New crews on the scene
Dawson Geophysical Co. and TGC Industries are both launching new crews. Dawson's crew brings that company's total count to 12, and TGC's count is up to six.
TGS starts group shoot
TGS-Nopec Geophysical Co. will acquire a new multiclient 3-D survey in the Main Pass and Viosca Knoll areas of the Gulf of Mexico. The company has contracted Reservoir Exploration Technology AS (RXT) to acquire the 1,119-sq-mile (1,800-sq-km) survey using a VectorSeis ocean bottom cable recording system from Input/Output.
Ramform breaks record
PGS' Ramform Valiant acquired 2,890 sail miles (4,656 sail km) during December while working in the Camamu Almada Basin offshore Brazil. Towing a streamer configuration of 10 19,686-ft (6,000-m) streamers at 300-ft (100-m) streamer separation, this translates to almost 900 sq miles (2,400 sq km) in a single month.
Record backlog reported
On Jan. 1, 2006, CGG announced a group backlog of US $970 million, up 28% compared to Nov. 1, 2005, and 110% over the previous year. The CGG Services division was up 112% year on year. The company reports that the strong increase comes primarily from the offshore business unit and reflects the good market conditions prevailing in this sector.
Contracts
• Landmark, a brand of Halliburton's Digital and Consulting Solutions Division, was awarded a 2-year,
multimillion contract to support, train and consult for Petrobras on
a full suite of software and information technology services.
• Electromagnetic Geoservices (EMGS) has been awarded a contract by Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. (ONGC) for the provision of marine electromagnetic surveys to locate hydrocarbon reservoirs before drilling.
• A subsidiary of Veritas DGC has been awarded a contract with BP America Production Co. to perform wide-azimuth seismic surveys in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The program is expected to begin in the summer of 2006.
Egypt gets viz center
Fakespace Systems Inc. has delivered a FLEXT visualization system to Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the New Library of Alexandria, in Egypt. This walk-in virtual reality system will enable interactive work within 3-D computer-generated models and environments at the International School of Information Science, a research center affiliated with the library.
Syria draws 13 bidders
Nine exploration blocks in Syria attracted 13 international bidders. The licensing round drew 23 tenders from companies based in the United States, Canada, France, The Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Russia, Ukraine and Malyasia, Syria plans to announce winners the month and sign contracts in June.
Drilling

Five jackups get big contract
Transocean Inc. signed a contract with India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. to supply five jackup rigs for 15 rig years, a contract that will bring in an estimated US $805 million in revenues for the contractor. The rigs are the Ron Tappmeyer, Randolph Yost, Trident II, Trident XII and J.T.Angel, each with a 3-year contract. Some of the rigs already work for ONGC, and the Trident II and J.T. Angel will start their programs after planned shipyard visits.
Rig count breaks 1,500
The US drilling rig count pushed up through the 1,500 mark for the first time in 15 years during the first full week of February, according to Baker Hughes Inc. The company reported 1,513 rigs at work, the highest level since the 1,594 working rigs counted on Feb. 3, 1986. Among those rigs, 1,313 were looking for gas. The workover rig count climbed to 1,506, the highest level since Nov. 1987.
Production

IEA maintains forecast
Political events and high prices chopped energy demand growth in the fourth quarter of 2005 to 80,000 b/d, down from a previous growth estimate of 420,000 b/d, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). At the same time, hurricane damage in the Gulf of Mexico continued to restrict production. The organization is standing by its forecast of 2.2% growth for 2006. The IEA said non-Opec countries will show lower-than-expected production in the first quarter and Opec will have to make up the 200,000 b/d shortfall.
Oil shale revives
Six companies were approved for further consideration for eight permits to conduct shale oil research, development an demonstration projects in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming as part of a US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) program to investigate domestic energy source potential. Applicants were Chevron Shale Oil Co., EGL Resources Inc., Exxon Mobil Corp., Oil-Tech Inc., Oil Shale Exploration LLC and Shell Frontier Oil & Gas. Shell submitted three applications. Overall, the BLM received 20 nominations. Chevron, EGL, Exxon Mobil and Shell selected sites in Colorado, while Oil-Tech and Oil Shale Exploration picked Utah locations. The agency will conduct an environmental analysis of the proposed sites. Six proposals involve in-situ retort techniques, using various methods to heat the shale underground. US shale oil resources underlie some 16,000 sq miles (41,440 sq km) of land with an estimated 800 billion bbl of recoverable oil in a total of 2 trillion bbl of oil in place, half of that in Colorado.
General

