Company Updates

PGS tightens the reins to ride out COVID-19 storm

09/06/2020 Posted by Dale

PGS says it will implement further cost reductions to bring annual gross cash cost run-rate to approximately $400 million through staff reductions, re-organization, consolidation of offices, re-negotiation of service agreements and other cost measures.

The Norway-based marine geophysics company said the Covid-19 pandemic and related disruption in the oil market had caused unprecedented challenges for the seismic industry and would temporarily cause a significant reduction of activity levels. PGS is responding to this challenge by further adjusting its cost base to the lower activity level while retaining its core global capabilities and ability to scale up when demand resumes.

Earlier PGS had announced the stacking of three out of the eight 3D vessels operated at the start of the year, and several other cost measures.

Senex and GLNG to supply Roma North natural gas to the domestic market

02/06/2020 Posted by Dale

Senex and GLNG have agreed a short-term re-direction of around 1 PJ of natural gas from Roma North to the domestic market.

This follows GLNG’s currently lower LNG offtake requirements and material production outperformance at Roma North, Senex said in a market update.

The company said Surat Basin production continues to perform strongly, currently above 34 TJ/day, and upgraded its FY20 guidance from 1.8 – 2.0mmboe to 2.0 – 2.1 mmboe with EBITDA increasing to $45 – 55 million (previously $40 – 50 million).

Part of Roma North gas production will be re-directed to the domestic market and Senex will reduce natural gas supply to GLNG by around 1 PJ over the period June to August 2020 at GLNG’s request, following currently lower LNG offtake requirements at GLNG.

Searcher receives ISO certification

25/05/2020 Posted by Dale

Searcher has announced that it achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification for its quality management system.

The certification covers the provision of geological, geophysical, geotechnical and GIS data acquisition, collection, processing and interpretation to the exploration and resources sectors. Following an extensive audit process, the certification was issued to Searcher by SAI Global in April 2020, the company said.

Alan Hopping, Executive Vice President of Operations for Searcher, said: “Achieving the ISO 9001 accreditation is confirmation of Searcher’s demonstrated and ongoing commitment to consistently delivering the highest quality products and services to our clients.

“The team was faced with...

Neptune completes survey in Bonaparte Basin

25/05/2020 Posted by Dale

Neptune Energy announced the successful acquisition of the 3D broadband seismic survey of the extensive Petrel field located in the Bonaparte basin of Australia.

The 2,900 km2 survey significantly expanded the area of seismic data Neptune holds and increased the quality and breadth of data.

Initial findings from the survey have been received with the remaining processed data due to be delivered later this year.

Internal analysis and interpretation of the acquired data will allow Neptune and its partners to plan for the future.

Neptune Energy Australia Managing Director, Janet Hann said: “The safe and successful completion of the survey is testament to the excellent teamwork of Neptune and its partners.

Shearwater wins Forties Field seismic survey from Apache

19/05/2020 Posted by Dale

Shearwater GeoServices has announced the award by Apache of a 4D seismic survey with 3D extension over the Forties Field in the UK North Sea.

“We are very pleased to see a Shearwater Qmarine 4D crew returning to the Forties Field for the fourth time,” said Irene Waage Basili, the CEO of Shearwater GeoServices.

“The project adds to the North Sea 4D program we announced earlier this year and we continue to demonstrate industry leading technology and experience in 4D seismic.”

Senex and CleanCo Queensland sign new gas sales agreement

19/05/2020 Posted by Dale

Senex Energy announced it had agreed a further domestic gas sales agreement with power generator CleanCo Queensland for 2.55 petajoules (PJ) of natural gas.

Under the one-year agreement, Senex will supply CleanCo with 2.55 PJ of natural gas from Atlas, commencing 1 January 2021. Gas will be supplied at the Wallumbilla Gas Hub in Queensland at a fixed price in line with current market levels.

CleanCo is the new Queensland Government-owned corporation focused on delivering affordable and reliable clean energy.

Atlas gas will fuel Swanbank E, CleanCo’s highly efficient 385 MW gas-fired power station near Ipswich in south-east Queensland.

DUG onboard processing contract with Polarcus extended to include DUG McCloud

11/05/2020 Posted by Dale

DUG has announced the signing of a three-year contract with Polarcus to utilise hardware and software for data processing and seismic acquisition quality control (QC) onboard Polarcus’ fleet of seismic vessels.

DUG said it will provide workstations, storage, processing nodes, and software onboard Polarcus vessels.

"This marks the sixth year of Polarcus’ commitment to DUG technology for the provision of data processing and QC services," DUG said.

Further, Polarcus also signed a three-year agreement to leverage the DUG McCloud platform to significantly enhance their Priority Processing and imaging offering to E&P clients.

"DUG McCloud is a customer-focussed and collaborative cloud solution that encapsulates DUG’s high-performance computing (HPC) environment. T

Blue Energy urges action to stave off East Coast gas shortage

04/05/2020 Posted by Dale

Debt-free Blue Energy has urged the state of Queensland and the Federal Government -- in spite of COVID-related upheavals and oil price haemorrhaging -- not to lose sight of an impending domestic gas shortage in 2023 and the urgency of infrastructure projects to stave off this famine.

Blue Management said it has been in active discussions with representatives of both Federal and State Governments to highlight the need for national energy infrastructure projects to ensure timely and reliable delivery of energy to domestic East Coast manufacturers and gas users.

“This is in light of the projected long-term East Coast domestic gas shortfall commencing in 2023, as identified by the latest AEMO GSOO March 2020 report.

Polarcus wins Asia Pacific survey

04/05/2020 Posted by Dale

Oslo-listed marine seismic services company Polarcus has signed a contract for a survey in the Asia Pacific region, the Oslo-listed marine seismic services company announcing that the deal is for an XArray marine seismic acquisition project.

As per custom, Polarcus did not disclose the identity of the client nor any financial value associated with the deal.

Polarcus said the survey would start in June this year and would last for approximately one month. The company did not reveal which vessel would be deployed for the project.

The latest award comes at a precarious time for offshore seismic contractors which were recently flagged by Norway’s Rystad Energy as the most vulnerable in the oil and gas supply chain due to the fallout of historically low oil prices and the COVID-19 crisis.

Melbana seeks new partners for Beehive

04/05/2020 Posted by Dale

Melbana Energy is back in the hunt for new suitors to partner its aspirations for WA-488-P offshore northern Australia after Santos’ option to farm into the prospect lapsed.

Containing the potentially significant Beehive prospect, the permit is located in the Bonaparte Gulf in some coveted real estate between Blacktip, a producing gas field, and the Turtle and Barnett oil discoveries, which are undeveloped.

The permit carries an obligation to drill an exploration well by December this year and Melbana said its data room had been piqued by results from a 3D seismic survey and work conducted on rig selection and well permitting.