Finding Oil in Atlantic Basins

.......do exponentiating drilling costs spell the END, despite remaining opportunities? 0

Wednesday, May 27, 2015, London, The Geological Society

Download our conference report



In the Geological Society, London, on May 27th, we explored the idea that we might be able to improve the way we look for oil in the North and South Atlantic by developing new methods.

Or to state the opposite, perhaps the disappointing results from the Transform Margin west of Ghana, Namibia, French Guiana, Mauritania, Morocco and the North Atlantic (except Canada) have been due to the fact that explorers are only using an old set of ideas.

Chaired by Andrew Lodge, exploration director of Premier Oil, the conference included a talk from Premier Oil on potential in the Ceará basin on the Brazilian Equatorial margin;

Mike Dyson of Navigant, and a former general manager of well engineering with BG Group, on how to reduce the costs of exploration wells.

Also Neftex, LR Senergy, Getech, TGS and CGG, on opportunities in the North and South Atlantic.

Introduction from conference producer David Bamford

Once we move away from the Gulf of Mexico, successful deep water oil E & P has been enjoyed mainly in the basins of the South Atlantic – Angola and Brazil above all; Ghana; Nigeria to some extent.

Elsewhere has been disappointing – the Transform Margin west of Ghana; Namibia; French Guiana; Mauritania and Morocco….

Equally, the North Atlantic – offshore Canada aside – has been disappointing so far.

So is the game now over?

Or is it that everybody has simply been pursuing the same ideas – “Girassol – lookalikes”, “Jubilee – lookalikes”, “Brazil sub-salt – lookalikes” and so on – and what we actually need are some NEW IDEAS?

David Bamford

Agenda

9:30

Andrew Lodge - Principal - StrategicFit

Welcome & Introduction:

 Talk Description.
Andrew Lodge is Exploration Director of Premier Oil plc, currently drilling a series of exciting wells in the North Falklands Basin! He may even talk about the campaign!!
Andrew is now a Principal at StrategicFit and a Non-Executive Director at Egdon Resources.

Previously, he joined Premier Oil plc’s Board as Exploration Director in April 2009 from Hess where he was Vice President, Exploration, responsible for Europe, North Africa, Asia and Australia for nine years. Prior to that, he was Vice President, Exploration, Asset Manager and Group Exploration Advisor for BHP Petroleum, based in London and Australia. Prior to joining BHP Petroleum, Andrew worked for BP as a geophysicist. He has an honours degree in Mining Geology from the University of Wales and a Masters in Applied Geophysics from the University of Leeds. He is a fellow of the Geological Society.

He retired from Premier Oil in June 2015.

StrategicFit
StrategicFit is a strategy consulting firm specialising in the upstream oil and gas industry.

We help companies, licence partnerships and stakeholders make difficult decisions they can be confident in.

Through decision analysis, a collaborative strategy process and sector expertise, we'll give you
a clearer way forward.
9:45

Sarah Laird - Regional Geoscientist - Landmark Exploration Insights

Expanding Exploration Horizons: The Analysis of Play Ideas in the North Atlantic
Sarah Laird joined Neftex in 2007 as part of a team working on the regional geology of the Indian Subcontinent. Since 2010 she has worked as a geoscientist with a focus on Europe, with a particular interest in the geology of the North Atlantic and the Adriatic, and presently works as a regional geoscientist with a focus on both large scale global projects and smaller scale regional projects. Sarah has a BSc from the University of St. Andrews.

Landmark Exploration Insights
Landmark Exploration Insights (formerly Neftex), is a product family within Landmark, a business line of Halliburton. We specialise in the collation, integrations and interpretation of large geoscience dataset and the delivery of these as subsurface models. We are recognised as industry leaders in the provision of web-based sequence stratigraphic products and their global application. Our integrated global geological database - the Neftex Earth Model delivers data, knowledge and insight to help our clients better understand geological risk in their exploration and investment activities.
10:20

Joanne Cranswick - Exploration Team Leader - LR Senergy

Play fairway mapping in the North Atlantic Margin, comparison between mature and immature basins

 Talk Description.
Exploration has been conducted in the North Sea basins for 50 years. The results of which are a mature, productive hydrocarbon province.

