Category Archives: Exploration
USA: Dolphin Geophysical Buys OGI
Dolphin Group ASA announces that through their subsidiary Dolphin Geophysical Inc.(US) the company have purchased the entire stock of Open Geophysical Inc. (OGI).
OGI develop and sell seismic processing software and has an existing client base including both major oil companies and seismic contractors. The software is purpose built for modern computer architectures and has an industry leading graphical user interface. It thus provides users with an efficient, cost effective and easy to use seismic processing platform. The newly developed software is already being used on the Polar Duchess for real time Quality Control of acquired data with impressive performance and in Dolphin’s new processing centre established in London.
All Dolphin vessels will be upgraded to the OGI software over the coming months. It will be used for on-board fast track, proprietary processing on the Duchess in the near future and to produce a high-end, fast track product on all future multi-client projects.
R. Gareth Williams, Chief Geophysicist of Dolphin said; “We are extremely excited to be investing in OGI and to be using the Open CPS software for both our on board and onshore, marine processing package. This is a major step towards developing our processing and multi-client services and hence capturing the full value chain in those businesses. We carefully reviewed all the available software platforms and this is a rare opportunity to work with a system designed completely in the 21st century. In addition, we see significant opportunities to support and grow the existing software sales business of OGI and are fully committed to supporting their current customers.”
Roland Gunther and Eric Foley, co-founders of OGI stated “Working with Dolphin will provide us with the opportunity and financial strength to increase the pace of development of our software and to benefit from working closely with an experienced team. We look forward to providing increased levels of support and technology to our current and future customers who are working with both land and marine seismic data. We expect OGI to benefit from the increased global exposure for the software via Dolphin’s multi-client and proprietary projects”
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BOEM Seeks Public Opinion on Seismic Survey Activity Offshore Alaska
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced yesterday that it was seeking public input on issues that should be tackled by the bureau in preparing an Environmental Assessment for proposed seismic data acquisition activity in Arctic areas of the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
ION Geophysical Corporation has applied to conduct an exploratory 2D marine seismic survey during the fall of 2012. The application proposes conducting operations throughout much of the Beaufort Sea Planning Area, with specific transect lines and segments within the Chukchi Sea Planning Area. Data obtained during this survey would be used by geologists and geophysicists to view and interpret large-scale subsurface geologic structural features and evaluate prospects for oil and gas reserves.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), an agency under the United States Department of the Interior that manages the exploration and development of the nation’s offshore resources, has also on its website announced ION’s permit application #12-01 and the associated area coverage map. BOEM has also explained the the procedures required for submission of comments, setting the deadline for April 30, 2012. More information can be found at BOEM’s official website.
Below you can see ION’s recent video: Case Study in Challenging
Environments: The Arctic Environment
Top of the world tactics at ION. See the ION approach in action as Joe Gagliardi, Director Arctic Technology & Solutions, tackles the punishing Arctic environment. By combining the capabilities across the company, ION delivers the answers and the technology that allows operators to acquire data further north than ever before and dramatically extends the short working season.
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Namibia: Spectrum Starts Seismic Survey in Luderitz Basin
Spectrum, in partnership with the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR), has commenced a new project in the Luderitz basin following the successful completion of an extended 2D Multi-Client seismic survey covering the deep water Orange Basin, offshore Namibia.
The Orange Basin program acquisition has been completed with additional lines now extending the program to over 8,000 km of long offset data. The vessel has now commenced a new regional program in the Luderitz Basin consisting of 4,400 km plus a potential infill of 1,200 km.
Seabird Exploration is providing the acquisition services through their Northern Explorer vessel which performed exceptionally well during January and February. Nearly 4,000 km of high quality data was acquired in February and the extended survey was completed ahead of schedule. Further prefunding has enabled Spectrum to add additional lines to the Orange Basin program and to commence the new Luderitz Basin survey.
There is considerable attention in the area at this time. The new survey is located immediately between the recently announced BP farm-in to the Serica 2513 A&B blocks and the potential in the Petrobras/BP/Chariot 2714A block. Very little seismic data is available over these blocks and Spectrum’s survey will provide both Operators and potential Partners with a good quality regional dataset to evaluate this almost unexplored area.
The Orange Basin survey is now in processing with final deliverables expected to be available in June 2012. The Luderitz basin survey will be available in August.
