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SPECIAL TOPIC
Near Surface Geoscience EAGE NEWS PRESIDENTIAL INTERVIEW WITH EVERHARD MUIJZERT CROSSTALK THE GEOSCIENCE HOMEWORKING REVOLUTION INDUSTRY NEWS BP REVIEW OF WORLD ENERGY WARNS ON EMISSIONS
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Legacy multi-client data
Reprocessed Cornerstone Evolution multi-client data
CORNERSTONE EVOLUTION De-risk 32nd Round Awards with over 50,000 km2 of reprocessed Central North Sea data Cameron Grant +44 1293 68 3340 Cameron.Grant@CGG.com
Paul Godwin +44 1293 683436 Paul.Godwin@CGG.com
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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) • Angelika-Maria Wulff, Kuwait Oil Company (AWulff@kockw.com) MEDIA PRODUCTION MANAGER Thomas Beentje (tbe@eage.org) ACCOUNT MANAGER ADVERTISING Peter Leitner (plr@eage.org) PRODUCTION Saskia Nota (layout@eage.org) Ivana Geurts (layout@eage.org) EAGE EUROPE OFFICE PO Box 59 3990 DB Houten The Netherlands • +31 88 995 5055 • eage@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE RUSSIA & CIS OFFICE EAGE Russia & CIS Office EAGE Geomodel LLC 19 Leninsky Prospekt 119071, Moscow, Russia • +7 495 640 2008 • moscow@eage.org • www.eage.ru EAGE MIDDLE EAST OFFICE EAGE Middle East FZ-LLC Dubai Knowledge Village Block 13 Office F-25 PO Box 501711 Dubai, United Arab Emirates • +971 4 369 3897 • middle_east@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE ASIA PACIFIC OFFICE UOA Centre Office Suite 19-15-3A No. 19, Jalan Pinang 50450 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia • +60 3 272 201 40 • asiapacific@eage.org • www.eage.org
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A UAV-borne magnetic survey for archaeological prospection of a Celtic burial site
Editorial Contents 3
EAGE News
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Crosstalk
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Industry News
Special Topic: Near Surface Geoscience
33 An overview of multidisciplinary geophysical/ geotechnical investigations of landslides in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina S. Komatina, M. Juhlin, M. Uroševic’, K. Suto and J. Sugawara 39 New seismic microzonation studies in Albania: from the past to the future Klodian Skrame, Redi Muçi, Maurizio Simionato, Maria Sole Benigni, Iolanda Gaudiosi, Margherita Giuffrè, Marco Mancini and Massimiliano Moscatelli 47 The value and potential applications of HRS 4D in the shallow overburden K.P. Games and N.D. Wakefield 53 The 3D-borehole radar method — a tool for detailed imaging of salt structures Dirk Orlowsky, Tim Hupe and Christin Holst 61 A UAV-borne magnetic survey for archaeological prospection of a Celtic burial site Volkmar Schmidt, Michael Becken and Jörg Schmalzl 67 How does the thin near surface of the earth produce 10-100 times more noise on land seismic data than on marine data? Christof Stork
Feature
77 New ways of exploring subsurface with Smart Exploration Solutions 90
Calendar of Events
EAGE AMERICAS SAS Calle 93 # 18-28 Oficina 704 Bogota, Colombia • +57 1 4232948 • americas@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE MEMBERS CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTIFICATION Send to: EAGE Membership Dept at EAGE Office (address above) FIRST BREAK ON THE WEB www.firstbreak.org ISSN 0263-5046 (print) / ISSN 1365-2397 (online)
cover: SkyTEM Surveys HTEM prototype, validation flights at Nordic Iron Ore’s Blötberget Mine Site, Sweden (June, 2019).
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European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
Board 2020-2021
Everhard Muijzert President
Dirk Orlowsky Vi c e-President
Pascal Breton Secretary-Treasurer
Near Surface Geoscience Division Alireza Malehmir Chair Esther Bloem Vice-Chair George Apostolopoulos Immediate Past Chair Micki Allen Contact Officer EEGS/North America Riyadh Al-Saad Oil & Gas Liaison Hongzhu Cai Liaison China Albert Casas Membership Officer Eric Cauquil Liaison Shallow Marine Geophysics Deyan Draganov Technical Programme Officer Ranajit Ghose Editor in Chief Near Surface Geophysics Hamdan Ali Hamdan Liaison Middle East Vladimir Ignatief Liaison North America / Russia Andreas Kathage Liaison Officer First Break Musa Manzi Liaison Africa Myrto Papadopoulou Young Professional Liaison Andreas Pfaffhuber Liaison Infrastructure & BIM Koya Suto Liaison Asia Pacific Catherine Truffert Industry Liaison
Oil & Gas Geoscience Division
Caroline Le Turdu Membership and Cooperation Officer
Ingrid Magnus Publications Officer
Colin MacBeth Education Officer
Michael Peter Suess Chair; TPC Lucy Slater Vice-Chair Caroline Jane Lowrey Immediate Past Chair; TPC Erica Angerer Member Wiebke Athmer Member Xavier Garcia NSGD Liaison Juliane Heiland TPC Tijmen-Jan Moser Editor-in-chief Geophysical Prospecting Ann Muggeridge IOR Committee Liasion Francesco Perrone YP Liaison Philip Ringrose Editor-in-chief Petroleum Geoscience Conor Ryan REvC Liaison Martin Widmaier TPC Aart-Jan van Wijngaarden Technical Programme Officer Michael Zhdanov NSGD Liaison
SUBSCRIPTIONS First Break is published monthly. It is free to EAGE members. The membership fee of EAGE is € 50.00 a year (including First Break, EarthDoc (EAGE’s geoscience database), Learning Geoscience (EAGE’s Education website) and online access to a scientific journal. Companies can subscribe to First Break via an institutional subscription. Every subscription includes a monthly hard copy and online access to the full First Break archive for the requested number of online users. Aart-Jan van Wijngaarden Technical Programme Officer
Alireza Malehmir Chair Near Surface Geoscience Division
Michael Peter Suess Chair Oil & Gas Geoscience Division
Orders for current subscriptions and back issues should be sent to EAGE Publications BV, Journal Subscriptions, PO Box 59, 3990 DB, Houten, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 (0)88 9955055, E-mail: subscriptions@eage.org, www.firstbreak.org. First Break is published by EAGE Publications BV, The Netherlands. However, responsibility for the opinions given and the statements made rests with the authors. COPYRIGHT & PHOTOCOPYING © 2020 EAGE All rights reserved. First Break or any part thereof may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying and recording, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. PAPER The Publisher’s policy is to use acid-free permanent paper (TCF), to the draft standard ISO/DIS/9706, made from sustainable forests using chlorine-free pulp (Nordic-Swan standard).
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HIGHLIGHTS
EAGE MEMBERS
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EAGE Annual Award winners announced
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Three hot topic workshops heading for Amsterdam
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Time to rescue Scottish geology
How EAGE can manage the crisis New president Everhard Muijzert looks ahead to his term of office with unprecedented challenges facing the Association and its members. Presidents often come up with a theme for their term in office. Do you have one you can share? Organization and financial stability and developing a successful digital portfolio will dominate the remainder of 2020. I would also like to focus on our special interest communities and making sure that everyone is welcome in the Association irrespective of gender, age, ethnicity and location.
Everhard Muijzert is scientific advisor at Schlumberger where he conducts research into seismic and other geophysical methods. He currently contributes to novel algorithms at the interplay of seismic acquisition and processing. Everhard holds a PhD (1998) and two preceding degrees in geophysics from Utrecht University, the Netherlands. He joined Schlumberger Cambridge Research, Cambridge, UK, in 1998. He is co-author of over 30 patents and regularly publishes and presents his work. He received the Loránd Eötvös Award from the EAGE in 2005 for the best paper published in Geophysical Prospecting in the previous year. He was also co-recipient of a World Oil award 2009 for the DISCover broadband marine seismic technique. Everhard was Secretary-Treasurer of the EAGE for a six-year term before becoming president in June 2020.
With your insight as Secretary-Treasurer until becoming president, how is EAGE managing the financial and resources impact of Covid-19 and the parallel crisis in the oil business? March and April were challenging months with lots of changes and postponements in the event calendar. We now have a very full programme after the summer that we hope can be delivered. Financially it is important that the Annual Conference does go ahead in December. EAGE has received substantial financial support from the governments of the Netherlands and Malaysia for which we are grateful. These government grants do help greatly towards maintaining a positive cashflow. We are also very mindful that Covid-19 and the crisis in the oil and gas industry puts a lot of stress on many of our supporting companies. Many of our members, including committee and Board members, are also facing job insecurity at the moment. In these uncertain times EAGE is offering impacted members support through the hardship programme and is in regular contact with our supporting companies in order to see how we can address their needs. EAGE is frugal with money. We have paused all travel grant to members and event-related subsidies. Office staff who would normally be working on in-person events are now also reviewing options for digital or hybrid events. We hope of course that everyone can soon move back to a more normal state of affairs. Are you confident that a successful Annual Conference & Exhibition can be delivered in Amsterdam in December? At the time of writing large events such as ours are permitted again in the Netherlands. As for every event, EAGE will follow the guidelines from the WHO and local government agencies. When you read this the RAI conference centre will have held FIRST
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EAGE NEWS 
interest can meet and stimulate scientific discussion. The community committees are responsible for driving this discussion as well as proposing and organizing events. If you are enthusiastic about being involved in a community committee, please let us know. What will be the Board’s priorities in planning the 2025 Vision strategy? For years we have been talking about a stronger digital component in our offering. So clearly delivering this digital component will be an important part of the 2025 Vision strategy. We also like to build out our Special Interest Communities as we see a number of technical subjects that can be made more visible and strengthen our Association. Welcome from former president Jean-Jacques Biteau (right).
a test event where it will demonstrate to its customers (EAGE and many other organizations) and local city government how it will implement the health regulations and keep events safe. EAGE staff will attend this test occasion. We understand that in December it may not be possible for everyone to attend because of restrictions in their country or along their journey. But those considering participations, we can assure you that it will be a safe event and have good hopes that many can and will attend.
Can EAGE do more to bring more students into the geosciences at a time when numbers in some regions are in decline? I think EAGE does a good job with students that show an interest in our domain of subsurface geoscience and engineering. We know where to find these students and we spend around half a million Euros a year on our student programmes. However, the real challenge is to get more students interested in what we do and that is not easy in parts of the world. Historically EAGE does little on public outreach and we have not found an effective way to do this yet. This is further challenged by the fact that we are in the middle of a recession in the oil and gas industry.
EAGE has accelerated its move to a more online approach to events, education, publications, etc. How will this benefit members, and are there any downsides? The online tools make it possible to keep in contact with the membership around the world. Publications have been fully online for over a decade. Online education offers great opportunity for our members now travel is difficult and corporate training budgets are under pressure. We will have to see how online events catch on, there is now a lot of format testing going on. I do not think, however, that online will fully replace in-person events as we humans like the direct social interaction so much. The challenge with online is the expectation by many that almost everything on the Internet is free. We have to find a business model that provides high quality online content and also pays the bills. Can you explain the thinking behind the creation of special interest communities and how this ties in with our two main Divisions (Oil & Gas and Near Surface)? The Special Interest Communities started seven years ago with the Women in Geoscience & Engineering and the Young Professional communities. These groups support our membership with their professional development and have become very successful with each having over a 1000 members. We then recognized we could form communities around technical subjects that do not fit perfectly in either division. We now have communities around artificial intelligence, decarbonization and energy transition and mining exploration geophysics, and hydrogeophysics with some more to come. The goal of these technical communities is to provide a place in the Association where members with similar 4
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Discussing the challenges ahead.
Finally, how are you personally finding the challenge of work, family and EAGE president? In normal years the president will travel often and far away, attending meetings and representing EAGE. Both my employer and my family accepted that representation of EAGE is a great honour and that as a result they would see less of me this year. I have a school age child which means that I mostly travel alone. In this highly unusual year all my EAGE activities have moved online and I have been working from home since March so I am actually more involved than ever with the family. I do look forward, however, to being able to resume travelling when it is safe to do so, both to represent EAGE and on holiday with the family.
Ocean Bottom from
Shallow Water Hybrid Acquisition Deepwater Revealing possibilities at shearwatergeo.com/obs
EAGE NEWS
Why the Exhibition at EAGE Annual 2020 will be special
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With only four months away from our Annual Meeting, it’s great to see that everyone is just as excited as we are about the event, and especially the Exhibition. The Exhibition, albeit smaller than previous years, will still feature some of the strongest players in the geoscience and engineering business. Even after such a turbulent year, it remains a must for companies and organizations looking for exposure to their customers and those interested in their products and services. We are expecting over 250 companies will participate in the Exhibition to showcase their cutting-edge products, services and opportunities. As of July, we see that international borders are opening up more and more, so we believe exhibitors can anticipate a meeting attendance of 3,000-4,000 people from all over the world. Many will be existing or potential clients, company influencers and purchase decision makers. The Exhibition includes representatives from national and international oil companies, service companies, start-ups, consultants, licensing agencies and governments. If you’d like to see who is attending this year, check out the List of Exhibitors on our website at www.EAGEANNUAL2020.org. A highlight of the Exhibition is that you can find multiple special interest areas. The Digital Transformation Area showcases forward-thinking technology and workflows through a programme of presentations complimenting the main EAGE technical agenda. In the University
EAGE Annual 2019 Exhibition.