Seismic acquisition and drilling have generated a large amount of geological data much of which has entered the public domain, including several thousand released wells. Outside the North Sea, the Faroe-Shetland, Slyne-Erris and Celtic Sea basins together with the Norwegian Haltenbank area, also contain major oil and gas fields, but are less intensively explored than the North Sea. They form an immature hydrocarbon province extending more than 2500 km along the North Atlantic margin.

This talk aims to explain how we can adapt the highly successful play fairway mapping techniques applied to the mature North Sea province to the immature regions of the North Atlantic Frontier.


Joanne is an exploration geophysicist with 20 years experience of working in the oil industry. Her early career was spent working with Landmark, later bought out by Halliburton, moving around between England, Norway and Scotland.

Nine years ago she joined PGL, later bought out by LR Senergy, where she has had the opportunity to work on a diverse range of projects and regions including North Sea, West of Shetlands, Mauritania, Brazil and Argentina.

Joanne is currently the Exploration Team Leader in Aberdeen and has responsibility for the Ternan group of reports and studies, producing non-proprietary regional studies. The Ternan brand is now well established, with a strong reputation for producing high quality regional reports based on play fairway analysis.

LR Senergy
LR Senergy is an integrated exploration, production and energy services consultancy providing technical expertise to a broad, global client base of operators, investors and energy vendors. Our core areas of knowledge include geoscience, wells, production optimisation and facilities engineering.
10:55 Coffee & Tea; Exhibits:
11:25

Mike Dyson - Director, Oil & Gas Practice - Navigant

Why are exploration wells so expensive and how to cut costs…?

 Talk Description.

  • Make the most of lower rig (and contract services) rates (timing, specs, sharing etc)
  • Incentivising performance / aligning objectives
  • Plan and execute the well as a project
  • Apply risk management and mitigation principles
  • Challenge scope / options and reduce complexity
  • Optimise operations – lower variability at a detailed level
  • Increase reliability (especially BOPs)
  • Realise the benefits of technology – eg dual activity rigs,
  • High-grade skills and competencies
  • Teamwork and communications

…there is no silver bullet

Mike Dyson is a Director in Navigant’s global Oil & Gas practice based in London, UK. Mike brings more than 30 years’ experience in the upstream oil and gas business, having worked in Shell and BG Group exploration and production (E&P) companies around the world. His core expertise is in well and production operations, capital projects, supply chain strategies and new technology development and implementation. He provides consulting advice to oil & gas E&P companies looking to improve their business performance, and is a strong advocate of holistic and sustainable improvement by tackling all elements of transformation. These include rigorous operations planning and execution, collaborative working across the supply chain, application of new technology, teamwork communications and personal leadership.

Navigant
Our global Oil & Gas team provides deep industry experience combined with functional expertise and global reach. Supported by world-class in-house research and benchmarking capabilities, as well as Navigant's proprietary integrated natural gas/electricity infrastructure and price forecasting model, our team provides a full suite of management consulting and expert services

12:00

Ben Sayers - Project Developer - TGS

North West Africa Atlantic Margin MSGBC Basin Prospectivity

 Talk Description.

In 2012 TGS acquired over 28,000 km of 2D seismic data over the Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Guinea Conakry (MSGBC) Basin on the North West African Atlantic Margin (NWAAM). Recent drilling success in the basin with over a Billion barrels of oil discovered last year has increased industry interest in this relatively unexplored region, with less than one well every 6000 sq. km.
The basin is roughly a third the size of the Gulf of Mexico and extends from onshore to water depths of up to 4000 m. The southern boundary of the basin is marked by the Guinea Transform Fault and the northern margin is delineated by the Moroccan Reguibat Shield.
Ben is a petroleum geologist with over 10 years upstream industry experience. He has been focussed on Africa for the majority of his career with recent focus on the North West Atlantic Margin.
Ben has an MSc in Petroleum Geoscience from Royal Holloway and a BSc in Geography & GIS from University of Greenwich; previously employed for a Moroccan-based operator Ben now works for TGS and is based in their London office.

