First Break December 2024 - Data Management and Processing
SPECIAL TOPIC
Data Management and Processing
EAGE NEWS Expanded workshop programme for Annual 2025
INDUSTRY NEWS Global investment of $78 trillion needed to meet Paris goals
TECHNICAL ARTICLE Angle-restricted FWI for shallow reservoir characterisation
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CHAIR EDITORIAL BOARD
Clément Kostov (cvkostov@icloud.com)
EDITOR
Damian Arnold (arnolddamian@googlemail.com)
MEMBERS, EDITORIAL BOARD
• Lodve Berre, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (lodve.berre@ntnu.no)
Philippe Caprioli, SLB (caprioli0@slb.com) Satinder Chopra, SamiGeo (satinder.chopra@samigeo.com)
• Anthony Day, PGS (anthony.day@pgs.com)
• Peter Dromgoole, Retired Geophysicist (peterdromgoole@gmail.com)
• Kara English, University College Dublin (kara.english@ucd.ie)
• Stephen Hallinan, Viridien (Stephen.Hallinan@viridiengroup.com)
• Hamidreza Hamdi, University of Calgary (hhamdi@ucalgary.ca)
61 A time-lapse, multi-component (9C4D) seismic data processing flow, Vacuum Field, New Mexico, USA
Steven L. Roche
69 Attenuation of non-compressional energy in ocean bottom node data
Tim Seher, Hassan Masoomzadeh, Yong Ren, Fons ten Kroode, Mark Roberts, Alexander Kritski, Harald Westerdahl, Mark Thompson and Åsmund Sjøen Pedersen
75 Data management transformation to drive subsurface autonomy
Richard Mohan and Sumeet Gupta
79 The bees of processing intelligence
Neil Hodgson, Karyna Rodriguez, Lauren Found and Helen Debenham
82 Calendar
cover: A velocity model generated through multi-parameter full-waveform inversion at 40Hz, presenting a depth slice at 200 m below the water bottom. This model is derived from a TGS 3D seismic survey conducted in the Grand Bank region (Carson/Salar Basin), located offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. (photo courtesy of TGS)
European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers Board 2024-2025
Near Surface Geoscience Circle
Andreas Aspmo Pfaffhuber Chair
Florina Tuluca Vice-Chair
Esther Bloem Immediate Past Chair
Micki Allen Contact Officer EEGS/North America
Hongzhu Cai Liaison China
Deyan Draganov Technical Programme Officer
Eduardo Rodrigues Liaison First Break
Hamdan Ali Hamdan Liaison Middle East
Vladimir Ignatev Liaison CIS / North America
Musa Manzi Liaison Africa
Myrto Papadopoulou Young Professional Liaison
Catherine Truffert Industry Liaison
Mark Vardy Editor-in-Chief Near Surface Geophysics
Jonathan Redfern Editor-in-Chief Petroleum Geoscience
Xavier Troussaut EAGE Observer at SPE-OGRC
Robert Tugume Member
Timothy Tylor-Jones Committee Member
Anke Wendt Member
Martin Widmaier Technical Programme Officer
Sustainable Energy Circle
Carla Martín-Clavé Chair
Giovanni Sosio Vice-Chair
SUBSCRIPTIONS
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Sanjeev Rajput Vice-President
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Andreas Aspmo Pfaffhuber Chair Near Surface Geoscience Circle
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Diego Rovetta Membership and Cooperation Officer
Peter Rowbotham Publications Officer
Christian Henke Secretary-Treasurer
CONFERENCE
REPORT
Transition challenge was the priority at ECMOR 2024
Report on ECMOR 2024: Pioneering sustainable energy solutions through advanced modelling and collaboration.
This year’s ECMOR theme ‘Mathematical modelling and simulation for sustainable subsurface energy systems’ struck a chord among the members of the EAGE community and beyond. This was clear from the verbal feedback of the 145 participants, coming from 17 countries, and the animated conversation about the event on LinkedIn.
Although not directly integrated into the conference, most of the participants arrived early for the one-day workshop on ‘Enabling gigatonne disposal of CO2 in the subsurface’, and engaged in the lively discussions sparked by the excellent presentations of Philip Ringrose (NTNU) on lessons learned by storing CO2, Sarah Gasda (CSSR, NORCE) discussing the storage potential of the North-Sea Horda Platform/Northern Lights, Stephan Matthai (Melbourne University) on physical realism of storage models, David Ponting (OpenGoSim), on HPC enhanced storage simulation, and Odd Andersen (SINTEF) on surrogate modelling. Ringrose concluded the workshop commenting on post-closure monitoring.
The conference theme was revisited by the first keynote speaker Jarand Rystad, petroleum analyst and CEO of Rystad Energy. He placed direct carbon storage
(DCS) in the wider context of the emergent circular economy and its importance for achieving net zero. His talk conveyed optimism about the feasibility of DCS as part of the transition to sustainable and environmentally friendly energy systems. Presenting the findings of extensive market research, Rystad illustrated that, beyond government regulation, there are powerful socio-economic market forces that can accelerate this transition, and that Norway is at the forefront of these developments.
The launch of the conference by co-chairs Stephan Matthai (Melbourne University) and Arne Skorstad (Halliburton) was followed by many inspiring presentations delivered in two parallel sessions covering a wide variety of topics ranging from classic ‘Reservoir characterisation and modelling’ to new additions like ‘physics-informed AI Methods’, ‘Machine learning and data-driven and hybrid methods’ as well as ‘Engineering of open simulation software.’This topic was a first at ECMOR sparking a great deal of interest. Regarding applications of mathematical modelling and analysis, ‘Modelling and simulation of CO2 geosequestration’ and ‘Hydrogen storage’ figured prominently. The fact that hydrogen is a nutrient for bacteria motivated the
presentation of novel models of biodegradation and surrogate modelling of related biochemical reactions.
Almost half of the participants had attended ECMOR 2022, and most first timers came following recommendations by colleagues. Although participants from academia dominated, many were from industry and government institutions. While Norway was well presented, the participants came from all over the world. Yet only 23 were
female. Most perceived the event as a highly informative and excellent networking opportunity. They also plan to come again.
Many of the presenters committed to revise and submit their proceedings papers to a special issue of Computational Geoscience that, for the first time, will be pub-
More workshops at EAGE 2025 in Toulouse
Naples in person success for seismic inversion
Making of geoscientist wine buffs
Workshop on enabling gigatonne-scale CO2 disposal in the subsurface.
lished continuously online being populated with articles as soon as they pass through the review process.
ECMOR 2024 aimed to highlight the importance of sustainable engineering in the face of the breathtaking technological progress we are witnessing today. The powers of AI and the sophistication of mathematical models of subsurface processes grow every day while new algorithms and hardware facilitate computations with a dramatically reduced energy consumption, producing the same accuracy at order-of-magnitude less floating-point operations.
The questions that originally brought the ECMOR community together revolved
hydrocarbons, the human condition has improved, and the global population has more than doubled from 3.7 to 8.2 billion. Yet so has its demand for non-renewable resources. Irrespective of whether this concerns mineral resources, forests or fish stock, prolific resource overuse has accelerated decline. The biosphere is strongly impacted by anthropogenic climate change and so are we.
The knowledge and technical expertise of the ECMOR community is key for addressing these issues successfully and establishing a circular economy with a much-reduced environmental footprint. Everyone has their skin in this game and
around mathematics as a tool to improve oil recovery. Since then, science and engineering progress bucked M. King Hubbert’s forecast of the ‘end of oil’. So much so that hydrocarbon consumption today continues to rise. But at what cost? Since the Club of Rome highlighted the limits of growth in the 1970s, the world has seen devastating climate change and the environmental footprint of humanity has quadrupled, dramatically shrinking pristine natural environments needed to sustain biodiversity. Supported by cheap energy derived from
should aim to make a difference. In this spirit, ECMOR aligns itself with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Achieving Goal 7 ‘Affordable & Clean Energy’ will not be possible without sophisticated mathematical modelling and simulation as an enabler. A deep understanding of the subsurface and the processes acting therein is vital for successful engineering in this now highly competitive space. There is little discussion that Goal 13 ‘Climate Action’ includes carbon capture and storage. Its rapid implementation is key.
ECMOR 2024 focused on these important needs and helped build research alliances through creating a shared understanding of emerging technologies and inter-disciplinary networking as well as by building and honing traditional strengths. Sharing of previously proprietary data and geomodels prevents them from being lost. Norway with its extensive reporting requirements is leading the way in such transparency efforts, and the multi-disciplinary Fluid Flower study featured at ECMOR’s Networking Reception marks a significant step in this direction. The second keynote speaker Prof Micheal King from Texas A&M discussed the SPE11 follow-up study of FluidFlower as another example of this emerging transparency.
ECMOR 2024 brought together specialists in AI and applied mathematics, harnessing the complementary strengths of these two enablers. While the future is different from the past so that there is no training data yet for AI interpolation, these can be generated by numeric simulation. Conversely, more physically realistic simulations become so complex that it takes AI to analyse their behaviour to identify cause and effect chains, creating a deeper understanding.
Looking back from the future, after the hybrid event in 2022 following the virtual event in 2020, ECMOR 2024 demonstrated the value of physically getting together as a community. Our thanks are due to EAGE for the organisation of this event as well as the selection of the conference venue and technical support. This event will be remembered!
Introducing Local Chapter Mumbai
Local Chapter Mumbai, the first one in India, joined EAGE’s global network this year. Our group was established to foster a vibrant community among geoscience and engineering professionals in the area. Our goal is to create a strong platform for networking, collaboration, and knowledge sharing for both newcomers and experienced professionals. Additionally, we aim to introduce university students to
global trends that will aid their professional growth and enhance their research skills.
The primary focus will be with initiatives intended to significantly enhance students’ visibility in their professional and academic journeys, empowering them to contribute to sustainable and impactful solutions for regional challenges.
If you reside in the area of Mumbai, or your professional interests lead
you there, we encourage you to get involved in this Chapter – not just as members, but as active contributors to the advances in geoscience. We especially invite students to engage in our activities and are confident that Local Chapter Mumbai will help you build valuable connections and shape your career path within a supportive network.
Delegates at ECMOR 2024.
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YP community adapting to changing energy landscape
This past year the Young Professionals (YP) Community has hosted a wide range of initiatives for those aiming to understand energy in the transition era and explore different career paths.
Carrie Holloway, senior geologist at SLB and YP Committee member, kickstarted a series of online presentations with a talk on ‘Understanding site selection for CCS with global case studies’. The second webinar featured ‘Breaking the silos: Different knowledge areas are needed to advance geothermal system understanding’ with Lisl Lewis, geothermal business development manager at GeothermEx, as an invited speaker.
