VOL. 17, NO. 6 – 2020 GEOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED geoexpro.com EXPLORATION GEO TOURISM MER: The Race to Red Rocks Find Proven Oil Revealed EXPLORATION Using Super Basins as Analogues INDUSTRY ISSUES How is Natural Gas Priced? RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT Broadband 4D Seismic GEOExPro November 2020 1 Previous issues: www.geoexpro.com Contents Vol. 17 No. 6 This issue of GEO ExPro focuses on North West GEOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED Europe; Super Basins; Seismic Interpretation; and Gas, GTL and LNG. 20 5 Editorial What can we learn from the 6 Regional Update: Potential Impactful world’s best petroleum basins? Discoveries 8 Licensing Update: Underexplored Suriname 42 The basis on which natural gas is Kees Torn 10 A Minute to Read sold and priced varies dramatically between global markets – but why? 12 Cover Story: GEO Tourism: Red Rocks Revealed 18 Hot Spot: Bangladesh Upstream Virtual Seismic Atlas 20 Exploration: Using Super Basins as Analogues 46 24 GEO Physics: Try Before You Buy! A look at the basics of seismic horizon interpretation and how this is used to 28 Seismic Foldout: Norway: The North obtain stratigraphic information. Sea Super Basin Story Continues 34 Recent Advances in Technology: From Arrhenius to CO₂ Storage – Part X 38 Technology Explained: AI: Game- Changer in Development or Exploration? 56 How do we release the full potential 42 Industry Issues: How is Natural Gas of university–industry collaboration Priced? in creating relevant innovations in petroleum and geoscience? 46 GEO Education: A Simple Guide to Seismic Horizon Interpretation 50 Seismic Foldout: MCG’s Regional Deep Imaging Project 60 56 Industry Issues: Unlocking University– The Wilson Cycle describes the Industry Collaboration opening and closing of oceanic basins as a result of plate 60 GEO Science Explained: The Wilson movements. Cycle and Petroleum Plays 64 Reservoir Management: Broadband 4D Stephen Morris Stephen Seismic Provides New Level of Detail 68 Exploration: MER – The Race to Find 28 50 Proven Oil 6 68 10 38 72 Q&A: Could LNG Prove 20 Transformational for Mozambique? 18 76 74 GEO Media: Geopoetry 2020 – A 8 Celebration 72 76 76 Exploration Update 78 FlowBack: Good Cop, Good Cop GEOExPro November 2020 3 Editorial The End of an Era GEOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED A decade is a long time in the oil industry. www.geoexpro.com Ten years ago the price of Brent crude was $75 and the rollercoaster of several years of GeoPublishing Ltd over $100 oil, followed by a massive crash 15 Palace Place Mansion in 2015 and the present Covid-19-related Kensington Court London W8 5BB, UK problems, were all ahead of us. Th e giant +44 20 7937 2224 deepwater fi elds off Brazil had only just © Global Women Petroleum and Energy Club started to produce, broadband and ocean Managing Director bottom seismic were in their infancy, and Tore Karlsson Jane addressing an industry meeting. the exponential rise in production of gas Editor in Chief and tight oil from US shale formations was Jane Whaley just beginning. Digitalisation and ‘the intelligent oil fi eld’ were occasionally mentioned, while [email protected] the energy transition was only discussed in fringe meetings. Editorial enquiries And a decade ago I became Editor in Chief of GEO ExPro Magazine; ten years that have GeoPublishing fl own by in a whirl of magazines (63 editions, to be precise!), conferences, exhibitions, meetings Jane Whaley and fun. I have been to some fascinating places; met some amazingly interesting people, many +44 7812 137161 of whom I have profi led; learnt so much about the oil and gas and energy industry and the [email protected] dedicated people who work in it; and seen it and them progress through many challenges, www.geoexpro.com including embracing that important energy transition. Sales and Marketing Director However, I have decided it is time now to step back and let someone else propel GEO ExPro Kirsti Karlsson through what looks to be an exciting future, and I would like to welcome Iain Brown as the new +44 79 0991 5513 Editor in Chief. I know he is looking forward to working with all our contributors and using his [email protected] many years in the oil and gas industry to propel the magazine forward to new heights. I leave the magazine in safe hands and I wish him every success in the future. