Month: October 2017

Explores Alliances with U.S. Companies for More Crude Oil

In a press release, PDVSA ratified the exploratory meetings with U.S. companies, which has resulted in a relationship model of trust.

Venezuela’s most important state-owned company also said that those meetings point to a greater participation of Halliburton and Schlumberger to increase production by 200,000 and 300,000 barrels of oil per day.

Martinez confirmed that both international companies expressed their willingness to work together with the state-run oil firm to achieve that goal.

Paradigm Geo: To Unveil New, Cloud-based Production Management Solution and Present Enhancements in Reservoir Characterization, Modeling and Engineering at 2017 SPE ATCE

Paradigm^® will introduce its new Production Management solution and showcase its latest high-definition workflows for Reservoir Characterization, Modeling and Production Engineering, at the 2017 Society of Petroleum Engineers Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in San Antonio, October 9-11.  The official launch of Paradigm’s Production Management solution will take place at Paradigm booth #3163 at 9:30 AM on Monday, October 9^th.  Conference attendees are invited to join the launch event and attend other demonstrations that will showcase advanced SKUA-GOCAD™ modeling, the Geolog^® formation evaluation system, and the Interpret™ well test interpretation solution.

The launch will introduce users to Paradigm’s new Production Management solution, providing unprecedented speed and a holistic view of physical and virtual measurements built on reservoir physics-based predictive analytics.  Additional demonstrations of the new solution will be held throughout the show, together with presentations of SKUA-GOCAD (Data Aggregation for Predictive Modeling and Advances in 3D Gridding Technology) and Geolog 8 (Production Log Analysis).

Paradigm and Dassault Systèmes will jointly present a paper in the SPE Technical Program, “Optimized Grids for Accurately Representing Geology in Geomechanical Simulations”.  Details regarding the booth presentations and technical paper are available on the Paradigm SPE event page.

“It is fitting that we’ve chosen this year’s SPE conference as the forum for introducing our new Production Management solution to the Petroleum Engineering industry,” said Indy Chakrabarti, senior vice president of Product Management & Strategy. “Visitors to the show will be the first to see our Cloud-based, collaborative toolbox for Production and Reservoir Engineering.  Of course, we will also be showing enhancements to our tried-and-true reservoir characterization and engineering solutions, aimed at providing our users with enhanced efficiency, lower costs, and more control over risks.”

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Check out the new website

Geokinetics new website, one of several that has been revamped and released during SEG week, is looking smart and fresh. Check out the new website by clicking on the picture below.

Geometrics: Is Hiring! Applications Geophysicist

Geometrics, Inc., a world-leading developer and manufacturer of instruments and tools for measuring and analyzing geophysical structures and other complex systems, is currently seeking an applications geophysicist for its San Jose, CA facility. This position will be part of our Sales Department and the successful applicant will have experience with seismic data acquisition.

Trump’s America First Energy Plan Puts Foreign Companies First, Marine Species Last

Oil surveys in the Atlantic Ocean could harm marine life without benefiting the US economy.

Few days go by without President Trump touting his “America First” agenda, which includes his ambitions to dramatically ramp up offshore drilling for oil and natural gas.

There’s some irony, then, that the first beneficiaries of these initiatives could be mostly foreign-based companies that stand to reap millions of dollars in revenue from conducting oil and gas seismic surveys in the waters off the East Coast.

An investigation by The Revelator reveals that four of these seismic survey companies are based overseas. Only one is based in the United States. The surveys are highly speculative ventures, to be conducted in a region thought to hold relatively low oil and gas reserves and appear unlikely to proceed without significant upfront funding from oil companies.

Our investigation also shows that despite decades of research on the impact of noise on marine mammals and other wildlife, there has never been a robust, ecosystem-wide examination of its effects. This gap in the understanding of regional impacts of seismic surveys on an array of marine life is contributing to ongoing debate within the marine science community on their impacts on oceanic species.