TGS
TGS is the world's largest geoscience data company, known for its asset-light, multi-client business model and global data library. Our primary business is to provide geoscience data to energy companies worldwide. We offer extensive global libraries that include seismic data, magnetic and gravity data, multibeam and coring data, digital well logs and production data. Additionally, the company offers advanced processing and imaging services, interpretation products and data integration solutions.
12:35 Lunch & Exhibits:
13:20

Matthew Gelsthorpe - Geoscientist - Getech

Prospectivity of the Offshore Canary Islands
Matthew has worked as a Geoscientist at ERCL (now part of the Getech Group) for the past 8 months. Prior to this he has achieved a Merit level MSc. in Structural Geology with Geophysics at the University of Leeds. It was during this year (2014) he gained his first real exposure to the Oil and Gas industry as an intern at Bowleven, looking at the structural evolution of the onshore Douala Basin. Prior to this, he obtained a 1st class honours degree in Geology with Physical Geography from Keele University in 2013. Upon graduation he received the Best Undergraduate in Geophysics award from the British Geophysical Association, and the PESGB’s Scholar’s Award.

Getech
For over 25 years, we've been using our data and geoscience expertise to help the oil and mining industries locate the earth's natural resources. Whatever your requirements, our multidisciplinary team of geoscientists can help you make enlightened business decisions.

At Getech, we offer a range of services dedicated to helping you understand the geological risks and opportunities associated with locating natural resources - whether you're working on a global or regional scale.

Our eco-system offers a holistic view of how our core services interact, with Globe at the centre.
13:55

Andrei Belopolsky - Brazil Exploration Manager - Premier Oil

Prospective Drift and Rift Plays in Ceará basin, Brazilian Equatorial margin – the Awakening of a Giant?

 Talk Description.
Exploration in the Ceará basin, on the south-western part of the Equatorial Margin of Brazil, commenced in the early 1970s. Several moderate size fields such as Xaréu, Curimã, Atum, and Espada Fields, with URR volume of around 200 MM BOE, were discovered on the shelf and are producing to this day. Exploration in the deep water part of the basin has been sparse (only 5 wells in water depth greater than 1000 m to date) with some success but, most importantly, de-risked the working petroleum system. With significant part of the deep water acreage licenced to operators in the 11th bid round in 2013, the basin is now embarking on the new exciting phase of exploration.
Ceará basin sedimentary fill is divided into three mega-sequences: syn-rift, transitional and drift. The basin is blessed with world-class source rocks of Aptian to Turonian age developed within all three main megasequeces.
The Transitional megasequence contains both the source rocks and the reservoirs. This play was tested by the Pecem discovery in 2012 by Petrobras on the flank of a large structural high. Reservoir quality and connectivity remain the main uncertainty for this play. Other plays include a structural play with reservoirs in the syn-rift sandstones (Mundaú formation), and the Upper Cretaceous turbidite slope channel/canyons. In addition, in the outboard blocks onlap wedge plays in the Transitional early lower part of the drift megasequence have been identified. These plays could be analogous to the successfully tested plays on the conjugate margin in West Africa.

Premier Oil plc (Premier) and partner CEPSA have won two exploration licences (Blocks CE-M-717 and CE-M-665) in the 11th bid round and are now the dominant acreage holders in Ceará basin. The Premier JV has reprocessed two existing 3D surveys resulting in an improved definition of both the syn-rift and drift section and imaging of new prospects and leads. A multi-client 3D survey using broadband technology is planned for 2015 which is expected to result in a superior seismic image in time for impacting the exploration drilling programme in 2017.