Area, there is an opportunity to visit universities promoting their latest research and developments. At the Start-up Area you can see what may be evolving as next generation technology. In the past few months, the world has seen more and more online events. But nothing is as powerful as in-person interactions and meeting people face to face instead of via a computer screen. This is why we strive to bring you the EAGE Annual Exhibition as the best platform for networking and engaging with colleagues from the industry. The Annual aims to provide something of value to everyone in a safe environment. Jorinde de Groot-Ultee, EAGE
Annual 2020 exhibition manager, says, ‘I am eagerly looking forward to our Annual Exhibition and meeting people in real life again. Together with our suppliers, we are working on an exhibition like we have never seen before, taking all the required measures so you can safely walk around and network with your peers. Hope to see you in December!’ So be sure to register as a delegate or exhibitor sooner rather than later. You can still benefit from the Early Bird registration fee until 15 September. If you have any questions, please refer to our website www.eageannual2020.org or contact exhibition@eage.org to take part in the Exhibition programme.
Events advisory EAGE is carefully monitoring the possible impact of Coronavirus (Covid-19) concerns on all our scheduled events. Our first priority is the health and welfare of the wider EAGE community. Our decisions on the staging of upcoming events will be based on the advice of the World Health Organization, as well as appropriate national and local authorities. We are treating each meeting on a case by case basis with all options including online participation on the table. If you are planning to attend an event with EAGE, please consult the specific event website for the most up-to-date information and guidelines. Find your event at events.eage.org.
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Congratulations to our 2020 Annual Award winners
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Each year at the Annual Meeting, the EAGE Awards are presented to honour individuals who have demonstrated outstanding dedication to science and the EAGE community. As an Association with the mission of promoting innovation and technical progress, EAGE recognizes the efforts of its members and their contributions to the development and cooperation in geoscience and related engineering disciplines. Candidates for the 2020 Awards were nominated by colleagues, such as yourself, and submitted to an international Awards Committee who worked hard to select the winners. EAGE is delighted to announce the following exceptional winners for the 2020 Awards. Conrad Schlumberger Award Presented to a member of the Association who has made an outstanding contribution to the scientific and technical advancement of the geosciences, particularly geophysics.
Winners of the 2019 EAGE Awards. We are going to meet this year’s winners in December.
Desiderius Erasmus Award Presented to a geoscientist or engineer in recognition of his or her outstanding and lasting achievements in the field of resource exploration and development. Tadeusz W. Patzek, KAUST, Saudi Arabia Prof Tadeusz (Tad) Patzek is interested in energy, the environment and climate change. He is renowned for his research into the fundamentals of multi-phase flow in porous media with application to improved oil recovery, his predictions of productivity from shale gas formations, and his life-cycle analysis of biofuels. Honorary Membership Award Presented to a member of the Association who has made a highly significant and distinguished technical and/or non-technical contribution to the geoscience community at large or to the Association in particular. Gladys Gonzalez, V&G Exploration, USA As first female president of EAGE, Gladys Gonzalez took some bold but necessary decisions to reorganize EAGE, creating a much-improved relationship between the EAGE Board and the EAGE office. Gladys accomplished this huge task with tremendous compassion, professionalism, dedication and strength and is warmly recognized with Honorary Membership by EAGE. 8
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André Revil, Colorado School of Mines, USA Dr André Revil’s work focuses on the development of coupled hydraulic-electrical conductivity models in porous media and fundamental understanding of grain surface electrical conduction phenomena. He is a leader in the field of hydrogeophysics and the most recognized expert in the subject of electrical and electromagnetic properties of saturated rocks. Arie van Weelden Award Presented to a member of the Association who has made a highly significant contribution to one or more of the disciplines in our Association and who is under the age of 35. Pejman Tahmasebi, University of Wyoming, USA Dr Pejman Tahmasebi is recognized for his outstanding work in two major fields: description of large-scale porous media (LSPM), including oil reservoirs, and the problem of reconstruction of a 3D model from a 2D slice. His method works in diverse systems, including brain images, a human lung and a river delta. Nigel Anstey Award Presented to the authors of the best paper published in First Break in the past year. Ian F. Jones For his paper Seismic Wavefield Divergence at the Free Surface, published in First Break, Vol 37, May 2019. Loránd Eötvös Award Presented to the authors of the best paper published in Geophysical Prospecting in the past year. Tor Arne Johansen and co-authors Bent Ole Ruud, Ronny Tømmerbakke, and Kristian Jensen
EAGE NEWS
For their paper Seismic on floating ice: data acquisition versus flexural wave noise, published in Geophysical Prospecting, Vol 67, March 2019. Norman Falcon Award Presented to the authors of the best paper published in Petroleum Geoscience in the past year. Quinten Boersma and co-authors Rahul Prabhakaran, Francisco Hilario Bezerra and Giovanni Bertotti For their paper Linking natural fractures to karst cave development: a case study combining drone imagery, a natural cave network and numerical modelling, published in Petroleum Geoscience, Vol 25, April 2019.
Jinyu Zhang and co-authors Peter M. Burgess, Didier Granjeon and Ronald Steel For their paper Can sediment supply variations create sequences? Insights from stratigraphic forward modelling, published in Basin Research, Vol 31, April 2019. Guido Bonarelli Award Presented in recognition of the best oral presentation at the 81st EAGE Conference & Exhibition, London 2019. Erik F. M. Koene and co-authors Jens Wittsten, Johan O.A. Robertsson and Fredrik Andersson For the oral paper Eliminating Time Dispersion from Visco-Elastic Simulations with Memory Variables.
Ludger Mintrop Award Presented to the authors of the best paper published in Near Surface Geophysics in the past year.
Louis Cagniard Award Presented in recognition of the best poster presentation at the 81st EAGE Conference & Exhibition, London 2019.
Bernhard Siemon and co-authors Esther van Baaren, Willem Dabekaussen, Joost Delsman, Wim Dubelaar, Marios Karaoulis, and Annika Steuer For their paper Automatic identification of fresh-saline groundwater interfaces from airborne electromagnetic data in Zeeland, the Netherlands, published in Near Surface Geophysics, Vol 17, April 2019.
Andreas Michael For his poster Orientation of Hydraulic Fracture Initiation in Poroelastic Media: An Analytical Criterion for Perforated Wellbores.
Robert Mitchum Award Presented to the authors of the best paper published in Basin Research in the past year.
For how to make a nomination for the 2021 Awards at the Annual Meeting in Madrid, see page 12.
Webinar provides foretaste of energy transition session at the Annual Our energy future was the focus of an ‘Energy Transitions Endeavour’ webinar organized in June by the EAGE Special Interest Community on Decarbonization and Energy Transition (DET). The idea was to give a platform to successful projects, plans, and creative ideas from different parts of the world to move forward the thinking on this challenging field of geoscience. The webinar also provided a preview of the dedicated session to be coordinated by the DET special interest group at the EAGE Annual in December. The event was convened by Paola Tello Guerrero (ALS Petrophysics) and Benjamin Bellwald (VBPR), and included
over 80 participants. Five speakers covered a wide spectrum of ideas highly relevant for the ongoing energy transition. Julien Perez (OGCI) started proceedings with a presentation on practical actions from the oil and gas industry to mitigate climate change, followed by a talk on rocksalt meeting energy transition by Bernward Otto, a consultant geophysicist. Sverre Planke (VBPR and University of Oslo) demonstrated the large potential of basaltic rocks for carbon sequestration, and Volker C. Vahrenkamp (Kaust) updated the audience on maturing geothermal energy for Saudi Arabia. The final presentation came from Giovanni Sosio (Schlumberger), who
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discussed cloud-based solutions for collaborative modelling of geothermal projects. The event was rounded up by a question and answer session on the individual talks, and a final discussion open to all participants. The complete recording is shared in the LinkedIn group ‘EAGE - Decarbonization and Energy Transition’. Geoscientists can look forward to a more detailed session during the 82nd Annual EAGE Conference and Exhibition in Amsterdam. The dedicated session on ‘Energy Transitions Endeavour’ takes place in the afternoon of Wednesday, 9 December.
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Finalists of the Laurie Dake Challenge 2020 announced
We can name the student teams that made it to the final round of the Laurie Dake Challenge which was held online at the end of July.
Laurie Dake Challenge Winners in 2019.
The six teams that earned a place in the deciding stage of the competition were: University of Stavanger, Norway; Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia; Mexican Institute of Petroleum, Mexico; IFP School, France; Curtin University, Australia; and Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia. Judges from the Student Affairs Committee chose the finalists from 13 student teams that had reached the second round. Selection was based on an online presentation and interview with each group. This has been no ordinary competition. Because of the Covid-19 restrictions
worldwide and lockdown of universities, students had to adapt their way of collaborating. The judges have congratulated all participants in the competition for their excellent standard of work and perseverance with their projects in difficult circumstances. In the final round, the students will present their project findings based on a real field dataset (generously provided by Shell) to a panel of judges from the Student Affairs Committee and representatives from the oil and gas industry and academia. Again this part of the contest will be online so that teams have no need to travel. Winners of the first prize of €2000 and the runners up will be announced online, with further recognition during the Annual Meeting Opening Ceremony on 8 December in Amsterdam. The competition involves a fully integrated evaluation and development task that challenges students to simulate a real industry activity. The challenge required a different workflow on the second round submission because of the lockdown of universities as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. Even though the teams were
unable to work in the traditional way, the submissions from all the contestants were said to have been of excellent quality. We would like to congratulate the teams for sticking with the challenge and not giving up on the project. We are now down to the last six out of the 13 selected in the previous round. The finalists were decided on the basis of an interim review where the teams were required to record a pitch for their development plans. Now the final candidates will receive an invitation to present their finding to a group of judges from the academia and oil and gas sector. This contest would not be possible without Shell supporting the competition with the challenging dataset, as well as the Students Affairs Committee who has worked hard to prepare the 2020 Laurie Dake Challenge. During the official Opening Ceremony on Monday 8 December at the EAGE Annual Conference & Exhibition in Amsterdam, the EAGE President will be announcing the official Laurie Dake Challenge 2020 winning team. We wish participants good luck and may the best team win.
EAGE Education Calendar 4-7 AUG
MICROSEISMIC MONITORING IN OIL AND GAS RESERVOIRS, BY LEO EISNER
ONLINE
10-12 & 14 AUG
ROCK PHYSICS AND COMPUTATIONAL GEOPHYSICS, BY JOSE CARCIONE
ONLINE
24-27 AUG
PETROLEUM ENGINEERING FOR NON-ENGINEERS, BY SAAD IBRAHIM
ONLINE
31 AUG - 3 SEP
BOREHOLE SEISMIC FUNDAMENTALS AND INTRODUCTION TO ADVANCED TECHNIQUES, BY ALLAN CAMPBELL
ONLINE
10-11 SEP
A COMPREHENSIVE OVERVIEW OF SEISMIC DATA PROCESSING STEPS, BY PIET GERRITSMA
ONLINE
21-22 SEP
GEOSTATISTICAL RESERVOIR MODELING AND UNCERTAINTY QUANTIFICATION, BY DARIO GRANA
ONLINE
24-25 SEP
MACHINE LEARNING FOR GEOSCIENTISTS WITH HANDS-ON CODING, BY EHSAN NAEINI
ONLINE
12-15 OCT
INTEGRATED METHODS FOR DEEP-WATER RESERVOIR CHARACTERIZATION, BY JON ROTZIEN
ONLINE
PLEASE ALSO CHECK THE CALENDAR OF WEBINARS ON THE LEARNING GEOSCIENCE WEBSITE. FOR MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION PLEASE VISIT WWW.EAGE.ORG AND WWW.LEARNINGGEOSCIENCE.ORG.
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Three hot topic workshops heading for Amsterdam We are bringing three extra two-day workshops to the EAGE Annual Conference & Exhibition so members can maximize the value of their time in Amsterdam. The workshops will precede the main event on 6-7 December and will bring together the latest thinking on three hot topics – passive seismic, pore pressure prediction and smart cities. Eighth EAGE Workshop on Passive Seismic The workshop focuses on topics and solutions that have a direct impact on the cost-effectiveness and value-added of passive seismicity. The value of passive seismic data is measured by its capacity to impact business critical decisions. However, despite wide use, decision makers continue to receive mixed messages from their technical experts on the validity and accuracy of processing and interpretation results from their passive seismic projects. This highly interactive workshop will bring together some of the leading experts in the fields of planning, acquisition, processing and interpretation of passive seismicity and allow participants to identify specific solutions for current problems in the application of passive seismic data. Interactive poster-sessions and round table discussion groups will provide the opportunity to network and discuss how to advance the technology. Third EAGE Workshop on Pore Pressure Prediction Pore pressure and fracture gradient prediction and detection are key components of
efficient exploration for hydrocarbons and their safe production. They can influence all parts of the value chain from basin entry, prospect ranking, exploration planning and drilling, development, abandonment and more recently carbon capture and storage. The workshop is sure to take up the challenge facing the industry to improve our ability to implement multi-disciplinary approaches including the potential contribution of drilling and operations engineers, pressures specialists, geophysicists, geomechanical engineers, basin and exploration geoscientists and others in the bid to integrate analytical data, computation of physical parameters and geological/ fluid dynamic concepts. EAGE/SEG Research Workshop on Geophysical Aspects of Smart Cities The focus here will be on theoretical and practical challenges related to the implementation of geophysical mapping of subsurface geology in urban areas. Smart Cities methodology is an environmentally attractive solution, especially relevant for buildings and infrastructure located on potentially unstable ground. However,
it is still under development and it has so far only been implemented in a few cases. However, as signal processing technology develops, the methodology should have high potential in several locations. Discussion will doubtless cover the potential application of Smart Cities technology in European cities. Is it the time right now to develop the implementation? We need to ask on the one hand what are the requirements with respect to source of signal, data acquisition and data processing, and on the other, what are the geological and geotechnical conditions which make this methodology most relevant? All workshop details can be found at events.eage.org.