The oil and gas industry and the federally funded National Science Foundation, along with Columbia University’s prestigious Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, say the seismic testing causes no lasting harm to marine life. But other marine biologists and environmentalists say there is increasing evidence showing that the surveys do cause significant harm and therefore should not be conducted in the Atlantic.

“The (industry) claims there is no demonstrated effect,” says Douglas Nowacek, associate professor of conservation technology at Duke University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, North Carolina. “But nobody has looked” thoroughly enough.

Opening up the Atlantic to Oil and Gas
The National Marine Fisheries Service is currently reviewing the applications to conduct seismic surveys spanning 330,000 square miles of the Atlantic between New Jersey and Florida.

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SAEX gains 44% Sep 28, 2017

SAExploration Holdings, Inc., an oilfield services company, provides seismic data acquisition and logistical support services to the oil and gas industry in North and South America, and Southeast Asia.

Its seismic data acquisition services include program design, planning and permitting, camp services, survey, drilling, recording, reclamation, and in-field processing. The company acquires 2D, 3D, time-lapse 4D, and multi-component seismic data on land, in transition zones between land and water, and in offshore in depths reaching 3,000 meters.

It operates crews that utilize approximately 29,500 channels of land and marine seismic data acquisition equipment and other equipment. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Stock Chart

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APPEA Conference 2018

Sri Lanka: To retender ex-Cairn block for development

The Petroleum Resources Development Ministry has reopened the ex-Cairn M2 block in the Mannar Basin for development and commercialization through a limited tender offer under a strategic plan to expedite oil and gas exploration and development, with an aim to license the block by early 2018 and begin production by 2021. “The government has now opened the Block M2 as part of a limited tender offer, to find a partner to appraise and develop the discovery of natural gas, as well as to explore for additional prospects,” the Petroleum Exploration Development Plan published by the Petroleum Resource Development Secretariat (PRDS) last week noted.

According to PRDS, this is based on a directive from Petroleum Resources Development Minister Arjuna Ranatunga to expedite oil and gas exploration and development.

“The economic analysis of these two discoveries indicates a very competitive gas price and about 11 oil and gas companies including few major exploration companies have already expressed their interest for this block and the government expects to license this block by early 2018,” PRDS said.

The block could potentially contain over 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 10 million barrels of condensate, according to PRDS. Sri Lanka is moving away from coal to an energy generation plan focusing on natural gas and renewables. The first natural gas power plant to be constructed under this new policy is currently going through the procurement process.

However, due to the lengthy process of commercializing the M2 block, the government is expecting to import natural gas for power generation until the M2 block is ready to supply gas. The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka had accounted for the M2 block to produce gas by 2023.

However, the PRDS gave a more ambitious estimate.

“The M2 block could be a reality by around year 2021, if the proposed bid round becomes a success and the natural gas potential timely tapped to be commercially feasible, for the commercial operations to commence,” it said.

However, PRDS said that the final timing of the production will depend on price negotiations with future investors and the government’s acceptance of a Field Development Plan (FDP) based on it.

The M2 block was explored by Cairn Lanka (Pvt) Limited, a subsidiary of Cairn India Limited, after it won the block as the sole bidder in the Mannar Basin blocks which were tendered in 2007.

The company then explored and drilled four wells in the M2 block in 2011 at a cost of US$ 240 million, and two of the wells were found to contain natural gas deposits instead of the expected crude oil.

Cairn decided to exit Sri Lanka and other foreign ventures in 2015 during the global oil glut, to refocus on its operations in India. Re-tendering the block was supposed to take place in the first quarter of 2016, but had run into numerous delays.

Investments into developing gas transportation pipelines, storage and other infrastructure could run up to US$ 1 billion, according to previous government estimates, and the previous government policy had been to also request the winner of the M2 block to invest in the infrastructure.

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Independent O&G: Interim results

Independent Oil and Gas plc (“IOG” or the “Company”) (AIM: IOG.L), the development and production focused Oil and Gas Company, is pleased to present its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2017.

