It is no secret that activity has been a bit slower this year as operators cut back on their spending. But in an industry that pushes the limits, milestones do still occur. Whether it is the largest 3-D seismic survey or an unusual business model, the exploration industry has had its share of firsts and breaking news.

A new kind of JV

In an announcement that took many by surprise, ION announced Oct. 23 that it was forming a joint venture (JV) with BGP, the world’s largest land seismic contractor and owned by CNPC, one of China’s national oil companies.

The announcement came right before the annual meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG).

The LFSP JIP hopes to further low-frequency seismic technology, being acquired here by Spectraseis in Switzerland. (Image courtesy of Spectraseis)

Bob Peebler, ION’s CEO, talked about the rationale behind the JV, and from his standpoint, there are two solid reasons for the move. First, ION has never had a service arm, unlike its rival Sercel, and this makes it difficult to do full-scale testing of new land equipment without seeking out a like-minded operator (think BP and Apache with FireFly). Second, ION’s purchase of Aram last year came at what turned out to be a very bad time, leaving the company saddled with unmanageable debt.

The JV will enhance ION’s financial position significantly, with total cash proceeds of US $175 million from BGP. BGP, in turn, will receive a 51% interest in the JV and about 16.66% interest in ION. Prior to the JV closing, ION will also receive up to $40 million of bridge financing arranged by BGP. At the closing ION will refinance and reduce its long-term debt and receive an expanded replacement revolving line of credit.

Overall, after closing ION expects to have more than $100 million in liquidity from cash and spare capacity on its revolving line of credit.

In acquiring the Pemex survey, the Alizé will tow the world’s largest areal receiver array. (Image courtesy of CGGVeritas)

Peebler said the two companies have been talking for a couple of years about a possible alliance. While BGP is by far the largest land contractor, with 113 crews, it doesn’t do much in the way of R&D, and he said that ION’s innovative technology ideas “piqued their interest.” When the economic meltdown came in fall of 2008, the financial implications of such an alliance also gained importance, he said.

Talks started in earnest in June,

and by late October the deal was finalized. The JV will be a standalone company with its own board of directors, Peebler said.

Rumors about ION’s balance sheet have been flying since the bottom dropped out of the market, but Peebler insisted this wasn’t some sort of fire

sale but rather a good sign of things

to come. “This company is in a better position than it’s ever been,” he said.

Pemex bites off big survey

With one system already in production on the Symphony, CGGVeritas will make the next full-scale deployment of the advanced Sercel Nautilus-Sentinel steered solid streamers on the largest marine survey ever awarded. The Alizé will shortly be starting the acquisition of a 28,958-sq-mile (75,000-sq-km) 3-D survey for Pemex in the Gulf of Mexico using 12 Sentinel solid streamers equipped with Nautilus streamer control devices. Two of the Alizé’s companion vessels, the Symphony and the Endeavour, have already been breaking industry production records, and the Alizé is now expected to surpass them. This will be partly due to the ease of deployment of solid streamers and the fact that, with a 12 by 5-mile by 328-ft (12 by 8-km by 100-m) streamer configuration, the Alizé will be towing the largest areal receiver array in the industry.

The Alizé received a full upgrade in 2008, extending her competitive advantage. With 16-streamer capacity, the latest vintage of solid Sentinel streamers, and the addition of Nautilus, the Alizé is poised to deploy the world’s largest spread of steered streamers.

The use of the Sentinel streamers will deliver low-noise, high-quality data, especially in subsalt areas. The Pemex survey will include an area of wide-azimuth (WAZ) acquisition. WAZ surveys have shown outstanding imaging results in this area, especially when processed using true 3-D algorithms and CGGVeritas’ TTI RTM.

System passes milestone

In 2009 WesternGeco passed the 139,000-sq-mile (360,000-sq-km) milestone with Q-Marine. One feature of this vast amount of data is the application of streamer steering. WesternGeco expects to reach the 193,080-sq-mile (500,000-sq-km) milestone with the aid of the new Q-Fin design released recently. This unit enables lateral control of up to +/- 6° against the natural feather, bringing the benefits of safer, more efficient, and more repeatable seismic solutions to a wider geographical audience.

New data in Somaliland

TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co. has completed processing and interpretation of two new multiclient programs in Somaliland. Acquired in partnership with the Somaliland Ministry of Water and Mineral Resources (Ministry), the programs include 3,228 miles (5,300 km) of marine 2-D seismic, gravity, and magnetic data, plus approximately 30,706 miles (34,000 km) of high-resolution aeromagnetic data covering onshore areas.

Designed to define the principle structural elements of the area and allow for the development of leads, plays, and structural highs for further investigation, this new data was released to coincide with Somaliland’s first petroleum licensing round, which opened in February. The bid round includes eight concession blocks comprising more than 64,605 sq miles (89,624 sq km) of onshore and offshore areas. Somaliland is geologically analogous to nearby Yemen, where several oil fields have been discovered to date.

