Exploration in the post-Macondo world!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
London
Inmarsat Conference Centre
Looking for presentations and videos from this conference? Scroll down - the links are in the agenda below
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This event is designed for people who need a current view of worldwide oil and gas exploration opportunities and the likely shape of the future industry - such as exploration managers, operators, investors, banks, exploration technology and service providers and tanker operators.
Topics covered include impact of Macondo, European shale gale, West Africa deepwater, Jamaica, Russia, Carpathians, power of independents, advances in on and offshore seismic technology.
Over 100 delegates registered - registration just £450
Introduction from conference producer David Bamford (previously head of exploration with BP):
The Macondo disaster will have major, global, impact on exploration for new oil and gas reserves. From the 'knee-jerk' reactions in Washington to the more thoughtful responses by regulators everywhere, explorers may exit the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, and then face dramatically increasing costs and potential liabilities elsewhere. At one extreme, companies may have to have a significant market capitalisation before they are deemed capable of carrying the risk of dealing with the financial consequences of a major spill.
Companies that remain committed to deep water exploration will look increasingly towards areas outside the United States - to the South Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Arctic perhaps.
Many companies, but especially smaller ones, will turn to onshore exploration - perhaps to the still relatively unexplored areas of Russia and the FSU, to onshore Africa.
Do we have the technologies to explore these new frontiers; do we know how to explore onshore? Broadly the answer is Yes, we do - with one exception. Whereas, for the last 15 years, regional 3D seismic has been a key enabler of exploration activity offshore - the dominant contributor to deep water success, the high cost of land (and transition zone) 3D - based on the use of cables - is a major and significant barrier to success onshore.
These issues are wide-ranging and we - the Finding Petroleum team - have devised the agenda below so that we in the industry can begin to say "This is the way forward!".
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David Bamford is well known around the oil & gas industry both as an explorer and a geophysicist. He holds a Physics degree from the University of Bristol and a Ph.D in Geological Sciences from the University of Birmingham.
Since 2004, he has been a non-executive director at Tullow Oil plc, being recruited for this position especially for his exploration knowledge. He serves on the Nominations and Remuneration Committees, and was chairman of the latter, and Senior Independent Director, for 3 years prior to his retire from the board at the end of April 2014.
He was on the board of Premier Oil from May 2014 to May 2016.
He retired from BP plc in 2003, his last four positions being Chief Geophysicist (1990-1995), Business Unit Leader (General Manager) for first West Africa and then Norway (1995-1999), and finally Head of Exploration until 2003.
He has served on the boards of Paras Ltd, a small exploration and IS/IT consulting company in which he held 22% equity, until its sale to RPS Energy in 2008 and Welltec a/s, a Danish well engineering company, as the nominee of the private equity investor Riverside.
From 2012 to 201 he was on the board of ASX-quoted Australia Oriental Energy as a non-executive director.
He was a founder of Richmond Energy Partners, a small oil & gas research house, and several media companies that focus on the oil & gas sector, and has served as an advisor to Alliance Bernstein, Opus Executive, the Parkmead Group plc, and Kimmeridge Energy LLP. Since retiring from BP, he has undertaken asset and company valuation projects for investment banks, hedge funds and small oil companies.
Finding Petroleum
Finding Petroleum was established to help the oil and gas industry network, and stay up to date on t
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Jim Farnsworth is an industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience. Prior to joining Cobalt, Jim was at BP, where he served in various capacities since 1983, and since 2002 was Vice President of World-Wide Exploration and Technology. In this role, he was responsible for BP's global exploration strategy and execution. Prior positions at BP include: VP of North America Exploration; VP of Gulf of Mexico Exploration; and Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Production Manager. Mr. Farnsworth earned his B.S. in Geology from Indiana University and his M.S. in Geophysics from W. Michigan University. Cobalt International Energy, L.P. is a private oil and gas exploration and production company focusing on the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and offshore West Africa. The company was formed in 2005 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Cobalt currently holds a working interest in 225 leases in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Blocks 9 and 21 offshore Angola, and in the Diaba License offshore Gabon. Cobalt’s financial sponsors include Goldman Sachs, Carlyle/Riverstone, First Reserve Corporation, KERN Partners, and Management.
Cobalt International
Cobalt's strategic objective is very clear: to create distinctive value for investors by exploring f
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Chris has been in the upstream business for over 30 years, including time with BP, BG and more recently Black Marlin Energy. A petroleum geochemist, Chris is well-respected for work done in both East Africa and in the greater Caribbean region and has undertaken several geoscientific reviews of the region since 2003. He was a founder of Black Marlin which was sold in 2010 for 100 + mln USD. He is a renowned expert and often speaks at international conferences and seminars on the subject of oil and gas exploration. In addition, he has a track record of finding and securing commercial deals. MSc., BSc., CGeol
CaribX
CaribX is a multi-disciplinary oil and gas exploration company with a unique insight into the petrol
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Alex Prokofjevs is a Research Associate at Bernstein where he works with Senior Analyst Oswald Clint covering European and Russian Oil & Gas stocks. Alex joined Bernstein in 2009 after graduating from London Business School with a Masters in Finance. Prior to LBS, Alex had worked in M&A at SEB Enskilda, the Nordic investment banking. Besides his native Russian, Alex is also fluent in French and Latvian.
