Business news for the week of 9 May 2011 News section front Past news briefs Seismic crew survey reports

TGS expands 3D Multiclient seismic data coverage in the Moray Firth

12 May 2011—TGS commences the second season of multiclient 3D seismic acquisition in the Moray Firth, offshore United Kingdom. The survey, MF11, will add over 2500 km² of new 3D data to the previous project area announced last June.

The M/V Oceanic Challenger will acquire the MF11 survey. Data collection is scheduled to be complete by the end of the third quarter in 2011. Data processing will be performed by TGS and will include time processing and depth imaging.

The survey area covers open and licensed acreage north and east of the previous project, including coverage of the Halibut Horst trend and acreage around the Kildare and Buchan fields.  Upon completion of this newest 3D multiclient project, TGS will have a total of 4700 km² of contiguous data in the area. Data from the Moray Firth 2011 survey will be available for customers in mid 2012. The survey is supported by industry funding.

 

Uruguay Round II: ANCAP steps forward in its seismic survey of the Uruguayan offshore

11 May 2011—Reflect Geophysical under an exclusive contract with ANCAP has already completed more than 80% of the survey for the acquisition of geophysical data in the Uruguayan offshore. Quality control, operations, and environmental supervision onboard of the seismic vessel R/V Reflect Aries is being performed by ANCAP personnel through all the survey.

ANCAP will offer field and preprocessed data on a sound and flexible licensing model to oil companies interested in evaluating the hydrocarbon potential and exploration opportunities offshore Uruguay, with regards to the Uruguay Round II in which ANCAP will offer offshore areas for exploration-exploitation of hydrocarbons.

The survey comprise a basic program of 49 lines for a totaling 5629 km, in a wide area of the Uruguayan Exclusive Economic Zone—from shallow water (20 m depth) 50 km offshore, up to ultradeep waters (2500 m depth) near to the borderline of the Zone.

The aim of the survey is to bring a regional picture of the evolution and exploratory potential of the Uruguayan offshore basins, as well as to delineate the multiple structural, stratigraphic and combined prospects and leads already identified.

This survey adds information to the amount of data already available by ANCAP, such as the commercialized by CGG Veritas for about 12.000 km of 2D seismic data (acquired in 2002, 2007, and 2008). ANCAP has signed also an agreement with the company ION/GXT for the acquisition, processing, and interpretation of seismic data of the Uruguayan offshore, the so-called UruguaySPAN (with a minimum program of 1800 km of regional seismic data that will link the Uruguayan basins with the neighboring basins of Brazil and Argentina).

 

Division management changes at Geometrics

11 May 2011—Geometrics announces the following personnel changes effective 1 April 2011. Rob Huggins has retired after 30 years of service. Huggins will continue to assist Geometrics in a part-time strategic planning consulting role. Ross Johnson has been promoted to vice president of magnetometer division, a similar title to his previous position, but with expanded responsibilities for the overall direction of the magnetometer product line including the launch of the new G-824. Craig Lippus has been promoted to vice president of seismic division, handling the growth of the seismic product line into new areas, including land systems as well as solid streamer and p-cable systems. Doug Groom has been promoted to director of geoelectrical products.

 

First deployment of Roxar Fieldwatch 2.3 to take place on Statoil's Sleipner Field

11 May 2011—Process Management has launched the latest version of its production management system, Roxar Fieldwatch 2.3. The new version incorporates a wide range of Emerson's reservoir monitoring instrumentation, providing operators with a more complete picture of the reservoir and of production activities.

Instrumentation and modules that will be incorporated into Fieldwatch 2.3 include the Roxar acoustic and intrusive sand monitors and erosion probes, with the combined system resulting in the faster identification and validation of sand production and more effective remedial action to establish production control; the Roxar downhole pressure and temperature gauges; and an updated well testing module which will generate results based on flow data direct from Emerson's third generation multiphase meter, the Roxar MPFM 2600. Benefits of the new well testing module include an integrated workflow from meter installation to well test reporting and post analysis, the user friendly tracking of well test jobs, and easy access to data for later analysis or inspection.

The first installation of Fieldwatch 2.3 is taking place on Statoil's Sleipner oil field in the North Sea where a combined sand and erosion monitoring system will see the integration of 3 Roxar Sand Erosion probes and 94 acoustic Roxar Sand monitors within Fieldwatch. In this way, Statoil will have an instant overview of asset sand production and erosion, be able to validate data through smart alarm systems, and optimise production by establishing maximum sand and erosion-free production rates.