Exploration and Oil & Gas News
Polarcus: Awarded 3D XArray project in the Caribbean
Polarcus Limited (“Polarcus” or the “Company”) (OSE: PLCS) is pleased to announce that the Company has received an award for a 3D project in the Caribbean to commence in Q2 2018, with a scheduled duration of 2 months.
The Polarcus XArray methodology will be utilized to optimize both data quality and acquisition efficiency.
PGS: Author Honoured with SEG Presenters Award
Congratulations to Shaoping Lu who has been selected as one of the top 39 presenters at SEG Houston 2017. His presentation scored one of the highest out of the 1 163 presentations at the 2017 Annual Meeting Technical Program and was judged on delivery, material, slides and overall presentation.
‘Broadband least-squares wave-equation migration’ was the title of his abstract which was co-authored with Xiang Li, A.A. Valenciano, Nizar Chemingui (all PGS) and Cheng Cheng (UC Berkeley).
In a congratulatory letter to Dr Lu, the President of SEG, Dorsey Morrow wrote ‘Congratulations on your excellent technical presentation titled, Broadband least-squares wave-equation migration, presented at the 2017 SEG Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas. Your research and preparation were also noticed by your fellow SEG members, who judged your paper, ranking it in the top 39 papers presented at the Houston meeting.’
Least-squares migration (LSM) was a key topic at the SEG this year and Dr Lu’s presentation highlighted how LSM can correct for overburden effects, variations in illumination and incomplete acquisition geometry. He illustrated this with applications of LSM to both synthetic and field data examples (from the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea) and the results deliver higher resolution images with better amplitude balance when compared with standard seismic migration.
PGS: Data for Greece 2017 Offshore Tenders – Open for Applications
The government of Greece recently announced three huge new exploration blocks. The invitation for bids opened formally on 2 December and will close on 5 March 2018. Contact us today to start your evaluation of the hydrocarbon potential of the available acreage.
PGS has a substantial library of modern broadband GeoStreamer® seismic data over the area, in addition to legacy and reprocessed seismic lines. Access to this data is an official requirement for all bidders and provides the key to understanding the geology.
Three large blocks are on offer west of Greece. The first covers 6 700 sq. km in the Ionian Sea southwest of Corfu, the second spans 20 000 sq. km west of Crete, and the third is 20 000 sq. km southwest of Crete.
Polarcus: Secures funding for 3D broadband project in Australia
Polarcus Limited (“Polarcus” or the “Company”) (OSE: PLCS) is pleased to announce that the Company has secured significant industry prefunding and has been granted the environmental permit for a broadband 3D marine seismic project in Australia.
This extension of Polarcus’ Cygnus multi-client 3D survey represents the next step towards unlocking the complex geology of the Vulcan Sub-basin through the application of Polarcus’ innovative XArray(TM) acquisition methodology.
The project is due to commence in Q4 2017 and will run for approximately four weeks. As a result of this timing, the previously announced Australian projects will commence in 2018 extending the Polarcus Australian campaign into Q2 2018.
CGG: Releases MC Airborne GravMag survey over Perdido Fold Belt, Mexico
CGG Multi-Physics has announced completion of the acquisition, processing and interpretation of a multi-client airborne gravity and magnetic survey of approximately 38,000 line km over the Perdido Fold Belt.
Data acquisition of area AOI 1 was completed in December 2016 utilizing a Basler geophysical survey aircraft. This survey is the first of six areas to be acquired in a wider program totaling 200,000 line km across the Mexican Gulf of Mexico. Additional acquisition in the other areas indicated in the map below is planned for 2018.
The newly acquired Perdido Fold Belt data has shown an interesting correlation of significant discoveries along the flanks of basement topography. The data and interpretation will help explorers map crystalline basement, which is not well imaged by seismic, to construct an improved Earth Model. The airborne survey also collected continuous data through the “transition zone” from the marine environment to onshore.
The comprehensive interpretation, combining this new data set with available geologic and geophysical data, was undertaken by CGG’s in-house interpretation team in Houston. A full geophysical interpretation report, which includes mapping of basement, sediment and any intrusives or salt which may be present, will provide important insights to exploration and de-risking of prospective areas by oil companies.
Greg Paleolog, Senior Vice President, Multi-Physics, CGG, said: “The results of this first survey in our wider airborne GravMag program offshore Mexico reinforce our belief that this extensive new program, when combined with our other seismic, geologic and satellite multi-client data in Mexico, will give the industry access to a unique geoscience library to support the future exploration and economic development of this high-potential area.”
Prospex Oil & Gas: Reveals “encouraging” Italian well results
“The log results for the Podere Maiar are highly encouraging,” said Bill Smith, Prospex chairman.
