Business news for the week of 11 March 2009

Past news briefs

New addition to SKUA technology suite
24 February 2009—Paradigm announced the release of Paradigm SKUA 2009, its 3D modeling software environment that bridges the gap between seismic and simulation by removing current modeling limitations. The SKUA 2009 workflow expands SKUA capabilities into the interpretation field by linking the interpreter and modeler roles.

SKUA 2009 introduced Interpretation Modeling (previewed as Prospect Architecture), a new software with integrated workflows between seismic and geologic interpretation and modeling. Prospect Architecture, introduced in November 2008, was enhanced with new functionality and renamed Interpretation Modeling. The new package is designed to help interpreters, modelers, and reservoir teams merge seismic interpretation and SKUA UVT-based modeling. The 2009 release also introduces Stratigraphic Interpretation Modeling, based on SKUA technology, which provides tools to concurrently perform stratigraphic interpretation, geochronological modeling, and to perform 3D seismic paleo-restoration to restore depositional continuity. 

The package also includes SKUA 2009 Engineering Modeling that provides unbiased flow simulation grids in many structural or stratigraphic settings. The Engineering Modeling solution is a collaborative environment, which enables geoscientists and reservoir engineers to develop production forecasts and control development risks.

New Zealand's Maari Field flows first oil
25 February 2009—OMV announced first oil from Maari, New Zealand's largest oil field, located 80 km off Taranaki's south coast, and operated by OMV New
Zealand in a joint venture with Todd Energy, Horizon Oil International, and Cue Taranaki Pty. Over its 10–15 year life, Maari is expected to produce some 50 million barrels of oil.

The ENSCO 107 drilling rig has been in place at the Maari wellhead platform since last November to drill eight wells, five production and three water injectors. Two wells have been completed; the second one is currently being hooked up to the production facilities. The other production wells will progressively come on stream over the next few months.

Over the next two weeks, production testing will take place to ensure the floating production, storage, and the offtake vessel, the Raroa, is ready to process the field's output. The vessel is anchored 1.5 km from the wellhead platform, Tiro Tiro Moana.

The Raroa's role is to separate the oil from any gas and water and provide temporary storage until tankers arrive to transfer the oil to refineries. The first offtake is expected to occur in April 2009.

GeoSwath sonars operational at Rijkswaterstaat

2 March 2009—GeoAcoustics, a Kongsberg Maritime company, reports that four GeoSwath systems have been delivered to Rijkswaterstaat (RWS) in the Netherlands.

Rijkswaterstaat is the arm of the Dutch Ministry of Transportation and Water Management with responsibilities including the construction and maintennance of waterways and flood prevention.

All the GeoSwath installations on RWS vessels are configured with the the QINSy real-time interface and are set up to provide bathymetric mapping data along with coregistered side-scan images. A requirement during system tests was that the survey results matched previously acquired survey data, to within 7 cm. The trials demonstrated the GeoSwath data accuracy and repeatability.

As of the end of February 2009, three RWS vessels were operational with GeoSwath sonars: the S/V Speurder is being used in the southeast corner of Holland to monitor the Maas river and local canals; the S/V Siege is deployed mainly in the Waddenzee (the shallow sea in the north of Holland)—it's prime purpose is to survey and monitor the ferry shipping channel from the mainland to the islands, with an additional task of carrying out hydrographic surveys for various ports in the region; the S/V Markermeer is located in the Ijsselmeer and is tasked with monitoring the channels that provide access from the Rhine, Waal, and Maas rivers. A fourth vessel will join the Seige in the Waddenzee this summer.

The GeoSwath can rapidly be moved to a vessel of opportunity if required; for January 2009 the Spreuder's GeoSwath was deployed on a small shallow draft vessel to survey the Maas river when water levels were high due to melt water from the Alps.

AGI reports on the state of the geoscience economy
2 March 2009—The American Geological Institute Workforce Program has released the final chapter, “Economic Metrics and Drivers of the Geoscience Pipeline,” of the Status of the Geoscience
Workforce report. All chapters of this report are now available through the AGI Web site at http://www.agiweb.org/workforce/.

This chapter examines productive activity, commodity pricing and output, gross domestic product contribution, and market capitalization of the industries within which geoscientists work, along with the drivers that influence the geoscience component of the overall economy

The Status of the Geoscience Workforce report is based on original data collected by AGI as well as existing data from federal sources, professional and scientific membership organizations, and industry. The report integrates all available data sources into a comprehensive view of the human and economic parameters of the geosciences, including supply and training of new students, workforce demographics and employment projections, to trends in geoscience research funding and other economic indicators.

CGGVeritas vessel claims 3D seismic record

3 March 2009—The CGGVeritas Symphony vessel claimed an industry record for 3D seismic production efficiency by acquiring 2490 km2 of data during January.

Towing 12 Sentinel solid streamers, the high-capacity 3D vessel conducted a survey for Santos, a major Australian-based E&P company, offshore east India.

SCAN awarded seismic program offshore Chile
4 March 2009—SCAN Geophysical announced that the company has been awarded a letter of intent from Direccion Nacional de Fronteras y Limites del Estado, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for a 2D study in the vicinity of the oceanic islands, offshore Chile.
 
SCAN's dedicated 2D vessel, the M/V Geo Searcher using an 8000-m solid streamer system combined with a 4200-in3 source will be acquiring the approximate 1.5-month project, scheduled to commence early March and ending before May of 2009.

Acquisition has resumed on the TGS Freedom wide-azimuth project
5 March 2009—TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company announced that it, in conjunction with co-operation partner WesternGeco, has resumed data acquisition on the Freedom wide-azimuth multiclient project in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico, utilizing a higher-capacity operation that includes two recording vessels, each towing 10 streamers.     
 
Covering approximately 15,000 km2, Freedom is the one of the largest wide-azimuth programs in the world. Data acquisition originally commenced in January 2008, but had been temporarily interrupted since October 2008. Located in a highly prolific area in the Gulf of Mexico, the well-funded project is currently 50% complete, and field operations are on schedule for completion in August 2009. TGS has delivered preliminary products to participating oil companies. 

StatoilHydro awards Paradigm multiyear technology access contract

5 March 2009—Paradigm announced that Paradigm and StatoilHydro have entered into a multiyear agreement to deploy a broad suite of Paradigm subsurface E&P asset management software applications on a globally accessible basis across StatoilHydro’s operations worldwide. 

As exploration continues with increasing reservoir complexity and data sets grow larger and larger, StatoilHydro geoscientists will now be able to access Paradigm petrophysics, depth conversion, interpretation, and processing and imaging technology. This will allow StatoilHydro to deploy workflows and knowledge, developed in Norway, throughout all of their international offices.

Spectraseis signs strategic partnership with Saudi Makamin
9 March 2009—Spectraseis announced that it has entered into a long-term, strategic partnership with Saudi Makamin Company, the Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia-based oilfield services group.

Under the agreement, Spectraseis and Makamin are forming a joint venture in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia to market and deliver low-frequency geophysical solutions in the Middle East. Makamin has also become an owner of Spectraseis, alongside the company's major shareholders Warburg Pincus and StatoilHydro Ventures. The deal was presented to the Saudi Consul General in Geneva, Nabil M. Al Saleh, on 16 February 2009.