If you missed these conversations, check out the recordings at the EAGE YouTube channel. More editions are planned for 2025.
Setting the spotlight on career opportunities in the energy transition, the YP community also gathered top-class speakers from industry and academia to participate in two significant panel discussions.
In ‘Attracting and retaining talent’, held at the EAGE Annual 2024, the experience of professionals working in new energy domains, such as CCS, offshore wind and digitalisation, was presented to inspire early careers to join
the industry. The session concluded that the need for geoscientists with diverse backgrounds is going to increase in the years to come.
The conversation continued at GET 2024 in ‘Addressing the talent gap: Attracting new interest in geosciences through the energy transition’. According to Shi Yuan Toh (Heriot-Watt University), moderator
this one-year career development initiative, many members such as Chandramani Shrivastava (SLB) have had the chance to gain a unique perspective about the importance of mentoring the next generation of leaders. ‘Energy transition efforts are shaping young minds, and their creative thinking needs to be nurtured through these programmes.’
of the session, the panel discussed ‘helping to bridge the gap between traditional geoscience expertise and the innovative skills needed for tomorrow’s energy challenges. As the energy landscape evolves, we need to reimagine how we attract and retain the next generation of geoscientists’.
The YP and the Women in Geoscience and Engineering communities have also been encouraging members to exchange their knowledge and expertise at the EAGE Mentoring Programme. Through
Mentees, like Johan Alejandro Ibarra (Universidad de Los Andes), have also benefited from this exercise, ‘broadening my understanding of the global industry, as well as the academic and professional world of geoscience. I am excited about the prospect of continuing my learning journey’.
Connect with the YP Community
START AT ANY TIME GEOSTATISTICAL RESERVOIR MODELING, BY D. GRANA
START AT ANY TIME NEAR SURFACE MODELING FOR STATIC CORRECTIONS, BY R. BRIDLE
LECTURES
SELF-PACED COURSE 8 VIDEO LECTURES
SELF-PACED COURSE 11 VIDEO LECTURES
The YP community gathered top-class speakers from industry and academia to discuss career opportunities in the energy transition (Photograph from the EAGE Annual 2024).
Expansion for Annual 2025 workshop programme
More workshops than ever are planned for next year’s EAGE Annual in Toulouse (2-5 June 2025). We are offering a total of 19 workshops highlighting growing interest and demand for knowledge-sharing in key areas across the geosciences and energy transition. ‘These workshops offer a unique opportunity for geoscientists, engineers, and energy professionals, to tackle today and tomorrow’s critical challenges—whether it’s the latest technologies in geophysics, CO2, hydrogen, offshore wind, high-performance computing, AI, and more’, said Gautier Baudot, VP exploration excellence & transformation, TotalEnergies and co-chair of the 2025 Local Advisory Committee.
One standout feature will be two-day workshops, one on CO2 storage monitoring and the other on Full Waveform Inversion (FWI). The idea is to allow more in-depth exploration of these important
topics especially relevant to the energy transition.
The workshop programme covers an extensive range of disciplines, from artificial intelligence (AI) to quantum technologies. Highlights this year include the impact of AI-driven technologies, foundation models in geosciences, and navigating change, a workshop dedicated to leadership and adaptation in today’s evolving energy landscape. Gautier Baudot added: ‘By bringing together diverse minds and expertise, we’re building the technical
and leadership skills and generating the insights needed to lead in the sustainable energy transition. The aim is to empower participants to transform complex data and challenges into actionable solutions.’
The workshops on critical minerals and hydrogen in the subsurface reflect the industry’s shift toward sustainability and the need for multi-disciplinary approaches to the issues involved. Other workshop topics such as geochemistry’s role in advancing climate change research and seismic data challenges for offshore wind farm design topics also underline the increasing relevance of geosciences in addressing global environmental challenges.
More familiar topics have not been forgotten. For example, seismic quantitative interpretation (SQI) and distributed fibre-optic sensing will bring updated perspectives and fresh insights as will the workshops on 4D seismic monitoring, and the CCS value chain.
Kuwait geoscientists celebrate associated society inauguration
Kuwait Geosciences Society (KGS) last February organised a gathering of the regional geoscience community to commemorate its new collaboration with EAGE as an associated society.
Nearly 400 attendees, including members from both geological and non-geological communities, as well as presidents from various geosciences societies and organisations across the Gulf countries, came together at the Grand Hyatt Kuwait Hotel (Kuwait) to connect, share knowledge and foster collaboration opportunities. The occasion took place under the patronage of Ahmad Al-Eidan, CEO of Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).
The highlight of the evening was the signing by KGS of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with EAGE, as well as with eight other international,
regional and local professional organisations, to cooperate as associated societies. Dr Mubarak Al-Hajeri, KGS president, said: ‘These agreements signify a commitment to advancing geoscientific research and knowledge exchange across borders.’
Building on the momentum of the inauguration, KGS, in collaboration with KOC, hosted the ‘First Technical Forum’ at the Ahmad Al-Jaber Oil & Gas Exhibition on 20-21 February 2024. This two-day forum featured six high-tech seminars that focused on issues such as high-resolution core logging, 4D seismic principles and applications, Paleozoic petroleum systems, and optimising reservoir integrity for CCUS.
Looking ahead, the collaboration EAGE-KGS aims to bring more edu-
cational opportunities, workshops, and seminars to the geoscientific community in Kuwait, ensuring continuous professional development and staying at the forefront of industry advances.
Learning and collaboration at last year’s workshops in Oslo.
Committed to promoting knowledge exchange across borders, KGS signed an agreement of cooperation with EAGE and other professional associations.
WORKSHOP REPORT
Fourth marine acquisition workshop in Oslo is another success
More than 75 international industry experts from operators, contractors, manufacturers, and academia met in September in Oslo to discuss recent advances in marine seismic equipment, operations, survey design and optimisation. The event was EAGE’s Fourth Marine Acquisition Workshop, a series held on a biannual schedule in Oslo since 2018 when it was initiated by the local geophysical community.
The workshop has evolved since into one of the key global events for marine seismic acquisition. Originally focused on marine seismic technology related to hydrocarbon exploration and production, the technical committee has extended the scope over the years to include energy transition-related applications such as CCS, offshore wind, and deep sea minerals.
As ECMOR 2024 (European Conference on the Mathematics of Geological Reservoirs – see report on pages 3-4) was also being held in Oslo next door to the acquisition workshop, joint breaks, lunches and conference evening, provided possibilities for networking across the disciplines.
For the first time in the workshop series’ history, the workshop committee managed to engage a senior executive to present to the technical community. Kristian Johansen, CEO of TGS, gave the opening keynote ‘Future of acquisition industry’. He explained the strategy and rationale behind the transformation of TGS. The company was previously mainly known as an asset-light multi-client data provider now transitioned to a diversified energy data and service company with a growing geophysical technology portfolio. The market outlook and growth opportunities in the hydrocarbon as well as in the new energy domain were addressed in the CEO’s keynote followed by a Q&A session.
All the keynotes on the first two days were very well received. Xander Campman (Shell) spoke about efficiency of OBN programmes, and Lars Jensen (Norwegian Offshore Directorate) discussed the objectives of sites surveys for offshore wind areas from a regulator’s perspective and presented case studies from the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
The keynote on fibre-optic DAS sensing systems by Hilde Nakstad (Alcatel) was presented in a very informative tutorial-like style and provided many interesting technical insights. Another (as always) inspiring presentation was given by Per Eivind Dhelie (Aker BP). He shared his company’s experience and technology strategy with surface DAS-based imaging especially in the context of monitoring CO2 storage sites.
A major topic of this year’s workshop was marine seismic sources with six presentations. Christophe L’Her (Sercel) kicked off with a keynote on the evolution of marine source technologies. It was followed by dedicated presentations addressing environmental aspects, advances in low-frequency source technology, marine vibrators, and machine learning-based monitoring of seismic source performance.
The third day featured a well-attended short course titled ‘Introduction to modern marine seismic surveys: scope, design and implementation’ given by Xander Campman (Shell). The one-day course covered the design and implementation of modern marine seismic surveys in the context of subsurface objectives, available acquisition, processing and imaging technologies, and environmental, financial, as well as operational constraints. Courses such as these are very valuable. Notably, many of attendees were seismic acquisition experts in geophysical advisory or chief geophysicist positions with many years of experience in the seismic industry. Naturally, the content of the course (presented from an energy company’s perspective) was compelling and triggered many in-depth discussions, improved mutual understanding, and enabled a fruitful knowledge and experience transfer.
Everyone who is interested in the marine seismic technology topic and does not want to wait for the 5th edition of the Marine Acquisition Workshop in 2026 may consider two related workshops that the EAGE has already announced for 2025: the first EAGE/SBGf Workshop on Marine Seismic Acquisition (Rio de Janeiro, 21-22 May 2025) and the third EAGE Seabed Seismic Today Workshop (Bahrain, 24-26 November 2025).
Xander Campman during his course.
Kristian Johansen giving the first keynote.
Two more conferences added to Near Surface Geoscience lineup in 2025
The Near Surface Geoscience Conference & Exhibition (NSG) is expanding with the addition of two new conferences in 2025. Inaugural conferences on Geohazards Assessment and Risk Mitigation, and UXO and Object Detection will be on the programme in Naples, Italy, making the event bigger and more impactful than ever.
1st
Conference on Geohazards Assessment and Risk Mitigation
The 1st Conference on Geohazards Assessment and Risk Mitigation will address the growing impact of geohazards, such as earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, floods, and coastal erosion, risks that have become more frequent and severe with climate change and rapid urbanisation. This timely conference has the backing of the EAGE’s Technical Community on Geohazards. It will be providing insights from experts in the field and fostering collaborative discussions marking a valuable step forward in research and the finding of solutions to mitigate these pressing risks.
The choice of Naples is a very appropriate location for these discussions. The surrounding region is a geologically active area historically susceptible to natural disasters, including eruptions from Mount Vesuvius and earthquakes.
With these expansions, NSG2025 is set to be an even more comprehensive and relevant event, offering a unique space for exchanging experiences and knowledge that can contribute to significant advances in near-surface geosciences.
