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SPECIAL TOPIC
Petroleum Geology TECHNICAL ARTICLE Are carpet geometries the way to go? CROSSTALK Energy transition requires critical thinking INDUSTRY NEWS Seismic companies respond to Covid-19 crisis
Final Kirchhoff PreSDM seismic data.
ZAMBEZI DELTA 3D SURVEY Final PreSDM data available now The final 3D PreSDM seismic dataset from CGG’s recent 15,400 sq km multi-client survey of the outer Zambezi Delta in the Mozambique Basin is available for license. CGG’s advanced imaging workflow, including full-waveform inversion (FWI), reveals a high level of detail in this complex geological setting. To enhance exploration decision-making, a complementary Mozambique JumpStart™ package is also available to license with the PreSDM seismic data.
The right data, in the right place, at the right time
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FIRST BREAK® An EAGE Publication
CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD Peter Rowbotham (Peter.Rowbotham@apachecorp.com) EDITOR Damian Arnold (editorfb@eage.org) MEMBERS, EDITORIAL BOARD • Paul Binns, consultant (pebinns@btinternet.com) • Patrick Corbett, Heriot-Watt University (patrick_corbett@pet.hw.ac.uk) • Tom Davis, Colorado School of Mines (tdavis@mines.edu) • Anthony Day, PGS (anthony.day@pgs.com) • Peter Dromgoole, Equinor UK (pdrum@equinor.com) • Rutger Gras, Oranje-Nassau Energy (gras@onebv.com) • Hamidreza Hamdi, University of Calgary (hhamdi@ucalgary.ca) • Ed Kragh, Schlumberger Cambridge Research (edkragh@slb.com) • John Reynolds, Reynolds International (jmr@reynolds-international.co.uk) • James Rickett, Schlumberger (jrickett@slb.com) • Dave Stewart, Dave Stewart Geoconsulting Ltd (djstewart.dave@gmail.com) • Femke Vossepoel, Delft University of Technology (f.c.vossepoel@tudelft.nl) MEDIA PRODUCTION MANAGER Thomas Beentje (tbe@eage.org) ACCOUNT MANAGER ADVERTISING Keziah Starrenburg (ksg@eage.org) PRODUCTION Saskia Nota (layout@eage.org) Ivana Geurts (layout@eage.org) EAGE EUROPE OFFICE PO Box 59 3990 DB Houten The Netherlands • +31 88 995 5055 • eage@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE RUSSIA & CIS OFFICE EAGE Russia & CIS Office EAGE Geomodel LLC 19 Leninsky Prospekt 119071, Moscow, Russia • +7 495 640 2008 • moscow@eage.org • www.eage.ru EAGE MIDDLE EAST OFFICE EAGE Middle East FZ-LLC Dubai Knowledge Village Block 13 Office F-25 PO Box 501711 Dubai, United Arab Emirates • +971 4 369 3897 • middle_east@eage.org • www.eage.org 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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Brazil Round 17 — Great opportunities in the near-field and the frontier
Editorial Contents 3
EAGE News
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Crosstalk
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Industry News
Technical Article
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Are carpet geometries the way to go? Gijs J.O. Vermeer
Special Topic: Petroleum Geology
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Isostatic Gravity Inversion: a new way to model gravity data Darcy Vixo and Gerry Connard
53 An integrated geoscience workflow to improve unconventional play assessment – an example from the SCOOP/STACK, Oklahoma Adriana Perez, Graham Spence, Paola Fonseca, Inna Tusybulkina and Vincent Durussel 63 Reservoir quality determination by using critical porosity and volume of clay: a case study in the Talang Akar Formation in the NW Java Basin, Indonesia Dona Sita Ambarsari, Ignatius Sonny Winardhi, Suryo Prakoso and Sigit Sukmono 71 Brazil Round 17 — Great opportunities in the nearfield and the frontier Eric Newman, Pedro Victor Zalán, Randall Etherington and Rachael Moore 77 Carbonate play prospectivity in Angola’s 2019 licensing round Callie Bradley and Colin Saunders 83 Muddy sandstone, Powder River Basin: rejuvenation of an old play with horizontal drilling Stephen A. Sonnenberg 90
Calendar Of Events
EAGE LATIN AMERICA OFFICE Carrera 14 No 97-63 Piso 5 Bogotá, Colombia • +57 1 4232948 • americas@eage.org • www.eage.org EAGE MEMBERS CHANGE OF ADDRESS NOTIFICATION Send to: EAGE Membership Dept at EAGE Office (address above) FIRST BREAK ON THE WEB www.firstbreak.org ISSN 0263-5046 (print) / ISSN 1365-2397 (online)
cover: The Wave in the Valley of Fire, Nevada, USA. Our Special Topic on Petroleum Geoscience starts on p. 42
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European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
Board 2019-2020
Michael Pöppelreiter President
Dirk Orlowsky Vi c e-President Elect
Everhard Muijzert Secretary-Treasurer
Near Surface Geoscience Division George Apostolopoulos Chair Alireza Malehmir Vice-Chair Micki Allen Contact Officer EEGS/North America Riyadh Al-Saad Oil & Gas Liaison Esther Bloem Technical Programme Officer Hongzhu Cai Liaison China Albert Casas Membership Officer Eric Cauquil Liaison Shallow Marine Geophysics Ranajit Ghose Editor in Chief Near Surface Geophysics Hamdan Ali Hamdan Liaison Middle East Andreas Kathage Liaison Officer First Break Musa Manzi Liaison Africa Myrto Papadopoulou Young Professional Liaison Koya Suto Liaison Asia Pacific Catherine Truffert Industry Liaison
Oil & Gas Geoscience Division
Caroline Le Turdu Membership and Cooperation Officer
Ingrid Magnus Publications Officer
Colin MacBeth Education Officer
Michael Peter Suess Chair; TPC Lucy Slater Vice-Chair Caroline Jane Lowrey Immediate Past Chair; TPC Erica Angerer Member Wiebke Athmer Member Xavier Garcia NSGD Liaison Juliane Heiland TPC Tijmen-Jan Moser Editor-in-chief Geophysical Prospecting Ann Muggeridge IOR Committee Liasion Francesco Perrone YP Liaison Philip Ringrose Editor-in-chief Petroleum Geoscience Conor Ryan REvC Liaison Martin Widmaier TPC Aart-Jan van Wijngaarden Technical Programme Officer Michael Zhdanov NSGD Liaison
SUBSCRIPTIONS First Break is published monthly. It is free to EAGE members. The membership fee of EAGE is € 50.00 a year (including First Break, EarthDoc (EAGE’s geoscience database), Learning Geoscience (EAGE’s Education website) and online access to a scientific journal. Companies can subscribe to First Break via an institutional subscription. Every subscription includes a monthly hard copy and online access to the full First Break archive for the requested number of online users. Aart-Jan van Wijngaarden Technical Programme Officer
George Apostolopoulos Chair Near Surface Geoscience Division
Michael Peter Suess Chair Oil & Gas Geoscience Division
Orders for current subscriptions and back issues should be sent to EAGE Publications BV, Journal Subscriptions, PO Box 59, 3990 DB, Houten, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 (0)88 9955055, E-mail: subscriptions@eage.org, www.firstbreak.org. First Break is published by EAGE Publications BV, The Netherlands. However, responsibility for the opinions given and the statements made rests with the authors. COPYRIGHT & PHOTOCOPYING © 2020 EAGE All rights reserved. First Break or any part thereof may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying and recording, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. PAPER The Publisher’s policy is to use acid-free permanent paper (TCF), to the draft standard ISO/DIS/9706, made from sustainable forests using chlorine-free pulp (Nordic-Swan standard).
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HIGHLIGHTS
EAGE MEMBERS
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Drones workshop set for the Middle East
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Local Chapter Paris holds international meeting online
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IFP students have a lot going for them
We can make this Annual Meeting something to remember! Message from Marcel van Loon, executive director, EAGE
Finally some good news … we can confirm that the 82nd EAGE Annual Conference & Exhibition will go ahead after all. New dates have been scheduled for Tuesday 8 December to Friday 11 December 2020 with the event still being held at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre. We are very excited that members can still look forward to the Annual being staged this year. The event plays such an important part in bringing the geoscience community together. It will be so much more relevant this time with so many
questions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown and the disruption to the oil business. At this stage we ask intending delegates, contributors, exhibitors and sponsors for their patience and understanding as we reorganize what should still be an outstanding event. EAGE hopes to run as full a programme as possible based on what was planned for the postponed June 2020 event. We will obviously have to adjust to take account of changes in the commitments of some people who had expected the event this summer. We are hopeful that early December will actually prove to be a convenient time for many to attend. The preliminary indications are that the decision to hold the Annual in December has been widely welcomed. We are committed to updating all the details regarding the rescheduled Technical Programme, Workshops, Field Trips, Forum Sessions, Student and Special Interest Group activities as soon as FIRST
practical via the website. Anyone who was expecting to participate in any capacity at the postponed event should already have been contacted by personal email. It will greatly assist our planning if everyone can respond promptly to indicate their availability in December. This will help us to bring forward a definitive programme in the short timeframe we have. Our expectation is that we will be able host a full programme at the Exhibition with companies coming to showcase their latest technologies and services. For intending delegates, the registration deadlines have been adjusted. The Early Bird registration deadline will now close on 15 September 2020. Please refer to the EAGE website – www.EAGEANNUAL2020.org – as we update the status of the programme. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in December for what we hope can be an exceptional and memorable Annual Meeting. BREAK
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EAGE NEWS
Make sure your voice is heard in the 2020 EAGE ballot From May 2020, the annual EAGE Board elections will take place. This is an important opportunity for members to have a say in how the Association is run, so make sure you participate in the upcoming ballot. The Board is responsible for developing appropriate policies to achieve the objectives of EAGE in the interests of its members. This year you can vote for candidates in the positions of Secretary-Treasurer, Vice-Chair Near Surface Geoscience Division, Membership and Cooperation Officer, Technical Programme Office, and Education Officer to be filled from June 2020. Learn a bit about each of the candidates below. A personalized invite will be sent directly to your email with instructions on how to vote in the ballot in the coming days.
