Business news for the week of 7 September 2009

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Seismic crew survey reports

OpendTect now completely free
2 September 2009—dGB Earth Sciences announced that OpendTect is now a completely free seismic interpretation system. With the release of version 4.0, OpendTect supports all functionalities needed in seismic interpretation projects. The software is open source, and can be used at no cost as dGB has changed its licensing policy.

Henceforth OpendTect is released under a triple licensing strategy: (1) under the GNU/GPL license, (2) under a commercial license, and (3) under an academic license. Under the GNU/GPL license, OpendTect is completely free-of-charge, including for commercial use. The commercial license enables the user to extend the system with (closed source) commercial plugins that can either be purchased or leased. Under the academic license agreement, universities can get free licenses for OpendTect and commercial plugins for R&D and educational purposes.

This new release of OpendTect includes a large number of new features and improvements. Previous versions of OpendTect included a powerful attribute engine and spectral decomposition, and more standard features such as horizon tracking and 2D and 3D visualization. Version 4.0 adds, among other features, a synthetic-to-seismic well tie module, an SEGY-wizard, prestack AVO attribute computation, and time-to-depth conversion. Improvements include the updated step-wise horizon tracker and enhanced crossplot functionality.

Bergen Oilfield Services (BOS) begins new Adriatic 3D Survey
7 September 2009—BOS Angler recently commenced acquisition of a frontier 3D survey in Adriatic for Cairn Energy. The survey is approximately 400 km2 of high density 3D seismic over Cairn's Joni-5 permit in Southern Albania, and the permit encompasses 2,512 km². Water depths range from the coastline up to 1000 m. BOS Angler is “a geophysical toolbox vessel" and for this survey is configured for high-density 3D acquisition with six streamers. In addition, much attention has been given to environmental controls to complement the Angler's solid streamer advantage maintaining the strong BOS commitment to QHSE.

OYO Geospace announces US $18 million of new seismic contracts
8 September 2009—OYO Geospace announced it has recently received several orders totaling more than US $18 million. The company expects these product deliveries to occur throughout the remaining months of calendar year 2009.

OYO Geospace designs and manufactures instruments and equipment used by the oil and gas industry in the acquisition and processing of seismic data as well as in reservoir characterization and monitoring activities. The company also designs and manufactures equipment and film for the thermal printing industry worldwide.

GeoPressure Technology to undertake pressure study of Niger Delta
9 September 2009—GeoPressure Technology, an Ikon Science company, in association with Sonar Nigeria, is embarking on a Comprehensive Regional Pressure Study of the Niger Delta in Nigeria.



The pressure study of the Niger Delta will kick-off in October with an analysis of the Deepwater Offshore Depobelt with first results anticipated by end of 2010. It is then intended to continue additional studies on further Depobelts.



GeoPressure Technology will have access to all pressure data and relevant well data held by the operating companies. This is a provision of the contract with the Ministry of Petroleum Resources of Nigeria.



The study was awarded by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources of Nigeria through the Department of Petroleum Resources after a series of consultative meetings with National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS).


Seismic Equipment Solutions acquires TransGulf Tech
9 September 2009—
Seismic Equipment Solutions announced it has acquired TransGulf Tech, a marine seismic air gun and lead-in termination specialists that holds certification in high-pressure air systems and possesses experience in back deck design and rigging.

The acquisition expands SES’ marine and transition zone capabilities by providing highly specialized technical support solutions for the marine seismic industry.

CGGVeritas announces largest marine seismic contract
9 September 2009—CGGVeritas announced that it has been awarded a contract by Pemex to acquire and process 75000 km² of 3D seismic data offshore Gulf of Mexico. The program is expected to start in October 2009 and extend through 2013. Total contract value is approximately US $465 million.

The day rate contract includes 3D and wide-azimuth offshore acquisition, onboard and onshore imaging as well as gravity and magnetic acquisition and processing. Marine acquisition work will be performed by the Alizé, a high-end CGGVeritas vessel equipped with 12 Sercel Sentinel streamers.