NAPE
After a winter of low oil and gas prices and painfully slow business, it was refreshing to mix with the prospects and potential revealed during the recent NAPE Expo at Houston's G.R. Brown Convention Center.
The gathering celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. From its beginning in 1991 when attendees numbered in the hundreds, the annual event has grown continuously to over 8,000 participants this year. The show also expanded from a regional event to an international gathering, drawing prospectors to show deals from the world's new offshore (and onshore) oil plays. Its success has spawned sister shows at each of the major professional meetings, proving that the best place to show a deal is where the prospect generators and property evaluators gather.
Ten years ago the industry needed a new way to do business and improve prospect marketing productivity. The NAPE solved that problem, saving time and money. The NAPE concept will be expanded to the UK later this year when the America Association of Petroleum Geologists holds a similar event London.
Q-vessel
WesternGeco announced that the Western Neptune began a large, multiclient survey in the Gulf of Mexico. "The Western Neptune is not only our Q flagship, but is also the first vessel to be launched under the WesternGeco joint venture," said Marine Vice President Terje Nikolaysen.
The vessel will deploy 10, 8,000-meter streamers and is the fourth WesternGeco seismic vessel to be equipped with the Q-Marine system. Nikolaysen said that the vessel had been docked for two years while the company implemented an ongoing program to reduce streamer and vessels capacity and upgrade the fleet to Q-technology.
EXPLORATION
Survey schedule
Petroleum Geo-Services ASA (PGS) announced several new surveys for the coming season:
Streamer surveys
- South Africa: In a joint cooperation agreement with The Petroleum Agency SA, PGS will collect a 3,750 line-km 2D survey in the Orange Basin, off the west coast of the Republic of South Africa. The basin covers about 160,000 sq km and will be the subject of future licensing. The vessel M/V Geo Explorer will gather the data with a 6,000 meter streamer. The survey concentrates on the deepwater areas of Block 2B and the west of Blocks 5 and 6. The survey includes a number of longer lines that tie into wells drilled on the shelf and to existing shallow water 2D seismic surveys. Reprocessing and interpretation of older 2D data is included.
- India: The company signed an ONGC contract for 330 sq km of 3D transition zone seismic on the coast of the Andhra Pradesh, India. The area surveyed will extend from the beach out to approximately 30 meters water depth along India's central eastern coastline. Dual sensor equipped Sercel 408 gear with proprietary modifications will be employed. A specially designed, composite-hulled catamaran, shallow draft gunboat will be used for the nearshore work.
Seabed surveys
PGS's Seafloor Seismic division announced new four-component (4C) survey contracts for offshore Nigeria, Norway's North Sea, and for the North Atlantic West of Shetlands area. All of the surveys will be acquired using the FOURcE(SM) seafloor seismic acquisition system and include seismic data processing services.
- Nigeria: PGS will acquire and process a 3D-4C survey for ChevronTexaco.
- North Sea: Following the Nigerian work, a 3D-4C data will be gathered over the Statfjord and Statfjord East fields for Statoil.
- North Atlantic: A large 3D-4C survey for BP will be next in the West of Shetlands. This survey will image the Clair Field located off of the UK.
TECHNOLOGY
Internet ASP
Petris Technology Inc. released, PetrisWINDS NOW!, an on-demand (ASP/VSP) software application and services platform for the energy industry. The new service claims to help oil and gas companies shorten project cycle times and increase productivity by providing easy access to best-in-class applications via the Internet.
It includes software available on a monthly subscription from independent software vendors in geology, geophysics, reservoir engineering, production, asset and inventory management, economics, process engineering, and construction.
Also being released is PetrisWINDS Plan-IT, a new enterprise collaboration software package to support collaborative teamwork, workflow, and communication.
