Month: September 2017

 

 

 

Successfully completes first full scale Topseis survey in Barents Sea

CGG has successfully completed acquisition of the first-ever full-scale commercial survey using TopSeis™, its latest offshore broadband seismic acquisition and imaging solution.

The inaugural TopSeis survey was commissioned by Lundin Norway AS over the Loppa High in the Barents Sea and is designed to better image a complex carbonate reservoir located at depths of between 400 to 2000 m below the seabed. Until now, the specific challenges of imaging these targets have been unresolved by conventional broadband methods.

TopSeis uniquely deploys seismic sources directly above the streamers in a “split-spread” acquisition geometry. This provides the valuable zero-offset and near-offset coverage that is missing from conventional 3D towed-streamer seismic and together with CGG’s advanced processing technology results in a step-change in the imaging of shallow-to-intermediate depth targets.

Halvor Jahre, Exploration Manager, Lundin Norway AS, said: “Developing TopSeis has been a win-win for Lundin and CGG. It has resulted in an imaging solution for Lundin that addresses the specific challenges on the Loppa High, and has also resulted in a new promising technology for the industry. One unexpected benefit we have already seen is that the TopSeis water bottom resolution is unprecedented for seismic acquisition and is comparable with existing multibeam sonar data.”

Jean-Georges Malcor, CEO, CGG, said: “TopSeis is the result of several years of close collaboration with Lundin Norway to develop, test and industrialize this revolutionary new concept. We look forward to the results of this first full-scale survey to solve the imaging challenges and deliver new insights into the reservoirs of the Loppa High.”

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BP: Arundel field begins production

British oil giant BP has started oil production from the Arundel field, one of two North Sea fields sanctioned in 2016.

Located 15 kilometers north of the Andrew platform in the central North Sea, the Arundel field was discovered in 2000, with further appraisal wells drilled in 2008 and 2009. It is expected to contain around five million barrels of oil recoverable.

BP told Offshore Energy Today on Wednesday that the field was safely brought online 18 months after sanction and was producing around 9,000 barrels of oil a day through the Andrew platform.

The Arundel project was sanctioned in April 2016, and the field development plan was approved in July 2016. The field was brought online on September 17 and, according to BP, the well is performing better than expected, with the potential to increase the production rate in the coming weeks.

The company added that the Arundel reservoir was challenging to access due to a very thin oil column and variable reservoir sand presence. BP selected a single horizontal well was selected as the best development strategy with a subsea tie-in via the Kinnoull pipeline, which was routed over the Arundel field during the Andrew Area Development project to facilitate future development.

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Innovations in Gravity Technology and Imaging capabilities

Advanced Airborne Gravity Sensors and Data Processing and Inversion Methods Drive Gravity Surveying into New Territory
Discovery of the Nash dome in Brazoria County, Texas by a torsion balance survey in 1924 marked the first use of gravity techniques for oil prospecting in the United States. The value of gravity data in advanced oil exploration workflows is well understood today, and refinement of processing techniques and innovative acquisition technologies continue to drive its application into new areas.

CGG Multi-Physics has a long heritage of development and application of gravity surveying technology, processing techniques and imaging software. During the GM2 and GM3 conference technical sessions they will showcase further advances in sensor design and deployment, advanced processing techniques, and present a greenfield prospecting example from a data-poor rift area in Tanzania.

These advances include further developments in broadband acquisition, a familiar term in seismic, but equally applicable to gravity. For gravity wavelengths shorter than 25 km, the precision of CGG’s Falcon® Airborne Gravity Gradiometer (AGG) sets the benchmark for airborne gravity measurements. However, as with all AGG acquisition systems, accuracy diminishes as wavelength increases, making it difficult to reconcile gravity derived by AGG systems with conventional ground or marine gravity data. To overcome this, CGG has developed a new gravity meter, sGrav, which provides the missing link between conventional gravity and AGG data and is being presented on their booth. This strap-down gravity system is a small, lightweight instrument that sits alongside the Falcon AGG system, providing highly accurate gravity data at wavelengths greater than 18 km. This data is acquired simultaneously with AGG data, under the same dynamic drape flight conditions, resulting in Full Spectrum Gravity data.