Highlights

• Strong operational progress delivering the Company’s gas hub strategy
• Acquisition of the Thames pipeline, subject to completion, for nominal consideration;
• Creates a fully-owned export route for the Company’s Southern North Sea (“SNS”) gas hub;
• Saves up to £100m of capital costs related to the development of the project;
• Extensive subsurface work programme completed, delivering a proprietary assessment of the Company’s gas development resource base, and the Harvey gas appraisal asset;
• Blythe and Elgood Field Development Plan submitted to the OGA, post-period end;
• Licence P2342, Block 48/25a (NW Vulcan) awarded in Supplementary 2016 29^th Licensing Round, post-period end;
• Letter of Intent (“LOI”) and Consultancy Master Services Agreement (“CMSA”) signed with Schlumberger in relation to the Company’s SNS gas hubs, providing a framework for Schlumberger to assist IOG in the period prior to Final Investment Decision (FID) on the SNS development project, post period end;
• Board and operational teams strengthened;
• Andrew Hockey appointed as Deputy CEO;
• The Rt. Honourable Charles Hendry appointed as Non-Executive Director and representative of London Oil & Gas Limited (“LOG”);
• Post-period end, James Chance promoted to Chief Financial Officer and Ian Pollard, HS & E Manager and Jonathan Walker, Engineering Manager, joined the operational team;
• Advanced funding and commercial discussions with key partners for the development of the SNS gas hub continue;
• Ongoing support from LOG provides a stable financial base;
• North Sea production acquisition opportunities continue to be evaluated;
• Negotiations ongoing with Skipper Well creditors for management of liabilities due December 2017;
• CPR commissioned over the entire SNS project assets to be published in second half of 2017.

Mark Routh, CEO & Interim Executive Chairman of IOG, said: “We made excellent progress in the first half of this year as we focus our efforts on realising the potential of our Southern North Sea gas hubs.  The acquisition of the Thames pipeline truly transforms the viability of this project as it can provide a stable export route for our gas straight to the currently undersupplied UK market.  We are delighted with the progress we are making with industry partners on funding this project into production and look forward to making further updates in due course.”

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Mitcham Industries: Announces Rental Partnership with INOVA

Mitcham Industries announced on September 27, 2017, that it has entered into a rental partnership agreement with INOVA Geophysical, Inc. (“INOVA”), pursuant to which the former will make worldwide use of INOVA’s onshore seismic acquisition products.

The rental agreement also includes the new Quantum nodal system, developed in collaboration with Innoseis, G3i HD cable system channels, Hawk multi-channel nodal stations, analog and digital sensors, and Vib Pro HD controllers and vibrators.

Quantum Nodal System

• Quantum nodes integrated with iX1 command and control system provides a complete, full-featured nodal acquisition system aimed at meeting the demand for high density, cost-effective onshore seismic survey.
• It also provides a solution for traditional surveys as well as the flexibility to meet tomorrow’s exploration challenges.
• Quantum is the lightest, longest battery life node currently available, offering reduced transportation and deployment costs and minimizing field battery management.
• iX1 is a single Seismic Operational Management System for front-end operations and QC.

G3i HD Cable System Channels

• INOVA’s G3i HD and Hawk systems are field proven cable and cable-less solutions that are also integrated with iX1.
• Integration with iX1 allows hybrid deployments of mixed equipment types managed from a single iX1 front end, providing seamless operation across a variety of surface conditions.
• G3i HD and Hawk systems are used worldwide today.

Vib Pro HD Controllers and Vibrators

• INOVA’s vibroseis vehicles, combined with Vib Pro HD, are industry leading source products synonymous with reliability and exceptional broadband performance.
• Vibrators are offered in a range of weight class from small, highly-maneuverable vehicles to large, heavy-weight vehicles.
• Vibrators provide source solutions for a variety of environments and imaging objectives.

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