Andrei Belopolsky is Brazil Exploration manager at Premier Oil in London where he is responsible for managing both operated and non-operated exploration assets in Brazil, as well as evaluating growth opportunities. Prior to this role, Andrei was New Ventures Manager at Premier evaluating opportunities in the Mediterranean, East Africa, and Central and South America, and leading the company’s entry into Brazil by capturing 3 blocks in the 2013 bid round.
Andrei joined Premier Oil in early 2011 after spending over 10 years at BP, first in Houston in a variety of technical roles in the Gulf of Mexico, onshore US, and the technology teams, then in London working in the New Ventures/Access and offshore Libya teams.
Andrei has a Ph.D. in Geology and Geophysics from Rice University in Houston, an M.A. in Geology from Binghamton University in New York State, and a B.A. in Geology from Moscow State University. He is a member of AAPG and a fellow of the Geological Society, a member of the Editorial Board of Petroleum Geoscience, and served as a member of Petroleum Group committee between 2011 and 2014.

Premier Oil
Premier Oil plc is a leading independent oil and gas company with producing interests in the UK, Indonesia, Pakistan and Mauritania.

Exploration and appraisal is ongoing in the UK, South and South East Asia and Africa.
14:30

Neil Hodgson - VP geoscience - Searcher Seismic

Ultra-Deep Water: Astonishing prospectivity and low oil-price imperative
Neil Hodgson is VP Searcher Seismic, a company which provides high quality exploration data and leading edge tech to the global exploration industries. He is formerly executive VP geoscience with Spectrum ASA, and exploration manager at Matra Petroleum, Premier Oil and GB Group.

Searcher Seismic
Searcher provides high quality exploration data and leading edge tech to the global exploration industries.

Our data library includes seismic, potential fields, multi-beam, coring and well data derived from geophysical and geological projects that we operate world wide.

Sponsors of this event

Getech
For over 25 years, we've been using our data and geoscience expertise to help the oil and mining industries locate the earth's natural resources. Whatever your requirements, our multidisciplinary team of geoscientists can help you make enlightened business decisions.

At Getech, we offer a range of services dedicated to helping you understand the geological risks and opportunities associated with locating natural resources - whether you're working on a global or regional scale.

Our eco-system offers a holistic view of how our core services interact, with Globe at the centre.

Landmark Exploration Insights
Landmark Exploration Insights (formerly Neftex), is a product family within Landmark, a business line of Halliburton. We specialise in the collation, integrations and interpretation of large geoscience dataset and the delivery of these as subsurface models. We are recognised as industry leaders in the provision of web-based sequence stratigraphic products and their global application. Our integrated global geological database - the Neftex Earth Model delivers data, knowledge and insight to help our clients better understand geological risk in their exploration and investment activities.

Premier Oil
Premier Oil plc is a leading independent oil and gas company with producing interests in the UK, Indonesia, Pakistan and Mauritania.

Exploration and appraisal is ongoing in the UK, South and South East Asia and Africa.

TGS
TGS is the world's largest geoscience data company, known for its asset-light, multi-client business model and global data library. Our primary business is to provide geoscience data to energy companies worldwide. We offer extensive global libraries that include seismic data, magnetic and gravity data, multibeam and coring data, digital well logs and production data. Additionally, the company offers advanced processing and imaging services, interpretation products and data integration solutions.

TGS
TGS is the world's largest geoscience data company, known for its asset-light, multi-client business model and global data library. Our primary business is to provide geoscience data to energy companies worldwide. We offer extensive global libraries that include seismic data, magnetic and gravity data, multibeam and coring data, digital well logs and production data. Additionally, the company offers advanced processing and imaging services, interpretation products and data integration solutions.

Landmark Exploration Insights
Landmark Exploration Insights (formerly Neftex), is a product family within Landmark, a business line of Halliburton. We specialise in the collation, integrations and interpretation of large geoscience dataset and the delivery of these as subsurface models. We are recognised as industry leaders in the provision of web-based sequence stratigraphic products and their global application. Our integrated global geological database - the Neftex Earth Model delivers data, knowledge and insight to help our clients better understand geological risk in their exploration and investment activities.