Over 35,000 km of high-quality 2D multi-client data is now available through Spectrum from offshore Namibia in ten individual surveys. Each survey has been designed to target key plays within the offshore area. The data vintages range from the 1989 regional survey, through to detailed block specific surveys including the 2003 survey acquired around the Ondjou prospect in the northern Walvis Basin. There is also a comprehensive suite of surveys around the Kudu field, as well as covering the Orange and Luderitz Basins.
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Nine Oil Firms Table Bids for Ronda Uruguay II
Uruguay’s state-owned petroleum company, ANCAP, has announced that nine oil companies have placed nineteen bids for exploration and production offshore Uruguay.
Bids come from oil majors for the 15 blocks offered by the Uruguayan government for the oil exploration and production in the Oriental del Plata, Pelotas and Punta del Este offshore basins.
Uruguay’s second offshore licensing round (Ronda Uruguay II) attracted interest of eleven oil companies but nine of them qualified for the bidding process.
UK’s BP and the BG Group, France-based Total, Dutch Shell, Tullow Oil Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp. all filed the bids. Furthermore Spain’s Cepsa, Murphy Oil and Argentina’s YPF were among the bidders.
The marine platform is already explored by a consortium of Petrobras, YPF and Galp, that were the bidding winners in the first Uruguay Round in 2009. According to ANCAP authorities there is a big increase in the oil sector interest on the Uruguayan offshore, when compared with the first bid where only six oil companies asked for qualification.
ANCAP is expected to come up with the results of the bidding later during the day.
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Oil leaders, GOP allies, downplay administration’s seismic plans
House Natural Resources Committee chairman Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash, leads a committee hearing. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
The Obama administration’s announcement that it may allow seismic studies potentially paving the way for offshore drilling along the East Coast is political posturing designed to distract voters concerned about high gasoline prices, oil industry leaders and Republican lawmakers said today.
The administration’s move “continues the president’s election-year political ploy of giving speeches and talking about drilling after having spent the first three years in office blocking, delaying and driving up the cost of producing energy in America,” said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. “The president is focused on trying to talk his way out of what he’s done, rather than taking real steps to boost American energy production.”
At issue is Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s announcement in Norfolk, Va., this morning that the government is assessing the environmental effects of allowing seismic surveys along the mid- and south-Atlantic that could help locate hidden pockets of oil and gas. If ultimately approved, the studies by private geological research companies also could help guide decisions about where to place renewable energy projects off the coast.
The Interior Department is issuing a draft environmental impact statement that assesses the consequences of seismic research on marine life in the area. The Obama administration had planned to release a similar document in 2010, before the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
If the draft environmental assessment is finalized after public comments and hearings, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management could give companies permits to conduct the studies off the coasts of eight East Coast states.
Salazar said that if the geological research turned up promising results, that could open the door to offshore drilling in the area within five years, even though the administration currently has ruled out that kind of exploration before 2017. A government plan for selling offshore drilling leases from 2012 to 2017 does not include any auctions of Atlantic territory.
“If the information that is developed allows us to move forward in a quicker time frame, we can always come in with an amendment,” Salazar said. “We’re not prejudging that at this point in time. My view is … we need to develop information so we can make those wise decisions.”
Industry officials noted that under federal laws, it could take years for the government to revise the 2012-2017 leasing plan, even if federal officials decided to pursue Atlantic drilling.
Erik Milito, upstream director for the American Petroleum Institute, said the administration is repackaging old news and old plans to make it appear it is making real progress to encourage more domestic energy development.
“This is political rhetoric to make it appear the administration is doing something on gas prices, but in reality it is little more than an empty gesture,” Milito said.
Randall Luthi, the president of the National Ocean Industries Association, likened the administration’s announcement to giving the industry “a canoe with no oars, since there are no lease sales planned anywhere off the East Coast.”
If allowed to conduct seismic surveys, geological research firms would ultimately give the resulting information to the government and sell it to companies eager to analyze the data.
But Milito questioned whether seismic companies would pursue the work, given that some of their best customers — oil companies — wouldn’t be able to use it to plan offshore drilling for years, if at all.
“Without an Atlantic coast lease sale in their five-year plan, the administration’s wishful thinking on seismic research has no ultimate purpose,” Milito said. “The White House has banned lease sales in the Atlantic for at least the next five years, discouraging the investment and job creation, and ultimately production, which would make seismic exploration valuable.”
