Business News for the week of 7 January 2013

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Seismic crew survey reports

Funding available for environmental technology demonstrations

10 January 2013—The Department of Defense (DoD), through the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP), supports the demonstration of technologies that address priority DoD environmental requirements. The goal of ESTCP is to promote the transfer of innovative environmental technologies through demonstrations that collect the data needed for regulatory and DoD end-user acceptance. Projects conduct formal demonstrations at DoD facilities and sites in operational settings to document and validate improved performance and cost savings.

ESTCP is seeking proposals for innovative environmental technology demonstrations as candidates for funding beginning in fiscal year 2014. This solicitation requests pre-proposals via calls for proposals to federal organizations and via a broad agency announcement (BAA) for private sector organizations. Preproposals are due by Thursday, 14 March 2013.

Detailed instructions for DoD, non-DoD federal, and BAA proposers are available on the ESTCP website: http://www.serdp-estcp.org/Funding-Opportunities/ESTCP-Solicitations.

 

AGI announces appointment of Maeve Boland as director of geoscience policy

8 January 2013—The American Geosciences Institute appointed Maeve Boland as AGI's new director of geoscience policy. AGI's geoscience policy program serves as a link between the geosciences community and policymakers by sustaining communication, ensuring quality information flow, and representing the voices of AGI member societies.

Boland has extensive experience in industry, academia, and policy settings. After receiving BA and MSc degrees in geology from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, Boland worked in petroleum and mineral exploration in the private sector, and industrial minerals at the Geological Survey of Ireland. She later received her PhD in geology from the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, where she developed her policy expertise and taught multiple courses on the intersection of science and policy. Most recently, Boland served as AAAS executive branch science & technology policy fellow at the USGS (2010–2012) and as the American Geophysical Union congressional science fellow in the U.S. Senate (2009–2010). During her fellowships, Boland collaborated with stakeholders from Capitol Hill, the U.S. Department of Interior, the U.S. Department of Energy, the White House, and the private sector to address geoscience policy issues crucial to society. In her new role, Boland will serve as a focused voice for the shared policy interests of the geoscience profession.

 

Dynamic depth conversion functionality of new IHS Kingdom 8.8 software transforms geoscience workflows

15 January 2013—IHS has launched IHS Kingdom 8.8, the latest release of its leading geoscience software. IHS Kingdom now enables geologists and geophysicists to conduct dynamic depth conversion of time-based data. IHS Kingdom is a Microsoft Windows-based geoscience software interpretation tool used in more than 100 countries to evaluate potential oil and gas reservoirs and plan field development. This major release provides a new velocity modeling feature designed to increase workflow efficiency because it is built into the interpretation environment and automatically integrates with commonly used data, such as horizons and well tops. This feature allows interpreters to leverage these data to build and maintain a virtual velocity model to convert data from time to depth in a fraction of the time when compared to current practices.

 

Earth Science Week 2013 theme announced: "Mapping Our World"

15 January 2013—The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) has announced that the theme of Earth Science Week 2013 will be "Mapping Our World." This year's event will promote awareness of the many uses of maps and mapping technologies in the geosciences.

Earth Science Week 2013 materials and activities will engage young people and others in learning how geoscientists, geographers, and other mapping professionals use maps to represent land formations, natural resource deposits, bodies of water, fault lines, volcanic activity, weather patterns, travel routes, parks, businesses, population distribution, our shared geologic heritage, and more. Maps help show how the Earth systems—geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere—interact.

 

TGS commences 3D multiclient seismic survey offshore Liberia

16 January 2013—TGS has commenced acquisition of a 3D multiclient survey, Sunfish, which covers up to 7,800 km²of highly prospective acreage in the Harper Basin, offshore Liberia.  

TGS is chartering the 12-streamer Polarcus Asima for this survey. The charter will last approximately six months. Data processing will be performed by TGS and will be available to clients in late 2013, prior to the Liberia 2013 bid round. 

 

Offshore Technology Conference appoints new executive director

16 January 2013—Stephen Graham has been named as the new executive director of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC). His appointment was approved by the OTC Board of Directors at its meeting on 12 January. In this role, Graham will support the OTC board and lead management of all OTC events in Houston, Brazil, and Asia. Prior to this appointment, he served as OTC managing director for 10 years.