Business News for the week of 29 April 2013

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Seismic crew survey reports

PGS reveals the ultimate seismic acquisition platform

26 April 2013—PGS named their new seismic acquisition vessel, Ramform Titan, at MHI yard in Nagasaki, Japan. The 24-streamer vessel is the widest ship in the world at the waterline. She is the first of four such vessels to be built in Japan. Her 70-m broad stern has 24-streamer reels: 16 reels aligned abreast, and 8 reels further forward.

 

WesternGeco commences multiclient seismic survey offshore Mozambique

30 April 2013—WesternGeco has begun acquisition of a major multiclient seismic survey offshore Mozambique using the ObliQ sliding-notch broadband acquisition and imaging technique. The technique optimizes the recorded bandwidth of the seismic signal enabling more detailed imaging of the subsurface and more reliable extraction of rock properties.

The survey is being acquired in collaboration with the National Petroleum Institute of Mozambique and is fully supported by industry prefunding. It consists of more than 31,000 km long-offset 2D data and covers the majority of the offshore territory of Mozambique where future licensing rounds are expected.

 

Spectrum extends 3D multiclient seismic coverage offshore Lebanon

1 May 2013—Spectrum has announced the start of another multiclient 3D survey in the Levantine Basin offshore Lebanon. This new survey covers approximately 2200 km² and the acquisition will be performed by Polarcus using its 12-streamer vessel Adira.

 

Paradigm names Arshad Matin as new president, CEO, and board member

1 May 2013—Paradigm announced that Arshad Matin has been appointed as the company's president and CEO and a member of the board of directors. In his new role as CEO, Matin will be responsible for leading the development and execution of the company's strategy. He will be based in Houston, Texas.

Previously, Matin served as executive vice president at IHS where he managed all business lines accounting for over US $1.5 billion in revenues. He also led Seismic Micro-Technology (acquired by IHS) as president and CEO. He also held the position of president and COO of BindView Corporation (acquired by Symantec) and led an enterprise security business at Symantec Corporation.

Matin holds an MBA in finance from the University of Pennsylvania—The Wharton School, an MSE degree in computer engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and a BE degree in electrical engineering from Regional Engineering College in Bhopal, India.

 

Offshore Lebanon licensing round opens

3 May 2013—PGS has completed its seventh multiclient 3D survey in Lebanon in preparation for Lebanon's first licensing round, which opened on 2 May 2013.

PGS seismic exploration activities have been the catalyst for a succession of major discoveries in the Mediterranean region in recent years. PGS has been acquiring data in offshore Lebanon since 2006 and PGS' latest surveys, of 2150 km² and 350 km², were also both acquired in cooperation with the Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Water. These two surveys were also the first 3D surveys to be acquired in Lebanon using GeoStreamer technology, achieving higher data quality and generating substantial gains in the accuracy and targeting of oil companies' exploration efforts.

 

PGS multiclient 3D offshore Lebanon surveys

1 May 2013—PGS has performed multiclient surveys offshore Lebanon. The most recent survey is along the southern half of the Lebanese coastline and covers gas-prone Tamar sand structures in the Levantine Basin in addition to potential oil-prone Mesozoic features on the Levant Margin. This data set also ties in with other PGS multiclient 3D surveys in Lebanon.

Previous multiclient 3D surveys offshore to Lebanon have included recent extensions of previous surveys in the Latakia Ridge and other large Syrian- and Cyprus-Arc deformation folds, covering structural closures extending south into the Levantine Basin; as well as surveys in the North Eastern part of the Levantine Basin; the central part of the Levantine Basin; the southern part of the Levantine Basin and Levant Margin, close to the Tamar, Dalit, Leviathan, and Aphrodite gas discoveries; and 2D geostreamer extensions of Cyprus geostreamer lines. As a combined picture of this offshore area for oil and gas development, PGS has the most comprehensive database available (10,000 km² of 3D data and 9,000 line-km of 2D data), providing oil companies with a picture of the opportunities available.

 

EMGS signs multiclient contract worth US $6.4 million

3 May 2013—Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA (EMGS) has signed a data licensing agreement worth US $6.4 million for the provision of 3D controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) and magnetotelluric (MT) data from EMGS's multiclient data library in the Norwegian Sea. These revenues will be recognized in the second quarter of 2013. Following this transaction, EMGS has in total secured close to $15 million of multiclient sales from the basalt mapping program in the West of Shetland area and production licenses 598 and 527 in the Norwegian Sea.

In addition, EMGS has secured initial prefunding for the first phase of its 2013 Barents Sea multiclient survey program, which covers approximately 3,000 km² of 3D EM data over the western Bjarmeland platform and Fingerdjupet sub-basin. EMGS's 3D EM multiclient data library in the Barents Sea will upon completion of this survey cover approximately 27,000 km². The company expects that the vessel Atlantic Guardian will complete phase one of the 2013 Barents Sea multiclient survey program by the end of June.