The Australian Geoscience Council Convention, AGCC 2018, has announced that Geoscience Australia will be the patron sponsor of the event, which will be held in Adelaide from Sunday 14th to Thursday 18th of October next year. The Convention, which is expected to attract more than 2,000 delegates from Australia and overseas, will cover all aspects of geoscience, with technical themes on theoretical and applied geoscience, mineral and energy resources, environmental and societal science, geoscience education and communication, and emerging technologies.
Seismic (public)
Polarcus announces broadband 3D project in Asia Pacific
Polarcus has received a letter of award for a broadband 3D marine seismic project in Asia Pacific. The project is due to commence in the fourth quarter and will run for approximately one month. Polarcus did not reveal which country the operation will be conducted in or for which client. It is also not certain which vessel the company will deploy. The vessel which is believed to be in the region, however, is the Polarcus Naila, which previously operated in Malaysia.
CGG starts CWAZ survey in Gulf Of Mexico
CGG has announced the start of acquisition of its first Complementary Wide-Azimuth survey, known as AC CWAz, a BroadSeis™ 3D multi-client program in southern Alaminos Canyon, Gulf of Mexico. Extending over 130 OCS Blocks and covering Great White and the recent Whale discovery, CGG said AC CWAz is supported by industry funding and complements its existing surveys in the area by adding azimuth and offset coverage to the historic wide-azimuth data. “All the data will be combined and reprocessed using the latest 3D deghosting, Full-Waveform Inversion (FWI), especially Reflection-based FWI (RFWI), and Tilted Transverse Isotropy (TTI) imaging technology.
Frogtech unravelling mysteries of Guyana Suriname Basin
Frogtech believes that its multi-client Guyana Suriname study will help clear up a number of ambiguities associated with a Basin that has proven to be a focal point for the world’s major E&P players. The Canberra-based company said that in 2012 the United States Geological Society had estimated that the Guyana Suriname basin contains 26,000 MMBO of technically recoverable oil. “This makes for the third-most prospective basin in the South American and Caribbean region, the eighth largest in the world,” Frogtech said in a media release.
Norway attracts record bids for APA round
Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum has announced a record application from 39 companies – six more than last year - for new acreage in mature areas on the Norwegian continental shelf as part of the awards in pre-defined areas (APA 2017). The APA 2017 round included blocks in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea, was announced in May and the application deadline expired on September 1.
CGG STARTS ESPIRITO SANTOS IV SURVEY OFF BRAZIL
CGG has announced the start of work on Espirito Santo IV, a large BroadSeis™ 3D multi-client survey in the deep and ultra-deep waters of the Espirito Santo Basin offshore Brazil. The Oceanic Champion is acquiring the survey which is expected to take seven months and will cover 10,300 sq km and be processed at CGG’s Rio de Janeiro Subsurface Imaging center. ‘The high-end broadband sequence will include the latest 3D deghosting, Full-Waveform Inversion (FWI) velocity modeling and Tilted Transverse Isotropy (TTI) imaging. Fast-Track PSDM products will be delivered six months after completion of the acquisition,’ CGG said.
Magseis goes back to black in second quarter
Norwegian ocean bottom Seismic services provider Magseis returned to profitability in the second quarter of 2017 as revenues rose to $19.4 million from work done in Saudi Arabia and Norway. The company said its survey for Saudi Aramco with the Artemis Athene vessel in the Red Sea, as well as OBN work for ConocoPhillips in the Eldfisk field, off Norway, had booted revenue substantially compared to prior year’s 2Q revenue of $7.7 million. Magseis posted a profit of $3.3 million for the quarter, compared to a net loss of almost $4 million a year ago.
Spectrum increases revenue and slashes losses
Spectrum has substantially increased revenue and slashed losses in the second quarter of 2017, the Norwegian company has revealed in its quarterly report. Spectrum said that its net loss had dropped to $2.98 million in this year’s second quarter from $10.99 million in the corresponding period a year ago. The company’s net multi-client revenues increased by 130% to $30.4 million in the second quarter of 2017 from $13.2 million in the same period of 2016. The greatest portion of multi-client revenues, 71%, was derived from Africa. Prefunding recognized in the quarter also increased totalling $22.2 million versus $5.
WA onshore release areas for petroleum exploration
The Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) continues to promote the petroleum potential of Western Australia’s vast sedimentary basins using a specific area release system. On 16 May 2017, DMIRS gazetted a total of five onshore release areas in the central and southern Canning Basin (Fig.1). Release area size ranges from 5324 km2 to 6667 km2. This gazettal was timed to coincide with the 2017 APPEA Conference in Pert, reports Richard Bruce, DMIRS exploration geologist Petroleum Division.
CGG completes multi-client survey to optimise Saturno field imaging
CGG has announced the completion of an extension of its Santos VII broadband 3D multiclient survey offshore Brazil. The 1,867 sq km extension to the original footprint gives CGG a total of almost 16,000 sq km of newly acquired and imaged pre-salt coverage. CGG said the extension was made to fully image this highly prospective area after images recently delivered from the Fast-Track PSDM over a priority area of the Saturno field clearly indicated further structure to the east.