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Congratulates Sam Gray on receiving the SEG Maurice Ewing medal

Sam Gray, who recently retired as Senior Researcher, Subsurface Imaging, CGG, has been distinguished with the Society of Exploration Geophysicists’ (SEG) Maurice Ewing Medal “in recognition of his impressive work with major contributions in the areas of depth imaging, velocity estimation, and seismic modeling, his ability to convey complicated mathematical formulas behind seismic imaging, and inspiring newcomers to the geophysical industry to carry the torch to further advance imaging technology”.

The Maurice Ewing Medal is awarded from time to time to a person who, in the unanimous opinion of the SEG Honors and Awards Committee and of the Board of Directors, is deserving of special recognition through having made major contributions to the advancement of the science and profession of exploration geophysics.

After gaining a PhD in mathematics at the University of Denver in 1978, Sam worked for the US Naval Research Lab and then as an instructor at the General Motors Institute, now Kettering University. His career in exploration geophysics began in 1982 when he joined Amoco. There, he took the lead in giving the company a pioneering capability in 3D Kirchhoff prestack depth migration in the late 1980’s-early1990’s.

Sam moved to Veritas, now CGG, in 1999 where he played a pivotal role in developing true-amplitude migration, especially various key components of beam migration technology, as a member of the R&D team. In 2010 his contributions to beam migration and other true-amplitude imaging issues were recognized with the SEG’s Reginald Fessenden Award. He also became the first author to win the combination of SEG awards for Best Paper in Geophysics (1999), Best Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting (2004), and Best Paper in The Leading Edge (2009). In 2012 he was an SEG Distinguished Lecturer, presenting “A brief history of depth … and time seismic imaging.”

Colin Murdoch, Executive Vice President, Subsurface Imaging, CGG, said: “This SEG Medal is the latest in a long line of distinctions honoring Sam’s illustrious career. The scale of his contribution to the advancement of geophysics cannot be overstated, particularly in seismic imaging, where he excelled at pioneering imaging technology that has benefitted our industry and our clients’ E&P efforts. Although now retired, Sam continues to maintain a strong relationship with CGG and the industry and is universally respected for his sense of humor, natural talents as a communicator, and generosity in collaborating with others. As a leading light in our geophysical community, Sam fully deserves this new accolade.”

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Saudi Aramco plans to Spend $334 billion by 2025

Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant Aramco plans to invest a total of about $334 billion by 2025, including spending on infrastructure and projects to maintain oil capacity, a senior Aramco official said.

Abdulaziz al-Abdulkarim, vice president for procurement and supply chain management, told a conference in Bahrain that the figure included spending on exploring for and developing unconventional resources, such as shale gas.

“Saudi Aramco is forecast to spend around $334 billion. This will be spent on material and services to support service facilities, infrastructure projects, drilling and maintain (oil) potential projects, unconventional resources both in the exploration phase and development and several other projects,” he told the conference.

“That is the 10-year investment. It’s everything. You talk about pipelines, you talk about bulk plants, you talk about power plants, there is a lot of investment, of course upstream facilities whether it’s oil or gas,” he later told reporters.

Saudi Aramco outlined a plan known as In-Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA) last year, when CEO Amin Nasser said the company would spend more than $300 billion over the next 10 years, of which 70 percent would be local content.

One of IKTVA’s goals is to double the percentage of locally produced energy-related goods and services to 70 percent of the total spent by 2021.

Saudi Arabia has announced its “Vision 2030” plan, aimed at ending the kingdom’s reliance on oil, including a proposed conversion of Aramco into an energy holding company and selling up to 5 percent of the company in an initial public share offering (IPO).

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Deep Potential: E&P Activity Offshore Myanmar

While offshore production activity in Myanmar began in 1998, deepwater E&P in the country is arguably still nascent. However, recent deepwater gas discoveries off Myanmar seem to have bolstered the confidence of oil companies sufficiently for them to start planning deepwater drilling campaigns, in spite of weaker energy prices. Could these first steps be indicative of Myanmar’s deepwater E&P potential?

Shallow Start

Historically, E&P activity offshore Myanmar was focused in shallow waters, with discoveries in water depths of less than 200m accounting for 78% of all offshore finds in the country as of start September 2017 (all bar one of these are gas fields). One of the earliest offshore discoveries was the Yadana gas field, found by Total in 1982 and brought online in 1998. On the other hand, Myanmar’s first deepwater find, the Mya South gas field, located in water depth of 560m, was not discovered until 2007, by Daewoo International. Myanmar then held its debut Offshore Licensing Round in 2013, awarding 20 offshore blocks, of which 13 were located in deep or ultra-deepwater areas, indicating strong operator interest in Myanmar’s deepwater potential at the time.

