Month: September 2017

 

Annual Meeting 2017 – Houston is open for business!

After much communication with those affected by Hurricane Harvey plus research, discussion, and intense deliberation about conditions in Houston, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists’ Board of Directors has decided to hold the SEG International Exposition and 87th Annual Meeting as scheduled, 24-29 September 2017.

 

Houston is dear to our hearts, and SEG wants to do everything it can to support the city while advancing the interests and needs of our members, attendees, sponsors, exhibitors, and presenters. Many might have concerns about traveling to Houston this month, but officials with the George R. Brown Convention Center and the City of Houston have assured SEG that the city is ready to accommodate Annual Meeting participants. SEG staff members and volunteer leaders have inspected the Conference Center, supporting hotels, and venues, and agree that Houston is open for business!

The SEG Annual Meeting will be the first large conference to take place in Houston following Hurricane Harvey and its devastating floods. Now that the decision is to hold the Houston meeting, the Society is developing plans to bring geophysicists and their expertise to local, state, and federal efforts to repair compromised infrastructure, including roads, bridges, overpasses, and dams. More details will follow. What a great opportunity the Annual Meeting provides to focus many of the brightest minds in the geosciences on the restoration of Houston!

Thank you for your patience during this difficult decision-making process.

We look forward to seeing all of you in Houston!
SEG Board of Directors

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The stock of Ion Geophysical Corp (NYSE:IO) hit a new 52-week high and has $8.72 target or 7.00 % above today’s $8.15 share price. The 8 months bullish chart indicates low risk for the $96.85 million company. The 1-year high was reported on Sep, 6. If the $8.72 price target is reached, the company will be worth $6.78 million more.

The 52-week high event is an important milestone for every stock because it shows very positive momentum and is time when buyers come in.

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TGS: Barclays CEO Energy Power Conference 2017

Link to the presentation given today by Kristian Johansen, CEO of TGS

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ION Geo: Announce collaboration with PlanSea for OSV logistics

ION Geophysical Corporation, launched on August 13, 2007, is a technology-focused company. The Company provides geophysical technology, services and solutions to the global oil and gas industry.

ION Geo is currentlytrading up by 9.80% percent from yesterday’s close.

The Business’s offerings are designed to enable oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) companies to obtain images of the Earth’s subsurface, which are used in hydrocarbon exploration and development. The Company offers services and products through three segments: E&P Technology & Services, E&P Operations Optimization, and Ocean Bottom Services (OBS).

It acquires, processes and interprets seismic data from seismic surveys on a multi-client basis. The Company offers various technologies, which include Orca and Gator command and control software systems, WiBand broadband data processing technology, Calypso OBS acquisition system, Marlin simultaneous operations solution and other technologies.

PlanSea Solutions Limited offers operational management control, fleet optimisation and vessel scheduling software for the offshore oil and gas marine support sector.

PlanSea has developed software previously successfully deployed in other industries and aimed at maximising vessel utilisation and efficiency through optimised scheduling.

This is achieved by “right-sizing” vessel fleets to help minimise spot market (short term vessel hire) exposure and by minimising the number of offshore installation visits – all of this also provides substantial Health, Safety and Environmental Risk benefits accruing from the resultant minimisation of vessel time at sea.

ION Geo Link     More     Link

 

 

 

 

 

 

Invitation from TGS: MSGBC Symposium – London, 12 Sep 17

You are invited to our first MSGBC Symposium in London! Please join us for a half-day event showcasing TGS’ multi-client data and regional interpretation studies in the area. In addition, we have invited guest speakers to promote the potential investment and exploration opportunities in the region. MSGBC: Mauritania-Senegal-Gambia-Bissau-Conakry

Agenda

• Exploration history
• Regional prospectivity

Speakers

• Jerreh Barrow
  Commissioner for Petroleum, Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, The Gambia
  
• Professor Jonathan Redfern
  The University of Manchester
• Max Casson
  The University of Manchester
• Dave Quirk
  Consultant
• Steve Smith
  Simco Petroleum Management
• Rogers Beall
  Africa Fortesa Corporation
• Andrew Long
  First Exchange Corporation
• Beatriz Suarez
  The University of Houston

Tuesday 12 September 2017, 09:15 to 15:00 at 1 Wimpole Street, London, W1G 0AE. A 4 minute walk from Oxford Street underground.

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Boskalis: Acquire $50M of Marine Transport contracts – but no seismic

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) has recently been awarded a number of marine transport contracts with a combined contract value of approximately USD 50 million.

Dockwise, a wholly-owned Boskalis subsidiary, was awarded a contract by Husky Oil Operations Ltd. for the transportation of the West White Rose Topside from Texas, USA to Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The contract includes the engineering, preparation and execution of the loading, transport and discharge operation of the topside. The topside will be skidded onto a large barge, which in turn will be floated onto the semi-submersible heavy transport vessel Dockwise Vanguard that will transport the cargo to Newfoundland and Labrador. The transport is expected to take place in 2021.

