positioning in new basins. Imaging will become more closely integrated with all PGS business activities. ‘The external focus will be on the high-end markets,’ said PGS. Operations & Technology will include six departments: Project Planning & Bidding, Project Delivery, Maritime, Technical, Operations Geophysics and Geoscience & Engineering. Project Planning & Bidding will plan and calculate all acquisition surveys and prepare bids for proprietary work. Project Delivery will execute all seismic acquisition projects. Maritime, Technical, and Operations Geophysics will jointly manage and operate vessels, seismic equipment and technology. Geoscience and Engineering will develop new technologies.

The restructuring cost is expected to be recorded mainly in Q4 2017. PGS has already reduced its cost base by 40% in the past few years.

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ION reports third quarter net income of $4.9 million ION Geophysical reported third quarter 2017 net income of $4.9 million on revenues of $61.1 million, compared with a net loss of $10 million on revenues of $46 million in Q2 2017 and a net income of $1.7 million on revenues of $78.6 million in third quarter 2016.

The company reported EBITDA of $27.1 million for third quarter 2017, compared with $14 million in Q2 2017 and $24.4 million in the same period last year, and the highest since Q2 2014.

Backlog of multi-client new ventures and data processing programmes were $40 million at 30 September, 2017, which compares with $48 million in Q2 2014.

Brian Hanson, ION’s president and chief executive officer, said, ‘Continuing the strong momentum of the first and second quarters, our third quarter revenues increased sequentially by 33%, driven by continued strong sales of our 3D multi-client reimaging programmes as well as new 2D programmes we have recently launched. Overall, our third quarter was stronger than anticipated and we expect to finish the year strongly.’

As of 30 September, 2017, the company had total liquidity of $52.3 million, consisting of $40.2 million of cash in hand and $12.1 million of undrawn borrowing available under its revolving credit facility.

The company’s segment revenues for the third quarter were: E&P Technology and Services revenues of $52 million (up from $36 million in Q3 2016); and E&P Operations Optimization of $9 million (down from $12.6 million in Q3 2016).

Ocean Bottom Seismic Services did not generate any revenues in the third quarter, compared with $30 million in Q3 2016.

Within the E&P Technology & Services segment, new venture revenues were $43.5 million, an increase of more than 400% from third quarter 2016; data library revenues were $5 million, a 77% decrease; and Imaging Services revenues were $3.5 million, a 43% decrease. A majority of the increase in new venture revenues was the result of continued revenue from the company’s 3D multi-client reimaging programmes offshore Mexico and Brazil, as well as revenues from new

2D multi-client programmes that have recently been launched. The decrease in data library revenues was primarily related to a significant one-time purchase by a customer in the third quarter 2016 that did not reoccur in the third quarter 2017. The decrease in Imaging Services revenues is a result of the company’s strategic shift toward ‘higher return’ multi-client programmes.

Within the E&P Operations Optimization segment, Devices revenues were $5.3 million, a 39% decrease from third quarter 2016. Devices continues to be impacted by reduced seismic contractor activity, resulting in further declines in new system sales as well as repair and replacement revenues. Optimization Software & Services revenues were $3.8 million, a slight decrease from third quarter 2016.

Consolidated gross margin improved to 49%, compared to 40% in third quarter 2016 and 34% in second quarter 2017.

Operating expenses were $20.2 million, a slight increase to third quarter 2016.

Tullow Oil embarks on airborne survey over Ivory Coast Tullow Oil is set to carry a full tensor gradiometry (FTG) survey over the Ivory Coast after it acquired a 90% stake in four onshore blocks in the Ivory Coast.

The company said that it would start the FTG survey in early 2018 over blocks CI 518, CI519, CI301 and CI302, which cover 5035 km2 on the coastline mostly to the west of Abidjan. This early survey data will be used to assess the potential of the licences and guide future acquisition of seismic data.

Tullow said that this acreage will complement its existing exploration portfolio as the blocks are located in a proven

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petroleum system, indicated by multiple oil seeps and past production from the Eboinda Oil Sands.

If commercial discoveries are made, the maturity of the country’s oil industry suggests a relatively short and low-cost path to production, the company added.

Tullow has worked in the Ivory Coast for 20 years both as an explorer and as a producer and holds a non-operated position in the Espoir field which produces approx. 4000 bopd.

Petroci, the national oil company of the Ivory Coast, holds the remaining 10% in the four onshore blocks.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Emerson buys Paradigm and partners with Statoil to create bigger player in seismic software Emerson has agreed to acquire Paradigm for $510 million to create an enlarged oil and gas software provider and has signed an agreement with Statoil to develop reservoir characterization and modelling software.

The aim of its acquisition of the Houston-headquartered Paradigm, which has 500 staff worldwide, is to create an ‘end-to-end exploration and production (E&P) software portfolio spanning seismic processing and interpretation to production modelling’ with a view to increasing efficiencies and reducing costs for clients.

David N. Farr, Emerson chairman and chief executive officer, said: ‘Paradigm broadens our leadership in the upstream oil and gas market by adding a range of subsurface software tools that complement our growing Automation Solutions portfolio.’

Mike Train, executive president of Emerson Automation Solutions, added: ‘When combined with Emerson’s Roxar Software Solutions portfolio, Paradigm expands the global upstream oil and gas capability of our Plantweb digital ecosystem, creating a more comprehensive digital portfolio for our customers from exploration to production.’

Meanwhile, Emerson has also signed a three-year collaboration agreement

David N. Farr, Emerson chairman and CEO.

with Statoil to further develop its Roxar RMS reservoir characterization and modelling software.

Statoil will share with Emerson Intellectual Property (IP) from its internal ‘Fast Model Update’ (FMU) workflow that operates within Roxar RMS, with the goal of being able to make both workflows even more efficient.

The collaboration will include knowledge and experience transfer from existing and future Statoil internal FMU projects within Roxar RMS. Areas that will be

covered will include quality control of subsurface reservoir models, the handling and analysis of big data, and information management. In particular, the collaboration will support advances in Emerson’s Big Loop solution to quantify risk in the reservoir model.

‘This is a perfect match for both companies. Much of Statoil’s R&D can be found in previous Roxar solutions,’ said Kjetil Fagervik, vice-president of Roxar Software product development and marketing, Emerson Automation Solutions. ‘With margins tight and a continued focus on efficiencies, it has never been more important for oil and gas operators to increase oil and gas recovery, reduce uncertainty, and make improved field management decisions.’

