Business news for the week of 28 February 2011 News section front Past news briefs Seismic crew survey reports

KMS Technologies -KJT Enterprises now employee owned

14 February 2011—At KMS Technologies-KJT Enterprises the employees have taken over the shareholdings of their original majority shareholder. The company is now fully employee owned.

 

Sercel announces the sale of 10,000 DSUs to Comesa

24 February 2011—CGGVeritas announced that its equipment subsidiary Sercel has been awarded a contract by Compania Mexicana de Exploraciones S.A. de C.V. (Comesa) for the purchase of 10,000 digital sensor units (DSU), including 9250 DSUGPS stakeless three-component (3C) digital sensors for dry land operations and 750 DSU3BV buried version digital sensor units for transition zone operations.

Comesa has been equipping its land acquisition crews with Sercel 408, 428XL and UNITE cable-free acquisition systems since 2002 and has now added the DSUGPS system to its list of state-of-the-art Sercel equipment.

The DSUGPS integrates two GPS antennas, enabling it to calculate both the DSU position and sensor azimuth within the recorded data.  This highly accurate information is vital to 3C applications.

This new-generation 3C acquisition product offers faster deployment by eliminating the need for time-consuming positioning surveys of receiver locations, better coupling with the earth's surface with no need to adjust sensor positions and superior processed results through elimination of deployment errors.

 

Geovariances releases Isatis 2011

Geovariances announced the latest release of the Reference in Geostatistics, Isatis 2011.
New to Isatis 2011 are geostatistical methodologies including local geostatistics, which locally optimizes geostatistical parameters for improving mapping, grade estimation, facies modeling, or uncertainty assessment. The technique goes with a one-of-a-kind local automatic variogram fitting tool, which identifies local anisotropies and builds a fully multivariate local model simultaneously.

Isatis 2011 new capabilitities also include multiple-point statistics (MPS) implemented with the optimized Impala library from Ephesia Consult. This particular algorithm enables complex geological environment modeling whilst providing unrivalled performances.

New to Isatis 2011 are features for the mining industry related to the latest M2RC research consortium developments. They consist in applications on border effect and contact analysis, which focus on the analysis of the transition between geological domains.

 

CGGVeritas and JSC Geotech Holding announce future marine joint venture in Russia and CIS

25 February 2011—CGGVeritas and JSC Geotech Holding (Geotech) have signed a term sheet to create a joint venture to operate 2D and 3D marine seismic vessels, primarily in Russian and CIS waters.

The joint venture will provide marine seismic data acquisition and processing services for the oil and gas clients operating locally in Russia and CIS. CGGVeritas will make available one 2D ice class vessel and one 3D ice class vessel, to the joint venture.

 

CGGVeritas announces future marine joint venture in Indonesia with Elnusa

25 February 2011—CGGVeritas has signed a term sheet with PT Elnusa Tbk (Elnusa) to create a 2D/3D marine joint venture to carry out 2D and 3D marine seismic surveys in theAsia Pacific Region, with main focus in Indonesia.

The joint venture will provide marine seismic data acquisition services for oil and gas clients operating locally in Indonesia and the region. CGGVeritas will contribute one four-streamer, purpose-built in Singapore, state-of-the-art vessel, to the joint venture.

 

Stingray launches FosarFocus System for targeted well zone monitoring applications

25 February 2011—Stingray Geophysical Limited has announced the launch of the modular, fibre-optic FosarFocus system. By permanently installing a small, highly sensitive, broadband FosarFocus 4C (multicomponent) seismic sensing array on the seabed over the target area, high dynamic range active and passive time-lapse data can be acquired, enabling optimised production and hydrocarbon recovery through improved reservoir management decision making.

For flood front monitoring applications, a FosarFocus array is installed between injector and producer wells. Frequent repeat seismic surveys provide intra-well reservoir time-lapse signals for dynamic reservoir model updates. These updates provide critical information on the location of the fluid front, pressure distribution and flow barriers or thief zones between injector and producer wells.  In addition, time-lapse seismic provides dynamic information that can be used to identify which well zones are producing effectively and when and where remedial action may be required.

For fracture monitoring applications, the FosarFocus system is deployed in a cross or star pattern above the zone being stimulated.  Micro-seismic events associated with reservoir stimulation and detected by the array are transmitted to a data centre for processing and updating of the reservoir model.  By providing the stimulated fracture geometry, azimuth, connectivity and density, microseismic monitoring allows optimisation of the hydraulic fracture operation, enabling faster hydrocarbon recovery and lower drilling and completion costs over the life of a field. To facilitate optimal fracture operation planning, an active seismic survey provides pre (and post) stimulation information on the reservoir fracture network and stress field.

