TGS will acquire Spectrum in a deal which has been announced as a merger set to create a “leading provider of 2D and 3D seismic data”. This follows an agreement of shareholders of both companies, triggering a transaction which is expected to be completed as a statutory merger pursuant to Norwegian corporate law between TGS and Spectrum. Under the terms of the agreement, Spectrum shareholders will received 0.28 shares for one Spectrum share in addition to a cash consideration of US$0.
Company Updates
Santos spuds appraisal well at Dorado
Santos has started drilling the Dorado-2 appraisal well in WA-437-P offshore Western Australia. Dorado is operated by Santos with Carnarvon Petroleum as a partner with a 20% interest. Carnarvon Petroleum said the Noble Tom Prosser jack-up drilling rig had been mobilized from the Corvus-2 well location to the Dorado-2 well on April 26. After arrival at the Dorado-2 location, located 2.2 km from the original Dorado-1 well, the rig had concluded the ready to operate process and had drilled the surface hole and installed the surface casing.
Shearwater set to shoot seismic at SNE field
Shearwater has won a contract to conduct a 3D seismic survey over the SNE field offshore Senegal. This was revealed in a first quarter update recently by FAR, which said the high-definition 3D marine seismic survey contract was awarded to improve reservoir definition supporting SNE well positioning and optimization. FAR said the survey was scheduled to begin in June as part of the SNE field development encompassing the Rufisque Offshore, Sangomar Offshore and Sangomar Deep Offshore (RSSD) joint venture, which is operated by Woodside and includes JV-partners Cairn Energy, FAR Limited, and Petrosen.
EMEA leads oil and gas contract awards with 569 contracts in Q1 2019
In Q1 2019, the oil and gas industry reported 1242 contracts, of which 1178 were awarded contracts, according to data and analytics company, GlobalData. EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) recorded the most contracts with 569 contracts, representing around 48% of the total awarded contracts in Q1 2019, followed by the Americas region with 366 contracts, accounting for 31% of the total awarded contracts. The company’s latest report states that the upstream sector reported 73% of the total awarded contracts, with 862 contracts.
It’s Mama Mia for Po Valley in Italy
Australia’s Po Valley Energy has announced maiden oil and gas condensate Prospective Resource estimates for its large onshore oil exploration holdings in northern Italy. The gains cover the Torre del Moro Exploration Licences southeast of Bologna, the Bagnolo SW prospect in Cadelbosco licence, and a large 334% increase in the 2C resources in its Bagnolo in Piano and Ravizza oil fields in the Cadelbosco Grattasasso Exploration Licences. These two oil fields and the oil / condensate prospects are 100%-owned by Po Valley.
DUG announces arrival of immersion tanks for Houston supercomputer
DownUnder GeoSolutions (DUG) is excited to announce tanks are arriving at Skybox Houston for its huge geophysically configured supercomputer, Bubba. Part of a unique cloud service tailored specifically to the geophysics community, called DUG McCloud, the supercomputer will be housed in a purpose-built exascale compute facility in Houston. Construction began on the Texas facility in late 2018. After initial setbacks caused by winter storms, work has continued on DUG McCloud at a remarkable pace ever since.
Otway Basin can play a lead role in gas famine
New sources of gas need to be found to offset the emerging gas crisis in the east coast market and the Otway Basin bordering the South Australian-Victorian border can be part of that solution, according to one of Adelaide’s newest ASX-listed petroleum explorers. Addressing the first day today of the two-day Paydirt 2019 South Australian Resources and Energy Investment Conference in Adelaide last week, Vintage Energy’s Managing Director, Mr Neil Gibbins, said the Victorian gas supply market alone is expected to fall from 435 petajoules (PJ) two years ago to around 187PJ by 2022.
CGG completes 2D survey offshore Gabon
Acquisition of CGG’s 9,800 km long-offset broadband 2D multi-client seismic survey in the highly prospective Gabon South Basin has been completed. Fast-track data sets will be delivered in batches from the end of April, giving interested oil companies sufficient time to understand offshore petroleum systems and appraise blocks offered in Gabon’s 12th offshore licensing round planned for September 2019. This modern data set will help define the full extent of existing and new plays in the region. It will also aid in understanding the thickness variations in the sediment overburden for source rock and maturity analysis.
Karoon still courting farm-in partner to expedite FID for its Neon oil field
Australian oil and gas company Karoon is still courting a farm-in partner for its 100% owned Neon oil field in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil, as it considers FPSO options and the possibility of drilling another well to de-risk the prospect. The company has carried the blocks containing two oil fields, Neon and Goia, to a development and production phase but also extended a final investment decision initially targeted for last year to 2019.
Shell applies for 3750 km2, 3D seismic survey off Western Australia
Shell has applied to offshore safety regulator NOPSEMA to conduct a 3750km2seismic survey offshore Kimberley, Australia. The oil and gas major plans to launch the “Factory” 3D marine seismic survey within the Browse and Bonaparte Basin, off Western Australia. The Factory 3D survey will comprise acquisition of approximately 3,750 km2 of 3D seismic data in Exploration Permits AC/P65, AC/P41, WA-534-P, and a smaller section of adjacent acreage to acquire data to fully-image the prospects on the titles, NOPSEMA said.