OGA: Area Plans set out a strategic approach

 

 

Area Plans set out a strategic approach to maximising economic recovery of oil and gas in the UK Continental Shelf. 

The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has today, 31 July 2017, published guidance on the use of Area Plans to help improve industry collaboration and maximise economic recovery of oil and gas.

An Area Plan, which consists of a number of principles set out in a stage gate framework, describes how economic recovery should be maximised in a particular geographical area of the UKCS, based on the analysis of evidence. Area Plans vary in magnitude, scale and complexity and in some cases can be integrated with other Area Plans to develop a regional strategy.

The new guidance has been developed to aid the industry’s understanding of their responsibilities for developing Area Plans and help improve collaboration across the UKCS.

OGA Operations Director Gunther Newcombe said:

“The OGA is working closely with operators, licence holders and other interested parties to develop Area Plans that integrate exploration, development, production, late-life planning and decommissioning. This should ensure the optimum use of infrastructure, extend the life of hubs, and maximise economic recovery”.

Link

PGS: Get the Best Data for the UK 30th Licensing Round

 

 

 

PGS data covers nearly 80% of the open blocks being offered in the UK 30th licensing round. These surveys provide an excellent foundation for thorough evaluation of the mature areas on offer.

Approximately 59 000 sq. km of 3D seismic data, comprising GeoStreamer and conventional 3D, MegaSurvey and MegaSurveyPlus datasets, covers or partially covers 650 of the 813 blocks confirmed by the UK Oil and Gas Authority for the UKCS 30th licensing round.

Now, more than ever, access to the best available data is essential to application success.

As the evaluations for the 30th Offshore Licensing Round begin, the availability of modern, true broadband seismic data helps to highlight the remaining prospectivity of the mature North Sea and investment in high-quality data will be recognized in license application marking criteria.

The blue area is PGS 3D data coverage; yellow indicates blocks on offer for the 30th Round

More     Link

BGP: Odewayne Somaliland 2D seismic expected in house in Q4-17

Final data from the Odewayne Somaliland 2D seismic campaign which commenced in March 2017 is due in-house Q4 2017 according to JV partner Sterling Energy.

As of mid-June over 500 kilometers of 2D seismic had been acquired Chinese geophysical service company BGP in blocks SL-10B and SL-13 according to operator Genel Energy.

The exercise is part of the Somaliland government owned speculative 2D seismic acquisition project data which will see data being acquired in Saraar, Togdheer, Dadmaded, Marodijeh and Hawd regions with the operator purchasing the associated data from the government.

The need for acquisition according to Genel has resulted from a surface seep study completed early in 2015 confirmed the outstanding potential offered by this huge acreage position.

The campaign will satisfy the minimum work obligation for the current third period.

Genel is targeting resources of over 1,000 mmbbls in blocks SL-10B and SL-13. The Odewayne block has a similar resource potential to this, targeting in order of 1,000 mmbbls.

The PSC, awarded in 2005, is in the Third Period (expiring November 2018) with an outstanding minimum work obligation of 500km of 2D seismic. The minimum work obligation during the Fourth Period of the PSC (expiring May 2020) is for 1,000km of 2D seismic and one exploration well. Extensive fieldwork and a high resolution gravity and magnetic data acquisition programme have been completed.

Genel has 50 percent interest on the Odewayne Block while Sterling Energy (East Africa) Limited has 34 percent and has the remaining Petrosoma Limited 16%. On the SL-10B/13 block Genel is the operator with 75 percent interest.

DownUnder GeoSolutions: Carnarvon Buffalo Project Update

 

 

 

 

  • Carnarvon’s technical work provides strong evidence of additional economically recoverable oil
  • New technology has been instrumental in unlocking the opportunity to redevelop the oil field
  • An independently assessed volumetric estimate will be reported in August 2017

Carnarvon Petroleum Limited (“Carnarvon”) (ASX:CVN) is pleased to provide the following update (also refer to earlier updates on 15 May 2017 and 23 June 2017) on its 100% held Buffalo project in WA-523-P.

Carnarvon has now completed an extensive body of technical work around the Buffalo oil field. There is strong evidence the original field development did not produce all of the economically recoverable oil. This was due to imperfect seismic imaging and mapping, which led to suboptimal well placement and significant areas of unswept oil. Of note, in 2004 those wells were still producing approximately 4,000 barrels of oil per day when production ceased.

The application of Full Waveform Inversion technology (“FWI”) has produced greater clarity around the Buffalo oil field reservoir. Carnarvon contracted DownUnder GeoSolutions to utilize their 5.5 petaflop “Bruce” computer (currently the most powerful computer in the Southern Hemisphere, equivalent in raw computer power to approximately 55,000 Intel i7 PCs) to perform this work. This technology and computing power was not available at the time the field was last in production.

