First Break August 2019

VO L U M E 3 7 I I S S U E 8 I A U G U S T 2 019

SPECIAL TOPIC

Near Surface Geoscience & Legacy Data CROSSTALK Shale, shock and awe INDUSTRY NEWS BP says world is losing battle on carbon emissions

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FIRST BREAK® An EAGE Publication

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

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Towards drone-borne gammaray mapping of soils.

Editorial Contents 3

EAGE News

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Crosstalk

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Industry News

Special Topic: Near Surface Geoscience 37

Groningen explosion database Elmer Ruigrok, Jordi Domingo-Ballesta, Gert-Jan van den Hazel, Bernard Dost and Läslo Evers

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Application of geophysics to predict rainfall-induced dynamic changes in the hydraulic properties of an unsaturated soil slope Atsushi Suzaki, Ranajit Ghose and Shohei Minato

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Can high-resolution reprocessed data replace the traditional 2D high-resolution seismic data acquired for site surveys?

Julien Oukili, Jean-Paul Gruffeille, Christian Otterbein and Benjamin Loidl

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Towards drone-borne gammaray mapping of soils Han Limburg, Steven van der Veeke and Ronald Koomans

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First results of geophysical and geotechnical investigations along the Hedwige- and Prosperpolder dykes Serkan Nuri Elgün, Griet De Backer, Jasper Bink, Wouter Zomer and Patrik Peeters

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

Special Topic: Legacy Data 71

Smart Exploration: from legacy data to state-of-the-art data acquisition and imaging A. Malehmir, G. Donoso, M. Markovic, G. Maries, L. Dynesius, B. Brodic, N. Pecheco, P. Marsden, E. Bäckström, M. Penney and Vitor Araujo

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3D seismic datasets applied to mineral exploration: revisiting three Canadian case studies Gilles Bellefleur and Erick Adam

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On the use of legacy AEM data Viezzoli Andrea, Menghini Antonio and Vlad Kaminski

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Giving the legacy seismic data the attention they deserve Musa Manzi, Alireza Malehmir and Raymond Durrheim

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The role of land gravity data in the Neves-Corvo mine discovery and its use in present-day exploration and new target generation Fábio Marques, João Xavier Matos, Pedro Sousa, Patrícia Represas, Vítor Araújo, João Carvalho, Igor Morais1, Nelson Pacheco, Luís Albardeiro and Pedro Gonçalves

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Reprocessing aeromagnetic data using modern semi-automatic interpretation methods G.R.J. Cooper

Feature 107

University teams take on the Minus CO2 Challenge at the EAGE Annual 2019 Christopher Lloyd, Ryan Taylor, Marco Aurélio and Gemaque Cantuária

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Calendar

cover: The Neves-Coves copper and zinc mine in Portugal, which features in this month’s special topic on Legacy Data.

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European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers

Board 2019-2020

Michael Pöppelreiter President

Dirk Orlowsky Vi c e-President Elect

Everhard Muijzert Secretary-Treasurer

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

Oil & Gas Geoscience Division

Caroline Le Turdu Membership and Cooperation Officer

Ingrid Magnus Publications Officer

Colin MacBeth Education Officer

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

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

Companies can subscribe to First Break via an institutional subscription.

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

Aart-Jan van Wijngaarden Technical Programme Officer

George Apostolopoulos Chair Near Surface Geoscience Division

Michael Peter Suess Chair Oil & Gas Geoscience Division

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

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

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

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

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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Why EAGE Awards in 2020 will be special

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Celebrating 25 years of Petroleum Geoscience

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Marine Technologies event in Russia

Priorities must change to meet challenges of the future New EAGE president Michael Pöppelreiter has a vision for the geoscience and engineering community going forward which he shares with Andrew McBarnet in this profile of his life and career to date.

Pöppelreiter: spelling out the future.

The motto of the German University of Tübingen is Attempto! Roughly translated it means ‘I dare’ or ‘I’ll risk it’ which seems like the perfect exhortation to inspire the inquiring minds of its students.

Our 2019-2020 EAGE president Michael Pöppelreiter earned his PhD at Tübingen and, maybe not consciously, has pursued a career primarily in research and teaching in which the saying of his alma mater could have easily been his guiding light.

Carbonate geology as the topic for his doctorate has remained his abiding interest his entire career as a petroleum geologist with Shell, much of it including an educational component. Among his numerous publications, he has edited two books published by EAGE, one last year on the Lower Triassic Sequence of the Arabian Platform, the other in 2013 on the Permo-Triassic Sequence of the Arabian platform. He is currently director of the South East Carbonate Research Laboratory (SEACarl) and Shell chair petroleum geology, University Technologi Petronas, Malaysia, but has worked for many years in the Middle East, Europe and North America.

By taking the scientific route, Pöppelreiter bucked a family trend. His father was a director of opera, where he headed the FIRST

Institute for Music Theatre, leading in the construction of the MUMUTH House for Music and Music Theatre, which opened in March 2009. The musical connection does not stop there; it includes a headmaster of a music school, a ballet choreographer, an opera singer and a bassoonist.

About his career path, Pöppelreiter says ‘I decided to follow in the footsteps of my grandfather and a long family tradition in mining. Several generations worked in silver mining, so geology was a natural choice.’

Due to the peripatetic nature of his father’s profession, he was taught at numerous schools around Germany in his formative years. One constant as a youngster was the spare time spent at stables looking after race horses and race tracks.

It is still an interest for him today. ‘I just don’t have the time, but during my years in the Middle East (Qatar and Kuwait) I did get the chance to visit some of the legendary Arab race horse establishments’.

Pöppelreiter is quite philosophical about his lifelong passion for carbonates research. He says, ‘Born in the sea, carbonates span the cross road of geology and biology - earth and evolution, so to speak. Deciphering earth history from

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EAGE NEWS

carbonates is what I like to do. Reading the rocks and the evidence of mass extinction events in the past, I am always struck by how fragile life is on this planet and why we must be more humble and respect nature. We definitely should not overdo our belief in technology.’

rapid decarbonization of industry. As a non-profit organization EAGE can build a platform where we listen and learn from each other, and that’s what I would like to see.’

But there are barriers to overcome.

‘We need to overcome the rigid depart-

Managing the energy transition and protecting our environment are key issues for Pöppelreiter.

This leads to what will be a central theme of Pöppelreiter’s term as president of EAGE: managing the energy transition and adapting to the calls for measures to mitigate the environmental impact of human activities. He agrees that thermo dynamics is a poorly understood subject and hence the underlying science of global warming is not fully understood.

But that is not the point, he argues.

‘Talk of climate change has become a powerful tool to raise awareness. We know that after 150 years of industrial activity something has changed.

Independent of any scientific findings about the atmosphere, it is obvious that industry is gradually destroying our environment. That has to stop. In addition, we have to anticipate the implications of coastlines under threat, rivers drying up, glaciers disappearing, cities sinking, and so on. People will be on the move and relocation of millions of people without conflict poses a huge challenge.’

In Pöppelreiter’s view, coming up with solutions requires a new vision and way of working. ‘Our professions should be in the forefront of the knowledge transfer process to facilitate a 4

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ment structures in companies and universities and bring scientists and engineers closer together. In that way we can unleash innovation to its fullest potential, hopefully learning the lessons from millions of years of evolution. I like to cite the phenomenon of coral reefs.

They are a beautiful example of how cities could be built: an optimal photo synthesis-based energy transfer system with no waste.’

we‘ll harvest the combined knowledge of 300 years of geoscience research on energy applicable to the planet. EAGE can support this process with networks, motivation and education to make sure the geoscience community moves together, and nobody is left behind. We can all contribute and discover through computational geoscience insights the Earth’s process, unimaginable a few years back: the 4D science of time and space. Geoscientists have dedicated much time on hydrocarbon resources in the past 100 years. Our priorities will now change, for example, water will become an increasing preoccupation.’

The EAGE Board is currently mapping out a vision for the Association over the next five years, so it is a question of watch this space. But members can expect a shift of emphasis. Understandably with his pedagogic background, Pöppelreiter believes in the importance of energizing the student membership so that they become entrepreneurs themselves and volunteer to change the environment for the better. ‘This takes intimate insight into geoscience competencies and passion for live-long learning based on rock-solid knowledge of our professional fundamentals’, he says. ‘One emphasis of my presidency will clearly be a global strengthening of our student chapters, the fundament of our organization tomorrow.’

Pöppelreiter’s relationship with EAGE has evolved over the years with stints as conference chairman and committee member, EAGE lecture tours,

‘I am always struck by how fragile life is on this planet and why we must be more humble and respect nature. We definitely should not overdo our belief in technology.’

Pöppelreiter is realistic about the short-term. ‘EAGE can help us all to refocus. Geoscientists will adjust their skill sets during the next five years to embrace the full potential of engineering linked to computer science. EAGE can help with this and support cross-over technology workshops. As every piece of geoscience data is stored in the Cloud,

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workshop organizer and contributor, and EAGE book editor. He was also initiator and director of the first ever EAGE geological boot camp, held in the Middle East, where he says ‘the incredible enthusiasm of our student members made this event a highlight for all involved.’

Attempto! might be a good description of what occurred.

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EAGE NEWS

Why EAGE Awards in 2020 will be special Prof Anton Ziolkowski, chair of the Awards Committee, invites you to tell the Awards Committee who should receive awards at the 2020 Annual Meeting in Amsterdam.

Making more of our awards.

At the EAGE Annual 2019 in London, we had the pleasure of conferring awards on some of the stars of the geoscience and engineering community. Recognizing and honouring scientific advances is an important and integral role of the Association. This can even go beyond our membership, with EAGE’s highest award, the Desiderius Erasmus Award for life time contributions to resource exploration and development, which can be conferred upon any geoscientist or engineer in recognition of his or her outstanding and lasting achievement.

Following the EAGE meeting in London the Awards Committee feels that more can be done to celebrate the tremendous achievements of each of the award winners and next year at EAGE Amsterdam 2020 we plan to do just that.

Do you know someone who should have received an EAGE award, but, in your opinion, has been overlooked? Well, EAGE invites you to do something about it. All you have to do is nominate that person. The EAGE Awards Committee (https://www.eage.org/en/about-eage/ committees/awards/awards-committee-members) will consider the nomi6

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nation. No one on the Committee can nominate someone to compete with your nominee, so there is no conflict of interest for Committee members. Your nomination is only in competition with other nominations for the same award.

Perhaps you are not sure who can receive awards and what awards are available? The complete overview of the EAGE awards is available at https://www.eage.org/en/about-eage/ awards/overview-awards. This page tells you about each award. You may click on the name of the award and find out more, including the names and dates of past award-winners. Some of the names will be familiar to you. You may think that some of the people who have already received awards are no more deserving than certain people you know and respect, who have not received awards. You may be right.

To ensure that EAGE honours the right people, it is up to you, the members, to tell the Committee who should be recognized and honoured.

The Committee is often told that there are not enough women receiving awards, or not enough near-surface geoscientists, or not enough potential field geophysi-

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cists, and so on. Since members of the Committee cannot nominate candidates for awards, there is nothing we can do to address these concerns directly. We rely on you. If you are unhappy about who receives the awards, when more deserving people in your field are not recognized, you are free to nominate the more deserving candidates and the Committee will welcome your nominations.

There are certain people who cannot be nominated for awards: all serving members of the Awards Committee and all serving members of the Board of EAGE. When the Committee makes a recommendation, the Board may accept or reject the nomination. (They usually accept it.) They may not propose an alternative. We want to be, and be seen to be, as fair as possible.

The Committee works on the nominations you make to determine the strongest candidate for each award. Occasionally an award is not made for lack of a strong enough candidate. If that happens it is a lost opportunity. If members are unhappy about it, they know what they should have done. In 2019 there was no Alfred Wegener Award winner, because there were no nominations.

If you have read this far, I hope you are thinking about nominating someone for an award. The web page https://www.eage.org/en/about-eage/ awards/nominations provides all the information you need, including guidelines written by past EAGE president Phil Christie, who also served as chair of the Awards Committee for five years.

Please remember, most awards are limited to one candidate. The award selection process is carried out by the Committee on a confidential basis, with final approval of all recommendations by the EAGE Board. Obviously, it is crucial that your candidate should not be aware that he or she has been nominated.

Only EAGE members are eligible for Honorary Membership, Schlumberger, Wegener or Van Weelden Awards.

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EAGE NEWS

Annual in London proved

Nothing digital about this set-up.

Coffee on tap on the exhibition floor.

