Business news for the week of 27 September 2009

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Seismic crew survey reports

IHS Herold/Harrison Lovegrove study finds global oil and gas reserves fall despite record spending in 2008
23 September 2009—The worldwide upstream investment of 232 oil and gas companies increased 21% to US$492 billion in 2008, according to the 2009 Global Upstream Performance Review, released by oil and gas research firm IHS Herold Inc. and upstream corporate advisor Harrison Lovegrove & Co. Ltd. Despite record development spending, up 23% from 2007, worldwide oil and gas finding and development replacement rates fell in 2008 to 88% of production, the first year since 2004 in which production was not replaced. Total worldwide oil and gas reserves were 0.4% lower at year end 2008 as a 3% increase in gas reserves was more than offset by a 4.4 billion barrel decline in oil reserves. Acquisition spending fell 30% from 2008 as the M&A market collapsed over the course of the last five months of the year. But unproved acquisition outlays more than doubled to $62.4 billion and surpassed proved outlays for the first time.

The IHS Herold/Harrison Lovegrove study found returns to oil industry shareholders were impacted by the plunge in commodity prices in late 2008. Dividends rose to a record level, exceeding $100 billion for the first time, but common share repurchases were 23% lower, falling for the first time since 2004. As revenue fell in the second half of the year and financing options closed, many companies reduced or ended stock buyback programs to conserve increasingly scarce cash.

TGS acquisition on the Freedom Wide Azimuth Project completed
29 September 2009—TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company announced that the Freedom Wide Azimuth (WAZ) 3D seismic project in the Gulf of Mexico now has been fully acquired in cooperation with WesternGeco.

The Freedom project was first announced in December 2007 with the formation of the cooperation agreement between TGS and WesternGeco. Acquisition of the survey began in January of 2008 and was completed on 19 September 2009. Fast-track data products are being delivered to customers who have licensed the data. Additional imaging work will continue throughout 2010.

Through customer funding, the Freedom WAZ project grew from the original outline of 15 000 square kilometers to the final project outline, which totals over 16 600 square kilometers in the Mississippi Canyon and Atwater Valley areas of the deepwater central Gulf of Mexico.

The WesternGeco WAZ crew is now acquiring the TGS Liberty WAZ project under an extension of the agreement between TGS and WesternGeco. Liberty, a sister project to Freedom, extends the contiguous Wide Azimuth data coverage by an additional 3000 km² on the southwest side of Freedom.