Candidate Statements Aart-Jan van Wijngaarden – Technical Programme Officer
To me, the EAGE is a great Association for its members, covering the whole spectrum of geology, geophysics, reservoir and civil engineering. The EAGE has strong position in the oil & gas subsurface and the near surface communities, through decades of organizing high quality conferences, workshops and publications, and a large world-wide membership base. Therefore, it is well positioned to support the ongoing energy transition and to foster the knowledge exchange and symbiotic relationship between the near surface and the sub-surface G&G and engineering. As Technical Programme Officer, I would like to build on this foundation, but also include the new ways of working through using technical communities, local chapters and new types of digital interaction. 4
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In today’s volatile environment the two key values which I believe we should follow are serving the members and aiming for quality. This applies both in the strategic work as a board member to guide the Association through rough times, in good collaboration with the EAGE office, and in the organization of the technical programme together with the members of the Technical Programme Committee (TPC). For the composition of the TPC and the Board, I advocate a diverse background to represent the whole membership. I am looking forward to serving the EAGE for two more years, using my experience from my first period and the good relationship built with the EAGE office, the Board and the TPC. Caroline Le Turdu – Membership and Cooperation Officer
I am a French citizen currently based in Paris working for Schlumberger. I have been involved with the EAGE since 2013. In June 2018, I took the position of Membership and Cooperation Officer which has been a very enriching experience. I am therefore applying to serve for two more years. In the last two years, we have opened new Local Chapters for Nigeria, Paris, Tomsk-Krasnoyarsk-Novosibirsk, Netherlands, Czech Republic, East Africa (not launched yet), Houston, and Ireland. We have also implemented the new EAGE Membership Recognition Pro2020
gramme, which was launched to recognize the loyalty of our members and the value they bring to the Association. We have also launched two new Special Interest Groups: Decarbonization & Energy Transition (DET) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). My vision and strategy continuing in this role remains the same: to make sure the EAGE becomes more agile so we collaborate more efficiently between active members, local chapters, groups of interest and communities. The situation in early 2020 with the COVID-19 shows us clearly that we need to re-invent ourselves to make sure all our members globally get easy access to knowledge, education and networking in a more agile and digital world. Thank you for taking the time to read this statement and for being an EAGE Member and special thanks to all the volunteers who are the key pillars of EAGE. I look forward meeting and interacting with you within the next coming two years. Colin MacBeth – Education Officer
Never has education and lifelong learning been so appropriate as it is now. We face an environment of low oil price, reservoirs that are difficult to find and challenging to produce, coupled with the fast-changing forces of the energy transition, decarbonisation, renewable energy, and artificial intelligence pervading our work and social space. We must train
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EAGE NEWS
ourselves to remain in contact with our ever-changing workplace. I believe that no matter whether you are a student entering university, young professional or mature late-stage career professional, the EAGE is the place to seek this support. Here at the EAGE we share a great pride and enthusiasm in the educational tools we have developed for our membership. Our content is developed by talented experts within our community and disseminated through our e-lectures, webinars, online videos, short courses and education tours. Of course, our biggest and most important initiative is the growth of our online courses, which I believe will allow us to significantly enhance our global accessibility and fulfil our challenge of ‘education for all’. This will help to ensure young scientists are attracted to our exciting industry but also enable the practicing professional to remain in contact with the latest developments to help pursue their careers. These are exciting times, and I am proud to be part of this society and to be involved in helping to sustain and develop this excellent resource to the benefit of our community.
nity, which is ready to address future challenges. There is a strong societal need to address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations. I believe that the NSGD community is a valuable platform to address and contribute to achieving many of those goals. As co-chair of the NSGD, using my background and interest, I will be able to support and initiate activities related to contributing to the SDGs. In order to develop the NSGD further, I believe cooperation with other associations would increase the diversity and knowledge of the geoscience community even more, which I encourage. Last but not least, I would like to focus on providing a strong young professional framework within the NSGD for students and early career professionals. These groups bring in fresh ideas, especially related to new technology and digitalization. Being elected as co-chair of the NSGD would allow to play an active role in the progress of these initiatives. It is exciting to be part of this international community. Pascal Breton – Secretary-Treasurer
The Oil and Gas industry has been the key driver of the world and standard of living development during the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century. For decades, EAGE always represented this industry and is internationally recognized as one of its most powerful and guiding voices. We have reached today a crossroads in the history of our industry, especially due to climate change, energy transition and also to the two unprecedent O&G crises in 2014 and the actual one in March 2020. If we consider our industry should still continue to play a key role in the future, we need, as a community, to go through a deep transformation to adapt
Esther Bloem - Vice-Chair Near Surface Geoscience Division
For me, the EAGE provides a unique platform to exchange knowledge across industry and academia. The Near Surface Geoscience Division (NSGD) of the EAGE brings together geoscientists working in different near surface fields. Over the years, NSGD developed sessions and parallel conferences on geophysics, environment, hydrogeology, geotechnics, engineering geology, mining, geothermal investigation, archaeology, and more. The result is a growing multi-disciplinary geoscience commu-
to the new 21st century challenges and context. I am deeply convinced EAGE has a key role to play to accompany this necessary transformation to become a sustainable and responsible energy industry. This transformation will need to concretely integrate climate change in our business model evolution, it will need to contribute to promote energy transition and new energies, it will need to sincerely develop our social responsibilities and act to change public perception. We will need to rapidly integrate into our DNA digitalization and innovative technology but also new ways of working. And above all, EAGE will need to accompany our geoscientist and engineering community on the journey to new competencies and new métiers in order to adapt to this evolution but also to retain talent and keep our industry attractive. I have been committed to our industry for 30 years, accompanying its continuous evolution but also personally experiencing career and métier evolution: from geophysicist to reservoir development, then moving to human resources with strong interaction with students and academics. Today, acting for corporate and technological communication, CSR and public relations, I daily work to support the evolution of my company but also of our entire industry thanks to my different commitments to our professional association. This is my history and experience which I want to share with EAGE. Therefore, humbly, I will be very happy and proud to contribute to EAGE’s ambition to be one of the key international actors to accompany this mandatory evolution for the future of our energy industry acting in people’s best interests.
EAGE Education Calendar SHORT COURSE, BY EHSAN NAEINI
28 AUG
OSLO, NORWAY
PLEASE ALSO CHECK THE CALENDAR OF WEBINARS ON THE LEARNING GEOSCIENCE WEBSITE AND THE LATEST E-LECTURES ON THE EAGE YOUTUBE CHANNEL. FOR MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION PLEASE VISIT WWW.EAGE.ORG AND WWW.LEARNINGGEOSCIENCE.ORG.
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Shallow gas anomaly & chimney more defined Possible leakage with fault going to surface
Clearly defined syn-rift packages
Potential migration pathways
Reprocessed 2D Argentina Super-Tie 2D Reprocessing
Openfile 2D
Searcher in
Argentina • • • •
19,182 km 2D PSTM Reprocessing 2D & 3D Post-Stack Reprocessing Enhanced Well Database Regional Basin Report
sales@searcherseismic.com searcherseismic.com/Argentina
EAGE NEWS
Drones workshop set for the Middle East Muscat, Oman has been chosen as the venue for EAGE’s second foray into the world of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and other autonomous
technology and applications of UAVs and other autonomous robotics for use in geoscience and engineering disciplines. As well as the workshop programme, an exciting field trip is promised with a technical demonstration of the acquisition, modelling and interpretation of drone based digital outcrop models. The workshop provides an exceptional opportunity for specialists and enthusiasts to share insights on the evolving technology, exciting applications and emerging technical and regulatory challenges. We are seeking submissions on a wide range of topics related to resource exploration and production, environmental monitoring and engineering. We also look forward to contributions addressing some of the unique challenges surrounding data volume, flight endurance, safe operations and reliability of open-source components. Papers demonstrating technological innovation and business value are especially encouraged. The deadline for abstract submissions is 31 July 2020. See website at events.eage.org for details.
The first workshop confirmed that this technology has the ability to significantly improve cost, safety and efficiency in aerial data acquisition operations.
Total METIS and ADNOC pilot project in Abu Dhabi.
robots which present new opportunities for exploration and production activities. The workshop on 15-17 November 2020 is a follow-up to our first successful meeting in Toulouse in December last year.
In addition, it provides low-cost alternatives for airborne studies of the surface and subsurface at very high resolution and with increased repeatability. The 2nd EAGE Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Workshop will focus on the
We are making a change to the schedule of First Break Special Topics to accommodate the postponement of the Annual Meeting from June until December. We are bringing forward the December Special Topic on ‘Data Processing’ for publication in the June issue. The June topic timed for the Annual Meeting on ‘Delivering for the Energy Challenge: Today and Tomorrow’ will now be published in December. We apologize for any upset this may cause authors intending to contribute to these Special Topics, but we are confident that they and the First Break
readership will understand the reason for this change. We of course encourage members’ continuing support for our very popular Special Topics section and are always open to relevant papers. The full list of each month’s Special Topic for 2020 can be found in First Break. Articles for consideration should be submitted to to firstbreak@eage.org before the first of the month prior to the month of publication. For more detailed information on the submission procedure please refer to www.firstbreak.org/guidelines. BGP1219.indd 21784-FB19 December 1 COVER.indd 1-3
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SPECIAL TOPIC
Data Processing TECHNICAL ARTICLE Time conversion of depth migrated data INDUSTRY NEWS Geoscience companies report healthy net profits CROSSTALK Predictions going into 2020
15/11/2019 13:24
EAGE NEWS
Local Chapter Paris holds international meeting online
Local Chapter Paris dedicated their first e-after-work meeting to exploring the future energy landscape of France.
In these days of isolation, EAGE Local Chapter Paris decided to keep its scheduled after-work March event ‘Decarbonization and Energy Transition: what challenges and contributions’, by transforming it into an online meeting. Not only the Parisian group but also EAGE members and colleagues from various European countries and even from the United States participated in the meeting. The event, organized in collaboration with the EAGE Decarbonization & Energy Transition Special Interest Community, was open to non-geoscientists. This met with the original intention of stimulating a constructive interaction between geoscientists and society. The objective of the event was to demonstrate how the French scientific and political community is acknowledging the issue of the energy transition and preparing the tools for the subsurface industries and society at large to embrace it. The introduction, featuring EAGE, the Decarbonization & Energy Transition Community and the Paris Local Chapter, was followed by four presentations, while the questions were asked through a chat line. Nada Caud, communications project manager, Laboratoire des sciences du
climat et de l’environnement (LSCE), spoke about how climate is changing and the issues arising. She highlighted how important is was to consider to what extent our current world is able to handle the rapid changes underway. Paul Bonnetblanc, policy officer, carbon capture and sequestration, geothermal energy, French Ministry of Environment, Energy and the Sea), discussed the French and European public policy and the role of subsurface for carbon neutrality. Bonnetblanc pointed out the necessity of CCS insisting that we have to put decarbonization and energy efficiency first. Later in the evening Laurent Jammes, director of Industrial relations, CNRS-INSU, and project coordinator, GEFISS, introduced a sensitive topic, that of acknowledging the role society could play in energy transition, and shared details about the social governance for the subsurface industries. Of particular interest, the GEFISS approach brings together a multi-disciplinary team to tackle this delicate issue, including specialists in social psychology and cognition. Finally, Christophe Rigolet, director geosciences, CVA and director, GIS geodenergies discussed how implementFIRST
ing efficient underground solutions could become a new challenge for society and geoscientists in aiming a successful ecological transition. In addition to pointing out the role of geoscientists, Rigolet gave an overview of the issues linked to each featured solution, e.g., high capex for geothermal energy and native hydrogen and radioactive waste for nuclear power. This first virtual EAGE LC Paris event was very successful. Thanks to the moderator, the interactions were very valuable and dynamic. Attendees gave positive feedback and were glad that the event had not been cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions. Stay tuned on the EAGE Local Chapter Paris Linkedin page for viewing the recording and for details about upcoming events, including the one scheduled for 16 April - ‘An overview of petrophysics and its applications’. Also, it’s worth keeping up to date with the EAGE DET SIG Linkedin page and the 1st Geoscience & Engineering in Energy Transition Conference, GET2020 event planned for Strasbourg on 16-18 November. The conference will address what skills and technologies are required to support the growth of renewable energy in the energy mix. BREAK
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EAGE NEWS
Borehole geophysics workshop is once again a winner
WORKSHOP
REPORT
Howard Simpson, co-chair of the technical committee, reports on the fifth EAGE Borehole Geophysics Workshop held in Den Haag (The Hague), The Netherlands, in November 2019.
