NORWEGIAN company Electromagnetic Geoservices (EMGS) and Shell have entered into a joint industry project (JIP) to plan and design the next generation of 3D EM equipment.
Over the next six months, the two companies will, in close collaboration, conduct a feasibility study featuring laboratory tests, design solutions, specifications and a project plan for the development of the next generation of source receivers and positioning systems.
Shell was one of the first companies to realise the potential of integrating EM with seismic and other data, and the company has contracted for approximately 100 EM surveys over the last eight years.
“We are extremely pleased to be working with EMGS to take CSEM, already a significant exploration technology for Shell, to the next level,” said Mark Rosenquist, EM team lead at Shell Exploration and Production Inc, Exploration Research.
“We believe the next-generation system will at least double the number of hydrocarbon prospects we can evaluate with EM.”
Also on the seismic front, Geotrace and BP have agreed to jointly develop POCS (projection onto a convex set) technology for use in data processing.
BP originally developed POCS technology, which is a powerful tool for interpolating or reconstructing data.
POCS technology uses information surrounding data that may be missing, such as in a particular reservoir formation, in order to reconstruct the missing data.
The technology is particularly aimed at companies that specialise in oil & gas production and exploration risk management.
“By providing missing information, POCS’ primary advantage is that it helps minimise risk in assessing a reservoir,” said Bill Schrom, CEO of Geotrace.
“The technology opens doors that were previously closed by allowing geoscientists to build missing data from the information they already have.
“Ideally, geoscientists acquire all the data they need to help them understand reservoir formations.
“However, in some cases, certain valuable information may be missed in initial data acquisition.
“This is where POCS plays a valuable role in reconstructing missing data and eliminating the cost of acquiring new data to fill in the gaps.”