Statoil has used Emerson’s Big Loop workflow and the companies collaborated on the recently completed Total Uncertainty Management programme that examined how E&P companies can improve uncertainty management and quantification across the reservoir. Statoil’s FMU is an integrated and automated workflow for reservoir modelling and characterization.

FMU connects disciplines from seismic depth conversion to prediction and reservoir management, taking into account relevant reservoir uncertainty.

Spectrum reports a third quarter net loss of $5.9 million Spectrum has reported a third quarter net loss of $5.9 million on revenues of $17 million, which compares to a net loss of $4 million on revenues of $20.5 million in the third quarter of 2016 and a net loss of $3 million on revenues of $30.4 million in Q2 2017.

Net multi-client revenues of $16.9 million compare with Q3 2016 revenues of $11.4 million and $30.4 million in the second quarter of 2017.

Prefunding recognized in the quarter was $9.3 million (compared with $1.5 million in Q3 2016 and $22.2 million in Q2 2017) was primarily related to the Gabon and Argentina surveys.

Late sales in the quarter of $7.6 million, compared to $9.7 million in Q3 2016 and $8.2 million in Q2 2017 and $8.2 million in Q2 2017.

Multi-client investments were $13.5 million with a 69% prefunding rate, compared to third quarter multi-client FIRST

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investments of $8.1 million with a 19% prefunding rate and second quarter 2016 multi-client investments of $31.3 million with a 71% prefunding rate.

Operational cash flow in Q3 was $23 million, compared with $2.8 million in Q3 2016 and $24.8 million in the second quarter of 2017.

Operating expenses were $5.5 million, compared to $6.1 million in the third quarter of 2016 and $6.1 million in Q2 2017.

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TGS reports another positive quarter TGS has reported net revenues of $142 million in Q3 2017, up 25% from $113 million in Q3 2016 and up from $107 million in Q2 2017.

Operating profit for the quarter was $26 million (18% of net revenues), up from $11 million in Q3 2016 and $18 million in Q2 2017.

Net income was $9.4 million, which compares to $1.7 million in the third quarter of 2016 and $9.6 million in the Q2 2017.

Net late sales were $79 million, up 18% from $67 million in Q3 2016 and $78 million in Q2 2017. Net pre-funding revenues were $62 million (an increase of 58% from $39 million in Q3 2016 and up from $27.7 million in the second quarter), funding 54% of TGS’ operational multi-client investments for the quarter.

Operational multi-client investments were $114 million in addition to $1 million from risk sharing arrangements and $5 million of non-operational investments.

This compares with $67 million in Q3 2016 and $59.4 million in Q2 2016.

TGS’ backlog amounted to $63.4 million at the end of Q3 2017, a decrease of 50% from Q2 2017 and 11% lower than at the end of Q3 2016. ‘The reduction during the quarter was primarily driven by high production on the seismic projects in Europe and offshore Eastern Canada,’ said TGS. Cash flow from operations was $86 million, compared to $91 million in Q3 2016, resulting in a cash balance of $205 million in addition to an undrawn credit facility of $75 million.

Free cash flow (after multi-client investments) was -$19 million, compared to $29 million in Q3 2016. Year-to-date free cash flow stands at $67 million.

Cash balance at 30 September 2017 was $205 million in addition to the undrawn $75 million revolving credit facility.

Financial guidance for 2017 is unchanged from 23 May 2017, estimating

new multi-client investments of $260 million and pre-funding of new multi-client investments at 40-45%.

‘Our strong balance sheet allows us to continue to invest in profitable projects and we acquired record high data volumes in Q3,’ TGS CEO Kristian Johansen said.

TGS has cut costs by 60% in the past three years and warned that 2018 could be another tough year for the industry. ‘Early indications with respect to oil companies’ 2018 budgets indicate continued cautious investment plans, with modest growth in exploration spending at best,’ it warned in its results statement. ‘Moreover, estimates from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) imply that the over-supply situation in the oil market may persist in 2018. As a result, the market for seismic data is likely to remain challenging in the near term, with continued pressure on pricing and high volatility from quarter-to-quarter.’

CGG wins airborne contract over Ivory Coast CGG has won a contract to acquire a multi-client programme of airborne gravity, gradiometry and magnetic data over the Ivory Coast’s onshore and shallow offshore basins.

The five-month programme, which has been awarded by the Côte d’Ivoire’s Direction Générale des Hydrocarbures (DGH) and PETROCI, the national oil company, will deploy CGG’s new Falcon Full Spectrum gravity solution, which it claims is the industry’s most sensitive airborne gravity platform, to acquire approx.

28,000-line km of data over onshore and shallow offshore licences. The contract, which CGG will carry out in partnership with its local partner, Harvex Geosolutions, includes an option to acquire a further 26,000-line km over the deepwater offshore licences.

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structure, the sediment thickness and the basement nature in order to help identify areas of mature source rock, reservoir deposition and prospective structures.

With some acreage already licensed, CGG said that the survey will allow current and future licence holders to better assess their blocks and derisk future exploration expenditure.

The Falcon Full Spectrum deploys the Falcon gravity gradiometer with its newly released sGrav gravity system to obtain a high-accuracy gravity signal over a broad bandwidth, significantly improving imaging at depth and increasing spatial resolution for near-surface geology. The system also concurrently collects magnetic data for identifying any igneous intrusions into the sedimentary section and providing further basement imaging.

Jean-Georges Malcor, CEO, CGG, said: ‘Our Falcon Full Spectrum technology will provide valuable insight into

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the basin structure and help to focus future seismic acquisition and drilling programmes over priority areas, reducing the cost of future exploration efforts.’

The data is expected to be used by companies bidding for licences after the Ivory Coast government tendered 22 offshore blocks in October. One of the blocks is onshore.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Slimmed down oil majors report good profits Statoil has reported third quarter earnings of $2.3 billion (up from loss of $0.6 billion in Q3 2016). Net operating income was $1.1 billion.

The company has cut its capex guidance for 2017 by $1 billion to $10 billion. ‘We have delivered 15% production growth and 11% reduction in underlying operating cost per barrel,’ said Eldar Sætre, president and CEO of Statoil.

‘With an oil price below $52 per barrel, we have generated $3.6 billion dollars in free cash flow so far this year, based on good contributions from all business segments.’

