Dr Fraser Bransby has been appointed Fugro chair in geotechnics at the University of Western Australia’s Oceans Graduate School. Dr Bransby has worked across academia and industry, most recently at Fugro AG Pty Ltd. After obtaining his PhD in soil mechanics from the University of Cambridge, he spent time in university geotechnical research and in industrial consultancy before joining Fugro. Having established the Fugro chair in geotechnics in 2014, UWA and Fugro developed a sustainable research group that is significant to Fugro’s activities worldwide.
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ADNOC announces US$45 Billion investment to become leading lobal Downstream Player
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has unveiled plans to invest US$45 billion with partners over the next five years to become a leading global downstream player. The plans were unveiled at the ADNOC Downstream Investment Forum, which took place today in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The event brought together more than 40 CEOs and 800 senior business leaders from the global oil and gas, energy, petrochemical and finance industries, as well as many other sectors.
Young Professionals in WA
In early April, PESA WA Young Professionals in collaboration with ASEG WA organised the first “Young Professionals Speakers' Night.” The aim of these nights is to encourage the lesser experienced geoscientists to present their work in a welcoming environment and assist their public speaking skills.
We were fortunate to have Amy Millar from Buru Energy present her work, titled “Ungani Oil Field, Canning Basin – Evaluation of a Dolomite Reservoir” which won the Best Oral Presentation in the Energy Section of the AEGC Conference held in Sydney during February 2018. Amy’s presentation was well attended with approximately 40 attendees.
CGG Launches new MotionMap UK National Ground Stability Database
CGG’s NPA Satellite Mapping group has unveiled its new MotionMap UK product for companies involved in asset management, large engineering projects, property conveyancing, insurance disputes and risk management. In a media release CGG said the UK’s geological setting, mining legacy and engineering heritage has led to substantial changes above and below ground. From subsidence and heave across coal fields in the Midlands, to tunnelling-related ground settlement in London, the impact on the landscape is “extensive yet relatively unknown and extremely challenging to map”.
$46.3bn will be spent on Southeast Asia’s upstream capex by 2020
An average capital expenditure (capex) of $17.8bn per year will be spent on 336 oil and gas fields in Southeast Asia between 2018 and 2020, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. Capex on Southeast Asia’s traditional oil projects will add up to $8.3bn over the three-year period, while heavy oil fields will require $1.7bn over the same period. Investments into gas projects in Southeast Asia will total $43.4bn in upstream capex by 2020. Jonathan Markham, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData said, “Shallow water projects will be responsible for over 63 percent of $46.
BP Commits to Sell Gas to Alaska LNG Project
The Alaska LNG Project has reached a "historic milestone" as BP Alaska and Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) announced the parties have agreed to key terms of a Gas Sales Agreement, including price and volume. The terms are captured in a Gas Sales Precedent Agreement which was signed on May 4, 2018. In a statement Alaska Gas Development Corporation said both the parties anticipate finalizing a long-term gas sales agreement in 2018 for AGDC to purchase BP Alaska’s share of 30 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas from the Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson units.
Po Valley raises funds for Italian operations
Po Valley Energy Limited has secured funding of $2.5m through the issue of a convertible note with a conversion price of $0.042 per share and a maturity of three years. The ASX-listed company said the funds will be used to expedite a final investment decision for its successfully drilled onshore Selva field in Italy and to complete seismic work on its large oil condensate/gas Torre del Morro explorations licence. Company directors Kevin Bailey and Michael Masterman both intend to participate in the note issue for $700,000 and $300,000 respectfully, subject to shareholder approval, Po Valley said.
Byron hits 90% production mark in Gulf of Mexico
ASX-listed Byron Energy has hit 90 percent production capacity at its SM 71 F platform in the Gulf of Mexico, ramping up operations following a pipeline shut-in earlier in April. Production from the company’s SM 71 F platform began on March 23 from the SM 71 F1 and F2 wells with the F3 well following suite on April 6. For the period March 23 to April 25, the three wells produced a total gross sales volume of 83,000 barrels of oil and 55.5 mm cubic feet of natural gas.
Blue Energy raises concerns over hydraulic stimulation
Blue Energy is concerned about that additional layers of regulation governing hydraulic stimulation could burden an already labouring oil and gas industry. Barely two weeks after the Northern Territory government lifted the moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in the north of Australia, Brisbane-based Blue Energy welcomed the development, but also noted some concerns in its quarterly activities report released last week.
PESA WA Branch’s April Technical Talk
The April monthly technical talk was held by PESA WA Branch with over 50 people attending, with special gratitude to our four sponsors: Spectrum (Platinum), CGG (Gold), Searcher Seismic (Gold) and DUG (Gold). WA Branch President, Helen Debenham, opened the meeting with the brief introduction of upcoming Branch events. Helen also announced new activities of our sponsors, including large projects of reprocessing 3D and 2D data in Otway Basin (Spectrum) and Gippsland Basin (CGG). Both projects will assist exploration activities to unlock future potential in eastern Australia.