Welcome address from president Jean-Jacques Biteau.

Tim Gould taking part in the opening debate.

Exhibition doors are open.

Shooting hoops.

Virtual reality at the Exhibition.

Presentation on the Exhibition.

Forum platform for session on future role of geoscientists and engineers.

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Stairway to heaven: Icebreaker welcome band.

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Launch of English translation of Petroleum Geology book

by EAGE president Jean-Jacques Biteau.

EAGE NEWS

a capital occasion!

Party to Annual success: Local Advisory Committee

Contributors to EAGE forums.

Welcome at the President’s evening.

Geo-Quiz winners.

Rocking out the museum.

Dancing in the dark...

Is that what i think it is?

Members band in action.

EAGE team photo.

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EAGE to organize first Indian near-surface conference and exhibition A first Indian Near Surface Geophysics Conference & Exhibition is to be held in New Delhi on 28-29 November 2019 thanks to a new collaboration between EAGE and Aqua Foundation India, a non- government organization dedicated to promoting a sustainable environment.

To organize the event, EAGE is joining forces with the Aqua Foundation Academy (AFA). It provides workshops and courses for a wide range of working professionals including

government personnel as well as students focusing mainly on near surface technology.

Near-surface geophysics is being extensively used in India for various engineering, environmental, mining, ground water, archaeological and forensic applications. The conference intends to bring various stakeholders on a common platform, share the experiences and deliberate upon ways and means to increase use of geophysics for various application areas. The exhibition will

showcase new technologies and equipment that have emerged in the field of near surface geophysics.

Confirmation of participation has already been received from top level executives of organizations such as the National Geophysics Research Institute and Mineral Exploration Corporation of India Representatives from the Ministry of Earth Sciences as well as secretaries of various other ministries are also likely to attend the event. More information on the EAGE website.

Celebrating 25 years of Petroleum Geoscience

Petroleum Geoscience editorial team past and present together with Board and staff members in London.

Over the last 25 years, Petroleum Geoscience has been publishing leading research papers on exploration and development of sub-surface hydrocarbon resources and related themes in applied geoscience. The journal is a joint enterprise between the Geological Society of London (GSL) and the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE), published by the GSL Publishing House. The first issue was released in February 1995 with founding editors Andrew Hurst and Tony Spencer at the helm.

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On the opening evening of the 81st EAGE Conference and Exhibition, held at ExCel London, past and present editors, authors and contributors came together to celebrate Petroleum Geoscience’s special birthday. The reception was hosted by Philip Ringrose (chief editor), with speeches from Andrew Hurst (founding editor), Ingrid Magnus (publication officer) and Maggie Simmons (head of GSL editorial development). Thank you to all those who attended and joined us in a toast to 25 years of Petroleum Geoscience.

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What has changed in 25 years?

Looking back over past issues we can see that the topics and themes addressed in Petroleum Geoscience have been recognizable and fairly constant over this period (seismic imaging, stratigraphy, tectonics, basin analysis, reservoir modelling, etc.), but what has changed most are the advances in the techniques applied. Seismic imaging has moved on in leaps and bounds (e.g., waveform analysis and imaging), computer simulations now employ multi-physics analyses to multi-million cell models and the scales of analysis now go from the nanoscale (e.g., pore imaging) well past the basin scale to crustal-scale tectonic analysis.

Hopefully, careful geological observation of rock samples (at outcrop or in core) is still a foundation for any geoscience discipline, but the analytical methods used to take those observations into analysis and interpretation have moved on at tremendous pace. If you have a moment, take a look at back issues of Petroleum Geoscience to see how this branch of Earth science has developed over the last 25 years of publication.

EAGE NEWS

Launching an Energy geoscience section.

We are pleased to announce that, during its 25th anniversary year, Petroleum Geoscience has decided to introduce a new series of papers on the theme of Energy Geoscience.

The journal already publishes papers on geoscience aspects of energy storage, CO2 storage and geothermal energy, although our current content is mainly research related to hydrocarbon exploration and production. Research focused on new and emerging topics, such as cyclic stor-

Geoscience or one of the more specific thematic set topics we choose to run from time to time.

Despite this important and stimulating interest in new forms of energy, the use of hydrocarbons remains essential to human society, and novel and innovative papers on the geoscience of petroleum (derived from ‘rock oil’ in Greek) will continue to be a vital part of our geoscience portfolio.

We look forward to receiving a continuing stream of high-quality research papers across all aspects of applied geoscience.

age of gas or geothermal energy, will represent an increasing proportion of the journal’s coverage and deserve a more specific home. By introducing the energy geoscience series, we hope to create a channel for the anticipated growth in non-petroleum related aspects of geoenergy and applied earth science.

We continue to invite papers on any aspect of geoenergy and applied earth science, but now authors are able to choose between submission under energy geoscience alongside the traditional categories under Petroleum

Wim Goudswaard (1927-2019) In 1987 Wim Goudswaard served as president of the European Association of Exploration Geophysicists (EAEG), forerunner of our Association today.

His term of office was a period of major change as the organization was rapidly growing its staff and professionalism. It was also the moment when discussions began regarding the formation of a sister society, the European Association of Petroleum Geologists (EAPG). This was eventually formed two years later. EAPG shared a business office with EAEG and jointly organized Annual Meetings, until the two entities merged into the newly named European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers in 1995.

Goudswaard took all the noise and upheaval in his stride without any drama.

His measured description of events at that time can be found in EAGE 19512001: Reflections on the First 50 Years.

His observations cover a decade or so based on eight years experience on the Executive Committee and four years as secretary-treasurer of the PACE Foundation. He also offers a charming telling of his life story from country boy in the east of the Netherlands to chief geophysicist and other managerial positions during his career with Shell. After graduating from the Mining Institute of Delft, his first seismic assignment was Bangladesh followed by expat jobs in Libya, Algeria,

France, Gabon and Indonesia before returning to Shell HQ in the Netherlands in 1974.

Retiring in 1985, he returned to the country life on his hobby farm. He found time to publish one book with EAEG - Seismic Atlas of Structural and Stratigraphic Features (Goudswaard and Jenyon, 1988). It was intended as a training aid for the inexperienced seismic interpreter.

Goudswaard and his wife Femmie (who died in 2016) had four children to whom we offer our sincere sympathies.

EAGE Education Calendar 26-30 AUG

EDUCATION DAYS RIO DE JANEIRO: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

17-18 SEP

EDUCATION DAYS LONDON: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

15 SEP

EAGE EDUCATION TOUR 1, BY ERIC VERSCHUUR

SAN ANTONIO, USA

23-26 SEP

EDUCATION DAYS MEXICO CITY: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO

27 SEP

EAGE EDUCATION TOUR 13, BY IAN JONES

STANFORD, USA

23-24 OCT

EDUCATION DAYS OSLO: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

OSLO, NORWAY

26-27 NOV

EDUCATION DAYS AMSTERDAM: MULTIPLE SHORT COURSES PROGRAMME

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

12-15 NOV

EDUCATION DAYS HOUSTON

HOUSTON, USA

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

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EAGE NEWS

Deepwater discussion continues in Mexico

WORKSHOP

REPORT

Report by Emily Ferguson (Total) and Humberto Salazar (PEMEX) on the 2nd Workshop on Deepwater Exploration in Mexico held on 24-26 April in Cancún Following the first Deepwater Exploration Mexico Workshop hosted by EAGE in 2018, it was without much debate a second event was organized. In April 170 delegates regrouped at the Marriott

Why come back for a second year?

Since the first workshop there has been continued volatility in the oil markets, but confidence in exploration is growing.

We know that any single stakeholder does

Cancun workshop participants in deep discussion.

Beach Resort Cancun with some 13 sponsoring companies. Although Cancún is more commonly known as a beach holiday resort, we had far more important topics to be addressed! The focus was ‘Collaboration and knowledge transfer from shelf to deepwater’.

The workshop was opened by JeanJacques Biteau, EAGE president, who celebrated the level of attendance which exceeded 2018 and was testament to the level of interest and activity in offshore Mexico. The workshop setting allowed for the exchange of ideas and to address the common challenges facing the industry. Biteau gave a warm welcome to the 20 students selected from the best Mexican universities, invited and sponsored by AMGE and Total. They also attended an education session hosted by Schlumberger and Diamond Offshore.

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not have the full range of competencies, qualifications or expertise to cover the full spectrum of tasks required. However, together (governmental authorities and regulators, NOCs, IOCs, service providers, and local stakeholders) we form a collective body of interest.

In keeping with the continued cost consciousness and efficiencies being strived for by all our companies, it points to transfer of knowledge and collaboration as a key ingredient for success. Today proposes new challenges and the industry continues to move forward, seeking to be more efficient to increase production and incorporate new reserves.

There are examples of direct outcomes from the 2018 workshop including the rig share of the Rowan Renaissance moving from Total to Petronas, Tenaris

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spearheading ideas for standardization based on the US Gulf of Mexico experience, and the network and connections made in Cancún 2018. The collaboration has to continue, and that is why we gathered for a second year.

The organizing committee, composed of representatives across the industry and globe, consolidated a technical programme to support the all-important round table discussions under two themes: subsurface and operations.

The co-chairs urged the audience to actively participate, listen and collaborate. ‘Collaboration is not about gluing together existing egos. It’s about the ideas that never existed until after everyone entered the room’ (unknown).

Plenary session takeaways Mexico’s new government outlined plans to grow oil production nearly 40% to 2.5 million b/d by the end 2024. Mature fields in Mexico account for 60% of all fields, and the strategy will include EOR to reach this target. For CNH (National Hydrocarbon Commission), the key factors for success include the continued awarding of areas not previously licensed and to maintain transparency in the contract award process. In working with the regulator the international oil companies need to demonstrate how they will comply to the regulations. In addition the Operators, with support from AMEXHI (Mexico’s Asociación Mexicana de Empresas de Hidrocarburos), continue to promote optimizing the processes for faster turnaround from capture to exploration drilling.

Subsurface Session takeaways A session discussed how to share and transfer knowledge on different play fairways, structural settings, petroleum systems, reservoir distributions and rock quality vital to be successful in the exploitation of the hydrocarbon poten-

EAGE NEWS

tial of the prolific Mexican offshore basins.

One subsurface initiative discussed was velocity model building: what could we do better? The answer: collaboration between all geological and geophysical services from processor, interpreter and academia. It is known that a multi-scenario approach needs to be put forward, as even if we use FWI for model building, the quality of the final model depends a lot on the initial model. Today’s real-time iteration of velocity models provides new opportunities. Velocity model building and acquisition are inter-related as well as the important step of integrating the geological stratigraphic models as early as possible. Missing the integration can lead to pitfalls and substandard results.

To do even better will require collaboration with academia.

A second initiative is collaboration with academia – knowledge transfer.

This was a late topic brought to the roundtables, with the benefit of UNAM University and students present. There is a need to develop the connection between academia and the oil and gas industry. The obligation for the transfer of technology in contracts is poorly defined. There is an opportunity to create a collective framework to better work together across the different institutions such as Academia Mexicana de Ingeneria, AMEXHI, CNH and Ministry of Economy.

Operational session takeaways The operational session focused on sharing and applying operational experience and lessons from the northern Gulf of Mexico. The exchange of ideas can foster safe and efficient execution of explo-

achievable goals, it would aim to gather lessons learnt from operators who have been awarded licences offshore Mexico.

With the help of an intern from a Mexican University, under AMEXHI, the idea is to capture the lessons learned through interviews on the regulatory process.

Specific consideration will be given to the drilling authorization and Sassisopa/ environmental permits.

A third operational initiative discussed was collaboration and digitalization. At the heart of collaboration is an initiative to promote conference delegates to commit to share in the next workshop on topics such as operational experience, best practices, lessons learned and project timelines, and for the regulator to provide their perspective.

Networking by the ocean in Cancun.

ration and development programmes, de-risk drilling hazards and optimize well design. With the recent operations undertaken by IOCs, examples and lessons learned were presented.

A cuttings discharge initiative proposes a large scale study on the impact of land disposal once the existing IOC activity increases. This is the second year that this topic has been raised and the proposal for a study, with the support through AMEXHI and academia to investigate further, whilst considering operators own company positions on environmental impact.

Establish standardization in the regulatory process was another initiative put forward. Recognizing the need for

Conclusion The workshop sponsored by Total, Shell and Petronas, and chaired by PEMEX and Total for a second year, has reaffirmed the need for more dialogue. Where collaboration has happened, positive results have been seen, and to promote efficient business delivery in Mexico follow up is needed with the regulator, NOC, IOCs and service companies. To make these workshops even better and attract more participation from the regulator and Pemex a questionnaire will be circulated to all participants to gather feedback. We are on a journey.