1st Conference on UXO and Object Detection
The 1st Conference on UXO and Object Detection will focus on geophysical and geotechnical methods for detecting UXO (unexploded ordnance) and other buried objects. This is significant because the accumulation of explosive remnants in conflict areas continues to be a severe problem in many regions of the world. Advances in near-surface geosciences have improved detection methods, making these operations safer and more effective. The conference scope includes exploring object detection which plays a crucial role in various fields, for example in windfarm projects, but also agriculture, infrastructure planning, and environmental monitoring. In the case of offshore wind developments, identifying UXOs, submerged pipelines, and other obstacles is essential for safe and efficient construction. Similarly, in agriculture and infrastructure, detecting buried objects such as cables, archaeological artifacts, or natural features like sinkholes can significantly impact planning and development efforts.
The conference will draw on expertise from EAGE’s Technical Community focused on drones (UAVs) to discuss how they have proven valuable tools for mapping and inspecting large areas quickly and safely. This discussion is particularly relevant in Italy as the country still deals with unexploded remnants from World War II and has specialised teams for detecting and removing these materials.
Deadline reminder for Annual 2025 Call for Abstracts
Don’t forget that the Call for Abstracts for the EAGE Annual 2025 is currently open. Being part of the Technical Programme offers you the opportunity to share your expertise as part of the conference proceedings.
On www.eageannual.org you will find a full list of topics, guidelines, the submission process, and other relevant information. Abstracts need to be submitted by 15 January 2025, 23:59 CET.
Scope of advances in seismic inversion explored at Naples conference
More than 100 participants from around the world attended the third EAGE Conference on Seismic Inversion in Naples, Italy, marking the event’s first in-person gathering following two virtual editions. The focus was on advances in rock physics, feasibility studies and uncertainties in seismic inversion.
From 14 to 16 October attendees were presented with a series of technical talks that covered a wide range of scales and aspects, spanning from small-scale rock physics and log data to seismic scale analysis and beyond to the integration of all elements from rock physics to reservoir model-building using seismic inversion as the tie-in hub in the multi-disciplinary workflow. Topics ranged from conventional to unconventional, renewable and green energy. Intriguing questions were raised as to whether we are going ‘back to the future’ to obtain economically viable solutions for geophysical subsurface characterisation and monitoring in the context of the energy transition. The answer remains open.
Pat Connolly, director of PCA, kicked off the Technical Programme with a keynote presentation Constrained: How what we can measure affects our inversion objectives. His talk set the stage for the Rock Physics and Uncertainty session, which sparked discussion on how the
lack of data impacts seismic inversion outcomes. Subsequent talks included case studies and presentations on geostatistical inversion and full-waveform inversion (FWI) methods.
Day two opened with a keynote from Heidi Kjønsberg, senior research scientist at the Norwegian Computing Centre, on Estimating elastic and reservoir properties by Bayesian seismic inversion. This was followed by sessions on time-lapse inversion and analysis, as well as a dedicated session on machine learning applications in seismic inversion, highlighting its growing importance in the field.
The final day explored the themes of uncertainty, anisotropy and emerging inversion techniques. Dario Grana from the University of Wyoming delivered the keynote on Probabilistic approaches for seismic reservoir characterization: efficiency, uncertainty, and challenge The day concluded with a summary and discussion led by the chairs of the Technical Committee Øyvind Kjøsnes, lead geophysicist at AkerBP, and Tanya Colwell, product manager at GeoSoftware.
A recurring challenge frequently mentioned during the conference was the sensitivity to data quality and sometimes lack of data, both of which significantly impact model predictions. Several presentations demonstrated how more advanced and correct physical models can be included
in the seismic inversion to account for or even predict anisotropy, multiples, mode conversion of the wave propagation, and various elastic and petro-elastic reservoir properties. There were extensive questions and discussions about data acquisition, processing, conditioning, model-building, and the generation of synthetic well data. Amid a myriad of goals and inversion methods, there are different schools of thought and workflows on both data quality and data scarcity. Such topics could serve as candidates for discussion at the next conference in 2026, already awaited with anticipation.
Worth mentioning was the conference’s remarkable venue in a historical complex that includes a monumental church and a cloister adorned with 17th-century frescoes. The event concluded with a field trip to the Campi Flegrei volcanic area, a fascinating exploration of volcanic activity in the region. Participants visited the Solfatara Volcano and the historic centre of Pozzuoli, where they observed the phenomenon of bradyseism, with the ground’s water levels changing by approximately 12 mm per month, a tangible reminder of the region’s dynamic geological processes.
Sponsored by Eni, Delft Inversion, GeoSoftware, Ikon Science, and Qeye, the conference left participants inspired and eager for future advances in seismic inversion.
Delegates networking and enjoying the frescoed cloister garden in Naples, Italy.
Engaging poster sessions spark discussions among delegates in the cloister.
Local Chapters on why you should renew your EAGE membership
There are so many reasons to renew your membership with the EAGE community, here voiced by some of our Local Chapters.
Members of LC Germany say: ‘Our strength lies in collaboration and out-of-the-box ideas. In many projects, we collaborate with at least one other local chapter or organisation. We routinely add new topics to our portfolio, such as our series of meetings on ‘Startups in Geoscience’ and ‘The Importance of Geoscience in Our Society’. We also make a point of allowing ample time after presentations for meaningful discussions, thoughtful questions, and comprehensive answers. After all, a good presentation is important, but being part of an active community is even more so.’
Sometimes the most challenging part of a journey lies at the very beginning. That’s why EAGE – through a variety of programmes and communities – strives to support early careers and the transition from student to professional members. The team at LC Kuwait agrees: ‘Geosciences and the role of geoscientists are frequently underrepresented in school curricula. We
believe students deserve greater exposure to this field to make up for this gap, helping them to explore future career options early on. Students are a vital part of our community; these young, talented minds need encouragement and inspiration to reach their full potential.’
Engagement is also importance as affirmed by our friends at LC Mexico: ‘To expand our local community, we embarked on a journey from ground zero, as the majority of our members were early career professionals with limited industry contacts. Despite this initial challenge, we dedicated ourselves to strategic actions aimed at cultivating a vibrant and inclusive community. This enabled us to establish a strong foothold in the geoscience field, positioning us as a leading chapter within our region.’
Your journey with EAGE is hopefully one of continuous growth and discovery. So take the time to renew your membership now to ensure uninterrupted access to all the benefits EAGE offers, from professional development opportunities to a vast network of like-minded professionals.
LC London drink in the geology of wine
A toast to geology was the theme of a recent event organised by Local Chapter London at Denbies Vineyard in Dorking, Surrey. Members were offered the opportunity to learn about the connections between geology, climate, and winemaking while taking in the scenic landscape of the North Downs.
A highlight of the day was a very informative and amusing lecture by Professor Richard Selley (Imperial College of London). He discussed how the specifics of the North Downs geology influence the region’s suitability for viticulture, including how the chalk’s microporosity and natural fractures provide optimal water drainage to the wines, while the south-facing slopes of the hills ensure their maximum
exposure to sunlight. The subsequent store tour of the winery explored the production facilities before heading into the cellars for a guided tasting session of three different wines. It was a first-hand experience connecting two known indulgencies of geoscientists: unique geological features and wine!
The tour concluded with a scenic journey through the vineyard, ascending to the North Downs Way. With a clear sky and great weather, members enjoyed incredible views of the valleys and hills surrounding the vineyard, while the beautiful rows of grapevines loaded with fruit offered a first-hand connection between the land and the wine it produces.
Local Chapter Mexico celebrates first anniversary
The Mexican earth sciences and engineering community was happy to meet in July 2024 to celebrate the first anniversary of the EAGE Local Chapter Mexico.
The venue was once again the city of Villahermosa, Tabasco, thanks to the active participation of our members and friends in this city. The objective of the event was to reinforce our
sense of belonging to the EAGE and to recognise the effort of our members, companies and allied associations that, throughout this year, have been participating and supporting our activities.
With the aim of increasing our visibility among the community of professionals in the country, as well as to strengthen the relationship with other Chapters and Associations in
the region, our programme counted on the participation of speakers with extensive experience and recognition in the national industry: M.C. Mario Aranda, M. I. Irazema Olvera, and María de Jesús Correa (PEMEX) who discussed the most significant hydrocarbon activities in the country.
Special guests from SLB, the Mexican Association of Exploration Geophysicists (AMGE), and the SPE Mexico Section joined the meeting. The event offered a fruitful knowledge exchange and networking space for our 120 attendees. New relationships were established with national and foreign companies with presence in the city. We are grateful for the support of our sponsors, Jocelyn Vargas (VASE Sísmica) and CMIC Tabasco. We also thank EAGE for trusting us and making this initiative a reality.
Enthusiastic group of wine tasters.
Local Chapter Mexico celebrated its first anniversary with two technical talks and a networking session.
More E-Lectures added to Learning Geoscience platform
The EAGE Learning Geoscience platform has expanded its collection of E-Lectures delivered by experts in their field. These bite-sized educational videos are ideal for professionals seeking to enhance their knowledge and skills.
The new topics now available are Geometrical inversion with integration of geological modelling (Jeremie Giraud); Airborne Micro-Tem and deep learning inversion for base of sand ultra-resolution mapping (Daniele
Colombo); Carbon capture and storage plan for the decarbonization of the Asturias Industrial Hub (Mahdi Bakhtbidar); Change the default colourmap for optimum data visualization and more effective communication (Lindsey Smith); Time-lapse FWI for North Sea deep Culzean reservoir monitoring (Isabel Espin); and Towards 3D near-surface correction without NMO – A rank-based approach (Ali Alfaraj).
The E-Lectures reflect the ongoing commitment of EAGE to provide high-quality educational content, drawn from some of the best presentations at EAGE workshops and conferences.
The Learning Geoscience catalogue now features over 100 EAGE E-Lectures, covering a broad spectrum of topics across geoscience and engineering. Whether you’re a young professional or an experienced industry expert, these videos serve as valuable building blocks for continued professional development, offering insights into latest research and practical solutions. Access to the E-Lectures is free for members. You can explore the full E-Lectures programme and much more at the EAGE Learning Geoscience platform.
Basin Research (BR)
A new edition (Volume 36, Issue 5) has been compiled, featuring 14 articles.
Geophysical Prospecting (GP)
• A new edition (Volume 72, Issue 9) has been published, featuring 22 articles.
• Contributions for the Special Issue ‘Advances in Geophysical Modelling and Interpretation for Mineral Exploration’ are still welcomed until 31 December 2024.
Petroleum Geoscience (PG)
• A new edition (Volume 30, Issue 3) has been compiled, featuring 14 articles.
• Contributions for the Thematic Collection ‘Geoscience driving the North Africa and Eastern Mediterranean Energy Hub’ are welcomed by 30 April 2025.