Near surface workshop coming to Latin America online EAGE has been leading the way with its events in Europe and Asia Pacific focusing on near surface geoscience applications. Now we are introducing the First Online Workshop on Near Surface in Latin America. Our intention is to share knowledge, discuss ideas, and show national and
international operators and service companies the potential of these projects in Latin America as we have done elsewhere in the world. This event will be an extraordinary opportunity to emphasize the applications of geology, hydrogeology, agriculture, environment, engineer-
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ing, and mining in the geophysics as well as in physical soil and rock properties. We therefore invite industry experts, professionals, authorities, researchers, and companies involved in near surface projects to join this exciting new event on 8-9 October in a special online format.
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EAGE Awards 2021 season is open already! Prof Anton Ziolkowski, chair of the Awards Committee, invites your timely nominations for awards at the 2021 Annual Meeting in Madrid. One of the high points of the year is the EAGE Awards ceremony at the Annual Meeting, recognizing the outstanding achievements of geoscientists and engineers nominated by you. Behind every nomination for an award is hard work and research by a selfless nominator, who puts together the nomination package and persuades colleagues, friends, co-workers and fellow scientists to write in support. It is not a five-minute job. It takes dedication, resolve and perseverance. The Awards Committee salutes our nominators!
Making more of our awards.
A good nomination is a well-written document that describes the specific achievements and contributions of the nominee, distinguishing them from the work of others, explaining in simple terms why they are important, and supporting them with references. Nom-
inations can be submitted more than once. If at first you do not succeed, try again. Nominations can be improved by additional information, new research, or a change in emphasis on the distinguishing characteristics of the nominee. The deadline for submitting a nomination for the 2021 Annual Meeting is 31 October 2020. To help you in the process, the EAGE Website provides all the information required to put together a nomination at EAGE > About EAGE > Awards. There are three components: 1) The nominee’s CV and list of publications (if appropriate). 2) A nominating letter that summarizes the nominee’s achievements and explains why he or she deserves the award you have identified. It is particularly important to describe how the candidate’s work has made a significant difference to society, to the Association, or to science. 3) At least one letter of support from technically qualified people who know the nominee and his or her work. Although the minimum is one supporting letter, nominators are encouraged to include a variety of letters to illustrate the nominee’s strengths. It is the quality of these supporting letters, rather than the quantity, that is important. The complete overview of the EAGE awards is also available online, describing the purpose of each award and provides the names and dates of past award-winners. To ensure that EAGE
honours the most deserving people, you need to tell the Awards Committee whom the EAGE should honour and recognize. We rely on you. Most awards are limited to one candidate. There are usually several nominations for each award. Often there are many nominations and the competition is intense. The EAGE Awards Committee works on the nominations you make to determine the strongest candidate for each award. When the Awards Committee makes a recommendation, the EAGE Board may accept or reject the nomination. They may not propose an alternative. We want to be, and be seen to be, as fair as possible. Obviously, it is crucial that your candidate should not be aware that he or she has been nominated. Occasionally an award is not made for lack of a strong enough candidate. If that happens it is a lost opportunity. Certain people cannot be nominated for awards: all serving members of the Awards Committee and all serving members of the Board of EAGE. Only EAGE members are eligible for Honorary Membership, Conrad Schlumberger, Alfred Wegener or Arie van Weelden Awards. The Desiderius Erasmus Award is not restricted to EAGE members. Again, the deadline for submitting a nomination for the 2021 Annual Meeting is 31 October 2020.
EAGE Student Calendar 14-17 SEP
GEO2020
BAHRAIN, THE KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN
2-4 NOV
NEAR SURFACE GEOSCIENCE & ENGINEERING CONFERENCE (REGIONAL GEO QUIZ)
CHANG MAI,THAILAND
16-19 NOV
9TH INTERNATIONALGEOLOGICAL AND GEOSCIENCE CONFERENCE (STUDENT ACTIVITIES)
SAINT PETERSBURG,RUSSIA
7-DEC
LAURIE DAKE CHALLENGE FINAL
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
8-11 DEC
EAGE ANNUAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2020 / STUDENT ACTIVITIES
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION PLEASE CHECK THE STUDENT SECTION AT WWW.EAGE.ORG
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EAGE makes a splash with new Hydrogeophysics Special Interest Community We are on a roll when it comes to the development of our communities. After two new communities launched in 2019 (Decarbonization & Energy Transition and Artificial Intelligence) and one community in May this year (Mineral Exploration Geophysics) we are now launching our sixth group - the EAGE Hydrogeophysics Special Interest Community (SIC). There are several reasons why the new community stands out. For starters, the topic itself. Compared to other disciplines within EAGE, Hydrogeophysics is a relatively under-explored topic for the Association. Even though we have had dedicated journal articles in Near Surface Geophysics and technical presentations dating back to 1995, most of the hydrogeophysics discussion has taken place as part of larger meetings. This will change with the 2021 EAGE Near Surface Conference, when we will have a first parallel conference on the discipline. The SIC will contribute to this by giving the discipline an online ‘home’ within EAGE.
One of the key members of the new community is Dr Konstantinos Chalikakis, assistant professor at the University of Avignon. In addition to his work on the online community, he is also the chairperson of the parallel conference committee: ‘I’m very happy to see this take off. We’ve got a great team supporting this initiative, with geoscientists from various countries working in academia, research institutions, and industry. The conference and community reinforce each other, so I believe 2021 would be a great year to get the latest research and advances on hydrogeophysics out there.’ In the wake of the Mineral Exploration Geophysics SIC, the hydrogeophysics initiative is the second EAGE community building on a Near Surface Geoscience parallel conference topic. The emphasis on water resources will likely see growing interest within EAGE and link with other earth science disciplines as well. Chalikakis says the aim is to ‘provide a comprehensive overview of the hydrogeophysical research in the wid-
est sense of the discipline, also integrate cross-disciplinary research.’ Important issues will be the role of hydrogeophysics in mitigating the impact of growing populations worldwide and changing weather patterns. Like access to energy and mineral resources, challenges surrounding sustainable accessibility to water play a crucial role across the globe. It is a central pillar to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, where it is included under SDG6 (Clean Water & Sanitation). The increasing attention to water resources globally, combined with the diverse nature of the community’s committee, should provide fertile ground for future scientific discussion, research evaluation and new initiatives. If you are ready for a deep dive into hydrogeophysics, you may want to check out this new EAGE online community. Like our other SICs, it can be found on our LinkedIn platform. Simply look for ‘EAGE - Hydrogeophysics’ on LinkedIn and join the discussion today.
Basin Research Early Career Award Students who have submitted theses with significant research into sedimentary basins are being invited to submit their work for the annual Basin Research Early Career Award. Prizes include: £100 payment or £250 worth of Wiley books; one year free membership to the International Association of Sedimentologists, including subscriptions to Sedimentology and Basin Research; €200 voucher to spend at the EAGE Bookshop; plus an interview with the winner to be published in First Break. The annual award recognizes published research marking a significant step forward in our understanding of sedimentary basins. Papers representing work completed within three years of thesis completion are eligible. The applicant must be the senior or sole author of the paper, and the content should represent largely independent work of the student, based on his or her own research. If you wish to be considered for the Basin Research Early
Basin Rese arch
Career Award, please submit a letter detailing: Title of paper to be considered by the committee; Degree programme for which the research was conducted; Date of completion of the degree; and Name and email of supervisor(s). Information should be submitted by 1 September, to Atle Rotevatn, editor-in-chief, Basin Research, Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, 5020 Bergen, Norway, atle.rotevatn@uib.no. For those interested in the previous winners of this award, you can check: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/ journal/13652117/homepage/earlycareerwinners.html. Volume 32 . Num
ber Published in conjun ction with
1 . February
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. http://ww the Europ ean Assoc w.wileyonline iation of Geoscientist library.com/jo s & Engine urnal/bre ers and the Internationa l Association of Sedim entologists
Editors: Atle
Rotevatn Kerry Galla (University of Berge gher (Univ n) ersity Peter Burge ss (University of Rennes) Cari Johns of Liverpool) on Craig Mage (University of Utah) e Nadine McQu (University of Leeds ) arrie (Univ ersity of Pittsb urgh)
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Scotland’s geological tradition needs support
Dolomite enigma is focus of online student lecture
Starting in 2019 a group of enthusiastic geologists have been working to establish the Scottish Geology Trust. This exciting development provides the only national organization in Scotland which can act as a focal point for chronically under-resourced activities such as geoconservation and education.
We are moving more of our Student Lecture Tours to the digital realm. In June we hosted the second online student lecture tour on ‘Understanding Dolomite and Dolomitization’ by Dr John D. Humphrey, associate professor and assistant chairman of geosciences at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia. The course was initially organized as the 2019 Student Lecture Tour in the Middle East and Arica but is now available online for students globally. As such, 59 participants from 23 universities across regions joined this online session. The background to the course is that dolomite presents one of the great enigmas in sedimentary geology. Carbonate rocks (limestones and dolostones) make up about 15% of the Phanerozoic stratigraphic record; yet, carbonate reservoirs hold over 50% of the world’s oil and gas reserves. This principally diagenetic mineral is abundant in the stratigraphic record, but volumetrically very little dolomite is forming today. Also, it is difficult to form dolomite in the lab under conditions that we believe most natural dolomites have formed, that is, at near-surface temperatures and pressures. In his course Dr Humphrey reviews properties of the mineral dolomite, introduces models for its formation, presents recognition criteria for dolomitization, and discusses dolomite porosity. With the knowledge gained from this tour, students can better understand the carbonate platforms of the dolomites and the pathway that led to the dolomitization of these platforms.
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Highland glens of Scotland: a geological treasure.
Most earth scientists might wonder why such an initiative is needed in Scotland where the beauty of the country stems from its long geological history with continental collisions raising mountains chains of Himalayan proportions, meteor impacts, rifting, volcanism and glaciation. It is truly a land of ice and fire. Even past and present prosperity is derived from geology: the renewables industry, agriculture, life sciences, oil and gas, mining, forestry, tourism and even whisky! Our culture has also been shaped to an extraordinary extent by our geology. Geology is, however, a forgotten science in Scotland. Despite the major role Scotland played in the emergence of academic geology, e.g. Hutton, Lyell, Murchison, Holmes, etc., geology is no longer taught in high schools. This has led to initiatives, such as the St Andrews University ‘Geobus’ which brings a travelling lab to schools and takes pupils to geological sites. This small project has struggled for funding and has occasionally been mothballed. Key conservation sites are woefully substandard, for example, Fossil Grove in Glasgow is an outstanding yet seriously neglected geological site 2020
of national and international importance. Siccar Point (Hutton’s unconformity) is an internationally regarded iconic geological site, and yet you wouldn’t even know it was there. The ice age Parallel Roads of Glen Roy is an excellent example of the malaise hanging over Scottish geology. Although a site of international importance, its visitor centre supported by Lochaber Geopark closed for lack of funding. Indeed, Scotland’s flagship Geoparks receives no core funding from the public purse at all, despite being an international model of best practice for geoscience communication and sustainable development, recognized by the United Nations. Ultimately, new young earth scientists come up through the education system and are often inspired by the scenery around them. With no governmental support, little or no interest from industry, it is up to us, the community of earth scientists, to put right this sorry situation. The Scottish Geology Trust believes that it can make a difference by campaigning for Scotland’s geology. For more information: www.scottishgeologytrust.org.
EAGE NEWS
Combining workshops makes a great start for first geophysical monitoring conference and exhibition Our inaugural EAGE Geophysical Monitoring Technology Conference and Exhibition (GeoTech 2021), scheduled for 1-3 March 2021 in The Hague, Netherlands, is an event for the times. The innovative format combines four dedicated workshops, two already well established, into one comprehensive conference programme. This will provide cost savings for attendees while providing unique opportunities for crossover knowledge exchange and interaction. EAGE GeoTech 2021 will be dedicated to examining the use of geophysical monitoring solutions and technologies in a wide range of subsurface, reservoir and production challenges. The event is intended to bring together leading experts
in geoscience, reservoir engineering, drilling and data science but is open to topics beyond oil and gas. The four workshops featured are: Third EAGE Workshop on Practical Reservoir Monitoring; Second EAGE Workshop on Distributed Fibre Optic Sensing; First EAGE Workshop on Induced Seismicity Monitoring; and First EAGE Workshop on Directional Drilling and Geosteering. EAGE GeoTech 2021 recognizes the push towards a low carbon future and the emerging opportunities available for geoscientists. In planning the event, we want to go beyond the traditional issues of monitoring hydrocarbon reservoirs to include other resource fields such as geothermal,
CO2 storage, mining, engineering and environmental geophysics applications. The EAGE GeoTech Exhibition also offers a focused marketplace for showcasing the latest technologies, innovative services and major players in geophysical monitoring and data management solutions. As such it offers a great environment for technologists, geophysicists and decision-makers to meet and discuss solutions to subsurface management challenges and how to maximize value and investments in this sector. You can participate in EAGE GeoTech 2021 by submitting your abstract by 1 November 2020 or registering for the event. Visit the event website for more information: geotech.eage.org.