Prospex Oil and Gas Plc (LON:PXOG) shares were on the back foot, down 4%, despite the company revealing what it described as “encouraging” initial results from the Podere Maiar-1d well in Italy’s Po Valley region.
Downhole log readings provided by Schlumbergerhas confirmed some 53 metres of gross gas pay, with the top of the reservoir seen above prior production wells in the field. Analysis of the data indicates the presence of gas in the two main sand intervals.
Production equipment is due to be installed, with well completion expected by mid-December with flow testing anticipated by early January.
“The log results for the Podere Maiar are highly encouraging,” said Bill Smith, Prospex chairman.
“With completion of the Well and the commencement of flow testing operations due to take place shortly, I look forward to providing further updates from the Podere Gallina Exploration Permit in the next few weeks, as we look to build on our recent drilling success at the Bainet-1 gas discovery in Romania.”
Stock Chart
Paradigm: Event – Using Microseismic Data to Build a Structural Model in SKUA-GOCAD
The right kind of microseismic data set has a bounty of associated attributes that can be used to interpret important structural elements in the reservoir. These can impact stimulation efficiency, and after the well comes on line, production. This presentation demonstrates the workflow used to analyze the geometry of the dots in the box to first identify features, such as reactivated faults, existing natural fracture sets, and mechanical boundaries. Then, using analyses of the event attributes, we show how to build a volume containing a discrete fracture network that includes deterministic faults. Finally, analyses of the reservoir stress state prior to and during the treatment will be applied to the structural features model to refine the reservoir flow characteristics around the treated well.
Biography
Sherilyn Williams-Stroud, President and CEO of Confractus, Inc., is a consulting geologist based in southern California. Her areas of expertise include microseismic analysis, fracture modeling, structural restoration, reservoir stress/strain analysis, and rock fracture mechanics, with applications to oil and gas exploration and production in conventional and unconventional resources, and geothermal energy production. She received her MA and PhD from The Johns Hopkins University and her BA from Oberlin College. Her more than 25 years of experience in government and industry includes research and technical support in the exploration and production technology departments of Texaco, Chevron and Occidental Oil, as well as providing consulting services to operators worldwide while employed at Midland Valley Exploration and MicroSeismic Inc. In addition to teaching industry short courses in her areas of expertise, she taught geology at the University of Houston while employed full time in the oil and gas industry, is a former full-time faculty of Whittier College, and is currently an adjunct faculty member at California State University, Northridge. She has significant expertise interpreting and utilizing microseismic data, and is the co-author of a patented methodology to integrate microseismic data into geologic interpretations for fracture modeling of microseismic results for use in reservoir simulation.
PGS: New 3D Seismic in North Madura Supports MIGAS Licensing Plan
Seismic vessel PGS Apollo has completed a triple source MultiClient 3D survey in North Madura and is now available for other acquisition projects, as part of PGS’ support for the MIGAS plan for licensing new areas in the North Madura / East Java Basin and beyond.
The North Madura 3D is the first MultiClient 3D that has been acquired in Indonesia for over six years. PGS Apollo towed a triple source configuration and an efficient spread designed to deal with operational constraints in the locality.
PGS has applied modern seismic acquisition methods, including acquisition-based wavefield deghosting, which allows a raft of tailored imaging solutions using dual sensor GeoStreamer® true broadband technology to be deployed.
PGS’ GeoStreamer acquisition and imaging techniques record more detailed broadband data from shallow to deep, exploiting a full spectrum of low-to-high frequencies, to provide clearer images and more reliable data for AVO/AVA analysis.
GeoStreamer data supports the exploration journey from prospect identification to assessing rock properties. GeoStreamer derived rock properties closely match well measurements, making it possible to extrapolate lithology and better predict fluid types.
Thalassa Holdings: Share BuyBack
The board of Thalassa announces that on 4 December 2017 the Company purchased 80,000 of its shares at a price of 99 pence per share. These shares will be held in treasury and in total there are now 5,244,882 shares in treasury. This purchase was made in accordance with the Company’s Articles of Association and with a board authority dated 12 July 2017 to buy back up to £4,000,000 of the Company’s shares. As at the date hereof, the Company has purchased 2,136,225 shares under this authority for a total cost of £1,852,175 or an average price of 86.70 pence per share. The average purchase price of the total number of shares held in treasury is 60.99 pence per share for a cost of £3,198,614.
The Company advises that, following this purchase, the Company’s issued share capital remains at 25,567,522. The total number of shares with voting rights is now 20,322,640. This figure represents the total voting rights in the Company and may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they can determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company in compliance with Thalassa’s Articles of Association.
