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.
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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.
Woodside invests in emerging technology for seismic data acquisition
Woodside has signed a Shareholders Agreement with Perth-based Blue Ocean Monitoring Ltd (BOM) to invest in Blue Ocean Seismic Services Ltd (BOSS). Woodside in a statement that BOSS is developing an innovative solution that has the “potential to make ocean bottom seismic data acquisition cheaper and more accessible”. Seismic data is critical for understanding geological formations and the nature of hydrocarbon resources that may be contained within them. Current methods use remotely operated vehicles to place nodes on the ocean floor that capture and record soundwaves.
TGS and Schlumberger announce new 3D Multi-client Reimaging Project in Egyptian Red Sea
TGS and Schlumberger have announced a new 3D seismic reimaging project in the Egyptian Red Sea. The project will comprise reimaging data from three overlapping seismic surveys totalling 3,600 km² that was acquired between 1999 and 2008 - the only available 3D data in this part of the Red Sea. It includes the integration of all legacy seismic and non-seismic data and will apply advanced imaging technologies to better define complex subsalt structures. The project, which is supported by industry prefunding, will be carried out by TGS and WesternGeco®, the geophysical services product line of Schlumberger.
Cooper unveils new gas field discovery in the Otway basin
Cooper Energy has made a new gas field discovery in the Otway basin offshore Victoria with the exploration well Annie-1 located in VIC/P44. Cooper Energy, as operator and 50% interest holder, with Mitsui E & P Australia also holding a 50% interest, said the well had reached total depth (TD) of 2,442 meters measured depth rotary table (MDRT) at 9:00 am AEST on September 4, 2019. The well was drilled by the Diamond Offshore-operated semi-submersible rig Ocean Monarch, which was deployed to drill two exploration wells for Cooper and started drilling Annie-1 in early August.
CGG awarded offshore Eastern Canada imaging project by BHP
Subsurface Imaging, part of CGG’s Geoscience division, has been awarded a large-scale seismic imaging project in the offshore Orphan Basin in Eastern Canada by BHP. CGG said that in line with its continued investments in high-end imaging technology, supercomputing capacity and digitalization, the company will employ its industry-leading FWI and least-squares migration algorithms over the entire survey area of more than 10,000 km². Through these advanced technologies and close collaboration with the client’s interpretation and imaging geophysicists, CGG fully commits to providing a step-change in subsurface imaging in a timely manner to support E&P investment decisions, CGG said.
Australia hits one billion barrels record production milestone
Australia hit a record in petroleum production in 2018-19 to a peak of 1,010 million barrels of oil equivalent in a milestone moment according to data compiled by energy consulstancy, EnergyQuest. This was primarily driven by record gas production, which was up 16% to 5,082 PJ as LNG export revenue soared 61% to %50 billion with production also up 22% to a record 75 million tonnes. From east to west production records were recorded with east coast gas output up 2% to 1,865PJ and coal seam gas also summiting, up 5% to 1,461PJ.