Business News for the week of 7 June 2012 News section front Daniel Trad receives CSEG Technical Achievement Award 24 May 2012—Daniel Trad, research advisor at the CGGVeritas Calgary processing and imaging center, was awarded the inaugural 2011 CSEG Technical Achievement Award Citation for his work on 5D interpolation. This citation is awarded to an individual who has made an outstanding technical contribution in the field of Canadian geophysics as manifested over the past five years. Trads's work spearheaded a new model for seismic data processing, and a standard that is being adopted by companies worldwide. He developed the first multidimensional commercial algorithm for the regularization of data that depends on four spatial coordinates. This is commonly referred to as 5D interpolation (four spatial coordinates plus time or frequency). Trad's vision for this technology was rooted in recognizing the value of collaborating with an academic team, a clear identification of industrial needs, and embarking into the development of a functional and robust solution to the 5D interpolation problem. He also paid particular attention to the needs of seismic interpreters—the final users of 5D interpolation.
Laszlo Kestay named director of Astrogeology Science Center 24 May 2012—Laszlo Kestay has been named the new director of the U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center, based in Flagstaff, Arizona. Kestay will lead the astrogeology team in working closely with NASA and other planetary science organizations to develop and operate space missions exploring the Solar System, process and analyze data from many types of instruments from solar-system missions, produce and archive precision cartographic products, and conduct cutting-edge science. Kestay began his new position 20 May 2012. Since 2003, he has been a research geologist at the Astrogeology Science Center, where he has served in a variety of capacities including associate director for both science and for technical operations.
Ion launches WiBand 29 May 2012—Ion Geophysical's GX Technology data processing group has introduced a seismic data processing technology that delivers broadband results for conventional flat streamer data. Known as WiBand this new technology delivers superior high-resolution images that interpreters can use to help their E&P companies make more accurate and reliable technical decisions.
Spectraseis names senior sales engineer 31 May 2012—Spectraseis has appointed Dan Prairie senior sales engineer for seismic monitoring services. Prairie, 47, a graduate of the Colorado School of Mines in electrical engineering, holds a masters in project management from the Keller Graduate School of Management. He has 25 years' experience of marketing survey and mapping systems, industrial instrumentation and engineered magnetic assemblies. At Spectraseis, Prairie will focus on delivering customer solutions for operators who want to more precisely monitor and control seismicity—such as small magnitude Earth tremors—in conjunction with their field activities. Spectraseis recently installed a seismic monitoring array for an unconventional gas producer in the U.S. The project will deliver continuous data on seismicity in the vicinity of the company's oil and gas well operations using a semi-permanent installation of highly sensitive broadband seismometers and a transmission network, which will deliver data back to Spectraseis for processing and analysis in real-time. A web interface provides customer access to the network data. By monitoring seismic activity around some of its wellsites, the producer will build a better understanding of local seismicity and any association with their operations. This will better position the company to evaluate whether seismic events are related to their areas of operation and take proactive steps to ensure safe operations.
Octio announces partnership with Siemens in permanent reservoir monitoring 4 June 2012—Octio, a solution provider of permanent oil-field monitoring announced a formalized partnership with Siemens in permanent reservoir monitoring. Under the partnership the two parties offer complete PRM-solution to customers on a global basis. The joint offering with Siemens will include Octio's sensor node design, sensor network layout, sensor software, data collection system and QC software, seismic operations and geophysical planning, and co-ordination.
ION launches Calypso seabed seismic system 4 June 2012—ION Geophysical Corporation announced the launch of Calypso, its next generation redeployable seabed acquisition system. Leveraging ION's VectorSeis digital sensors to deliver the same broadband imaging, Calypso is designed to operate at twice the depth and to deliver twice the operational efficiency of its predecessor system, VectorSeis Ocean (VSO). The seabed seismic market has grown over 250% in the last five years, with over US $300 million in contracts awarded in the first quarter of 2012 alone. Prompting this tremendous growth is seabed seismic's ability to deliver superior image quality and operate in areas of dense infrastructure. Yet, despite its increasing popularity, seabed seismic still represents a relatively small percentage of total marine seismic projects, largely due to historically high costs and long cycle times relative to towed-streamer acquisition. ION's new Calypso system has the potential to mitigate both barriers to wider adoption by doubling cable lengths and productivity while significantly expanding operating depths. Since 2004, ION's seabed acquisition systems have delivered the highest-quality seismic data on numerous projects worldwide, including in the Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, Caspian Sea, Middle East, offshore Brazil and West Africa. ION's Calypso system leverages ION's VectorSeis sensor to provide the same imaging as VSO, but with step-change improvements in efficiency, operating depths, and flexibility:
The newly designed rugged system excels in water depths from 5 to 2000 m, providing flexibility to work in the most challenging fields and conditions.