Meanwhile, BP reported net income of $1.87 billion for the third quarter, exceeding analysts’ forecasts of $1.58 billion.

This compares to net income of $933 million in Q3 2016 and $684 million in the second quarter of 2017, when the

Spectrum and BGP start 6000 km 2D survey offshore Brazil Spectrum and BGP have started a 6000 km multi-client 2D seismic survey covering the Ceara Basin within the Equatorial Margins offshore northern Brazil, which contains sectors of the 15th licensing round.

The vessel BGP Challenger will use a 12,000 m streamer with continuous recording to enable extended recording lengths and high fold data to enable full interpretation from Moho to water bottom. The data will be processed with PSTM, PSDM and Broadband products with first deliveries in Q1 2018, in time for the closing of the 15th licensing in Q2 2018.

Richie Miller, EVP multi-client Americas, said: ‘When the survey is completed it will provide a continuous modern long-offset 10-km grid from the border with French Guiana to the eastern extent of the Potiguar Basin.’

company wrote down a large loss on exploration.

Total said its net adjusted profit for the quarter was $2.7 billion.

The company’s net adjusted Q3 profit rose 29%, in line with expectations, thanks to increased output and high refining margins, while cost reductions exceeded its target for the year.

Total’s oil production rose 6%, while adjusted net operating income from its upstream exploration and production branch increased by 84% compared with the same period a year ago, buoyed by a 14% rise in the Brent crude oil price.

The company said its cost reduction target for the year will be more than $3.6 billion compared with the $3.5 billion it had previously expected.

It added that the cost of production was now below $5 per barrel for the past

three months, ahead of the target of $5.5 per barrel for the year.

Royal Dutch Shell’s third quarter profits have jumped by 47% to $4.1 billion, compared with $2.8 billion in the third quarter of 2016.

Cash flow from operations fell by 11% from a year earlier to $7.58 billion.

Italian oil major Eni swung to a profit in the third quarter thanks to stronger oil prices.

Its adjusted net profit in the quarter was $267 million compared to an adjusted loss of $484 million last year.

The state-controlled major confirmed its production would grow by 5% this year to 1.84 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboe/d).

Production in the third quarter rose to 1.803 mboe/d.

Rose completes 100 km2 land survey in US state of Utah Rose Petroleum has completed the acquisition of data from its 100 km2 3D seismic shoot in the Paradox Basin in Utah, US. The company reported that the shoot was completed without incident, three weeks ahead of schedule and on budget.

The initial review of the quality of the data acquired is very encouraging and the directors believe it to be significantly higher quality than that acquired by previous programmes in the area.

In total, the shoot comprised 6886 total receiver points and 4665 total source points. The accelerated timeline was possible owing to the vibrator truck set-up change from two teams of four vibrator trucks to three teams of three vibrator trucks, enabling an average of 311 source points shot per day. The ‘pick-up’ of all the recording lines has also now been completed and this concludes the programme FIRST

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of physical gathering of all the shoot data.

Initial results from the shoot will be available before the end of the calendar year, ahead of the company’s forecast timeline. Further processing and interpretation will define the drill targets and these are now expected to be completed in early Q1 2018, ahead of the previously targeted end of Q1 2018.

Rose expects to drill five wells in Utah.

Once the targets have been identified, the company plans to commence the permitting process for the initial five drill target locations.

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PGS reports a net loss of $190 million

Rune Olav Pedersen, president and CEO of PGS.

PGS recorded a net loss of $190 million as it counts the cost of stacked vessels and disappointing revenues from multi-client surveys. The results compare with a net loss of $-29 million in the third quarter of 2016 and $32.2 million in the second quarter of 2017.

Revenues for the third quarter dropped to $207.6 million, compared to $224.1 million in the third quarter of 2016 and $240 million in Q2 2017.

The company made an operating loss, excluding impairments and other charges, of $-30.4, compared with a loss of $-5.4 million in Q3 2016 and $-8.7 million in Q2 2017.

Impairments and other charges of $82.9 million related to stacked vessels and specific multi-client surveys, in addition to a write down of a remaining deferred tax asset.

In better news for the company, multi-client pre-funding revenues of $101.8 million with a corresponding prefunding level of 124%, were more than double the $50.2 million in the second quarter of 2017 and compared well with Q3 2016 multi-client funding levels of $84.3 million with a prefunding level of 134%.

However, multi-client late sales of $47.8 million, compared to $63.2 million in Q3 2016 and $77.4 million in the second quarter of 2017.

Cash flow from operations of $118.4 million, compared to $80.4 million in Q3 2016. Liquidity reserve of $224.2 million, compared to $417.3 million in Q3 2016.

‘Our multi-client business continues to deliver solid revenues. The pre-funding level of 124% achieved in Q3 is driven

by GeoStreamer multi-client projects offshore Canada and in the North Sea,’ said Rune Olav Pedersen, president and chief executive officer of PGS. ‘Multi-client late sales were satisfactory considering the impacts of Hurricane Harvey and the fact that we did not benefit from any particular licence rounds this quarter. The improved pricing for marine contract projects in Q3 compared to last year was offset by a challenging project in Asia Pacific, resulting in unsatisfactory financial results for our marine contract activities in the quarter. The order book

decreased sequentially as a result of high production and low order intake, however the negative trend ceased in October and subsequent to quarter end we have secured several projects for execution in Q4 and Q1 2018.’

In its outlook, the company said it expects ‘improved cash flow among clients, combined with growing limitations on streamer availability in the industry, to benefit marine 3D seismic market fundamentals longer-term.’

However, in the short term it said that the market will continue to be difficult.

‘There is a risk that a market recovery will take some time. Increased seasonal variations will impact activity and pricing in the coming winter season’ For the full year the company said that it expects its 2017 gross cash cost to be below $700 million. Multi-client cash investments are expected to be approximately $225 million, with a pre-funding level above 100%. Approximately 45% of the 2017 active 3D vessel time is expected to be allocated to multi-client acquisition.

The order book was $167 million at September 30, 2017 (including $115 million relating to multi-client), compared to $248 million at June 30, 2017 and $190 million at September 30, 2016.

Order intake improved in October when the company received awards amounting to approximately $55 million.

CGG completes PSDM of west of Ireland survey CGG has completed the Pre-Stack Depth Migration (PSDM) of its Cairenn multi-client survey in the Porcupine Basin, west of Ireland.