More     Link

Nigeria: Oil workers threaten strike over anti-labour activities

 

 

 

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has threatened to embark on a nationwide strike if some industrial issues, especially anti-labour practices by some employers in oil and gas industry, were not addressed within 21 days.

The senior staff trade union issued the ultima-tum after its Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Abuja. According to a statement signed by the National Public Relations Officer, PENGASSAN, Fortune Obi, the 21-day ultimatum to stakeholders in the oil and gas industry became necessary due to persistent anti-labour practices by management of some companies in the sector.

The association, therefore, called on relevant stakeholders to address issues of concern affect ing its members within the stipulated days to avert the consequences of its next line of action. “PENGASSAN, in the last three years, has not only been excessively stretched, but equally unnecessarily over-burdened and is fast running out of patience over the loss of will by various managements to attend to industrial/ welfare issues.

More     Link

McKinsey: The future of HR in oil and gas

 

 

Three disruptions that are redefining the role of HR in oil and gas

During the last decade, the oil and gas industry experienced a sense of resource scarcity, leading to high oil prices for most of the period. Combined with globalization, this led to a global “war for talent” and the creation of centralized technical functions that could deploy scarce talent around the globe. The move toward centralization accelerated with the increased focus on risk and compliance prompted by the Texas City and Macondo incidents. In a system of centralized decision making, change requires clear mandates from the top, typically through leadership-driven change programs.

However, three fundamental changes are disrupting the oil and gas industry, with significant implications for industry players:

  • Resource abundance and the need to be prepared for a sustained period of lower oil prices and a focus on cost, efficiency, and speed. Traditional talent is no longer scarce, exploration capability is less of a differentiator, megaprojects are not the only way to grow, and market opportunities may only be economical for the earliest movers in a basin. Meanwhile, conventional, deepwater, unconventional, and renewable assets each require a distinct operating model that cannot be delivered optimally from a single corporate center.
  • Profound technological advances are disrupting the old ways of working and enabling step changes in productivity. Automation is replacing workers (including knowledge workers) on a large scale, and the jobs that remain require increased human-machine interaction. As more devices connect to the cloud, data generation continues to grow exponentially. This explosion of data—combined with advanced analytics and machine-learning tools—lets companies fundamentally reimagine how and where work gets done.
  • Demographic shifts mean that employees are demanding changes in the working environment and expressing concerns about the role of oil and gas companies in society. Millennials will soon constitute the majority of the workforce in developed markets, and have already started their climb into management and executive roles. These digital natives bring their own expectations regarding technology, collaboration, pace, and accountability. At the same time, a well-educated, globally competitive talent base has grown rapidly in emerging markets.

More     Link

Spectrum Geo: Sergipe Basin Undrilled Potential Surpasses Giant Offshore Discoveries

 

 

Focus on Brazil: Spectrum’s geoscientists discuss how the evaluation of 16,000 km of modern, high quality, long-offset 2D seismic data, acquired by Spectrum in 2014 over the Sergipe Alagoas Basin, has confirmed the extension of a turbidite channel system into open acreage offered in the ongoing licensing Round 14. First published in Geo ExPro, May 2017.

This channel system has been proven to contain several billion barrels of reserves from recent exploration programmes, including the Barra, Muriu and Farfan discoveries. Integration of derived seismic attributes and potential field data has resulted in a better understanding of the main elements of the petroleum system, allowing for the identification of multiple untested play types. This evaluation demonstrates that the undrilled potential offshore Sergipe may surpass the discovered resources to date.

The long-offset 2D seismic data was processed through pre-stack time migration using conventional techniques, and through pre-stack depth migration using both conventional and broadband processing techniques. The application of these two technologies resulted in seismic data with a vertical resolution as fine as 5–10 m, allowing identification of additional levels of interest which are mostly beyond seismic resolution in the conventionally processed seismic data.

 

More     Link

Seabird Exploration: Enters option agreement with TGS for up to 600 days of 2D seismic services

 

 

 

SeaBird Exploration is pleased to announce that it has entered into an option agreement with TGS Nopec to provide up to 600 vessel days of seismic services. The agreement offers TGS access to one or more SeaBird vessels to perform seismic services on a global basis. Call-off under this option agreement may be made by TGS at its option throughout 2017 and the agreement will be extended through 2018 under certain conditions.

 

 

 

 

 

More     Link

Fairfield Nodal: 15th International Congress of the Brazilian Geophysical Society & EXPOGEf

SBGF Brazil

FairfieldNodal will participate in the 15th International Congress of the Brazilian Geophysical Society & EXPOGEf, 31 July – 3 August, 2017.  Experts in the acquisition of deepwater data around dense infrastructure, we will have representatives onsite to present and discuss our suite of ocean bottom node acquisition technology, including our proprietary ZXPLR, Z3000 and ZLoF systems, as well as our experience with the unique imaging techniques required to meet the challenges of the pre-salt imaging conditions common in this region.