MicroSeismic, Inc. (MicroSeismic) has announced that is has introduced the Productive-SRV™ (Productive-Stimulated Reservoir Volume). The multiple patents pending technology introduces a novel method to estimate how much of the stimulated fracture remains open through proppant placement. Productive-SRV incorporates three microseismically derived calculations to estimate target zone productivity; a magnitude calibrated Discrete Fracture Network (DFN), the Propped Fracture Estimation and the Fat Fracture™ Drainage Estimation. The combination of these techniques can be used to estimate 90-day cumulative production.

“Hydraulic fracturing has been effective at stimulating fractures in the subsurface for more than 60 years,” said Michael Thornton, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer, MicroSeismic. “However, increasing hydrocarbon recovery requires those fractures to stay open. The overburden pressure of 10,000 feet of rock will quickly close a fracture if it is not wedged open with proppant. Productive-SRV helps our clients quickly determine which completion techniques are most effective by estimating the effects of proppant placement at optimum well spacing.”

Productive-SRV is determined from integrating microseismic data with known treatment parameters and near wellbore geology and geomechanics. By estimating the volume of fractures that are likely proppant filled, on a per stage basis, a more constrained area of stimulation is determined, providing a more accurate correlation to early production.

Productive-SRV is to be included as part of the standard surface, near surface and downhole microseismic services provided by MicroSeismic.

CAMAC Energy Inc.  has announced that Sander Geophysics Limited (“SGL”) has completed shooting  airborne gravity and magnetic geophysical surveys on the Company’s Kenya onshore Lamu Basin Blocks L1B and L16 (“Blocks”). The data acquisition covers essentially the entire 12,129 square kilometers in Block L1B and the entire 3,613 square kilometers in Block L16 and satisfies the gravity and magnetic survey requirements for each Block under the relevant Production Sharing Agreements.

The Company expects to receive initial results of the shoot in the third quarter of 2013. Results will be used to optimize the placement of 2-D seismic lines by identifying faults, basement structures and intra-sedimentary volcanic layers and/or intrusions.

“I am pleased that we completed the acquisition of the airborne gravity and magnetic geophysical surveys in Kenya safely, on time, and under budget,” said Senior Vice President of Exploration and Production Segun Omidele. “Our geophysical team will now work with SGL to interpret the data and delineate optimal areas for 2-D seismic acquisition.”

A short course on the why, how, and what of geophysical inversion

Presented by the B.C. Geophysical Society

This is a 2-day workshop consisting of 1 day of lectures (April 24th) followed by a 1 day hands-on workshop (either April 25th or 26th). Delegates can register for just the lectures or both the lectures and workshop.

Registration available until April 15th at: www.bcgsonline.org

Date: April 24th – 26th 2013

Address: SFU Downtown Campus; Vancouver BC

Registration: Registration is now open!  Please fill out attached pdf form (link below) and click submit.  Registration will be complete once payment is made via Paypal link.  Delegates are asked to choose one workshop day among April 25th or 26th.

Day 1 – Introduction to inversion
– Introduction to inversion in exploration

Reasons for doing inversion
Range of inversion options: magnetics, gravity, EM, IP-resistivity, seismic
Fitting geology and data

– Background on inversion

Unconstrained/constrained
Joint and collaborative
The future of inversion

– Before inversion – forward modeling

forward modeling
petrophysics drives the story
complexity vs. adequacy

– Case studies

Potential fields
EM
IP-resistivity

Day 2 – Workshop with Case studies
Multi-disciplinary teams will use geological, geophysical and geochemical data from two deposits (Babine Lake porphyry Cu-Mo, BC and Minto Cu, YK) to develop exploration targets. Teams will present their evaluations of the data to stimulate group discussion.

Inversion results for the available geophysical surveys will be presented to demonstrate state-of-the-art technology and best practices.
Sponsors for the short course are currently being solicited. Please contact Victoria Sterritt at Victoria.Sterritt@teck.com for details. Proceeds go to the KEGS Foundation.
For those interested in more information about the short course, please email info@bcgsonline.org

MicroSeismic, Inc. announced that Peter Duncan, Ph.D. will be honored for a lifetime achievement in geophysics at the Geophysical Society of Houston (GSH) and Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) 2013 Spring Symposium on March 5 and 6. As part of the symposium, Peter will host a Challenge Bowl on March 5 and will be the guest of honor at the March 6 banquet toasting and roasting him.

“I am extremely surprised and grateful to receive this prestigious honor and join a group of honorees for whom I have deep admiration,” stated Peter Duncan, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of MicroSeismic. “I have dedicated my life to the study of geophysics and the advancement of that field of work; to be honored by these two organizations means the world to me.”