Special thanks to the session chairs - Bernard Geiss (Total), Steve Pitman (PGS), Julio Colmenares (Ecopetrol), Bruce Webb (ENI), Fabien Poeymarie (Total) and Kevin Bordosky (Diamond Offshore).

We cordially invite you to attend the upcoming version of this event: Third EAGE Workshop on Offshore in Mexico on 12-14 May 2020 in Merida.

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Nigerian young professionals show the way

The YP team of Local Chapter Nigeria won the Delft Inversion contest at the EAGE Annual 2019.

The young professionals (YPs) operating within EAGE Local Chapter (LC) Nigeria have been extraordinarily proactive in their activities, so much so that they won the contest sponsored by Delft Inversion for the most active EAGE community during the recent EAGE Annual in London This is the result of the LC taking on the mission to establish connections with other communities and to tailor their activities for different target profiles that exist within their groups – young professionals, students, women in geoscience, etc..

A series of YP Technical Sessions dedicated to the younger members of the LC was launched earlier this year.

The first of these took place in April on ‘Unravelling Sand-Filled Channels from Mud-Filled Channels on Seismic’ given by Ezekiel Omotoso, exploration manager, Belemaoil. At the event, Dr M. Afe, president of the LC, delivered an enthusiastic opening speech describing how professional bodies such as EAGE can help a professional to grow and reach a wider network, encouraging YPs

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to keep the membership drive alive, to keep growing and learning.

The lecture itself focused on the presentation of a model useful for the identification of sand-filled and mud-filled channels on seismic sections. The goal was to give the YPs insights into how they could identify prospects within the much steeper portion of a deepwater slope.

In this kind of study area, it is likely to have either sand or shale to be deposited within the channel i.e., confined or slightly confined channels along the slope. It then becomes very tricky and daunting to identify prospects in such a region,

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because the energy and elevation is high, and sand sediments tend to settle more at lower elevation where accommodation space is more spread out like a fan.

Given this fact, it is imperative to know that the risk becomes high along the slope, simply because sand would or might not be fully developed. The presenter’s model explained what could be seen in a confined or weakly confined area from the feeder system through the slope. He showed a technique to differentiate channels that could be sandfilled from those that are mud-filled.

The experience sharing was as useful as the technical content, and was greatly appreciated by the audience.

In May, the group organized a second lecture on ‘Repositioning for the next lever in your energy career’ with Dr Ifeanyi Ezuka, technical director, Neconde Energy as guest speaker. This time the topic focused on ideas for plugging into the current trends of the industry. Dr Ezuka stressed the concept that activities are not equal to productivity, and that YPs should always strive to keep learning in order to deliver in a thoughtful manner. He tasked the participants to commit to reading 100 papers a year and publishing at least one to three annually.

Most recently the YP team Team organized a session with geophysicist Adeleke Orimolade of South Atlantic Petroleum on ‘Reducing Reservoir Risks in Exploration Plays using AVO Intercept Gradient Method’.

The YP Team of Local Chapter Nigeria at their June technical meeting.

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Marine Technologies event in Russia Report on Marine Technologies 2019 held for the first time in Gelendzhik, Russia at the end of April together with the 15th Engineering and Mining Geophysics Conference and Exhibition

Marine field demonstration in the Gelendzhik Bay.

In recent years the industry has seen a significant increase in construction of transportation, power, telecommunication and other important infrastructural facilities in marine areas. A great leap has been made in Arctic shelf development, where multiple projects in exploration drilling, petroleum lifting and pipelining have also required performing a great number of geophysical, hydrographic, geological, ecological studies and surveys. Thanks to these activities a whole market for hydrotechnical works has been formed, and the professionals need a platform for knowledge share and discussion of the latest trends and technological developments. This was why EAGE decided to hold a conference on marine technologies.

The conference scientific programme was opened by E.V. Ageenkov (Joint Geophysical Company) who delivered a course on marine electrical exploration.

The course in four parts, began with the characteristics of marine electrical exploration, continuing with an historical overview of its application in the USSR, Russia and other countries. The remaining parts of the course covered the current state of the technology and its application to the study of the deep-sea floor and searching for hydrocarbons.

During the plenary session, two presentations on marine seismic and its application in transition zone areas were

delivered. A.M. Turchkov covered shallow 2D seismic and its application in the transition zone to connect marine and land survey data for the purposes of bridge engineering. M.Yu. Tokarev focused on engineering marine seismic now and in the future in a paper acknowledged to be the best at the conference.

The implementation of marine projects was considered during the first session of the event. Reports about international requirements, studies of engineering-geological dangers in the shelf area (A. Loktev) and the geophysical approach to classification of dangerous geological phenomena and processes while marine surveying (A. Roslyakov) provoked animated discussion. A. Shmatkov in his report provided detailed analysis of the Russian market for

remotely-operated unmanned vehicles and its future under sanctions, paying specific attention to development of hardware and software solutions for such vehicles.

The remaining scientific agenda was divided into four sessions devoted to seismic and hydroacoustic surveying; electromagnetic surveying; marine studies of engineering-geological dangers; and a poster session.

Apart from the scientific programme, participants had an opportunity to visit an exhibition and see technology in action at the field demonstrations. These were organized by Geodevice, Geosignal, Logis-Geotech and Siber-Instruments who showcased their own developments. A variety of local food and drinks furnished by participating companies provided a fitting finish.

During the final day of the event, the participants were also given an opportunity to take part in a marine field demonstration. The Borey research vessel came to Gelendzhik, so everyone could get on board and see the equipment it carried.

During the demonstration, Marine Geo Service and Svarog presented their unmanned submarines, and the Geodevice Company their equipment for high-resolution marine seismic.

Encouraged by the success of this first occasion, a second Marine Technologies event is planned to take place in Saint Petersburg on 6-9 April 2020.

Poster presentations were part of the conference programme.

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EAGE NEWS

Welcome to our special section!

We are happy to present this first special section in First Break dedicated to near surface geoscience. Near Surface Update will be published four times a year to stimulate awareness, interaction and knowledge in the area of near surface geophysics, environmental engineering and the involvement of the Near Surface Geoscience Division (NSGD) within the Association.

Those familiar with the NSGD will have noticed growing interest in our activities and projects over the years. For many, the Division was associated mainly with the annual Near Surface Geoscience event. These days there’s much more, and it is felt that this trend should be better reflected in First Break, as the main communication for the membership.

Let’s start with our Annual Meeting.

This year we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the conference. Since the introduction of the parallel NSG conferences in 2014, we have seen a gradual uptick in participation. The mix of specialized conferences has proved to be a successful formula.

For that reason, we are looking forward

to welcoming you to Near Surface Geoscience 2019 in The Hague in September, where we will for the very first time have four parallel meetings.

In addition to the 25th European Meeting of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics, the 1st Conference on Geothermal-energy Utilization and Renewable Energy Storage and the 1st Conference on Geophysics for Infrastructure Planning Monitoring and BIM we are now also excited to welcome the 10th International Workshop on Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar to be co-located with our event.

The NSG event series is not our Division’s only offering. Our committee aims to reach a worldwide community, with well-established conferences such as Engineering Geophysics in Gelendzhik, Russia and the Asia Pacific Near Surface meetings. We are also pleased to be partnering with EEGS on the further development of the SAGEEP conference series in North America. Representatives or the committee will also be present at other external events later this year,

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most notably contributing to the SAGA conference in Durban, South Africa in October.

‘Near Surface’ is more than just a collection of conferences. Like other communities within EAGE our activities involve publishing (make sure to pick up a copy of Near Surface Geophysics next time you see it!), workshops and other projects. Committee members are heavily involved in the Smart Exploration project as well. With the project well under way and finishing in 2020 we are proud to be working with our partners on the EAGE Horizon 2020 project. It shows how connectivity, international cooperation and the sharing of information is key for successful science and developments.

The NSGD has an increasingly important role to play within the Association, and we believe cooperation between various disciplines is key to keep moving forward. We are therefore not only looking forward to telling you about our activities and events, but also actively looking to work within the wider EAGE community.

Join the best Near Surface annual yet!

This year’s Near Surface Geoscience Conference & Exhibition takes us to The Hague, a vibrant coastal city where the King of the Netherlands lives and the Dutch government resides. Combining four parallel meetings, an extensive technical programme, and a must visit exhibition, we plan to make this year’s event the best one yet!

The main focus will be on the 25th European Meeting of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics where the technical program encompasses traditional as well as emerging topics and technologies: airborne, borehole, land, and marine geophysics; archeogeophysics, hydrogeophysics, environmental, agricultural,

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mining, hot- and cold-zone geophysics; geothermal, CO2 sequestration, hazards; monitoring, characterization, integration, joint inversion, and machine learning/ artificial intelligence; plus methods, modelling, applications, case studies, developments.

Our 1st Conference on Geophysics for Geothermal Energy Utilization and Renewable Energy Storage will bring together professionals from academia, service companies, operators, and energy companies dedicated to geophysical solutions for a globally efficient utilization of the subsurface. Special emphasis is being given to geophysical developments, e.g., gravity, magnetotelluric, time-domain

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electromagnetic, seismic methods, dedicated to this goal. With case studies, the application and challenges of geophysics for characterization and monitoring of target reservoir horizons will be explored.

In another first, the Conference on Geophysics for Infrastructure Planning, Monitoring and BIM (Building Information Modelling)aims to provide a platform for academia, governmental institutions and industry to address the challenges related to engineered infrastructure. State-of-the-art geophysical methods will be presented that highlight their relevance before, during and after construction of these structures.

In addition, the conference will address the topic of geophysical data delivery to

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geotechnical and civil engineers, planners and asset owners. BIM tools to effectively manage the information required for infrastructure planning and maintenance projects will be highlighted.

The aim of the 10th International Workshop on Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is to bring together scientists, engineers, industrial delegates and end-users working in all GPR areas, ranging from fundamental electromagnetics to the numerous fields of applications. The workshop will provide a supportive framework for providing updates on ongoing research

activities and results, fruitful discussions and development of new ideas, community-building through the identification of skill sets and collaboration opportunities, and the exposure of early-career investigators to the GPR research community.

Alongside the four parallel meetings will be the ever-popular exhibition. Key international companies from the near surface industry will showcase their latest developments, newest technologies and innovative services including some demonstrations. You can top up your week with our workshops and field trips! These

include workshops on Geophysics for Geohazards, Benchmark Testing for GPR, and Forensic Geophysics, and field trips in The Hague area to such points of interest as the Rotterdamsebaan and the Port of Rotterdam. For more details on the workshops and field trips, keep an eye on our website.

With a myriad of things to experience at the Near Surface Geoscience Conference & Exhibition, make sure you take advantage of the Early Bird fee and save on your attendance at this key event in the calendar by registering at www.NSG2019.org.

Look forward to something new and challenging at Geomodel 2019 Alexey Shevchenko (PetroTrace) describes what is in store for participants at this year’s EAGE Geomodel 2019, the 21st conference on oil and gas geological exploration and development being held in Gelendzhik on 9-13 September 2019.

Gelndzhik: over the years, home of Soviet and Russian marine exploration and the Geomodel conference.

Our conferences have been attracting the growing attention of professionals in the petroleum industry, who come to Russia both to share their knowledge and to learn new things. What makes the Geomodel conference different is the opportunity it provides for professional development and growth, especially for young professionals. At the conference, you can not only learn new things and prove your point in friendly debates, but also become visible in our profession.

For many of us, Geomodel is a place where we review what has been done for the past year, try to estimate our success-

es and appreciate the achievements of our colleagues.

This year’s event will include a number of specialized sessions that will allow the participants to consider both theoretical and practical issues in hydrocarbon exploration and development.

The programme will include more than 150 presentations delivered in more than 20 sessions, mainly focused on regions.

The topics will vary from Western and Eastern Siberia to issues in seismic data processing; geological, hydrodynamic and geomechanical modelling; kinematic and dynamic interpretation of seismic data; FIRST

regional geology of petroleum basins in Russia and worldwide; and non-seismic and remote surveying technologies. For a more detailed overview of the conference’s programme, please visit our website: www.eage.ru.

The event’s agenda will also include an educational course entitled Refraction, Diffraction and Scattering and a practical introductory course into deep-water sedimentology. Alexey Shevchenko who will deliver the educational course has made it in a way for easy understanding of the general principles of seismic waves formation.

