Latest News

PGS Supports Crowdsourced Bathymetry Initiative

25/11/2019 Posted by Dale

From 2020, all vessels in the PGS fleet will share bathymetry information collected using echo sounders, with The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project. The project aims to map the entire ocean floor by the year 2030, the Norwegian headquartered marine geophysical company said this week.

The bathymetric data will support Seabed 2030’s crowdsourced bathymetry initiative – benefitting seafarers in the form of updated and more accurate sea charts, PGS added.

An agreement to this effect was signed between PGS and Seabed 2030 during the Sustainable Ocean Summit in Paris.

PGS operates a fleet of seismic vessels that traverse the world’s oceans and work in regions ranging from the developed to the unchartered.

Oil and gas sector applauds deregulation measures

25/11/2019 Posted by Dale

Australia’s oil and gas industry has welcomed the announcement by Prime Minister Scott Morrison to deliver new deregulation measures for Australian businesses.

Mr Morrison announced the development of a digital environmental approvals process and database aimed at reducing the current approvals process by between six and 18 months.

APPEA Chief Executive Andrew McConville said the industry welcomed the announcement, saying the measures will reduce red tape and unnecessary regulation, unlocking investment opportunities in Australia.

“The announcement represents an important step forward to improve and modernise the environmental approvals framework, which is currently is time consuming, costly and complex,” Mr McConville said.

U.S. relies on “innovation to reduce emissions”

19/11/2019 Posted by Dale

The United States has initiated formal withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change, U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo announced on November 4, vowing that the country would continue to reduce emissions without compromising economic growth.

This was followed by a US Department of State statement defending the Trump Administration’s position and the The United States as a “world leader in reducing emissions”.

The US Department of State said: “Between 2005 and 2017, US net greenhouse gas emissions dropped 13 percent even as the US economy grew by more than 19 percent, US figures show.

New $8 million cross-river Brisbane gas pipeline commissioned

19/11/2019 Posted by Dale

A new $8 million pipeline — providing surety of long-term natural gas supply to more than 80,000 North Brisbane customers — was commissioned recently.

The 1.84km gas pipeline includes approximately 930 metres running under the Brisbane River to duplicate the river crossing from Murarrie to Pinkenba.

The “delicate and complex project” has been completed by Australian Gas Networks (AGN), part of the Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG).

AGIG’s Chief Customer Officer, Mr Andrew Staniford, said final overall commissioning of the gas pipeline went well after weeks of testing.

“We are pleased to have completed this project which has been a most successful outcome by a dedicated and professional team at the APA Group,” Mr Staniford said.

Dave Monk joins DUG as Distinguished Advisor

19/11/2019 Posted by Dale

DownUnder GeoSolutions (DUG) has announced the appointment of world-respected geoscientist, Dave Monk, in the role of Distinguished Advisor. Monk had recently retired after nearly 20 years in senior roles at Apache Corporation.

DUG said that in Monk’s advisory capacity at the company, he would work alongside DUG’s executive team “as they navigate one of the most successful periods of growth for the company”. DUG has recently launched DUG McCloud: a global cloud, purpose built for HPC, and powered by one of the largest supercomputers on earth.

Global gas demand ‘delivers opportunities for Australia’

19/11/2019 Posted by Dale

Global demand for natural gas will increase over the next 20 years, providing a major economic opportunity for Australia, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

APPEA Chief Executive Andrew McConville said the IEA’s World Energy Outlook highlighted the reality that the growing natural gas industry was essential for a cleaner energy future.

“Demand for natural gas is expected to increase 36 per cent by 2040, with gas providing a quarter of global energy demand, the IEA’s Stated Policies Scenario* shows,” Mr McConville said. “Gas will become the second largest source of global energy after oil.”

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports will overtake pipeline gas as the main form of long-distance trading, accounting for more than 57 per cent of inter-regional trade by 2040, the IEA report said.

PESA WA November Evening Talk

12/11/2019 Posted by Dale

Andrew Pitchford, GM Subsurface and Phil Woods, Senior Geophysicist from Western Gas presented their latest findings of the Sasanof Prospect in block WA-519-P, to a sell out crowd at The George in the CBD. The Mentorc Gas discovery by HESS Australia (now Western Gas) opened up the Barrow Delta Topset stratigraphic play to more exploration in the Northern Carnarvon Basin. Mentorc, up to 30% porosity and 12 Darcy permeability, is fill to spill and Sasanof may be where all the spilling gas is going to.

The current p50 estimations after recent inversion studies from DUG, have Sasanof at 24Tcf with a high PoS.

Saudi Aramco IPO should be ‘judged on its impact not its valuation’

12/11/2019 Posted by Dale

Following the recent news that Saudi Arabia’s national oil company Saudi Aramco will issue its prospectus to potential investors in its initial public offering (IPO); Colin Foreman, Deputy Editor at data and analytics company, GlobalData, provided his view:

“The public sale of shares in the world’s biggest oil exporter will be the first time since the 1970s that private and foreign investors will have been able to own a stake in the Gulf’s upstream oil and gas assets.

“The IPO is a cornerstone play in Riyadh’s Vision 2030 economic reform programme, launched in April 2016, which seeks to diversify Saudi Arabia’s oil-dominated economy and increase the role of the private sector by driving growth and job creation.

Bass Oil nodding donkey onshore Indonesia Fields

Bunian-5 oil production delivers “excellent” flow results for Bass

12/11/2019 Posted by Dale

Australia’s Bass Oil Limited has announced that the Bunian 5 well commenced production testing from the TRM 3 sandstone, one of the two productive oil reservoirs in the well.

The well averaged 1128 barrels of oil per day with a two percent water cut. Production was recorded on a fully open choke with a flowing wellhead pressure of 140 psi in the first 12 hours, commencing on 2 November 2019. The well has been choked back for the next phase of the testing program.

Woodside awards new Pluto-to-North West Shelf pipeline project to AGIG

12/11/2019 Posted by Dale

Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) – a leading national provider and operator of key energy infrastructure – has been awarded a significant new Western Australian project by Woodside for the pipeline component of its Pluto-North West Shelf (NWS) Interconnector.

A new 30-inch diameter pipeline will run 3.2 kilometres, connecting the Woodside-operated Pluto LNG Plant to the NWS Project’s Karratha Gas Plant (KGP), and is the first component of the infrastructure needed to transport gas between the two facilities.

Under the contract entered into with Woodside, AGIG will design, construct and operate the new pipeline in addition to three facilities including: