Gene Kliewer - Houston
Asia/Pacific: New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd. has contacted the Pacific Titan about running a 500-km (311-mi), 2D seismic survey over Petroleum Exploration Permit 51311 offshore Taranaki southwest of the Kupe development. The permit offshore New Zealand recently was awarded by Crown Minerals following NZOG’s November 2008 “Priority in Time” application. The vessel is in area waters. The permit is for an initial five years with evaluation to be done in the first two years and a decision on drilling an exploration well is to come by the end of the second year.
“There are a number of separate closures formed by upper Miocene sands, eroded by submarine channels, which were then in-filled by younger mudstones,” says CEO David Salisbury of NZOG. “These mudstones may have formed an effective lateral seal, trapping oil and/or gas. Similar oil bearing structures are known to exist in the Sacramento Valley in California and in the Gulf of Mexico.”
Africa: An ocean-bottom seismic program is planned for the Agbami field offshore Nigeria. Star Deepwater Petroleum Ltd., a Chevron Nigeria Ltd. affiliate and operator of Agbami, has agreed with SeaBird Exploration Ltd. and its local partner Sonar Ltd. for survey design and acquisition of seismic data. The Hugin Explorer is scheduled to collect data with Kondor Explorer as the source vessel. A CASE Abyss 4C autonomous seismic recording system will be used on the seafloor. Pre-survey geophysical modeling, final contract terms, approvals, and survey start are expected to be complete in 2Q 2009.
A 940-sq km (363-sq mi) seismic inversion program is under way on Jubilee field offshoreGhana to integrate log and core data from Hyedua-1, Hyedua-2, Mahogany-2, Mahogany-2, and Mahogany-3 wells.
“The original seismic inversion we conducted for Kosmos Energy and partners was limited to the West Cape Three Points block and covered 150 sq km (58 sq mi),” says Gareth Taylor, Rock Solid Images senior VP. “However, with only the Mahogany-1 well as a calibration point, we successfully predicted the presence of pay in the Mahogany-2 and Mahogany-3 wells so we are confident we will be able to contribute substantively to a comprehensive appraisal and delineation of this world-class field.”
Fugro Global Environmental & Ocean Sciences Ltd. has won two contracts for metocean work off the east coast of Africa. One contract covers current measurement in 5,577 ft (1,700 m) water depth offTanzania for Ophir Energy. The second is a joint-industry metocean off Tanzania and Mozambique for StatoilHydro, Dominion Tanzania Ltd., Petrobras, Petronas, and Anadarko Energy. That study is in water depths from 3,609 ft (1,100 m) to 9,843 ft (3,000 m) water depth.
Canamens is embarking on a round of exploration offshoreMorocco following the award of contracts and agreements with Morocco’s Office National Hydrocarbures et des Mines. Canamens says it will reprocess and acquire new 2D data in the Essaouira Shallow Offshore in water less than 500 m (1,640 ft) and based upon the results chose whether to convert the license into an exploration permit. In the Essaouira Deep Offshore area with water depths greater than 500 m (1,640 ft), Canamens plans to reprocess and acquire new 2D data with an option to extend into a 3D and drilling commitment. The acreages totals more than 11,000 sq km (4,247 sq mi) and Canamens holds 75% with ONHYM holding the remainder.
Latin America: Reliance Industries contracted Wavefield Inseis and Discoverer 2 to conduct a seismic survey on Borojo Norte and Borojo Sur blocks offshore Colombia, which was scheduled to be completed by now. The blocks are west of the country and cover 4,000 sq km (1,544 sq mi) with water depths to 1,500 m (4,921 ft). When it took the lease, Reliance planned to spend as much as $50 million over 18 months including two wells on each block.
Borders & Southern has reviewed its 3D survey over 1,492 sq km (576 sq mi) offshore theFalkland Islands. The company says it plans additional interpretation of the data. Work to date highlights three fairways: a Lower Cretaceous, Upper Cretaceous/Lower Tertiary, and Tertiary. The Lower Cretaceous play fairway comprises sandstone reservoirs within tilted fault blocks and submarine fans. The Upper Cretaceous/Lower Tertiary structural play fairway comprises sandstone reservoirs within major structural closures measuring up to 150 sq km (58 sq mi). The Tertiary seismic amplitude supported play fairway comprises Tertiary deepwater distributary sandstone reservoirs partly stratigraphically trapped within structural closures. Borders & Southern says there is evidence of hydrocarbon generation and migration, including a “chain of five anticlines with gas hydrates located above the crests or slightly displaced on the asymmetrical limb of the folds.” There also are multiple seismic amplitude anomalies over the area.
Petrobras and Schlumberger have signed a technological cooperation agreement for pre-salt reservoir research and development. Included under the agreement are four research projects:
- Electromagnetic technologies to improve deep reservoir characterization
- Seismic data analyses technologies, also to improve reservoir characterization
- Nuclear magnetic resonance technologies, aimed to characterize complex reservoirs
- H2S electrochemical sensors.
Additionally, six other projects are still under negotiation. The agreement will be in effect for three years, and can be renewed for an equal term. Petrobras foresees it will invest some $10 million in the projects. The agreement will also establish the Schlumberger research center on the Fundão Island in Brazil during 2010.
Gulf of Mexico:TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co. says it has completed several multi-client projects to evaluate hydrocarbon potential in the central GoM prior to the scheduled March lease sale. The Stanley 3D survey is the first multi-client reverse time migration project in the Gulf. TGS also completed an anisotropic Kirchhoff depth migration for Deep Resolve and Sophie’s Link 3D surveys. The anisotrophic work ties into more than 800 well logs, according to the company.
CGGVeritas has won a long-term contract for wide-azimuth and 4D reservoir surveys from BP in the GoM. The contract runs into 2010.
