Business news for the week of 10 June 2009

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Seismic crew survey reports

ffA’s latest stratigraphic analysis software now available under Linux
9 June 2009—ffA is releasing SEA 3D Pro 2009.1, the latest version of its desktop 3D seismic analysis and volume interpretation software on the Linux platform, on 12 June 2009.

The new version offers Linux users a range of interactive analysis capabilities including the GPU-enabled interactive seismic facies classification module, extensions to the company’s frequency decomposition, multi-attribute color- and opacity-blending and iso-proportional slicing functionality.

SEA 3D Pro also incorporates an interactive link with Landmark’s GeoProbe 3D volume interpretation software.

Idea Integration to add OpenSpirit data integration to Constellation 2.0 GIS Solution
8 June 2009—Idea Integration, creator of Constellation, has licensed the OpenSpirit Software Developer Kit to OpenSpirit-enable the Constellation 2.0 framework. Geoscientists will have access to multiple geological and geophysical applications, and a single unified view and dashboard of corporate upstream assets.

Constellation 2.0 framework embeds ArcGIS Server 9.3.1 into Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for spatial search, charting, reporting, and integration via a centralized dashboard. Based upon client needs, the framework can tie into seismic, well, land, pipeline, or other oil and gas data assets.

Spectrum quadruples seismic processing capacity in Egypt
8 June 2009—Spectrum’s Egyptian joint venture, Spectrum-Geopex, has completed the first phase of a computer systems upgrade at its seismic data processing center in Nasr City, Cairo, that will quadruple its seismic processing capacity.

The recently completed first phase of its expansion program built upon previous upgrades in 2007 to increase the CPU count at its networked computer center by 50%. A second upgrade also scheduled for the second quarter 2009 will increase the computing power at Spectrum-Geopex to a total of 500 CPUs.

Spectrum-Geopex is also the latest location to upgrade to Globe Claritas software as part of Spectrum Group’s worldwide adoption program.

Schlumberger launches Ocean for Academia
 
8 June 2009—Schlumberger launched its Ocean for Academia Program, signing collaboration contracts with Rice, Stanford, Texas A&M, and Unicamp universities to develop new technology on the Ocean open software platform.

The universities will employ Ocean for a number of initial applications. The resulting Ocean plugins will augment Petrel seismic-to-simulation workflows in specific research and development areas relevant to upstream oil and gas. The program will expand to include additional universities in the coming months.



CGGVeritas extends its multiclient cluster survey offshore Brazil
8 June 2009—CGGVeritas has announced the extension of its multiclient “cluster” survey in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil. The original 23,000-km2 survey led to the recent discoveries of Tupi, Jupiter, and Carioca in this prolific basin that supported many other discoveries. The data were reprocessed in 2008 using the latest technology, including reverse time migration PSDM.

A new 16,000-km2 high-quality cluster extension is now being acquired, in six swaths, over open acreage to the south of the original survey. The cluster extension has already attracted numerous exploration and production companies wanting to be involved early in this promising area. Acquisition of all six swaths is expected to be complete by March 2010.

Swaths three and four, the first to be acquired, are expected to be complete, with fast-track PSTM, and available to the industry in late summer 2009. Final deliverables offered for the cluster extension include fast-track PSTM after each swath, controlled beam migration PSDM, Kirchhoff PSDM and reverse time migration PSDM.

Bull and ffA enter partnership agreement 

8 June 2009—ffA and Bull will work together to promote the use of interactive methods for 3D seismic analysis using HPC technology, in particular the use of GPU accelerators, within the E&P industry. These are fitted into Bull server nodes from the entry-level tower chassis systems with GPU and graphics cards, suitable for seismic interpretation workgroups, to very large hybrid clusters located in data centers, which Bull is delivering to government and energy customers.
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CGGVeritas completes multiclient survey offshore Jamaica
9 June 2009—CGGVeritas has announced the completion of an extensive multiclient long-offset 2D survey offshore Jamaica. The survey was conducted in cooperation with the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica to complement the second official offshore Jamaica licensing round, expected to be announced by the PCJ in early 2010.

The new 6118-km survey was acquired by the CGGVeritas vessel Discoverer 2 deploying a 9450-m streamer and a powerful 3980-in3 point source in often challenging conditions ranging from very shallow water over the Pedro Bank area to deep water with strong currents. The survey will be processed and made available to the international oil and gas industry well in advance of the licensing round application deadline. An additional 2594 km of 2D multiclient data, covering licensed blocks 9, 13, and 14 and tying the two exploration wells in the Pedro Bank area, have also been acquired for availability to the industry ahead of the licensing round.

The objective of the long-offset survey is to delineate the tectonic setting and prospectivity of the North and South Nicaragua Rise area offshore Jamaica as well as its relation to the more well-known area of the Walton Basin (Pedro Bank area). The survey covers large, essentially uncharted, and unexplored deepwater areas south of Jamaica and is tied to existing seismic data and exploration wells.

Hampson-Russell opens Mexico office to expand global support
10 June 2009—Hampson-Russell announced the opening of a new technical support office in Villahermosa, Mexico.

A resident team of geophysicists will provide onsite support for its advanced geophysical interpretation software to Pemex as well other client companies operating in Mexico. This team will join the CGGVeritas Reservoir Characterization Services Center already in place in Villahermosa.

Hampson-Russell will also open a support office in Beijing later in the year to add to its support offices in Houston, Calgary, London, Perth, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow, and Dubai.

OpenSpirit and SMT collaborate
10 June 2009—OpenSpirit will release the KINGDOM 8.4 data connector concurrent with SMT’s release of their new KINGDOM 8.4 core and advanced software solutions.

OpenSpirit handles coordinate reference system translations, enabling end users to transfer data between multiple KINGDOM projects, as well as other OpenSpirit-enabled data repositories.

As the year progresses, SMT and OpenSpirit will be working together to embed OpenSpirit in SMT’s next-generation data management suite, and also release the new SMT KINGDOM Application Adapter, announced in February. Interpreters will be able to work in the Windows environment while sharing data with any OpenSpirit-enabled application or data store, including solutions from Halliburton and Schlumberger.