Deepening Interest

These 13 blocks were awarded before the downturn but with energy demand from Myanmar’s major gas export partners (Thailand and China) and its domestic market expanding, there are still incentives for operators to get involved in E&P activities in these deepwater blocks, which are though to hold large gas reserves. Moreover, loosely upheld cabotage rules (due to a lack of locally-flagged OSVs) have increased competition in the charter markets, driving down rates, potentially lowering deepwater E&P costs.

The discovery of very large gas fields like Shwe Yee Htun and Thalin (at depths of 2,000m and 836m respectively) has also strengthened operator interest in Myanmar’s deepwater acreage. For example, Woodside has a five-well deepwater drilling campaign scheduled to commence.For example, Woodside has a five-well deepwater drilling campaign scheduled to commence in 2017, while Shell is reportedly planning to drill in its deepwater blocks soon. Meanwhile, Total has recently farmed into 50% of Block MD-7 (average water depth, 2,436m) and on the NOC front, Petronas acquired a 36% stake in the AD-9 and AD-11 ultra-deepwater blocks in March.

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UK apprentice of the year

George Autie from Helston is one of just three people in the running to be crowned national Apprentice of the Year.

George, aged 25, has been invited by the Association of Colleges (AoC) to attend a celebratory reception in Westminster and will find out if he has been victorious at the AoC conference in November.

Working as an electrician for Falmouth-based specialist overwater drilling and marine construction contractor, Fugro, George said he was “very proud” to be considered for the award.

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Sovcomflot takes part in annual NEVA exhibition in St. Petersburg

NEVA 2017, the 14th International Exhibition and Conference on Civil Shipbuilding, Navigation, Port Operations, and the Development of the Ocean and Shelf, in which Sovcomflot traditionally plays an active role, took place in St. Petersburg on 19–22 September. This year, more than 500 participants from 36 countries were exhibitors at NEVA.

During the exhibition, the Russian Minister of Transport Maksim Sokolov paid a visit to the Sovcomflot stand. Sovcomflot’s Executive Vice-President and Technical Director, Igor Tonkovidov, presented models of the company’s newest vessels, including a model of the unique ice-breaking LNG tanker Christophe de Margerie and the 3D geophysical prospecting vessel Ivan Gubkin.

The ice-breaking LNG tanker Christophe de Margerie currently has no parallels in the world. She has the highest ice class (Arc7) of any ship and is able to break ice of up to 2.1 meters thick without assistance. Her propulsion capacity is 45 MW, which is comparable to that of a modern nuclear icebreaker. Meanwhile, Ivan Gubkin has an ice class of Ice-1A, which is the highest class for a research vessel, and she can operate at temperatures as low as -10°С. The geophysical system installed on Ivan Gubkin includes 14 seismic cables, each of which is up to 8 km long.

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Set to exploration catalysts as it brings Total into Guyana venture

Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas Ltd has significantly boosted its position offshore Guyana with a new deal potentially adding another blue-chip oiler to the Orinduik exploration project.

It has landed a potential new tie-up with French major Total, putting itself in the kind of sweet spot that most investors could hope for.

Total joins Tullow, operator with a 60% stake, and Eco should have cash to cover its share of a potentially transformational exploration programmes.

Importantly, holding 15% it will retain a material but manageable equity stake in the project which is in what is becoming a high profile exploration frontier.

The project is located in an area that has already been substantially de-risked by world-class successes. In the neighbourhood, Exxon has discovered some 2.25bn to 2.75bn barrels of crude, and plans to start production from the Liza field in 2020.

Total is paying US$1mln to Eco in order to secure an option for a 25% stake in the asset, which it can exercise for an additional payment of US$12.5mln.

The option is exercisable up to 30 days following the completion of the new 3D seismic data being processed and interpreted – it is expected to take 2-3 months  from the end of the programme (September 5).

Eco will retain 15% of Orinduik alongside Tullow with 60% and Total with 25%.

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Offshore Vacancies

Seabird Exploration are advertising the following vacancies through their career portal, to apply click on the listing below:

 

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