Committee member presenting gifts to keynote speaker, one-day course instructors and partial view of the conference room.
The workshop, entitled ‘Borehole Geophysics – Bridging the Gap between Surface and Reservoir’, provided a forum for lively discussion between operators, service companies, academics and individuals. As with previous meetings, the location was chosen to be easily accessible to an international audience, to have points of cultural interest for a good social programme, and to have a strong local presence of an operating company and geoscience university. The technical committee was drawn from across the industry, reflecting the diversity of the delegates. Under the co-chairmanship of Sami Saadan of Saudi Aramco and Howard Simpson of Baker Hughes, the committee selected a technical programme of 32 oral and nine poster submissions to be presented over three days, interspersed with three keynote talks by invited speakers. There was a display area 10
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where companies could showcase their latest technology, and a social programme to allow networking opportunities. The workshop attracted about 80 delegates from 31 different organizations, and feedback from the delegates on the choice of location, The Hague Marriott Hotel, was overwhelmingly positive. Before the workshop, a one-day short course was delivered by three Schlumberger advisors (Olga Zdraveva. Scott Leaney and Erik Wielemaker) on ‘Advanced Elastic Anisotropy Calibration: from borehole to seismic scales’. The course attracted 12 participants and provided an excellent overview of the current state-of-the-art in the industry when it comes to anisotropy measurements and their integration (sonic, microseismic, VSP and seismic). The committee was honoured that the opening address could be given by Wilfred Berlang, general manager, reservoir surveillance technology, Shell Global 2020
Solutions International, followed by a keynote talk by Andrey Bakulin, geophysical consultant at EXPEC Advanced Research Center of Saudi Aramco in Dhahran. Andrey’s talk on ‘Evolving Use Cases for Borehole Geophysics on Land for Discovery and Recovery’ was both entertaining and educational. The technical submissions reflected the broad scope of geophysics and were arranged into seven main themes over nine sessions: Full Waveform Inversion/ Acoustics; Pushing Processing Technology; Time Lapse Reservoir Monitoring; Microseismic; Acquisition Hardware Methods; Integration with Surface Seismic Data; and Reservoir Characterization. Each session comprised three or four oral papers, after which all the speakers were invited to take to the stage for a panel discussion to explore some of the wider issues not necessarily related to their specific presentations. The author of each poster submission was given the opportunity to describe their work in a short introduction on the stage, before the delegates were invited to view the posters in the break-out area. As with the oral submissions, the posters were of a very high standard. Day 1 of the workshop focused on Full Waveform Inversion (FWI), Acoustics, and Pushing Processing Technology. Topics included FWI on walkaway VSP, which showed promising results although penetration at depth is an issue resulting in migration-type swings. Also discussed was the use of first-order multiples to extend the lateral image from a 3DVSP even in complex geologies, and the use of a linear-slip model to describe the behaviour of fractures allowing those fractures to be visible in an inversion-type imaging process. Later, a presentation described the deployment of Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) fibre in two neighbouring wells to illuminate the subsurface using surface shots. By measuring the horizontally propagating wavefields in both wells, an inversion process can be carried out to do
EAGE NEWS
cross-well tomography, avoiding the need for a downhole source. The sessions entitled Pushing Processing Technology started with a case study using a full wavefield migration (FWM) that in addition to reflected waves also uses down-going multiple energy to create a wide lateral image. In this method the 3D full wavefield modelling is iterated to match the observed 3DVSP data, and this inversion process resulted in a higher resolution and a more accurate image than could be achieved using conventional imaging. A 3C vector migration case study from the North Sea was then presented. After applying semblance deconvolution to obtain better resolution from the 3C data, velocities are calibrated and data is imaged. P- and S-waves are isolated based on the polarization of the recorded wave fronts, and improvements were seen when compared with the 3D imaged cube recorded by an OBC network surrounding the subject well. Some innovative work was presented on monoclinic ray tracing, ray theory fibre simulation and AVO from DAS walkaways. The session ended with a paper showing 2D walkaway images generated from a field study in Japan where data was recorded using fibre deployed in coiled tubing (CT-DAS-VSP). The DAS VSP
machine learning, and debunking some of the myths. The day continued with a session on Time Lapse Reservoir Monitoring with a heavy focus on DAS. Two synthetic studies investigated the feasibility for monitoring C02 injection using DAS data, while a third study concerned an actual DAS experiment carried out at a test site. The Microseismic session showed interesting data relating microseismic activity to the geology in the deepest salt-solution mine in the world, at Vauvert in France, with speculation about possible induced fault reactivation far away from the site. In addition, a case study on DAS VSP Monitoring for C02 migration tracking concluded that the noise level might have been too high to adequately measure the small time-lapse differences predicted from laboratory measurements. To complete the day, there was an excellent presentation on multi-well DAS observations for hydraulic fracture monitoring. Finally, Day 3 opened with a keynote talk by John Tulett from Schlumberger, detailing the impact of seismic methods on the environment, in particular on marine mammals, and the techniques available to mitigate any adverse effects. The day continued with sessions on Acquisition Hardware methods, which discussed DAS deployment and the comparisons between
Social event provided valuable networking time and many happy faces.
results when compared with the 2D surface seismic showed clear and consistent events. The method was considered cost-effective and suitable for both field development and C02 storage projects. Day 2 started with a keynote talk by independent consultant Jan van der Mortel describing the recent advances in
data recorded using DAS with data from more conventional geophone sensors. This was followed by Integration with Surface Seismic, a topic that is at the heart of what the industry is trying to achieve with borehole geophysics data. Some very good case studies were shown for a variety of relatively simple applications where the FIRST
value of the borehole integration was obvious, such as anisotropy, P-S reflectivity, and the use of look-ahead VSP to reduce drilling risks. Overall the workshop clearly demonstrated the great added value of 3D borehole data as a rich tool for accessing our subsurface both in active and passive mode. Key enablers are the extended measurement aperture via DAS systems and the upcoming full waveform, multi-component approaches and exploitation of multiple scattering. What is lacking somewhat is better integration with surface seismic data in order to maximize the full potential of 3D borehole data. A key objective of these workshops is to provide networking opportunities, and a major part of this is the social programme, where delegates can interact in a less formal setting. The local tourist agency, The Hague & Partners, coordinated a visit to the Mauritshuis gallery and museum, where several iconic Dutch masterpieces were on show, followed by a workshop dinner at the Catch restaurant, right next to the Scheveningen marina. The committee voted on the best technical submissions to the programme, and prizes were awarded for the Best Paper to Ariel Lellouch of Stanford University for his description of the observation of guided waves in a shale reservoir, recorded using DAS. A special mention was also given to Martin Cox of Baker Hughes, for his work on PP and PS waves recorded using seismic-while-drilling. The prize for the Best Poster went to Ali Aldawood of Saudi Aramco, for his description of using drill-bit noise deconvolution to extract weak signals from data recorded in a DrillCam field trial, and finally, the Best Contribution from the Delegates was awarded to Jakob Haldorsen for his constructive engagement and the insights he shared during the workshop. Proceedings were bought to a close by co-chair Sami Sa’adan who thanked all involved in the success of this workshop: the EAGE; the sponsors Saudi Aramco, Total, Halliburton and Schlumberger; the technical committee; Sercel and Avalon Sciences for displaying their hardware technologies, and the delegates themselves. Planning for the next workshop in 2021 has already begun. BREAK
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EAGE NEWS
Second sulfur risk management conference planned in Portugal
Piles of yellow sulfur powder, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Sulfur risk management (SRM) is once again on the agenda. We plan to repeat the success of the first SRM event held in Rueil-Malmaison, France in 2018. This time we will meet for a second conference on 12-14 October 2020 in Braga, Portugal, always assuming that such gatherings will be permissable again by then. In the inaugural event, we brought together over 50 scientists and researchers from academic, government, and industry to present and discuss technology and recent understanding on the geological origins of sulfur, and on the health and economic consequences of sulfur compound co-production.
We look forward to assembling another excellent set of presentations in several different topics deciding on oral and poster sessions based on your contributions. Last time we supported four sessions (Novel methods and technologies; Production Challenges; Advances in Modelling and Prediction and H2S unconventional EOR). In the 2020 edition, we are hoping for submissions from broad geographical and topical fields of expertise to create an inclusive and comprehensive programme. Obviously, the impacts of COVID-19 weight heavily across all industries and human activity. With respect to sulfur, now more than ever,
we can and must produce the most economically viable energy – understanding sulfur source and mitigation strategies are more important than ever. The International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory in Braga (North of Portugal) presents an ideal venue for the meeting. It was founded by the governments of Portugal and Spain under an international legal framework to perform inter-disciplinary research, deploy and articulate nanotechnology for the benefit of society. The abstracts submission is open until 15 June 2020, make sure you are on time to share your expertise via srm.eage.org.
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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We’ve launched a new temporary weekly newsletter for you We know that many of you are facing very difficult circumstances dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, mostly working from home. Staying connected with your colleagues and your professional association is particularly important. That’s why last month we launched a weekly newsletter to temporarily replace the monthly service. The idea is to bring you more regular updates and support during this period. But we don’t want this
just to be any old newsletter. Our idea is to engage you, the members. Our goal with this newsletter is to create something that can be genuinely interactive. We will of course use the newsletter to keep you informed of our news and developments, new online meetings and initiatives, online education opportunities, highlights of your membership benefits, suggestions for working at home and staying connected, etc.
But we see this as a great opportunity to experiment. We will monitor how you are engaging with our content as we go along, and in due course we may be able to include contributions from members. At this stage we welcome any feedback and will seek to continually improve with each issue. Through this initiative we are looking to gain more knowledge, insight and ideas that we can share with our community. If you have any suggestions please reach out to us at communities@eage.org.
IFP students have a lot going for them
EAGE IFP School Student Chapter Board Members.
A new board for EAGE IFP School Student Chapter elected last October has been overseeing a number of activities, starting with a meeting attended by Nawal de Freslon, president of EAGE Local Chapter Paris (formed in 2018), followed by participation at an open day for prospective IFP students. A Christmas photo contest in collaboration with the SPE student chapter took place in December. A technical conference in March 2020 on the oil and gas industry in energy transition was organized by the Student Chapter and the C02 Initiative Association of IFP School. The guest speaker was Jean-Jacques Biteau, recently retired senior geoscientist from Total and ex-president of EAGE.
