Month: June 2017

Marine seismic surveys used in petroleum exploration could cause a two- to three-fold increase in mortality of adult and larval zooplankton, new research published in leading science journal Nature Ecology and Evolution has found.

Scientists from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) and the Centre for Marine Science and Technology (CMST) at Curtin University studied the impact of commercial seismic surveys on zooplankton populations by carrying out tests using seismic air guns in the ocean off Southern Tasmania.

The research found that the air gun signals, commonly used in marine petroleum exploration, had significant negative impact on the target species, causing an increase in mortality from 18 per cent to 40-60 per cent.

Impacts were observed out to the maximum 1.2 kilometre range tested, 100 times greater than the previously assumed impact range of 10 metres, and all larval krill in the range were killed after the air gun’s passage.

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The Australian oil and gas industry is supporting more research to enhance its understanding of how seismic surveys affect some of the ocean’s smallest and most abundant living creatures.

APPEA Director Matthew Doman said the industry had recently commissioned new research from the CSIRO into the impact of seismic noise on zooplankton.

Mr Doman said the CSIRO research was necessary after a recent study – published in the online journal Nature: Ecology and Evolution – had challenged industry’s understanding of the impact of seismic noise on zooplankton.

“The oil and gas industry is committed to the highest standards of environmental protection,” Mr Doman said.

“When APPEA became aware that a new study showed the mortality rate for plankton in the immediate vicinity of seismic noise could be higher than previously thought, we immediately acted to undertake further research into the implications of these findings.

“The CSIRO was commissioned to assess the potential local and regional impacts on zooplankton of a typical commercial seismic survey.

“The CSIRO research indicates that although zooplankton biomass is impacted within the survey area, it recovers only three days after the completion of the survey. Importantly, there appears to be no discernible regional impact from seismic sound.

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ENGIE E&P Norge says a gas leak occurred last night at the Gjøa field complex in the North Sea, although the situation is under control.

The field is west of Florø on Norway’s west coast.

No injuries were reported, the leak has been stopped and normalization measures are in progress onboard the semisubmersible Gjøa platform. Production is currently shut down.

Forty nine people were on board when the incident occurred, of which 19 were demobilized by helicopter and taken to a support center in Florø.

The company’s emergency response organization is coordinating all support required and is in dialogue with the relevant authorities.

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The Annual General Meeting of Magseis ASA as announced on June 1 2017 was today held at the company’s premises. All items were resolved as proposed by the board of directors.

Please find the protocol including a list of represented shares and their votes accordingly the Magseis General Meeting Notices & Protocols page.

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements according to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

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The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has published a new strategy, outlining a plan to maximise the economic recovery of ‘tight gas’ from the Southern North Sea (SNS).

The OGA conservatively estimates there are some 3.8 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of remaining gas accessible in the SNS, including infill opportunities, undeveloped discoveries and prospects.

However, tight gas reservoirs have often been disregarded as high cost and high risk, with licence holders tending to focus instead on less complex developments with lower costs and higher recovery factors.

The OGA’s Southern North Sea Tight Gas Strategy has been developed to help stimulate greater use of technology and collaboration to overcome these barriers and unlock this significant remaining potential in the SNS.

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Unlike the Flemish Pass Basin, where discoveries were proven at nearby Mizzen and Bay de Nord, the data coming from the Labrador South exploration area more closely resembles that from the West Orphan Basin and its potentially massive Cape Freels area. 

“The similar seismic signatures could be suggestive of similar properties,” Wright said.

How lucrative could the Labrador south deposit be?
Wright said it’s much too early to predict and that more information should become available by the third quarter of this year when Paris, France-based Beicip Franlab completes the resource assessment.

“Right now we have a very detailed base-modelling process underway, which is basically looking at all the rock units that were deposited in the slope and deep water off Labrador, what their temperatures look like, what type of oil and/or gas can be generated from those rocks and where it would be collected.

“When that computationally intense process finishes, we’ll have a much better perspective on potential resources for both gas and oil in that area.”
As for whether or not the waters off Labrador are a hospitable place to drill for oil and gas, Wright says Nalcor’s metocean study in association with C-Core looking at ice, wind, waves and iceberg conditions indicate the risks drop off in the areas being explored and are similar to conditions in the West Orphan and Flemish Pass.

“The big question is not necessarily going to be operability in the licence round, it’s logisitcs getting back and forth to the shoreline,” Wright said. “With helicopters you can overfly the ice. However, for shipping, for certain months of the year you’d have to come out around the ice from the south.”
During the summer months, Nalcor Energy will have Norwegian survey duo TGS and PGS back to conduct some 3-D seismic mapping of the East Orphan Basin, an area that covers 9,000 square kilometres.