Dockwise was also awarded a contract by Lamprell Energy Ltd. for the transportation of 36 jackets from the construction yard in Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates to Vlissingen, the Netherlands. The jackets will serve as foundations for the East Anglia offshore wind farm development. Two semi-submersible heavy transport vessels will be deployed for this contract.

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• North Sea: challenged economics
• Professor Alex Kemp, with OE

Over the past three years the North Sea oil and gas industry has made a very painful adjustment to the dramatic fall in oil prices. Costs have been dramatically cut, accompanied by substantial job losses and rates reductions.

Oil & Gas UK estimates that average unit development costs have fallen from US$23.90/boe, in 2014, to $15.20/boe in 2016, and possibly $8 – $10/boe in 2017. Average operating costs are similarly estimated to have fallen from $29.70/boe in 2014, to $21.10/boe in 2016, and possibly $14.10 – $14.60/boe in 2017.

These are astonishing changes. Economic modelling by Linda Stephen and the present author indicate that the near-term effects of substantial cost reductions greatly reduce the income of the whole supply chain. But in the medium and longer term, the development of new projects may be incentivised to such an extent that the total income of the supply chain exceeds what it would have been before the cost reductions were implemented.

The industry’s performance in terms of production efficiency has improved substantially since it reached a low of 60% in 2012. It now exceeds 71% reflecting major improvements to a wide range of operating procedures. This has been at least partly responsible for the increase in production from 1.49 MMboe/d in 2014 to 1.73 MMboe/d in 2016, with a further increase to over 1.8 MMboe/d in 2017 being very possible.

While these developments are clearly encouraging, there are other less favourable trends. The UKCS is a mature province. The average size of a new development is now only c.20 MMboe. The perceived prospectivity among investors reflects this and explains, at least in part, recent very low levels of exploration, even with c.$100/bbl oil. Recently, drilling costs have reduced substantially, and significant seismic data have been made freely available. Whether these factors will really enhance the exploration effort remains an open question. The success rate could be increased, but the likely size of discovery remains small, with the possible exception of West of Shetlands, where costs remain particularly high.

For the long term, detailed economic modelling by Linda Stephen and the present author suggests that, with a $60 investment screening price (reflecting the “lower for longer” scenario), aggregate production from 2017-2050 could be around 11 billion boe. This compares with over 43 billion boe produced since 1967. The modelling indicates that investment expenditure on new field developments falls substantially over the next few years. Yearly production peaks in the near future and declines to very low levels by 2050.

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Annual Meeting Update 5 September 2017

The Society of Exploration Geophysicists is committed to supporting the city of Houston and its citizens, which includes many of our members, colleagues, and friends.

An SEG team has been on the ground in Houston for the past two days collecting data and facts regarding access to the George R. Brown Convention Center and the contracted hotels. Their final report will be completed Tuesday afternoon (US Central Time). Based on this timing, the SEG Board will review and provide their decision by the close of business (US Central Time), 6 September 2017.

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UTEC: Smarter Solutions for Future Offshore Developments – OSIG 2017

The SUT’s Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics (OSIG) committee is pleased to announce its 8th international conference ‘Smarter Solutions for Future Offshore Developments’. The conference will focus on new research and developments in site investigation data acquisition, evaluation and integration, geotechnical analysis and design as well as field operational experience.

The Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics Committee was founded to promote knowledge and education in all aspects of offshore geology and geotechnical engineering.

The conference presents a unique opportunity for sponsorship to reach a large audience of geotechnical engineers, geoscientists and academics specialising in offshore topics.

The conference will be held at the Royal Geophysical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, Kensington, London, SW7 2AR from the 12 – 14 Sep 17

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sovcomflot delegation takes part in meeting of Arctic Council member states in Sabetta

A delegation from PAO Sovcomflot took part in the 7th International Meeting of Representatives of Arctic Council Member States in Sabetta (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District). The company was represented by Senior Executive Vice-President and Vice Chairman of the Arctic Economic Council Evgeniy Ambrosov and Chief Marine Inspector of the SCF Group Mikhail Suslin.

The meeting in Sabetta brought together a large number of experts, representatives of the federal and regional authorities, major domestic and foreign companies, scientists, and businessmen from 15 countries.

The discussions held at the meeting focused on ensuring security in the Arctic region, including the safe navigation of the Northern Sea Route, prospects for international economic cooperation in major energy and infrastructure projects in the Arctic as well as the preservation of the region’s ecology.

In his speech, Ambrosov talked about Arctic and subarctic projects involving SCF vessels and focused in particular on safety and environmental issues in the Arctic.

“The transportation of cargo in the Arctic sea basin requires the further development of infrastructure to ensure the safety of navigation and environmental protection such as navigation and hydrographic support, emergency preparedness, the enhanced reliability of communication systems, and improved state regulation of shipping in the Arctic”, Ambrosov said.

“In August of this year, the Arctic tanker Christophe de Margerie became the world’s first commercial vessel that was able to navigate the entire Northern Sea Route without icebreaker accompaniment and crossed the high-latitude route in a record time of 6 days, 12 hours, 15 minutes. The voyage compiled with all the necessary measures and requirements for navigation safety and the protection of the Arctic environment.

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