Cairenn is the first of a series of multi-client surveys that CGG has recently been acquiring in the area. PSDM products for its Galway survey will be delivered before the end of the year.

The company said that data sets have been processed through an advanced velocity modelling and depth imaging

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sequence, including multi-layer tomography and full-waveform inversion, to deliver ‘outstanding results, with exceptional clarity and deep imaging quality.’ From the Triassic/Jurassic fault blocks, through the Cretaceous section and up to the Cenozoic reservoirs.

Fast-track results from additional surveys in the area acquired in 2017 have already been delivered, with final PSDM products due in the second quarter of 2018.

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CGG is doing several surveys in the area.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Job creation to overtake job losses in oil industry A survey of 3000 companies in the oil and gas industry shows that for the first time since 2014 the oil and gas industry expects more new jobs to be created than lost over the next 12 months.

Since the price of oil crashed in 2014 it is estimated that more than 440,000 jobs have been cut in the sector worldwide.

However, with the price of oil having stabilised since July research by recruiter NES Global Talent and oilandgasjobsearch.com shows that almost 90% of employers expect staffing levels to either increase or remain the same in 2018.

The Oil and Gas Outlook 2017 survey shows that in total almost 60% of employers expect to recruit significantly over the next 12 months. Of those, almost a quarter (23%) of employers expect to increase their workforce by 5%; almost a

fifth (19%) expect to increase staffing by between 5 and 10%; and more than a sixth (17%) by more than 10%.

Almost a third (30%) of employers expect staffing levels to remain the same and just 11% of employers expect to cut jobs.

Tig Gilliam, CEO of NES Global Talent, said: ‘Globally we are now increasingly confident that the market supports increased investment in the energy sector.

Energy companies with the support of their partners have right-sized their organisations for the current levels of activity.

With a stabilised price environment and lower cost profile more and more assets offer attractive returns on investment and operations.

‘While this activity is being led by a sharp increase in investment in US

shale, there has also been an uptick in capital projects being approved which will positively impact the industry across all regions.’

Alex Fourlis, managing director of oilandgasjobsearch.com, said: ‘There is a sense of positivity throughout the guide the likes of which we haven’t seen since 2013 and can be read as an indication of a potential stabilisation of the oil market. This is key to kick-start projects that haven’t been viable for a while and will have a positive effect on job volume and salaries across the industry. Comparing the number of jobs posted throughout the industry YTD to the end of July vs the same period in 2016, there has been a 2% increase yearon-year with jobs from corporates up by 8%.’

US prepares for Alaska oil and gas land sale The US Bureau of Land Management will hold an oil and gas lease sale on 6 December of 900 tracts within part of the 22.8-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A).

The sale, the 13th in the NPR-A since 1999, will offer 900 tracts covering 10.3 million acres and constituting all the tracts designated as available for development in the 2013 Record of Decision for the Integrated Activity Plan/ Environmental Impact Statement for the NPR-A. There are currently 189 authorized leases in the NPR-A, covering more than 1,372,688 acres. Bids received for the 12 previous sales generated more than $280 million.

Alaska congressman Don Young said: ‘This decision is a testament to our work to spearhead new development and fight back against the status quo that has under-served Alaskan communities and interests for years. The NPR-A was always intended for development, not to be locked away in perpetuity like the previous administration attempted.’

An oil facility in Alaska where 900 new tracts will be offered.

From 7 August to 6 September the BLM sought public input and nominations on all tracts within the NPR-A. In February 2015, the BLM approved the Greater Mooses Tooth 1 oil and gas project, opening the way for the FIRST

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INDUSTRY NEWS

FairfieldNodal starts big 3D OBS survey offshore Brazil

Offshore Brazil where the company is working for the Libra consortium.

FairfieldNodal has started an acquisition and processing of high-resolution 3D seismic data offshore Brazil for the Libra consortium of Petrobras, Total, Shell, China National Petroleum Corp and CNOOC. The company’s first such project offshore Brazil will utilize the proprietary

Z3000 ocean bottom node system that the company claims is ‘ideally suited’ for acquisition around the dense infrastructure and challenging pre-salt imaging conditions offshore Brazil.

Meanwhile, FairfieldNodal has appointed Tom Scoulios as senior

vice-president and chief technology officer of geosciences and Shawn Rice as senior vice-president and chief operating officer.

Scoulios will focus on FairfieldNodal’s geoscience expansion plans by identifying and advancing technological services and solutions, growing the business through strategic partnerships, developing the reservoir monitoring business, and assessing potential acquisitions.

Rice will focus on optimizing FairfieldNodal’s operating practices, enhancing FairfieldNodal’s technical strengths and providing more career development opportunities.

Finally, FairfieldNodal started a large Z700 acquisition project offshore Trinidad in late October 2017.

Ikon Science upgrades RokDoc to improve shale gas modelling Ikon Science is upgrading its RokDoc software to improve the modelling and prediction of unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. The results will help producers maximize output from shale reserves like those typically found in North America.

Mark Bashforth, CEO, Ikon Science, said: ‘RokDoc 6.5.0 really is a leap forward in terms of correlating the value of seismic data with the underlying rock structure of reservoir targets. We are particularly excited about our collaboration with the University of Houston Research Professor Lev Vernik on enhancements to our unconventional modelling capabilities. This has major implications for predicting seismic behaviours in unconventional reservoir plays, which in turn can lead to smarter extraction strategies.’

The company said that an ‘extensive array of unconventional models’ can be generated with this latest RokDoc release to better calibrate log and core data in unconventional resource plays.

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physics module also includes Attrimod, a new multi-2D modelling and attribute package developed in collaboration with a leading oil company.

The RokDoc 6.5.0 upgrade was developed under the leadership of Dr Denis Saussus, Ikon Science’s chief technical officer. It covers significant improvements to the RokDoc platform

Seismic Petrophysics in Quantitative Interpretation by Prof Lev Vernik, who worked on the upgrade.

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as well as the reservoir characterization module (RokDoc-Ji-Fi), plus enhancements to the company’s geopressure module.

‘Our growing software community should appreciate the enhanced data loading and the easy manipulation and viewing of log data and attributes,’ Dr Saussus said. ‘Rokdoc functions are now almost all converted to the new user interface which streamlines workflows and reduces keyboard clicks.’