Members of the Student Chapter also successfully participated in the EAGE DigitalGeoHack hackathon, held in Paris at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP). The Student Chapter is also delighted to announce that the IFP School team qualified for the Laurie Dake Challenge semi-finals. This is an international field development contest based on the Ormen Lange gas condensate field on the Norwegian continental shelf operated by Shell. More technical conferences and field trips are in the works. All of these are possible due to the support of the EAGE Local Chapter Paris and EAGE generally. Don’t forget to follow the EAGE IFP School Student Chapter on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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
SUPPORTED BY
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CROSSTALK BY AN D R E W M c BAR N E T
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Energy transition requires critical thinking ‘This too shall pass’ or some version of this adage has been burning biomass to cook inside primitive accommodation. Tinker coined over many centuries to describe the ephemeral nature of visits a rundown Nairobi outskirt where the very basic available the human condition with a nuance of optimism about the future. electricity supply is openly and dangerously hijacked by cartels. A Sufi poets of 13th-century Persia are said to have been the first continuing toll of accidental deaths is seemingly a tolerated risk. to adopt the exact phraseology although one can imagine the More optimistically, Tinker takes a crew of volunteers to a sentiment has been in every culture from time immemorial. remote spot in the Colombian Andes to install a modest-sized The expression is particularly apposite as the world struggles solar panel system for a small village that previously had no power with the impact of the Covid-19 virus. Despite all the current supply. A successful irrigation project in Ethiopia is also featured. catastrophizing, there is an assumption that this global health and A point that Tinker makes is that locally motivated projects will economic crisis will come to a conclusion at some point. gradually make a difference. He also wants us to understand that Yet, in these calamitous times, we are apt to forget some people in places like Vietnam, where he visits, put up with pollufundamental issues in the human predicament that regrettably have tion. The choking smog from coal-fired electricity generation is a much longer life cycle than a viral pandemic. Energy poverty the accepted price for jobs and a lifestyle otherwise unachievable. would be one such issue. Just as in Switch, the previous documentary made with Harry It is a cause that has increasingly preoccupied Scott Tinker, a Lynch directing, released in 2012, Tinker brings a much-needed well-known geologist, academic, public edusane voice to the discussion on climate change, cator and documentary film-maker. More’s energy transition and the world economy. It is ‘Providing the pity, then, that Switch-on, his latest film something he has been doing with increasing a non-partisan co-produced with director Harry Lynch, was commitment and authority for the past two energy education.’ unknowingly launched in January just as the decades since he became director of the Bureau Covid-19 virus threat was beginning to domiof Economic Geology at the University of nate our lives. Texas in 2000. He is also state geologist for Texas, professor The film provides a humane perspective on the world that we and endowed chair in the Jackson School of Geosciences at The share with one billion people without any electricity and a third University of Texas at Austin, and has been president of a number of the global population impacted by what Tinker calls energy of American geoscience professional societies. poverty. In his view most of the major global ills in the world – Tinker and Lynch founded the Switch Energy Project over a hunger, clothing, shelter, immigration and migration, population decade ago and it has since morphed into the non-profit Switch growth, healthcare and even empowerment of women – cannot be Energy Alliance (SEA). The rationale has remained constant. It addressed without adequate access to energy. is to provide a ‘non-partisan energy education’ that tries to cut He visits and talks with the men, women and their families in through the entrenched views on either side of the climate change/ impoverished areas of, among others, Colombia, Nepal, Vietnam, fossil fuel/energy transition debate to reach what Tinker refers to Kenya and Ethiopia about how they make do with no, or limited as the ‘radical middle’. access to, the electricity that we take for granted. It is impossible to judge how effective he has been with his Striking vignettes include a moving sequence showing a Nepbasic message. What can be said without fear of contradiction alese baby in a hospital with an apparently quite common, often is that his presentations in one form or another have reached a lethal respiratory condition. It is caused by smoke inhalation from phenomenal number of people. Switch has been screened in more
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terms of global energy supply. The fastest growth in absolute terms than 50 countries to some 15 million viewers and is part of the curis in natural gas. riculum in thousands of US schools and college campuses. Tinker Tinker undermines the comfortable public assertion reinforced himself does more than 60 lectures a year, contributes a regular in schools (‘I have seen the lesson plans’, he says) that coal, oil and podcast on US public broadcasting, has visited 65 countries and natural gas production has a negative impact on the environment consulted with governments and major corporations. In February while renewables and battery power do not. There is of course he was guest speaker at the annual meeting of the International no denying the downside of fossil fuels, even if the emission Association of Geophysical Contractors. issue is being addressed somewhat. Advocates of renewable and A recent article in Scientific American, questioning the value battery power, on the other hand, don’t mention the apparent of carbon tax in reducing CO2 emissions, provides an excellent summary of how he views the world’s energy transition/climate contradictions such as mining for precious metals, manufacture change dilemmas. The Switch Alliance website provides extensive of turbines, panels and batteries, extensive use of land, electricity back up with explanations on all energy sources of power and how transmission and disposal of worn out materials like wind turbines they fit into energy transition. The shameful statistics of energy and batteries, which have a limited lifespan. Tinker wonders at the poverty are there too. Everything is laid out in easily digestible staggering number of batteries required if car manufacturers are segments with optional audio. As such, they are a valuable resource quickly going to scale-up production to effect a global conversion for the classroom, industry, politicians, and indeed anyone who to electrical vehicles. cares about the environment we live in. Well intentioned policies go wrong too: for example, GermaThe virtue of Tinker’s approach is that he sticks to some ny’s rush to windpower and reduction of its nuclear and natural gas very basic, observable data and doesn’t push an agenda. He takes use actually halted the country’s steadily declining carbon emisit as read that the world wants to reduce CO2 emissions from sions, much to the government’s embarrassment. The problem: fossil fuels. For his purpose there is no need to argue the whys and there has to be a reliable back-up source of power to support wind wherefores of climate change. and solar downtime when the weather doesn’t What makes Tinker’s view distinctive is comply, and that back-up came from coal. ‘Global poverty that he underscores the scale and time required Energy consumption patterns are changing issues cannot be to effect change. Most importantly he shows too. We may think we are using energy more why the less developed world is unlikely to go addressed without efficiently, but how many people realize that along with solutions promoted by energy-rich after the US and China the biggest consumer of adequate energy.’ electricity is the technology that drives all our countries that will diminish further their hopes of escaping energy poverty. Carbon taxation computer devices. On an individual scale, can is a case in point. There are, he says, billions of people in the it be efficient for us to order individual items online for delivery countries of Africa and South East Asia that want to grow and to our homes? industrialize. That cannot be done without the kind of power that In the end, Tinker argues, energy transition is not about fuels, fuelled the prosperity of the developed world. it is about improving the human condition while minimizing the You then have to confront what Tinker calls ‘the data’, in this impacts of all forms of energy on the atmosphere, local air, land case that half the energy for four billion people in South East Asia and water. Global poverty issues cannot be addressed without comes from coal. And how did that happen? In a nutshell, the adequate energy. western industrialized countries built their initial wealth largely on Meantime, we have to work with how the world is today to coal power. But now the basic manufacturing capability of earlier achieve the most realistic, least disruptive transition and reduce generations has effectively been exported to China and its neighenergy poverty. The combination may change over time but as of bours. It is why carbon emissions have been more or less stable for now Tinker has a list in order of immediate impact. It starts with a generation in Western Europe and North America but have risen increased use of natural gas with carbon capture, utilization and so significantly in the Far East. We get to point a finger at China storage (CCUS), nuclear power (no emissions but well known while at the same time stocking our homes with its merchandise concerns), cleaner coal with CCUS and coal substitution, geotherThose looking for some immediate change in our dependence mal and hydro (if available), centralized wind (again if available), on fossil fuels need to consider the current world energy mix, and distributed renewables. In addition, energy conservation and which according to the BP Statistical review in 2018 showed 34% improved efficiency will make a contribution. oil, 28% coal, 23% natural gas, 7% hydropower, 4% nuclear and That is not the pragmatic formula a lot of people want to hear, 4% renewables. These percentages are of course changing with quite likely because alleviating global energy poverty is not on increased growth in natural gas and declines in oil and coal, which their radar. Tinker urges critical thinking. That is certainly a good do have a favourable environmental impact. The fastest growth mantra to keep in mind as the world copes with Covid-19 and its rate has been in solar and wind power, but this is still miniscule in aftermath.
Views expressed in Crosstalk are solely those of the author, who can be contacted at andrew@andrewmcbarnet.com.
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Fugro develops new approach to ocean mapping
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Big oil launches huge spending cuts
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TGS plans to start Norwegian Sea survey in the summer
Seismic companies make big cutbacks during Covid-19 global pandemic
With the oil and gas industry devastated by the impact of the Covid-19 global pandemic, companies offering geoscience services have announced plans to cut-back spending. PGS, CGG, TGS, Polarcus and ION are among the companies to have announced measures including spending cuts, cold stacking vessels and staff cuts with negotiations for future projects on hold and some cancelled. PGS said that it was implementing ‘substantial cost and capital expenditure measures to meet an expected significant revenue reduction’ but that in the short term it had been able to continue vessel operations without interruptions and had not experienced cancellations of any active contracts. ‘Short-term, severe logistical challenges caused by travel restrictions and quarantine provisions impacting
crew-changes have been resolved by cancelling all crew changes since March 18, with all crews continuing on a second full rotation. The extended crew periods will start coming to an end in the latter part of April, and the company believes it will be able to find viable methods for crew rotations. However, it added ‘most processes to conclude contract negotiations have since early March been substantially delayed or resulted in postponement of projects’. As a result, the company is cold-stacking two of its eight 3D vessels early in Q2 after completion of current projects. TGS has decided to reduce 2020 multi-client investments to approximately $325 million from an original guidance of approximately $450 million. Through centralization of offices, a global salary freeze and temporary cessation of FIRST
bonuses, TGS expects a reduction in cash operating cost of approximately 35% year on year. The company said in a statement: ‘Exploration spending can to a certain degree be considered discretionary, hence there is an expectation that the company’s subsurface data products will be subject to significant spending cuts. As a result, TGS expects a very challenging market in 2020, where data licensing and pre-commitments to new projects may be deferred until clients have more visibility of an improvement in market conditions.’ CGG said that the company was continuing to operate as normal, but that all financial guidance for 2020 was no longer valid. ‘The vast majority of our employees are telecommuting and are productive. In Geoscience, we continue to deliver projects on time and our data centres are all BREAK
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operational. Multi-client programmes in Brazil, UK, US and Australia are ongoing. Equipment manufacturing plants in France and the US were shut down on March 19, while our plant in China resumed normal production after closing for two weeks in January. ‘However, given the magnitude of economic impact to our businesses, the financial objectives communicated on March 6, 2020, which were based on a $55-65/bbl Brent oil price, are no longer effective.‘ Polarcus has announced a $15 million cost reduction plan, which includes a combination of redundancies, a 25% reduction in basic salary at senior levels and a 15% reduction in the remainder of the company. No bonuses will be paid. Polarcus is reducing general and administrative costs by approximately $1.5 million and reducing cash capex by approximately $7 million. Further cash savings are expected to be realised through warm stacking vessels in between projects. Since 16 March 2020, all onshore personnel have been working from home. Offshore, Polarcus has implemented health screening for all crew prior to travelling from home, immediately before joining a vessel and at regular intervals throughout operations offshore. ‘All Polarcus vessels carry medical teams onboard with fully equipped hospital facilities and the ability to isolate crew members if required,’ it said. ION Geophysical is reducing personnel expenses by more than $13 million. ION executives are taking a 20% base salary reduction and a tiered reduction scheme is being cascaded to the rest of the workforce. Some $5 million will be saved by curtailing the use of external contractors. The company has scaled back 2020 capex estimates to $20-$35 million, down from its initial estimate of $35-$50 million to reflect both reduced seismic demand and travel/ border restrictions impacting new data acquisition offshore. The majority of the spending cut relates to investments in the multi-client data library. 18
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One million oil industry jobs could be lost More than a million jobs in the oilfield service industry (OFS) are likely to be cut in 2020 due to low project volumes brought upon by the Covid-19 epidemic and the continuing oil price war, says the research company Rystad Energy. More than 5 million people are employed in the OFS sector globally at present and Rystad Energy’s estimates show that this year alone, contractors will scale down their workforce by at least 21%. Some 13 percentage points are attributed to oil-price-driven cuts and the remaining 8% reductions will be layoffs caused by measures taken by contractors who are forced to slow down project developments fearing the spread of Covid-19 on their worksites. ‘Low oil prices are likely to persist in 2021 and could lead to further workforce reductions. But as we move into the second half of 2021, with better market fundamentals and a fading Covid-19, recruitment is likely to pick up in the shale sector and from 2022 will also kick-off in the offshore sector,’ says Audun Martinsen, Rystad Energy’s Head of Oilfield Service Research. Unlike the downturn of 2015 and 2016, when the total OFS workforce was reduced by nearly 30% from its 2014
levels as a result of another supply war, the industry now has to face the additional effect of a big decline in demand, caused largely by the Covid-19 outbreak around the world. Offshore workforce is likely to be reduced by a total of 19% in 2020 as the low oil prices will halt most of the exploration work as well as maintenance, modifications and operations projects. The fear of a Covid-19 outbreak on offshore platforms and yards will force the E&P companies and contractors to suspend several activities. The largest reductions in 2020 are expected to be within shale, just like during the 2014 downturn. As much as $65 billion of the $100 billion spending reduction expected globally will be in the shale industry, said Rystad. A 32% cut in workforce is likely to be realized in this sector by December 2020. ‘In the US shale industry as many as 5800 horizontal wells could be cut in 2020, which would more than halve the number of wells from the 10,900 planned for 2020,’ said Audun Martinsen, Rystad Energy’s head of oilfield service research. Meanwhile, the well stimulation market is estimated to come down by $25 billion in 2020, said Rystad.