Online highlights sessions pave way for EAGE’s inaugural digitalization conference in Vienna It’s not long now until EAGE holds its first Digitalization Conference in Vienna from 30 November to 3 December. What you can expect from this new event was the subject of the online EAGE Digital 2020 Highlights Series held in June. Participants were able to obtain some insights into how digital technologies are introducing greater efficiency in tackling today’s industry challenges with better informed decisions. The first session was moderated by Mr Alberto Diaz (Rock Flow Dynamics). His mantra was that ‘data is one of our biggest
assets today … and can be used not only to improve the current workflow. There are so many outside the box applications for data’. The second and third sessions were moderated by Dr Lorin Davies (Petryx) who drew attention to the fact that despite the oil and gas sector being one of the first adopters of digital technologies, it’s now undergoing a ‘digital transformation’ itself. The three sessions with expert geoscientists gave a short preview of the 24 oral and poster technical presentations that will be presented at the digital conference in
Vienna. All sessions had Q&A segments that created a great interaction among participants. EAGE would like to thank all presenters, moderators and participants that made this series possible and made us all look forward to an in-person meeting at the actual event. You can view the full technical programme for the conference at www.eagedigital.org. If you’d like to participate in person at this major EAGE digital event, don’t forget to register. You can benefit from the early bird fee up until 15 September.
The EAGE Student Fund supports activities that help bridge the gap between the university and professional environments for students of geosciences and engineering. Thanks to our Student Fund contributors we can continue supporting students around the globe and through this securing the future of our industry. For more information to become a Student Fund contributor, please visit eagestudentfund.org or contact us at students@eage.org. SUPPORTED BY
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No place like home About the only positive to come out of the Covid-19 pandemic for workforce. It included working from home where practical and an the geoscience community has been its ability to adapt relatively almost blanket restriction on travel. easily to the abrupt change in working conditions necessitated by How long this arrangement is sustainable is an issue that affects social distancing and other health and safety restrictions. companies in a wide swath of businesses where a physical presence Not just working at home. There have been no reported cases is not essential. The likes of Amazon, Google, Twitter and Shopify of the Coronavirus affecting the operation of marine seismic have all acknowledged the validity of working from home for vessels. The strict boarding procedures, longer crew rotations and many of their workers. Banks, financial and insurance services, the monitoring of crew wellbeing once on the ships has allowed online booking agencies and many other activities with a large marine seismic contractors to carry on with their summer survey computer-based component fall into the same category. Some say schedule more or less without interruption. That has to be a bonus that Covid-19 will simply accelerate the demise of the traditional given the more worrying outlook for work this coming winter and office set up. By this logic adoption of more flexible working beyond, assuming oil companies take a predictably ruthless view arrangements is the future … for some. It is not an option for those of their future E&P investment strategies. employed in industrial plants, manufacturing, mining, oil and gas It should be no surprise that geoscientists operations, construction, transport, shop retail, onshore can cope with working at home. Techhealth, police, fire, armed services, etc. ‘It should be nology for processing and interpretation of Pre-Covid, the percentage of people who seismic data for oil companies has advanced genuinely work from home, as opposed to no surprise that inexorably thanks to easily accessed, massive sometimes taking work home, was surprisingly compute power and commensurate software geoscientists onshore small. According to Eurostat, in 2019, 5.4% allowing data treatments unthinkable a few of employed persons in the European Union can cope with decades ago. Furthermore, Cloud computing who were aged 15-64, usually worked working at home.’ (EU) provides servers, storage, databases, networkfrom home. This share has remained constant ing, software, analytics and intelligence over at around 5% throughout the last decade. The the internet to add another dimension. The net result is that indiNetherlands and Finland topped the list of EU member states for viduals with good connectivity can set themselves up at home with remote working, with 14.1% of employed people usually working all the equipment needed to carry out tasks previously confined to from home, followed by Luxembourg and Austria (11.6% and the office. 9.9% respectively). The US reports very similar figures. And so this has proved in practice. During the lockdown and Surveys suggest that the novelty of the working at home continuing uncertainty over working in confined spaces, seismic experience has met with employee approval. Business consultant service companies have had their employees work from home with McKinsey found 80% of people questioned said they enjoy surprisingly little disruption to normal services. Unfortunately we working from home. Forty-one percent thought they were more are talking here about those who have so far retained their jobs to productive than before and 28% that they are as productive. The do the meagre work available during this prolonged crisis. survey concluded that ‘many employees liberated from long As the largest company in the oil and gas services sector with commutes and travel have found more productive ways to spend a significant geophysical component, Schlumberger was admirably that time, enjoyed greater flexibility in balancing their personal and prompt in coming out with a no nonsense, no exceptions Covid professional lives, and decided that they prefer to work from home Outbreak Management plan to reduce the risk of exposure for its rather than the office.’
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This unsurprising portrait only paints part of a much more immediate issue may tend to get bogged down in an email chain, complex picture. Current assessments are based on a very already the curse of office communications. short period of time, arguably a honeymoon period. The most New hires are particularly disadvantaged. They are plunged important perspective belongs to employers, the paymasters. into a virtual work environment with no background or foreknowlThe pandemic obliged them to have their staff work from home. edge about the people they are working with, no real idea of what Doubtless they have done their best to support them so that is expected of them and, most likely, any mentoring is hampered their businesses can operate as productively and harmoniously by stilted conversations across the internet. as possible. It is also not a given that working at home suits everyone’s perYet two or three years ago major companies such as IBM, sonality or living circumstances. Not unnaturally people can miss an early adopter of working at home, and Yahoo publicly both the human contact and camaraderie of the office. There is plenty announced a halt to having employees work at home. In a of advice on the internet. One employment agency provides seven nutshell the reason cited for the policy reversal was the erosion of hints for remote workers starting with ‘get dressed’. This counsel corporate teamwork that fosters the creativity is less about avoiding a Zoom meeting in a and innovation that are the lifeblood of high state of obvious undress, important though this ‘Not an easy nor tech organizations. Physical proximity, casual is, but about getting yourself into a work frame encounters at the coffee machine, water coolers of mind. Avoiding distractions seems to be the necessarily a or the canteen, plus round the table meetings undoing of many ‘telecommuters’. Scheduling desirable transition.’ meetings, keeping regular hours and closing are cited by many employers as essential ingredients for creating a successful working the office door seem to be the top tips for home environment. In Silicon Valley, many entrepreneurs have taken work, and of course not constantly checking Facebook, Linkedin or a sort of hip approach to work, turning the office into a lifestyle the latest news when sitting at the desk. This is all very well for those experience with lots of perks to generate buzz. Critics suggest one who have the benefit of a discreet home office space. Others are not downside is an expectation of long hours that make work take so fortunate. A full on workstation set-up in a bedsit doesn’t leave precedence over home and family. much room for anything else. It remains to be seen whether there is a push back from big For managers in charge of remote workers, the not knowing offices, particularly expensive leased properties in major cities. what their staff is up to, and how they are faring, is a constant Numerous companies say they are reviewing the potential savings frustration. Beware, there are some fairly creepy methods to of more home-based workers. But having staff working remotely monitor work habits if you are connected to the main company poses problems. Security of communications and data is one, and server, starting with email volume and time on task tracking. But an obvious concern for the geoscience business. It is more difficult how can an employee’s mental health or domestic circumstances to secure the flow of information between office, home workers be checked? Such factors can have an important bearing on an and customers. Popular as they are, Zoom conversations have individual’s performance. been shown to be highly vulnerable; in one incident some 500,000 There seems to be something of a consensus about the impact passwords were hacked. of Covid-19 on the future of the office. Larger companies are A specific issue for the geoscience business is that continued talking about potential savings on their leases, relieving staff from working from home in the processing/interpretation field may well long commute times, but not so much about productivity. There reduce available software language and tools. The pressure will be seems to be an implicit acknowledgement that moving away from on to standardize which some say will hasten the day the treatment the old-style office culture will not be an easy or necessarily a of seismic data becomes a commodity business. desirable transition. Most problematic for a company of any size is management Running a business is all about return on investment. It makes and monitoring of remote working employees, not to mention sense for management to foster good relations with the workforce making coherent corporate strategy decisions. So far, companies via pay and conditions to get the best results. It’s not a mantra that including leaders in the geoscience-related services sector, say they applies to all companies but that is another story. What we might are coping. However, there is more than a suspicion that a short be seeing as a result of the pandemic is the spread of a labour break is not a true test. Remote working at the beginning can rely contract benefiting both the company and its employees, one on the social capital already established in the company. In other undoubtedly applicable to some sectors of the seismic business. It words everybody knows each other, and a level of trust has been will be a flexible work agreement providing employees the option established. A prolonged separation from the office seems likely to of spending a proportion of their workdays at home. It would be a change that dynamic. For example, internal company politics will move that meets the requirement for everyone to stay connected, be a whole new blood sport. reduces overheads and potentially motivates employees. Not a Concerning for management is that collaboration and coming perfect solution but one surely worth pursuing. As Franklin D. up with new ideas is a challenge in virtual meetings. Quick Roosevelt is reputed to have said: ‘The only limit to our realization conversations in the office that might answer a query or solve an of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.’ Views expressed in Crosstalk are solely those of the author, who can be contacted at andrew@andrewmcbarnet.com.
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INDUSTRY NEWS
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Maersk joins Denmark CO2 storage consortium
BP energy report warns that carbon emissions are still growing Global energy is becoming more sustainable but carbon emissions are continuing to grow, according to BP’s 69th annual edition of the BP Statistical Review of World Energy.
Renewables account for 10.4% of global energy.
This study – which collected and analysed energy data for 2019 – demonstrates that renewables contributed their largest increase in energy terms on record (3.2 exajoules). They accounted for more than 40% of the global growth in primary energy last year, more than any other fuel. Their share in global power generation (10.4%) also surpassed nuclear for the first time. Oil consumption grew by a below-average 0.9 million barrels per day (b/d), or 0.9%, while demand for all liquid fuels, including biofuels, topped 100 million b/d for the first time.
Primary energy consumption growth slowed to 1.3% last year, less than half the rate of growth in 2018 (2.8%). Carbon emissions from energy use grew by 0.5% in 2019, only partly rowing back the unusually strong growth of 2.1% seen in 2018. Average annual growth in carbon emissions over 2018 and 2019 was greater than its 10-year average. Natural gas consumption increased by 2%, well below the exceptional growth seen in 2018, but its share of primary energy still hit a record high (24.2%). Natural gas production rose by 3.4%, buoyed by a record increase in liquefied natural gas exports (54 billion m3). Coal’s share of primary energy fell to its lowest level in 16 years (27%), after consumption fell by 0.6%, led by a sharp drop in OECD demand. However, coal remained the single largest source of energy for power generation, accounting for more than 36% of global power. Growth in primary energy consumption slowed to 1.3% in 2019, less than half the rate of growth the previous year (2.8%). China accounted for more than three quarters of net global energy growth, while the US and Germany posted the largest declines. BP CEO Bernard Looney said: ‘Some aspects are encouraging – particularly the continuing strong growth of renewable energy. Led by wind and solar power, FIRST
renewable energy increased by a record amount, accounting for over 40% of the growth in primary energy in 2019. At the same time, coal consumption fell for the fourth time in the past six years, with its share in the global energy mix falling to its lowest level for 16 years. ‘But other aspects of the energy system continued to give cause for concern. Despite last year’s decline, coal was still the single largest source of power generation, accounting for over 36% of global power. ‘That compares with just 10% provided by renewable energy. Renewables will need to grow even more strongly over the next three decades to decarbonize the power sector. More worrying is the trend for carbon emissions. The slowing in the growth of carbon emissions to 0.5% in 2019 might suggest some grounds for optimism. But this deceleration needs to be seen in the context of the big increase in carbon emissions in 2018 of 2.1%. The hope was that as the one-off factors boosting carbon emissions in 2018 unwound, carbon emissions would fall significantly. That fall did not happen. The average annual growth in carbon emissions over 2018 and 2019 was greater than its 10-year average. As the world emerges from the Covid-19 crisis it needs to make decisive changes to move to a more sustainable path.’
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TGS shoots 28,000-km 3D survey offshore west Africa TGS has completed the Jaan 3D seismic survey covering the MSGBC Basin in NW Africa and acquired in partnership with PGS and GeoPartners. The 28,000 km2 survey spanning offshore Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau has been designed to map the Cretaceous Palaeo Shelf-Edge Trend (PSET) and to shed light on untapped Jurassic potential. This has been the setting for the FAN and SNE discoveries, Africa’s most successful play of recent times. Jaan 3D consists of both newly acquired (more than 12,000 km2) and recently reprocessed seismic surveys, processed and harmonized to create a seamless 3D PSTM and PSDM volume which allows explorers to obtain a holistic understanding of this prolific basin and its unique geological features of the shelf edge trend across borders. It is also the current setting for anticipated and continuing bid rounds, including the Senegalese 2020 Licensing Round, which offers acreage on-trend with the FAN and SNE discoveries. Meanwhile, in The Gambia, Jaan 3D covers significant prospectivity similar to the FAR/Petronas targets in adjacent blocks. Rune Eng, executive vice president, global at TGS, said: ‘Recent and signifi-
The survey is mapping the Cretaceous Palaeo Shelf-Edge Trend (PSET).
cant success in the MSGBC Basin demonstrates the importance of the province in terms of exploration not only in Africa but also worldwide. Learning from these giant discoveries and cross-border exploration success, the Jaan 3D survey has been specifically designed to highlight key play fairways and provide a vital exploration volume to enable E&P companies to unlock the next giant discovery.’ In addition to the Jaan 3D volume, the TGS subsurface data library in the MSGCB Basin includes more than 82,000 km of
2D seismic and a further 16,000 km2 of 3D seismic (including newly acquired deepwater The Gambia and Senegal 3D surveys) as well as well data products and a 114,000 km2 Multi-Beam and Seafloor Sampling (MB&SS) survey covering Senegal to Guinea-Bissau. Meanwhile, TGS has announced that it expects to report net segment revenues for the second quarter of 2020 of $96 million. Multi-client Investments for the quarter are expected to be approx. $80 million with a prefunding rate of 48%.