Still, at least six companies already have told the government they want to conduct seismic research along the East Coast.
“We have gotten significant expressions of interest from companies in contracting for these seismic surveys,” said Tommy Beaudreau, the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. “I am confident that, assuming the process continues on the track we anticipate, that there will be significant interest next year in conducting these surveys.”
Geological research uses seismic waves to map what lies underground or beneath the ocean floor. The shock waves — which some environmental advocates say may harm marine life — map the density of subterranean material and can gives clues about possible oil and gas.
Seismic studies also help identify geologic hazards and archaeological resources in the seabed — information useful in determining the placement of renewable energy infrastructure as well as oil and gas equipment.
The existing seismic surveys of the Atlantic coast are decades old, and in the years since, “there have been enormous technological advances,” Salazar noted.
“We do need to have seismic moving forward so we can really understand what the resource potential is,” Salazar added.
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Obama administration advances plan for seismic research along Atlantic coast
Posted on March 28, 2012 at 12:01 am by Jennifer A. Dlouhy
The Obama administration will announce Wednesday that it is advancing a plan to allow new seismic research designed to help identify hidden pockets of oil and gas in Atlantic waters along the East Coast.
The move by the Interior Department is the beginning of a long path that eventually could lead to new offshore drilling off the coast from Delaware to Florida.
Senior administration officials who spoke exclusively to the Houston Chronicle confirmed the plan on condition they not be identified ahead of the official announcement.
The plan could mean new work for Houston-based seismic firms, which likely would conduct some of the first such surveys of the region in decades.
The announcement comes as President Barack Obama tries to assuage concerns about rising oil and gasoline prices ahead of the November election, amid Republican criticism that his energy policies have sent costs higher.
The administration had signaled plans to allow Atlantic seismic research before the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill stalled approval of offshore activities.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will announce the plan in Norfolk, Va. at Fugro Atlantic, a company that conducts geotechnical and marine research.
Future seismic research in the Atlantic waters could help guide decisions about where to allow drilling leases and equipment that generates renewable energy, such as wind turbines.
But it would be at least five years before the government sold any leases in Atlantic waters. Interior Department plans governing those decisions through 2017 do not include lease sales in the region.
Geological research uses seismic waves to map what lies underground or beneath the ocean floor. The shock waves — which some environmental advocates say may harm marine life — map the density of subterranean material and can gives clues about possible oil and gas.
Seismic studies also help identify geologic hazards and archaeological resources in the seabed — information useful in determining the placement of renewable energy infrastructure as well as oil and gas equipment.
Energy companies use the data to plan where to buy leases and how to prioritize projects. But they know little about what lies below federal waters along the East Coast. Existing seismic surveys of the area are more than 25 years old and were conducted with now-outdated technology.
Oil industry officials have downplayed the significance of allowing seismic surveys along the Atlantic Coast, noting the government makes no guarantee that it will let them drill. That skepticism also could limit the market for seismic research firms.
But the administration has said that collecting the data for different regions — even if they aren’t targeted immediately for development — is key to understanding their potential. Obama asked the Interior Department to speed up its search for Atlantic resources in May 2011.
Wednesday’s action takes the form of a federally required draft statement on the environmental effects of seismic surveys in the outer continental shelf along the East Coast.
The public will have a chance to weigh in on that draft environmental impact statement during hearings along the East Coast.
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Recap: Worldwide Field Development News (Mar 16 – Mar 22, 2012)
| This week the SubseaIQ team added 8 new projects and updated 32 projects. You can see all the updates made over any time period via the Project Update History search. The latest offshore field develoment news and activities are listed below for your convenience. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Mar 22, 2012 – Salamander Energy has contracted the ENSCO 53 (350??? ILC) jackup to commence a four-well drilling program for License B8/38 offshore Thailand. The company will initially drill two development wells followed by exploratory drilling in May. The license houses the Bualuang oil field in 197 feet (60 meters) of water.
Mar 21, 2012 – Nido Petroleum announced that fabrication and installation of the turret mooring and riser system for Phase II of the Galoc field was progressing on schedule with production expected to resume at the end of 1Q 2012. Furthermore, the FEED for Phase II is being performed as planned and remains on track for FID in 2012.