Latest US Gulf of Mexico sale generates $100 million in bids The US Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 254 generated $93,083,453 in high bids for 71 tracts covering 397,285 acres in Federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. A total of 22 companies participated in the lease sale, submitting $108,587,185 in total bids. Lease Sale 254 included 14,594 unleased blocks located from three to 231 miles (4.8 to 372 km) offshore in the Gulf’s Western, Central and Eastern Planning Areas in water depths ranging MAY
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from nine to more than 11,115 feet (three to 3400 m). Terms include a 12.5% royalty rate for leases in less than 200 m of water depth, and a royalty rate of 18.75% for all other leases issued under the sale. Lease Sale 254, livestreamed from New Orleans, was the sixth offshore sale held under the 2017-2022 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Programme.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Rystad warns of $100 billion spending cuts if oil price stays at $30
The total capital and operational expenditure of oil and gas companies is now likely to be cut by $100 billion in 2020 and another $150 billion in 2021 if oil prices remain around the $30 level, according to research by Rystad Energy. If prices remain at $30 in both 2020 and 2021 due to a volume war, the biggest losers will be stimulation services (-40%) and seismic companies (-30%), it said. This volume war, if it continues throughout 2020 and 2021, will lead to a massive wave of bankruptcies and consolidation in the service market, whose debt obligations are set to grow 27% into 2021. Companies with low leverage and with healthy order books will be able to steer through the storm,’ said Auden Martinsen head of oilfield research at Rystad.
There is, however, a hope that a deep downturn could finally complete the much-needed consolidation in the market and create a healthier supply chain when prices recover. Finally, from the $191 billion worth of greenfield projects that were forecast to be sanctioned in 2020, the ones that will actually see the green light if oil prices average at $40 or less are below $100 billion. If the price of Brent crude averages around $30 per barrel in 2020 total project sanctioning will be reduced to just $61 billion. Some $30 billion of the overall expenditure is tied to onshore projects and $31 billion to offshore. At least nine of the world’s top planned exploration wells for 2020 are at risk of being suspended as a result of the
combined effect on oil and gas activities of the Covid-19 virus and the oil price war. The wells, located in Norway, Brazil, the Bahamas, Guyana, the US, Gambia and Namibia would target a combined 7 billion barrels of oil equivalents (boe). They have been identified as at risk because of their commercial viability under the current price levels, shutdowns that affect the supplies of equipment components, operators’ prioritization among other targets and limitations in crew movements, among other reasons. ‘Given the prevailing global situation we now foresee that the cumulative discovered volumes by the end of the year could go even below the 2016 level of 8.9 billion boe, which was the decade’s lowest. This will solely depend upon how many key wildcat wells will still see a spinning drillbit in the coming months, as some of them could be either suspended or postponed,’ said Rystad Energy senior upstream analyst Palzor Shenga. The first quarter of 2020 had already started on a low note, as explorers have only uncovered new volumes of around 2.5 billion boe. The 22 discoveries are evenly split between onshore and offshore regions, with gas representing just over half of the volumes. Volumes are down about 40% from the same period of 2019, and the number of discoveries has almost halved.
Norway launches consultation on APA 2020 Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has put out for consultation its proposal to include 36 new blocks in this year’s licensing round in the wellknown parts of the Norwegian Continental Shelf – Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2020. The Ministry is proposing to include new acreage west in the Norwegian Sea. ‘In these challenging times it is important to plan for the future. Stable access to
new acreage for petroleum exploration is key in order to develop our most important industry further, and to maintain the level of activity on the Norwegian Shelf,’ said minister for petroleum and energy, Tina Bru. Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) is one of two equal licensing rounds on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The scheme was introduced in 2003 to facilitate explo-
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ration in geologically well-known parts of the shelf. The APA area includes the geologically most mature parts of the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Exploration mainly focuses on smaller discoveries that would not justify an independent development, but may be profitable if developed in conjunction with other discoveries and/or utilizing existing or planned infrastructure.
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Fugro develops new approach to ocean mapping
Fugro vessels are mapping US deepwater areas.
Fugro has partnered with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (NOAA OER) to establish a new approach for mapping deepwater areas of the US Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). As Fugro’s survey vessels transit to project sites through NOAA-identified areas of interest, remote command and control technologies are used to acquire high-resolution mapping data with minimal crew onboard. A first test of the approach took place last autumn in the Blake Plateau region off the coasts of Georgia and Florida, resulting in 28,000 km2 of new EEZ
mapping data delivered to NOAA in February. With only about 40% of the US EEZ mapped and significantly less of the area characterized, the new Blake Plateau mapping data will contribute to the goals outlined in a November 2019 Presidential Memorandum on Ocean Mapping of the United States Exclusive Economic Zone and Shoreline and Nearshore of Alaska, which calls for bold action to map, explore, and characterize the ocean. Additionally, Fugro will contribute mapping data collected while transiting to and from the Blake Plateau project site as part of its continuing crowdsourced bathymetry programme related to the Seabed 2020 project.
David Millar, government accounts director for Fugro in the Americas, said: ‘Over the past several years, we’ve developed and refined our remote service technology to streamline project schedules, reduce costs, continuously improve health and safety of our staff, and lower our carbon footprint. This same technology is utilized in the opportunistic mapping model. By leveraging the location and movements of suitable survey platforms, we can acquire high-accuracy, high-resolution bathymetry data with limited staff onboard. The approach is both efficient and cost-effective, and we believe it has tremendous potential in helping close bathymetry data gaps, not only in the US but all over the world.’ Meanwhile, Fugro is putting in place a cost and capex reduction programme in response to Covid-19 and has withdrawn its guidance for 2020. Measures will include minimizing the hire of short-term charters, a hiring and salary freeze and a cut in the workforce. ‘Despite strong efforts to keep operations going, some projects cannot be executed as originally planned due to increasing travel restrictions and country lockdowns, which are impacting the business, particularly in the Europe-Africa region,’ it said. The company added that it had $437 million in liquidity but would also look for support from the Dutch government.
Total renews long-term processing contract with CGG CGG has won a contract renewal from Total for the continued operation of its Dedicated Processing Centre (DPC) in Pau, France. The new contract will run for five years starting in January 2020. The two companies have been working in close collaboration at the DPC since 2006, tailoring workflows in a variety of environments around the world, especially involving 4D processing, said CGG. 20
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Sophie Zurquiyah, CEO, CGG, said: ‘As a result of our strong partnership, the Pau DPC is fully integrated into Total’s production cycle. This, together with its ability to leverage CGG’s 4D processing expertise and technology, has enabled the DPC to deliver outstanding results over the years.’ Meanwhile, CGG has announced group segment revenue of $273 million, down 3% year-on-year, for the first 2020
quarter of 2020. Geoscience revenue of $93 million, is up 2% year-on-year. Multi-client revenue of $104 million is up 17% year-on-year, with after-sales around $47 million. Equipment revenue of $76 million is down 25% year-on-year. Positive net cash flow was $25 million during the first quarter. Liquidity was around $622 million. The geoscience backlog as of April 1, 2020 at $278 million, was up 7% year-on-year
INDUSTRY NEWS
Global licences 3D data offshore Namibia Global Petroleum is licensing historical 3D seismic data in its offshore Namibia Block, 2011A (PEL0094) after striking a deal with the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Namcor). This key data, acquired by previous licensees in 2010, covers the company’s Welwitschia Deep prospect and Marula lead and will enable precise mapping of these features. In return for the right to license this data, Global has agreed to transfer to Namcor a 7% participating interest in PEL0094, bringing its interest up to 17%. The 3D seismic survey covers an area of 1583 km2, including PEL0094 (Block 2011A), with the remainder in Block 1911 to the north. Plays have been estimated in the Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene sandstones, which include the Marula lead, but with further potential in both the east and west of PEL0094; Lower-Upper Albian basinal sandstones in the south-eastern part of PEL0094 (same age play as was proven by the Cormorant-1 well); and the Lower Albian-Upper Aptian shallow water carbonates, which include the Welwitschia Deep prospect, but with further potential identified in the NE of PEL0094.
ModelVision
The Prospective Resources are all interpreted to be sourced from the Aptian marine ‘Kudu Shale’ mudstone, which is a world-class quality source rock in the wells at Kudu, Moosehead-1, Murombe-1 and Wingat-1. At the latter, also within the Walvis basin like PEL0094, high-quality, light oil was recovered to the surface. Gas has been sampled in seabed cores to the east of the Welwitschia Deep prospect and Marula lead and within PEL0094. This supports the interpretation that the source rock has been buried within the licence to, at a minimum, the main oil window of maturity. The Welwitschia Deep prospect is a fault and dip-closed structural trap in the Albian carbonates, as are the Gemsbok, Lion and Dik Dik prospects in the company’s PEL0029 licence, which is immediately adjacent to PEL0094 to the west. Welwitschia Deep forms part of the significant prospectivity in the deeper Albian Carbonates (Welwitschia Deep). The Marula lead is a stratigraphic trap, where the Upper Cretaceous, deep water sandstones pinch out to the west on to the Welwitschia structure. There is strong evidence of an excellent lateral seal 4 km to the west of the Marula lead.