PGS releases data on Peru MegaSurvey First data is available on PGS’ Peru MegaSurvey, a merged and matched seismic dataset, including 2D and 3D data, targeting the extensive coastline of Peru. The survey comprises 21,000 km2 of 3D data matched and merged together with approx. 23,000 km of 2D data. It covers both existing discoveries and licensing opportunities in open blocks, revealing analogs of existing interests. A time-processed dataset is now available. Depth processing is continuing using a seismic-horizon-constrained velocity model through five different basins,
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from the prolific Talara basin in the north to the frontier basins in the extreme south. Depth results are expected in Q1 2021. Well control data will be incorporated using rockAVO for forward modelling and QI modelling. The Peruvian continental margin is characterized by the Peru-Chile trench, where the Nazca Plate converges obliquely and subducts beneath the South American Plate. This margin is a classic accretionary prism, comprising a series of Mesozoic-Cenozoic fore-arc basins that form the continental slope.
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These basins are separated by rotated basement highs, generated by strike-slip faulting. Intermittent reactivation of these basement faults caused the extension and inversion of several offshore basins during the Cenozoic period. The diverse regional geology provides a range of structural and stratigraphic traps with reservoir intervals spanning Paleozoic-Tertiary, said PGS. Mature basins with producing fields to the north and underexplored frontier basins to the south provide the perfect exploration environment with many exciting opportunities, the company added.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Polarcus cuts another 20% of its workforce Polarcus is cutting a further 20% of its workforce and reducing salaries by 10% to save another $7 million a year in operating costs over and above the $15 million of cuts already announced to navigate the market uncertainty caused by the combined impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and oil price volatility. The measures include a 20% reduction in staff, principally through redundancies, and a permanent salary reduction of 10% in base salary at senior levels with effect from 1 October 2020.
Activity levels in marine seismic acquisition over the near-term remain low with limited visibility on future projects. Second quarter vessel utilization was at 50% compared to 72% in Q2 2019 and 79% for the full year 2019. Polarcus CEO, Duncan Eley said: ‘The extent of the global economic crisis over the past three months has been profound. The further organization changes we have made respond to the deteriorated market conditions and position the company for the future. Based on regular conversations with our client base across the globe, I am
confident that the industry will see activity levels increase through 2021. Polarcus will enter this phase as a leaner and more responsive organization with an established foundation for future success.’ A one-off associated cost of approx. $2 million is expected to be recognised in 2020. Meanwhile, Polarcus has won a contract from Eni to carry out 3D seismic data acquisition services in Asia Pacific with an expected minimum duration of one month. The project is scheduled to commence in Q1 2021.
PGS completes record-breaking ED survey offshore Brazil PGS has completed acquisition of the first two parts of a new long-offset GeoStreamer-X seismic survey in the Campos Basin, offshore Brazil. The majority of the coverage so far targets areas for the Brazil 17th Bidding Round scheduled for early 2021. Fast-track PSDM products will be available in Q3. The survey, acquired by the vessel Ramform Titan, towed the largest acquisition spread ever deployed in Brazil with a 14 x 100 x 10050 m, dual-sensor, dual-source configuration. Ramform Titan completed acquisition of the 6500 km2 area ahead of schedule, with an average production of 80 km2 per day. PGS’ Campos Deepwater GeoStreamer X programme targets Campos Basin presalt open acreage areas acquired in the 14th Bidding Round, and open acreage offered in the 17th Bidding Round. The survey will cover an area of approx. 14,500 km2 and overshoot PGS’ existing orthogonal MC3D currently being reprocessed in parallel. This new GeoStreamer X project will provide 10-km long offsets to improve depth velocity modelling accuracy of the post-salt, salt and presalt sections, facil-
itated by the use of PGS’ Full Waveform Inversion (FWI) technologies. These additional offset data also promise added angle-range for presalt seismic amplitude analysis and reservoir characterization. Incorporating the newly reprocessed orthogonal MC3D datasets (8 km offsets) will provide a multi-azimuth solution, enabling improved illumination of the subsurface structures found within the presalt plays in this portion of the Campos Basin. The western part of 2020 acquisition on the Campos Deepwater GeoStreamer X survey targets presalt open acreage. The multi-azimuth products will include ~3000 km2 of TTI Kirchhoff and both single and multi-azimuth RTM (45 Hz) PSDM products and the broadband reprocessing of the underlying orthogonal datasets. Final PSDM products will be available in Q2 2021. The eastern portion now completed targets the deepwater open acreage to be offered in the upcoming 17th Bidding Round. Fast-track PSDM products will be available through Q3 2020, prior to the 17th Bidding Round. Final PSDM products will be available in 2021, including KPSDM and 45 Hz RTM. FIRST
Ramform Titan acquired 6500 km2.
In addition, PGS will be offering, gravity and magnetic data for regional basin analysis, as well as standard GeoStreamer field deliverables. Meanwhile, PGS said that it expects to report second quarter segment revenues of approx. $138 million. Contract revenues ended at approx. $31 million. multiclient pre-funding revenues were approx. $66 million, from a capitalized cash investment of approx. $64 million, while multiclient late sales were approx. $36 million.
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PGS and Ion create joint global 2D data library PGS and Ion Geophysical have agreed to create a joint 2D data exploration library that covers all the significant hydrocarbon provinces around the world. The joint data library will comprise nearly a million line kilometres of uniquely complementary data, including many areas of genuine broadband seismic data with potential for integration and reimaging. Berit Osnes, PGS’ EVP, new ventures said the collaboration would draw on PGS’ broadband 2D GeoStreamer offering and ION’s latest imaging technology, to offer higher resolution and
greater spatial coverage, providing deeper insights and more reliable pre-stack attributes for exploration screening on a global basis. ‘The combined 2D data libraries will provide E&P companies with a more efficient way to identify and high-grade attractive frontier investment opportunities,’ he said. ‘ION’s BasinSPAN offering is globally recognized as the benchmark tool for exploration insights at the basinscale. ‘Referencing and integrating our GeoStreamer-enriched 2D data library into that framework will create a valua-
ble opportunity to add resolution to that understanding.’ Ken Williamson, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of ION’s E&P technology and services group said: ‘PGS’ global framework of modern data, much of which was acquired with long offsets and GeoStreamer multi-sensor acquisition technology, is exceptionally compatible with ION’s BasinSPAN framework and will deepen basin characterization and insights for our customers. The collaboration extends beyond existing data to include new programme activity and the integration of third-party data where relevant.’
TGS starts survey offshore Timor-Leste TGS and partner ANPM have launched a 2Dcubed seismic data project covering offshore the South East Asian island of Timor-Leste, in support of the country’s licensing round. The project combines all available open file and TGS multi-client data across an area of more than 50,000 km2
and incorporating more than 2500 lines and existing 3D data. The 2D data, from more than 45 legacy vintages, covers the entire offshore area south of Timor-Leste where the 11 offshore blocks in the second licensing round are located. ‘The final multi-client 2Dcubed data will be unrivalled in its comprehensive
The survey covers 11 blocks which will be included in a licensing round.
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coverage, allowing customers to develop structural and geological models in their pre-study evaluation process using a single conformable 3D volume, imparting confidence in their licensing round decision-making processes and supporting further exploration,’ said TGS. 2Dcubed is a technology from TGS for generating a 3D seismic migration volume from a set of 2D and 3D seismic lines. It uses an advanced structurally conformable interpolation algorithm to maximize the potential of existing 2D multi-vintage and 3D data. The volume can be used for regional interpretation and optimization of 2D survey designs and positioning. The very high density of the available 2D legacy data offshore Timor-Leste lends itself to maximizing the effectiveness of 2Dcubed, which also merges local 3D surveys, where available, said TGS. The company has undertaken similar projects in other Asia Pacific basins in Indonesia and Australia, as well as offshore Sakhalin, Russia, and throughout the Norwegian and UK North Seas. First data was expected last month with final data in September. TGS said this will allow E&P companies ample time for data evaluation prior to the closing of the licensing round, which is anticipated to be during the first half of 2021.
INDUSTRY NEWS
ModelVision
Shearwater announces new contract wins offshore India and in the US Gulf of Mexico Shearwater has won a combined 3D and 2D towed-streamer seismic acquisition and processing contract in the Andaman Sea and Kerala-Konkan coastal waters offshore India. The 1020 km2 3D survey for client Oil India will be executed by one of Shearwater’s 3D vessels over 45 days. Commencing in Q3 2020, the work programme also comprises 8400 km of 2D data acquisition. The project includes full 2D and 3D time processing and depth imaging. The work is expected to start in the third quarter and take six weeks to complete. The company has also been awarded a contract from CGG to carry out the Brazil Nebula survey extension offshore Brazil. The vessel Oceanic Sirius was due to start the project last month. The contract, which is expected to take six months to complete, is part of the longterm capacity agreement between the companies. Meanwhile, Shearwater has launched its first ocean bottom seismic ROV project for TGS and Schlumberger in the US Gulf of Mexico. Two Shearwater vessels are being used for
Magnetic & Gravity Interpretation System All sensors Processing 3D modelling 3D inversion Visualisation Analysis Utilities
the project. The SW Diamond and SW Emerald have been equipped with three high-capacity sources each composed of three sub-arrays. Finally, in the second quarter Shearwater completed its first CO2 sequestration monitoring survey, at the Sleipner CO2 storage project. Shearwater CEO Irene Waage Basili said, ‘I am pleased to announce these achievements for Shearwater particularly given the difficult market backdrop for our industry. Although we have been successful in securing more than our fair share of new business going into the second half of the year, the total market has been drastically reduced in the short term. Securing sensible backlog in the short term while taking strategic positions in forward looking markets is absolutely key in this environment.’ Additional measures have been taken to reduce costs in line with the reduction of activity in the market, she added. In the first half, Shearwater brought its ship management in-house to fully realise scale efficiencies. As part of this process, all four ‘polar’ vessels will be renamed with the prefix ‘SW’.
Minerals Petroleum Near Surface Government Contracting Consulting Education
CGG deploys software in popular Chinese cloud platform CGG GeoSoftware has teamed up with Alibaba Cloud to deploy its suite of proprietary geoscience software solutions on the Alibaba Cloud platform, which is widely used in China. Alibaba Cloud is the third largest cloud service provider in the world, and holds the number one market share position in Asia Pacific, according to Gartner, a leading research and advisory company. Li Qiang, director of auto and energy business group Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, said: ‘CGG GeoSoftware has become an Alibaba Cloud partner in oil and gas exploration and production in China. We look forward to continuing our cooperation with CGG GeoSoftware so that Chinese oil and gas exploration and production players can expand to full cloud capability and reap the benefits of digital technology.’
Tensor Research support@tensor-research.com.au www.tensor-research.com.au Tel:
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Seismic data services will start to recover in 2020, says Rystad
Oilfield services spending will drop 25% this year.
Global demand for seismic data services is set to decline to $12 billion this year, down from $15 billion in 2019 as a result of the downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Demand is forecast to drop to $10 billion in 2021, before rebounding to $11 billion in 2022 and to $13 billion in 2023. Overall oilfield services spending is expected to drop by 25% to $481 billion this year and take the first step on the road to recovery in 2021, when it is forecast to tick up by just about 2%. The recovery will accelerate further in 2022 and 2023, with OFS spending by E&Ps reaching some $552 billion and $620 billion, respectively. Despite the boost, purchases will not return to
the pre-Covid-19 levels of $639 billion achieved in 2019. The comeback will not be visible across all OFS segments from 2021, however. Well services and the pressure pumping market will be the first to see a boost, while other markets will need to get further depressed before recovering. ‘Despite the recovery in oil prices, it will take many quarters before all segments of the supply chain see their revenues deliver consistent growth. In case of an upturn, operators would prefer flexible budget items with production increments and high-return investments with short pay-back times. Therefore, we expect well service segments to be the first to recover, while long-lead segments will pick up much later,’ said Rystad Energy’s head of energy research Audun Martinsen. Dividing OFS into six segments – maintenance and operations, well services and commodities, drilling contractors, subsea, EPCI and seismic – only the first three will manage to rise in 2021, while the latter three will have to brace for another year of falling revenues before they can expect improvements. The maintenance and operations segment is poised for consecutive yearly rises in the next three years after slumping to $167 billion this year from $202 billion in 2019. Rystad expects spending to recover to $175 billion in 2021, $193 billion in 2022 and $205 billion in 2023.
