Trace to be bought
Calgary-based Trace Energy Services Ltd. is being bought by Quantum Geophysical Inc., a subsidiary of Geokinetics Inc. Trace, with operations in the United States and Canada, performs 2-D, 3-D and 4-D seismic surveys using both conventional analog and digital equipment.
HL buys seismic services
HL Technologies Inc. (HLT) of Stafford, Texas, has acquired the seismic service division of Harvey-Lynch Inc. The acquisition will combine HLT's seismic cable and connector manufacturing and repair capabilities with the electronic repair, field service, new and used equipment sales, replacement parts sales, and rental capabilities for the land and marine seismic industry that were previously offered by Harvey-Lynch.
Awards and agreements
• WesternGeco has been awarded a high-resolution Q-Marine survey over the St. Joseph field offshore Malaysia by Sabah Shell Petroleum Co. Ltd.
• Geotrace will process seismic data from a major new 2-D survey to be acquired offshore Colombia. The work will be done for InSeis AS.
• Odegaard, in collaboration with TGS-Nopec and Fugro-Geoteam, is applying its acoustic impedance inversion technology to an extensive non-exclusive seismic database prepared for the Danish licensing round launched in May 2005. The technique has tied well log data from 61 wells to the relevant seismic horizons and velocities.
• Input-Output (I/O) and Reservoir Exploration Technology have signed a multi-year agreement for the purchase of I/O's VectorSeis Ocean system, a redeployable, ocean bottom cable seismic imaging system equipped with VectorSeis digital full-wave sensors for multicomponent data acquisition.
Roxar donates software
Roxar has donated more than US $26 million of its IRAP RMS reservoir modeling software for academic use at seven European universities, including Heriot-Watt University; the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of London; the University of Manchester; Friedrich-Schiller University; Technische University; the University of Barcelona; and University College Dublin.
Rig licenses signed
Friede & Goldman, Ltd. has completed design-licensing contracts for the construction of four JU-2000E jackup rigs and three ultradeepwater ExD semisubmersibles. The licensing agreements include options for four additional JU-2000Es. F&G also contracted to provide its patented Rack Chock leg fixation system with each jackup. They are scheduled for delivery in 2007. The jackup design has a 75-ft (22.8-m) cantilever reach, rated water depth of 400 ft (122 m), and rated drilling depth of 30,000 ft (9,150 m). The semisubmersible design can operate in dynamic positioning mode in water depths up to 10,000 ft (3,050 m). The first two rigs, built by Jurong Shipyard, will be completed by November 2008, with an option in effect for construction of the third semisubmersible at a later date.
Multi-well program starts
A six-well project for Century Exploration (UK) Limited and Dana Petroleum in the central North Sea is believed to be the first time a well project management company has established a shared program of activity for operators in the basin. The total contract value of the program is expected to be up to US $55 million.
The Peak Group has hired the Bredford semisubmersible rig from Dolphin Drilling for the project. Three wells will be drilled for each operator. Drilling commenced in July 2005 with completion of the six-well program anticipated in December. Peak will deliver complete well project management services. This includes hire of the rig, detailed well and test design, tendering and contracting for all services, execution of the drilling program including materials and logistics, project completion and operations wrap-up.
Shock absorbers sold
Quantum Drilling Motors and Directional Services, an Oklahoma City, Okla.-based oil and gas services provider has acquired the shock absorber inventory and design drawings of the Security DBS Drill Bits product service line of Halliburton's Energy Services Group. The transaction is effective immediately. The acquisition adds to Quantum's line of straight-hole and directional drilling tools.
Schlumberger celebrates
Schlumberger marks 75 years of continuous service in Indonesia this year with a celebration during the 30th annual Indonesia Petroleum Association (IPA) Convention and Exhibition at the Jakarta Convention Center. The first Schlumberger wireline log was run on August 13, 1930, in Rantau Well #1 for Bataafsche Petroleum Mij (BPM).
Offshore activity surges
Expenditures off the coastlines of North and Central American countries peaked at US $31.9 billion in 2004 and will decline slowly to $26.4 billion in 2009 as operators spend less on capital development and more on operating expenses.
Worldwide offshore oil production will climb 43% between 2003 and 2009 as international offshore production nearly doubles the 22% growth pace forecast for North America, according to a new report from UK-based Mackay Consultants. The US growth rate, however, will match the world growth rate at 43.2%. Canadian production will grow by 42.4%, Mexican production by 7% and Cuban production by 25%.
At the same time, offshore gas production will rise 17% between 2003 and 2009 offshore North America, but the 92% worldwide increase in offshore gas production will dwarf North American numbers. Mexico will top the offshore gas growth chart in North America at 69.3%, followed by the United States at 14.1% and an 8.5% drop offshore Canada.