All manuscripts available on
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Spotlight on exploration in NW Europe at Oslo session
Session conveners Balazs Badics (Harbour Energy), Alyson Harding (Westwood Global Energy) and Jorge-Sanches Borge (Norwegian Offshore Directorate) present some highlights from the dedicated session ‘North-West Europe, UK and Norway Exploration Wells: 2018-2023’ held at the 2024 EAGE Annual.
This Dedicated Session, led jointly by the Technical Community on Basin and Petroleum Systems Analysis and the EAGE Annual Local Advisory Committee, was designed to address the current state of oil and gas exploration in NW Europe, especially in Norway and in the UK. Companies were invited to present their potential play-opener wells and high-impact prospects drilled in the last five years.
The session was opened by Alyson Harding (Westwood) with an introduction to the general trends and results of the last five years of exploration in Norway and in the UK with her talk ‘Exploration trends and strategies in the
wells, delivering almost six times the discovered resources, at just over half the drilling finding cost of the UK. A key trend in both countries has been the increase in infrastructure-led exploration (ILX) drilling and less focus on high impact (HI) and frontier wells. Jon Seedhouse, from the UK NSTA (North Sea Transition Authority) explained in detail the recent trends in hydrocarbon exploration in the UK.
North Sea UK
Daniel Collins from Shell presented a talk on the ‘Revival of the Zechstein carbonate play in the UK Southern North Sea - The Pensacola gas discovery’,
‘frontier’ part of the mature Southern Permian Basin, with an appraisal well planned for 2024 to test the crest of the micro-platform. The exploration well successfully tested gas, oil and condensate on the flank of the structure, and the appraisal will further de-risk in-place volumes and producibility.
Michael Hertle from TotalEnergies explained the exploration concept and the results of the 30/12d-11 Isabella well. The well encountered lean gas condensate and light oil in various Jurassic and Triassic reservoir levels. To explain the phase differences, TotalEnergies built a detailed basin model to match the hydrocarbon phase distribution and
UKCS and NCS’. Exploration activity over the last decade has been impacted by two major oil price crashes and a global pandemic, which have resulted in large fluctuations in drilling costs, exploration performance and discovered volumes. Over the decade, Norway has seen almost three times the number of
co-authored by Martin de Keijzer, also Shell, and Deltic Energy.
The 41/5a-2 exploration well was spudded in November 2022 and was drilled to total depth (TD) in the Carboniferous, completing in 2023. The success of the Pensacola exploration well has proven the resource potential in this
properties such as gas/oil ratio (GOR) and condensate/gas ratio CGR. The basin modelling calibration and results were presented including temperature, pressure, maturity, and migration. Their main conclusion was that even at higher source rock maturities, large reservoirs/ containers could preserve high liquid
The current state of oil and gas exploration in Norway and the UK was discussed in this dedicated session.
yields (in this case, the deep Triassic Judy Member reservoir), while smaller containers like the Upper Jurassic Kimmeridgian sandstones are likely to be filled with gas due to the leakage/spilling of the early liquid charge.
North Sea Norway
The first talk on Norway was given by Balazs Badics (Harbour Energy), who analysed the Norwegian North Sea exploration results from the last five years in his talk ‘Plays, prospects and wells in the Norwegian North Sea 20182023’. The industry has found 1247 million boe recoverable reserves in 64 discoveries, after drilling 128 targets in the 2018-2023 period. The overall technical success rate was 50%. The most successful plays have been the Upper Jurassic plays in the North Viking Graben, delivering 370 million boe in 14 discoveries. The traditional Middle Jurassic Brent play delivered 11 discoveries from 22 exploration wells. These two plays also had the highest average discovery size. There has been a lot of success in drilling Paleogene injectites in the Viking Graben, with a high success rate of 83%; however, estimated volumes in some of the discoveries have decreased during their appraisal campaigns. Overall, few exploration wells failed on reservoir presence and quality; most dry wells were either due to lack of hydrocarbon migration, or trap and seal failures.
Åshild Elin Olsen (OMV) presented the 15/2-2 S Eirik discovery in the Southern Viking Graben. The well targeted a stratigraphic trap in Late Jurassic, Volgian, Intra-Draupne Formation distal turbidite fans, believed pre-drill to be sourced from the UK East Brae Fan Complex. The 15/2-2S Eirik well penetrated an incomplete 505 m thick Draupne Formation, consisting of multiple thin sandstone layers totalling 67 m net sands characterised by suboptimal reservoir properties. The thin bedded reservoir had an average porosity of 7% and low permeabilities. Two distinct sandstone layers with different pressure regimes yielded oil samples, and oil shows were consistently observed throughout the entire section. The well proved a working stratigraph-
ic trap. Provenance studies suggested that sandstones in Eirik have a source similar to Gudrun, although some of the sandstones are disconnected to Gudrun and one unit might be connected to East Brae.
Gunnar Aschjem (Aker BP) illustrated a new play in the Norwegian Central Graben in very shallow Pliocene to Pleistocene shallow marine sandstones in the Overly discovery which
Erik Røed (Harbour Energy) explaining the Bergknapp discovery, which is located in PL836S on the Halten Terrace in the Norwegian Sea, 8 km west of the Maria Field. The discovery well (6406/310) was drilled in 2020 and proved hydrocarbons within Early to Middle Jurassic aged Fangst and Båt Group reservoirs, with oil-down-to (ODT) in all the segments. Preserving the reservoir properties at more than 4000 m depth
lies above the Eldfisk Chalk Field. Aker BP as operator of PL1085 together with licence partners DNO and Petoro drilled exploration well 2/8-19, completing in May 2022, resulting in a gas discovery in the Tanumåsen upper prospect target and an oil discovery in the Ringiåsen lower prospect. The well results proved the occurrence of non- to moderately biodegraded, very light oil mixed with a severely biodegraded early charge in the deeper target, confirming the pre-drill concept of fresh charge. Petrophysical logs, fluid sampling, pressure data and cores were collected giving a good foundation for detailed interpretation and description of the two stacked discoveries.
Norwegian Sea
The first talk on the Norwegian Sea exploration results was given by Bernt
is challenging as porosity is reduced by compaction and cementation. However, it can be seen in many of the wells on the Halten Terrace that good reservoir properties have been preserved at this depth, because of chlorite grain-coating. Due to uncertainty related to the extent of chlorite coating and corresponding distribution of good reservoir qualities, a seismic inversion study was initiated to predict the reservoir properties over the Bergknapp structure. The prediction of the reservoir properties from the seismic inversion matched the appraisal well results.
Mostafa Abdoli (OMV) showcased the first gas discovery in the eastern flank of Utgard High in the Norwegian Sea with the Velocette well. The 6607/31 S Velocette discovery was drilled in 2023 to investigate the reservoir and hydrocarbon potential of the Upper
The Bergknapp discovery was presented during an overview of the Norwegian Sea exploration results.
Cretaceous Nise Formation. A 9 m gas column was encountered in the upper part of the reservoir. The exploration well was the first well on the eastern flank of the present day Utgard High that encountered a thick, sandy interval in the Cretaceous Nise Formation and is regarded as a ‘play opener’ for this area.
Jozef Dziegielowski and Stine Hauge (ORLEN Upstream Norway) pre-
The Copernicus prospect was defined as a high volume and high risk gas prospect within an unproven play in the lower Nordland Group. Unfortunately, sandstones were not found in the reservoir section. Instead, low density smectite rich clays of Neogene age were encountered at the reservoir depth and were responsible for the soft Copernicus anomaly.
sented the results of a shallow, potential play-opener well in the Vøring Basin. The Copernicus prospect was recognised in 2019. The licence is located 48 km SE from the Aasta Hansteen gas field. The main objective of the well was to test a strong seismic anomaly recognised 2000 m below sea level.
Finally, Nico Huebner (Harbour Energy) showed Hati, a high-risk high-reward prospect in the northwestern Vøring Basin, under thick basalts, in the Skoll High area, in proximity to the known Cretaceous plays of the Aasta Hansteen and Irpa gas fields. The geological setting is a particularly
challenging environment for seismic imaging with shallow, heterogeneous volcanics. Existing 3D seismic data quality is insufficient for confident interpretation and solid trap definition. Both conventional seismic reprocessing and full waveform inversion have been carried out and they significantly improved the sub-basalt seismic imaging. This allowed a structural-stratigraphic framework to be defined with normal faults predominantly striking SW-NE. A major unconformity was identified potentially being equivalent to the Base Tertiary Unconformity. Several structural traps can be defined among which the Hati High stands out as a potentially prospective structural closure.
Conclusions
Exploration in Norway continues to discover commercial hydrocarbons and companies still have the appetite to drill exploration wells. However, there is an increasing focus on near field exploration in contrast to previous years, where companies would have more high-volume but riskier wells in their portfolios. Annual licence rounds will continue to give companies a chance to refill their prospect portfolios.
In the UK, exploration drilling is limited and is likely to continue this way. Few interesting large discoveries in proven plays, like Isabella, or in new plays, like Pensacola, are still found.
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The Pensacola gas discovery has proven the resource potential in the ‘frontier’ part of the mature Southern Permian Basin.
Beguiled by Africa Personal Record Interview
Charles Thomas was seduced by the magic of Africa on a visit to Angola in a gap year following his geoscience studies. He has retained the connection more or less his entire career, first with Halliburton, then EMGS and briefly Searcher Seismic mainly in business development. Now a UK-based entrepreneur, he works on various upstream projects in Angola and Namibia with frequent visits to the continent he loves.
Family background
I’m a Shropshire lad. My parents and extended family left school at the earliest opportunity. University wasn’t part of my plan. I left school with one decent grade GCSE – in maths until after I passed my retakes in 1988. By some miracle I took geology from the humble GCSE to master’s. It was the only science subject that I really understood, having grown-up under the shadow of Wenlock Edge.
My A-level Geography teacher was a proud Scouser. She took us on a day trip to Liverpool to visit the docks and Toxteth and arranged a lecture on urban renewal at the top floor of the Roxby Building at Liverpool Uni. It seemed like an excellent city, so I managed to find a way in.
Light bulb moment
‘Introduction to sequence stratigraphy’ by the late Prof Trevor Elliott in my second year – deltaic sedimentology, cyclotherms, transgressive systems tracts, etc. – totally hooked me! Imperial College London came next, where I remember writing up my research thesis on the original Mac that I’d ‘appropriated’ from the Geology department for the weekend. It got published in EAGE’s very own Petroleum Geoscience!
Angola first time
I took a gap year in Angola during a civil war. I lived with the parents of an Angolan friend who’d been at Imperial with me. It was an eye-opening experience for a 23-year-old unemployed expat. I ‘volunteered’ with Texaco (Tako Koning!) to witness a well and spent three weeks
offshore Block 2. I ended up getting paid and mud-logged for a year offshore Congo and Angola on Girassol-2 helping to box up some core – beautiful sandstone turbidites.