Peter is an active volunteer with many organizations including GSH and SEG. He chaired GSH’s Continuing Education Committee for two years and SEG’s Continuing Education Committee for three years. In the late 1990′s, he was responsible for creating the SEG Distinguished Instructor Short Course format. Peter served as the SEG President in 2003 and in the fall of 2008, he was the SEG/AAPG Distinguished Lecturer and spoke on the subject of passive seismic at 45 venues around the world. His most treasured accomplishment with SEG is the development of the successful Challenge Bowl where he continues to be its biggest promoter and host. Challenge Bowl events are held annually around the world, with local and regional eliminations leading to a world championship at the SEG Annual Meeting.

For registration and details of event visit http://www.gshtx.org/en/cev/932.

The final seismic, gravity and magnetotelluric dataset from Geoscience Australia’s Onshore Energy Security Program has been processed and released.

The data were acquired in 2011 by Geoscience Australia in conjunction with the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) as part of the Western Australian Government’sRoyalties for Regions Exploration Incentive Scheme. The 484 kilometres of data were obtained over the Yilgarn Craton, Officer Basin and Musgrave Province of Western Australia. This survey will provide precompetitive data for energy and mineral exploration, and for potential water resources. These data, combined with the 2001 Northern Yilgarn Survey, and the 2010 Capricorn and Youanmi Surveys result in a complete cross section of central Western Australia.

Overall, more than 6500 kilometres of deep crustal seismic data were acquired during the Onshore Energy Security Program, providing valuable structural information for the Australian crust from the near surface to the Moho, boundary between the Earth’s crust and the mantle. As well as providing precompetitive data, the surveys have helped to expand understanding of the complex structures and geology of the Australia continent.

The processed SEGY data, images and ancillary information are now available for free download.

Interpretation of the seismic and magnetotelluric models undertaken by GSWA and Geoscience Australia geoscientists will be presented at a public workshop in Perth in June 2013.

North Sea Energy Inc. announces that a 2D hi-resolution seismic program on the Norfolk Prospect (block 12/16b) (20% NSE interest) has been completed after receiving approval from DECC (UK Department of Energy and Climate Change).

The weather during November has been favourable and allowed us to acquire more data than the base plan. This will allow us to test 3D migrating the data and/or creating a Geocube product.

The processing of the additional seismic will enhance our understanding of the prospect in terms of the ‘up dip’ extent of the Norfolk prospect and assist in the determination of the drilling target. The acquiring of the seismic data this year allows us to progress our evaluation of the prospect and to make a drilling decision sooner and without delay to the project.

About Norfolk Prospect and Norfolk East Prospect – 12/16b and 12/17b

The blocks are located in the Inner Moray Firth, a short distance from the Sutherland coast. The Norfolk prospect is a large stratigraphic pinchout and dip closure of the lower cretaceous Coracle sands with additional leads in the Punt and Beatrice sands. The best estimate undiscovered oil initially-in-place of 209.0 MMstb at Norfolk and 55.5 MMstb at Norfolk East as estimated for NSE in Sproule’s Report dated July 31, 2011.

Edge Resources Inc.  recently drilled two oil wells in Primate, Saskatchewan (see announcement August 13, 2012).

Based on the early successful production results in Primate, Edge has undertaken a 3D seismic program in order to fine-tune the multitude of additional drilling locations in the newly discovered Primate oil pool. The Company expects to shoot and evaluate approximately 10 square kilometers (3.7 square miles) of 3D seismic, which will add to the Company’s impressive 65 square kilometers (25 square miles) of existing, proprietary 3D seismic assets in Saskatchewan. The focus of this program is to further characterize the drilling locations in the recently discovered oil pool known as Asset East. However, the seismic extends beyond the new pool onto Edge’s neighboring 100% owned, contiguous lands, where it may reveal additional drilling opportunities.

Brad Nichol, President and CEO of Edge commented, “We were sufficiently pleased with the initial results from the two wells in Primate to shoot 3D seismic and hone the additional locations on our existing lands. The results in Primate have exceeded our expectations on many levels and production rates are getting closer to stabilizing and are continually increasing.” Nichol added, “We’re also very keen on the Grand Forks locations, which are being drilled into a well-understood, seismically-defined reservoir. We expect production to be on-stream within a few days after these wells are completed.”