Bernstein Research
Sanford C. Bernstein is widely recognized as Wall Street's premier sell-side research firm. Their re
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Mark is Managing Director of PDF Limited, an exploration consultancy with particular experience in Central and Eastern Europe, and is currently highly active in this area for Aurelian Oil & Gas, on behalf of whom this conference presentation is being given.
Mark is originally a structural geologist and gained his PhD in Extensional Tectonics and Basin Architecture from Imperial College, London. Mark began in the oil industry with Maxus Energy, firstly in London and then in Dallas, Texas where he worked on global New Ventures (especially Western, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, Far East), exploration and operations (especially on- and off-shore Europe, Africa, Indonesia) and development projects (North America onshore and Gulf of Mexico). Mark left Dallas in 1994 and came back to the UK to found PDF as an exploration consultancy. Since the mid 1990’s Mark has worked extensively on Central and Eastern European projects, the North Sea, Indian sub-continent, Africa and Madagascar, South American fold thrust belts and the Near East.
PDF Limited is an international petroleum exploration consultancy based in South Oxfordshire. PDF comprises 11 geoscientists, and has particular specialisations in the areas of: fold thrust belt exploration, interpretation of tectonically complex areas and difficult data sets, sequence stratigraphy, sedimentology, basin analysis and maturity modelling.
Aurelian Oil & Gas
Aurelian Oil & Gas was formed in 2002 by Michael Seymour and floated on the London Stock Exchange Al
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Dr Ken Chew is currently VP - Industry Performance for the Energy Division of IHS Inc. Ken is a geologist with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from the University of Aberdeen, where he specialised in the study of mineral deposits. He subsequently worked for BP in Aberdeen as a petroleum geologist, mainly on the northern North Sea and in 1976 joined the academic staff of the Geology Department of University College Galway, where he lectured principally on applied aspects of geology. In 1978 he moved to Petroconsultants Ltd. in Dublin where he became the assistant manager and head of research, with overall responsibility for the company's petroleum exploration database. In 1987 Ken transferred to Petroconsultants' Geneva headquarters, heading divisions on E&P Database, Computerized Services, Geological Information and Database Support & Client Services. Early in 2006 Ken left the IHS Geneva office and has since worked for IHS out of his home in the Scottish highlands.
Since the acquisition of Petroconsultants by IHS, Ken has worked on new information sets in the company analysis domain and manages the Company and Country statistical modules of the IHS PEPS (Petroleum Economics and Policy Solutions) online database. He also carries out analysis and consultancy based on the Energy Division's international E&P database, with particular emphasis on global hydrocarbon supply and resources (conventional and non-conventional) and on E&P company performance. He has lectured and published on many aspects of worldwide hydrocarbon E&P, on E&P databases, database standards and on information management.
IHS
IHS is the leading source of information, insight and analytics in critical areas that shape today's
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After completing a Ph. D. at Imperial College, Keith joined BP in 1987 as a geologist. Following a variety of technical roles, he became a Senior Commercial Advisor in 1996 when he led several major negotiations for new business access as well as Business Strategies for BP’s business in West Africa and BP’s Strategic Alliance with Statoil. Since 2000 Keith has been an advisor to numerous energy companies on strategy and partnership issues Keith founded Richmond Energy Partners in 2006 to provide independent advice to investors in smaller oil and gas companies. Richmond Energy advise some of the largest funds and institutions investing in the sector. Keith takes a keen interest in oil sector governance and served on the organising committee of the Good Governance of the National Petroleum Sector Project at the think tank Chatham House.
Richmond Energy Partners
Richmond Energy Partners was founded in 2006 and provides independent advice to investors in smaller
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Talk Description
The notion of acquiring land seismic data without resorting to cables is far from new. For more than three decades, this industry has been giving birth to various technologies to make the task in some sense “more possible”.
However, modern wireless hardware comes from a different gene pool and the offspring is expected to cope in a world needing independent, low weight, nodal, continuous recording capabilities. It must be happy in very awkward environments where cable cannot go, and provide ultra-large numbers of channels to record higher quality data.
There are already about a dozen new era systems vying for attention - though not all have been used in anger and some wonder how many will get past their first post- natal examination. This hardware falls into two broad categories: (A) that which has neither any ability to send data to the recorder nor pick up remote control commands from it, and (B) that which can be remotely controlled, and return some amount of data, ranging from QC/status to the whole seismic record. While (generally speaking) Group A hardware is lower in cost to buy and to use, it now seems that only group B has any chance to see adulthood in large enough numbers to make the drastic changes that the land industry needs.
But there is now a new twist in this story. Whereas cablefree continuous record systems have made new acquisition techniques possible (or at least, more practical) they also exposed the next weakest link of the chain - the source controllers. The role for such equipment, devised in an era when all sources were well behaved and under the strict control of the recording system, has now drastically changed, with vibrators, and even some impulsive land sources, required to operate in what looks like an unrestricted free-for-all.