Meanwhile Prof Evgeny Baraboshkin will introduce the fascinating world of deepwater sediments that can be found near Gelendzhik, for example, features and models of turbidities, debrites, deep-shelf deposits as well as their ichnofacies that are typical of North-Western Caucasus.

The agenda will also include presentations of software solutions and technologies. Also the EAGE bookshop that will be open throughout the conference.

We invite you all to join us at the conference. Early registration ends on 21 August 2019.

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Workshop outlines options for better datadriven, quantitative characterization of the marine top-hole and foundation zones

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Joint workshop chairs Mark E. Vardy (SAND Geophysics), Maarten Vanneste (NGI, Oslo), and Eugene Morgan (Penn State University) sum up the proceedings of the workshop at the London EAGE Annual Meeting on ‘Seismic Inversion for Marine Overburden Characterization’.

Figure 1 3D perspective of gas hydrate saturation distribution at Blake Ridge as estimated from inversion of the Hydrate Effective Grain rock physics model. Image courtesy Eugene Morgan.

The workshop was initiated thanks to a cross-sector initiative involving service providers, end-users, and clients.

The ambitious objectives of the workshop were threefold. Firstly, to broaden the awareness of current state-of-the-art seismic inversion capabilities for the marine top-hole and foundation zones, particularly within end-client representatives who often find it difficult to remain abreast of cutting-edge technical developments. Secondly, to bring experts in the different disciplines (e.g., geophysicists, geotechnical engineers, ground modellers) together for an open and frank discussion on the potential outputs from seismic inversion and the site investigation objectives/problems that these could be applied to. Thirdly, to identify gaps in our technical ability and/ or knowledgebase that can form the focus of research and development activities over the next five to 10 years.

The workshop was attended by over 60 participants, from both industry and academia, as well as covering a broad spectrum of individuals associated with the site investigation process. These included geophysicists, with expertise in developing and applying inversion methods; geotechnical engineers, who incorporate 18

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the results into engineering ground models and subsequent infrastructure design; and end-clients, who finance and oversee the whole project cycle.

The morning session was filled with invited speakers, who set the scene for seismic inversion methods being applied to the marine near surface. The workshop was kicked off by Anthony Fogg (Arun Geoscience), who provided a whistle-stop tour of the broad spectrum of seismic inversion methods as applied to exploration-scale problems, with insights into how they might translate for shallow-section applications. This was followed by end-client representatives discussing how these techniques might benefit the challenges faced within the hydrocarbon (Gayle Hough, BP) and offshore renewable (Knud Karkov, Ørsted) sectors. Finally, Michael Clare (NOC, Southampton) and Rasmus Kinkvort (NGI, Paris) provided the end-user perspective, summarizing the challenges faced for geohazard and engineering design applications, respectively, and how access to more quantitative and data-driven information may aid in streamlining project timescales and increasing cost efficiency.

Collectively, these talks demonstrated a significant appetite within both the

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end-user and client communities for getting access to more quantitative ground models.

It was broadly recognized that, while there is undoubtedly more that can be done with data currently acquired as standard, there are potentially more significant benefits to taking a more fundamental approach and exploring new technologies and/or techniques within the data acquisition phase as well as processing/reporting. It was highlighted that any move towards incorporating more quantitative methods will require engagement from all parties earlier in the project workscope than is currently seen, with a multi-disciplinary team contributing to the specification, design and acquisition of each survey stage (including the scoping surveys) to allow a seamless multi-disciplinary integration.

The afternoon session was subdivided into two parts. The first featured presentations of the current technical state-of-theart. Led by an invited presentation from Eugene Morgan (Penn State University) on the little-used but incredibly useful Q-factor parameter, the session included a diverse range of talks covering: the uses of S-waves and slow P-waves (Alan Foley, Svitzer Surveys); frequency-domain reflectivity inversion (Charles Holland, Penn State University); deep learning (Mark Vardy, SAND Geophysics); and rock physical models (Guillaume Sauvin, NGI, Oslo). The second featured case study presentations on decimetre-resolution 4D imaging (Michael Faggetter, University of Southampton), quantitative applications for cable and pipeline trenching (Mark Vardy, SAND Geophysics), metre-scale 3D imaging of the complete top-hole zone (Nina Lebedeva-Ivanova, VBPR), and traveltime tomography from the Rockall Basin (Gaurav Tomar, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies).

These talks and the associated discussion demonstrated the considerable

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technical expertise already available in academia and industry around deriving quantitative information from marine seismic data. From the industry perspective, it was recognized that this expertise represents a largely untapped resource when it comes to site survey applications with benefits across the entire project lifetime.

Important conclusions and actions identified during the course of the workshop were: 1) There was a consensus among all present that more collaboration between service providers (e.g., geophysical contractors), end-users (geotechnical engineers), and the client is needed, particularly in the early stages of a project workscope, to maximize productivity and ensure all data acquired can provide fit-for-

purpose quantitative information (i.e., the sub-surface is quantified in terms of parameters that are useful/directly applicable to the end-problem, such as determining pile length/diameter); 2) The options in terms of seismic inversion methods are extensive and some have been used successfully on ‘standard’ site survey data, however for some of the potentially more useful techniques to become applicable to site survey problems, new developments and/ or changes of practice are required in the data acquisition sphere; and 3) The disconnect between small-strain, short time-period geophysical measurements and large-strain, long time-period geotechnical measurements remains an issue and a significant collaborative research and

development effort is required to bridge this gap. Finally, the importance of proper communication and interactions across the various disciplines and expertise are key to further progress these developments.

The organizing committee will discuss how these actions will be followed up. The intention is to continue this effort with regular workshops organized under the EAGE Conference umbrella. It is likely that a follow-up workshop or open-floor discussion session will be organized to coincide with the Fourth Applied and Shallow Marine Geophysics Conference, which will run alongside the Near Surface Geophysics Congress in 2020. If you would like to contribute or participate, save the date for the EAGE NSG event in September 2020.

Geophysical Prospecting launches rock physics special issue The successful 5th International Workshop on Rock Physics held in Hong Kong on 23-26 April 2019 is to be the launching pad for a Special Issue in Geophysical Prospecting dedicated to rock physics studies. This follows the tradition of previous workshops in the series. Research presented at the workshop, as well as other relevant papers from the wider rock physics research community ae being invited to make a submission by the deadline of 1 October 2019.

The Special Issue entitled ‘Rock physics for the next generation’ invites contributions which make novel theoretical, experimental and applied progress in measurement, modelling, and inversion of rock physics, with an emphasis on multi-physics and the stress-dependency of

different physical properties. Theoretical developments, laboratory experiments and digital simulations will be welcome for all applications, from resource characterization to CO2 storage. The Special Issue offers a potential for linking these branches together.

Guest Editor is Arthur Cheng, professor (practice), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore. He says, ‘We are encouraging the submission of papers covering different topics, from pure, fundamental research to more applied demonstrations and integrated case studies. More specifically, we suggest topics such as Anisotropic rock physics; Elastic and flow behaviour or fractures and their characterisation; Static-dynamic behav-

iour of rocks and geomechanics; Digital rocks and their applications; and the Role of machine learning in rock physics modelling and applications. Papers with more general rock physics themes will also be considered.’

Contributed papers should be submitted to Geophysical Prospecting by the normal procedure via the Scholar One system (https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ gp), taking care on the online submission form to select the drop down menu for the Special Issue: ‘Rock physics for the next generation’.

Submission opens on 15 July 2019 with a deadline of 1 October 2019, acceptance/ rejection notification - 15 February 2020, and paper publication – May 2020.

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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Shale shock and awe Whether we like it or not, the impact of the US shale oil and gas been approximately $275 billion higher. It projects that the US revolution has already turned out to be one of the most significant trade balance in these segments will improve by at least another developments of the 21st century. It has transformed the geopol$75 billion by 2022. The US currently imports 12% percent of its itics of oil, proven to be an unexpected boost to the economy total oil, compared to 60% a little more than 10 years ago. The of the US and in the process helped to embolden a maverick natural gas trade balance also shifted markedly. Imports accountpresident to take a wrecking ball through key international trade ed for about one-sixth of domestic consumption a decade ago, but agreements intended to provide stability in the global economy. the US is now a net gas exporter and driving to be a much larger Successful shale exploitation in the US has also shuttered all one. The country has seen significant job creation, and the lower talk of ‘peak oil’ by opening up the possibility of vast accessible cost of domestic oil and gas helps to make its petrochemical and new reserves for a number of countries in the world, notably other manufacturing industries more competitive. energy-hungry China. In addition, four years ago BP’s chief Yet, in the US there is one extraordinary but, let’s be clear, not economist was already admitting that carbon emission and clifatal, anomaly in the flourishing future for shale. That fact is no mate change concerns, not shortage of prospects, meant that the one is getting rich. After quite some years, stakeholders are still world’s remaining oil resources would never be fully extracted. seeing no significant upside for their investment spurring a chorus The technology that unleashed this treasure trove of energy of calls for capital discipline and a stop to the burning of cash. wealth is itself a cause for acknowledgement of the oil industry’s The point was given its most forceful airing to date at a continuing ingenuity. Yet with the plaudits has comes notoriepetro-chemical conference in Pittsburgh in June when Steve ty. The remarkable harnessing of horizontal Schlotterbeck singled out the shale gas revodrilling has been overlooked in the focus on ‘Unfettered production lution as ‘an unmitigated disaster for any buyhydraulic fracturing. Understandable popular and-hold investor in the shale gas industry

by US shale E&P qualms about water pollution and earth tremwith very few limited exceptions.’ Before ors have been amplified such that ‘fracking’ a contentious resignation over remuneration countries has has become an increasingly powerful anti-oil last year, Schlotterbeck was CEO of EQT, the revolutionised the industry rallying cry with the full implications largest natural gas producer in the US with its still to be played out. main focus on Appalachia’s Marcellus Shale. politics of oil.’

The unknown quantity of hostile popular He claimed: ‘The industry is self-desentiment about shale exploitation in the US and elsewhere (it is structing from the success of the shale gas technologies …They virtually off the table in most European countries) is one of the continue to believe that volume growth is necessary for them to factors prompting the first creeping doubts about the health of be successful, although we now have several years of data that the shale boom. demonstrates the opposite … I’m not aware of another case of a For the time being no one is complaining too loudly about the disruptive technological change that has done so much harm to enviable economic benefits of the changes in US energy resourcthe industry that created the change.’ es. Without the shifts that have occurred over the past decade ‘There will be a reckoning,’ Schlotterbeck said, ‘and the in the balance of trade in industry segments tied to oil and gas only question is whether it happens in a controlled manner production, IHS Markit estimates that the US merchandise trade or whether it comes as an unexpected shock to the system.’ deficit, which totalled about $800 billion in 2017, would have US natural gas output was projected to increase to a record

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Meanwhile, the bigger picture is that unfettered production 81.4 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in July, according to the by shale E&P companies of the US has revolutionized the politics US government Energy Information Administration (EIA). That of oil. OPEC countries have lost any semblance of control of the amounts to an increase of 0.8 bcfd over the June forecast and market. This is ironic in that mainly autocratic nations have been marks a record 18th consecutive monthly increase. A year ago in July, output was 69.5 bcfd. successfully challenged by free market enterprise. According to Recent comments by Carlos Torres Diaz, head of gas market a study by IHS Markit commissioned by the Independent Petroresearch, Rystad Energy, indicate that the export market is leum Association of America, 83% of total US oil production is dour, not just for the US. He reports that US exporters were not accounted for by independent oil and natural gas. Domestically covering their operational costs with exports to Europe during the independent oil and natural gas producers contributed an estifirst five months of 2019 although they increased by 6.9 billion mated $573 billion to the nation’s economy or 2.8% of GDP, and cubic metres (bcm) versus the same period the previous year. supported 4.5 million jobs.

They are pitted predominantly against Russian competition. The At the end of June OPEC and their allies (OPEC+) backed country supplied 38% of Europe’s total natural gas demand in

by Russia agreed to extend oil supply cuts in place until March 2018 at 201 bcm and is determined in the current record low price 2020 in order to prop up the price of crude amid concerns about a environment to maintain market share, even as Europe seeks to weakening global economy and rampant US production. Ceding diversify its sources of supply. This same race to the bottom is to US oil strength (overtaking Saudi Arabia and Russia as the also being played out in Asia where LNG prices have crumbled, world’s top producer) began in 2017 after Saudi Arabia’s attempt according to the Rystad analysis. between 2014 and 2016 to make shale production untenable by Some of the same basic concerns are prevalent in the prolowering the world price of oil with increased production. This duction of shale oil. For example, US fracking-focused oil and proved a costly mistake in that it hurt the economies of member gas companies continued their decade-long losing streak through countries including its own with national budgets over-dependent the first quarter of 2019, according to the on oil wealth.