Halliburton years
After a few years back in the UK as a contractor for BG in Reading UK, I returned to Angola with Landmark Graphics. Everything changed. I fell in love with Africa and the business development side of geophysics – on the road throughout Africa with a Linux laptop and two passports. Lower Congo golden triangle blocks were being developed and the world was watching. I caught malaria, was highjacked. at gunpoint, and also met my future wife! Unbeknownst to me, a Statoil-led group of researchers was acquiring a proof-of-concept resistivity marine survey over Girassol and Dalia. The results gave birth to marine CSEM services. After a few more years in Cape Town and Cairo with Halliburton, I joined EMGS in 2008 as their ‘man in Africa’.
Offshore EM
EMGS had just made the transition from 2D to 3D CSEM capabilities and now had an inversion product that could be co-rendered with seismic. It was cutting edge tech that I believed in, but it wasn’t so easy to convince exploration managers of the value proposition. ‘Stop exploring, start finding’ was an early marketing mantra that with hindsight was an own goal. Team EMGS remain a great group of optimists who through time and a lot
of effort have grown the toolbox into a robust, repeatable, non-seismic method.
Covid turning point
Covid hit EMGS hard. We were two days from survey start-up in West Africa with a major customer, testing the new Deep-Blue source. Then out of nowhere the whole world shut down. EMGS went into immediate hibernation and I was unemployed for the first time in my career. I read Jeopardy by Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, which motivated me to set-up Striped-Horse in Angola with Dilo Sa, a geophysicist friend and now business partner.
Entrepreneurial life
Striped-Horse has delivered two significant upstream multi-client projects in Angola to date with industry partners and we’ve created a National Well Cuttings Laboratory in Luanda, the second largest database of its kind in the world. More recently we have begun a full basin eFTG airborne survey over the Onshore Kwanza basin. I have also recently joined QXI as a founder shareholder. It’s a start-up E&P company focused on Namibia. Namibia has excellent potential and the new team has several former Galp executives who all want to find the next Mopane.
Time off
Trail running in the Shropshire Hills with friends. My two boys and I also play hockey for Bridgnorth. It’s a great way to stay fit, but can be brutal playing in the middle of January in the UK. I miss Africa!
Charles Thomas
New generation of Seismic instruments
Nodal Seismic data acquisition system
550,000 Seismic nodes to be delivered.
CROSSTALK
BY ANDREW M c BARNET
BUSINESS
Changing the script in 2025
There are many variations of the old joke about optimism along the lines of the group of retirees who meet regularly in a local coffee house to discuss the world’s many problems. One of them shocks the friends by stating: ‘I’m an optimist’. To which another asks: ‘Then why do you look so worried?’ The epic reply: ‘You think it’s easy to be an optimist?’.
That just about sums up the thinking on prospects in 2025 for business across geoscience-related fields. It would be nice to go along with the bosses of the Big Three in the seismic services field (TGS, Shearwater and Viridien), together with most financial analysts, in seeing better things to come in the new year. But on the available evidence there is not too much to support the optimist view.
What we can look forward to is the first full year in which the impact of the latest consolidation in the marine seismic business plays out. TGS is now fully in control of its PGS acquisition, abandoning its longstanding profitable ‘asset light’ model in favour of vessel ownership, a total of nine Ramforms. The reverse in its strategy was signalled nearly two years ago when TGS plunged into the ocean bottom node (OBN) survey market by buying Magseis Fairfield which owned the largest seabed seismic inventory in the business.
‘First
The inescapable reality that has never changed is that the fortunes of the geoscience sector are still tied to the budgets of oil and gas companies and how much they devote to E&P projects with a seismic component, posssibly more so than ever. This may seem a statement of the obvious, but the avenues for making a significant contribution to the coffers by other means seem limited.
The potential for more merger and acquisitions moves that may flatter the balance sheet is definitely running out of road. Putting TGS and Shearwater together is about the only option left, a strategy that would surely give pause to regulators and be unwelcome to oil and gas company clients who have so long been able to exploit the competition to keep prices to their liking. The anticipated IPO for Shearwater has yet to materialise, presumably because of market conditions, and in any case this would not alter the balance of the competition. The often rumoured break up or full takeover of Viridien has yet to gain credibility, but again this would not change the market fundamentals.
full year of latest consolidation’
We have witnessed so many of these consolidation moves over the decades that look attractive on paper, but it is hard to think of one that has been successful. Like other companies before it, e.g., Halliburton Geophysical Services, Western Geophysical, Schlumberger and CGG of old, TGS hopes that by buying a leading position in the marine seismic acqusition market, dominant in the case of OBN, not far behind Shearwater in the towed-streamer arena, and undoubted curator of the largest seismic data library, it can mop up more than enough business to establish a profitable future. What could possibly go wrong? As so often we come back to the nature of the market and the business model adopted by service companies to win their share.
As already suggested, any real improvement in the fortunes of the main players will depend on increased expenditure by oil companies, and here there is some good and bad news. We can probably take on trust a recent Wood Mackenzie estimate, based on analysis of 32 big oil company capital spending intentions, of a 5% increase in 2025 assuming a Brent oil price of around $75/bbl. The caveat is that this is the latest rise in an upward cycle which began from a lowest point in 2020. Sixty per cent of total investment will be upstream for the EuroMajors and up to almost 90% for emerging majors, according to this forecast. Yet exploration spend is only tracking at around half the levels of a decade ago.
Recent revisions by Shell and BP of their energy transition targets suggest that poor returns from low carbon investments and shareholder expectations are taking their toll, not a positive for the geoscience world looking for new opportunities. For
those wondering where the money for low carbon initiatives is coming from, Wood Mackenzie notes that ‘Euro Majors and NOCs account for almost 80% of investment in low carbon. The biggest company spenders are Shell, TotalEnergies, Saudi Aramco, BP and ADNOC. Each is investing around $5 billion a year, more than double the next tier of companies, which includes the two US Majors’. Whether money freed up from slower investment in low carbon solutions converts to E&P projects, mergers and acquisitions or share buybacks is a moot point.
However, it seems the seismic business can anticipate at least a continuation of current spending levels, and most analysts suggest that oil companies cannot put off too much longer the need to explore in order to top up declining reserves. The joker in the pack is of course the price of oil which always has the ability to alter the mood of industry investors. Here the consensus is that, short of a major global crisis, there is no scarcity of supply. OPEC+ continues to hold back, economic woes are suppressing demand from China, and then there is the US.
Trump’s bombastic promise to loosen the leash on oil and gas investment may not actually impact total US production as much as some might imagine. It is already at record highs under President Biden. Companies have of course been lobbying hard for deregulation measures but, in the current unpredictable market with downward pressure on oil price, they seem likely to stick to a continuing disciplined approach to investing in new opportunities. In addition, there have been signs for some time that the shale oil business bonanza could be topping out. That said, if some juicy US offshore prospects are no longer off limits, then there could be a boost to seismic exploration spending to check out what’s on offer.
reservoir characterisation options, especially with the focus on infrastructure-led exploration projects.
To date the customer base has tended to be confined to the bigger oil companies and NOCs. And the cake has to be shared among a number of hungry customers, currently TGS, PXGEO, Shearwater, BGP and SAExploration. A recent snapshot of OBN operations worldwide featured four TGS projects (US/Norway), four PXGEO (Brazil/Suriname/US), and five BGP (Middle East/ Nigeria and one Shearwater (India). Probably more work than ever is in the pipeline, and will include a modest contribution from offshore windpower investigations, but it will have to be a lot to compensate for towed-streamer survey revenue scarcity.
Just like the history of towed-streamer, technology differentiation in the seabed seismic field has been short lived: no company looks to have a major steal over any other. More automated, increasingly crewless OBN operations looks like the way the industry is headed (e.g., OBN for the transition era, R. Basili, First Break November 2024).
One recent analyst report stated that since the completion of the TGS/PGS merger on 1 July, only 150 days of new traditional streamer contracts have been announced TGS (90 days) and Shearwater (60 days) compared with around 1000 days in 2022.
‘Companies will be relying on the towed-streamer seismic survey market’
For the seismic industry the challenge is to navigate a path to greater profitability before patience of stakeholders is tested. It doesn’t take an accountant to deduce that the big players are operating uncomfortably leveraged businesses. In the case of TGS and Shearwater, this stems from their asset acquisition strategy. Success of this business model – proven so fragile over many decades – depends largely on whether marine seismic survey operations can show a level of profitability while reducing borrowings. Surprisingly perhaps, it is actually even more specific.
Even after so many disappointments in the past, these companies will be relying on the towed-streamer seismic survey market for any serious uplift. Why so? The clue is that ocean bottom node (OBN) surveys are now reckoned to be at least 50% of the global seismic survey market, and both TGS and Shearwater are invested in this business. So far so good. But the reality is that the total value of this business is relatively modest. No one questions the value of OBN for 4D seismic and other
For a brief moment Shearwater (which has a total of 16 vessels of one kind or another on its books) only had one vessel actually shooting seismic. That has now changed with at least three projects ongoing around the world. TGS (nine vessels available) had four working out of the total number of 12 surveys being carried out by all marine geophysical contractors worldwide. Even allowing for the onset of the winter season, the figures are concerning bearing in mind the overhead of fleet maintenance and the unavoidable requirement to renew ageing equipment. In the case of TGS, it can look to its more diverse portfolio, particularly its data library, to bring in extra revenue, but as CEO Kristian Johansen has admitted, the old multi-client business in which the company excelled is now out of time.
Viridien is really in a separate category. Except for some limited revenue earning multi-client survey generation, it has distanced itself from the messy offshore seismic operations business. It is intent on marketing itself as the resolver of ‘complex natural resource, digital, energy transition and infrastructure challenges’ with emphasis on its high-performance computing capability. Yet leadership in its core seismic processing and manufacture of on- and offshore seismic equipment manufacture still depends mightily on the health of the industry as a whole.
Next year feels very much like a pivotal one as to which direction we are heading, cue Albert Schweitzer – ‘An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight ... the truly wise person is colour blind’.
Views expressed in Crosstalk are solely those of the author, who can be contacted at andrew@andrewmcbarnet.com.
INDUSTRY NEWS
BGP expands world’s largest seismic survey
Global investment of $78 trillion is needed to meet Paris climate goals, says Wood Mackenzie
Some $78 trillion of investment is required across power supply, grid infrastructure, critical minerals and emerging technologies and upstream to meet Paris Agreement goals, according to Wood Mackenzie’s Energy Transition Outlook report.