The well services and commodities segment is set for a similar recovery, but only after slumping to $152 billion in 2020 from $231 billion last year – the biggest decline among segments. Here, spending is forecast at $163 billion in 2021, $189 billion in 2022 and $210 billion in 2023. The same pattern also applies to drilling contractors, with the segment falling to $46 billion in 2020 from $62 billion last year, and then rising to $47 billion in 2021, $54 billion in 2022 and $57 billion in 2023. The subsea segment, on the other hand, will fall from $25 billion in 2019 to $24 billion in 2020 and decline further to $22 billion in 2021 – before starting to rebound to $24 billion in 2022 and to $29 billion in 2023. Similarly, engineering, procurement, production and installation (EPCI) is set to fall to $81 billion in 2020 from $105 billion last year. It will slide further to $74 billion in 2021, before rising to $81 billion in 2022 and growing to $106 billion a year later. ‘At best there will only be certain regions and service segments that will see their revenues grow consistently. For the whole supply chain to recover, we will likely need to wait until after 2023, when we expect service purchases to return to their 2019 levels,’ added Martinsen.
Fairfield Geotechnologies signs deal to use DUG imaging solutions Fairfield Geotechnologies and DownUnder GeoSolutions (DUG) have signed an agreement that includes the reprocessing and imaging of more than 1300 km2 of multi-client seismic data. In addition, Fairfield Geotechnologies will use the DUG McCloud platform
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to archive its extensive library of seismic data and closely collaborate with DUG during processing and imaging projects. Joe Dryer, president of Fairfield Geotechnologies said: ‘DUG’s impressive R&D team is working on new
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technologies that we feel will provide substantial upside value to Fairfield and our customers. This agreement is another step towards our continued commitment to the industry in providing high-end multi-client programmes for the development of unconventional resources.’
INDUSTRY NEWS
US publishes latest plans to drill in Alaska The US government has published its plans to open a vast area of Alaska for oil and gas exploration. The final environmental impact statement (EIS) for a new National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) Integrated Activity Plan (IAP) outlines the opening up of the largest area of federally managed land in the US, estimated to hold 8.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 25 trillion feet of recoverable natural gas.
the roughly 23-million-acre area specifically for oil and gas development. US Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt said that the new IAP/ EIS analyses take an environmentally responsible approach to leasing and development, respect traditional uses of the land, and maintain access to subsistence resources. ‘It identifies new management alternatives that examine different land allocation combinations
The plan will open up 23 million acres for oil and gas development.
The area was set aside for its potential petroleum value by President Warren G. Harding in 1923. The 1976 Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act designated
that increase opportunities for oil and gas leasing. These include new and revised lease stipulations and required operating procedures to protect important resource
values, as well as modifications to areas set aside for special management considerations,’ he said. Public comments on the Draft EIS alternatives drove significant changes to required operating procedures and lease stipulations, allowing for 18.6 million acres, or 82% of NPR-A’s subsurface estate, to be open to oil and gas leasing. This would increase the area open to leasing by about 7 million acres. At the same time more than 4 million acres would be closed to leasing including the previously closed Kasegaluk Lagoon and Peard Bay Special Areas. The Teshekpuk Lake Special Area would be protected by no surface occupancy (NSO) stipulations and timing limitations mitigating impacts on caribou calving and important bird habitats. The geographic boundary and associated protections of the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area would also be adjusted to account for changing calving distribution of the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd. In addition, important rivers include large set back areas extending miles in some places and protections for their free flow and water quality. The IAP/EIS includes special measures to protect the areas of Wainwright, Atqasuk, Nuiqsut, and Utqiagvik.
Seabird wins OBN source contract in North Sea Seabird Exploration has been awarded an OBN source contract in the North Sea with mobilization in July. The company will use the vessel Eagle Explorer, which will then sail to South America for another source job that has been delayed until the fourth quarter as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the company has decided to sell the vessel Harrier Explorer for recycling. The sale is expected to be completed in early Q3 and will have a small positive cash effect, said Seabird. Finally, the company has completed the refinancing of the SBX04 bond loan with a bank mortgage facility.
Eagle Explorer is due to start another OBN source contract in South America.
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Upstream spending set for 15 year low, says Rystad Global upstream spending is now expected to reach $383 billion this year, the lowest level in 15 years and a 29% decrease of $156 billion compared to 2019, according to research from Rystad Energy. With 2019’s upstream investments calculated at $539 billion, the decline is set to bring annual investment to a level lower than that of the previous downturn. Spending is also expected to be largely flat in 2021, landing only marginally higher than 2020 at $386 billion. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Rystad Energy expected total upstream investment would maintain last year’s levels, both in 2020 and 2021. Shale and tight oil investments are expected to take the biggest hit, now forecast to fall by 52.2% y/y to $67.3 billion. Oil sands investments will follow, with a decline of 44% to $5.1 billion. Other onshore investments are forecast to fall by 23.4% to $182.4 billion this year. The sector which will be least affected is offshore. Offshore deepwater spending is estimated to fall by 15.6% to $69 billion this year, while offshore shelf will lose about 14%, landing at $59.5 billion. ‘As the impact will be more severe than in the previous downturn, companies
are fiercely defending shareholder value and pivoting towards more conservative spending strategies in the near-term. As the global upstream sector contends with low prices, falling demand, and fluctuating exchange rates, every dollar cut will strike directly to the bone,’ said Rystad Energy’s upstream analyst Olga Savenkova. In terms of percentages, the drop in investment is comparable to 2014–2015. However, this time around Rystad said that the industry spending is ‘falling from a lower mountain to a deeper valley, which will very quickly affect industry performance, even in a short term’. In 2014-2015, the 27% fall in spending did not significantly impact production performance as companies were able to adapt and streamline. On the contrary, within all supply segments some players even managed to increase y/y production. Virtually no production was shut-in, even at the facilities with the highest breakeven prices, as the costs associated with shuttering production were too high, the report says. Spending cuts were mainly delivered through lower supply chain costs and by cutting out unnecessary expenses. However, the industry’s ability to maintain high costs per barrel is now
being put to the test, with almost all supply segments cutting production in 2020. ‘In the longer-term, reduced brownfield capex will make it more challenging to maintain existing production, while reduced greenfield capital spending will make it difficult to replace declines with new production coming on stream. These two factors could impact the stability of the global liquids supply in the future, changing the industry landscape for good,’ says the report. Rystad’s research indicates that about 125 E&P’s have thus far communicated spending cuts, amounting to a reduction of $100 billion in 2020. National Oil Companies (NOCs) are the largest contributors to the global reduction, decreasing spending by $32 billion. ‘Companies are now highly riskaverse, with finances and operational performance under intense pressure. Nevertheless, E&Ps will need to prepare for opportunities and threats that may await them once the crisis is past. Their future success depends on how prudent they are in adapting new strategies, taking advantage of emerging opportunities and mitigating risks,’ added Savenkova.
PGS/TGS launch final Labrador data A PGS/TGS joint venture has delivered final 3D data on the Torngat survey offshore Labrador, Canada, ahead of the 2021 call for bids. The Torngat survey, acquired over Chidley Basin in 2019, utilizes GeoStreamer technology to image listric fault systems. Stable AVO responses are consistent with the presence of multiphase hydrocarbons. The survey is positioned in the updip central portion of the unexplored Chidley Basin and these are the first 3D images of the play fairways in the southern sedimen-
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tary basins of the Labrador Sea. Frontier exploration in this area has already identified hydrocarbons, such as in the nearby Hopedale and Snorri discoveries. The potential reservoirs were expected from Lower Cretaceous to Lower Tertiary above four potential source intervals from Cretaceous to Lower Tertiary. Seep studies indicate mature source rock. Broadband imaging has identified all the necessary petroleum system elements contained in the underexplored Chidley Basin.
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‘PGS has completed AVO-compliant processing on the high-quality Torngat GeoStreamer dataset acquired in 2019 on schedule for assessments ahead of the November call for bids,’ said Neil Paddy, new ventures manager for Canada at PGS. ‘The broadband results offer detailed illumination of all levels from shallow to deep, providing reliable attributes that can drive successful exploration in this basin. New acquisition in 2020 will further expand our understanding of the area.’
INDUSTRY NEWS
World’s recoverable oil shrinks by nearly 300 billion barrels, says Rystad
The world’s recoverable oil resources have decreased to 1.9 billion barrels.
Rystad Energy’s 2020 annual global energy outlook shows that the Covid-19 downturn will halt exploration efforts in remote offshore areas and as a result reduce the world’s recoverable oil by around 282 billion barrels. The world’s remaining recoverable oil resources have therefore decreased to 1.903 billion barrels, 42% of which are in OPEC territory, with the remaining 58% located outside the alliance. ‘Non-OPEC countries account for the lion’s share of ‘lost’ recoverable resources with more than 260 billion barrels of undiscovered oil now more likely to be left untouched, especially in remote exploratory areas,’ said Rystad
Energy’s Head of Analysis, Per Magnus Nysveen. OPEC countries are much more resilient to the current crisis and will only lose a fraction compared to their non-OPEC counterparts such as the US (-49 billion barrels) and Russia (-31 billion barrels). ‘OPEC countries are expected to lose 21 billion barrels of reserves potential as the negative developments in Venezuela and Iran outweigh the increased strength and reserves potential of core OPEC countries in the Arab Gulf region,’ Nysveen added. In the US it expects lower upstream activity in shale acreage and less exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, decreasing recoverable resources by 49 billion barrels.
In Canada high-cost oil sands reserves will be left in the ground (14 billion barrels). In Mexico there will be reduced exploration for deepwater and shale oil reserves. In Brazil, more pre-salt reserves will likely be left in the ground. In Russia Arctic offshore oil reserves will be left in the ground, lowering oil reserves by 31 billion barrels. Norway will also have to leave more reserves in the ground in the Barents Sea. In Nigeria potential reserves are expected to fall further by 6 billion barrels. With no imminent peace in sight in Libya, production potential will fall by a further 4 billion barrels. Despite positive news on oil policy reforms in Algeria, shale exploration potential is expected to fall by 7 billion barrels of oil. In offshore Angola there will be less deepwater exploration as peak oil demand comes sooner due to Covid-19. As the clear winner of the OPEC+ agreement, Saudi Arabia is expected to add 25 billion barrels to future production potential despite peak oil coming sooner. China’s shale exploration is expected to be reduced. In Iran, the risk of prolonged sanctions reduces recoverable reserves potential by 18 billion barrels. Reduced exploration in new basins is expected in Australia.
Sercel signs deal to make ship repair robots Sercel has acquired a 34% stake in AMBPR, a start-up company that designs and markets autonomous robots for repairing (sanding and painting) ships. The two companies have also signed an agreement whereby Sercel will manufacture AMBPR robots at its SaintGaudens site in France. The terms will increase Sercel’s stake in AMBPR to 51% in 2021.
Since its creation in 2017, AMBPR has developed a prototype robot based on an instrumented articulating boom lift that can work autonomously to clean, sand and paint the sides of ships in dry dock. With the manufacturing support of Sercel, AMBPR expects to sell its first units within the next six months. The ship repair market has significant potential with 90,000 ships of FIRST
more than 50 m in length periodically repainted at 600 dry docks worldwide, said Sercel. Emmanuelle Dubu, CEO of Sercel, said: ‘This initiative is an opportunity to broaden the range of potential markets for our technology and knowhow beyond the oil and gas industry and diversify production at our SaintGaudens site.’
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Global half-year discoveries reach 21st century low Global discoveries of conventional resource volumes reached just 4.9 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in the first half of 2020, the weakest-performing first half of the 21st century according to research from Rystad Energy. The resource volumes were 42% lower and the number of discoveries was down by 31% compared to the same period in 2019.
Average monthly discovered volumes so far this year are estimated at 810 million boe, a 34% drop from the same period last year. This year could be on track to repeat the 2019 predominance of gas discoveries, with 55% of volumes discovered so far being categorized as gas. The top five largest discoveries account
for about 68% of the total discovered volumes. The monthly average was pulled down primarily by June, during which there were only three small onshore discoveries, adding around 16 million boe in discovered volumes. January and May were the most successful months in H1 2020 due to significant discoveries such as Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates, Maka Central in Suriname, Uaru in Guyana and 75 Let Pobedy in Russia. ‘Last year we saw the highest volumes of discovered resources since the last downturn. Based on the large number of high-impact exploration wells planned for this year, 2020 was meant to follow the same path. But then Covid-19 struck and the oil market crashed in Q1 2020, resulting in delays and cancellations as operators cut budgets,’ said Rystad Energy’s upstream analyst Taiyab Zain Shariff. Russia, South America and the Middle East account for about 73% of the total discovered resources so far in 2020. Africa and Australia seem to have taken a back seat this time, with less than 1% of the total discovered resources. It is also interesting to note that close to 70% of the resources were discovered offshore. There were a total of 49 conventional oil and gas discoveries during the first
half of 2020, of which 27 were announced during the global lockdown and travel restriction period. While these travel bans and the associated logistical issues did not have much of an effect on projects in the testing and completion phase, they did cause delays for projects in the initial and continuing drilling phase that required crew changes. This could be one of the reasons for the lower number of discoveries in May and June. A total of 14 high-impact wells (HIWs) have been completed so far this year. Of these, three have resulted in medium-sized to large discoveries, nine were dry or had uncommercial hydrocarbon shows, while results are still pending for the remaining two. It is estimated that the wells that have come up dry targeted cumulative estimated pre-drill resources of more than 2.5 billion boe. Drilling was in progress on an additional four high-impact wells as we passed the half-year mark, though the SAX01 well on BP’s Shafag-Asiman block in Azerbaijan has been temporarily suspended due to the Covid-19 travel bans. Another 11 high-impact wells are expected to be drilled before the end of 2020, including key wells in the Suriname-Guyana basin, southern Africa, Timor-Leste, Norway and the frontier areas of Russia.