World will meet demand
The US Energy Information Administration's (EIA) new short-term energy outlook to 2007 showed the growth rate for oil slowed in 2005 relative to world gross national product (GNP), said Guy F. Caruso, EIA adminstrator at the Critical Isssues Forum for oil at Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) Week in Houston. The price hasn't had an impact on projects, because most projects that will come on stream by 2010 already are well under way, he said. The EIA predicted oil consumption will grow by 1.5 million b/d each year for the next 5 years, or by 7.5 million b/d by 2010, and much of that demand will continue to come from China. He said he was confident that Saudi Arabia would meet its commitment to raise production by 2 million b/d to a total of 12.5 million b/d by 2010. Caruso said he expected Opec countries to add 4 million to 5 million b/d by the end of the decade in spite of a continued decline in Southeast Asia. He also said he expected the United States to add 1 million b/d of oil by 2005, but that figure comes off a 2005 base crippled by two major hurricanes. Thunder Horse will add up to 300,000 b/d of production. In all, non-Opec countries will have to come up with 2.5 million b/d by 2010 to meet anticipated demand. Margaret Byl, vice president of strategy and development for Suncor Energy Inc., a major oil sands producer in Canada said her company plans to increase production from a current capacity of 260,000 b/d to 500,000 b/d shortly after the end of the decade. The industry should grow from 1 million b/d now to 2 million b/d by 2010 and 1 million b/d every 5 years, but it will need US $70 billion to reach the
2 million to 3 million b/d level.
Don't knock NOCs
National oil company (NOC) power is growing around the world, but NOCs are not in a position to take over the dominant position of international oil companies, according to a survey released by Accenture at the 2006 Cambridge Energy Research Associates Week in Houston. The company interviewed representatives of 10 NOCs and built profiles of 20 more. The survey showed NOCs will continue to grow, will create more partnerships with each other and will use international service companies as their technology consultants, but they still will need IOCs for complex, integrated projects and for applications of emerging technology and for training, said Melissa Stark, senior executive in the company's energy strategy practice. Among priorities for NOCs are security of supply, project margins, international relations, downstream gas supply and infrastructure and growth of supply, she added. A common theme among the NOCs is that they want creative deals with maximum benefits for their countries. "They're all going toward unlimited deals, not fixed partnerships. The want more than task-oriented deals," Stark said. She cited Shell's recent deal with India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. as an example of a creative deal.
World still waits for peak oil
The world has not reached peak oil, and the world is not facing a choice between economic development and global warming. "I don't believe that the world is running out of energy. Or that - taking unconventional resources into account - we're even close to peak oil; or, that we must choose between economic development and action on climate," said Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer. Speaking at Cambridge Energy Research Associates Week in Houston, van der Veer said said plenty of challenges still face the industry, and international oil companies will have a key role in meeting those challenges. "With continued economic growth, the world's energy needs could increase by half in about 25 years. That's the equivalent of perhaps 100 million bbl of oil extra a day, significantly more than we added over the past quarter century," he said. Most of that added demand will be in new markets. At the same time, pressure will continue to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from energy production and use. The biggest impact, he said, won't come from new discoveries. They will come from increased percentages of oil and gas from existing fields; smart technology to monitor and control production remotely and expensive but effective enhanced oil recovery techniques.
Meet the gas well paradox
The United States keeps drilling more wells with no gain in productions even though the nation has 1,400 Tcf of technically recoverable reserves and 188 Tcf of proven reserves. That may not make sense to some people, but Keith Rattie, president, chairman and chief executive officer of Questar Corp. of Salt Lake City, Utah, knows the reason. It's not a question of finding gas. In the past 25 years, the United States has used 500 Tcf of gas and reserves are higher now than they were then. "The resource is finite, but ingenuity is not," he said. Speaking at the Cambridge Energy Research Associates Week in Houston, Rattie described his company's experience in the tight sands of the Pinedale Anticline of southeastern Wyoming, the third largest field onshore in the United States. Questar is drilling on 10-acre spacing, or 64 wells per sq mile (2.6 sq km) in the tight sand, and it's only reaching half the gas. At some point it will drill 128 wells per square mile, if it can overcome public opposition. Wells in similar tight formations in the Piceance Basin of Colorado show an initial flush production of 1 MMcf/d to 2 MMcf/d, decline sharply in a short period of time and produce for years fielding about 1.5 Bcf of gas per well total production. That decline means Questar can drill 1,000 wells a year for 10 years and get only a potential 1 Bcf/d of additional production, he said.

Comments