Archives for April 2020

April 2020

CSIRO study finds hydraulic fracturing fears unfounded

27/04/2020 Posted by Dale

An independent and authoritative review by Australia’s leading scientific agency, the CSIRO, provides further evidence there are no negative impacts of hydraulic fracturing that can’t be managed by robust regulation and high industry operating standards.

The study conducted by the CSIRO’s Gas Industry Social and Environmental Research Alliance, found the use of hydraulic fracturing to extract coal-seam gas in Queensland has little to no impact on groundwater, waterways, soils or air quality.

APPEA Chief Executive Andrew McConville said the CSIRO field study backs up over a dozen independent scientific inquiry that have confirmed that properly regulated, hydraulic fracturing is a safe practice.

Santos gets green light for Bedout Sub-Basin

27/04/2020 Posted by Dale

NOPSEMA has approved Santos' application for a 3D seismic marine survey in the Bedout Sub-basin offshore Western Australia.

The approval was granted on April 9, 2020.

The Keraudren Extension 3D Marine Seismic Survey area is located approximately 45km from Bedout Island, 56 km from the mainland and 141km from Port Hedland.

The survey data will develop regional geologic models to assist an exploration permit retention strategy and potential locations of future drilling of exploration and development wells and the seismic survey vessel will sail on pre-determined lines towing streamers with hydrophones to determine the structure and composition of geological formations below the seabed.

CGG Geosoftware innovates on with Cloud-Ready Reservoir characterization applications

27/04/2020 Posted by Dale

CGG GeoSoftware has released new versions of its Cloud-ready reservoir characterization and petrophysical interpretation software with features and functionality “that enhance the user experience, improve capabilities, and offer greater flexibility”.

CGG said all applications across the entire GeoSoftware portfolio now run on both Azure and AWS platforms, enabling easy access to products from wherever a client is working. The newest releases, Jason 10.1, HampsonRussell 10.5 and PowerLog 10.1, also offer advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence, as well as streamlined connections to Python ecosystem notebooks.

Jason 10.1 enhancements include further expansion of drag-and-drop functionality of files and viewers.

Strong Cooper Basin production helps oil and gas companies in tough time

27/04/2020 Posted by Dale

Booming oil and gas production in the Cooper Basin is helping South Australian companies survive through record low oil prices caused by the COVID-19 crisis.

Santos has reported its strongest quarter of gas production in the Cooper Basin in nine years while Beach Energy told the ASX this week it had achieved a 15 per cent oil production increase in the basin’s Western Flank.

In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange on Thursday, 23 April, Santos reported a $209 million fall in sales revenue for the March quarter.

Australia’s second-largest independent gas producer’s first quarter production of 17.

New date set for APPEA Conference in 2021

21/04/2020 Posted by Dale

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the APPEA Conference and Exhibition, originally planned for May 2020, has been postponed to June 14-17, 2021 at the Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre.

The APPEA Conference and Exhibition is the largest annual upstream oil and gas event in the southern hemisphere, attracting thousands of delegates from across the country and around the world.

The conference’s technical and business papers already submitted will be published in the 2020 APPEA Journal (to be released in May, further information will be advised in due course).

TGS begins Gambito 2020 offshore seismic survey

21/04/2020 Posted by Dale

TGS has commenced the Gambito 2020 3D seismic survey offshore Gambia.

The acquisition, utilising the BGP Prospector vessel, is being undertaken in conjunction with BGP under the cooperation of The Gambian Ministry of Petroleum & Energy

The 4,770km2 Gambito 2020 3D survey covers open acreage in deep and ultra-deep waters and is perceived to be highly prospective considering that extensive basin floor fans were identified in TGS’ 2D regional seismic grids.

The acquisition will take about three months, with the full dataset available set to be available after final processing in the second quarter of next year.

The survey will support a future licensing round in Gambia and TGS has exclusive rights to existing multi-client seismic data offshore The Gambia.

Santos gets green light for Bedout Sub-Basin survey

21/04/2020 Posted by Dale

NOPSEMA has approved Santos' application for a 3D seismic marine survey in the Bedout Sub-basin offshore Western Australia.

The approval was granted on April 9, 2020.

The Keraudren Extension 3D Marine Seismic Survey area is located approximately 45km from Bedout Island, 56 km from the mainland coastline and 141 km from Port Hedland.

Oil & gas M&A deals totalled US$5.6 billion in February

14/04/2020 Posted by Dale

Global oil & gas industry M&A deals were worth US$5.6 billion in February, according to GlobalData’s deals database.

The value marked a decrease of 37.8% over the previous month and a drop of 82.9% when compared with the last 12-month average, which stood at $32.62bn.

Comparing deals value in different regions of the globe, North America held the top position, with total announced deals in the period worth $2.19bn. At the country level, the US topped the list in terms of deal value at $2.04bn.

In terms of volumes, North America emerged as the top region for...

CGG announces sold Q1 financial results

14/04/2020 Posted by Dale

CGG has anticipated first quarter revenues of around US$273 million, down 3% year-on-year, including geoscience revenue of about US$93 million, up 2% year-on-year, and multi-client first quarter 2020 segment revenue around US$104 million -- up 17% year-on-year, with after-sales of around $47 million.

This was revealed in the company’s latest financial update in which CGG said it had generated a positive net cash flow of around $25 million during the first quarter of this year, with group cash liquidity of around $622 million at the end of March, net debt of around $583 million and a geoscience...

COVID-19 takes its toll on project sanctioning and exploration wells

14/04/2020 Posted by Dale

The effects of the COVID-19 virus, in tandem with the ongoing crude oil price war, are likely to reduce oil and gas project sanctioning by up to $131 billion, or about 68% year-on-year, as major players batten down the hatches to weather the story, according to Rystad Energy.

At the same time, at least nine of the world’s top planned exploration wells for 2020 are at risk of suspension, the independent energy research and business intelligence company has said.

Rystad said the wells most at risk were located in Norway, Brazil, the Bahamas, Guyana, the US, Gambia...