Magnetic & Gravity Interpretation System All sensors Processing 3D modelling 3D inversion Visualisation Analysis Utilities
Minerals Petroleum Near Surface Government Contracting Consulting Education
TGS appoints Fredrik Amundsen as CFO TGS has appointed Fredrik Amundsen as chief financial officer. Amundsen has been with the company for 16 years was previously executive vice-president (EVP) Europe at TGS. Kristian Johansen, CEO at TGS, said: ‘Following the acquisition of Spectrum in August 2019, TGS has been through a period of integration and right-sizing of the organization to realize synergies. We are now moving into a phase where our focus will be on realizing maximum value and efficiency
from our internal operations. Few people know the TGS operations better than Fredrik Amundsen.’ Amundsen joined TGS in 2003 as financial controller and has since served TGS as director of finance and interim CFO. He has also been responsible for business units in Asia Pacific and Europe/Russia. Fredrik received a BA in business administration from Washington State University in 2001. Rune Eng, EVP of Southern Hemisphere, will take over the executive responsibility for the Europe business.
Tensor Research support@tensor-research.com.au www.tensor-research.com.au Tel:
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Norway warns of long-term Covid-19 impact on its oil and gas industry The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has reported that 10 out of 50 exploration wells on the Norwegian Continental Shelf will be postponed this year and that some projects will not happen in the future if the low oil price is sustained as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. ‘What we’re seeing now, is both exploration wells being postponed and delays/cancellations of geophysical mapping. As of today, it appears that around 10 exploration wells will be postponed, meaning that there will be about 40 exploration wells in 2020. However, we can’t rule out further changes in this area in the future,’ said NPD director general Ingrid Sølvberg. The NPD is concerned about the postponement of ‘time-critical’ wells. ‘This
means wells where potential discoveries are slated to be developed near to existing infrastructure in a late phase of their production cycle. Here we have to explore while the infrastructure still has a sufficient operating horizon.’ If the low oil price situation endures, this could reduce the economic life of the fields in the North Sea and Norwegian Sea because it will less viable to make discoveries near to certain infrastructure that will be shut down earlier than planned. ‘On fields in operation, we’re seeing wells being postponed due to the low oil price and/or because staffing offshore is reduced due to the corona situation. There is a risk of several of these wells not being drilled later, which could mean a risk of losing resources,’ Sølvberg said.
With staffing reduced across the industry, one significant challenge over the short term will be the labour market. ‘Oil companies should balance consideration for their own cash flow with the need to have a viable supplier industry. It takes time to build a viable supplier industry, but it is very quickly dismantled. This will happen if workers in the supplier industry have transferred to other industries by the time this is over,’ Sølvberg said. ‘A substantial drop in activity will also have an important impact as regards recruiting younger employees to the industry in the future. Last autumn, we saw an increase in the number of applications to petroleum-related subjects for the first time since the last oil price drop in 2014. This crisis could stop all that.’
Sander Geophysics offers its aircraft to transport supplies during Covid-19 crisis Ottawa-based aerial surveying company Sander Geophysics Limited (SGL) is making its fleet of aircraft available for cargo delivery during the global Covid-19 pandemic. The company, which operates a fleet of 13 aircraft, has ceased all survey operations around the world, with aircraft and crews returning home to Canada. ‘Since there is such a big demand right now, we figured we might as well offer this cargo service,’ said Adrian Archer, the company’s business development coordinator. ‘We have aircraft available in Ottawa. Right now, we have four aircraft and two helicopters available and some under maintenance that will be available in a few weeks.’ Three Grand Caravans and one Islander are immediately available for hire, as are the two Airbus helicopters. The Twin Otter will be available soon following the completion of routine maintenance. All are equipped with cargo doors. Archer said the Grand Caravans can haul 453 kg of cargo, with the Islander 22
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capable of transporting a bit less depending on the length of the flight. The AS350 B3s are five-seat helicopters that are immediately available for passenger or urgent cargo transport. Archer said SGL’s fixed-wing aircraft are suitable for moving medical supplies and other cargo into destinations not serviced by larger aircraft. SGL has offered its services to freight forwarders and submitted its capabili2020
ties to the Canadian government. Archer added that while air cargo is a new market for SGL, the company already has vast experience transporting its own survey equipment and supplies around the world. The privately owned company, founded in 1956, operates 13 aircraft, including eight Cessna 208B Grand Caravans, one de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter, two Britten-Norman BN2B-21 Islanders, and two Airbus AS350 B3 helicopters.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Big oil announces huge spending cuts Energy companies have announced big cuts in exploration budgets in response to the Covid-19 global pandemic. ExxonMobil is cutting planned 2020 investment from $33 billion to $23 billion, with a delay in the development of the Payara discoveries offshore Guyana of up to 12 months. Shell has announced a reduction of underlying operating costs by $3-4 billion per annum over the next 12 months compared to 2019 levels. Cash capital expenditure of $20 billion is down from planned spending of $25 billion. Chevron is reducing its guidance for 2020 organic capital and exploratory spending by 20% to $16 billion. Reductions include $2 billion in upstream unconventionals, primarily in the Permian Basin; $700 million in upstream projects and exploration; and $500 million in upstream base business. Cash capital and exploratory expenditures are expected to decrease by $3.3 billion to $10.5 billion in 2020. BP expects 2020 organic capital spending to be around $12 billion, around 25% below its prior full-year guidance. Upstream production is expected to be reduced by around 70,000 barrels equivalent a day.
Oil majors have announced big cuts to their exploration budgets.
The company expects to achieve around $2.5 billion of cash cost savings by the end of 2021, compared with 2019. Equinor will cut organic capex for 2020 from $10-11 billion to around $8.5 billion. Exploration activity will be cut from around $1.4 billion to $1 billion. Operating costs will be cut by $700 million. Total has announced capex cuts of more than $3 billion (more than 20%), reducing 2020 net investments to less than $15 billion. The company will also
make $800 million of savings on operating costs compared to 2019, instead of the $300 million previously announced. Eni will reduce Capex in 2020 by around $2.2 billion, equal to 25% of the total capex planned, and opex by around $437 million. In 2021, Eni expects a capex reduction of around $2.73 to 3.28 billion. Production in 2020 is expected between 1.8 and 1.84 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, and it will remain unchanged in the following year.
PGS releases data on five surveys offshore Indonesia PGS has completed data processing for five recently acquired PGS multi-client 3D surveys over basins spanning the Indonesian archipelago. All provide significant uplifts in seismic data quality, based on GeoStreamer broadband acquisition and imaging, it said. Improved imaging throughout the seismic section is especially apparent for the deeper hydrocarbon plays that were previously not visible on legacy data. The hydrocarbon potential of all the basins has now greatly improved based on the new seismic data, the company added. The North Sumatra MC3D prestack time data (PSTM) provides insights into
a new, deeper, syn-rift play in this highly prospective basin. The new data displays numerous direct hydrocarbon indicators. The North Madura prestack time data (PSTM) MC3D survey and the South Makassar prestack depth data (PSDM) MC3D are located in the highly prospective Tertiary basins of the southeast Sundaland margin. Modern broadband GeoStreamer data from the survey images the proven Eocene source-kitchens and allows tracking of potential migration pathways to newly imaged prospects. The West Timor PSDM MC3D survey offers new insights into both the underexFIRST
plored fold and thrust belt and the proven prolific Mesozoic system of the Australian plate. The West Abadi PSTM MC3D highlights potentially large new structures analogous to the adjacent multi-TCF Abadi and Sunrise Fields. Depth imaging for North Sumatra and West Abadi will be available soon. ‘These five new seismic datasets acquired with GeoStreamer broadband technology offer essential insights for exploration teams in advance of the upcoming Indonesian licensing round,’ said Tad Choi, sales and new ventures manager, Asia at PGS. BREAK
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Exploration round-up Neptune Energy has announced an oil discovery at the Schwegenheim exploration well in the Rhine Valley, Germany. A well drilled to a depth of 2600 m encountered two oil-bearing layers. MOL has drilled two wells 8 km northwest of the Balder and Ringhorne fields in the central part of the North Sea and about 200 km west of Stavanger. Preliminary estimates place the size of the oil and gas discovery in the Skagerrak Formation between 2 and 11 million Sm3 of recoverable oil equivalent. A Total-led consortium has discovered oil in the Central North Sea offshore UK, about 40 km south of the Elgin-Franklin field and 170 km east of Aberdeen. The well was drilled in a water depth of about 80 m and encountered 64 m net pay of lean gas and condensate and high-quality light oil, in Upper Jurassic and Triassic sandstone reservoirs. Capricorn Norge has been granted a drilling permit in production licence PL 880 about 8 km west of the Vega field in the North Sea.
Equinor has been granted a drilling permit in production licence PL 089 just southwest of the Snorre field. Petrobras has found oil in the Uirapuru block, Santos Basin pre-salt. The well is located about 200 km off the coast of the city of Santos, at a water depth of 1995 m. The discovery is in porous reservoirs in the exploratory prospect, known as Araucária. Equinor, Progress and Repsol have found oil in the US Gulf of Mexico after the Monument exploration well encountered approx. 60 m of net oil pay with good reservoir characteristics in Paleogene sandstone. The well was drilled to a total depth of 10,164 m. Aker BP has found oil in the Norwegian Sea about 50 km southwest of the Skarv field and 210 km west of Brønnøysund. Well 6506/5-1 S encountered a total gas column of about 15 m in the Lysing Formation, of which 10 m of sandstones are of very good reservoir quality. Preliminary estimates are between 1.0 and 2.4 billion stand-
ard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable gas. Petro-Victory Energy has discovered oil in Block ES-T-487 in the Espírito Santo Basin, Brazil. The Vida exploration well was drilled to a depth of 1890 m in the onshore portion of the Espírito Santo Basin, Brazil. The well encountered 49 m of net oil pay. Wintershall has made an oil discovery at the Bergknapp prospect in the Norwegian Sea, close to the Maria field. The well encountered an oil column of at least 60 m in the Garn Formation and an oil column of 120 m in the Tilje Formation, with reservoir qualities ranging from poor to good. Estimates put the discovery at between 26 and 97 million boe. Petrobras has encountered oil in an exploration well on the Sudoeste de Tartaruga Verde block in the Campos Basin. The Natator well was drilled 130 km from the city of Macaé (RJ) in water depths of 1080 m. Oil was discovered in carbonate reservoirs in the post-salt section.
A fifth of Europe’s oilfield services companies could close Around 20% of Europe’s mid- and small-sized oilfield service companies, the vast majority of which are British or Norwegian, are set to become insolvent as the effect of the Covid-19 epidemic will hit the continent’s OFS market
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hard and cut purchases by about $5 billion year-on-year, a Rystad Energy impact analysis shows. The European services market, which was expected to stay largely flat this year from the 2019 level of $47 billion, is now facing a number of hurdles because of the outbreak. Cross-border travel limitations, supply insufficiencies, quarantines and capex reductions are only some of the market’s challenges. ‘This will have a pronounced effect on the European energy service market, which is heavily dependent on its international workforce and an efficient flow of goods and services between nations,’ Audun Martinsen, Rystad Energy’s head of oilfield service research, said.
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Most of the lost purchases – worth around $4.5 billion – are expected to hit Norway and Britain, mainly within the segments of MMO, drilling rigs and well services. Bankruptcies will have to follow as a result, especially for mid- and small-sized suppliers which in the UK and Norway add up to more than 1000 companies, added Martinsen. As many as 20% could become insolvent, Rystad Energy estimates. More companies could be added to this number when the rest of Europe is included. ‘For Europe, this crisis is worse than the one that OFS companies experienced in 2015 and 2016 after the oil-price fall,’ said Martinsen, adding that a recovery back to 2019 levels is likely to happen from 2024.