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues in GEO ExPro for all their support, advice and guidance over the past decade – I could not have managed without them. Subscription I would also like to thank the many people who contribute to the magazine; their informative, GeoPublishing Ltd well written and fascinating stories and illustrations are what makes it. And fi nally, I would like +44 20 7937 2224 to thank you, the reader, for your many encouraging and complimentary comments about GEO 15 Palace Place Mansion ExPro – after all, without you, there would be no magazine – and I look forward to many more Kensington Court London W8 5BB, UK years of reading ‘complex stories in simple words’. [email protected] Jane Whaley GEO ExPro is pub lished bimonthly Editor in Chief for a base subscrip tion rate of GBP 60 a year (6 issues). A note from Tore Karlsson, Managing Director We encourage readers to alert us I would like to say a big thank you to Jane as Editor in Chief of GEO ExPro for the last ten to news for possible publication years! She has played a vital role in the continued development of the magazine, resulting in and to submit articles for publication. numerous messages from our readers with very positive feedback about the content and quality. Cover Photograph: We are also pleased that Jane will be contributing articles in GEO ExPro going forward. Main Image: Kevin Privett I would like to use this opportunity to welcome Iain as our new Editor in Chief. Iain has Inset: Bridge Petroleum a very valuable geoscience background and solid experience from our industry, so we look forward to a successful next phase for GEO ExPro. Layout: Mach 3 Solutions Ltd Print: Stephens & George, UK RED ROCKS REVEALED issn 1744-8743 The bright red Old Red Sandstone of south Pembrokeshire, spectacularly exposed at the coast, makes the south-west corner of Wales a Mecca for geologists. This photograph of the Moor Cliff s Formation, with the Rooks Cave Tuff marker horizon in the part-eroded hollow, demonstrates the rich variety of these fascinating rocks. Inset: Structure model of the prematurely decommissioned North West Hutton fi eld in the North Sea, now revitalised as the Galapagos fi eld; maximising economic recovery in action. © 2020 GeoPublishing Limited. Copyright or similar rights in all material in this publication, including graphics and other media, is owned by GeoPublishing Limited, unless otherwise stated. You are allowed to print extracts for your personal use only. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photographic, recorded or otherwise without the prior written permission of GeoPublishing Limited. Requests to republish material from this publication for distribution should be sent to the Editor in Chief. GeoPublishing Limited does not guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in this publication nor does it accept responsibility for errors or omissions or their consequences. Opinions expressed by contributors to this publication are not necessarily those of GeoPublishing Limited. GEOExPro November 2020 5 Regional Update Potential Impactful Discoveries ABBREVIATIONS Underexplored West of Shetland has potential for big discoveries Numbers in newly awarded UK licensing round. (US and scientifi c community) M: thousand = 1 x 103 MM: million = 1 x 106 Th e recently concluded 32nd off shore licensing round in the United Kingdom has been B: billion = 1 x 109 one of the most successful lease rounds for 2020, a year when many others were delayed T: trillion = 1 x 1012 or cancelled. Around 113 licences were awarded in 260 blocks or part-blocks in off ers distributed amongst 65 companies. Th e awarded blocks are scattered across the most prospective and mature basins on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS), including Liquids the Southern North Sea, Central Graben, Moray Firth, Viking Graben and West of Shetland. barrel = bbl = 159 litre Th e Moray Firth and Central Graben Basins have been the most active in terms of boe: barrels of oil equivalent exploration drilling in the past two decades, with around 300 wells drilled in each, while bopd: barrels (bbls) of oil per day bcpd: bbls of condensate per day West of Shetland is the area with the least activity during this period, with about 95 wells. bwpd: bbls of water per day Nevertheless, the West of Shetland has had an excellent rate of success, with around 1.3 Bboe in newly discovered volumes, compared to around 1.5 Bboe in the Central Graben and 1.8 Bboe in the Moray Firth Basin. Gas 3 Benchmarking basins with awarded blocks in UK’s 32nd licensing round (2000–2020). MMscfg: million ft gas MMscmg: million m3 gas Tcfg: trillion cubic feet of gas Ma: Million years ago LNG Liquifi ed Natural Gas (LNG) is natural gas (primarily methane) cooled to a temperature of approximately -260 oC. NGL Natural gas liquids (NGL) include propane, butane, pentane, hexane and heptane, but not methane and ethane. Reserves and resources Source: Rystad Energy ECube P1 reserves: Quantity of hydrocarbons believed Most of the volumes in the Moray Firth and Central Graben were discovered in the early recoverable with a 90% probability 2000s, while the West of Shetlands dominated the 2010s.