Getech
For over 25 years, we've been using our data and geoscience expertise to help the oil and mining industries locate the earth's natural resources. Whatever your requirements, our multidisciplinary team of geoscientists can help you make enlightened business decisions.

At Getech, we offer a range of services dedicated to helping you understand the geological risks and opportunities associated with locating natural resources - whether you're working on a global or regional scale.

Our eco-system offers a holistic view of how our core services interact, with Globe at the centre.

Registered Delegates

Evi Otobo
Senior Geoscientist

United States 		Phil Beale
Regional Manager - Reservoir Services, E. Hemisphere
Geotrace Technologies Ltd
United Kingdom 		Dean Griffin
Head of Exploration
Premier Oil plc
Stuart Amor
Analyst

United Kingdom 		Dirk Cuthbertson
Marketing Manager
Getech
United Kingdom 		Nigel Quinton
Consultant
QX Energy Limited
United Kingdom
Allan Induni
Geoscientist
a
United Kingdom 		Michael Golden
Consulting Petroleum Geologist / Russian Translator
Golden&Associates
United Kingdom 		Josh King
Analyst
RAB Capital
United Kingdom
Ronald Doherty
Consulting Director
Advisian
United Kingdom 		Somar Abdullatif
Senior Exploration Geoscientist
Gulfsands Petroleum
 Christopher Walker
Owner
Red Hand Geophysics Ltd
United Kingdom
Paul Murphy
Key Account Manager, Oil and Gas Division
Airbus Defence and Space
United Kingdom 		Sarah Laird

Halliburton Neftex
United Kingdom 		John Siegfried
Director
Resource Exploration Services Ltd
United Kingdom
gerry farrow
Vice President
Aker Solutions
United Kingdom 		Bill Green
Account Director
Hermes Datacomms
United Kingdom 		Roger Doery
Retired
Retired
United Kingdom
Chris Beech
Business Development Manager - Capital Projects
Amec Foster Wheeler
United Kingdom 		Andrei Belopolsky
Exploration Manager New Ventures
Hess
United Kingdom 		Alex Fowler
Marketing Geologist
Robertson
Amelia de Coster
Bus develop
Amplified Geochemical Imaging
Netherlands 		Kevin Phillips
Principle Basin Research Geologist
Ihs Markit
United Kingdom 		Richard Windmill

Robertston
Ben Pleasant
Graduate Trainee in Sales and New Ventures
ARKeX
United Kingdom 		Elizabeth Patock
Director, EDM for Energy
IHS Markit
United Kingdom 		Judit Meszaros
Geoscientist
Rockhopper Exploration PLC
United Kingdom
Anne-Marie Liszczyk
Geophysicist
ARKeX Limited
United Kingdom 		Rhydian Williams
BD Manager EAME
Ikon Science
United Kingdom 		Kevin Dale
Specialist : Low Carbon Energy Market Development
Sasol Energy
United Kingdom
Patrick Bailey
Director
Athena Advisory Limited
United Kingdom 		William Slade

Ikon Science
United Kingdom 		Terry Devine
Asset Development Manager
Schlumberger
United Kingdom
David Craik
Consultant
Atlaslocal
United Kingdom 		Laurence Pearce
Asset Compliance Manager
Impact Oil & Gas
United Kingdom 		Nahed Kahloul
Account Manager
Schlumberger
United Kingdom
Andrew Gilmore
Head of Business Development - Oil & Gas
Babcock Energy & Marine Services
United Kingdom 		Sean Akinwale
EMBA Student
Imperial College Business Sschool
United Kingdom 		Mike Rego
Managing Director
Septima Energy Pte. Ltd.
United Kingdom
Edith M G Fugelli
Advisor
BP
 Ravi Chandran
Director
Kalki Consultants Limited
United Kingdom 		Tom Martin
Director
Shikra Consulting
United Kingdom
Bryn Austin
Director & Geological/Geophysical Consultant
Brynterpretation Ltd
United Kingdom 		Chris Gravestock