Sightline Institute and the Institute for Energy This bigger picture is paradoxical. By ‘Most analysts are Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), opening the oil tap, the US shale industry painting a painful which detects an underlying weakness in the is putting downward pressure on the price fracking business. The analysts have been picture of over-supply of oil when it needs higher prices to make tracking a cross-section of 29 small and profits and reward impatient investors. Presin 2020.’ mid-sized US E&P companies. They reported ident Trump himself is conflicted, perhaps $2.5 billion in negative cash flows from January through March unknowingly. Higher prices would benefit the oil industry and 2019. These results are said to be even worse than in the fourth the US trade balance. On the other hand, lower gas prices at the quarter of 2018, when the same group notched up $2.1 billion in pumps would be beneficial in the forthcoming election year, and negative cash flows. will also continue to keep OPEC+ and Russia on the defensive.

Not surprisingly such results come with financial conseMost analysts are painting a painful picture of over-supply quences. Wall Street has dried up as a source of available finance in 2020 before continuing growth in US output can slow. The as investors have lost patience. Research firm Dealogic reports International Energy Agency (IEA) believes oil supply in the first that no US E&P companies have issued bonds since last October. half exceeded demand by 0.9 mb/d resulting in a global surplus The current demand is for operators to focus on profitability rathof 0.5 mb/d to which huge stock piles seen in the second half of er than growth, and repayment of overhanging debt, particularly 2018 should be added. This was when oil production surged and for the many companies which are highly leveraged. demand growth began to falter. As a result, IEA concludes that, There are well known technical issues to overcome to with the further increases anticipated in the shale contribution, the answer this call. Companies have long moaned about lack of call on OPEC crude could fall to only 28 mb/d compared with more pipeline capacity for both oil output (and exporting excess gas). than 30 mb/d in 2019. Conventional thinking is that this will leave However, the main issue is the production process itself. It OPEC+ and Russia with little option but to agree further cuts. requires continuous drilling to sustain output to compensate for The usual caveats apply to any oil price scenario predicrapid depletion. A constraint here is the so-called parent-child tions. Some resolution of the Trump-inspired US/China trade well interference issue in which drilling/fracking wells too dispute could engender economic confidence to offset the global close together result in reduced pressure and less than optimal deteriorating trade and manufacturing activity detected by IEA. production. Paal Kibsgaard, CEO of Schlumberger, has gone Happenings regarding the usual suspects such as Iran, Venezueon record as saying the annual production growth from the la, Libya and Nigeria could alter the supply/demand situation abundant Permian expected for the foreseeable is starting to be overnight. What remains unchanged is the US in control and called into question. all that implies.

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

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HIGHLIGHTS

INDUSTRY NEWS

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Big rise in demand for seismic survey equipment.

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Shearwater shoots 3D survey offshore Cambodia

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UK launches 32 nd offshore licensing round

BP says world is losing battle on cutting carbon emissions

Global production of renewable energy grew by 14% in 2018.

The BP Statistical Review of World Energy has highlighted the growing divergence between demands for action on climate change and the actual pace of progress on reducing carbon emissions.

The 68th annual edition of the BP Stats Review found that global energy demand grew by 2.9% and carbon emissions grew by 2.0% in 2018, faster than at any time since 2010-11.

‘BP’s economics team estimates that much of the rise in energy growth last year can be traced back to weather-related effects, as families and businesses increased their demand for cooling and heating in response to an unusually large number of hot and cold days. The acceler-

ation in carbon emissions was the direct result of this increased energy consumption,’ said BP chairman Bob Dudley. ’There seems little doubt that the current pace of progress is inconsistent with the Paris climate goals. The world is on an unsustainable path: the longer carbon emissions continue to rise, the harder and more costly will be the eventual adjustment to net-zero carbon emissions. Yet another year of growing carbon emissions underscores the urgency for the world to change.

Oil consumption grew by an above-average 1.4 million barrels per day (b/d), or 1.5%. China (680,000 b/d) and the US (500,000 b/d) were the largest contributors to growth.

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Global oil production rose by 2.2 million b/d, or 2.4%. Almost all of the net increase was accounted for by the US, with its growth in production (2.2 million b/d) a record for any country with the vast majority of increases coming from onshore shale plays. Elsewhere, production growth in Canada (410,000 b/d) and Saudi Arabia (390,000 b/d) was outweighed by declines in Venezuela (-580,000 b/d) and Iran (-310,000 b/d).

Natural gas consumption and production was up by more than 5%, one of the highest rates of growth for both demand and output for over 30 years. Natural gas consumption rose by 195 billion cubic metres (bcm), or 5.3%, one of the fastest rates of growth since 1984. Growth in gas consumption was driven mainly by the US (78 bcm), supported by China (43 bcm), Russia (23 bcm) and Iran (16 bcm). Global natural gas production increased by 190 bcm, or 5.2%. Almost half of this came from the US (86 bcm), which (as with oil production) recorded the largest annual growth seen by any country in history. Russia (34 bcm), Iran (19 bcm) and Australia (17 bcm) were the next highest contributions to growth.

Renewables grew by 14.5%, nearing their record-breaking increase in 2017, but this still accounted for only around a third of the increase in total power generation.

Wind and solar power continued to grow far more rapidly than any other form of energy.

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Solar generation grew by 30 mtoe, just below the increase in wind (32 mtoe), and provided more than 40% of renewables growth.

By country, China was again the largest contributor to renewables growth (32 mtoe), surpassing growth in the OECD (26 mtoe) for the first time. Hydroelectric generation increased by an above-average 3.1%, with European generation rebounding by 9.8% (12.9 mtoe), almost offsetting its steep decline in the previous year.

Nuclear generation rose by 2.4%, its fastest growth since 2010. China (10 mtoe) contributed almost three quarters of global growth, with Japan (5 mtoe) the second-highest increase.

‘Despite the continuing rapid growth in renewable energy last year, it provided only a third of the required increase in power generation,’ said Dudley.

‘Renewable energy has a vital role to play in meeting that challenge.

But it is unlikely to be able to do so on its own. A variety of different technologies and fuels are likely to be required, including extensive coalto-gas switching and the widespread deployment of carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS). As I have said before, this is not a race to renewables, it is a race to reduce carbon emissions across many fronts.’

Coal consumption (+1.4%) and production (+4.3%) increased for the second year in a row in 2018 after three years of decline (2014-16).

Spencer Dale, BP chief economist, said: ‘There is a growing mismatch between societal demands for action on climate change and the actual pace of progress, with energy demand and carbon emissions growing at their fastest rate for years. The world is on an unsustainable path.

‘The longer carbon emissions continue to rise, the harder and more costly will be the necessary eventual adjustment to net-zero carbon emissions,’ said Bob Dudley, BP group chief executive.

The BP Statistical Review of World Energy can be found at bp.com/statisticalreview.

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Equinor shares data on world’s longest-running CO2 storage project Equinor will next month disclose a dataset from the world’s first offshore CCS plant in a bid to advance innovation and development in the field of CO2 storage.

Since 1996, the Sleipner field has been used as a facility for carbon capture and storage by Equinor as operator in partnership with ExxonMobil and Lotos and KUFPEC; it is the longest running CO2 storage project in the world.

Each year about 1 million tonnes of CO2 from natural gas is captured and stored underground at Sleipner. ‘For over 20 years we have had a first-hand experience of safe storage of CO2 in a reservoir.

and develop methods for safe CO2 storage.

Access to the Sleipner datasets can accelerate the development of knowledge and technologies essential for operating CO2 storage sites and enable faster deployment of CCS, a measure the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states is critical to limit the global warming,’ said Eli Aamot, executive vice-president in SINTEF. The CO2 Storage Data Consortium is an open international network for data and knowledge exchange, initiated by Equinor, SINTEF, the University of Illinois and IEAGHG in 2016. With the financial support from Gassnova and the

The Sleipner field has been used as a facility for CO2 storage since 1996.

We believe this insight can be valuable for both our industry, research communities, and others working on making CO2 storage a central part of the ongoing energy transition into the low carbon future,’ said Torbjørn F. Folgerø, chief digital officer and senior vice-president at Equinor.

Equinor has shared CO2 storage and monitoring data with the research community for the past 15 years. By making the data openly available, the Sleipner partnership and the independent research organization SINTEF has further advanced innovation and development in carbon storage. All data will be published via the SINTEF-led CO2 Data share consortium.

‘Ever since Equinor shared the first Sleipner datasets, researchers across the world have used it to understand flow processes, enable more accurate predictions AUGUST

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US Department of Energy, the CO2 DataShare project was launched in 2018.

CO2 DataShare builds a digital platform for sharing reference datasets from pioneering CO2 storage projects to improve understanding, reduce costs and minimize uncertainties associated with storage of CO2. The goal is to offer a simple, standard, and low-cost solution for making high-quality data available to the research community worldwide.

Next month CO2 DataShare plans to launch a digital platform for sharing CO2 storage data. It will include the Sleipner 2019 Benchmark Model and 4D seismic data up to 2010.

The project period is 2018-2020, and the budget is $848,000. CO2 DataShare is co-ordinated with the Norwegian CCS Research Centre (NCCS).

INDUSTRY NEWS

Cuadrilla announces second horizontal shale well in UK Cuadrilla will resume hydraulic fracturing and flow testing of natural gas at Preston New Road, near Blackpool in the north of the UK. The company will remobilize hydraulic fracturing and testing equipment in the third quarter of 2019 and complete the work programme by the end of November.

In February, Cuadrilla announced results from flow-testing of the UK’s first ever horizontal shale gas exploration well, which confirmed a reservoir of recoverable high-quality natural gas.

The company said that the well also confirmed that the Bowland Shale formation fractures in a way that is typical of an excellent shale gas reservoir. A complex fracture network was generated in the shale and sand injected into the fractures stayed in place during flow back.

Francis Egan, chief executive officer, said that Cuadrilla remained excited about the prospect of the Bowland Shale formation – estimated by the British Geological Survey to contain around 1300 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Cuadrilla hopes that the work programme will provide more data to the British government to justify an expert technical review of ‘the current exceedingly low limit on induced seismicity’.

Egan said: ‘Work to date on what is probably the most highly monitored onshore oil and gas site in the world has proved that this is an entirely safe, well run and well-regulated operation – and there is no doubt that the opportunity for the UK is huge.

‘We have learnt a lot during the hydraulic fracture programme for the PNR-1z horizontal in 2018 and this expertise forms the basis for the new hydraulic fracture plan for our second horizontal well, PNR2. The new hydraulic fracture plan will operate in line with the existing traffic light system for induced seismicity. However one of the key differences will be a more viscous fracturing fluid which has been approved as non-hazardous to ground water and

which we expect will improve operational performance.

‘We have asked for an expert technical review of the uniquely low micro-seismic operating limit of just 0.5ML on the Richter scale.’

The UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) is overseeing an analysis of data collected during Cuadrilla’s hydraulic fracturing operations at Preston New Road in 2018.

The British Geological Survey will analyse the forecasting, distribution and magnitude of seismicity. Dr Ben Edwards will study the impacts of ground motion from seismicity. Nanometrics will analyse the real-time forecasting to mitigate effects of seismicity. Outer Limits Geophysics will analyse the induced seismicity and potential subsurface mechanisms. However, the OGA added that this is not a review of the ‘traffic light system’.

Egan also claimed that shale gas in the UK would play an important role in helping the country to reduce its carbon emissions. ‘Natural gas produced from UK shale is likely to be the most environmentally sensible and economically beneficial long-term feedstock for hydrogen generation, essential if the UK is to hit net zero CO2 emissions by 2050,’ he said. ‘Forecasts set out in the Committee on Climate Change Net Zero report show that the UK demand for natural gas in 2050 will be about 70 per cent of what we’re using today. That is because natural gas converted to hydrogen is the key ingredient for decarbonizing UK domestic and commercial heat. It is shocking that most of this gas might be imported from the US, Middle East, North Africa or Russia, producing about double the methane emissions and none of the economic benefit of a well-run, well-regulated domestic gas supply from UK shale.’