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INDUSTRY NEWS
ION and WesternGeco settle longstanding patent dispute
TDI-Brooks completes seep hunting study off West African coast
ION Geophysical and WesternGeco have settled a decade-long patent litigation regarding lateral streamer positioning. WesternGeco will permanently dismiss the pending lawsuit, grant ION a licence to the patents and lift the injunction preventing ION from manufacturing DigiFIN in the United States. In exchange, ION has agreed to pay a settlement value to WesternGeco out of future revenues from the company’s multi-client data library, comprising 1) a small percentage of 2D multi-client late sales for a 10-year period and 2) a majority of ION’s revenue share to WesternGeco on the parties’ existing joint multi-client reimaging product offshore Mexico.
TDI-Brooks International has completed an offshore ‘seep-hunting’ surface geochemical analysis and geotechnical campaign offshore West Africa for client TGS. The campaign stretched across the MSGBC Basin, from Northern Senegal through The Gambia and AGC zone, into Guinea-Bissau down to the Guinea transform fault. TDI-Brooks’ R/V Gyre acquired 80,000 km2 of high resolution multibeam echo sounder bathymetry and performed the offshore advanced analysis where 80 active hydrocarbon seeps have been detected in the multibeam water column data to date. The R/V Proteus completed phase 2 performing the coring programme, which included 260 piston cores, 23 jumbo piston cores and 23 heat flow measurements. Advanced geochemical analysis of samples is continuing. The R/V Gyre is currently performing a further geochemistry analysis programme offshore Nigeria. This is Nigeria’s first regional multi-client multibeam and seafloor sampling (MB&SS) study. After just three days of field operation, two prominent water column anomalies and bubble plumes with associated surface slicks were observed in more than 2000 m water depth. The study will cover an area of approx. 80,000 km2 of the offshore Niger Delta and will incorporate around 150 cores from the seabed, which target multibeam backscatter anomalies. The RV Gyre has now collected 65,000 km2 of multibeam data and identified 431 water column anomalies in the Nigeria study area. 26
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The parties have also agreed to expand their existing multi-client collaboration to new projects. ‘I am thrilled to put this lawsuit behind us,’ said Chris Usher, ION’s president and chief executive officer. ‘The composition of our companies’ portfolios and the competitive landscape have changed dramatically over the timeline of this case. Both parties recognized that collaboration and risk-sharing make more sense going forward, rather than embarking on the new damages case. The parties have been collaborating since 2016 on multi-client programmes and have identified additional areas to work together.’
TGS completes processing of West of Shetland survey TGS has completed processing of its Erlend Wild West multi-client 3D seismic survey west of Shetland, offshore UK, offering an enhanced subsurface image of the region.
Erlend Wild West is a 3900 km2 survey consisting of 1900 km2 of data acquired during a project which began in the autumn of 2018, using Clari-Fi broadband technology to deliver high-fidelity imaging of the subsurface, along with a number of vintage surveys, including EW12 3D. The combination of processing of new and reprocessing of vintage
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data for this survey area has realized a significant uplift in imaging the visualization of the sub–basalt-influenced geological settings, including high velocity contrasts and volcanics, said TGS. This will allow greater understanding of the plays in one of the most exciting E&P regions of the UK continental shelf, the company added. Kristian Johansen, CEO at TGS, said: ‘The Erlend Wild West survey in the West of Shetlands region covers an area that already has existing discoveries and where a number of high potential prospects have also been identified. Already, feedback from first customers has been particularly positive.’ Meanwhile, TGS expects net segment revenues for the first quarter of 2020 of $152 million. Multi-client investments for the quarter are expected to be approximately $138 million with a prefunding rate of 61%.
INDUSTRY NEWS
PGS releases Hammerfest data
PGS’ Hammerfest Basin ultra-high-density high-resolution dataset is available and will be extended in 2020. The data includes open acreage, and gives insights into a complex area in the Barents Sea through a combination of streamer set-up
and advanced imaging technologies, said PGS. Key features revealed with this dataset that extends from the Finnmark Platform in the southwest into the Hammerfest Basin in the northeast include deep marine sand deposits along the southern flank of the Hammerfest Basin showing variable seismic amplitude anomalies. At Top Kolmule the tuning thickness is reduced down to approximately 8 m. Seismic amplitude anomalies within various stratigraphic units are clearly identified. Structural traps in the Realgrunnen sandstones and Triassic fluvial channel deposits in the Snadd and Kobbe formation are shown. An innovative acquisition configuration was designed as the best solution to resolve mixed depth targets in the Barents Sea.
PGS’ planned 2020 survey extension includes open acreage in the Barents Sea and the overall area accounts for around half of the undiscovered resources on the NCS, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. Key target areas for hydrocarbon plays in the southwestern Barents Sea are the shallow Kapp Toscana Group sandstones, and deeper, middle Triassic Kobbe Formation sandstones and potentially karstified Carboniferous/Permian carbonates. ‘Proven discoveries made in both geological regimes show the great hydrocarbon potential of this area, but a key challenge in producing an accurate image of the subsurface is creating a reliable velocity model that accounts for the area’s complex geological regime,’ said PGS.
EMGS moves to low-cost set-up EMGS is stacking its vessels and terminating the contracts of most employees and all consultants as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. ‘Following the end of acquisition work under the two-year contract in the Americas, the recent sharp oil price decline and the uncertainty created by the global Covid-19 pandemic, EMGS has experienced a rapid deterioration in the company’s backlog for 2020,’ it said in a statement. ‘The company has resolved to immediately start the transition to a low-cost set-up to preserve sufficient liquidity until the company can benefit from and scale up to meet an expected future increase in oil company investments.’ As a result, EMGS will redeliver the vessel Petrel Explorer at the end of the current fixed charter period, and cold stack the Atlantic Guardian as soon as practicably possible. It will terminate the contracts of all employees and consultants with the exception of a skeleton crew, which will continue to service the multi-client late sales and consulting market and form the basis for a future scale-up.
The company will soon be cold stacking the vessel Atlantic Guardian.
EMGS will continue to deliver all the company’s existing customer contracts as planned. ‘Even with these decisive actions, no guarantees can be given that the company will be able to preserve sufficient liquidity. Continued operation will thus not only be dependent on the FIRST
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TGS plans to start Norwegian Sea survey in the summer
The vessel Polarcus Adira will acquire 5600 km2 of data.
TGS will start its Atlantic Margin 20 (AM20) 3D multi-client project as soon as the marine seismic acquisition season gets underway in north-west Europe this summer. The survey will be acquired by the Polarcus Adira, which has an acquisition specification fully optimized for high lateral resolution recording and with two 11-km streamers for full waveform inversion (FWI). Fast-track data will be available in Q4 2020, with final PSTM product delivery by Q3 2021 and final PSDM product delivery in April 2022.
The 5600-km2 survey will be undertaken over 90 days and is an extension of Atlantic Margin surveys acquired between 2017 and 2019. AM20 covers the newly awarded PL1057 licence in the Norwegian Sea and extends west into open acreage where there are indications of particularly interesting structural prospects. Kristian Johansen, CEO at TGS, said: ‘Since 2017, we have had a particular focus on the Norwegian Sea area of the Atlantic Margin to meet the demands of our customers and their licensing round requirements. AM20 is the latest extension of these surveys.’
PGS completes 3D survey offshore Angola PGS has completed acquisition of its MC3D Kwanza Shelf survey offshore Angola. Total GeoStreamer coverage in Blocks 6, 7 and 8 and the surrounding areas of the Kwanza Shelf is now 8300 km2. This MC3D Kwanza Shelf survey complements an earlier PGS acquisition carried out in 2019 and will provide key data for the Angolan 2021 Licensing Round. The present-day shelf of the Kwanza Basin has been overlooked in previous exploration cycles. The combination of 3D GeoStreamer technology with
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modern imaging techniques is expected to unlock plays in shallow Kwanza Shelf open blocks, said PGS which has released a fast-track dataset. Shallow-water environments such as the Kwanza Shelf can present imaging challenges. These are resolved by enhanced processing flows such as FWI and SWIM enabled by high-quality GeoStreamer 3D broadband data, said PGS. ‘This high-quality dataset will allow for lead and prospect generation, attribute analysis and reservoir-scale evaluations,’ said Christine Roche new ventures manager Africa at PGS.
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BP develops carbon capture scheme in Australia BP and Australian gas producer Santos are teaming up to develop a carbon capture and storage project in the Cooper Basin in central Australia, which would inject 1.7 million tonnes a year of CO2 into a former gas reservoir. The Cooper Basin project could eventually be expanded to inject 20 million tonnes a year. That would be five times bigger than Australia’s only operating CCS project, a $1.3 billion site at the Gorgon LNG plant off Western Australia, which is currently one of the world’s biggest commercial CCS sites, operated by Chevron. Another CCS project is being prepared by Glencore in the state of Queensland, which could also reach a final investment decision later this year. A third project, being supported by the Australian government, is a Japanese-backed plan to produce hydrogen from brown coal, with the CO2 stored under the Bass Strait. Australia’s energy and emissions reductions minister Angus Taylor said the government is reducing investment in wind and solar and increasing spending in hydrogen and CCS.
INDUSTRY NEWS
SeaBird outlines survival plan
SeaBird has decided to reduce costs further and postpone capital spending until the market recovers from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The company has already reported the termination of two OBN surveys off the West African coast and is warning of the delay or cancellation of other confirmed projects. Additional, crew changes for
existing projects and mobilization of crew for new projects are being made difficult by travel and immigration restrictions. ‘This may have an impact on operational cost, due to additional salaries and increased travel costs caused by the restrictions,’ the company said. Contingency plans have been put in place to reduce costs further so that
the company can be run at less than $400,000 per month, including all stacking costs, while maintaining ability to operate at least two vessels simultaneously. ‘Based on contract negotiations and clients’ existing plans, management currently has no reason to believe that it will be necessary for the company to execute on its contingency plans,’ it said. SeaBird has postponed the remaining outfitting of the Fulmar Explorer until markets normalize or the vessel wins a contract. The company has finished preparatory work for rigging Geo Barents. The vessel has been bid for a contract in the Eastern Hemisphere, and rigging will take place upon contract award. The remaining cost for rigging the vessel is estimated at $600,000.
Australia approves two seismic surveys The Australian government has approved Santos’ proposed 3D seismic marine survey over a portion of exploration permit areas WA-435-P, WA-436-P, WA-437-P and WA-438-P in the Bedout sub-basin off Western Australia. The data is required to develop regional geologic models to inform the exploration permit strategy and the potential location of future wells. The 20,160 km2 survey will take at least 132 days to complete, with operations occurring on a 24-hour basis. Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Management Agency has also commissioned Inpex to acquire a 2D seismic survey of exploration permits WA-50-L, WA-532-P and WA-533-P in the Browse and Offshore Canning Basins off Western Australia. Seismic data acquisition will mainly take place in water depths between approx. 50 m and 600 m below mean sea level. However, some seismic data
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acquisition may occur in shallower areas at Lynher Bank in the southern part of WA-532-P where the shallowest water depth is approx. 30 m, and east of
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WA-533-P where the shallowest water depth is approx. 37 m. Both surveys are expected to take place next year or the year after.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Magseis Fairfield supplies ocean bottom nodes for Asian client
Magseis Fairfield has signed a system sales contract for delivery of Z100-nodes to an existing client in Asia. The delivery complements the client’s existing Z100 system and enhances their
ability to execute large-scale transition zone and shallow-water ocean bottom node surveys, said the company. ‘While our current operations are focused on deep-water surveys, this award goes to show that we also offer competitive node systems for shallow-water surveys through our technology sales and lease business’, said Magseis Fairfield CEO Carel Hooijkaas. The contract will be filled with an immediate shipment of the first half of the total volume of nodes from inventory, and through delivery of the second half of total volume from new-built nodes in the second quarter 2020.
