VOL. 15, NO. 6 – 2018 GEOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED geoexpro.com EXPLORATION A World Class Undrilled Basin GEOTOURISM Florida Keys: Carbonate Classroom EXPLORATION Gulf of Mexico Conjugate Margins RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT Rediscover Your Reservoir GEOCHEMISTRY Moves to the Wellsite Pioneering Acquisition Make Better Decisions with GeoStreamer Ultra HD3D in the Barents Sea xxxxxxxxxxxxxLTRA Triple Source xxxxxxxxxxxxxU xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx Hxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxI D xxxxxxxxxxxxxG 3 + xxxxxxxxxxxxxH Y xxxxxxxxxxxxx DENSIT 56.25m Separation + 7km Streamers + Deep Tow ECIS PR E R O S E C I K T PROPER Hyperbolic Front for Near Offsets ELIABL R E V E S L L 10km for FWI at O E C D IT Y MO greater depths The challenge of imaging the shallow reservoirs of the Barents Sea is being solved with an innovative acquisition design. In addition to high density multisensor GeoStreamer acquisition, the full wavefield is used to deliver detailed stratigraphy at all depths and reliable AVO attributes for reservoir characterization. Explore the Barents Sea with confidence, find out more: [email protected] A Clearer Image | www.pgs.com/UHD3D Previous issues: www.geoexpro.com Contents Vol. 15 No. 6 This edition of GEO ExPro focuses on Frontier Exploration and the Gulf of GEOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED Mexico; Downhole Tools; and Increasing Efficiency in E&P. i 5 Editorial Never mind the temperature Liz Armstrong Liz 6 Regional Update – Bill Armstrong is having fun finding new high impact oil and gas fields. 8 Obituary: Munim Al-Rawi 10 A Minute to Read 14 Cover Story GEO Tourism: 200m p 1913 2013 2113 2213 2313 2413 2513 2613 2713 2813 2913 3013 3113 3213 3313 3413 3513 Oset (m) Carbonate Classroom Identification of potential hydrocarbon 3900 Top Source source rock horizons is the first step in Rock 18 GEO Profile: Bill Armstrong evaluating frontier basins. 3950 – Chasing Unicorns 4000 20 Exploration: Seismic Detection n of Source Rocks Exploration doesn’t come much more frontier than 24 Reservoir Management: Greenland’s undrilled Rediscover Your Reservoir Jameson Land Basin. 28 Seismic Foldout: Barents Sea 34 Technology Explained: The Custom Data Solution @ 36 Exploration: A Potentially Recent discoveries offshore Western Australia have caused World Class Undrilled Basin a change in thinking in this underexplored region. 40 Hot Spot: Developments in Middle East Exploration 42 Exploration: Confronting the Elephant Geolog ^ 46 GEO Chemistry: Geochemistry Bringing mudlogging and reservoir Moves to the Wellsite chemistry together at the wellsite has major efficiency gains. 50 Seismic Foldout: A Fresh Look at Cuba and Madagascar 56 Exploration: Gulf of Mexico Conjugate Margins Revealed i k 60 Recent Advances in Technology: n 0 Finite Difference Modelling III H 64 GEO Media: q Energy and Climate Change r Y ) / H 66 Exploration Update Y 5 68 Q&A: Allen Gilmer – What Does the F uture Hold? ) @ p w 70 Global Resource Management GEOExPro December 2018 3 neuralog.com Moving Forward NeuraSection’s evolutionary touch Experience the newest features in NeuraSection. The revamped NeuraSection has been built around intuitive graphic visuals that use touchscreen technology, while reducing lengthy menus that hide features and slow productivity. NeuraSection helps you identify your needs faster so that you can improve your productivity. Follow us and see how we are turning paper into petroleum. neuralog.com Editorial neuralog.com Energy Conundrums GEOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED Last month, for the first time for many decades, www.geoexpro.com the number of people in the world without access to electricity fell below one billion. At first glance, GeoPublishing Ltd Jane WhaleyJane something to celebrate: but think of that number 15 Palace Place Mansion again. Almost one billion people, or 13% of the world’s Kensington Court London W8 5BB, UK population, still do not have electricity in their homes. +44 20 7937 2224 The link between access to power and movement out of poverty is well documented, so this depressing Managing Director figure shows there is plenty yet to work on. Tore Karlsson The three-stone open fire: still the main What is more, the rate of progress has been method of cooking in many homes. Editor in Chief variable across the globe, with the biggest successes Jane Whaley being in Asia, particularly India, where this year they announced that every village in the country [email protected] was now connected to the grid – a significant achievement. Editorial enquiries The story is very different in Africa. There have been successes – Kenya’s access rate, Moving GeoPublishing for example, has increased from just 8% in 2000 to 73% today – but overall the picture is Jane Whaley disappointing. According to the International Energy Agency, 600 million people in Sub-Saharan +44 7812 137161 Africa – 57% of the population – still remain without access to electricity. [email protected] In addition, nearly 2.7 billion people lack access to clean cooking facilities worldwide, relying www.geoexpro.com instead on biomass, coal or kerosene as their primary cooking fuel, which has serious health and Sales and Marketing Director environmental impacts. This disproportionately affects women and children and it is thought that Kirsti Karlsson about 2.8 million people die each year due to lack of access to clean cooking facilities; once again, +44 79 0991 5513 Forward the majority live in Sub-Saharan Africa. [email protected] And therein lies a conundrum: the region is richly endowed in oil and gas, and is a major exporter of these commodities to the rest of the world; how can a higher percentage of Sub- Saharan Africa’s resources be channelled into improving local access to energy and clean cooking facilities, while still exporting sufficient quantities to feed the region’s economy? Subscription Inextricably tied into this is a second conundrum: reconciling the need for energy with the GeoPublishing Ltd requirement for environmental protection in a region that is severely under pressure from a +44 20 7937 2224 burgeoning and largely impoverished population, but one which clearly recognises the need for a 15 Palace Place Mansion sustainable solution. Kensington Court London W8 5BB, UK The answer must lie in tying the two conundrums together through [email protected] investing in research to improve efficiency in producing, storing and using energy from all sources: both fossil fuels and renewables. Only through GEO EXPro is pub lished bimonthly working collaboratively across the energy sector and throughout the world will for a base subscrip tion rate of GBP 60 a year (6 issues). we even begin to solve this dilemma. We encourage readers to alert us to news for possible publication VOL. 15, NO. 6 – 2018 and to submit articles for publication. GEOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED Jane Whaley geoexpro.com GEOTOURISM EXPLORATION Cover Photograph: Editor in Chief Florida Keys: A World Class Undrilled Basin Carbonate Main Image: Classroom © Sandi Cullifer/Dreamstime.com Inset: Tore Karlsson Layout: Winslade Graphics Print: Stephens & George, UK FLORIDA KEYS: CARBONATE CLASSROOM EXPLORATION Gulf of Mexico A Little Blue Heron stands in a tangle of mangrove roots in a Florida Conjugate Margins issn 1744-8743 lagoon. Just one of the many fascinating sights on a trip through the RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT Rediscover Your Reservoir Florida Keys, where you can also learn a lot about carbonate rock GEOCHEMISTRY formation and diagenesis. Moves to the Wellsite NeuraSection’s evolutionary touch Inset: Greenland: the Jameson Land Basin is one of the last remaining undrilled Atlantic Margin basins. Experience the newest features in NeuraSection. The revamped NeuraSection has been built around intuitive graphic visuals that © 2018 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. use touchscreen technology, while reducing lengthy menus that 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 hide features and slow productivity. NeuraSection helps you 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 identify your needs faster so that you can improve your productivity. 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. Scan me Follow us and see how we are turning paper into petroleum. Please contact [email protected] if you do not want to continue to receive the magazine or to be included on our distribution list for our regular bulletins. GeoPublishing is committed to protecting your privacy and readers have the right to ask for a copy neuralog.com of any personal data we have on them (see /www.geoexpro.com/privacy-policy). GEOExPro December 2018 5 Regional Update 2018 – A Year of Transition ABBREVIATIONS With Brent having traded above $80 per barrel, global oil companies now hold record high cashflows, allowing them the opportunity to realign their exploration Numbers (US and scientific community) portfolios and revive the long-capped exploration outlays. M: thousand = 1 x 103 Global offshore E&A well count in 2018 has witnessed a moderate rise (5–7%) after MM: million = 1 x 106 bottoming out in 2017. Norway, Brazil, US Gulf of Mexico and Africa are contributing B: billion = 1 x 109 to the additional offshore spending in 2018. Majors, NOCs and IOCs continued to T: trillion = 1 x 1012 dominate the exploration successes across geographies, with some junior players like Savannah Petroleum and Quadrant Energy adding noteworthy finds this year, in Niger Liquids and Australia respectively.