VOL. 16, NO. 5 – 2019 GEOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED geoexpro.com GEOLOGY Are Carbonates Difficult? EXPLORATION Namibia in the Spotlight Again TECHNOLOGY Look Under a Different Rock! GEOTOURISM The Dead Sea Transform EXPLORATION Shale Plays of the Middle East Make Better Decisions on Africa Exploration Opportunities New Data Available Republic of Guinea new GeoStreamer 3D: 7 900 sq. km Côte d’Ivoire MegaSurvey: 23 000 sq. km Ghana MegaSurvey: 24 000 sq. km Nigeria Reprocessed 3D: 2 970 sq. km Gabon MegaSurvey: 35 000 sq. km License round closes Q1 2020 Congo MegaSurvey Plus: 8 900 sq. km Angola Kwanza Shelf GeoStreamer 3D: 11 300 sq. km Namibe Basin GeoStreamer 3D: 11 100 sq. km License round opens Q4 2019 Make exploration decisions more confidently on Africa’s prolific plays with our reliable data created using advanced imaging techniques. PGS has over 20 years’ experience in the area and up-to-date coverage including new acquisition and high-quality reprocessing. Contact us to book a data show: [email protected] A Clearer Image | www.pgs.com/DataLibrary Previous issues: www.geoexpro.com Contents Vol. 16 No. 5 This edition of GEO ExPro focuses on Africa and the Middle East; Carbonate GEOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED Reservoirs; New Technologies; and Business Models. h The O&G industry is benefitting 5 Editorial from new data analytics technologies that make sense of 6 Regional Update the huge volumes of data and imagery coming from established 8 Licensing Update satellite and drone capabilities. 10 A Minute to Read terrabotics 14 Cover Story Exploration: Namibia in the Spotlight Again , 18 Hot Spot: Oil Bonanza in Guyana Namibia’s Petroleum Commissioner, Maggy Shino, is 20 Seismic Foldout: passionate about finding and North Gabon Sub-Salt Trend utilising oil and gas in her country. 26 Industry Issues: AOW Look Under a Different Rock! 30 Exploration: R Shale Plays of the Middle East The history of the world’s three great monotheistic religions has unfolded in a 34 Recent Advances in Technology: starkly rugged landscape stretching from Arrhenius to CO2 Storage – Part IV Jordan to the Mediterranean and Red Seas. 38 GEO Profile: Maggy Shino – SEG Championing Namibia 42 Seismic Foldout: Côte d’Ivoire – P Regional Understanding to Super basins: Unlock Potential finding oil in old places with new 48 Technology: ideas. Bringing the Outcrop to Your Desk Fig. 8 Depth structure map from new Comoros 2D PSM data over Tullow Block 36 and Western Energy Blocks 38, 39 and 40 showing the presence of giant structures with capacity for multi-billion barrels present in 3000 m water depth. The outlined prospect has an area of 700 km2, the size of Bahrain. Scale bar is 60 km. 50 Geology: Are Carbonates ‘Difficult’? Mozambique Block 38 Madagascar 54 GEO Tourism: The Master Sculptor: : The Dead Sea Transform Block 39 There is potential in the Comoros Block 36 58 Technology: New Technologies Islands for oil in similar plays to Fig. Through Collaboration the ones holding giant gas fields off Mozambique. 60 Exploration: What is a Super Basin? Western Energy East Africa 60 km Block 40 64 Seismic Foldout: The MSGBC Basin – Aiding The Next Steps in Exploration 70 Country Profile: The Comoros Islands < 74 Exploration: Exploring the Last 0 Frontier Offshore South Gabon P 78 Exploration Update R ; 8 6 6 80 GEO Media: Billions at Play F i 82 Q&A: Developments in the @ ? p Marine Seismic Business V : * , 84 FlowBack: r The Carbon Capture Conundrum < GEOExPro October 2019 3 Come see us at AOW, booth #E50 Exploring Hydrocarbons in Frontier Basins? Let us show you a cost-effective method to evaluate and de-risk large areas of acreage. TGS applies its experience in Multi-beam & Seafloor Sampling (MB&SS) to frontier basins around the world and most recently in the MSGBC Basin covering approximately 114,000 km². We are currently developing a comprehensive program of regional surveys to be acquired in 2019 and beyond that will deliver: • High resolution bathymetry and bubble plume imaging • Drop core samples targeting backscatter anomalies associated with hydrocarbon seeps • Jumbo piston core samples for heat-flow analysis • Full geochemical analysis of hydrocarbons encountered TGS, the gateway to subsurface intelligence. © 2019 TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA. All rights reserved. Editorial Come see us at AOW, booth #E50 The Key to Transformative Change GEOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED The world’s first commercial www.geoexpro.com KBR LNG liquefaction plant was built in Africa – in Arzew, GeoPublishing Ltd Algeria – in 1964. Although 15 Palace Place Mansion