radical new vessels and associated systemsplus innovative processing and interpretation of data.
” Norway’s offshore geophysical sector is a lively place and for long a source of…
Adding extra spice of course is the ongoing game of corporate chess by which we mean merger and acquisitions activity.
All of the foregoing has taken place over the past 12 months:
l l l Across two days consecutive in June 2008EMGS (Electromagnetic Geoservices) announced two important developments for the company – one billed as the ‘world’s first fully integrated EM system’ and a collaboration with Blueback Reservoir to launch a new decision-support tool for exploration professionals called Bridge.
EMGS specialises in seabed loggingwhich is based on electro magnetic (EM) waves. Otherwise generally referred to as CSEM (controlled source electro-magnetic surveythis company worked intimately with Statoil to develop the techniquebut became embroiled in a several years intellectual property wrangle that was essentially laid to rest in May 2006 when the University of Southampton withdrew its appeal against a 2005 decision by the UK Patent Office to award ownership of a UK patent and a number of foreign applications on sea bed logging to Statoil.
This in turn paved the way for the patent and applications to be transferred from Statoilto EMGS’s already substantial portfolio which continues to growwitness the news regarding the launch of Clearplay. Billed as the first every fully integrated EM system. EMGS describes it as ‘seamlessend-to-end EM services and products’.fusion package aimed at oil and gas exploration.
The objective? To enable clients to find and develop ‘more hydrocarbonsmore quicklyand at lower cost per barrel than traditional methods alone’.
As for Bridgethis is a software package designed to enable the easy integration of electromagnetic (EM) data with other geophysical and geological information such as 3D seismichopefully resulting in a clearer and more complete understanding of the subsurface.
AdditionallyBridge has also been developed as an EM plug-in for Petrela leading geological and geophysical integration platform developed by Blueback.
A measure of the confidence now shown in EM is that StatoilHydro has commissioned EMGS to carry out an extensive multi-client survey in the Barents Seaahead of Norway’s 20th exploration licensing round. At more than 3000km
The company was also commissioned to carry out a 2000sq km search for commercial hydrocarbon deposits in the Krishna-Godavari basinahead of India’s 7th New Exploration Licensing Policy round (NELP 7.)
Unlike traditional techniques that rely on seismic surveys to indicate potential reservoir structuresEM scanning technology searches for electrical properties (resistivity) that can indicate the location of hydrocarbons directly. Scanning with EM techniques offers the additional benefit of revealing potential leads such as stratigraphic trapswhich are not easily visible on seismic maps.
When Petoleum Geo-Services (PGS) took the plunge in the 1990s by ordering the world’s first Ramform-style survey vesselsthe company shook the seismic marketplace. Amid the aftershocks were attempts by competitors to develop other ultra-high capacity designs without infringing Ramform intellectual property.
That first generation of Ramforms is now being phased out andin their placethird generation S-class tonnage is being introducedstarting with Ramform Sovereign early 2008 since when the ship has rapidly acquitted itself including setting up a new record to a towed stream array.
That record was established in May while the Sovereign was working in the Norwegian North Sea. She deployed 17 streamers which were towed 50m apartnarrowly beating the earlier record of 16 held by the Ramform Victorywhich has gone to Japan’s Ministry of EconomyTrade and Industry.
The new vessel is 16m longer than the previous Ramforms with significantly higher acquisition and transit speed25percent greater enduranceand 60percent higher production capacity compared to the existing Ramform fleet.
The Sovereign is predicted to establish further towing records later this year when she starts on the seismic industry’s largest ever HD4D job for Petrobras where parts of the job will be conducted with 18 streamersagain with 50m separation.
PGS expects to take delivery of a second S-classRamform Sterlingin Q2 2009.
Despite the energy-sapping merger with TGS-Nopeca fraught process that has taken a year thus far but is yet to be completedand the knock-on impact of this on Wavefield Inseis Q1 2008 performanceWavefield Inseis Inseis appears to have landed one of the world’s biggest 3D seismic and on-board processing contracts.
The client is BPthe location is Libya’s offshore Sirte Basinand the work will be carried out using the Geowave Endeavourwhich is the latest 3-D survey vessel addition to the Wavefield Inseis fleet.
At the time of writingthe company had received a letter of intent from BP. The work is expected to take about a year to complete. On-board processing will include SRME (Surface-Related Multiple Elmination) and full Pre-Stack Time Migration.
BP staged a return to Libya H1 2007securing a package of on- and-offshore licenses. Howeverwhile the Sirte Basin is known to be prolificit is also expensive to drill. The energy major said in May that year that offshore wells would cost some $130million apiece – little wonder that a major seismic sweep is being conducted first prior to firming up on targets.
And little wonder that Wavefield Inseis is assigning its flagship to the task; Geowave Endeavour should become operational late 2008following her anticipated end of June launch at Norway’s Fosen shipyard.
The 160m vessel will have a 16 streamer capacity and eight gun stringsand Wavefield Inseis says is will be ‘perfectly suited’ to meet the growing demand for Howeverthe ship has other work booked prior to the Libya deployment with BPincluding working for BGcarrying out 3D work in the Norwegian North Seateamed with another of the company’s fleet – Geowave Master.
Like others in the seismic sectorWavefield views the future with optimismwith solid demand anticipated by its CEO Atle Jacobsen who said at the company’s Q1 2008 results announcement: “Despite operating in the shadow of the merger conflict since the autumn (2007)the company is now back on trackperforming and developing according to our initial stand alone strategy.”
Wavefield Inseis has so far seen a 15–20percent improvement in contract rates for 2008 versus 2007 and ended the first quarter with a contracts backlog of $210million for the remainder of the yearwith enquiries coming in for 2009.
Like othersthe company has also identified a trend for surveys to become larger and more operationally complex. This is a trend that favours large capacity 3D vessels and 2D units working with standardised equipment.
The foregoing is just a taste of what is happening in the Norwegian survey business and the sector will be very much to the fore at Offshore Northern Seas 2008 in StavangerAugust 26–29.
EMGS has launched new EM technologies and collaborations.
PGS has taken delivery of the first of its third generation survey vesselsimmediately setting up a new record for towed streamer arrays.
Wavefield Inseis and TGS Nopec announced a proposed merger in July 2007 thatat the time of writinghas still not been completed due to boardroom issues hampering progress.
high-density 4D seismic data and the need for
wide-azimuth and multi-azimuth data acquisition.
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