Business News for the week of 2 March 2012 News section front Past news briefs Seismic crew survey reports

PathFinder introduces industry first at-bit inclination, gamma ray, and imaging service

2 March 2012—PathFinder, a Schlumberger company, announced the introduction of the iPZIG, an at-bit inclination, gamma ray, and imaging service. iPZIG technology is designed to optimize well placement in target zones through early bed boundary detection.

Developed specifically for unconventional oil and gas markets and high-efficiency drilling applications, the iPZIG service uses sensors placed directly behind the drill bit. Using data from the iPZIG service, changes in lithology and bottomhole assembly orientation are quickly identified and rapid steering decisions are made to stay in the production zone longer.

The iPZIG service has been field tested in coalbed methane, heavy oil, and shale plays in North America and Australia. One North American shale play operator drilled a 5000-ft, 8 ½-in lateral section in an abrasive formation using the iPZIG at-bit measurements to control well trajectory to stay in the target zone 100% of the time. Geological features identified from the real-time images aided in the geosteering interpretation.

To enhance iPZIG measurement interpretation, the tool can be paired with geosteering capabilities such as the PayZone Steering real-time forward modeling service. The PayZone Steering service uses forward modeling to predict the responses of the iPZIG total natural gamma ray and gamma ray image to the various geological formations along the proposed well path.

   

WesternGeco announces UniQ System sales division

5 March 2012—WesternGeco announced the formation of a new division to sell and lease its UniQ point-receiver land acquisition and processing system to other industry players. The move will make the UniQ system generally available to all service companies as well as to energy companies who maintain their own crews.

UniQ technology offers seismic imaging through better noise handling and resolution. The UniQ platform is designed as an open-architecture system with a proven capacity in excess of 200,000 channels and forms an autocorrecting, fault-tolerant layout that maximizes uptime and therefore reduces overall survey duration. Average downtime on one recent high channel count project was 1.7%. UniQ technology offers continuous recording and is compatible with all multiple source techniques. Productivity on one current project has averaged more than 20,000 vibrator points per day.

   

INOVA announces the release of G3i

5 March 2012—INOVA Geophysical released G3i, a land recording system. The mega channel recording system offers the industry a highly portable technology that provides support for conducting a wide range of land seismic surveys, including high-density wide azimuth acquisition for the world's most challenging environments. Based on years of product development experience in seismic acquisition technologies, INOVA has developed a cable-based recording system that offers advanced ground electronics, powerdown-the-line (PDL) technology and high productivity vibroseis (HPVS) capabilities. G3i supports over 100,000 channels and can be used to capture 2D, high-density 3D and time-lapse 4D data. The addition of this new cabled land system will offer seismic players in the industry another alternative for cablebased recording that meets a broad scope of operational demands, allowing contractors to achieve a higher rate of return on their assets.

Key features include its aircraft grade aluminum enclosure and high-strength polycarbonate exterior for maximum durability. Power management and deployment logistics are simplified because the G3i system utilizes PDL technology to evenly distribute battery power to multiple field station units using the power supply (PSU) and fiber tap (FTU) units along with standard 12V batteries. In addition, G3i's ground electronics consume only 235mW of power per channel measured at PSU.

G3i was also designed with the "do more with less" philosophy in mind; contractors can take advantage of having four analog channels in a 1.2 kg compact, remote acquisition module (RAM) station, as opposed to using the existing single channel stations offered by competitors. With less field equipment to transport, maintain, and troubleshoot, surveys can be operated more efficiently.

G3i was initially field tested in November of 2011 and later in February of this year for high-productivity vibroseis techniques in an oil field in Western China by BGP, the largest land geophysical contractor in the world. Both tests met BGP's high standards of excellence.

   

Schlumberger introduces new resistivity and imaging-while-drilling service

6 March 2012—Schlumberger introduces MicroScope a high-resolution resistivity and imaging-while-drilling service. On a single collar, this logging-while-drilling service provides high-resolution laterolog resistivity and full borehole images in conductive mud environments.

MicroScope technology has been deployed worldwide. In a tight gas carbonate reservoir in Asia, MicroScope measurements facilitated formation evaluation and clearly identified and defined the structural dips, faults and fractures along the horizontal section in a complex, thin, dolomite gas reservoir. The well was completed with an initial gas production of 120,000 m3/d, which exceeded the production goal.

In Wyoming, the service helped tap the potential of the Niobrara formation in the Denver-Julesburg basin. Both permeability and porosity in the Niobrara chalk are relatively low and production is usually enhanced by natural fractures. Keeping the wellbore within the highly fractured layer required accurate real-time information to guide steering decisions. MicroScope images facilitated well placement and fracture analysis to optimize hydraulic fracturing stage designs.

The MicroScope tool acquires focused laterolog resistivity measurements and images at four different depths of investigation, with azimuthal sensitivity. These measurements are essential for calculating reserve estimates, placing horizontal wells and optimizing completion design.

   

Schlumberger Business Consulting Releases 2011 Oil & Gas HR Benchmark Survey

8 March 2012—Schlumberger Business Consulting (SBC), the management consultancy arm of Schlumberger, released the 2011 Oil & Gas Human Resources (HR) Benchmark Survey—the annual review of trends and developments in technical staffing within the exploration and production (E&P) industry. The latest report highlights the diverging forces within talent management in the oil and gas industry resulting from changes in demographics, the increasing technical complexity of resource exploitation, and the challenges of developing pools of talent with the required experience and competencies.

Now in its eighth year, the Oil & Gas HR Benchmark Survey demonstrates that upstream companies, regardless of size, should consider human resources policy and competency management as key objectives. High-growth companies have more technical resources proportionately and more pragmatic HR policies than low growth companies. This year's survey attracted a record number of respondents with 37 participating upstream companies accounting for approximately 37% of global oil and gas production.