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Report predicts big rise in demand for seismic survey equipment

Demand for vibroseis trucks is expected to grew significantly in the next few years.

The global market for seismic survey equipment will grow from $1.26 billion in 2017 to an $1.88 billion by 2026 according to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research.

According to the The Seismic Survey Equipment Market–Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2017–2025, the market will grow at an average of 4.6% a year thanks in part to the growth in oil prices, after a prolonged slump, in addition to growing oil demand.

The report says: ‘The increase in oil prices has resulted in the steady rise in exploration and production (E&P) activities by major oil companies. This was mainly due to the strong global demand which is gradually drawing down the excess supplies. The increase in explo-

ration and production activity will result in the increase in the number of seismic surveys being carried out which will drive the market growth.’

The report adds the rise in exploration from developing countries on land and sea ‘will positively affect the seismic survey equipment market. The strong demand for oil particularly from the growing economies is expected to fuel the seismic survey market growth,’ says the report.

Hardware for seismic surveys, including various detectors such as hydrophones, geophones, and various seismic sources such as vibroseis and air guns are expected to be the fastest-growing component with annual growth of 4.82% over the forecast period.

Three dimensional seismic surveys will continue to be the major revenue-generating

segment in 2026, but the report predicts that the 4D segment is expected to grow at the fastest rate, at 4.83% from 2018 to 2026.

Offshore seismic surveys are expected to experience a growth in demand at 4.74%.

‘There are still large areas underwater that remain unexplored for the production of oil and gas,’ says the report. ‘Hence, considerable investments are being made to carry out offshore seismic surveys. For instance, in May 2018 TGS completed the data acquisition of the 10,000 line km 2D long-offset broadband multi-client seismic survey in the Egyptian Red Sea. The oil and gas industry currently accounts for some 90% of demand for seismic survey equipment and is expected to remain the primary client for manufacturers. Having said that, the report says that demand will continue to grow in the mining industry and construction industry in particular.

North America remains the top revenue-generating region followed by Europe. Demand for equipment in North America is expected to expand at the highest annual growth rate from 2018 to 2026 due to the increase in oil exploration and production activity in the region.

The key players profiled by Transparency Market Research in the global seismic survey equipment report include CGG, Mitcham Industries, Geospace Technologies, Wireless Seismic, BGP, China National Petroleum Corporation, Schlumberger, FairfieldNodal, and ION Geophysical, among others.

Seabird cancels share offer Seabird has cancelled a ‘subsequent offering’ of up to 25 million shares in the company directed at shareholders who were not offered shares in the initial private placement.

The company said that it had pulled out because its shares are trading below the offer price in the subsequent offering.

‘Shareholders wishing to neutralize the

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dilution effects of the private placement have therefore over a lengthy period had, and continue to have, the opportunity to purchase shares in the open market at prices below the offer price of the contemplated subsequent offering,’ said a Seabird statement.

Meanwhile, Seabird has completed the acquisition of the vessel BOA Thal-

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assa for NOK 92,500,000 ($10.8 million) of which NOK 64,833,553 ($7.6 million) has been paid in cash, and NOK 27,666,447 ($3.2 million) has been paid in the form of 23,055,373 new shares in the company.

The completion of acquisition of BOA Galatea is expected to be completed this month.

INDUSTRY NEWS

UK improves production efficiency for sixth year running Production efficiency on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) has improved for the sixth consecutive year, according to analysis by the Oil and Gas Authority.

In 2018 production efficiency reached 75%, representing an additional 11 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) overall, or 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day over 2017 — a 1% improvement.

Actual wellhead production increased by 3% in 2018 compared to the previous year, with economic production potential rising by 1% in 2018 due to new fields coming on stream, counteracting a natural decline of maturing fields.

Overall production losses in 2018 fell by 6 million barrels of oil equivalent to 196 million barrels of oil equivalent (from 202 million barrels in 2017) as a result of reduced well and export losses.

Well losses across the UKCS fell by 21% in 2018. Overruns reduced by 53% since 2017, showing improved estimation of planned shutdowns.

Four out of five regions in UK waters saw increased production efficiency; only the Central North Sea experienced a decline (1%). In the East Irish Sea production efficiency increased by 17%; West of Shetland increased by 6%.

Floating platforms had the biggest increase (5%) in overall production efficiency compared to the previous year, with floating platforms from Northern North

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Sea and West of Shetland experiencing an increase in production efficiency of 13%. Large platforms increased production efficiency by 4%.

Data were collected as part of the OGA’s 2018 UKCS Stewardship Survey, which allowed for a more in-depth analysis in key areas.

Loraine Pace, the OGA’s head of performance, planning and reporting said: ’The steady improvement demonstrates industry is keeping up best practice, sustaining efficiency efforts and driving new technologies.

The OGA remains committed to working with all operators in their efforts to further increase production efficiency to the target of 80%.’

Matt Nicol, Production Efficiency Task Force (PETF) chairman added: ‘The PETF remains committed to helping industry improve and has active work groups focused on the top three production losses.

We’ve just launched a new brownfield digitlization work group to concentrate on the adoption and deployment of technology to help deliver further disruptive PE enhancements. Industry is collaborating and delivering results, and we are encouraging more volunteers to join the PETF to continue this momentum and for every operator to get involved.’

SAExploration completes its biggest-ever OBN project SAExploration has completed the largest shallow water ocean-bottom marine project in the company’s history. The project for a major national oil company was located in the Arabian Sea off the coast of India, utilizing more than 20 vessels, which included three ocean-bottom node deployment vessels and two seismic source vessels operating in dual source/ simultaneous source mode.

A total of 5400 ocean-bottom nodes and in excess of 1300 km of rope were deployed

Discover what happens underground

on the project to acquire approx. 1200 km2 of full fold seismic data.

Jeff Hastings, chairman and chief executive officer of SAExploration, said: ‘Operational teams performed extremely well on a very large and very complex project. Some of the challenges they faced included subsurface and surface infrastructure, such as 46 separate platforms, in addition to fisheries management and field-level SIMOPS.’ FIRST

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CGG processes largest-ever OBN survey CGG has won a processing contract from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for time and depth imaging of what is believed to be the world’s largest ocean-bottom node (OBN) seismic survey.

As part of the five-year contract, which can be extended to seven years, CGG will process a minimum 20,000 km2 of high-density wide-azimuth OBN seismic data at its Abu Dhabi geoscience centre.

CGG said that the award, which also includes optional reservoir characterization work, is expected to strengthen R&D co-operation between the two companies and give ADNOC access to the company’s wider service offerings.

Meanwhile, CGG said that it has delivered ‘greatly improved’ subsalt images over the Mad Dog field in the Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico, in almost half the usual time, to enable BP and partners fast access to images.

Ocean-bottom nodes (OBN) seismic data combined with full-waveform inversion (FWI), for velocity model derivation, provided this improvement in imaging at the subsalt Mad Dog Field. Project cycle time was significantly reduced, when compared to projects where the velocity model was constructed using discrete interpretation methods, said CGG. FWI provided a fast-track velocity model that has facilitated a superior migration for

Shearwater shoots 3D survey offshore Cambodia Shearwater Geoservices has won a 1200 km2 seismic survey offshore Cambodia where client KrisEnergy is developing the Apsara oil field Around 200 km2 of the 3D programme will be acquired by the vessel SW Vespucci over the Apsara development area to improve imaging of geological faults and sand bodies to aid in the design of well trajectories ahead of development drilling for first oil.

Approx. 1000 km2 will be acquired over a large prospective area in the

southwest portion of the concession area, which has been sparsely explored by old 2D seismic lines to improve data quality over the prospective trend in the western section of Cambodia Block A. Meanwhile, Shearwater has won a contract for a 4D seismic survey offshore Denmark for client Total.

The vessel SW Amundsen will shoot seismic over the Tyra, Tyra SE and Roar fields this summer using the multi-sensor Isometrix acquisition system.

The vessel SW Amundsen will shoot a 4D survey offshore Denmark.

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depth imaging just weeks after delivery of the OBN data.

Finally, CGG has won a contract from Equinor to process seismic data for the Johan Sverdrup Permament Reservoir Monitoring (PRM) system in the North Sea. The company will deliver time-lapse 4D images within days of acquisition. By analysing these ‘snapshots’ of the reservoir during production, Equinor geoscientists will be able to optimize production management and hydrocarbon recovery.

The contract will run from the second quarter of 2019 for an initial period of 31 months with the option of two three-year extensions.

UGA completes 3D onshore survey in Argentina UGA Seismic has completed a 3D seismic survey across the western cube of the Tapi Aike licence in Argentina for client Echo Energy.

Processing of the eastern cube (Chiripa Oeste, 414 km2) data by Wellfield Services is nearing completion and the processing of the western cube (Travesia de Arriba, 790 km2) data is being undertaken by Seismic Prospect.

The acquisition and processing of 3D seismic data at Tapi Aike builds on the previous interpretation of a large amount of historical 2D data that exists on the block (3400 line km 2D with average line spacing of 4 km), which is guiding the processing priorities of the new 3D data.

The drilling of the prospect is expected to take place in the fourth quarter.

INDUSTRY NEWS

UK launches 32nd Offshore Licensing Round with big data release

Blocks available in the 32nd UK round.

The UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has launched the 32nd Offshore Licensing Round with 768 blocks or part-blocks on offer across the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). Acreage is on offer in the Central North Sea, Northern North Sea, Southern North Sea and the West of Shetland.

The OGA is making a significant volume of data available in support of the licensing round. The ‘massive data release’ has involved collaboration with 11 companies, including operators and third-party specialists. It includes both UKCS-wide and more regionally focused data packs and reports, including the

deliverables from the first year of the government-supported UKCS Petroleum Systems Project.

It is the largest publicly available geochemical database of the UKCS, representing more than 90,000 geochemical samples from more than 2700 wells. Other significant data sets include the open release of the Southern North Sea (SNS) Seismic Megasurvey which represents around 23,000 km2 of 3D post-stack seismic data; and a rock-physics study focused on the pre-Cretaceous prospectivity of the Central North Sea and East Shetland Basin.

‘This latest release of carefully targeted, value-adding data demonstrates the OGA’s continued commitment to supporting industry in its efforts to revitalize exploration,’ said Dr Jo Bagguley, principal regional geologist at the OGA. The data sets are being made available through the UK National Data Repository (NDR) and the OGA website.

The closing date for applications on the licensing round is 12 November 2019. Decisions are expected to be made in the second quarter of 2020.

The 5th Faroese Licensing Round was opened at the same time as the UK 32nd Offshore Licensing Round.

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TGS/Spectrum merger gets green light from shareholders TGS’ proposed merger with Spectrum has been approved by the shareholders of TGS at an extraordinary general meeting. An EGM of Spectrum has also approved the merger plan.

Kristian Johansen, chief executive officer of TGS, said: ‘Spectrum’s portfolio will enhance TGS’ position as a leading

multi-client geophysical data provider covering all mature and frontier basins.

Spectrum’s extensive 2D library also furthers TGS’ data analytics strategy, where access to large amounts of data is a key success factor.’

The merger is expected to be finalised in the third quarter of 2019.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

PGS shoots big 3D survey in Norwegian Sea

PGS will shoot 9500km3 of seismic data.

PGS has started acquisition of a 9500 km2 3D GeoStreamer survey over frontier acreage within the Trøndelag Platform and Helgeland Basin in the Norwegian Sea. The survey is being acquired with a triple source to maximize data den-

sity. Technology including PSDM and velocity model-building will be utilized for clearer imaging. Integrated Complete Wavefield Imaging of GeoStreamer data will allow detailed prospect evaluation and exploration for new plays. The superior AVO-compliant dataset will be delivered ready for rigorous rock physics interrogations.

Final PSDM data will be available in July 2020.

Meanwhile, PGS has nearly completed four 3D multisensor broadband surveys across the underexplored basins of Indonesia in a 15-month period. The North Madura, West Timor, South Makassar and North Sumatra surveys have acquired almost 20,000 km2 so far. A further 1000 km2 is planned.

This new 3D seismic coverage brings the total available data in the PGS multi-client portfolio for Indonesia to 35,000 km2 of 3D data and 27,000 line-km of 2D data.

Fugro completes seep hunting and geochemical survey offshore Malaysia Fugro has completed the first of three Malaysian seep hunting and geochemical campaigns for Petronas.

