Initiative seeks members
The Industry Research Funders Coalition and Heriot-Watt University have formed the PAMGUARD research initiative to address limitations of existing cetacean passive acoustic monitoring software capabilities. For more information, visit www.pamguard.org.

Logging anniversary noted

Schlumberger is celebrating 75 years of continuous service in Indonesia this year. The first Schlumberger wireline log was run Aug. 13, 1930, in Rantau Well #1 for Bataafsche Petroleum Mij. A hand-plotted resistivity log laid over a sketch of a geology map gave clients a clear image of the oil-bearing formations.
Surveys
• TGS-Nopec has launched two surveys offshore Russia. It will acquire 3,090 sq miles (8,000 sq km) of multiclient 2-D data in the Sea of Okhotsk near Sakhalin Island and will acquire 2,700 sq miles (7,000 sq km) of multiclient 2-D data in the Barents Sea.
• CGG has been awarded a major 3-D seismic offshore acquisition contract by ONGC for the third consecutive year in India. The program is located in deep water off the eastern coast. CGG also announced that it has acquired more than 90% of the shares in Exploration Resources ASA.
• Grant Geophysical will conduct two seismic surveys in North Dakota. One is a 3-D survey northwest of Williston, and the other is a 2-D survey in northwestern Ward County.
Agreement signed
Schlumberger and Sense Intellifield have signed a joint marketing agreement to provide customers with design and installation of real-time drilling operation centers. Schlumberger will provide operations management and technical services, including the analysis and interpretation of data, software, connectivity and data security. Sense Intellifield will provide complementary design, construction, commissioning, hardware and software, and system support services.
Contracts announced
Petrobras has awarded Oceaneering International's Multiflex division contracts worth approximately US$42 million to supply 110.5 miles (178 km) of subsea umbilicals using high collapse resistant (HCR) hoses developed by Petrobras and Oceaneering. The HCR hoses, which have a steel carcass, allow chemical injection using low specific gravity chemicals without incurring the cost and weight disadvantages of stainless steel tubes.
Ikon acquires EarthModels
Ikon Science has purchased UK-based EarthModels Ltd. in a cash and share deal. EarthModels is the developer of ChronoSeis, a 3-D and 4-D seismic reservoir characterization tool focused on rapid analysis of multiple seismic datasets.
Spectrum to offer support
Geoserve Trinidad and Spectrum have joined forces to offer data processing services as GeoserveSpectrum to oil companies operating in Trinidad. Geoserve will provide local content, and Spectrum will provide certified personnel, seismic processing software and processing procedures.
Drillship ordered
Stena Drilling of Sweden placed a US $600 million order with Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea to build the Stena Drillmax, a dynamically positioned ultradeepwater drillship capable of working in water depths to 10,000 ft (3,050 m). Samsung also will build the 105,822-ton rig to handle North Sea and Barents Sea harsh environments. The new rig is scheduled to join the other five rigs in the company fleet before the end of 2007.
First noted in subsea well
Statoil chalked up another innovation as it drilled the first sidetrack with a mobile rig through a production string in a subsea well at its Norne field in the Norwegian Sea. The Norwegian operator plans to use the technique to raise recovery percentages on its other offshore fields. The company said the technique lowers drilling costs because the re-entry work is faster. Previously, operators had to pull the production liner and other downhole equipment and return it to the well after completing the sidetrack. With the new technique, Statoil hopes to achieve 60% recovery at Norne and to average a 55% recovery on all its offshore fields. The entire operation took 30 days, and Statoil expects 19,000 b/d of oil from the new sidetrack.
Independents combine
Two independent operators have gotten together to contract The Peak Group of Aberdeen, United Kingdom, to drill a six-well program in the central North Sea. Century Exploration (UK) Ltd. and Dana Petroleum suggested the combination to hold costs for the wells to US $36 million or less. Peak will drill three wells for each operator with anticipated completion of the last well in December. Under the contract, the service company will hire the rig, create a detailed drilling plan, contract all services, manage the drilling program and all materials and logistics, complete the project, and wrap up the operation. The combined program reduces red tape and minimizes unit costs for materials.
Casing drilling rigs sold
Turnkey E&P Inc., a private Alberta, Canada, company, plans to buy all four of Tesco Corp.'s casing drilling rigs for US $35 million in cash and warrants to buy about 5% of Turnkey. The companies also agreed Tesco would provide preferred-supplier services to Turnkey, which was formed specifically to use Tesco's technology on turnkey wells to take exploitation and production risk. According to Tesco, the rigs were built to demonstrate casing-drilling technology, and rig ownership is not part of the company's long-term strategy.
Jet rigs lower costs