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Holloman Energy Corporation announces that acquisition of 127 square kilometres of a 3-D seismic data on Petroleum Exploration License (“PEL”) 112 has been successfully completed. The 3-D seismic program was executed by the Australian operations group of Geokinetics Inc. Holloman understands that the data obtained by its farm-in partner, Terra Nova Energy Inc., is of excellent quality and represents a vast improvement (in subsurface imaging) over the seismic data previously available on PEL 112.

Terra Nova has commenced seismic data processing. Once complete, the geophysical program will be interpreted with potential drill locations expected in mid-December 2012. Terra Nova is also in the process of securing a drilling rig to drill up to six wells in 2013. It is anticipated that the first well will be drilled on PEL 112, subject to rig availability, late in the first calendar quarter of 2013. Under the terms of its farm-in agreement on PEL 112 and PEL 444, Terra Nova is required to place AUD$4,500,000 in escrow on November 1, 2012 to support the upcoming drill plan.

News released by Cooper Energy earlier this month confirms the continued success of their drilling efforts on the Cooper Basin’s western flank. Cooper Energy reported that the success of it Butlers-5 oil well in PEL 92 has been followed by similar results from its Butlers-6 well. Each well penetrated gross oil columns ranging from 5 to 8 metre in the Namur Sandstone and have been suspended for completion as oil producers. The oil finds on PEL 92 are situated 25 kilometres north/northwest of PEL 112 on lands believed to be of a similar geological model.

On PEL 444, Terra Nova is in the process of designing a 150 km² 3D seismic program for completion in 2013.

The Cooper Basin’s most productive sediments for petrochemicals were formed during the Permian period, which ended about 250 million years ago.  Since the end of this era, the Permian’s rich organic sediments have been increasingly buried under additional layers of rock, thus forming deposits of coal, oil, natural gas, and other petrochemicals.Because of the geological history of the Australian continent, the Permian sediments in Central Australia primarily occurred in one distinct region – the Cooper Basin.  This basin is surrounded by and underlies a portion of the much larger Eromanga Basin, which is mostly comprised of younger sandstones and sediments from the more recent Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.  It is these younger formations that overlie the Cooper Basin’s Permian sediments, thus trapping (or “capping”) the petrochemicals underground and creating Australia’s richest oil and gas producing region. There has been a recent surge in drilling activity for oil in the last five years with many new Jurassic Eromanga discoveries being made along the southwestern flank of the Cooper Basin

The EEGS has published the latest issue of FastTIMES, news for the near-surface geophysical sciences. It is available as a pdf document optimized for screen viewing or printing.

Seismoelectric & Microgravity

Volume 17, Number 2, June 2012

• Click Here for PDF (6.2 MB)

Houston-based Apache Corp. has become the first producer to use true-cable free wireless seismic technology offshore Alaska to limit the impact of seismic activity on Cook Inlet’s wildlife, communities and environment – including Cook Inlet beluga whales.

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The use of wireless 3-D seismic is part of Apache’s commitment to conducting 3-D seismic operations in Alaska’s Cook Inlet “in ways that limit the impact on communities and the environment,” the company said in a July 24 article on its website, addressing criticisms of its seismic program.

Apache is using true cable-free nodal recording systems, designed and manufactured by Sugar Land, Texas-based FairfieldNodal, in order to minimize the impact of its seismic survey on Cook Inlet’s wildlife population and environment.

“Because we’re shooting onshore and offshore, we have to go back and meld and blend the data for the different sections together,” said Lisa Parker.

The company is using the technology for its ongoing 3D seismic survey of Cook Inlet, which will encompass onshore, offshore and the transition zone of Apache’s acreage. The seismic survey will continue for the next two and a half years.

After acquiring leases on 850,000 acres in Cook Inlet in August 2010, Apache began the permitting process for its seismic and exploration programs. In an effort to address concerns over the impact of seismic activity on local wildlife and the environment, Apache conducted a technology test to compare how traditional cable seismic would perform versus a wireless system.

Impressed with what it saw, the company initiated the permitting process to utilize wireless seismic and received approval to use this technology in the spring of 2011.
Apache began its Cook Inlet seismic program in November 2011, and has been working continuously since then, save for a six-week break from Christmas through the first part of February.

Approximately 1.4 billion barrels of oil was discovered in Cook Inlet in its early development in the 1950s and 1960s. Exploration and production in Cook Inlet declined after the discovery of Prudhoe Bay. Only a handful of fields have been discovered in Cook Inlet, but the field size distribution strongly suggests another 1.3 to 1.4 billion barrels of oil remain to be discovered in the Cook Inlet basin, Apache said.

Apache will begin drilling in Cook Inlet in October.