The first project, offshore Sabah, Malaysia, began on 21 December 2018 was acquired by the Fugro Equator vessel. It collected geophysical data including multibeam echosounder (MBES) and sub-bottom profiler (SBP) data used to interpret geologic features and optimize target selection for geochemical sampling. Targeted coring operations and shipboard geochemical analyses started on 6 January 2019 onboard the Fugro Equinox vessel and was completed on 20 March 2019.

More than 6600 km2 of MBES data comprised of bathymetry, backscatter intensity, and water column, approx.

2245 line km of SBP data and 281 geo30

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chemical cores were acquired. Shipboard geochemical results for headspace gas, total scanning fluorescence and extracted hydrocarbon gas chromatography (C15+) were carried out on more than 550 samples taken from acquired cores.

Dr Awang Sapawi Awang Jamil, a geochemist for Petronas, said: ‘The receipt of geochemical analyses from the vessel was very helpful in derisking our area of interest and in accelerating our project timeline by allowing earlier identification of samples to be sent for advanced geochemical analyses.’

The second seep hunting and geochemical campaign for Petronas began in May 2019 and is taking place offshore Sarawak, Malaysia. The third campaign will be focused off the Straits of Malacca, Malaysian peninsula in Q4 2019.

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TGS and PGS start latest survey offshore Canada TGS and PGS have launched the Jeanne d’Arc High Density 3D (HD3D) multi-client project offshore Newfoundland, eastern Canada.

The 5000 km2 project covers multiple exploration licences, ‘significant discovery licences’ and sections of the open acreage included in the November 2019 bid round.

The PGS vessel Ramform Atlas will perform the acquisition, utilizing its high-resolution Geostreamer technology. Acquisition has commenced and is expected to complete in late Q3 2019.

Kristian Johansen, chief executive officer, TGS said: ‘This survey will provide our clients with the first comprehensive, high-resolution 3D dataset within the mature Jeanne d’Arc basin.

This highly productive and prospective area has long been a priority to our customers.’

The Jeanne d’Arc HD3D survey borders Newfoundland’s prominent producing fields such as Hibernia, Terra Nova, White Rose, North Amethyst and Hebron.

After this ninth consecutive season of data acquisition in offshore eastern Canada, the jointly-owned library will have more than 189,000 km of 2D GeoStreamer data and 56,000 km2 of 3D GeoStreamer data.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Mining to drive growth in geophysical surveys Mining will drive the increase in the global geophysical services market in the next six years according to the report by the business analyst Fortune Business Insights.

Its report, Geophysical Service Market Size, Share and Global Trend By Technology and Geography Forecast Till 2025, predicts that mining in Asia Pacific countries such as China, Indonesia, and Australia will create ‘lucrative growth opportunities’.

Meanwhile, growth in demand for seismic surveys in the oil and gas industry is likely to be driven by rising exploration investments in shale oil to upscale operations in North America. The geophysical survey budget in the US is estimated to reach $1.16 billion in 2019 and will continue to grow.

European countries are expected to be the next major contributors in the global market by 2025.

‘Instabilities in the price of crude oil and gas and growing demand for energy is likely to drive the market,’ said a lead

analyst at Fortune Business Insights.

‘The price fall of rig counts and maturation of hydrocarbon reserves are factors likely to impel the growth of exploration activities. This in turn is anticipated to boost geophysical and oilfield services.’

The rising shift towards clean energy is also expected to fuel demand for geophysical services, enabling service companies to adopt geophysical methods. Governments will continute to invest more in technologies implemented in geophysical services, which is expected to further increase the market size by 2025.

The report cited big contracts recently signed, including Chase Mining Corporation commissioning Zeus to carry out a two-year contract to carry out airborne electromagnetic geophysical survey in Canada; and Cornerstone Capital Resources with New-Sense Geophysics signing a contract for airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys in northwest Ecuador.

UK National Trust stops investing in oil and gas The UK National Trust will cease any investment in fossil fuel companies over the next three years because it has made ‘insufficient progress’ in changing to green alternatives.

Hilary McGrady, director-general of the National Trust said: ‘The impacts of climate change pose the biggest long-term threat to the land and properties we care for and tackling this is a huge challenge for the whole nation.

‘We know our members and supporters are eager to see us do everything we can to protect and nurture the natural environment for future generations. This change is part of our ongoing commitment.’

Peter Vermeulen, the charity’s chief financial officer said: ‘The Trust has just over a billion pounds invested on the stock market, the returns from which are

an important source of income. Over the years we’ve gradually evolved our investment strategy to reduce our carbon footprint.

‘Many organisations have been working hard to persuade fossil fuel companies to invest in green alternatives.

These companies have made insufficient progress and now we have decided to divest from fossil fuel companies.

‘We have set a three-year timescale but expect the majority of divestments will be accomplished in the first 12 months.

The trust is Europe’s largest conservation charity and looks after 780 miles of coastline, 248,000 hectares of land and more than 500 historic houses, castles, monuments, gardens, parks and nature reserves.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Total launches industry’s most powerful supercomputer Total has unveiled what is now ranked as the most powerful supercomputer in the oil and gas industry and the 11th most powerful in the world, according to the TOP500 ranking.

The Pangea III supercomputer has multiplied the group’s computing power by almost 5 to 31.7 petaflops (equivalent to 170,000 laptops combined) and tripled its storage capacity to 76 petabytes (equivalent to about 50 million HD movies). It is expected to herald a step change in speed, quantity and quality of seismic imaging.

‘Pangea III’s additional computing power enhances Total’s operational excellence. It enables Total to reduce geological risks in exploration and development, accelerate project maturation and delivery, and increases the value of our assets through optimized field operations, with

all this at a lower cost,’ said Arnaud Breuillac, president of Total Exploration & Production.

Developed by IBM, the new high-performance computer also enhances energy efficiency, dividing the power consumption per petaflop by 11 (1.5 MW for Pangea III versus 4.5 MW for Pangea I and II).

In seismic imaging, new algorithms can process huge amounts of data more accurately, at higher resolution and help to more reliably locate hydrocarbons below ground. This is especially useful in complex geologic environments with resources trapped under salt, such as in Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, Angola and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Increased computing power will allow Total to use innovative reservoir simula-

tion methods that, for example, integrate a field’s production history more efficiently, to generate more reliable predictive production models, much faster than we used to.

Total said that Pangea III also enables earlier assessment of the value of exploration acreage and asset opportunities, thus enhancing selectivity in its new ventures. It will also extend to new applications within the group, such as molecular modelling to optimize refining processes or improve lubricants’ properties.

‘In addition, it will enable our R&D teams to test complex new algorithms and facilitate the development of artificial intelligence solutions, an important growth area for Total as illustrated by our partnership with Google Cloud.’

ION expands 2D programme offshore Canada ION Geophysical has expanded its 2D multi-client programme offshore Newfoundland, Canada.

Due to ‘continued client interest’, the second phase of GrandSPAN has more than doubled in size from last year’s expectation to nearly 11,000 km, said ION. The programme is designed to both augment the results from the initial phase of the programme acquired in 2018 and combine the regional programme with two other ION BasinSPAN programmes on the eastern Canadian margin, creating a contiguous regional seismic data set in excess of 30,000 km offshore northeast Canada.

Acquisition began in June and deliverables became available last month.

‘The programme is intended to further improve the understanding of hydrocarbon potential, extend known plays into new areas and derisk new play types and exploration investments,’ said Joe Gagliardi, senior vice-president of ION’s Ventures group. ‘With proven producing basins and underexplored proven basins, northeast Canada presents an attractive

ION has doubled its coverage in the area.

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opportunity for near-field explorers to utilize existing infrastructure and technology in the area. The second phase of the programme will tie at least 12 additional key wells, joining the 46 already incorporated into the programme, to enable customers to correlate current producing discoveries to new exploration ideas.’

Meanwhile, ION has appointed Michael McGovern to its board of directors to replace Franklin Myers, who retired from ION’s board on 17 June, 2019. McGovern is chairman and CEO of Sherwood Energy, which aggregates hydrocarbon reserves through ownership of working interests in oil and natural gas releases.

He also serves on the boards of Fibrant, a chemical manufacturing company, Cactus, a manufacturer and designer of wellheads and pressure control equipment, and Nuverra Environmental Solutions, which provides delivery, recycling and disposal of materials generated in shale oil production.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Indian majors develop carbon capture projects

Global oil demand forecast is cut The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has lowered its 2019 oil demand growth forecast to 1.1 million barrels per day (MMbpd) in its latest Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO).

This latest projection marks a 0.2MMbpd reduction compared to its previous oil demand growth forecast in June. In 2020, the EIA expects oil demand growth to rise to 1.4MMbpd, according to its STEO released in July.

Last month, the International Energy Agency (IEA) cut its 2019 oil demand growth forecast to 1.2MMbpd. That was the IEA’s second consecutive oil demand growth forecast cut, following a decrease from 1.4MMbpd to 1.3MMbpd in May. The IEA predicted in June that global oil demand growth could recover to 1.4MMbpd in 2020.

According to McKinsey Energy Insights’ Global Energy Perspective 2019 Reference Case, launched in February, oil demand growth is expected to slow significantly from next year. In January, Rystad Energy’s long term-outlook revealed that oil demand will grow steadily in the 2020s and peak in the late 2030s.

The organization’s July STEO projected that US crude oil production will average 12.4MMbpd in 2019 and 13.3MMbpd in 2020. This represents no change to June’s STEO, which projected the same figures. Brent spot prices are forecast to average $67 per barrel in the second half of 2019 in July’s STEO, in line with June’s projections.

A carbon capture plant will be developed at IOCL’s Koyali Refinery.

India’s two biggest energy companies have teamed up to develop enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and carbon capture projects.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) and Inidan Oil Corporation (IOCL) will develop a project to inject CO2 captured from IOCL’s Koyali refinery.

The collaboration focuses on the development of a CO2 capture plant at IOCL’s Koyali Refinery and increasing domestic oil production through CO2EOR at the Gandhar field.

The ONGC has carried out laboratory and numerical simulation studies for the

Gandhar field. Technical feasibility of CO2-EOR indicates incremental oil recovery of around 10%.

‘The project will add up a new dimension towards a national vision of CCUS and will infuse a new life to the depleted matured oil fields of ONGC. The learning curve from this endeavour will create a knowledge base to further expand deployment of CCUS in India,’ said a statement from the partnership.

The success of CCUS in India is expected to not only increase domestic oil production, but also reduce emission intensity of GDP by 33-35% by 2030, as per the Paris agreement.

Weatherford plans to emerge from bankruptcy Weatherford International has applied for voluntary chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code to cut the company’s long-term debt by more than $5.8 billion. Meanwhile the company said that it is planning to re-emerge with a $3.5 billion refinancing package.

‘The comprehensive financial restructuring would significantly reduce the company’s long-term debt and related interest costs, provide access to additional financing and establish a more sustainable capital structure,’ said Weatherford.

The American oil and gas services company has received commitments from lenders for $1.75 billion of debtor-in-possession financing (the ‘DIP Facility’).

The proceeds of the DIP Facility will be

available to fund the company’s working capital needs. Additionally, upon exit from bankruptcy the company will have access to additional financing in the form of an undrawn revolving credit facility of up to $1 billion, and up to $1.25 billion of new tranche A senior unsecured notes with a five-year maturity. In addition, on emergence from bankruptcy the company will issue $1.25 billion of new tranche B senior unsecured notes with a seven-year maturity to holders of the company’s existing unsecured notes.

The company has filed ‘first day’ motions to obtain the requisite court authority to continue operating its businesses and facilities without disruption to its customers, vendors, partners or employees.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Spectrum shoots 3D survey offshore Australia Spectrum has been given the green light to start the acquisition of the multi-client wide-tow 3D seismic, gravity, and magnetic surveys in the deepwater Otway Basin, south-east Australia.

This 3D data coverage has been designed to target further gas and potentially oil plays in this underexplored deepwater region prior to future government licensing rounds. With infrastructure and production already established near by, the Otway Basin deepwater area has recently received increased industry focus.

‘With the ever-growing need for additional gas supplies throughout Eastern Australia the Otway Deep offshore region could offer industry one of the last oppor-

tunities to explore for large reserves to support the south east. Spectrum’s recently completed broadband reprocessing of legacy 2D and 3D datasets has highlighted this potential better than ever before,’ said Spectrum in a statement.

With Spectrum having received formal approval of its environmental plan from Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSEMA), phase 1 of the 3D acquisition totalling 6500 km2 is scheduled to commence by 1 October 2019 with early data results available during Q1 2020.

