Business news for the week of 29 December 2011 News section front Past news briefs Seismic crew survey reports

GeoAcoustics changes name

29 December 2011—Following an August board decision U.K. based GeoAcoustics will officially change its name to Kongsberg Geoacoustics on 03 January 2012, and its Singapore based Asia Pacific sales and support hub will change to Kongsberg Geoacoustics Pte Ltd. These name changes represent the ongoing integration of these companies into Kongsberg Maritime's corporate structure.

GeoAcoustics was acquired by Kongsberg Maritime in September 2008 and has since that time been integrated into the infrastructure of its new parent company and subsequently seen significant growth in business.

 

Spectrum announces new joint 2D multiclient seismic survey offshore Indonesia.

3 January 2012—Spectrum, in partnership with CGGVeritas and GeoData Ventures, will commence a new 2D multiclient seismic survey covering several open acreage blocks in the Sumba Straits, Indonesia, an area that has attracted significant industry interest.

The prefunded program is planned to cover 1,325 km and will commence early January 2012, with CGGVeritas providing acquisition and processing services. Final deliverables are expected to be available in March 2012.

 

Shale gas turns the tables on petroleum powers

3 January 2012—According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), shale gas may well be several times more abundant than the proven reserves of conventional natural gas on the planet. Moreover there are large volumes of natural gas in sandstones, and other non-conventional sources.

EIA studies show that shale gas is abundant in territories previously regarded as poor in fossil fuels or dependent on imports: China, the United States, and Argentina head the list, but large reserves are also found in South Africa, Australia, Poland, France, Chile, Sweden, Paraguay, Pakistan, and India.

Global proven reserves of conventional gas total 6,608 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), according to statistics from British-based oil giant BP, and the largest deposits are in Russia (1,580 Tcf), Irán (1,045 Tcf), Qatar (894 Tcf) and Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan (283 Tcf each).

An EIA study published in April 2011 found practically the same volume (6,620 Tcf) of shale gas deemed recoverable in just 32 countries, and the reserves are differently distributed, with China possessing 1,275 Tcf, the United States 862, Argentina 774, Mexico 681, South Africa 485 and Australia 396 Tcf.

Furthermore, some countries long dependent on foreign suppliers would have a huge resource base compared with their consumption: for example France and Poland, which import 98 and 64 percent, respectively, of the gas they consume, are in possession of shale gas reserves estimated at over 180 Tcf each.

In South America, giant oil producer Venezuela is estimated to have only 11 Tcf of shale gas, barely one-twentieth of its conventional gas reserves, while Brazil and Chile, which currently import about half the gas they consume, possess estimated shale gas deposits of 226 and 64 Tcf, respectively.

Paraguay has an estimated 62 Tcf of shale gas, nearly three times the conventional gas reserves of Bolivia, the top exporter of natural gas in South America. Uruguay, which imports all of its oil and gas as it lacks both, has at least 21 Tcf of shale gas.

 

Schlumberger and Petrofac announce co-operation agreement

5 January, 2012—Petrofac and Schlumberger announced that their Integrated Energy Services (IES) and Schlumberger Production Management (SPM) divisions respectively have signed a co-operation agreement under which these divisions will establish a working relationship to deliver integrated production projects in the emerging and growing production services and production enhancement market.

Both companies will deploy their own capital in these production enhancement projects and neither company will seek to book reserves or production. The market opportunity for the collaboration is significant as major resource holders seek to develop discovered low-risk reserves against an industry environment characterized by a shortage of capability and capacity.

 

Installed base of Sercel SeaPro Nav navigation system continues to grow

5 January, 2012—Sercel has confirmed the fifth installation in the past year of its advanced integrated navigation system, SeaPro Nav. CGGVeritas selected SeaPro Nav as its navigation system of choice and is expected to equip more than ten additional vessels in the company's fleet by the end of 2012.

SeaPro Nav has been designed with a flexible multivessel architecture to allow for the fast adoption of new seismic acquisition techniques. The system is also fully compatible with Sercel's marine equipment, such as the Sentinel solid streamer and Nautilus streamer control system.

 

Dolphin Geophysical names Paul Tollefson as manager, marketing and business development, multicient and processing

9 January 2012—Dolphin Geophysical appointed Paul Tollefson as manager, marketing and business development, multiclient and processing. Reporting to Ian T. Edwards, vice president of global multiclient, Tollefson will be responsible for the development and marketing of new multiclient surveys and promoting Dolphin's processing capabilities.

Since joining the seismic industry in 1975 with SSL, Tollefson has worked for Geco, Digicon, Veritas, and CGG & CGGVeritas. He has experience in a variety of sales and marketing roles in data processing, multiclient and corporate marketing having worked in Europe and Lagos.

 

RSI awarded WISE reprocessing project, offshore South East Asia and appoints James Tomlinson VP

9 January 2012—Rock Solid Images (RSI) has been awarded a project to reprocess and integrate seismic, CSEM, and well data by a South East Asia National Oil Company with a project value of US $1.1 million. The project will start immediately and complete within approximately four months.

RSI also announced the appointment, with immediate effect, of James Tomlinson as vice president of WISE products and services.

 

 Sale of Seismic Attribute Software license for $0.5 million

9 January 2012—RSI has provided a nonexclusive license of its seismic attribute interpretation technology to a major North American software vendor for a fee of US $0.5 million.

 

PGS begins data acquisition in Angola

11 January 2012—The Ramform Valiant, a seismic vessel owned and operated by Petroleum Geo-Services ASA (PGS), has started acquisition of over 26,000 km²of GeoStreamer data in five blocks in the Kwanza/Benguela Basins in Angola. The size of the survey area corresponds to an area slightly larger than Massachusetts or Wales. Following the block awards made on 20 December, BP, Total, and Statoil have been made operators of blocks 24, 25, 38, 39, and 40. Sonangol is a partner in all of the blocks.

PGS already has 2D GeoStreamer data over this area, acquired in 2010, and good quality conventional 3D datasets over blocks 24 and 25 that PGS will reprocess. Together these datasets will enable PGS to construct a velocity model for processing of the new 3D GeoStreamer data.In February, the PGS Apollo will join the Ramform Valiant and acquisition will continue with both vessels until late 2012. PGS teams will start processing data in March. Together, the two vessels will operate 20 vessel months on this project.