Fairfield’s product is truly cable free, unlike nodes from manufacturers who have elected to keep the power supply, electronics and sensor connected with short cables and connectors, said Roger Keyte head of marketing and business development at FairfieldNodal.

The nodes are placed on the ocean floor or buried onshore. Except for a rope tied to nodes placed offshore to retrieve them – the rope is not involved in the spacing of the node – the nodes have no cables, said Keyte.

Marine nodes weigh 65 pounds and look like a 50-pound free weight, but are a bit thicker, said Lisa Parker, head of government relations for Apache in Alaska. Land nodes weigh 4.8 pounds and look like a two-pound coffee can with a spike on the bottom. Both types of nodes are made of plastic and stainless steel.

The nodes are retrieved after a period time and taken back to the office, where the data is downloaded and the nodes are recharged. The data is then forwarded to Apache’s geoscientists for interpretation.

“Because we’re shooting onshore and offshore, we have to go back and meld and blend the data for the different sections together,” said Lisa Parker, head of government relations for Apache in Alaska. “It’s like putting the pieces of a puzzle back together.”

Since 1924, traditional seismic systems have involved sensors connected to cables. These sensors transmitted signals back to a localized recording system to be converted into digits, said Keyte.

Using a system with heavy, cumbersome cables presents difficulties onshore and offshore, Keyte noted. Offshore, the cables mean seismic vessels can’t get close to structures in the water such as rigs and platforms. Traditional systems also tend to be noisier.

Using cabled system onshore was especially problematic, with electrical leakages occurring due to animals biting or chewing the cables or sweat from the hands of workers, said Keyte.

Utilizing a true cable-free system cuts down on the amount of time crews spend troubleshooting to fix leakages. The cable free system increases the reliability of data and allows the recording time to be controlled.

More details…

The Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists (WA Branch) invites you to attend the upcoming ASEG WA Tech Night presented by Tim Dean of WesternGeco Geosolutions.

Land seismic is currently undergoing what, in a generally slowly evolving field, amounts to a revolution. This revolution involves the use of a variety of new technologies but is principally concerned with reduction. The introduction of high channel-count recording systems has enabled reliable point-receiver acquisition. Coupled with advanced data processing techniques this enables a reduction in the number of sensors required on the crew. This in turn results in reduction in the number of crew members and thus survey cost, including the environmental cost. Acquisition cost can also be reduced through the use of advanced source acquisition methodologies that reduce the source cycle time (the time taken between the acquisition of records). An increase in the size of vibrators has also allowed a reduction in the number of vibrators on the crew and their related logistic burden.

An area of particular interest currently is the recording of data with enhanced the low-frequency content of the data. Increased low-frequency content has a variety of benefits, it helps overcome the high-frequency attenuating effects of the earth, improves vertical resolution, enhances inversion results, and improves: velocity analysis, minimum phase deconvolution and wavelet estimation. Acquiring such data involves lowering both the minimum frequency transmitted by the source as well as the ability of the sensors to record such frequencies.

Read more..

Update on geophysical data releases

Geoscience Australia will be managing the data acquisition program in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

The current status of Geoscience Australia’s geophysical survey data acquisition is available in a comprehensive table.

Minerals Alert Geophysical Surveys Table – survey boundary polygons in MapInfo TAB format.

Seismic and magnetotelluric data released for Youanmi Survey in Western Australia

The Youanmi deep crustal seismic survey was acquired in 2010 and extends nearly 700 kilometres over the Youanmi Terrane and Eastern Goldfields Superterrane of the Yilgarn Craton. This project was a collaboration between Geoscience Australia and the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA). Funding was provided from the Western Australian Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme, and Geoscience Australia’s Onshore Energy Security Program. The survey consists of three traverses with a total length of 695 kilometres. These seismic, magnetotelluric and gravity data aim to image the northern Yilgarn Craton from its north-western margin to the Ida Fault, near Leinster.

These data combined with the 2001 Northern Yilgarn and the 2010 Capricorn deep crustal reflection surveys result in a complete section across the northern Yilgarn Craton.

The processed SEG Y data, TIFF images, location information, magnetotelluric and gravity data are available and can be downloaded from the Seismic Acquisition and Processing project.

Interpretations of the seismic sections and magnetotelluric models undertaken by GSWA and Geoscience Australia geologists will be released in February 2013 at a public workshop in Perth.

A cooperative venture between Governments and the mining industry will boost available seismic data being acquired in Western Australia.