Globally, energy demand is growing strongly due to rising incomes, population and the emergence of new sources of demand. Renewables capacity is expected to grow two-fold by 2030 in the base case, short of the global pledge made at COP28 to triple renewables by 2030.
Innovation will improve the commerciality of carbon capture and low-carbon hydrogen, driving uptake to 6 Btpa and 0.45 Btpa by 2050.
‘A string of shocks to global markets threaten to derail the progress in a decade pivotal to the energy transition. From the war between Russia and Ukraine to an escalated conflict in the Middle East, as well as rising populism in Europe and global trade tensions with China, the energy transition is in a precarious place and 2030 emissions reduction targets are slipping out of hand,’ said Prakash Sharma, vice-president, head of scenarios and technologies for Wood Mackenzie. ‘However, there is still time for the world to reach net zero emissions by 2050 – provided decisive action is taken now. Failure to do so risks putting even a 2 ˚C goal out
of reach, potentially increasing warming to 2.5 ˚C – 3 ˚C trajectory.
‘We are under no illusion as to how challenging the net zero transition will be, given the fact that fossil fuels are widely available, cost-competitive and deeply
peaking in 2027 and subsequently falling by 35% through to 2050.
Global final energy demand is projected to grow by up to 14% by 2050. For emerging economies, growth is 45%, whereas demand in developed economies
embedded in today’s complex energy system,’ added Sharma. ‘A price on carbon maybe the most effective way to drive emissions reduction but it’s hard to see it coming together in a polarised environment. We believe that these challenges are overcome with policy certainty and global cooperation to double annual investments in energy supply to $3.5 trillion by 2050 in our net zero scenario.’
In Wood Mackenzie’s base case, displacing fossil fuels with more energy-efficient electricity leads to global emissions
peaks in the early 2030s and enters a decline.
Electricity’s share of final energy demand steadily rises from 23% today to 35% by 2050 in Wood Macenzie’s base case. And, in a net zero scenario, the share of electricity increases to 55% by 2050.
The share of solar and wind in global power supply increased from 4.5% in 2015 to 17% in 2024.
Solar is the biggest contributor of renewable electricity, followed by wind, nuclear and hydro. Together, renewables’
Viridien shoots 3D survey
Australia
Shearwater wins OBN survey
Renwable energy, such as solar, is expected to double by 2030.
share rises from 41% today to up to 58% by 2030 and up to 90% by 2050, depending on the scenario. ‘But any number of challenges – from the supply chain, critical minerals supply, permitting and power grid expansion – could dampen aspirations for renewables capacity,’ said Sharma.
‘Despite strong growth in renewables, the transition has been slower than expected in certain areas because many low-carbon technologies are not yet mature, scalable, or affordable,’ said Sharma. ‘A key constraint is the high cost of low-carbon hydrogen, CCUS, SMR nuclear, long-duration energy storage, and geothermal. Capital intensity is high, but the business case is weak without incentives.’
Analysis shows that investment in upstream oil and gas will be needed for
at least the next 10 to 15 years to offset natural depletion in onstream supply.
Meanwhile, liquids demand peaks at 106 mb/d by 2030 in the base case. Demand stays high at 100 mb/d levels until 2047 in the delayed transition scenario but in a net zero world, falls rapidly to 32 mb/d by 2050.
More than 1200 projects have been announced in both the CCUS and hydrogen sectors in the past five years. However, few have taken FID. In contrast, upstream oil and gas projects remain attractive at 15% IRR or even higher at an industry planning price of $65/bbl Brent long-term. Capital allocation and finance continue to favour oil and gas projects in the base case.
The dynamics change completely under the pledges and net zero scenarios,
where a combination of higher carbon prices and faster cost declines of new technologies erodes the competitiveness of fossil fuels.
Key issues include finalising Article 6 of carbon markets and setting a new global climate finance goal that replaces the existing $100 billion a year. That figure was not achieved until 2022 and is considered grossly insufficient to meet the needs of the developing countries.
‘Strengthened NDCs and global cooperation will be crucial to mobilise $3.5 trillion annual investment into low-carbon energy supply and infrastructure, including critical minerals. If these challenges can’t be overcome, the goal of net zero emissions by 2050 will not be achieved.’
Viridien, TGS and Aquila Holdings complete Utsira OBN reprocessing project
Viridien, TGS and Aquila Holdings have completed reprocessing of the Utsira ocean bottom node (OBN) seismic survey in the Norwegian North Sea.
Utsira was the largest OBN survey conducted on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and required the deployment of more than 144,000 nodes and over 5.5 million shots. Covering an area of 2077 km2 in a mature part of the North Sea, the survey was
acquired in 2018 and 2019, and the initial processing results delivered in 2020.
Viridien reprocessed the resulting data set with its latest OBN imaging technologies, including time-lag full-waveform inversion, and advanced velocity model building techniques, to yield significant improvements in image resolution and frequency content for fault interpretation and reservoir characterisation workflows, said the company.
The Utsira area holds several significant oil and gas fields, including Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen, Balder, Gina Krog, Gudrun and Johan Sverdrup, along with a number of undeveloped discoveries and prospects.
Nils Haugestad, interim CEO of Aquila Holdings, said: ‘We are confident that our significantly improved image of the area will maximise our clients’ prospects for making new discoveries as well as optimising existing production.’
David Hajovsky, executive vice-president of multi-client at TGS said: ‘Through the reprocessing of this OBN data, TGS, in collaboration with Viridien and Aquila Holdings, can equip our clients with the resources to unlock the full potential of this well-established and highly productive petroleum basin. Whether through uncovering new reserves or optimising current operations, this data offers valuable insights that will greatly enhance understanding of the region.’
Dechun Lin, EVP, Earth Data, Viridien, said: ‘The new time-lag FWI model and resulting high-resolution images improve fault interpretation and reservoir characterisation, enabling operators to make more informed exploration, production, and reservoir management decisions.’
Location map showing the Heimdal Terrace, Utsira and Sleipner OBN data coverage.
BGP expands the world’s largest seismic survey
Chinese seismic contractor BGP has won a contract from ADNOC worth up to $490 million to expand the scope of the world’s largest combined 3D onshore and offshore seismic survey currently underway in Abu Dhabi. The contract will focus on identifying additional oil and gas resources in ADNOC’s producing onshore fields.
ADNOC and BGP will leverage advanced artificial intelligence tools to accelerate interpretation of the seismic data, maximise resource recovery and the use of existing infrastructure in producing fields to enhance efficiencies.
The 3D mega seismic survey project was initiated by ADNOC in late 2018 and marked the start of the world’s largest continuous seismic survey, covering 85,000 km2 across onshore and offshore areas in Abu Dhabi. The project is designed to provide high-resolution and high-fold 3D seismic data, offering a comprehensive understanding of the region’s complex geological structures.
Abdulmunim Saif Al Kindy, ADNOC upstream executive director, said: ‘ADNOC continues to maximise value creation and responsibly meet growing demand for energy. Our investment in
the world’s largest 3D Mega Seismic Survey emphasises the role advanced technologies play in our operations, as we continue to realise the full potential of our oil and gas resources to ensure the UAE remains a long-term and reliable energy provider to the world.’
FGS and Tarim publish patent to optimise layout parameters in seismic data acquistion
Forland Geophysical Services (FGS) and Tarim Oilfield Company have published a patent on the method and device for optimising layout parameters in seismic data acquisition.
belonging to the field of oil and gas exploration.
The method is based on the velocity model, using the illumination and inverse-illumination analysis method
The invention provides a method and device for optimising the arrangement parameters in seismic data acquisition,
to obtain the energy distribution map data reflected back to the surface by the underground directional target in differ-
ent dimensions for each group of first parameters.
It determines the group of first parameters corresponding to the energy distribution map data that meets the first preset condition as a group of second parameters, using the beam acquisition method to determine the relevant parameters of the beam seismic for the energy distribution map data corresponding to all the second parameters, based on the velocity model.
It also uses the compressed sensing method to obtain the relevant parameters of the beam seismic and the underground directional target imaging corresponding to all the second parameters. It uses the relevant parameters of the beam seismic and the group of second parameters corresponding to the underground directional target imaging that meets the second preset condition as the optimised first parameters.
‘The invention can achieve the best seismic acquisition design,’ said FGS and Tarim in a joint statement.
Dr Xianhuai Zhu, right, founder and CEO of Forland Geophysical Services (FGS).
BGP signs a contract with ADNOC that will cover 85,000 km2 in Abu Dhabi and leverage AI tools.
BRIEFS
Equinor is acquiring Sval Energi’s 11.8% share in the Halten East Unit to increase its ownership to 69.5%. Halten East is an offshore development in the Kristin-Åsgård area in the Norwegian Sea. The development comprises six gas discoveries and three prospects, which will utilise existing infrastructure at Åsgård B. Recoverable reserves are estimated at 100 million barrels of oil equivalents, of which 60% is gas.
EMGS has reported Q3 revenues of $1.1 million, down from $1.6 million in the third quarter of 2023. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of 5.9 million, down from a loss of $0.7 million in Q3 2023. Free cash increased by $7.4 million to $13.2 million.
Aramco has reported third quarter net income of $27.6 billion, compared with $32.6 billion in Q3 2024. Cash flow from operating activities is $35.2 billion and free cash flow $22 billion. Capex totalled $13.2 billion in Q3.
BP is reported to be considering selling a minority stake in its offshore wind business, according to Reuters. The company is reported to have lined up Bank of America to find partners for the business.
EMGS has reported vessel utilisation of 40% for the third quarter, compared with 0% in Q3 2024. The company’s one vessel on charter, Atlantic Guardian commenced acquisition of prefunded multi-client projects, including an OBN seismic survey. EMGS expects to record $0.5 million in late sales multi-client revenue in Q3.
ConocoPhillips has reported third-quarter 2024 earnings of $2.1 billion compared with Q3 2023 earnings of $2.8 billion.
Shell has reported Q3 2024 adjusted earnings of $6 billion. Cash capex for 2024 is expected to be below the lower end of the $22-25 billion range.
BP has reported Q3 underlying RC profit of $2.3 billion, compared with $2.8 billion for the previous quarter.
Shearwater wins 3D surveys offshore Suriname and in Asia Pacific
Shearwater has won a large 3D seismic survey offshore Suriname for client Petronas.
The vessel Amazon Warrior has been allocated to the three-month project, commencing in Q4 2024. ‘High-quality seismic data is a key enabler for unlocking the vast resource potential of the prolific Suriname-Guyana basin and accelerating exploration activities,’ said Irene Waage Basili, CEO of Shearwater.
