Seismic surveys with increased bandwidth are the way forward. There will be some winners and losers, reports Andrew McBarnet.Talk about the boss ignoring the spoiler alert. In the last few weeks new Schlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard has been…
Staffing shortages are creating project delays at a majority of large oil & gas companies, according to new data released by management consultancy Schlumberger Business Consulting.The much-discussed ‘big crew change' – the retirement of geoscientists…
Andrew McBarnet joins in a 10th birthday party.It is not entirely coincidental that the current market optimism discernible in the marine seismic community extends to the offshore electromagnetic (EM) survey business. The two technology applications…
Point cloud collection speeds of up to 30,000 points per second and a range of 150m can be achieved with Topcon Positioning Systems’ new GLS-1500 laser scanner. When the unit’s built-in 2.0 megapixel digital camera is connected to a PC and used with Topcon’s ScanMaster software…
In a world where two things are certain – death and taxes – Arctic exploration does offer a certain amount of certainty: just a little bit of information can completely alter the way the industry views a specific Arctic area. Industry leaders…
A rising tide of seismic demand has quite suddenly changed the conversation in the marine seismic community. Andrew McBarnet explains why.It’s amazing sometimes how quickly the clouds can clear. Just a month or two ago marine seismic companies were forecasting another flat year…
CSA International and EGS Survey Group have formed a new Houston-based joint venture company, EGS Metocean Sound Sciences (MSS), to provide metocean and acoustic monitoring services, including consultancy and the collection of high-quality data to assist in engineering…
Andrew Hurst, professor of production geoscience at the University of Aberdeen, has been presented with the American Association of Petroleum Geologists’ 2012 Grover E Murray award for ‘distinguished and outstanding contributions to geological education’.
Norway’s SPT Group is hailing the next-generation release of its reservoir flow model optimization solution, the newly launched MEPO4, as the industry’s first model for rigorous optimization under uncertainty.Removing uncertainty is not possible…
Andrew McBarnet detects a rebuilding of industry confidence in marine controlled source electromagnetic surveys after a troubled period for the operators of the technology.It is now almost exactly 10 years since a somewhat historic scientific…
The name Petrobras these days invokes thoughts of large, pre-salt discoveries, for good reason. Since announcing the Tupi pre-salt find in 2006, the Brazilian operator has made giant strides in developing and refining the technology needed to find and produce the oil hiding beneath the salt layer…
A shortage of experienced geoscientists and petroleum engineers will delay projects and could push operators to take more risks, according to a survey released 29 March 2011.The labor market for mid-career petrotechnical professionals ‘will be tight over the next three years…
The latest top end 3D graphics cards can now support GPU rendering for volume visualization and instantaneous processing of volume data. Paradigm's Huw James, Evgeny Ragoza and Tatyana Kostrova explain what this generation of cards makes possible…
It’s amazing how little it takes for perspective on a business to change more or less overnight and be seen through a completely fresh set of lenses. Andrew McBarnet reviews some surprising developments.A month or so ago at the annual meeting…
Reporting from last month’s SEG annual meeting in Denver, Andrew McBarnet finds marine seismic contractors frustrated by contract bidding woes.There is no question about what was bothering the marine seismic community at last month’s well attended…