Fugro-Geoteam completed the acquisition of a 2D survey off Nicaragua's eastern coast. The 3,970-km survey ties eight wells for regional stratigraphic and structural control. It extends into the deeper water of the Hess Escarpment to the southeast.
Previous exploration established the presence of up to 4,000 m of Tertiary clastic and carbonate reservoirs. Geochemistry indicates that the oil is of Tertiary origin and from sources closely linked to the reservoirs.
Nicaragua approved a new Hydrocarbon Law in March 1998 and will hold its first bidding round for exploration acreage early in 2000. Processing of the data is in progress with final data available to clients by September.
Nova Scotia program
Veritas DGC began a large 3D program offshore Nova Scotia. The Veritas Viking I will gather the initial 3,000 sq km program using eight 6,000-meter streamers. An additional 3,000 sq km is planned to follow the first phase, which will keep the vessel active through next year.
Carl Hutchins, President of Veritas Marine Surveys, said, "We see this survey as the first phase of an extensive program of contiguous 3D data covering the deepwater prospects off Canada's East Coast."
Deepwater contracts
PGS (Petroleum Geo-Services ASA) announced the award of two deepwater 3D seismic contracts - in West Africa and the Gulf of Mexico. The Ramform Valiant began the West African survey in late July 1999. It will tow 12 streamers over the 5,000 sq km program through November 1999.
The Gulf of Mexico program in the Garden Banks area will be surveyed for Phillips. The high-density survey will use PGS's proprietary 3D vertical cable technology.
Cote d'Ivoire survey
Western Geophysical is shooting a 2,000 km 2D deepwater survey for Vanco Energy in block CI-112 off West Africa's Cote d'Ivoire. The M/V Jeff Chouest is shooting the grid. Play concepts are the Albian fault block trend and younger fan deposits. An additional survey of the block is scheduled for November 1999.
Geco triple
Schlumberger Geco-Prakla announced three seismic contracts. The largest contract is for a 1,200 sq km 3D program in the Norwegian North Sea sector over Gulfaks, Asgard and Sleipner fields. The Geco Topaz will tow eight streamers. Another vessel, the Akademik Nemchinov, will shoot a survey for Phillips over the Ekofisk Field.
The third contract is for the Professor Polshkov to shoot a 1,500-km 2D survey off Greenland. The contract was awarded on behalf of Statoil and Philips.
Brazil shooting
CGG began a 3D seismic shoot in Brazil. Phase one of the 4,000 sq km survey is being collected in the Campos and Espirito Santos areas by the M/V CGG Harmattan. Processing through pre-stack depth migration will be done in Houston.
Brazil regional
Western Geophysical was awarded a contract to market approximately 46,000 line-km of 2D seismic data, covering virtually the entire coastline of Brazil. The regional data set, known as LEPLAC, was acquired and processed in the late 1980's and early 1990's. (Western in Rio de Janeiro, Tel: +55-21-539-0342, Houston at 713-689-6800 or London at +44-181-585-4412 for complete information.
Saving time
Granite Rock Ltd of Aberdeen, UK reported the results of an 80 sq km, 100-fault interpretation project that compressed a normal six-week project into 10 days. The increased productivity came through the use of a "coherence" fault-detection volume, RibbonRegistered interpretation techniques, and proprietary software. John Ashbridge, Technical Director, said, "This is a significant breakthrough in the interpretation of complex subsurface geometries from 3D seismic data."
Voxbody sculpting
Landmark Graphics announced its new version of EarthCubetrademark for integrated, 3D volume interpretation. The new version provides voxbody tracking, stereo viewing, and depth sessions. It permits voxbody sculpting based on interpreted boundaries, horizons and faults, allowing the user to examine 3D seismic volume attributes within the chosen geologic boundaries.
Canadian VR
The Canadian National Research Council has created its first virtual reality (VR) center, the Virtual Environment Technologies Centre (VETC) in London, Ontario. Fakespace, Inc was commissioned by Canada's National Research Council to design and install a number of projection-based immersive display systems for the VETC. The facility utilizes the Immersive WorkRoomtrademark and the Immersive WorkWalltrademark, which will be used for a variety of industrial applications.
1,500-year cycle
Paleo-oceanographers William Showers (North Carolina State University) and Gerard Bond (Lamont-Dougherty Earth Observatory) have confirmed an average 1,500-yr cycle of cold periods linked to the Little Ice Age (1400 - 1900 AD). As reported in Science, the researchers recovered cores from the North Atlantic that held ice-rafted rock fragments. The debris was concentrated in 1,000-2,000 year cycles going back at least 130,000 years. Similar studies from off Iceland and Bermuda confirm the report. The cycles exist through interglacial periods, which removes ice and vulcanism as causes. It also strengthens the argument for solar energy input as the cause because the Little Ice Age (1400-1900 BP) was a period of very low sunspot activity.
Atlantic land bridge
Allosaurus fragilis has been found in Portugal with pelvic features similar to US Colorado fossils. This may have implications for the formation of the North Atlantic Ocean, if evidence for a "land bridge" can be located that would have allowed movement of the dinosaurs from North America to Europe before or during the opening of the ocean. The find was reported in the Journal of the Geological Society of London.
Shifting plates
For those who want to "move the world" try these websites: www.npaci.edu and www. scotese.com. The sites have animated plate tectonic maps to provide background information for geoscientists.;