The report, titled "Prospects for the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry in North and Central America 2005- 2009," said offshore North and Central America accounted for 20.3% of world offshore oil production and 22.2% of world offshore gas production.
Mexico overtook Norway in 2003 to become the world's largest offshore oil producer. The United States, fifth in offshore oil production worldwide, remains first in offshore gas production, according to Tony Mackay.
Most of North America's growth will take place in the Gulf of Mexico, he said, and most of the growth in that area will occur in deep water offshore the United States and Mexico.
North America currently is the second most important offshore production area in the world, after the North Sea, Mackay said, with 5.76 million b/d in production in 2003. That production should rise to 7.04 million b/d in 2009.
Ice alert issued
The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board contracted an ice survey to help arm offshore operators against icebergs and pack ice. Most offshore areas have at least a 50:50 chance of avoiding an ice invasion during the year. The survey covered offshore territorial waters from 42° to 50° north latitude, roughly from offshore Massachusetts to offshore northern Newfoundland, and 80° west longitude to 47° west longitude at the northern end and 53° west longitude to 49° west longitude at the southern end, an area that includes waters surrounding Newfoundland and skirts the offshore boundaries of Nova Scotia and the northeastern United States. That area includes the Jeanne d'Arc Basin with Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose fields, and the Laurentian and South Whale basins and includes territory from extremely shallow water in the channel between Labrador and Newfoundland to water more than 6,562 ft (2,000 m) deep. "With industry looking at more cost-effective alternatives to exploration and production drilling on the Grand Banks, verifying the existence of an ice-free season could enable the utilization of ice-sensitive technologies, which in turn might proved to be economical for some operators," said C-Core of St. Johns, Newfoundland, in its C-Core News magazine. C-Core conducted the study. The company used historic records dating back 36 years for icebergs and 44 years for pack ice to find ice-free months in each 1° by 1° sector. If icebergs or pack ice in concentrations less than .1 of the sector were observed in any month, less than once every 5 years, the block was considered ice free. The sectors with the most ice passed the ice-free test only from September through December. They included sectors west of 49° west longitude above 48° north latitude, except for the segment north of 48° north and west of 50° west. That 1° square also was ice-free in August. The only other square in the iciest category was north of 47° north and west of 52° west. That sector includes the oil industry host city of St. Johns, Newfoundland.
Steel, oil eye prospects
The world got a new exploration operation as ONGC Videsh, Oil and Natural Gas Corp. of India's non-Indian operation, signed a joined venture with the Mittal Group, the world's largest steel maker to look for hydrocarbons. Among the 22 nations, Mittal would like to explore are Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Poland, Romania, Germany, China, Canada, Angola, the United States and the United Kingdom, said the Financial Express newspaper. The group will look at exploration, production, pipeline transportation and refining operations.
Kerr-McGee pulls back
In a surprise move, Kerr-McGee Corp. sold its North Sea assets offshore the United Kingdom to Maersk and Centrica plc for US $3.5 billion. Maersk, with $2.95 billion, will take all of the operated properties, while Centrica gains the non-operated leases. The Maersk share includes operating rights in half of the 10 fields it will pick up in the deal. Reserves totaled some 231 million boe and 77,000 boe in daily production. Kerr-McGee is high-grading its energy portfolio while prices are high to raise cash for areas with the highest growth opportunity. It also is culling its shelf properties in the Gulf of Mexico and some onshore US properties, and it's concentrating on long-lived resources such as Wattenberg field northeast of Denver, Colo., in the US Rocky Mountains, the Greater Natural Buttes area of northeastern Utah and deepwater Gulf of Mexico. It has 10,000 "projects" in the onshore properties. Projects include exploration and development wells, infill drilling, workovers and new zone exploitation in existing wells.
Williams raises sights
The Williams Cos. plans an aggressive development campaign in the Piceance Basin of western Colorado in the United States that could provide 400 jobs and increase drilling by 50%. The company has ordered 10 Helmerich & Payne drilling rigs designed specifically for the Piceance Basin that will allow the company to drill up to 22 wells from a single surface pad half the size of traditional drill sites. Williams previously had said it would drill 3,000 locations, but approval for tighter well spacing raises the number of potential drill sites to 4,600, according to the Denver Post newspaper. It plans 300 wells this year, 450 wells next year and 500 wells in 2007.
Sixth-generation rig set
Norway's Det Norske Veritas received a contract to class the Eastern Drill 1, the largest semisubmersible drilling rig ever built. The new sixth-generation offshore rig will begin construction next March at the Samsung Heavy Industries yard in South Korea. DNV Maritime will handle the contract and site supervision, while DNV Technology Services will manage approval and project management for the first project phase. Smedvig's dual-derrick rig, harsh-environment rig with an advanced dynamic positioning system will be capable of drilling in water to 9,843 ft (3,000 m).

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