Landmark Exploration Insights
United Kingdom 		Peter Smith
Business Consultant
Smith Joint Ventures
United Kingdom
Jodie Hunt
Marketing Geologist
CGG
United Kingdom 		Richard Handley
Account Manager
Landmark Software
United Kingdom 		Christian Bukovics
Senior Independent Director
Sound Energy Plc
United Kingdom
Chris Gumm
Business Development
CGX
United Kingdom 		Joanne Cranswick
Team Leader - Exploration (UK)
LR Senergy
 Glyn Roberts
Director
Spec Partners Ltd
United Kingdom
Peter Farrington
Geophysicist
Consultant Geophysicist
United Kingdom 		Amrit Brar
Marketing and Sales Manager
Lynx Information Systems
United Kingdom 		Hannah Kearns
Geoscientist
Spectrum
United Kingdom
Corneliu Cosovanu
Senior Geologist
CoreLab_ Integrated Reservoir Solutions-UK
United Kingdom 		Duncan Macgregor
Consultant Geologist
MacGeology
United Kingdom 		Neil Hodgson
New Ventures Manager
Spectrum
United Kingdom
Dan Kunkle
Director
Count Geophysics
United Kingdom 		Matthew Gelsthorpe
Geoscientist
matthew.gelsthorpe@ercl.com
 Stacey Quarles

Strategic Fit
David Boote

DBConsulting Ltd
United Kingdom 		Robin French
Senior Advisor
Mitsubishi Corporation
United Kingdom 		Michael Dyson
Manager
Striatum
United Kingdom
David Mirzai
Analyst
Deutsche Bank
United Kingdom 		Laura Pingree
Directo
Moore Stephens
 Ben Sayers
Business Development Manager, AME
TGS
United Kingdom
Stephen Norman
Business Development Manager
DNV
United Kingdom 		Daniel Slidel
West Eurasia Geoscientist
Neftex
United Kingdom 		Robert Wall
Director of Finance and Commercial Operations
TGS
Ben James
Sales Coordinator
Dolphin Geophysical
United Kingdom 		Ramesh Shukla
Shareholder of exploration companies
None
United Kingdom 		Fiona King
Analyst
The EIC
United Kingdom
Simon Casey
Marine Sales Manager
Dolphin Geophysical Ltd.
United Kingdom 		Helen Turnell
Principal Consultant
NR Global Consulting Ltd
United Kingdom 		John Bridgeman
Research Analyst
The EIC
United Kingdom
Brian Donnelly
Consultant Geophysicist
Donnelly
United Kingdom 		Martine Davis
Business Development Manager
NVentures
United Kingdom 		Jerry Jarvis
Exploration Manager
Tullow Oil
United Kingdom
Timothy Culwick
Solutions Architect
Drillinginfo
United Kingdom 		Tom Palmer

Palantir Solutions
 Benjamin Panting
Research Project Geologist
University of Brighton
salar Golestanian
Managing Director
Finity Asset
United Kingdom 		Robert Parker
Consultant
Parker
United Kingdom 		Benjamin Panting
Research Project Geologist
University of Brighton
Robert FE Jones
Director
Geoko Ltd
United Kingdom 		Yasmin D'Este
Business Development Director
Petroleum Geo Services
United Kingdom 		Steve Bottomley
Director
Upstream Consultants Limited
United Kingdom
Jim House
Director
GeoSeis Ltd
United Kingdom 		John Clure
Managing Director
Phoenix Hydrocarbon Resources Ltd
United Kingdom 		Alec Robinson
President & CEO
Valient Energy
United Kingdom
Alexandra Kenna
Managing Director
GEOSERVE Limited
United Kingdom 		Kevin Sylvester
Director
Pinnacle Energy Limited
United Kingdom 		Helen Ricketts
Business Development Manager
Wood Group Kenny
United Kingdom
Stephen Shorey
General Manager
Geotrace
United Kingdom 		Mike Hohbein
Geological Advisor
Premier Oil
 Hugh Ebbutt
Associated Director
WSS Energy Consulting
United Kingdom