This paper discusses the necessity of instrumentation “getting it together” such that geophysicists are no longer limited by restrictive equipment, and may indulge their imaginations to devise surveys which suit exploration requirements not hardware limitations. |
Professional Qualification: Previous Vice Chairman SEG Technical Standards Committee, SEG Silver Medal. Member of EAGE, SEG, PESGB. BSc (Hons) Physics, University of Southampton.
Experience & Organization: Involved in land seismic acquisition techniques, engineering and marketing since 1976. Written large number of articles and papers, given talks, on modern land acquisition. Probably given more talks/articles on cablefree acquisition and future land recording instrumentation than any other.
Accomplishments: Involved in the start up of large number of new seismic instrumentation companies, research and marketing of new seismic systems and techniques. At forefront internationally of bringing new technologies to improve land seismic.
iSeis
iSeis is part of the Seismic Source Company, established about ten years ago to research and design
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Talk Description
The light bulb has long been used as a symbol of innovation, denoting the origination of a smart idea, the sudden flash of understanding or insight into how to achieve something - often in a new, different and pioneering way.
Yet this very symbol of innovation, the incandescent light bulb, has been banned from sale within the EU since September 2009 to force the uptake of more energy-efficient light bulbs.
There are a number of parallels between this and the emergence of fibre-optic based seismic permanent reservoir monitoring (Seismic PRM) solutions. By “listening with light”, optical sensing systems allow operators to maximise production and total recovery whilst reducing risk and cost over the life of a field. Yet, although the business case is compelling, in both situations, adoption has been resisted.
This presentation will explore some of the parallels between the slow adoption of energy-efficient light bulbs and Seismic PRM and postulate on the logical reasons behind illogical behaviour. It will also suggest some approaches for improving our industry’s ability to adopt new technologies in a more timely manner and access the benefits earlier, having a positive and proactive impact on our stewardship of precious hydrocarbon resources. |
Martin Bett has over 30 years’ oil industry experience working in operational and management positions for Schlumberger, Landmark, I-NET, Trade-Ranger and QinetiQ. Prior to founding Stingray Geophysical, he has established and grown businesses in Europe, USA, South America and Africa, and has a track record for closing large transactions for new and pioneering products and services. Martin has a BSc in Geophysics from Southampton University, UK, and an MBA with Distinction from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Lausanne, Switzerland.
Stingray Geophysical Ltd
Stingray Geophysical, a TGS Company, provides advanced Permanent Reservoir Monitoring (PRM) solution
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Talk Description
The fluid content of reservoir rocks is probably the single most important piece of information about an oil and gas reservoir. Typically this is measured during the logging of wells for exploration and field development. Once production starts the fluid system changes and can only be measured by drilling and logging more wells, which still only provides a snapshot in time. Low Frequency (LF) seismic data provides a surface measurement of reservoirs fluids and can be repeated quickly and cost-effectively. LF fluid signals are generated through the interaction of the earth’s natural energy with the reservoir. No active source is required and acquisition logistics are relatively light. LF seismic data has potential applications at any point in the exploration and production lifecycle where a measurement of the fluid system is useful. By offering a unique and complementary measurement of the reservoir fluid system that integrates with conventional G&G data to paint a more complete picture of oil and gas reservoirs, LF seismic data improves outcomes, from reducing exploration risk through to mapping remaining reserves. |
Brad Birkelo, a 24-year member of SEG, has served the Society in a number of capacities over the years. He was secretary-treasurer in 2006–07, chaired the Finance and Audit Committee in 2007–08, and is vice-chairman of the Strategic Finance Policy Committee for 2007–09. He served as chairman of the DISC Subcommittee (2003–05) and the SEG/EAGE Joint DISC Committee (2004–05), and was a member of the Committee on Nominations (1999–2001). He is currently a member of the Continuing Education, Membership, Online Technology, and Online Content committees. Birkelo previously served as president of the Permian Basin Geophysical Society (1998–99). He is an active member of SEG, AAPG, EAGE, and the Geophysical Society of Houston.
Birkelo received his MS in geophysics from the University of Kansas (1987) and degrees from the University of Minnesota (BS geology in 1982 and BS geophysics in 1983). He recently joined Spectraseis as principal geophysicist where he will work on integrating low-frequency passive seismic data with conventional oil and gas data. He is an owner of Digital Prospectors, an oil and gas consulting firm, and managed their Houston, USA, office for the past 10 years. Prior to Digital Prospectors, Birkelo worked for Phillips Petroleum in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, USA, and Odessa, Texas, USA, where he processed and interpreted seismic data on numerous exploration and development projects. He has also worked for the U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division; Kansas Geological Survey; Minnesota Geological Survey; and Delta Environmental Consultants. He is a licensed professional geoscientist in Texas.
Spectraseis
Spectraseis is the technology leader in microseismic fracture monitoring and stimulation evaluation.
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