Gene Kliewer , Houston
A number of new seismic survey projects are in the news:
Namibia 2D: Neptune Petroleum (Namibia) Ltd. has finished a 2D seismic acquisition program over the northwestern areas of its offshore Namibia license covering blocks 1920A, 1911, and 2011A. Sana Navigation Co. Ltd. used the Northern Explorer seismic vessel to acquire the data. The 700 km (435 mi) of data are being processed and interpreted. In a related move, Neptune has signed a farm-out agreement with an unnamed third party to fund the survey and possibly more seismic work in the future. The farm out is subject to Namibian approval.
Mideast 3D: CGGVeritas has announced several contracts totaling $250 million for multi-year agreements. Included in this is a 3D seismic survey in the Middle East Gulf starting in 4Q 2007 using the Orion. The project is expected to last 18 months with a 12-month extension option.
CGG has completed Phase 1 of its multi-client eastern GoM seismic survey, and says Phase 3 is ahead of schedule with more than 11,000 km (6,835 mi) of data being processed. The remaining 9,000 km (5,592 mi) of Phase 3 data is scheduled to be collected by the end of this year. CGG also expects to begin a future wide-azimuth, multi-client GoM program, which has “significant pre-financing commitments” according to CGG.
GoM “wave”: “Big Wave is the first modern seismic survey to cover the Lloyd Ridge, Henderson, and Florida Plain areas of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico,” says Derek Skoyles, president, GGS-Spectrum USA. “Initial interpretation of the Phase 1 data shows excellent geological structures and a substantial thickness of sediments.”
GGS-Spectrum acquired the Big Wave data with a 10-km (6.2-mi) streamer and to a record length of 14 sec. Processing is at GGS-Spectrum’s center in Houston with pre-stack time migration (PSTM) and pre-stack depth migration (PSDM) sequences. This approach is designed to be effective in imaging areas containing salt bodies. TheGGS-Atlantic acquired the seismic data.
Surinam plan: Murphy Oil has announced plans for a 3D seismic program offshore Suriname in block 37 in 1Q 2008, pending location of an available vessel. The block covers roughly 2.1 million acres (849,800 ha) in water depths of 160-1,000 ft (48.8-305 m). Murphy has an 80% working interest in block 37. State company Staatsolie, has the remaining 20%.
Russian geophysical center modernized
Paradigm has completed an upgrade and modernization of the Saratovneftegeofizika JSC data processing and interpretation center in Saratov, Russia.
Saratovneftegeofizika now has access to a wide range of Paradigm E&P technologies, including 2D and 3D seismic data processing and imaging, complex velocity-depth models, seismic characterization, AVO analysis, seismic facies classification and analysis, and the processing and interpretation of log data. Paradigm also provided hardware and software operating systems, including an eight-node cluster with 16 dual-core processors and high-performance graphic workstations.
Meanwhile, Saratovneftegeofizika has formed a new 3D Oil-Field Modeling Department. Roxar’s IRAP RMS software will be used to evaluate geological and hydrodynamic models.
Acquisition trail
Schlumberger has acquired the data quality management company InnerLogix.
“InnerLogix technology delivers the next level of innovation for information management. A proven solution for automated data quality management, this technology is used by more than 26 oil and gas companies around the world today,” says Olivier Le Peuch, president of Schlumberger Information Solutions. “With our strong focus on helping our customers improve reservoir performance, the addition of InnerLogix brings superior data quality to end users, which translates directly into increased productivity and reduced technical risk.”
InnerLogix is integral to the new Schlumberger Data Quality Center of Excellence located in Houston, the company says.
On another front, theTGS-NOPEC/Wavefield Inseis merger has been approved by the respective boards of directors and involved governmental organizations.
Landmark has acquired the intellectual property, assets, and existing business of GeoSmith Consulting Group Llc. of Minnetonka, Minnesota.
GeoSmith is a developer of software components for 3D interpretation and geometric modeling applications, including topology engines capable of representing subsurface geology. GeoSmith’s development team will be added to Landmark’s geoscience interpretation and modeling group. “Earth modeling is one of the most dynamic areas of the petroleum-exploration business,” says Doug Meikle, vice president, Landmark.
Schlumberger opens Breakthrough Performance Center in Houston
Schlumberger Information Solutions opened its Houston Breakthrough Performance Center which is aimed at fostering collaboration, technological innovation, and solution deployment among Schlumberger, its customers, and its technological partners.
The center features an exploration 3-D imaging room with what may be the world’s largest visualization wall, a collaboration and solutions development center, a systems development laboratory, and a real-time drilling operations monitoring room.
The emphasis of the showcase event was open collaboration for innovation.
“The Breakthrough Performance Center is devoted to helping our customers position their companies for future success using open collaboration to fuel innovation,” said Olivier Le Peuch, president, SIS.
The Innovation Lab functions with Schlumberger’s Ocean development software at its platform. The idea is to create and test solutions that integrate technologies and services. It offers the opportunity to create applications using Ocean and including Petrel, SIS’ visualization and analysis software.
Ocean is an open software development framework that provides a unified desktop environment to simplify and accelerate development of software to support seismic-to-simulation, drilling, and production workflows. Ocean gives software development teams an extensive framework to create user workflows, leveraging and extending the Petrel, Osprey, Merak, and Avocet suite of applications. Ocean environment is based on the .NET framework from Microsoft.
“The Innovation Lab is a venue where we can work collectively with our customers and industry experts to pioneer ground-breaking solutions to solve the tough challenges of exploring and producing increasingly complex reservoirs,” said Le Peuch. “Combined with our open development framework, it gives us a unique opportunity to create customized solutions that provide a competitive edge for our clients.”