Ian T. Edwards, Spectrum’s executive vice-president for NW Europe and APAC, said: ‘Receiving this EP

Approval from NOPSEMA is an enormous achievement for Spectrum and has been enabled by close consultation with stakeholders and NOPSEMA over many months of detailed hard work. Spectrum hopes that this new wide-tow multi-client 3D survey, designed to minimize vessel acquisition duration in the area, will be the building block for industry to undertake an initial detailed technical review of the underlying, underexplored acreage. We believe that urgently needed additional hydrocarbon reserves could potentially exist which would greatly assist the authorities meet the growing demand for additional supplies in southeast Australia.’

PetroTrace carries out Pakistan’s largest ever reprocessing project PetroTrace has agreed a two-year 3D seismic processing programme in the Tal Block, Pakistan for MOL. The two-year programme, one of the biggest reprocessing projects ever undertaken in Pakistan, includes the reprocessing of eight legacy 3D land surveys (totalling 2993 km2), and two new 3D acquisitions, totalling 730 km2. The programme encompasses time reprocessing from raw data, pre-stack time migration, Common Reflection Angle Migration (CRAM) depth imaging, and diffraction imaging.

Through CRAM, the Tal Block partnership aims at improving the seismic imaging in an onshore foothill area characterized by challenging topography, complex over-thrusting, velocity inversions and data with a locally limited signal quality. CRAM-based diffraction imaging will be employed over prospects to help image discontinuities (e.g. faults) not fully resolved by standard seismic processing, and to derisk fracturing at the limestone target reservoirs.

The Tal Block is located in the Kohat Plateau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the Northwest Frontier Province and operated by MOL, partnered by OGDCL, GHPL, POL, and PPL. It is the biggest licence in Pakistan with nine discoveries made in the block, the first in 2002 and the most recent in 2016.

Commercial production has started from the Manzalai, Makori, Makori East, Mamikhel, Maramzai, Makori Deep, Tolanj and Tolanj West fields.

Norwegian oil and gas production decreases Norway has released disappointing production figures for May 2019, showing an average daily production of 1,599,000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate, which is a decrease of 120,000 barrels per day compared to April.

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barrels of oil, 319,000 barrels of NGL and 29,000 barrels of condensate.

Oil production in May is 5.4% lower than the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s forecast, and 2.5% below the forecast so far this year.

The main reasons that production in May was below forecast are ‘technical problems and maintenance work on some fields’.

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The total petroleum production for the first five months in 2019 is about 93.4 million Sm3 oil equivalents (MSm3 o.e.), broken down as: 32.9 MSm3 o.e. of oil, 8.6 MSm3 o.e. of NGL and condensate and about 51.9 MSm3 o.e. of gas for sale.

In June production fell to 1.409,000 barrels of oil equivalent, NGL and condensate.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Offshore Western Australian prospect confirmed by 3D survey The Beehive 3D seismic survey for Melbana offshore Western Australia has improved imaging of the prospect, confirming an isolated carbonate platform.

The near-vertical edge of the build-up clearly visible on the 3D seismic data provides evidence of its isolated nature.

The data also shows depositional patterns within the platform and the seaway that was not able to be resolved on the existing 2D data.

These improvements in data quality strongly support the existing geological model for Beehive and have further derisked the prospect, said Melbana.

Beehive has been assessed by McDaniel & Associates to contain a best estimate prospective resource of 388 million barrels of oil equivalent (Melbana’s share

BRIEFS Equinor and its partners Ineos and Faroe Petroleum have made an oil and gas discovery at production licence PL 159B in the Norwegian Sea. The well has an upper drilling target of 2-12 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of gas.

78 million barrels of oil equivalent).

Future exploration appraisal and evaluation is required to determine the existence of a significant quantity of potentially moveable hydrocarbons.

Total and Santos each have an option to acquire a direct 80% participating interest in the permit and drill an exploration well, which is planned to be the Beehive-1 exploration well. If the option is exercised, Melbana will be fully carried on all costs incurred from the time the option is exercised until 90 days after the rig is released after drilling this well.

If the option is exercised, drilling is anticipated in the second half of 2020.

Melbana estimates the cost of the Beehive-1 exploration well to be within the $40-$60 million range.

Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and ExxonMobil have been included in Forbes’ and Statista’s America’s Best Employers for Women 2019 list. Shell was the highest ranked oil and gas company on the list at 65. Chevron was ranked 149th and ExxonMobil was ranked 286th out of 300 listed.

Norway’s wealth fund will divest its holdings in US companies ConocoPhillips and Hess. As part of Norway’s efforts to shift its $1 trillion ‘rainy day’ fund away from oil, the country’s parliament has adopted a plan to drop all dedicated oil and gas explorers and producers, as defined by stock market indices provider FTSE Russell.

Providence Resources finds geothermal resource offshore Ireland A drilling project by Providence Resources in the southern Porcupine Basin off the south-west shore of Ireland has used seismic surveying techniques to discover a potential geothermal resource. The well,

A well has found geothermal energy.

EGMS has won a contract from BP for a $6 million proprietary CSEM survey offshore Senegal and Mauritania. Acquisition is expected to start in the first quarter of 2020.

called 44/23-1, penetrated a Lower Cretaceous carbonate reservoir system in the Dunquin region at 3000-m BML. By integrating seismic techniques with the results of the well drilling, a reservoir volume of 7 km2 was inferred.

At a TD reservoir temperature of 260°F, this corresponds to about 7 billion barrels of equivalent energy.

Large-bore wells are currently being designed to maximize the reservoir flow potential and produce an average of 10 MW per well. A 10-well initial development is being planned for a 100-MW generation capacity.

Reservoir modelling is also being conducted to come up with a feasible production and reinjection strategy.

Work is continuing on how to develop this geothermal resource to provide Ireland with a green baseload power supply.

Currently, the plan is to construct an underwater geothermal power plant complete with a heat exchanger, turbine, and generator.

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Mexico’s independent oil regulator the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) has approved deepwater exploration plans for five areas operated

by Royal Dutch Shell in waters near the maritime border with the US. Shell will invest at least $397 million over the next four years, but if the drilling proves successful it could grow to some $1.316 billion. CNH has also cancelled auctions set for October to pick joint-venture partners in seven onshore areas for state oil company Pemex.

Eni (70%) and its partner Vitol (30%) have been awarded rights to Block WB03, in the medium deep waters of the prolific Tano Basin, offshore Ghana, after the country’s first international competitive bid round.

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GEOSCANNERS Manufacturer of high quality instruments At Geoscanners we pride ourselves on the quality of our products. Our geophysical solutions are carefully selected based on our customers’ needs and our own experience in the field. The materials used in our equipment are top of the line, high quality ones and the craftsmanship is of the highest level that can be found in the industry. Our solutions range from rather simple to use units to sophisticated multi-channel bore-hole systems.

The product line includes a wide variety of control units for all budgets and needs, complemented with the widest selection of antennas and accessories available from any GPR manufacturer. We provide both ground coupled systems as well as air-borne ones, being the first company in the field to offer drone mounted devices.

Our trademark is the quality of our data and reliability of our instruments. www.geoscanners.com / sales@geoscanners.com

Special Topic

NEAR SURFACE GEOSCIENCE

This month we are featuring papers that range in subject matter from seismic and ground penetrating radar techniques for urban and spectral gamma ray technology to latest developments in time lapse ERT. This is a diverse field embracing mining to stability of buildings, embankments and walls as well as detection of wartime ordnance and water seepage analysis. Much of the research here will be presented at the EAGE Near Surface Geoscience event at the Hague in the Netherlands next month.

Elmer Ruigrok et al present a database of induced seismicity that picks up explosions in the Groningen province in the Netherlands. They explain the database’s use for sensor orientation, deep crustal imaging and near-surface tomography.

Atsushi Suzaki et al present a geophysically estimated, in-situ water retention curve that can predict, through seepage analysis, the distribution of matric suction and water saturation in a soil slope or an embankment.

Julien Oukili et al describe a process that would enable operators to save both time and costs on conducting conventional site surveys by applying separated wavefield imaging to existing 3D seismic data.

Han Limburg discuss the latest thinking on spectral gamma-ray technology for us in drone-borne surveys.

Serkan Nuri Elgün et al present the results of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) measurements conducted along the dykes of the Hedwige- and Prosperpolder in order to obtain continuous profiles of the dyke composition.

Due to a last minute change in production planning two related papers from Van Ginkel et al and Liu et al will be published in the September issue of First Break.

Submit an article

Special Topic overview January

Land Seismic

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

February

Reservoir Monitoring

March

Petroleum Geology

April

Passive Seismic & Unconventionals

May

Modelling/Interpretation

June

Embracing Change - Creativity For The Future

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

July

Renewable Transition

August

Near Surface Geoscience & Legacy Data

September

Machine Learning

October

Reservoir Geoscience and Engineering

November

Marine Seismic & EM

December

Data Processing

You can find the First Break author guidelines online at www.firstbreak.org/guidelines.

More Special Topics may be added during the course of the year.

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Special Topic

LEGACY DATA

The importance of legacy data What is the value of ‘old’ data collected decades ago when more sophisticated data are acquired today using modern equipment?

Pre-existing datasets termed ‘legacy data’ may have largely been abandoned because they were considered to have lower intrinsic quality than observations or measurements made with more modern equipment.

However, many of these large geophysical surveys cost millions of euros to acquire. Tthe Horizon 2020-funded Smart Exploration project identified exploration sites that possessed extensive legacy datasets that should be re-examined in planning for new exploration programmes and generating new targets for detailed follow-up investigations.

The legacy data not only offers an opportunity to reinterpret the original data but through integration with other available geoscientific information it can guide future exploration.

Malehmir et al. present case studies one from the Neves-Corvo sulphide deposits and another from central Sweden and connect their results to new and advanced data acquisitions.

Bellefleur and Adam present three early examples of the application of 3D seismic data for mineral exploration in Canada.

Viezzoli et al. looks into the potential of legacy airborne electromagnetic data and why they deserve a new look.

Manzi et al. present legacy seismic data from in South Africa and explain their value.

Marques et al. show the importance of vintage gravity data in the discovery of the several sulphide lenses of the Neves-Corvo mine.

Cooper presents a brief introduction to the source-distance method of locating sources of potential field anomalies and compares it with the Euler deconvolution technique.

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Marine Acquisition

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CALENDAR

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 8-12 SEPT

EAGE Near Surface Geoscience Conference and Exhibition 2019

www.eage.org The Hague, Netherlands

August 2019 18-23 Aug

Goldschmidt 2019 www.goldschmidt.info/2019/

Barcelona

Spain

19-22 Aug

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

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil

September 2019 1-6 Sept

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

Gothenburg

Sweden

2 Sept

Young Professionals Summit 2019 www.eage.org

Aberdeen

Scotland

2-5 Sept

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

Perth

Australia

2-6 Sept

Fourth EAGE Conference on Petroleum Geostatistics www.eage.org

Florence

Italy

8-12 Sept

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

Palermo

Italy

8-12 Sept

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

The Hague

Netherlands

9-12 Sept

24th World Energy Congresss www.worldenergy.org

Abu Dhabi

UAE

9-13 Sept

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

Gelendzhik

Russia

EAGE Events

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10-12 Sept

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

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

18-22 Sept

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

Albena Resort

Bulgaria

October 2019 1-3 Oct

Sakhalin – Far East Hydrocarbons 2019 www.eage.org

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

Russia

6-9 Oct

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

Durban

South Africa

7-9 Oct

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

Dubai

United Arab Emirates

14-17 Oct

Third Borehole Geology Workshop www.eage.org

Muscat

Oman

21-25 Oct

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

Beauvais

France

24-25 Oct

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

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil

29-30 Oct

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

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

30-31 Oct

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

Manama

Bahrain

November 2019 5-8 Nov

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

Sochi

Russia

11-13 Nov

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

Perth

Australia

14-15 Nov

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

Mexico City

Mexico

18-20 Nov

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

The Hague

Netherlands

18-20 Nov

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

Doha

Qatar

19-21 Nov

Second EAGE Eastern Mediterranean Workshop www.eage.org

Athens

Greece

19-20 Nov

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

Houston

United States

25-27 Nov

Fifth EAGE/AAPG Tight Reservoirs www.eage.org

Dhahran

Saudi Arabia

28-29 Nov

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

New Delhi

India

December 2019 2-4 Dec

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

Hanoi

Vietnam

3-5 Dec

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

Accra

Ghana

5-6 Dec

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

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil

EAGE Events

Non-EAGE Events

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