demand for the product took a Kensington Court London W8 5BB, UK while to develop, Africa is now +44 20 7937 2224 the ‘go-to’ continent for LNG investment, with nearly one- Managing Director third of total greenfield LNG Tore Karlsson investment going there this Editor in Chief year. Mozambique is leading the Jane Whaley charge and the sanctioning of [email protected] LNG train in Nigeria. the country’s Area 1 project in Editorial enquiries June 2019 is predicted to transform Mozambique into a major LNG exporter. GeoPublishing And that raises an interesting question, one of many discussed in the book by NJ Ayuk Jane Whaley reviewed in our GEO Media section. How much of the continent’s total proved remaining +44 7812 137161 gas reserves – a figure of nearly 510 Tcf, according to theBP Statistical Review of World [email protected] Energy – should be exported and how much used at home? Why is it that some countries www.geoexpro.com are net exporters of gas, but import expensive diesel from the US or Europe to run Sales and Marketing Director generators to light homes? Positive moves are afoot in the continent to ensure more gas is Kirsti Karlsson used domestically, to help electrification and industrialisation, diversify economies and +44 79 0991 5513 create jobs. For countries that do not have plentiful gas reserves, importing gas for power [email protected] generation from luckier neighbours, rather than have it exported to other continents, should be an obvious and easy option. Exploring Hydrocarbons in Frontier Basins? It was a great pleasure to interview Maggy Shino for the GEO Profile in this issue. As Petroleum Commissioner at the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy, she is very Subscription Let us show you a cost-effective method to evaluate and de-risk large aware of the energy challenges facing her large but sparsely populated country and is GeoPublishing Ltd a passionate advocate for searching for domestic energy resources that can be used to +44 20 7937 2224 areas of acreage. bring electrification, industrialisation and wealth to Namibia. In a country where many 15 Palace Place Mansion people still use firewood for cooking, a large gas discovery would be Kensington Court TGS applies its experience in Multi-beam & Seafloor London W8 5BB, UK transformative. Sampling (MB&SS) to frontier basins around the world and [email protected] To almost quote the catchphrase of a president from a different most recently in the MSGBC Basin covering approximately continent: ‘Africa First’! GEO EXPro is pub lished bimonthly 114,000 km². for a base subscrip tion rate of GBP 60 a year (6 issues). VOL. 16, NO. 5 – 2019 We encourage readers to alert us We are currently developing a comprehensive program of GEOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED geoexpro.com to news for possible publication EXPLORATION regional surveys to be acquired in 2019 and beyond that GEOLOGY and to submit articles for publication. Namibia Are Carbonates Di cult? will deliver: Jane Whaley in the Editor in Chief Spotlight Cover Photograph: Again Main Image: Val Taylor • High resolution bathymetry and bubble plume imaging Inset: Trevor Burchette NAMIBIA IN THE SPOTLIGHT AGAIN Layout: Winslade Graphics • Drop core samples targeting backscatter anomalies TECHNOLOGY Print: Stephens & George, UK The Waterberg Plateau cliffs expose the Jurassic Etjo sandstone formation, Look Under a Di erent Rock! associated with hydrocarbon seeps part of the Karoo supergroup, which is one of several potential unexplored GEOTOURISM The Dead Sea issn 1744-8743 hydrocarbon targets in Namibia. Just underneath the cliff is the site where Transform • Jumbo piston core samples for heat-flow analysis Namibia’s first dinosaur, the Masospondylus, was discovered. EXPLORATION Shale Plays of the Inset: Carbonate reservoirs are often considered to be ‘difficult’, but maybe Middle East • Full geochemical analysis of hydrocarbons encountered they just need a different knowledge base. © 2019 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. TGS, the gateway to subsurface intelligence. 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. 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 of any personal data we have on them (see /www.geoexpro.com/privacy-policy). © 2019 TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA. All rights reserved. GEOExPro October 2019 5 Regional Update Reversing the Discovery Slump ABBREVIATIONS Activity from upstream operators is starting to pick up from the post-2014 oil slump, and more money is being thrown at exploration, resulting in a gradual Numbers (US and scientific community) recovery in global discovered volumes.