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ION Geophysical Corporation announced a new 2D multi-client program offshore Gabon, EquatorSPAN™ II, in cooperation with the Gabon Ministry of Petroleum and Hydrocarbons, Direction Général des Hydrocarbures of Gabon (DGH).  The program includes over 1,900 km of new high-quality, deeply-imaged seismic data and is supported with industry prefunding.

EquatorSPAN II addresses the need for greater understanding of geologic conditions and basin evolution in support of future offshore license rounds.  The program will image the deep basin architecture, define the limits of the various basins along the equatorial margin and identify potential petroleum systems.  In addition, EquatorSPAN II integrates available offshore well data to regionally calibrate key stratigraphic horizons.

EquatorSPAN II is the newest addition to ION’s data library, which includes over 500,000 km of 2D data and over 100,000 sq km of 3D data in exploration and production hot spots around the world.  The program will tie to existing ION data sets including EquatorSPAN™ I, CongoSPAN™ and NigeriaSPAN™ to enhance the West African regional framework.

Joe Gagliardi, SVP of ION’s Ventures group, commented, “Deepwater oil exploration offshore West Africa has thrived over the last 20 years and this region remains an important component of many E&P companies’ exploration portfolios.  In conjunction with existing and planned BasinSPAN surveys in adjacent countries, EquatorSPAN II will enhance the knowledge of the entire basin.”

ION is trading down since yesterday’s close of $4.3.

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LUKOIL Overseas (operator of LUKOIL Group’s overseas upstream projects) has started a 2D seismic survey at Block 10 in the south of Iraq.

2000 linear kilometers of seismic surveys will be completed by the BGP Inc. geophysical company within 16 months.

The Mandatory Geologic Exploration Program at Block 10 is scheduled to take five years with a potential 2-year extension and includes drilling one exploration well in addition to the 2D seismic survey.

LUKOIL Overseas was granted the right to exploration, development and production operations at Block 10 during the field’s licensing round in June 2012. The Service Contract, which has a duration of 25 years with potential five year extension, was signed on November 7, 2012.

Shares in the project are distributed as follows: LUKOIL Overseas (the Operator) – 60% and Japanese INPEX Corp. – 40%. The Contract holder from the Iraqi side is the state-run South Oil Company.

Block 10, with a total area of 5.6 thousand square kilometers, is located in the territory of Dhi Qar and Mutanna provinces, 120 km to the west of Basra.

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On June 21, 2017, the Company held its 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “Annual Meeting”). Of the 9,358,529 shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding and eligible to vote at the Annual Meeting, 7,004,772 shares were present either in person or by proxy.

The following describes the matters considered by the Company’s stockholders at the Annual Meeting and the results of the votes cast thereupon:

Proposal 1. To elect seven directors to the Company’s Board of Directors serving until the next Annual Meeting to be held in 2018.

Nominee	For	Withhold	Broker Non-Vote
Jeff Hastings	5,686,266	174,254	1,144,252
Brian Beatty	5,695,737	164,783	1,144,252
L. Melvin Cooper	5,692,208	168,312	1,144,252
Gary Dalton	5,695,637	164,883	1,144,252
Michael Faust	5,838,809	21,711	1,144,252
Michael Kass	5,838,278	22,242	1,144,252
Jacob Mercer	5,838,385	22,135	1,144,252

Proposal 2. To vote on a proposal to ratify the selection of Pannell Kerr Forster of Texas, P.C. as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2017.

For	Against	Abstain
6,842,207	39,705	122,860

 

As a result, the stockholders of the Company elected the seven nominees as directors of the Company and ratified the selection of Pannell Kerr Forster of Texas, P.C. as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2017.

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The PESA Human Resources and Supply Chain Committees jointly hosted a Recovery Planning Seminar on May 23 at GE Oil & Gas. The seminar addressed recovery planning activities and the impact of current market instability. Leading industry executives shared strategies on positioning organizations to maintain lead times while controlling costs through human capital management.

The seminar began with a market indicators presentation from R.T. Dukes, Research Director, Wood Mackenzie, and labor statistics insights from Reid Morrison, Global Energy Lead, PwC. With an optimistic outlook, Dukes predicts $60-$70/bbl oil and increased demand growth by 2020. He shared statistics around recovery in the high-profile Permian Basin as well as other plays.

Although the Permian represents roughly 40% of new rig additions this year, the SCOOP/STACK and Eagle Ford have also yielded impressive rig additions that have increased by 20% since January. Dukes reported that the Permian plays absorb the largest share of operator spend. Core areas will continue to yield attractive returns despite inflation with break-evens expected to increase. Dukes advised following oil as closely as natural gas and NGLs in the future. With a combination of larger operators and small, private operators throughout the Permian, Dukes encouraged service companies to seize this growth opportunity.

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