SapuraOMV plans geophysical survey offshore Australia SapuraOMV has won approval from Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority to conduct the Kanga-1 geophysical and geotechnical site survey in WA-412-P offshore Western Australia. The site survey location, for the drilling of the Kanga-1 well, is approx. 163 km north of the town of Karratha in water depths of approx. 147 m. An operational area has been defined within
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Permit WA-412-P, which represents a 4 km x 4 km area encapsulating all potential geophysical and geotechnical survey locations. The geophysical component of the survey will collect data for assessment of water depths, seabed topography, seabed conditions and identification of obstructions on the seabed that may include data collection with a multi-beam echo sounder (MBES), side scan sonar (SSS),
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sub-bottom profiler (SBP) and magnetometer. The geotechnical component will assess and characterize seabed conditions within the operational area, including calibrating and interpreting geophysical results that may include cone penetration testing (CPT), piston coring or vibracore sampling, and box core sampling. The two-week survey is expected to take place in January-November 2020.
INDUSTRY NEWS
PGS shoots Barents Sea survey
West Hercules oil rig operates the Korpfjell well.
PGS has started its latest ultra-high-density seismic survey in the Barents Sea, extending its Hammerfest Basin coverage farther west and north into the southern Loppa High. The acquisition geometry builds on the configuration previously applied on the PGS18004NBS survey, applying a wide-tow source configuration in combination with a tailored ultra-high-density GeoStreamer set-up. PGS is aiming to obtain even more near offsets by extending the survey geometry used on the 2018 acquisition to push the towing limits achievable from a single vessel. This technical set-up, which includes wide-source spread, high-density streamers, and long tails for FWI, has been tailored for the precise imaging of extremely shallow targets without compromising illumination of targets at deeper levels. The vessel Ramform Tethys is operating a dense, 16-streamer spread of variable lengths, with 56.25 m separation, including a sparse set of 10km-long streamers for FWI-based velocity model building. First data will be available Q4 2020. Meanwhile, PGS has updated its interactive Barents Sea rockAVO Atlas to offer data on 144 wells, including
BRIEFS
18 wells drilled since 2018. Cross-referenced with the PGS data library, this offers a link between seismic response and rock properties for the region. Data on every publicly available and relevant well is available for licensing from the rockAVO Barents Sea Atlas. More than 17 different reservoirs have been modelled, providing an interactive reference database of petrophysics and rock physics for the region. Included in the latest update is the 7121/8-1 Blåmann well, which contains a discovery in the Jurassic Stø formation. This well in the Hammerfest Basin is covered by modern GeoStreamer 3D seismic data (PGS18M04NBS), along with other wells such as 7121/5-2 (Snøhvit Beta Field), 7122/7-3 (Goliat), 7120/12-2 (Alke Sør) that are also included in the Barents rockAVO atlas. The combination of the rockAVO wells and GeoStreamer seismic data provides an integrated dataset that can be used to assess prospectivity across the basin. Also included in the 2020 update is the 7435/12-1 Korpfjell well, which has a gas discovery in the Jurassic Stø and Triassic Kobbe formations. This well is integrated with the PGS GeoStreamer PURE (ST14005) seismic survey, combining seismic and well data to derisk the southeast Barents Sea. Well data delivered in rockAVO provides petrophysical logs, rock physics models, and interactive seismic AVO modelling capabilities for each well in the Atlas. Linking the rockAVO Atlases to the PGS MultiClient data library makes it possible to calibrate GeoStreamer and other seismic data with conditioned well data and known production scenarios, said PGS. Rock physics properties vary from basin to basin, and from stratigraphic interval to interval. For each, a separate model or rock physics template has been calibrated to relate the seismic response to rock and fluid properties. ‘E&P companies can now access a homogeneous database of interpreted well logs throughout the Barents Sea, making it possible to analyse the seismic AVO signature based on different fluid and matrix property perturbations,’ said PGS. FIRST
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Block Energy have engaged EPI’s Outsourced Development Department to create a strategic partnership in geophysical and geological interpretation, petrophysics and reservoir engineering. The partnership will effectively provide Block Energy with a sub-surface reservoir development department. Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has announced nine areas in the 25th licensing round, divided into eight areas in the Barents Sea and one area in the Norwegian Sea. Numbered licensing rounds are conducted in lesser-known areas. The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has announced this year’s licensing round in mature areas on the Norwegian continental shelf – Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2020. In APA 2020 the predefined area west of the Norwegian Sea has been extended by 36 blocks. The deadline for applications in this licensing round is set for 22 September, 2020. The aim is to grant new production licences in early 2021. BP is set to invest $70 million into the Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF) in India. The fund, established in 2018, is focused on identifying and supporting growth in zero carbon and low carbon energy solutions in the country. The fund is expected to reach $700 million. Mexico-based oil and gas company Jaguar has signed a deal to use Emerson’s exploration and production (E&P) software solutions for seismic and well data analysis, multi-survey seismic and geologic interpretation, petrophysical analysis and subsurface modelling. GeoPartners, with partners Trois Geoconsulting and DDMS, have made available 2D seismic data for licensing in advance of the 2020 Bid Round in Congo offering onshore oil blocks in the Terrestrial Basin of the Lower Congo (CON1, CON5 and CON6). Approx. 1650 km of data was acquired between 2007 to 2010.
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INDUSTRY NEWS
UK oil and gas industry plots path to net zero The UK’s offshore oil and gas industry has committed to halving operational carbon emissions in the next decade on the way to becoming a net zero emissions basin by 2050. A report published by industry body OGUK, The Pathway to Net Zero: Production Emissions Targets, outlines how targets will be achieved through changes to operations, progressive reductions in flaring and venting, and capital investment programmes aimed at using electricity rather than gas, to power offshore facilities. The targets are a key part of a sector deal that industry is now discussing with the UK Government. This could lead to the sector supporting wider UK efforts to decarbonize, using its skills and infrastructure to develop critical carbon-cutting solutions such as industrial scale carbon capture usage and storage, and the use of hydrogen for heating and heavy transport.
Report author and OGUK emissions improvement manager Louise O’Hara Murray said: ‘These targets would remove over 9 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions from our operations over the next decade; the same as taking nearly two million cars off the road for a year. Each year we will publicly show progress against our commitments on a sector-wide basis. ‘They have been developed with industry following a detailed assessment of the measures needed to deliver them. They consider changes to operations, progressive reductions in flaring and venting and major capital investment programmes to decarbonize production operations. ‘Many of the major capital investment projects which will help our sector to decarbonize, including the powering of assets with electricity instead of hydrocarbons, the development and deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and
hydrogen both on and offshore, will need to be developed at scale to help other industries accelerate their own efforts to reduce emissions.’ The UK regulatory body, the Oil and Gas Auhtority (OGA), has welcomed the report and the forthcoming sector deal. OGA chief executive Dr Andy Samuel said: ‘In January the OGA challenged the UK oil and gas industry to commit to clear, measurable, production emission reduction targets. Industry has responded and engaged positively and we welcome this significant and ambitious commitment. It is now crucial industry keeps pace on efforts to reduce its own footprint and also puts a strong focus on achieving impactful emissions reductions in the near term. Therefore, we will incorporate these targets into our data benchmarking to track and monitor performance and progress.’ The OGA said that it is consulting on its own draft strategy to support net zero.
Equinor launches UK CCS project
Hydrogen will be produced from natural gas at Saltend Chemicals Park.
Equinor has launched a project to develop one of the UK’s – and the world’s – first facilities to produce hydrogen from natural gas in combination with carbon capture and storage (CCS). The Hydrogen to Humber Saltend (H2H Saltend) project is the first phase of a decarbonized industrial cluster in the Humber region, the UK’s largest by emissions. 30
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The project will be located at Saltend Chemicals Park near the city of Hull and its initial phase comprises a 600 megawatt auto thermal reformer (ATR) with carbon capture, the largest plant of its kind in the world, to convert natural gas to hydrogen. It will enable industrial customers in the park to fully switch over to hydrogen, and the power plant in the park to move to a
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30% hydrogen-to-natural gas blend. As a result, emissions from Saltend Chemicals Park will reduce by nearly 900,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. In its later phases, H2H Saltend will expand to serve other industrial users in the park and across the Humber, which employs 55,000 people in the manufacturing sector alone, contributing to the cluster reaching net zero by 2040. This will enable a large-scale hydrogen network, open to both blue hydrogen (produced from natural gas with CCS) and green hydrogen (produced from electrolysis of water using renewable power), as well as a network for transporting and storing captured CO2 emissions. H2H Saltend will be part of the Zero Carbon Humber alliance’s application for public funding in the second phase of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, which launched on 23 June. Equinor and its partners are aiming towards a final investment decision during 2023 with potential first production by 2026.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Maersk joins Denmark CO2 storage consortium Maersk Drilling is joining a new CO2 storage consortium formed by Ineos and Wintershall Dea in Denmark, which is developing CO2 storage capacity offshore Denmark based on reusing discontinued offshore oil and gas fields. Maersk Drilling has pledged to contribute expertise and funding to the initial phases of the project that aims at building infrastructure that will enable CO2 captured in onshore facilities to be transported offshore for injection and storage beneath the seabed. The first phase of the project will be a feasibility study to validate reservoir compatibility, followed by a pilot to test CO2 injection. The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) will act as a research partner to the project, conducting specialised laboratory experiments and results analysis. The target is to have the first well ready for injection from the Nini platform offshore Denmark in 2025. Longer term, the goal is to develop the capacity to store approximately 3.5 million tonnes of CO2 a year by 2030, matching the Danish Climate Council’s recommendations of
The plan is to reuse old oil and gas fields offshore Denmark for CO2 storage.
actions needed to meet Denmark’s 70% reduction target. Maersk Drilling expects that its offshore rigs will be used to repurpose the existing oil and gas wells for CO2 injection. Maersk Drilling is already working to reduce the emissions associated with offshore drilling, including its first-ever rig to operate on shore power and the upgrade of two jack-ups to hybrid, low-emission rigs. The project aims to store CO2 captured onshore 1700 m beneath the sea-
bed. For the onshore capture, proven carbon capture technology will be used at carbon-intensive facilities, for example industrial plants or power plants. The captured CO2 will be bunkered in ports and transported by ship to the offshore storage platform which will reuse existing infrastructure originally built for oil and gas production. At the offshore platform, the CO2 will then be injected for permanent storage beneath the seabed using repurposed oil and gas wells.
BP invests in machine learning software to monitor methane emissions BP Ventures has invested $5 million in Satelytics, a cloud-based geospatial analytics software company that uses advanced spectral imagery and machine learning to monitor environmental changes, including methane emissions. Satelytics collects high resolution spectral imagery from the planet’s surface using satellites, drones, and aircraft. Its technology combines these images with proprietary algorithms to create unique electromagnetic signatures that can be used to detect environmental changes, including releases or leaks. Its software visualizes these data sets on interactive displays that give end-users a clear picture of operations,
and alert them to facility risks, such as methane leaks. BP’s $5 million investment will enable Satelytics to develop its technology further and scale its applications throughout the oil and gas sector. Use of the technology has the potential to be part of BP’s aim to install methane measurement at all major oil and gas processing sites by 2023, publish the data and then drive a 50% reduction in methane intensity of its operations. Morag Watson, BP senior vice-president of digital science and engineering, said: ‘Satelytics is modernizing the energy sector by making data about physical assets more accessible and digestible, leading to
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better decision making.’ David Hayes, BP Ventures managing director for the Americas and chief operating officer, said: ‘Earlier this year we announced our ambition to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner, and to help the world get to net zero. As part of our ambition, one of our ten aims relates to methane measurement at all of our major oil and gas processing sites by 2023 and reducing methane intensity of our operations by 50%. Advanced technologies such as Satelytics, integrating multiple approaches to efficiently detect emissions, have the potential to be a valuable tool that can support this work.’
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Special Topic
NEAR SURFACE GEOSCIENCE
Near surface geoscience ranges in subject matter from seismic and ground penetrating radar techniques to latest developments in time lapse ERT, seismic micronzonation and modelling algorithms. This is a diverse field embracing mining exploration, testing the stability of buildings as well as water seepage analysis. Much of the research here will be presented at EAGE’s forthcoming Near Surface Geoscience event. S. Komatina et al present a project that combined several methodologies in a time-lapse manner to establish the most effective methodology that could be applied country-wide to prevent future landslides. Klodian Skrame et al present geophysical methods, taking into account the geological and geomorphological characteristics of the local subsoil, for an effective seismic microzonation study. K.P. Games et al demonstrate that in the case of monitoring the repeatability HRS 4D seismic studies, the difference in source and receiver positions between surveys is not so important. Dirk Orlowsky et al demonstrate the effectiveness of a technique that allows for the internal imaging of geological structures in hard rocks like salt, granite and limestone. Volkmar Schmidt et al test how close the quality of a UAV-borne magnetic survey is to an archaeological survey on the ground. Christof Stork shows that instead of filtering out scattered, leaking energy, it can be resolved and collapsed back to the original reflection signal since it is repeatable on many shot and receiver gathers.