Meanwhile, Ikon Science has made its RokDoc software available to a new teaching and research computer lab at the University of Alaska at Anchorage.

Dr Shuvajit Bhattacharya, the course leader, said: ‘This software is being used by major oil companies around the world. With this software, students can learn how to handle and analyse large 2D/3D seismic and well data to interpret the geology at hundreds and thousands of feet below the surface and explore energy resources. Access to RokDoc will help to prepare our students for their future career. It’s a set of skills that many companies look for, while hiring.’

INDUSTRY NEWS

Total, Eni and Novatak bid for Lebanon offshore blocks Lebanon’s first offshore licensing round for five blocks attracted only two formal bids despite the fact that 52 companies prequalified for the tender.

A consortium of Total, Eni and the Russian company Novatek have bid for Block 4 and Block 9.

‘The results of the first licensing round were positive in that Lebanon managed to attract international companies with high expertise in gas field exploration and development, and in bringing petroleum to international markets,’ said Cesar Abi Khali, minister of energy and water.

Lebanon, which relaunched the licensing round in January 2017 after a three-year delay, sits on the Levant Basin in the eastern Mediterranean along with Cyprus, Egypt, Israel and Syria. A number of gas fields have been discovered there since 2009, such as the Leviathan and Tamar fields.

The exploration phase will last up to five years with the possibility of a one-year extension.

Get seen by the 48.000 First Break readers!

Rosneft prepare seismic surveys in Iraq Rosneft will carry out seismic surveys in Iraq in early 2018 after it signed production sharing agreements with the Government of the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq for five production blocks in the Kurdish Autonomous Region.

The parties have agreed to implement the geological exploration programme and to start pilot production as early as 2018.

Full field development of the blocks is planned to start in 2021. According to conservative estimates, the total recovera-

ble oil reserves at the five blocks may be about 670 million barrels.

The Russian company will take on 80% equity and will be responsible for commissioning seismic surveys for each of the five blocks.

Rosneft paid between $40 million and $110 million for each of the four blocks and could in total pay up to $400 million (including $200 million that could be paid in oil from the block).

advertise@eage.org Or call +31 88 9955055

A pipeline in the Kurdish region of Iraq where Rosneft will acquire the surveys.

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V O 1-3 L U vertical.indd M E 3 5 I D1E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 10/02/17 3 1 10:13 here

INDUSTRY NEWS

Mexico to add third oil and gas auction in 2018 Mexico will add a third oil and gas auction in 2018 featuring conventional onshore oil and gas blocks, the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) has confirmed.

The bid terms will be announced later this year or in early 2018 while contracts are likely to be awarded by the summer.

The onshore tender is in addition to a deepwater Gulf auction in January 2018 and a shallow water auction in March.

Meanwhile, Earthmoves has completed the latest basin and block evaluation for the Ronda 3.1 shallow water blocks offshore Mexico. The evaluation is a sub-set of its Digital Atlas of Mexico compiling public domain information. The geology and hydrocarbon prospectivity of Mexico is summarised in an ArcGIS project with accompanying written reports.

Finally, Pemex has announced Mexico’s largest onshore oil discovery in the past 15 years.

Pemex made the discovery with its Ixachi-1 well, 72 km south of the port of Veracruz, and close to Cosamaloapan. The discovered field is reported to have total reserves of approx.

350 mmboe, with an original in-place volume of more than 1500 mmboe.

The company said that the reservoir possesses great economic value owing to its closeness to existing infrastructure from production wells to the National Pipeline System. It added that based on preliminary studies the reservoir could be extended farther to yield double the initial estimates.

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UK launches stewardship survey The UK Oil and Gas Authority has launched its 2017 Stewardship Survey for UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) operators of petroleum licences.

The annual survey has been enhanced based on industry feedback during 2017 and gathers data on activity and performance. Areas covered include exploration, production, projects, operating and decommissioning costs and technology.

Data gathered from the survey are used to inform the OGA’s asset stewardship reviews with operators and provide insights into current and forecast activity in the UKCS. It is also being used to facilitate economic modelling of UKCS fields and hubs and to help build regional strategies and area plans.

The survey, which was introduced last year, integrates up to nine previous surveys, streamlining the way data are gathered and analysed to reduce complexity, time, effort and burden on operators, licence holders and the OGA. OGA Director of Operations Gunther Newcombe said: ‘The data gathered not only allows us to get a picture of what’s

going on, but helps us target our efforts.

We’ve listened to industry’s feedback and enhanced the survey to ensure it is as simple as possible and are providing ‘playback’ of the data in the form of benchmarking reports to help improve performance.’

The main survey will close on 28 February 2018. The activity section of the survey will close on 19 January 2018.

Last year’s survey of 326 producing fields and 53 projects under discussion has informed the OGA’s newly published UK Oil and Gas: Reserves and Resources report, which shows that overall remaining recoverable reserves and resources range between 10 to 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe).

The OGA estimates that UK reserves are approximately 5.7 billion boe (probable) and there is a significant opportunity to add to these reserves by maturing the UK’s considerable contingent resources. The OGA estimates that there are 7.4 billion boe of proven undeveloped resources.

Exploration success in 2016 helped to add 210 million boe to the contingent resources.

UK seeks views National Data Repository The UK’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) is seeking views from oil companies on the establishment of a United Kingdom National Data Repository (NDR), which would be funded through an OGA levy payable by all offshore petroleum licensees.

A four-week consultation opened on 10 November to gather feedback and insights from industry on the creation of an NDR to improve access to UK petroleum-related information.

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and full benefits of the service, including the collaborative functionality to share information within licence groups, is limited to fee paying subscribers only.

The OGA regards the establishment of a UK NDR as an important commitment in fulfilling a key recommendation of the Wood Maximising Recovery Review, in ensuring ready access to timely and transparent data.

The OGA is proposing to establish a two-year contract with CDA to establish an NDR that will be available to all levy payers. This service would be funded through an increase in the levy, but would include a removal of the corresponding CDA membership fees.

The levy-funded NDR service is expected to start in January 2019.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Polarcus reports improved third quarter results Polarcus has reported third quarter 2017 revenues of $58.5 million, up 62% from Q2 2017 revenues of $36.1 million and $64.6 million in Q3 2016.

The company made an operating loss of $3.6 million and a net loss of $9.1 million, compared with an operating loss of $28.5 million and a net loss of $33.7 million in the second quarter of 2017, and an operating loss of $13.1 million and a net loss of $17.4 million in the second quarter of 2016.