 

Uruguay Round II: Ancap signed contract with Fugro for Uruguay offshore survey

25 February 2011—Uruguay is state-run oil company ANCAP signed a contract with the international company Fugro for the provision of geophysical services covering a complete aeromagnetic survey of Pelotas, Punta del Este, and Oriental del Plata offshore basins. It is expected that the acquisition and processing of the aeromagnetic data will last around six months.

The contract is multiclient. The costs and the risks generated by the survey will be covered by Fugro who then will have exclusive rights for licensing the data to the oil companies interested in the Uruguay Round II bid for the offshore E&P on early 2012.

The company will commence the survey when it has obtained enough prefunding from oil companies to afford the budget.  The agreement covers the acquisition, processing and interpretation of 50,000 linear km of high-resolution magnetic data of the Uruguayan offshore.

The aeromagnetic data will allow better understanding of the tectonic evolution, as well as identifying the structural elements for the definition of play concepts in these rift basins. ANCAP already holds multiclient agreements with CGG Veritas for nearly 12,000 km of 2D seismic data (acquired from 2002 to 2008), and has signed an agreement with ION/GXT for the acquisition, processing, and interpretation of seismic data offshore, the so-called UruguaySPAN (3000–3500 km of regional data that will link the Uruguayan basins with the neighboring offshore basins in Brazil and Argentina). In coming weeks ANCAP is going to announce the winner of a tender for acquisition of exclusive regional and infill 2D seismic data (between 5600 km and 7000 km of regional and infill data).

In addition, ANCAP is negotiating agreements for the identification of oil seeps, the analysis of samples of the offshore wells for fluid inclusions stratigraphy, petroleum geology evaluation, as well as other nonexclusive projects with international service companies.

 

Schlumberger introduces new high build rate rotary steerable system for increased reservoir exposure

1 March 2011—Schlumberger released the PowerDrive Archer high build rate rotary steerable system (RSS). The system delivers well profiles previously possible only with motors, and with the ROP and wellbore quality of a fully rotating RSS.

The system can drill complex 3D trajectories and openhole sidetracks from any inclination. It can drill vertical and horizontal sections, in one run, with no flat time for trips to change the bottomhole assembly.

Field tests have been run primarily in North America and the Middle East. One Marcellus Shale operator in North America saved more than US $1 million by eliminating 10 days drilling time per well, in addition to acquiring high-quality wellbores, which facilitated completions. In the Middle East, an operator maintained verticality longer, drilling the 12 ¼-in section faster and pushing kickoff deeper with the higher build rate achieved in the 8 ½-in section.

The PowerDrive Archer unique hybrid steering system is a combination of both push- and point-the-bit technologies. This allows the tool to deliver high-build rates from any deviation and do so accurately from vertical.

The control unit comes from PowerDrive X6 RSS, which allows a wider operating envelope and provides greater reliability. All PowerDrive Archer external parts rotate, reducing the risk of mechanical or differential sticking and improving wellbore quality for easier well completion.

 

A return to potash: Spectrum & Hornet Geoconsulting join the search

1 March 2011—Spectrum & Hornet Geoconsulting have been awarded a seismic evaluation and interpretation project from York Potash Ltd. The project is part of York's resource appraisal program with respect to the potential creation of a large new potash mine in North Yorkshire.

Working in close co-operation with local specialists, FWS consultants, all the existing seismic data and well logs are being assessed prior to a detailed interpretation project aimed at determining required future studies and ultimately locating the new mine site.

The project is being undertaken by Spectrum's UK-based data processing center in Woking, Surrey. This is the first project that Spectrum have undertaken for York Potash, which was recently acquired by global potash exploration and mining company Sirius Minerals. The project area covers the coastal line from Scarborough to Whitby and extends into the North Sea. The existing seismic and well data comprises many different vintages and because of the coastal area covers land and marine environments.

The project goal is to investigate the potential for opening a new deep Potash mine in Britain, the like of which has not been seen for over 40 years. York Potash is in the advance stages of a planned drilling program to define the extent of the potash deposit.  The results of the drilling program will be combined with results of the seismic analysis to decide on the exact location for the planned mine.

Successful investigation and construction of the planned Potash mine has the potential for far reaching economic stimulus with job creation in the area. Furthermore potential supply to the UK fertiliser market would have a national impact on the security of supply; the opening of the mine would cover supply for the next 50 years or more. Currently there is only one active mine in the UK, which is also in the Yorkshire area. Stringent studies will be undertaken to ensure that the environmental impact of the project will be minimised.

Spectrum will be reprocessing the existing data to give the optimum input for interpretation by Hornet Geoconsulting. This in turn will be used to plan evaluation boreholes and future new acquisition. It is planned to employ proprietary techniques to enhance the bandwidth of the data allowing the minor faults expected to be present and thickness variations to be mapped more accurately.