Submit an article
Special Topic overview January
Land Seismic
First Break Special Topics are covered by a mix of original articles dealing with case studies and the latest technology. Contributions to a Special Topic in First Break can be sent directly to the editorial office (firstbreak@eage.org). Submissions will be considered for publication by the editor.
February
Reservoir Monitoring
March
Modelling / Interpretation
April
Passive Seismic / Unconventionals
May
Petroleum Geology
June
Data Processing
It is also possible to submit a Technical Article to First Break. Technical Articles are subject to a peer review process and should be submitted via EAGE’s ScholarOne website: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fb
July
Machine Learning
August
Near Surface Geoscience
September
Reservoir Geoscience and Engineering
October
Energy Transition
November
Marine Seismic & EM
December
Delivering for the Energy Challenge: Today and Tomorrow
You can find the First Break author guidelines online at www.firstbreak.org/guidelines.
More Special Topics may be added during the course of the year.
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FEATURE: SMART EXPLORATION
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and ground-based electromagnetic (EM) systems Mehrdad Bastani (Geological Survey of Sweden), Henrik Johansson (Geological Survey of Sweden), Alex Paulusson (AMKVO AB), Kent Paulusson (AMKVO AB), Lars Dynesius (Uppsala University) Can you tell us about yourself and your team? I am Mehrdad Bastani. I have a PhD in geophysics in the field of electromagnetic. I’ve been a senior geophysicist at the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU) since 2000, working with processing, modelling and interpretation of large ground and airborne geophysical datasets. The team developing UAV prototypes also involves some other experts and has worked earlier on testing UAV-magnetic surveys (Malehmir et al., 2017).. Henrik Johansson, who holds a PhD in physics, is the manager of the airborne geophysics group at SGU and works with data processing, software development, hardware development and maintenance. Alex Paulusson and Kent Paulusson are from AMKVO AB based in Uppsala, Sweden, an SME company specializing in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). They were founded in 2014 and are experts in photography, thermography and 3D scanning/ modelling using UAV. Lars Dynesius is a senior research engineer from Uppsala University (UU) with more than 40 years of experience working on and developing geophysical equipment.
Can you tell us about your team’s task in Smart Exploration? SGU is the expert agency for matters relating to bedrock, soil and groundwater in Sweden. One main task is supporting the development of the mining, rock and mineral industry and promoting the use of geological information in societal planning. Therefore, we became involved in Smart Exploration to further develop new systems for drone measurements. SGU is responsible for leading the development work in WP2, including hardware and software development of the geophysical measurement system and data processing software. The geophysical development work is done in collaboration with Uppsala University. AMKVO AB is responsible for development of the UAV, including the birds that house the geophysical instruments, as well as operating the UAV. SGU and Uppsala University have been in close collaboration to design and construct the data acquisition systems for both drone and ground surface measurements. We have been collaborating with AMKVO AB to construct a drone with optimal efficiency and minimum EM noise (Figure 1, left frame). We
Figure 1 EM noise tests carried out in the shielded room at Ångström laboratory, Uppsala (left). UAV with the bird housing the system for magnetic field measurements (middle). All the electronics are mounted in the bird. UAV with the EM system hanging below (right). The data acquisition system is between the UAV and the bird. Photos are taken by AMKVO AB.
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Figure 2 Preliminary results of the test measurements carried out on 24 June in an area in Sweden. Apparent resistivity map from SGU’s fixed-wing VLF measurements carried out in 2016 with a flightline separation of 200 m (left). Apparent resistivity map from the UAV measurements with a flight-line separation of 100 m (right). UAV flight-lines are shown in both figures for reference.
have also selected a test site in close contact with Nordic Iron Ore (NIO) and Uppsala University. What is the main motive of developing such prototype? Geophysical surveys are routinely conducted in a wide range of scales to image underground structures and resources in 3D. The surveys cover a wide spectrum of methods and techniques ranging from borehole to airborne measurements. For the latter, large data acquisition systems are mounted on aircrafts flying over areas extended to several hundreds of kilometres and acquire data in a reasonably short period of time. Airborne surveys are cost-effective if the areas covered are large enough so that the cost per data point is effectively low. Moreover, in many applications the airborne data lack spatial resolution and a more detailed survey, for example ground measurements, is inevitable. Ground surveys, on the other hand, are conducted over much smaller areas and usually focus on the targets selected by analysis of airborne data. Such surveys are rather slow and demand extensive manpower in the field. There are even cases where the ground surveys are not feasible because of existing obstacles, for example waterbodies or harsh topographical variations. Considering such circumstances, a need for development of measurements systems that acquire data as fast as airborne and as accurate as ground systems is necessary. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are good alternatives for such purposes. There are already many geophysical data acquisition systems in the market mounted on UAVs, for example the UAV system developed by GEM Ltd in Canada that measured the earth magnetic field. One very popular geophysical method is frequency domain electromagnetics (EM) where the electric and magnetic field components of EM fields are measured to map and model the earth electrical resistivity. There are plenty of applications showing the importance of the models of electrical resistivity. Example applications are: mapping conductive man-made pollutions from a wide range of activities such as mining, agriculture, sea water intrusion caused by uncontrolled pumping etc; modelling conductive orebodies such as iron or copper sulphides, graphite horizons and imaging fracture zones in infrastructure projects. 88
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Can you describe the system? We have developed three geophysical systems. The first is a UAV-borne system for measuring the Earth’s total magnetic field. It is based on GEM Systems GSMP-35U sensor. The platform features a laser altimeter, Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) receiver (Figure 1, middle frame). The second is a UAV-borne system for the so-called extended-VLF band measurement. It is based on three orthogonally mounted induction coil sensors and a data acquisition system with up to 1 MHz continuous data sampling of the EM magnetic field components. The effective bandwidth is 1 to 350 kHz, and the data sampling is synchronized to the GPS Pulse Per Second (PPS) to facilitate timing synchronization with other equipment. This platform also features a laser altimeter, IMU and GNSS receiver (Figure 1, right frame). The third system is a ground-based electromagnetic (EM) system capable of measuring both the magnetic and the electric field in the bandwidth 10 Hz to 250 kHz. The data recording of all channels is synchronous and continuous with GPS PPS synchronized sampling. All three systems were assembled within the project. The UAV was built for the purpose of minimizing its EM noise signature and provides at least 20 min flight time with payload. In addition, we have developed a MATLAB-based data processing software for in-field visualization and processing of EM data. Can you define the process of this development? It took 18 months to complete the hardware and software. The systems were ready for the test that was planned for May 2020. Because of some delays caused by the Corona pandemic we anticipate that the field tests will be completed by the end of September 2020. Are there any risks to the environment or safety concerns with this system? With UAV operations there is always risk of in-flight failure or loss of payload during flight. We have implemented several features to minimize these risks, including securing payload with double connections, a UAV with six motors to cope with one engine failure, and a return-to-home function in case of signal loss between ground and UAV.
FEATURE: SMART EXPLORATION
What is the main difference between this prototype and other UAV systems? Although there are reported attempts on mounting EM data acquisition systems on UAVs, there are no available commercial system of this type in the market. This might be because: a) The noise figure is not properly modelled and compensated for b) The data processing is not well-developed and established c) The data acquisition systems used are heavy and not designed properly for the UAV-based measurements. Our team has long experience in development and construction of both ground as well as fixed-wing EM systems. We are familiar with the problem and have solutions for noise identification and reduction. We have also developed dedicated software for data processing and noise manipulation. Has the system been validated? We are currently conducting our validation tests. Our backyard tests have been very promising and at the end of June we carried out survey flights over a known magnetic anomaly outside of Ludvika in Sweden. We are currently processing this data and plan to have it ready at the end of the summer or early fall. Then we will also carry out measurements with a controlled source for the ground system, as well as for the UAV-borne system. Hopefully, depending on how the pandemic situation develops, we will also carry out additional survey flights at a site in Finland. What have been the main challenges throughout this development work? The main challenges were: • Selection of suitable components for an electrical drone with a reasonable payload and flight time, • Noise from the drone, • Choice of proper EM sensors that cover a large bandwidth, • Power consumption, • Design and production of a bird that houses all the sensors and is light and stable,
• Reducing the weight of the UAV systems. We made a lot of effort to construct a solution that meets our expectations. Can you elaborate on the difference this solution is expected to bring to the industry? The EM system is fitted for small-to-medium size surveys at the so-called brownfield and even smaller greenfield areas where the surveys with larger systems mounted on a fixed-wing and helicopter are currently utilized commercially. The system is easy to mount and operate in areas with a proper visual site. Such a system provides sufficient depth penetration (500 m at 1 kHz in areas with average 1000 Ohmm resistivity). Besides the mineral exploration purposes, the system can be used for geological surveys, infrastructure corporations, universities and research centres, water management organizations and to some extent military. What is the future for this prototype? We are considering applying for a patent that might cover the entire measurement set up; the data acquisition, the UAV including the birds, and the software solution. After the tests within the Smart Exploration we will showcase our results in the international conferences and publish them in the relevant journals. In general, SGU does not involve in any commercial work but we are interested in taking up services. Our project partner AMKVO AB is interested to commercially take it to the next level, where we can benefit by providing our services. We are certainly planning to utilize the UAV system in the SGU’s routine work where more detailed surveys are demanded and that will promote our products for both industry and society. References Malehmir, A., Dynesius, L., Paulusson, K., Paulusson, A., Johansson, H., Bastani, M., Wedmark, M. and Marsden, P. [2017]. The potential of rotary-wing UAV-based magnetic surveys for mineral exploration: A case study from central Sweden. The Leading Edge, 36(7), 552–557.
Smart Exploration Team, Siilinjärvi Mine Site, Finland (2019)
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CALENDAR
CALENDAR OF EVENTS 8–11 DECEMBER 2020
82nd EAGE Conference & Exhibition 2020
www.eageannual2020.org Amsterdam, The Netherlands
August 2020 20-21 Aug
First EAGE Workshop on EOR Development and Evolution in Latin America www.eage.org
Online
24-26 Aug
GeoUtrecht 2020 https://www.geoutrecht2020.org/
Online
25-27 Aug
Second EAGE Marine Acquisition Workshop www.eage.org
Oslo
Norway
30 Aug 3 Sep
Near Surface Geoscience Conference & Exhibition 2020 www.eage.org
Belgrade
Serbia
September 2020 7‑9 Sep
EAGE/AAPG Digital Geoscience Asia Pacific Conference & Exhibition www.eage.org
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
7‑11 Sep
Geomodel 2020 www.eage.org
Gelendzhik
Russia
8-10 Sep
EAGE Seabed Seismic Today: from Acquisition to Application www.eage.org
Online
14-17 Sep
ECMOR XVII 17 th European Conference on the Mathematics of Oil Recovery www.eage.org
Online
22‑24 Sep
First EAGE Conference on Machine Learning in Latin America www.eage.org
Online
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CALENDAR
October 2020 5-9 Oct
Geobaikal 2020 6th Scientific Conference www.eage.org
Irkutsk
12‑14 Oct
Second EAGE Conference on Sulfur Risk Management in E&P www.eage.org
Online
21‑22 Oct
Third EAGE Workshop on Unconventional Resources www.eage.org
Buenos Aires
Argentina
26‑28 Oct
EAGE Geomechanics Workshop: Creating Value & Making Decisions www.eage.org
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
26‑28 Oct
First EAGE Conference on Seismic Inversion www.eage.org
Porto
Portugal
26-28 Oct
EAGE Workshop on Quantifying Uncertainty in Depth Imaging www.eage.org
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Third EAGE Workshop on Offshore Development and Exploration in Mexico www.eage.org
Merida
Mexico
3 rd Asia Pacific Meeting on Near Surface Geoscience & Engineering www.eage.org
Chiang Mai
Thailand
13 Nov
EAGE/BVG/FKPE Joint Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Development www.eage.org
Online
15‑17 Nov
Second EAGE Workshop on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles www.eage.org
Muscat
Oman
16‑18 Nov
1st EAGE Geoscience & Engineering in Energy Transition Conference www.get2020.org
Strasbourg
France
16-19 Nov
EAGE Saint Petersburg 2020 Geosciences: Converting Knowledge into Resources www.eage.org
Saint Petersburg
Russia
17 Nov
Marine Technologies 2020 2 nd scientific workshop www.eage.org
Saint Petersburg
Russia
30 Nov 3 Dec
First EAGE Digitalization Conference and Exhibition www.eage.org
Vienna
Austria
Russia
November 2020 2-4 Nov 2-4 Nov
December 2020 1‑3 Dec
Second HGS and EAGE Conference on Latin America in Cartagena www.eage.org
Cartagena
Colombia
6-7 Dec
Third EAGE Workshop on Pore Pressure Prediction www.eage.org
Amsterdam
Netherlands
6-7 Dec
EAGE/SEG Research Workshop on Geophysical Aspects of Smart Cities www.eage.org
Amsterdam
Netherlands
6-7 Dec
Eighth EAGE Workshop on Passive Seismic www.eage.org
Amsterdam
Netherlands
7‑9 Dec
First EAGE Workshop on Geothermal Energy and Hydro Power in Africa www.eage.org
Nairobi
Kenya
7‑9 Dec
International Conference of Young Scientists «GEOTERRACE-2020» https://openreviewhub.org/geoterrace
Lviv
Ukraine
8 Dec
Third Young Professionals Summit http://yp-summit.org/
Amsterdam
Netherlands
8-11 Dec
82 nd EAGE Conference & Exhibition 2020 www.eageannual2020.org
Amsterdam
Netherlands
EAGE Events
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