Third quarter proprietary contract revenue increased by 88% to $41.9 million (up from $22.3 million in Q2 2017), driven by increased vessel utilization and improved day rates. Multi-client revenue increased by 146% to $4.8 million (up from $2 million in Q2 2017). The Q3 prefunding level was 167% (compared to 93% in Q2). The company recorded $2.8 million of multi-client late sales from its African multi-client library.

Gross cost of sales of $40.3 million is down 3% from Q2 2017. Total cash balance of $31.6 million is in addition to $25 million undrawn working capital

facility. The company has a backlog of $125 million.

Polarcus recorded vessel utilization of 92%, up from 75% in Q2 2017, driven by greater activity over the summer.

‘A weak seismic market has continued for the third straight year. In this period, the industry has seen the number of active vessels in the global 3D fleet more than halve. Early in Q4 2017, it is estimated that of these remaining active vessels, half are idle.

‘The summer saw a short-lived balance of supply and demand but with oil company exploration spend still cautious, the winter period is expected to be challenging,’ said the company’s results statement.

‘The company again delivered sequentially lower operating costs in Q3 2017, achieving a 3% reduction in gross cost of sales compared to Q2 2017; this in combination with significantly increased fleet utilization. General and administrative costs were also reduced by 16% during the quarter.

‘Polarcus expects these challenging market conditions to continue into 2018

and has, after the quarter-end, undertaken to further streamline and reshape the organization to deliver improved flexibility and optimized productivity. The key focus is to strengthen the overall organization through maintaining regional sales offices comprising experienced and well-networked sales and marketing teams, and consolidating fleet operations and support services at the company’s headquarters. The company will benefit from an estimated $8 million in annual cost savings.’

With increased revenue from the combination of long-term bareboat charters and a technical support contract, Polarcus continues to see a fixed revenue stream of $10.5 million per quarter.

Total cash at quarter-end amounted to $31.6 million excluding the $25 million undrawn working capital facility. The cash balance was impacted by a negative net working capital movement during the quarter, mainly because of overdue customer payments falling into the next quarter, the majority of which has been received since quarter end.

US proposes biggest ever oil and gas lease sale The US is proposing the largest oil and gas lease sale ever held in the US – 76,967,935 acres in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

The lease sale, offering an area about the size of New Mexico, is scheduled for March 2018 and includes all available unleased areas on the Gulf’s Outer Continental Shelf, surpassing last year’s regionwide lease sale by about one million acres.

Proposed Lease Sale 250 will be the second offshore sale under the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2017-2022. Lease Sale 249, held in New Orleans last August, received $121 million in high bids.

The estimated amount of resources projected to be developed as a result of the proposed region-wide lease sale ranges from 0.21 to 1.12 billion barrels of oil and from 0.55 to 4.42 trillion cubic feet

of gas. Most of the activity (up to 83% of future production) from the proposed lease sale is expected to occur in the Central Planning Area.

Proposed Lease Sale 250 includes 14,375 unleased blocks, located from 3 to 230 miles (3-370 km) offshore in the Gulf’s Western, Central and Eastern planning areas in water depths ranging from 9 to more than 11,115 ft (3 to 3400 m).

Excluded from the lease sale are blocks subject to the congressional moratorium established by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006; blocks that are adjacent to or beyond the US Exclusive Economic Zone in the area known as the northern portion of the Eastern Gap; and whole blocks and partial blocks within the current boundary of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) estimates that the FIRST

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OCS contains about 90 billion barrels of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and 327 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered technically recoverable gas. The Gulf of Mexico OCS, covering about 160 million acres, has technically recoverable resources of over 48 billion barrels of oil and 141 trillion cubic feet of gas.

An oil under construction near Corpus Christi, Texas.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Fugro acquires hydrocarbon seep data offshore Canada

Fugro Discovery will acquire 10,500 km2 of multi-beam echo sounder data.

Fugro has teamed up with Amplified Geochemical Imaging (AGI) to acquire offshore hydrocarbon seep data in advance of Canada’s 2018 east coast bid round.

Bathymetry, backscatter and water column anomaly data will be collected to pull together a picture of surficial geolog-

ical features. These data will be used to identify and target the best locations for geochemical sampling.

The information may also be used in further investigations, such as establishing environmental baselines, evaluating seafloor geohazards and preliminary planning for field development.

The seafloor mapping will be performed by Fugro using its vessel Fugro Discovery and includes acquisition of 10,500 km2 of multi-beam echo sounder data and sub-bottom profiler data. This will be followed by coring of up to 150 geochemical targets and 20 heat flow measurements, complete with shipboard geochemical screening testing, further shore-based geochemical analyses (carried out by AGI) and an integrated data package, which will be available in early 2018.

Meanwhile, Fugro has started an integrated survey work offshore India for ONGC under a three-year $7.7 million contract.

The contract, awarded to Fugro for the third consecutive time, calls for engineering surveys in field developments off both western and eastern shores of India. The scope of the work includes bathymetric surveys, seabed mapping, shallow seismic profiling and well head investigation.

Fugro Mapper started the work in September in water depths ranging from 10 m to 100 m.

Emerson expands reservoir simulation software Emerson has launched the latest version of its reservoir management software suite Roxar Tempest 8.1, designed to support reservoir engineers in maximizing field recovery.

The release complements and enhances the advanced uncertainty analysis delivered by Ensemble Smoother Based History Matching, previously introduced in the Tempest 8.0 release, and provides new means of representing flow behaviour in the vicinity of fractures. The Roxar Software Solution portfolio also now offers a complete seismic-to-simulation package that can be run in Big Loop workflows for advanced decision support.

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‘Tempest 8.1 brings reservoir engineers more tools to maximize the potential of their fields as well as enhanced field productivity thanks to greater simulation performance, improved uncertainty analysis, and a truly integrated workflow from geosciences to production. The result will be consistent reservoir understanding for greater profitability across all field lifecycle stages.’

The new fractured well feature in the reservoir simulation module Tempest MORE handles the physics of the fracture-to-well connection and the multi-phase flow within the fracture and can be applied to hundreds of wells in fullfield studies.

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salinity of the water and model its effects throughout the simulation. In addition, in order to handle multiple independent reservoirs involving fluids displaying different thermodynamic properties within the same simulation model, multiple ‘equation of state’ regions are now supported.