The 6000 km2 project marks the continuation of Shearwater’s commitment to Petronas in this frontier area having previously performed acquisition work in Block 52.
Meanwhile, Shearwater has won two consecutive towed-streamer survey projects in the Asia Pacific Region with a combined duration of three months. The Shearwater multi-sensor vessel Geo Coral is allocated to the projects which commence in early Q4 2024.
Viridien and SLB shoot 3D survey offshore NW Australia
Viridien and SLB have completed acquisition of a multi-client survey in the Bonaparte Basin, off the NW coast
of Australia. The resulting 6760 km2 ultramodern PSDM seismic data set will evaluate the highly prospective and underexplored area to improve industry
understanding, said Viridien. Processing is underway and final data will be available in Q2 2025.
The complex geological area has been historically challenging to image due to the presence of carbonates and the shallow water. The new survey will provide modern, high-quality data over an area lacking recent, or any 3D data. The data also partially covers a carbon storage block, recently awarded as permit G-13-AP. The survey deployed Sercel Sentinel MS multi-component streamers and the Sercel QuietSea marine mammal monitoring system.
Dechun Lin, EVP, Earth Data, Viridien, said: ‘We are delighted to have partnered with SLB for the first time in Australia to successfully complete this large data acquisition project. The new data set will give interested players greater insight into the exploration and carbon storage potential of this promising area. We will continue to look for opportunities to invest in the country.’
Amazon Warrior is heading to South America and Geo Coral to Asia Pacific.
Map showing coverage of the Bonaparte 3D multiclient survey.
TGS reprocesses 3D data offshore Sierra Leone
TGS has enhanced its Fusion 3D seismic dataset offshore Sierra Leone, focusing on the Vega prospect.
The reprocessing project leverages advanced seismic imaging workflows to enhance depth data, offering clearer subsurface insights for oil and gas companies currently exploring the area or that might secure oil and gas concessions in the near future. Recent discoveries in South America have intensified interest in the region, positioning Sierra Leone as a promising exploration frontier.
‘The Vega prospect has been identified as a promising target within Sierra Leone’s offshore waters, and modern depth data will be instrumental in further mapping the undrilled prospect, enabling progress toward drilling activities,’ said TGS.
To date, eight wells have been drilled on the continental slope region of Sierra Leone, targeting submarine fan systems that demonstrate reservoir quality at multiple stratigraphic levels. The region holds unexplored opportunities in several basin-floor fans in the northern Sierra Leone Basin, where transpressional events created a syn-rift plateau with attractive drilling depth to target.
The reprocessing project includes approx. 7500 km2 of 3D seismic data, complemented by 16,000 line km of 2D Pre-Stack Depth Migrated (PSDM) data, and supported by gravity, magnetic, and interpretive data products.
Oil and gas round-up
Petrobras has announced that the gas potential in the discoveries located in the Guajira Offshore Basin, in Colombia, is around 6 Tcf (trillion cubic feet) in place (VGIP), confirming the magnitude of the discoveries made in the area and its importance for the Colombian gas market. Petrobras, acts as operator (44.44%) in partnership with Ecopetrol (55.56%).
Equinor has have made an oil and gas discovery in the Gudrun field in the North Sea, estimated to between 0.1 and 1.2 million Sm3 of recoverable oil equivalent in the intra-Draupne Formation, and between 0.4 and 1.3 million Sm3 of recoverable oil equivalent in the Hugin Formation. The well’s primary exploration target was to prove petroleum in Late Jurassic reservoir rocks in the intra-Draupne Formation, as well as Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks in the Hugin Formation. Well 15/3-13 S encountered thin oil-bearing sandstone layers in the intra-Draupne Formation. In the Hugin Formation, the well encountered a total of 92 m of sandstone with poor reser-
‘Sierra Leone has all the geological ingredients to emerge as a leading exploration frontier in Africa. With accessible acreage, attractive fiscal terms, and this depth-migrated high-quality Fusion 3D data, the exploration potential is strong,’ said David Hajovsky, executive vice-president of multi-client at TGS.
This project is expected to deliver final results in Q3 2025.
voir properties. Gas was encountered in two intervals, with respective thicknesses of 8 and 7 m. Well 15/3-13 A encountered oil in an 85m-thick interval in the intra-Draupne Formation. 15/3-13 A also proved 100 m of sandstone with poor reservoir properties in the Hugin Formation. Extensive data acquisition and sampling were carried out. Well 15/3-13 S was drilled to 4826 m below sea level. Well 15/3-13 A was drilled 4814 m below sea level. Both wells were terminated in the Sleipner Formation in the Middle Jurassic. Water depth is 110 m.
TotalEnergies has made a final investment decision for the ‘GranMorgu’ development, offshore Suriname. The GranMorgu project will develop the Sapakara and Krabdagu oil discoveries, on which an exploration campaign was completed in 2023. The fields are 150 km off the coast of Suriname and hold recoverable reserves estimated at over 750 million barrels. Total investment is estimated at around $10.5 billion and first oil is expected in 2028. TotalEnergies is the operator of Block 58 with a 50% interest,
alongside APA Corporation (50%). Staatsolie is expected to enter the development project with up to 20% interest.
Aker BP and Wintershall DEA have found gas in the Norwegian Sea, 230 km west of Sandnessjøen and 12 km west of the Skary field. The discoveries are estimated to between 2 and 8.7 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of recoverable oil equivalent, corresponding to around 13-55 million barrels of oil equivalent. The primary exploration target for well 6507/2-7 S was to prove gas in reservoir rocks in the Tilje Formation in the Lower Jurassic. The secondary exploration target was to prove gas in reservoir rocks in the Middle Jurassic (the Garn Formation) and in reservoir rocks in the Upper Cretaceous (Lysing Formation). In the primary exploration target, well 6507/2-7 S encountered gas in the Tilje Formation, which is 133 m thick, 43 m of which in sandstone rocks with moderate-to-poor reservoir quality. The gas/water contact was not encountered.
Map depicting TGS’ multi-client subsurface data coverage, including 2D and 3D seismic, offshore Sierra Leone.
TGS expands US 3D survey of Appalachian Basin
TGS is expanding the Birmingham 3D seismic survey onshore US covering 276 square miles. The survey is located on the western flank of the Appalachian Basin, aligning with the most prospective trend of the Utica-Point Pleasant formation and Clinton sands.
The Birmingham-Gemini 3D seismic survey will target key formations in the Appalachian Basin, including the Ordovician Trenton, Black River, Utica/Point Pleasant, Cambrian reservoirs, and Silurian Clinton sands. Positioned up-dip from the Utica condensate and gas trend, the survey aims to explore the under-explored Point Pleasant oil window.
The project will map deep structures to identify hydrocarbon traps, analyse facies changes and optimise well placement. TGS will enhance the seismic data by integrating it with its Appalachian geologic and well database, including over 480,000 well logs. Proprietary formation tops and well performance metrics, available through the TGS Well Data Analytics platform, provide clients with deeper analysis into the region’s potential.
Recording for the Birmingham-Gemini 3D survey will commence in early 2025, with the fully processed dataset available to clients by year-end.
Meanwhile, TGS has expanded its 3D seismic coverage for its Benin MegaSurvey, offshore West Africa, to deepen understanding of the region’s subsurface geology and unlock its untapped hydrocarbon potential.
In collaboration with Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures du Bénin (SNH-B), TGS will add 2248 km2 of conventional 3D seismic data to the existing Benin MegaSurvey. The expanded coverage will span from the continental shelf to the slope, offer-
Viridien
ing a comprehensive view of the area and revealing previously untapped exploration potential, said TGS.
In addition to the seismic expansion, TGS has incorporated 10 wells into its RockAVO atlas, which integrates seismic data with well information, enabling clients to explore rock physics models, analyse elastic properties, and visualise seismic AVO responses for detailed subsurface insights. It will also offer well data integration: access a wealth of well logs, and data atlases in a single platform, streamlining exploration workflows. Explorers will be able to screen for geological analogs, and assess lithology, fluid content, and porosity to de-risk plays. They will also be able to ensure data accuracy and seismic image integrity with enhanced quality control features.
reports third quarter net loss of $9 million
Viridien has reported third quarter net loss of $9 million and operating profit of $23 million on IFRS revenues of $219 million, compared with a net profit of $8 million and operating profit of $43 million on revenues of $293 million in Q3 2023.
Digital, Data and Energy Transition (DDE) revenue of $187 million was up 1% with strong revenue growth in Geoscience offset by lower aftersales in Earth Data. Profitability was impacted by -$12 million in penalty fees from vessel commitments.
Geoscience revenue of $103 million was 32% up. Order intake was up 91% as a result of the new UK HPC hub and increased activity in the Middle East.
The new businesses confirm positive momentum, both in CCUS with the release of the latest phase of Gulf of Mexico Carbon Storage Study to support upcoming lease rounds and in Minerals & Mining with the award of a sensing program in Oman, to identify, map and rank mineralisation prospectivity potential.
Earth Data revenue of $83 million was down by 22%, down 22% from $107 million in Q3 2023.
Prefunding revenue at $58 million was up by 4%, boosted by the first contribution of the Laconia project in the Gulf of Mexico, but offset by weaker after-sales (down 50% at $26 million).
Revenue was also boosted by the Norwegian survey for carbon storage leading to the reprocessing of legacy data in the area.
Sensing and Monitoring (SMO) revenue of $59 million was down 51% across land and marine products. Revenue was boosted by delivery of land seismic nodes for large-scale seismic surveys planned in urban areas to target energy resources, including geothermal.
Overall, 2024 revenue is expected to be in line with 2023. Earth Data cash capex is expected to be $230-250 million.
Net cash flow was $10 million and liquidity was $442 million (including $100 million undrawn RCF).
Sophie Zurquiyah, chief executive officer of Viridien, said: ‘Geoscience was particularly strong this quarter to achieve a record high order book. In Earth Data, the Laconia project had increased prefunding and is continuing to progress well. Sensing & Monitoring is actively implementing its adaption plan and is on track to achieve in 2025 the expected cost reduction.’
Selected TGS subsurface data coverage in the Appalachian area, including the Birmingham-Gemini 3D seismic survey and surrounding well data.
Norway to invest $24 billion in exploration this year
Norway's net cash flow from petroleum activities are expected to be $60 billion in 2024 with $24 million invested in petroleum activities.
The expected revenues from the petroleum industry in 2024 are lower than in 2023, when the state’s net cash flow was $91 billion. The decline is mainly because of lower estimates for the gas prices compared to last year.