Mar 16, 2012 – Santos has found a new gas reservoir through well Sangu-11 in the Sangu area with about 66 feet (20 meters) of good-quality gas pay. The well will be completed and tied into the Sangu facilities. The operator is continuing to assess the volumes and flow potential of the reservoir. After completing Sangu-11, the Seadrill jackup Offshore Resolute (350??? ILC) will be demobilized. Sangu-11 was the final well in a three-well drilling campaign in Block 16 PSC that commenced in September 2011. The first well, South Sangu-4, found gas in one target but was unable to add further reserves due to encountering anomalously high formation pressure, and had to be abandoned prior to reaching its primary objective. The second well, NE Sangu-1 drilled in December 2011, failed to encounter commercial hydrocarbons and was also abandoned.
Mar 20, 2012 – FMC Technologies has signed an agreement with Statoil for the manufacture and supply of subsea production equipment to support the Fram H-Nord development. The scope of work includes one subsea production tree, one manifold and one multiphase meter. Deliveries are expected to occur throughout 2013.
Mar 16, 2012 – Trap Oil will acquire a 15 percent working interest in the Athena oil field from Dyas UK Limited, subject to DECC and Dyas partners’ approvals. The effective date for the transaction is Jan. 1, 2012. Ithaca Energy is the operator and currently holds a 22.5 percent stake in the block. Following completion of the acquisition, the remaining equity holders will be Dyas, the largest equity holder with 32.5%, EWE Energie AG with 20% and Zeus Petroleum with the remaining 10%. The field will be developed via four existing production wells and one water-injection well tied to a stand-alone FPSO, the BW Athena vessel. The vessel is expected to arrive at the Athena location this month and, since the majority of the subsea elements for the field have already been installed, all of the production wells are ready for hook-up.
Mar 22, 2012 – Woodside’s Pluto LNG project has reached ready for start-up and first gas has entered the processing train. First production of LNG will take place in the coming weeks, followed by deliveries to foundation customers and project participants Kansai Electric and Tokyo Gas. The initial phase of the Pluto LNG project comprises an offshore platform in 279 feet (85 meters) of water, connected to five subsea wells on the Pluto gas field. Gas will be piped through a 112-mile (180-kilometer) trunkline to an onshore facility.
Mar 21, 2012 – Woodside reported that the Vincent field has produced roughly 27 MMbbl of oil since start-up in 2008, with 2011 production around 8.5 MMbbl. In September 2011, the company boosted Vincent???s overall production rate with two infill wells (VNB-H5 and VNB-H6) coming online. This resulted in the Ngujima-Yin FPSO achieving its highest production rate of almost 53,000 bopd. Woodside will complete a third infill well at Vincent, VNB-H7, and bring it online in 1H 2012.
Mar 16, 2012 – Santos has shut-down production at its Mutineer-Exeter oil field due to the approaching Severe Tropical Cyclone Lua. Mutineer-Exeter’s floating production storage and offloading vessel was disconnected March 15 and has been sailing to avoid the cyclone since then, a Santos spokesman said in a statement.
Mar 16, 2012 – INPEX has agreed to acquire a 17.5 percent participating interest in the Prelude FLNG project from Shell. This transaction is pending necessary governmental approval. The Prelude FLNG project is located in WA-44-L, approximately 295 miles (475 kilometers) north-northeast of Broome, off the coast of Western Australia. The project includes the Prelude and Concerto gas fields. These fields will be developed utilizing a FLNG facility and will produce at least 3.6 million tonnes per annum of LNG, along with 0.4 million tonnes per annum of liquefied petroleum gas and approximately 36,000 bopd of condensate at peak.
Mar 21, 2012 – The Chinese Government’s State Oceanic Administration has approved the Environmental Impact Assessment for the Beibu Gulf project, which compromises the development of the WZ 6-12 and WZ 12-8 west oil fields located in the South China Sea. This approval allows the company to commence offshore development activities on the project. Subject to final approval, onshore fabrication activities are ongoing and offshore pipeline installation is anticipated to commence during March. On completion of platform installation during 1H 2012, drilling activity is expected to start mid-year and will include four exploration/appraisal wells, which will be followed by the development drilling program. The operator anticipates first oil production from the Beibu Gulf project by the end of 2012 with full-field peak production anticipated by 2013.
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Continents of the World
