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Vol. 225 No. 12 |
IHS Energy, a leading source of worldwide oil and gas information, analysis and software, has acquired Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), a strategic knowledge advisor to the energy industry, financial institutions and governments. Daniel Yergin, chairman of CERA and Pulitzer prize-winning author, will become a member of the executive leadership of IHS Energy while continuing to serve as CERA chairman.
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Student Competition to encourage software development
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 To stimulate development of plug-ins for OpendTect, its open-source seismic interpretation software, dGB-Group initiated an OpendTect Student Competition. Students are invited to submit OpendTect plug-ins (source code, executable, user documentation and other relevant information) before September 2005. Participants agree that their work can be released as open source via the OpendTect download center (www.opendtect.org). Plug-ins are judged on innovation and software quality by a professional jury of developers and users. First prize is $2,000, and second prize is $500. Winners will be announced at the 75th SEG annual meeting in Houston, November 2005.
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Schlumberger Ltd acquired AOA Geomarine Operations, LLC (AGO), a privately owned company. AGO provides marine controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) and marine magnetotelluric (MMT) services for offshore exploration. AGO, which will operate as a Schlumberger company, will continue under Lionel Fray, AGO president and CEO.
Perenco, an independent exploration and production company based in London and Paris, has purchased three BP companies owning a 50% interest in the Offshore North Sinai Concession, offshore Egypt. One of the companies (BP North Sinai Petroleum Co.) is the operator under the joint operating agreement governing the concession. Perenco is now in discussions with Egyptian government authorities and with its partners regarding development of the Tao field, discovered in 1997. First gas deliveries are expected by December 2006. Completion of the Sinai project is expected to increase Perenco's production by 130 MMcfd, or about 20,000 boepd.
Paradigm, a provider of advanced petroleum geoscience and engineering technology to the E&P industry, will sponsor a new petroleum geoscience and technology facility at the University of Manchester, which has recently expanded its petroleum research and teaching capabilities. Paradigm's epos 3 data management and interoperability integration framework was installed for teaching and research purposes on a Linux cluster, in a new dedicated teaching lab with 15 workstations. The facility is linked directly to the Manchester Computing Centre, one of the UK's premier computing facilities, providing a virtual reality environment for research and teaching. Paradigm will donate licenses for a wide range of its seismic interpretation, model building and geophysical mapping products.
The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and the Society of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers (SPEE) have organized an exploratory committee to evaluate the merits, interest and importance of establishing a voluntary certification program for petroleum reserves evaluators. Recent publicity regarding reserves writedowns, and concerns about the reliability of reserves disclosures, have highlighted a demand for higher standards throughout the energy industry and particularly the oil and gas sector. The committee identified several components of a potential certification program, including recommended geoscience and engineering practices, reserves definitions, better standards, testing, education and ethics. The initiative is oriented toward individual professionals rather than companies. If the committee sees merit in this initiative, it will recommend such action to their respective societies. The goal is to provide greater confidence in reserves estimates.
Landmark Graphics Corp. formed a strategic business alliance with Edinburgh Petroleum Services (EPS) to integrate advanced network optimization, nodal analysis and material balancing technologies with Landmark's Engineer's Desktop and Real Time Surveillance technologies. Working from a common data source within a single suite of applications, users can access historical well information and current production data, reducing cycle time, and also identify production losses early. Linked with EPS ReO network modeling and optimization technology, operators can further maximize the value of hydrocarbons from new and mature fields. The two companies are developing a common user environment and data source for each tool through Desktop Navigator and The Engineer's Data Model.
Earth Resource Management Services has opened a SeisQuaRe center in Stavanger, Norway, making it the only technology provider offering in-country services for spatial qualification of seismic data. SeisQuaRe uses geostatistics to quantify the reservoir potential of a future acquisition or specific processing, the spatial consistency of inputs and outputs of each of the processing steps, and the reduction of uncertainty through seismic data.
Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp. and Stone Energy Corp. have signed exploration agreements covering interests in 30 leases held by Kerr-McGee in the Gulf of Mexico. Stone acquires working interests ranging from 16.67% to 50%, while Kerr-McGee remains operator and retains working interests from 50% to 75%. In addition, Stone will participate with Kerr-McGee in at least six exploratory wells in the Gulf through the end of 2005. The agreements cover several identified deepwater and deep shelf prospects, including the Kerr-McGee-operated Essex prospect in Mississippi Canyon Blocks 23, 24 and 25. Kerr-McGee estimates that its resource range is 40 – 150 million boe.
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