Joint survey to increase knowledge

Houston, TX 23-26 January 2012

Seismic Data Acquisition
Seismic Data Processing
Seismic Data Interpretation
Potential Fields/Non-Seismic
Near-Surface Geophysics
Exploration & Production Geophysics

The Capricorn deep crustal seismic survey was acquired in 2010 and extends from the Pilbara Craton, acrosss the Capricorn Orogen, to the Yilgarn Craton in Western Australia. This survey was a collaborative project between AuScope, Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) and Geoscience Australia. Funding came from AuScope Earth Imaging, Western Australia’s Exploration Incentive Scheme, which is funded under the Western Australian Royalties for Regoins program, and Geoscience Australia’s Onshore Energy Security Program.

The survey consists of three traverses with a total length of 581 kilometres. These seismic and gravity data aim to image the extent of the Archean crust beneath the Capricorn Orogeny and identify the relationship between the Pilbara Craton and the Yilgarn Craton.

The interpreted processed seismic data were released on 23 November at a Public Presentation Workshop in Perth, which was hosted by the GSWA. The data is available as a free download.

A preliminary edition of the workshop proceedings will be available shortly on the GSWA website.

For more information please contact Tanya Fomin, Section Leader Seismic Acquisition and Processing, phone +61 2 6249 9725 or email tanya.fomin@ga.gov.au.

Unity Energy Corp. announces that it has completed evaluation of ground/airborne geophysics and historical drilling in and around the Lampin Lake Project and has identified a high value target, dubbed the Shamus Zone. The Lampin Lake Project consists of a single 500ha disposition located on the eastern margin of the Athabasca basin. The Project lies in the Waterbury Lake district, ~16km southeast of Hathor’s Roughrider discovery. It is bordered by claims held by UEX to the east (Hidden Bay Project) and Cameco on all other sides.

To view the map associated with this press release, please click on the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/u1129.jpg

The Shamus Zone is characterized by a 500-750m wide northwest trending Bouguer Gravity low feature, beginning at Cameco’s Q12A zone and ending several kilometers on the southwest corner of the Lampin Lake claim boundary. The gravity anomaly is roughly perpendicular to the Telephone Fault, may indicate a region of alteration, some of which has been subject to desilicification. The Telephone fault is interpreted as the primary control of this zone. Within gravity anomaly, the primary target is a series of subtle conductors coincident with magnetic lows, which appear to be related to extensions of Cameco’s Q12A conductor series. The subtle conductors were identified through detailed interpretation of VTEM data, acquired by Unity in a survey completed in 2011.

Cameco’s Q12A zone (some 500m to the south) shows areas of intermittent uranium mineralization at the unconformity and has been interpreted as the outlying edge of an alteration zone. Cameco and Asamara Oil have tested the Q12A zone with several ground geophysical surveys and extensive diamond drilling. Asmara Oil’s diamond drilling of the Q12A grid intersected notable uranium mineralization as follows: Q12A-009 (4.0m of 0.13% U3O8 @ 197m), Q12A-003 (0.4m 3159ppm U3O8 @ 219.9m) and Q12A-005 (0.3m 0.073% U3O8 @ 180.1m), The most significant hole reported by Cameco was Q12A-011: 1.7m of 2.46% U3O8 at ~192m.

It is the Company’s exploration hypothesis that the absence of strong conductors near or at the Telephone Fault may be a result of graphitic consumption or remobilization by alteration events. Several major uranium discoveries in the Athabasca Basin such as McArthur River, Key Lake and Millennium were primarily the result of drill-testing of strong alteration zones related to conductor features, not the drill testing of specific graphitic conductors. The Key Lake and Millennium deposits, which were initially missed in first-pass drilling, were discovered by step-out fenced holes drilled across alteration zones. Millennium was discovered by drilling “off conductor” and deeper into a basement alteration system. McArthur River was found by drilling along the strike-trend of a pronounced alteration system where conductors were largely absent. The Company is in the process of evaluating “next step” exploration phases. A ground survey (such as gravity, resistivity or 2D seismic) would likely precede diamond drilling.

Anita Algie BSc. Hon., President, commented, “Unity now has high value targets on both of its Waterbury Lake assets: Lampin Lake and Waterbury Lake. It is the Company’s intention to explore and develop these highly prospective properties, with or without venture partners. In addition, the recent bidding war for Hathor by Cameco and Rio Tinto has reaffirmed in the minds of investors worldwide the viability of uranium as an exploration commodity. This may well be the black swan event that renews the uranium renaissance.”

Dr. Peter Born, P.Geo., the Company’s Qualified Person and Director, has not reviewed the original drill logs, assays or core of historic drilling. Geological and exploration information contained in this release is derived from sources believed to be credible.