Finally, Tempest 8.1 comes with advanced uncertainty analysis tools. This includes new upgrades to the Roxar App Connector, such as Nexus and Petrel components; the capacity to submit runs from a Windows workstation to a Linux cluster; and new advanced uncertainty analysis tools delivered through Tempest’s Ensemble Smoother-based history matching. Additional enhancements include user capabilities to update Roxar RMS surface files and reduce memory usage.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Shell wins three licences offshore Brazil Royal Dutch Shell and its partners have been awarded three 35-year production sharing contracts for pre-salt blocks in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil.

Shell will pay $100 million in signing bonuses for the licences, which include a block adjacent to its Gato do Mato field (Shell 80% operating, Total 20%),

Andy Brown, upstream director, Shell.

BRIEFS Argentina’s state oil company YPF has announced that it plans to invest $21.5 billion in the country from 2018 to 2022 while increasing its oil production by 26%. By 2022 the company expects to have drilled 1600 oil and natural gas wells, the statement said.

an area in the Sapinhoá field (Petrobras 45% operating, Shell 30%, Repsol 25%), and the new Alto de Cabo Frio-West block (Shell 55% operating, Qatar Petroleum 25%, CNOOC 20%).

Andy Brown, upstream director, Shell, said: ‘These winning bids were submitted after our thorough evaluation and add strategic acreage to our already leading set of global deep-water growth options.’

Shell has previously stated plans for $10 billion investment for its existing offshore developments in Brazil to support deep water as its upstream growth priority.

Shell first began working under a production sharing contract in Brazil in 2013 when it entered the Libra consortium, led

by Petrobras.

Rosneft and the National Iranian Oil Company have signed a co-operation agreement. The ‘Road Map and Key Terms of Strategic Cooperation in the Field of Oil and Gas’ details long-term co-operation in key areas of business, including exploration and production, field services, local application of technology, as well as training for personnel. The parties have also agreed on the main principles of Rosneft’s participation in projects in the Islamic Republic of Iran and approved projects to move forward on.

EMGS has started preparing a pre-funded multi-client survey west of Newfoundland, Canada. The survey, which represents revenues at least $2.5 million, is expected to take place during the fourth quarter of 2017.

BGP starts seismic surveys in Mongolia Petro Matad has signed a deal with BGP to carry out the first 3D seismic survey in western Mongolia.

BGP will carry out a programme including a 220 km2 3D survey over the Tugrug Basin of eastern Block 5 and will also carry out 2D seismic surveys on Blocks IV and V in Mongolia.

Eastern Block 5 has a proven working petroleum system including mature source rock, reservoir rocks with good porosity and permeability and live hydrocarbon staining found in previous stratigraphic coring operations.

The survey in the Tugrug Basin is expected to begin 3D data recording operations by mid-November and to be com-

pleted by mid-December. The crew will then begin a 150-line km infill 2D survey in the same area, extending outward from the 3D survey area, to cover surrounding prospects and leads.

After the Tugrug Basin 2D survey, the crew will move 350 km northwest into Block IV to acquire a new 205-line km 2D seismic grid over the Khangai Basin, a deep and prospective basin in north-central Block IV. An airborne FTG/HRAM survey of the area was carried out in 2015.

While only two regional 2D seismic lines currently cross the Khangai Basin, these lines show adequate basinal depths (3500-4000 m) and prospective structural and stratigraphic configurations. The Khangai Basin 2D survey is projected to start in late December, and complete before the end of January 2018.

WesternGeco will carry out the processing of both the 3D and 2D data, which will be delivered to the processors in near real time. The programmes will identify potential drilling targets for the 2018/19 operational seasons.

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Petrel Energy has successfully drilled the Cerro Padilla-1 well in Uruguay to a depth of 845 m. The well encountered significant oil shows with logging confirming 2 m of oil saturated sand at 793 m.

On the back of what is the first ever confirmed discovery of hydrocarbons in Uruguay the well is being completed for production testing. Cerro Padilla-1 is the first of four conventional exploration wells to be drilled in the Norte Basin Uruguay on concessions covering 3.5 million acres.

Bosnia has issued a tender for consultants to help it award an oil and gas exploration and exploitation licence. The government has revived a plan to award a licence in the Dinaridi area, which was put on hold after Shell pulled out of exploration in Bosnia in 2015. Experts say that southern deposits, located at a depth of 4-8000 m, could contain up to 500 million tonnes of reserves, while northern deposits are estimated at around 70 million tonnes.

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Special Topic

DATA PROCESSING

Geoscientists are continuously reinventing processing or reprocessing of E&P seismic data in order to extract more information about the Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s substructure.

Coupled with this ingenuity are rapid developments in computing power aiding application of complex algorithms, and integration with other data types such as well logs and potential method information.

Shouting Huang et al demonstrate challenges to overcome to achieve the ultimate goals in seismic imaging. They show that single-iteration LSM with curvelet-domain implementation is able to deliver the promises of least-squares migration on various real data sets.

Alexander Inozemtsev et al present an alternative imaging system which provides richer information on the subsurface image points by demonstrating an advanced processing, imaging and characterization system operating directly in the local angle domain (LAD) over two oil fields with different geological settings.

Adam M. Baig et al discuss the application of novel processing workflows to microseismic data recorded by five downhole monitoring arrays in the STACK play in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma.

Pablo Borghi et al demonstrate the uplift in imagery achieved by a multidisciplinary approach on a project in Argentina, which has led to improved definition of uncertainties.

Paolo Esestime et al describe a pre-acquisition study that gave an insight into the challenges to be faced during the processing and extraordinary imaging of an unrevealed oil play in South Gabon.