Triton American Energy Corp. plans to buy a horizontal jet-drilling rig along with options to acquire two more of the patented rigs. The transaction is for cash, but the amount was not disclosed. The company plans to put the rig to work immediately on its Blackwell lease, an Austin Chalk enhanced oil recovery project involving 29 Austin Chalk wells and two Edwards Lime wells. According to Triton, the jet rig will lower its drilling costs and give it an alternative to the short supply of drilling rigs.
Record well test run
Chevron completed a well test in record water depth at its Tahiti discovery well in the Gulf of Mexico using Halliburton Energy Services Group DeepQuest service. The rate and pressure information gathered indicate potential production rates of more than 25,000 b/d. The companies ran the test in 4,100 ft (1,250 m) of water in the 25,812-ft (7,873-m) high-pressure well. The technique requires a weighted fluid system that allows for fracpack and fracturing treatments in cases where surface treating pressures would exceed pressure limitations of surface equipment.
ExxonMobil gets Cepu
Indonesia's Pertamina has tried every tactic in the playbook to get a bigger percentage of ExxonMobil's Cepu for the past 4 years, but Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyo, after telling Pertamina to close the deal with no apparent effect, said he would fire the board of directors of the state oil company. The Indonesian government has been trying to avoid becoming an oil importer, and ExxonMobil's development of Cepu field on central Java, with an offshore loading platform, is an important part of that delaying strategy. Cepu has an estimated 600 million bbl of oil reserves.
Well campaign revealed
Pakistan's Oil and Gas Development Corp. plans to drill 107 wells in the next fiscal year after drilling 57 wells this fiscal year, the company said in a briefing with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. The official had asked the company to redouble its efforts to produce oil at its Uch, Qadirpur and Sanjhero fields by using the latest production technologies.
Sakhalin-1 starts producing
Giant Sakhalin-1 oil and gas field off the northeast coast of Sakhalin Island, Russia started production as of Oct. 1, according to MosNews. Rosneft, ExxonMobil and Indian's ONGC Videsh Ltd. are partners in the project. The giant field represents India's largest investment outside its own borders at an anticipated US $2.5 billion. The project already has cost $4.5 billion. First oil will go to a refinery on the Russia-China border at Komsomolsk-on-Amur, while gas will flow to Khabarovsk Territory. The partners are discussing routing some production to China and Japan eventually. The field complex contains some 5 billion bbl of oil and 17 Tcf of natural gas.
Pemex gets platforms
Pemex has contracted Heerema Marine Contractors to install five offshore platforms and jackets in the Marina Noreste area of the Bay of Campeche in Mexico. Heerema will install the SIHIL-A, AKAL-Q and AKAL-W drilling platforms, the PB-KU-M production platform, the HA-KU-M living quarters platform and the PB-KU-S, PB-KU-A2 and PB-KU-H production jackets. Heerema will manage the installations during the first three quarters next year.
UK licensing sets record
The United Kingdom set a licensing record as 99 companies bid on 152 licenses on 264 North Sea blocks in the 23rd licensing round. The sale included six frontier licenses and 76 promote licenses as companies fought for the chance of finding and producing up to 28 million boe of remaining hydrocarbons. The previous record was 118 licenses in 1972. The number of wells - 17 - promised in the round also set a record for any period in the past 10 years. The sale marked the entry of 24 companies new to the North Sea. Among bidders, Endeabour International Corp. won 11 production licenses on 17 blocks. Nautical Petroleum took three promote blocks on two license areas. The Esso Exploration and Production UK Ltd. subsidiary of ExxonMobil in a co-venture with Shell UK Ltd. added 20 contiguous blocks during the round, the biggest single license award ever granted. The two majors will explore the Mid North Sea High about 90 miles (143 m) east of Newcastle and between the Southern Gas Basin and the Central North Sea. The area is underexplored.
Deepwater duo combines
Veteran builders of deepwater installations J. Ray McDermott and Keppel Fels will combine talents in a new venture called Floatec to concentrate on deepwater construction activities. The pair plans to work with purchased patent rights that previously belonged to ABB for its Extended Tension Leg Platform and its Single-Column Floater designs. McDermott's experience has focused on spar platforms, while Keppel Fels has featured semisubmersible facilities.
Builder expands range
Construction and engineering expert Technip will create Technip USA, combining its North American offshore upstream division and its onshore downstream division. The new division will cover the United States, Mexico, Venezuela and the Caribbean countries for offshore activities and North America for onshore activity. Included in the entity are the company's centers in Houston, Texas; Claremont, Calif.; Mobile, Ala.; Jupiter, Fla; Channelview, Texas; and Aransas Pass, Texas. Larry Pope will serve as chairman and Luc Messier as president and chief executive officer managing some 1,800 employees.

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