Senex Energy Ltd has celebrated notification from Jemena that it has completed the Project Atlas natural gas pipeline. In June 2018 Senex partnered with energy infrastructure provider Jemena to build, own and operate a 15 petajoule per annum (40 TJ/day) gas processing facility and 60km buried pipeline to the Wallumbilla Hub. Senex said Jemena has now reached mechanical completion of the pipeline, less than three months since construction began in July. Construction of the Project Atlas gas processing facility is ongoing, with commissioning of the facility and pipeline to begin soon.
Dale
CGG Delivers Advanced 4D Images for BP Angola Survey in eight weeks
CGG Subsurface Imaging, part of CGG’s Geoscience division, has delivered state-of-the-art broadband 4D seismic results ahead of schedule from BP Angola’s latest monitor survey offshore Angola. This achievement builds on previous 4D seismic processing projects undertaken for BP Angola. CGG said the enhanced imaging volumes from the Greater Plutonio development in the Lower Congo Basin were delivered four weeks early for this time-critical BP project.
Total and Santos given extension for Beehive decision
Total and Santos have requested a one-month extension from Melbana Energy for the deadline date to decide whether to acquire a 40% interest in WA-488-P by agreeing to jointly fund drilling of the Beehive-1 exploration well. Last April the six-month option period for Total and Santos to farm into the Melbana-operated Beehive prospect and drill the first exploration well started. This followed approval of 3D seismic data from the Beehive 3D survey. The project was further de-risked in June this year after Melbana had confirmed key technical characteristics of Beehive-1.
Successful Dorado-3 Baxter flow test exceeds expectations
Initial flow testing of the deeper Baxter reservoir of the Santos-operated Dorado-3 well has successfully exceeded expectations. Carnarvon Petroleum, which holds a 20% stake in Dorado, said the initial clean-up flow rate test over the Baxter Member was conducted over a 12-hour period with the flow rate constrained by the surface well equipment. The company said the flow rate achieved a maximum possible measured rate of approximately 48 million standard cubic feet (“MM scf”) per day of gas and 4,500 barrels (“bbls”) per day of associated condensate through a 60/64” choke.
Life-of-project enterprise agreements ‘a critical IR reform’
Allowing enterprise agreements to run the full length of major project construction is a sensible and long overdue reform, critical to securing the next wave of resources and energy project investment, says the Australian Resources and Energy Group. Life-of-project agreements are the subject of a policy discussion paper released last week by Attorney General and Minister for Industrial Relations, Christian Porter. CEO of Australian Resources and Energy Group AMMA Steve Knott said this would be a critical reform providing certainty around cost and timing of world-class resources and energy projects which take up to seven years to complete.
Drone attacks put petrochemical feedstock supply under strain
Drone attacks on Saudi Aramco will severely disrupt NGL and petrochemicals supply - much more than oil. The impact on global economic and geopolitical dynamics will be huge, writes Joseph Chang, Global Editor, ICIS Chemical Business. The drone attacks on Saudi Aramco’s oil and gas facilities and key infrastructure will have significant ripple effects in the global energy and petrochemical markets, as well as the global economy, as oil prices rise and natural gas production is disrupted. The drone strikes on 14 September hit the Khurais oilfield and Abqaiq, the world’s largest crude oil and natural gas processing site.
AEGC 2019 sets a new benchmark
On every score the second Australasian Exploration Geoscience Conference (AEGC2019) lived up to its rock star billing by exceeding even the wildest expectations. Record breaking numbers tallied after the gathering at Crown in Perth revealed that 1182 delegates, including 459 full conference subscribers, attended the four-day event in the first week of September. This represented growth in excess of 30% from last year’s inaugural event in Sydney comprising identified members that included: two AIG-ASEG-PESA, three AIG-PESA, 53 ASEG-PESA, 43 AIG-ASEG, 93 AIG, 245 ASEG and169 PESA memberships.
DUG announces appointment of Laurence Letki as Chief Geophysicist
DownUnder GeoSolutions (DUG) has announced the appointment of Laurence Letki as Chief Geophysicist. DUG described Ms Letki as “an invaluable and experienced team member”, who had been promoted from her position as Principal Geophysicist. Laurence is a highly respected industry professional, a leading expert on full waveform inversion, and a frequent speaker at oil and gas industry conferences around the globe.
Geoscientist employment opportunities continue improvement despite June quarter slowdown
Employment opportunities for Australia’s geoscientists continued to show a very slow-improving trend, despite disappointing results for the second quarter (April to June), an Australian Geoscientist Employment survey has established. The second quarter setback saw unemployment rise from 7.5% at the end of March, to 9.3% at the end of June. On the other hand, underemployment amongst self-employed geoscientists fell from 20.5% to 14.9% for the same period. The underemployment figure represents the proportion of self-employed geoscientists unable to secure more than one quarter of their desired workload. The survey was completed by 734 respondents nationally.
Sercel launches GPR – ‘a game-changing new ocean bottom node’
CGG has announced the launch by Sercel of GPR, a new Ocean Bottom Node (OBN). CGG said GPR “leverages the proven high performance of Sercel’s QuietSeis® broadband digital sensor technology to collect superior data for accurate seismic imaging compared to data collected by conventional sensors.” The company has jointly developed GPR in partnership with BGP.