Oil and gas production is expected to remain relatively stable towards 2030. In the national budget, the government expects that total Norwegian petroleum production in 2024 to be 239 million Sm3 of oil equivalents, while the production is expected to be 243 million Sm3 in 2025. The future production provides the basis for continued high government revenue.
‘Production from the Norwegian continental shelf contributes large amounts
of energy and is significant for the energy supply to Europe. We will continue to develop the petroleum industry and remain a stable and long-term supplier of energy to Europe’, said Norway’s minister of energy Terje Aasland.
Investments in the petroleum industry are estimated at $24 billion in 2024, including both new field developments and investments in producing fields. ‘Developments on the Norwegian continental shelf to employment throughout the country and make it possible to maintain production at a high level up to 2030. It is important that the industry develops all profitable resources in its portfolio and seeks to identify and develop more profitable discoveries. The service and supply industry needs new assignments over the next two years to maintain a high level of activity’, said Aasland.
SLB sign deal with Aramco to work on emissions reduction solutions
SLB and Aramco have signed an agreement to co-develop digital solutions to help mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in industrial sectors. Solutions will be integrated within SLB’s digital sustainability platform, building on the collaboration announced in 2022.
The SLB digital sustainability platform will enable industrial companies to accelerate their progress towards net zero by more easily measuring, reporting and verifying (MRV) their emissions.
The data and intelligence also assists in implementing more strategic decarbonisation actions, such as enhancing energy efficiency, reducing methane emissions, and advancing carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) initiatives.
‘Data is essential to support increasing calls for emissions transparency, and taking decisive actions on decarbonisation investments,’ said Rakesh Jaggi, president of Digital and Integration, SLB. ‘The digital sustainability platform provides the means to leverage data at scale to drive emission reduction outcomes. We aim to expand the SLB suite of solutions with Aramco’s innovative technologies.’
The agreement establishes a framework for development of several digital solutions on SLB’s digital sustainability platform. These include Aramco’s Flare Monitoring System (FMS) solution, as well as a new decarbonisation planning solution for the forecasting of emissions, and simulating scenarios that aim to determine optimal GHG emissions mitigation pathways.
ENERGY TRANSITION BRIEFS
An independent taskforce has been launched by the British Chamber of Commerce to map out an orderly energy transition for the North Sea. The North Sea Transition Taskforce will be led by Philip Rycroft, a former permanent secretary in the UK Government, who will pull together the expertise of supply chain businesses, unions, environmental groups, and energy policy experts to deliver the widest possible consensus.
Rystad’s annual report Global Energy Scenarios 2024 has found that solar, wind and battery costs are continuing to drop at unprecedented speed, and capacity is coming online at record pace, with solar installations surging 60% to 360 gigawatt-hours alternating current (GWac) in 2023. Electric vehicles (EVs) are expected to reach 23% of new passenger car sales this year, compared with 3% only four years ago, while annual investments in new renewable energy infrastructure exceeded oil and gas spending for the first time in 2023.
Getech has entered into an exploration collaboration agreement with Sound Energy. The companies will collaborate to seek to explore for natural hydrogen and helium in Morocco, with the initial phase of the agreement comprising a joint regional screening study to identify areas of potential interest for more detailed assessment by the parties.
After recent approval of the agreed terms for Ireland’s second offshore wind auction, ORESS ‘Tonn Nua’, the country’s Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has made critical geophysical data sets available. These datasets will support prospective auction participants in their analysis to better inform and de-risk bid preparations.
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has made available the final Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed SouthCoast Wind Project. The project could generate up to 2.4 GW of offshore wind energy, enough to power more than 800,000 homes.
TGS reports third quarter net income of $37 million
TGS has reported third quarter net income of $37 million on revenues of $501 million, compared to net income of $16 million on revenues of 292.5 million in Q3 2023. Operating profit of $60 million compared with $28 million in Q3 2023.
Multi-client revenues of $280 million compared with $160 million in Q3 2024, driven by solid pre-commitments for new investments and increased sales of existing data. Contract sales of $220 million compared to $132.5 million in Q3 2023.
Full-year pro-forma organic multi-client investments were cut to $425450 million as certain projects have been deferred to 2025. Order inflow reached $423 million during Q3 2024 – total produced backlog is $750 million.
‘We achieved record high utilisation of our OBN crews. Although the utilisation of the 3D streamer fleet has been lower than expected so far this year, we are on a positive trend based on negotiations and tenders. Finally, I’m pleased to see that our solid balance sheet and sound financial policy has prompted substantial upgrades to the credit ratings by both Moody’s and S&P which puts us in a good position to refinance the debt structure at attractive terms,’ said Kristian Johansen, CEO of TGS.
Meanwhile, TGS has launched the US Gulf Coast CO2 Storage Assessment package.
Spanning 70 million acres across the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast, the assessment offers insights that streamline storage evaluations and guide strategic decisions. With data from 9000 wells and evaluations of 22 key geologic formations, TGS provides comprehensive formation top and petrophysical interpretations.
Carel Hooijkaas, EVP of new energy solutions at TGS, said: ‘This assessment package is a game-changer for the industry, providing unparalleled data coverage and expert analysis to identify the most viable reservoir and seal formations for CO2 storage.’
The Gulf Coast CO2 Storage Assessment is strategically aligned with the recent Texas General Land Office CCS Lease Sale along the Texas coast. TGS’ initiatives feature a well-structured stratigraphic framework, comprehensive petrophysical analysis, and visual log curves, alongside extensive regional mapping of storage properties and volumetric visualisations.
Finally, TGS has completed its CO2 Storage Assessment for the Michigan Basin. Spanning 50 million acres, the
study provides detailed insights into the region’s geological formations, capacity estimates, and site suitability for carbon sequestration.
The study leverages data from 1650 wells in Michigan, alongside core data from Western Michigan University, to conduct an in-depth analysis of key geologic formations and their potential for CO2 storage. The assessment features a fully integrated stratigraphic framework, comprehensive petrophysical analysis, and advanced log curve interpretations. Both reservoir quality and sealing integrity are examined — critical for advancing carbon capture and storage (CCS) initiatives, said TGS.
Shearwater wins OBN project offshore Angola
Shearwater GeoServices has secured its second award from TotalEnergies for an Angolan OBN project. This follows the recent award of a project at Block B32.
The three-month deepwater OBN survey at B20/11 covering the Golfinho and Cameia fields, will utilise the Shearwater OBN platform comprising of the Pearl node and the company’s dual ROV-equipped vessel SW Tasman The SW Gallien will be acting as source vessel and the project will be in direct continuation of the previously announced project.
Shearwater CEO Irene Waage Basili said: ‘These consecutive projects underline the strength of our long-term strategy and adds to the already impressive utilisation of the Shearwater OBN platform. We are reshaping ocean-bottom seismic in West Africa, breaking through the industry’s quality and cost curves as leading OBN technology is adopted.’
Vessel SW Tasman is mobilising for the three-month project.
Carel Hooijkaas, EVP of new energy solutions at TGS.
DATA MANAGEMENT AND PROCESSING
Submit an article
The industry has continually innovated to offer greater volume and better quality data. Geoscience companies are competing to offer improved data processing and management packages for new acquisition and reprocessing of vintage data, enhancing their packages using machine learning and artificial intelligence. Greater compute power is aiding geoscientists’ application of complex algorithms and integration with other types of data to provide a more accurate and sophisticated picture of the sub-surface – both for oil and gas projects but also increasingly for renewable energy projects.
Rebecca Head outlines a systematic approach to increasing the value of subsurface data ecosystems.
Gordon Poole et al demonstrate how the use of multiples in imaging may provide improved shallow illumination and potentially reduce the requirement for extensive site-survey acquisition in some areas.
Richa Rastogi et al investigate 2D TTI and 3D isotropic RTM, focusing on the impact of shot-centric and fold-centric aperture selection on computational efficiency and imaging accuracy.
Steven L. Roche presents a specific processing flow for an onshore 9C4D seismic project to monitor CO2 injection in a carbonate reservoir.
Tim Seher et al use rotational measurements from a new type of ocean bottom node for the attenuation of non-compressional energy.
Richard Mohan et al explore key components in transforming data management to enable AI-ready subsurface data.
Neil Hodgson et al reflect on how geoscientists are the bees of processing intelligence, cross fertilising solution-strategies and benefiting from the diversity of practitioners they interact with as they explore the diversity of the world’s geology.
First Break Special Topics are covered by a mix of original articles dealing with case studies and the latest technology. Contributions to a Special Topic in First Break can be sent directly to the editorial office (firstbreak@eage.org). Submissions will be considered for publication by the editor.
It is also possible to submit a Technical Article to First Break. Technical Articles are subject to a peer review process and should be submitted via EAGE’s ScholarOne website: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fb
You can find the First Break author guidelines online at www.firstbreak.org/guidelines.
Special Topic overview
January Land Seismic
February Digitalization / Machine Learning
March Reservoir Monitoring
April Underground Storage and Passive Seismic
May Global Exploration
June Technology and Talent for a Secure and Sustainable Energy Future
July Modelling / Interpretation
August Near Surface Geo & Mining
September Reservoir Engineering & Geoscience
October Energy Transition
November Marine Acquisition
December Data Management and Processing
More Special Topics may be added during the course of the year.
Sixth EAGE Borehole Geology Workshop
Seventh EAGE Rock Physics Workshop
The Seventh EAGE Rock Physics Workshop in Cape Town is a great opportunity for professionals and enthusiasts in the field to share their research and ideas. Submitting an abstract would be a valuable way to engage with the latest developments and connect with others in the industry. If you’re involved in rock physics, this could be a fantastic platform to showcase your work and network with leaders and experts.
Don’t miss this opportunity to submit your abstract and connect with industry leaders, experts, and fellow enthusiasts.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
3-5
EAGE
Part
EAGE Workshop on Geothermal Energy in Latin America
Part of First EAGE Symposium & Exhibition on Geosciences for New Energies in America
EAGE Workshop on Water Footprint
Part of First EAGE Symposium & Exhibition on Geosciences for New Energies in America
3-5
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
7-11 Sep Near Surface Geoscience Conference and Exhibition www.eagensg.org
7-12 Sep 32 nd International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry (IMOG) www.imogconference.org
9-11 Sep Second EAGE Conference and Exhibition on Guyana-Suriname Basin www.eage.org
14-18 Sep Seventh International Conference on Fault and Top Seals www.eage.org
16-18 Sep The Middle East Oil, Gas and Geosciences Show (MEOS GEO) www.meos-geo.com