TGS is the first company to gather new geophysical data in the Republic of Somaliland in almost 30 years. Through an agreement with the Ministry, TGS will exclusively market the seismic and aeromagnetic data on behalf of Somaliland.

One of first to embrace Windows 7

Landmark, a brand of Halliburton, recently launched GeoGraphix Discovery 3-D software. Working in tandem with Microsoft to leverage the 64-bit capabilities and performance of the new Microsoft Windows 7 operating system, developers hope users will have an immersive, game-like experience when developing their seismic and geologic interpretations. It also incorporates visualization tools from Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console.

Chris Usher, senior director of Landmark Software and Services, said the new system is meant to be a scalable and portable solution, offer domain innovation and functionality, and “enable the workforce of the future. Generation Y employees expect ease of use in their software,” Usher said.

Craig Hodges of Microsoft added that the collaboration with Landmark was helping his company meet its top three corporate initiatives — to drive lower cost, increase innovation, and “consumerize” IT. “We’re taking gaming graphics and incorporating them into enterprise applications that you can run on your laptop,” Hodges said. “With this type of collaboration, we’re able to break through to better penetration of market segments.”

He added that this is one of the first applications in the E&P industry to incorporate Windows 7 enhancements.

When combined with the Discovery software integrated platform framework, resulting workflows provide interaction with all of the well information, geologic interpretations, and structural and geo-referenced layers in three dimensions. Geologic interpretations developed using the GeoGraphix Discovery workflow visualized in real time through the software translate to an enhanced, more complete understanding of the geology and improve models in a real-world, 3-D earth model domain.

Overall, the goal is to bridge the technology gap so that future geoscientists aren’t frustrated with outdated interpretation software. “Discovery 3-D software provides up-and-coming generations of geoscientists a familiar environment to work in, making it quick and easy for them to adopt this technology,” Usher said. “This familiar experience is completed by the Windows PC platform for Discovery 3-D, making high-performance 3-D visualization and interpretation tools accessible and affordable to companies of all sizes.”

Added Albrecht Ferling, managing director, Worldwide Oil and Gas Industries for Microsoft, “Discovery 3-D software is a great example and just the tip of the iceberg in a series of breakthrough innovations our companies will deliver to the oil and gas industry in the coming months and years.” n

Cracking the weather window

In January PGS completed a multiclient 2-D GeoStreamer survey in the Southern North Sea. Despite the climate and the weather, data quality was good and bodes well for future winter acquisition using this technology.

Deep below the surface, GeoStreamer records clear data, unperturbed by winter waves. No survey shows this better than the recent multiclient 2-D survey MNSG2009. At 50+ ft (15+ m) depth, the recording cable is undisturbed by the weather, and the signal-to-noise ratio is first-class.

“Once again, we see that GeoStreamer produces results in circumstances that would render conventional streamer operations unfeasible,” said Guillaume Cambois, senior advisor in PGS Data Procession & Technology.

MNSG2009 closes a gap in the PGS MC3D MegaSurvey coverage, linking the central North Sea and Southern North Sea MegaSurveys and straddling the UK/Netherlands offshore boundary. The UK Mid-North Sea High still remains something of an underexplored frontier area, where the Paleozoic geology and its hydrocarbon petroleum potential are not yet fully understood. MNSG2009 was designed to provide some key regional lines as well as tying a large number of wells together and investigating firmly planned and possible drilling locations. Based on previous experience with GeoStreamer acquisition, improvements in penetration and resolution should provide a better regional understanding of the deep geology and petroleum prospectivity of this province.

LFPS gets JIP

Spectraseis has announced the formation of a multi-year joint industry project (JIP) for the research and development of low-frequency passive seismic (LFPS) technologies for hydrocarbon reservoir detection and characterization. This cooperative program is called the Low Frequency Seismic Partnership (LFSP).

Confirmed participants in the LFSP, which will run through 2012, are Cairn, Chevron, ExxonMobil, GDF Suez, and Pemex. An Asian national oil company will join the LFSP over the coming months.

The scope of the LFSP program

will cover key application elements of low-frequency seismic technology such as data acquisition and processing as well as fundamental theoretical studies in partnership with researchers at Spectraseis, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, and the University of Bern. Participants will be at the leading edge of the latest research on low-frequency seismic applications and will learn how to extract the maximum value from this technology for their companies.

“We are very excited to be launching this industry collaboration, which will expand the body of core research around this important topic,” Spectraseis CTO Rob Habiger said. “We are looking forward to working with an outstanding group of international operators. The experience and technical expertise they bring will help us to continue our strong focus on the application of low-frequency seismic solutions to meet important industry challenges.”