Neptune Energy to cut carbon emissions by 60% Neptune Energy is targeting a 60% reduction in carbon emissions. The company is targeting carbon intensity of 6 kg CO2/boe by 2030, which represents a 60% reduction from forecasted levels if no action was taken – and well below the industry average of 18 kg CO2/boe. Neptune said it will build on its experience of capturing and storing CO2 gained through long-established projects in Norway and the Netherlands and progress with the PosHYdon project to generate offshore hydrogen via its operated Q13a
platform in the Dutch North Sea. It will also reduce flaring and venting, and replace operational equipment with new and more efficient technologies. Neptune also has one of the lowest methane intensities in the sector at 0.02% and is targeting net zero methane emissions by 2030. Neptune’s executive chairman, Sam Laidlaw said: ‘As our sector deals with the twin challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and lower commodity prices, sustainability has never been more important.’
BRIEFS South Sudan has suspended its preliminary oil and gas bidding round that was set for March due to Covid-19 which has spread to neighbouring countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia.The country had been set to offer 14 oil blocks in the northern oil fields. Axxis Geo Solution has announced a contract extension totalling seven vessel months for a 3D ocean bottom node (OBN) survey in the Middle East. Work will now continue into the second quarter of 2020. Australia’s Victoria state has lifted a ban on onshore conventional gas drilling from 2021 after a three-year investigation, which found that an onshore conventional gas industry would not compromise the state’s environmental and agricultural credentials. The state barred onshore conventional drilling in 2014 and extended the moratorium in 2017 to June 2020. At the same time it permanently banned fracking and all coal seam gas exploration. SeaBird’s client has cancelled the two OBN surveys off West Africa due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The vessel Eagle Explorer has mobilized and is ready for work, and the company said that it expects to be ‘made whole’ on the contract. The Lebanese Petroleum Administration has postponed the closing date for its second offshore exploration licensing round in response to the spread of Covid-19 worldwide. The new deadline is 1 June 2020.
Polarcus loses contracts in Asia Pacific and West Africa
Brazil has suspended its 17th Bidding Round for oil and natural gas exploration and production, under the concession regime, which was scheduled for this year.
Polarcus has lost a contract for an XArray marine seismic acquisition project in the Asia Pacific region after the client terminated the agreement. The project was to have taken place in the second quarter of 2020. Meanwhile, the company has lost another contract offshore West Africa, announced on 1 November 2019, after
One petroleum exploration permit has been granted for New Zealand’s Block Offer 2018. Todd Corporation has been awarded PEP 60573, which covers an area of 105km2, east of Inglewood, in onshore Taranaki. Block Offer 2018 was restricted to the onshore Taranaki region, covering 2188 km2.
the client terminated the agreement. ‘The client has accepted that compensation for early termination is payable in these circumstances,’ said Polarcus in a statement. Meanwhile, Polarcus has been awarded an XArray 3D marine seismic acquisition project in North West Europe commencing in Q2 2020 with a duration of approx. three months. FIRST
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PGS and TGS release Newfoundland and Labrador data PGS and TGS have released final 3D seismic data results offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, ahead of the C-NLOPB
announcement of parcels and the forthcoming licensing round.
The fully merged and migrated Tablelands and North Tablelands 3D datasets cover approx. 12,500 km2 in the eastern part of the Orphan Basin. The final data delineates key Cretaceous and Jurassic source rock intervals, with potential producing reservoirs from Lower Cretaceous to Lower Tertiary. Tablelands and North Tablelands, together with the Long Range survey to the south, reveal the play fairways of the Orphan Basin, demonstrating the numerous horsts, grabens, and multiple prospective traps. All the necessary petroleum system elements in the Orphan Basin and discoveries to the east are identified on the broadband GeoStreamer data, said the JV partners.
A quantitative interpretation of the final North Tablelands results will be available in April for participants in the round. ‘Full integrity data from Orphan Basin will benefit all oil companies interested in exploring this high-potential area, and participating in upcoming licensing rounds,’ said Jerry Witney, manager new ventures North and South America at PGS. PGS, in partnership with TGS, has been acquiring 2D and 3D GeoStreamer multi-client data in Newfoundland and Labrador since 2011. The data delineates play fairways across offshore eastern Canada, including Labrador Sea, Orphan Basin, Flemish Pass Basin, Jeanne d’Arc Basins and the basins in Grand Banks.
NPD report shows greater cost control on NCS projects A review of 66 projects on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) in 2007-18 reveals that most have kept their cost within the estimates given in their plan for development and operation (PDO). The report on project execution on the NCS by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate showed improved execution of development projects. ‘The big picture shows that the projects have progressed positively in terms of both cost control and planned execution,’ said Niels Erik Hald, assistant
director development and operations at the NPD. ‘This emphasises the importance of the companies pursuing detailed early-phase work in projects.’ The report compares costs, start-up time and reserve developments with the estimates made in the PDO. Just over 80 per cent of projects have ended up with their costs within or below the uncertainty range (plus/minus 20%) in the estimates. Ninety per cent of subsea projects have been completed in accordance with or below the PDO forecast. Platform devel-
opments have been more challenging, and a number of these have experienced cost overruns. The review nevertheless shows that over 70 per cent of them end up in line with their estimated cost. Market developments since the oil price slump have also contributed to a positive trend because the availability of resources and capacity at suppliers was better than in earlier years. On average, completed projects have taken about 3.5 months longer than planned.
Magseis Fairfield wins OBN project in Gulf of Mexico Magseis Fairfield has been awarded a deep-water OBN project in the Mexican sector of the Gulf of Mexico. Work is scheduled to commence in the third quarter of 2020 and will take approx. 60 days. The survey will be carried out in water depths of 2000 to 2600 m. 32
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Magseis Fairfield’s ZXPLR crew in the REM Saltire node handling vessel will carry out the survey. The new award increases the crew’s backlog into the fourth quarter 2020, following the two deep-water OBN programmes announced in December 2019. 2020
‘The work is for a repeat customer who completed a survey in the US Gulf of Mexico earlier in 2020,’ said Carel Hooijkaas, Magseis Fairfield CEO. ‘This is the first deep-water OBN survey in Mexico following the 2013 Energy Reform.’
Special Topic
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
Petroleum Geology plays a vital role in building up a picture the sub-surface structures and determining their hydrocarbon potential. In a period set to be defined by more low spending by oil and gas companies, it is therefore imperative for the big players to derisk drilling using the latest petroleum geology. This month we look at innovative petroleum geology techniques that assess the prospectivity of some of the world’s biggest hydrocarbon plays. Darcy Vixo et al introduce an IGI method that includes all of the model geology in the calculation of isostatic balance and has the isostatic balance of the model continuously adjusted as the model changes during inversion. Adriana Perez et al highlight some important outcomes which help to reduce geological uncertainty and provide greater insight into the study area’s exploration opportunities. Dona Sita Ambarsari et al present the results of a study demonstrating that the critical porosity and volume of clay are the physical parameters that can be used as an indicator to classify reservoir quality. Eric Newman et al present the extensive TGS seismic and well database that gives insights the exploration opportunities in both the near field and the frontier. Callie Bradley and Colin Saunders present the results of a study of the Namibe Basin in order to evaluate the hydrocarbon prospectivity and associated exploration risks associated with the licencing round area. Stephen A. Sonnenberg discusses new opportunities in what has been one of the more prolific areas in the Rocky Mountain region of the US.
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
Renewable 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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CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2-4 NOVEMBER 2020
EAGE Saint Petersburg 2020
Geosciences: Converting Knowledge into Resources www.eage.org • Saint Petersburg Russia
May 2020 7-9 May
GISTAM 2020 6th International Conference on Geographical Information Systems Theory, Applications and Management www.gistam.org
Online streaming
August 2020 17-21 Aug
Geobaikal 2020 6th Scientific Conference www.eage.org
Irkutsk
Russia
20-21 Aug
First EAGE Workshop on EOR Development and Evolution in Latin America www.eage.org
Bogotá
Colombia
24-26 Aug
GeoUtrecht 2020
Utrecht
Netherlands
25-27 Aug
Second EAGE Marine Acquisition Workshop www.eage.org
Oslo
Norway
30 Aug 3 Sep
Near Surface Geoscience Conference & Exhibition 2020 www.eage.org
Belgrade
Serbia
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
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
14-17 Sep
ECMOR XVII 17 th European Conference on the Mathematics of Oil Recovery www.eage.org
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
15‑17 Sep
IX Simpósio Brasileiro de Geofísica
Curitiba
Brazil
16‑18 Sep
Second EAGE Conference on Pre-Salt Reservoir www.eage.org
Rio de Janeiro
Brazil
21‑23 Sep
Third EAGE Geochemistry Workshop www.eage.org
Muscat
Oman
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21-23 Sep
Fifth EAGE Eastern Africa Petroluem Geoscience Forum www.eage.org
Cape town
South Africa
22‑24 Sep
First EAGE Conference on Machine Learning in Latin America www.eage.org
Cartagena
Colombia
28-30 Sep
First EAGE Workshop on East Canada Offshore Exploration www.eage.org
St. John’s
Canada
October 2020 5‑7 Oct
First EAGE Western Africa Exploration & Production Workshop www.eage.org
Dakar
Senegal
12‑14 Oct
Second EAGE Conference on Sulfur Risk Management in E&P www.eage.org
Braga
Portugal
20-22 Oct
5th AAPG/EAGE Myanmar Oil & Gas Conference www.eage.org
Yangon
Myanmar
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
November 2020 2 Nov
Marine Technologies 2020 2 nd scientific workshop www.eage.org
Saint Petersburg
Russia
2-4 Nov
Third EAGE Workshop on Offshore Development and Exploration in Mexico www.eage.org
Merida
Mexico
2-4 Nov
EAGE Saint Petersburg 2020 Geosciences: Converting Knowledge into Resources www.eage.org
Saint Petersburg
Russia
2‑4 Nov
3 rd EAGE/SPE Geosteering Workshop www.eage.org
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
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
Bochum
Germany
15‑17 Nov
Second EAGE Workshop on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles www.eage.org
Muscat
Oman
30 Nov 3 Dec
First EAGE Digitalization Conference and Exhibition www.eage.org
Vienna
Austria
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
The Netherlands
6-7 Dec
Eighth EAGE Workshop on Passive Seismic www.eage.org
Amsterdam
The Netherlands
7‑9 Dec
First EAGE Workshop on Geothermal Energy and Hydro Power in Africa www.eage.org
Nairobi
Kenya
8-11 Dec
82nd EAGE Conference & Exhibition 2020 www.eage.org
Amsterdam
Netherlands
EAGE Events
Non-EAGE Events
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