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Special Topic overview January

Land Seismic

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

February

Reservoir Monitoring

March

Petroleum Geology

April

Passive Seismic

May

Modelling/Interpretation

June

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

It is also possible to submit a Technical Article to First Break. Technical Articles are subject to a peer review process and should be submitted ia EAGEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ScholarOne website: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fb

July

Unconventionals & Carbon Capture and Storage

August

Near Surface Geoscience

September

EM & Potential Methods

October

Reservoir Geoscience and Engineering

November

Marine Seismic

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Data Processing

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Technical Contents Technical Article lobal gravity field from recent satellites (DTU15) — Arctic improvements G O.B. Andersen, P. Knudsen, S. Kenyon, J.K. Factor and S. Holmes

Special Topic: Data Processing pplications of least-squares pre-stack depth migration in complex geology around the world A Shouting Huang, Zhao Wang, Ming Wang, Adel Khalil, Ping Wang, Xiaodong Wu, Yi Xie, Francesco Perrone and Chu-Ong Ting pplying full-azimuth depth imaging in the local angle domain to delineate hard-to-recover hydrocarbon reserves A Alexander Inozemtsev, Zvi Koren and Alexander Galkin I ntegration of SMTI topology with dynamic parameter analysis to characterize fractureconnectivity related to flow and production along wellbores in the STACK play Adam M. Baig, Ellie P. Ardakani, Ted Urbancic, Dan Kahn, Jamie Rich, David Langton and Ken Silver

Sierra de Reyes 3D seismic survey (onshore Argentina): depth imaging complex geology by applying multi-focusing, Kirchhoff, Beam and RTM workflows Pablo Borghi, David Curia, Martín Alayón, Paul Veeken, Ignacio Lescano and Daniel Justo D shallow water seismic survey planning to deliver sub-salt imaging in South Gabon 3 Paolo Esestime, Laura Arti, Milos Cvetkovic, Karyna Rodriguez and Nei Hodgson

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EAGE-HAGI 1st Asia Pacific Meeting on Near Surface Geoscience & Engineering www.eage.org â&#x20AC;¢ Yogyakarta, Indonesia

December 2017 10-12 Dec

Second EAGE Workshop on Well Injectivity & Productivity in Carbonates

11-15 Dec

AGU Fall Meeting 2017

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PESGB - PROSPEX 2017

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Doha

Qatar

New Orleans

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London

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Dubai

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Muscat

Oman

Cairo

Egypt

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

30-31 Jan

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February 2018 5-7 Feb

Third EAGE Workshop on Naturally Fractured Reservoirs

12-14 Feb

Egypt Petroleum Show 2018

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DGG Spring Meeting 2018 http://dgg2018.dgg-tagung.de/start/

Leoben

Austria

19-21 Feb

First Australian Exploration Geoscience Conference

Sydney

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20-21 Feb

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

Abu Dhabi

UAE

21-23 Feb

First EAGE/PESGB Workshop on Velocities

London

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Manama

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Kraków

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Seventh EAGE Workshop on Passive Seismic 2018 www.eage.org

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EGU General Assembly 2018 http://www.egu2018.eu/

Vienna

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EAGE Saint Petersburg 2018

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

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16-19 Apr

Second EAGE/AAPG Hydrocarbon Seals of the Middle East Workshop

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DGMK Spring 2018 https://www.dgmk.de/upstream/cfp_celle_2018.pdf

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EAGE/SEG Workshop on Marine Multi-Component Seismic

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2018 EAGE Geomodel 2018 www.eage.org

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2018 EAGE 24nd European Meeting of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics, Near Surface Geoscience www.eage.org

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2018 EAGE Fifth International Conference on Fault and Top Seals www.eage.org

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GEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTING Geophysical Prospecting

Geophysical Prospecting (published on behalf of the

65 (6) (2017) ISSN 0016-8025 (Print) ISSN 1365-2478 (Online)

European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers) is

http://www.geophysicalprospecting.org

welcoming submissions of theoretical and numerical studies

Volume 65 Number 6 November 2017 Geophysical Prospecting

RACTS DEADLINE: A R Y 2 018

Volume 65 Number 6 November 2017 pp 1409–1707

LD’S LARGEST RY GEOSCIENCE EVENT

1411 Review paper: Virtual sources and their responses, Part II: data-driven single-sided focusing K. Wapenaar, J. Thorbecke, J. van der Neut, E. Slob and R. Snieder 1433 Review paper: Virtual sources and their responses, Part I: time-reversal acoustics and seismic interferometry K. Wapenaar and J. Thorbecke 1452 Parsimonious wave-equation travel-time inversion for refraction waves L. Fu, S.M. Hanafy and G.T. Schuster 1462 Prestack amplitude versus angle inversion for Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio based on the exact Zoeppritz equations L. Zhou, J. Li, X. Chen, X. Liu and L. Chen 1477 Three-term inversion of prestack seismic data using a weighted l2,1 mixed norm D.O. Pérez, D.R. Velis and M.D. Sacchi 1496 Microseismic events enhancement and detection in sensor arrays using autocorrelation-based filtering E. Liu, L. Zhu, A. Govinda Raj, J.H. McClellan, A. Al-Shuhail, S.I. Kaka and N. Iqbal 1510 Determination of moment tensor and location of microseismic events under conditions of highly correlated noise based on the maximum likelihood method E.V. Birialtsev, D.E. Demidov and E.V. Mokshin 1527 3D seismic residual statics solutions derived from refraction interferometry H. Gao and J. Zhang 1541 Double plane-wave reverse-time migration Z. Zhao, M.K. Sen and P.L. Stoffa 1559 Traveltime approximation in vertical transversely isotropic layered media I. Ravve and Z. Koren 1582 Using beamforming to maximise the detection capability of small, sparse seismometer arrays deployed to monitor oil field activities J.P. Verdon, J.-M. Kendall, S.P. Hicks and P. Hill 1597 Predicting the elastic response of organic-rich shale using nanoscale measurements and homogenisation methods M. Goodarzi, M. Rouainia, A.C. Aplin, P. Cubillas and M. de Block 1615 How does water near clay mineral surfaces influence the rock physics of shales?

R.M. Holt and M.I. Kolstø 1630 Frequency- and angle-dependent poroelastic seismic analysis for highly attenuating reservoirs L. Zhao, Q. Yao, D.-h. Han, R. Zhou, J. Geng and H. Li 1649 Effect of fracture fill on frequency-dependent anisotropy of fractured porous rocks L. Kong, B. Gurevich, Y. Zhang and Y. Wang 1662 Using constrained inversion of gravity and magnetic field to produce a 3D litho-prediction model O. Mahmoodi, R.S. Smith and B. Spicer 1680 Research Note: A simple method of image solution for a sphere of constant electrical potential in a conducting half-space: implications for the applied potential method S.L. Butler 1687 An alternative approach in establishing relation between vertical and horizontal gradients of 2D potential field I.G. Roy 1694 Research Note: Near-surface layer replacement for sparse data: is interpolation needed?

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