Dolphin announces new Chairman 4 June 2012—Dolphin Group ASA has appointed Tim Wells as chairman of the board. Wells has more than 35 years' experience in the seismic industry. He began his career with Digicon Geophysical in Houston as a processing geophysicist and was rapidly promoted to manage their South and North American processing business. Later he moved to Singapore, where he first became manager of regional processing before assuming the role as president for the Asia Pacific Region. He was then involved in the merger with Veritas in 1999 and assumed the role as president and COO for the merged company. In 2007 CGG acquired VeritasDGC and assumed the role of president of Western Hemisphere for CGGVeritas until he resigned in 2009. Wells has been a part of the founder team starting the geophysical business of Dolphin Group ASA in 2010.
Geomage unveils next generation of model independent seismic imaging, COMF 4 June 2012—Geomage introduced its new common offset multifocusing (COMF) line of products. Over the past few years, multifocusing time imaging has become the industry standard in improving the quality of seismic imaging in areas with poor signal-to-noise ratio derived from complex geology, severe terrain, and sparse seismic acquisition. COMF technology expands the variety of seismic imaging applications by overcoming the limitation of spherical (quasi-hyperbolic) approximation.
ffA GeoTeric First Geological Expression software certified for NVIDIA Maximus Technology GeoTeric software running on NVIDIA Maximus powered workstations provides the kind of GPU horsepower required for conducting large-model visualization and GPU-based computations simultaneously on the interpreter's desktop. NVIDIA Maximus technology combines the visualization and interactive design capability of NVIDIA Quadro GPUs and the high-performance computing power of NVIDIA Tesla GPUs into a single workstation. Tesla companion processors automatically perform the heavy lifting of photorealistic rendering or engineering simulation computation. This frees up the Quadro GPU to be dedicated to powering rich, full-performance, interactive seismic visualisation.
ffA announces opening of Rio de Janeiro Office 4 June 2012—ffA announced an office in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil which opens for business in June. ffA is expanding its operation into Brazil as a direct result of its business development and growth strategy in this region. Romario Lima, who joins the Company this week as business development, manager will be based in the Rio office as the newest member of The Americas team headed up by Chris Cottam.
INOVA delivers Hawk Nodal System to Tesla Exploration for deployment in the Marcellus Shale Hawk supports both three-channel analog geophones and VectorSeis multicomponent digital sensors with the same field station electronics for better characterization in unconventional plays.
Sercel launches next-generation Sentinel RD Solid Streamer 5 June 2012—Sercel announced the expansion of its marine seismic equipment offering with the launch of the Sentinel RD, the latest generation of its Sentinel solid streamer. Fully compatible with Sercel's Seal 428 and Sentinel, the Sentinel RD has a reduced diameter and a 15 % weight reduction, providing reduced cable drag and increased storage capacity onboard seismic vessels.
Schlumberger launches marine seismic technology 5 June 2012—Schlumberger launched IsoMetrix marine isometric seismic technology and the IsoMetrix family of marine seismic products. This technology outputs isometrically sampled point-receiver data in both crossline and inline directions—capturing the returning wavefield in three dimensions. The IsoMetrix system uses calibrated, multisensor MEMS technology that forms part of the new WesternGeco Nessie-6 point-receiver seismic streamer. The sensors measure acoustic pressure as well as vertical and crossline acceleration throughout the frequency range, and these measurements are provided as customer deliverables. IsoMetrix technology enables efficient exploration, high-resolution near-surface characterization, well integrity planning and unmatched 4D repeatability. The technology is compatible with other WesternGeco services such as the coil shooting and dual coil shooting acquisition techniques. Field trials last year proved the technology's high accuracy, achieving a 12:1 crossline reconstruction ratio and producing a 6.25-m data grid from streamers 75 m apart. |
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