Gene Kliewer - Houston

Sicilian survey concludes

A 3D seismic campaign offshore western Sicily using Petroleum GeoServices Asia Pacific Pte Ltd.’s Atlantic Explorer is complete according to Northern Petroleum Plc. The survey covered 1,520 sq km (587 sq mi) of four thrust belt licenses – G.R17.NP, G.R20.NP, G.R21.NP, and G.R22.NP – and was funded by Shell Italia E&P SpA under a farm-in agreement. The acquisition purpose is to get a better quality, more complete definition of drilling prospects on structures identified by earlier 2D surveys.

Under the farm-in, Shell holds 55% of G.R17.NP and 70% of the remaining three licenses.

Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, AuDAX Resources Ltd. has accepted Gulfsands Petroleum’s farm-in offer on the G.R15.PU and Kerkouane exploration permits. G.R15.PU is off the island of Pantelleria southwest of Sicily and is contiguous with the Kerkouane permit offshore northeast Tunisia.

Gulfsands can earn up to a 30% interest by participating in an upcoming 3D seismic acquisition program over both permits and exploration well. If the farm-in is finalized, drilling is scheduled to begin the middle of June using the Atwood Southern Cross semisubmersible rig.

Map showing 3D survey outline over Lambouka, selected prospects, and the Dougga gas condensate field.

AuDAX also has completed a Geostreamer 3D seismic acquisition program over the Lambouka permit, also in the Sicily Channel. The PGS Atlantic Explorer acquired the fasttrack cube to pinpoint a drilling location. The expected spud date is in the middle of this month.

US Atlantic a ‘pioneer province’, says IHS CERA

Following US President Barak Obama’s announcement regarding prospective sale of oil and gas exploration leases offshore of the US Atlantic, IHS Cambridge Energy Research says the Minerals Management Service estimates that the continental shelf could hold 3.8 Bbbl of oil and 37 tcf of gas.

Because there is no recent exploration data available for the designated areas south of the Hudson and Wilmington canyons, IHS CERA says the area should be considered a pioneer province requiring modern geophysical and exploration analysis and thus could take seven years to see first production.

IHS CERA cautioned that the estimates are preliminary and are based on historic drilling data from the Baltimore Canyon Trough southeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey, which included 10 wells drilled off New England in the Georges Bank area and seven wells offshore Georgia and northeast Florida.

OHM gets CSEM integration test project

Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping plc says it has two contracts for marine electromagnetic surveys in India with a combined value of $6 million. This marks the first time in India for OHM’s WISE CSEM and geophysical data integration system. OHM says it will use its OHM Leader for data acquisition.

West Greenland targeted for 2D survey

PA Resources has named CGGVeritas Services SA for 2D seismic acquisition in block 8 offshore western Greenland. Plans are to run 6,300 km (3,915 mi) of 2D seismic on a 2 x 4-km (1 ¼ X 2 ½ -mi) grid starting this month. The program is expected to take eight to 10 weeks to complete.

“West Greenland is a high-risk, high-potential exploration frontier that is being actively explored by a number of large companies, with drilling further north expected to take place in 2010,” says PA Resources CEO Ulrik Jansson “PA Resources are now moving to the next phase by acquiring seismic data to progress our leads to prospect status.”

PA Resources holds 87.5% interest in the block with Greenland’s national oil company, NunaOil AS, holding the remaining 12.5%.

TGS-NOPEC extends Indonesia program

TGS-NOPEC has extended its multi-client 2D seismic acquisition program offshore Indonesia to add another 7,300 km (4,536 m) in three areas along the Sundaland margin off South Java and west and northwest Sumatra. The data will be with TGS’ existing Indonesia information, which includes 108,000 km of 2D, 400,000 km of multi-beam bathymetric, and 1,200 cores from more than 1 million sq km of deepwater basins.

The project is prefunded by industry.

Business moves in the exploration arena

Schlumberger acquires Geoservices:Schlumberger has added mud logging to its list of services with the acquisition of Geoservices.

“The addition of mud logging technology to the Schlumberger portfolio is an important step in the development of higher-performance drilling systems,” says Andrew Gould, chairman and CEO, Schlumberger Ltd. “The combination of Schlumberger real-time downhole formation sampling measurements with Geoservices’ drilling mud analysis will help customers better identify and react to drilling hazards, while the combination of mud logging with Schlumberger formation evaluation measurements will bring more complete understanding of rock lithology and fluid content.”

Geoservices has 5,000 employees in more than 50 countries.

Fugro-Jason adds Colombia office: Fugro-Jason has opened a new office in Bogota, Colombia, the company says. The office adds to Fugro-Jason’s decade-long presence in Latin America.

In a slightly different direction, Fugro has taken delivery of a new seismic acquisition vessel, the Geo Caspian, which is on long-term charter from Volstad Maritime AS. This is the third of four C-Class vessels added to Fugro’s fleet since 2007. The last vessel, Geo Coral is scheduled to arrive this coming August.

The vessel can tow 16 streamers to allow the large spreads necessary to cover large prospects, Fugro says.