Spectrum’s Debut at NAPE,
Record Attendance
Spectrum made its exhibition debut at
NAPE amongst over 1,600 booths in
February 2011 at the George R. Brown
Convention Center in Houston. This year
set a record attendance for Winter NAPE
with 16,000 delegates in attendance, a
huge increase since the first NAPE Expo
in 1993 which had just 80 booths and
800 delegates.
newsletter
56
New Exploration Effort in the
Italian Adriatic Sea
Spectrum and PGS join forces on
Spectrum Gets
East Greenland data
‘Technical’
Over the last few months Spectrum’s
technical experts have substantially
increased their presence at a variety
of industry conferences. A number
of new technical papers have been
published and presented.
A return to potash: Spectrum
& Hornet Geoconsulting join
the search
Working in close co-operation with
local specialists FWS consultants,
all the existing seismic data and well
logs are being assessed prior to a
detailed interpretation project aimed at
determining future studies and ultimately
locating a new mine site.
This is the first project that Spectrum
have undertaken for York Potash which
was recently acquired by Global Potash
Exploration and Mining Company Sirius
Minerals. The project area covers the
coastal line from Scarborough to Whitby
and extends into the North Sea. The
existing seismic and well data comprises
many different vintages and due to the
coastal area covers land and marine
environments.
The project goal is to investigate the
potential for opening a new deep
Potash mine in Britain, the like of which
has not been seen for over 40 years.
York Potash is in the advance stages of
a planned drilling programme to define
the extent of the potash deposit. The
results of the drilling programme will be
combined with results of the seismic
analysis to decide on the exact location
for the planned mine.
Spectrum, are reprocessing the existing
data to give the optimum input for
interpretation by Hornet Geoconsulting.
This in turn will be used to plan
evaluation boreholes and future new
acquisition. It is planned to employ
proprietary techniques to enhance
the bandwidth of the data allowing
the minor faults expected to be present
and thickness variations to be mapped
more accurately.
56
newsletter
Spring 2011
Visitors to the Spectrum booth were
able to gain information on projects
in the East Mediterranean, Australia,
East Greenland, and the Adriatic Sea;
among other international frontier
areas. On Tuesday afternoon a
private floor reception was held in
conjunction with Seitel, hosting over
200 clients in one hour.
Spectrum & Hornet Geoconsulting have
been awarded a seismic evaluation and
Interpretation project from York Potash
Ltd. The project is part of York’s resource
appraisal programme with respect to the
potential creation of a large new potash
mine in North Yorkshire.
multi-client services • Seismic data processing • marine acquisition
Spectrum and S.D. Exploration Services (S.D.E.S.),
specialists in offshore Italian exploration, are working
together on a new project to reprocess, interpret and
evaluate a unique regional dataset covering the Italian
Adriatic Sea.
New exploration activity offshore Italy has been
handicapped by a lack of regional seismic data, the only
regional seismic data dates back to the early 1980’s.
Spectrum and S.D.E.S. have been granted access to this
vintage seismic dataset and are currently reprocessing
more than 8,500 line km of the data. The seismic grid
intersects numerous wells in the region which will be
included in a regional interpretation and evaluation report
of the data compiled by S.D.E.S.
exploring for oil and gas in Italy. The lack of modern
regional seismic is one factor that has made it difficult for
interested companies to make a regional evaluation.
The study area covers a very interesting variety of
structural and lead styles that vary significantly from
the northern to the southern Adriatic. They encompass
a good selection of different play types and leads as
shown on the geological cross section below.
The reprocessed seismic will be available during the
second quarter of 2011 and the evaluation report during
the following quarter.
Exploration in Italy
Italian exploration for oil and gas has been very successful
in the past 50 years both onshore and offshore; however
it has recently suffered from a significant lack of new
investment as oil companies have been lured away to
other parts of the world. Italy has a large and rapidly
growing domestic gas and oil market, but the decline in
domestic production over the last 15 years means that
Italy now imports much of its gas from North Africa.
Italy continues to have one of the best fiscal and tax
regimes in the world for exploration companies. It is
therefore surprising that more oil companies are not
The main structural elements of interest are located
around the Apennine over thrust front and the structures
and play types that surround the over thrust in the
basin. There are a wide variety of proven gas and oil
plays associated with the thrust front and its related
structuring. Such play types vary from reservoir sands
within the over thrust units to sands around/over/
pinching out around the thrusts. There are also ripple
fold plays in front of the thrusts and stratigraphic plays
similar to the more recent discoveries at Barbara, AnnaMaria and Andreina gas fields.
Spectrums geoscientists have participated
in conferences including PETEX (London),
APPEX (London), SEAPEX (Singapore)
and special events such as the recent
Deloitte convention and the East
Mediterranean seminar hosted by the
Geological Society in the UK.
Subjects have included the “exploration
potential of the Levantine Basin in the
Eastern Mediterranean”, “hydrocarbon
prospectivity of the Andaman basin”,
“a review of the prolific Italian Adriatic
Sea”, “exploration offshore western
Florida” and “deep water Pre-Basalt
studies offshore India”.
Spectrum is committed to contributing
to the industry knowledge base and has
built excellent relationships with industry
experts in areas of core competency
such as Eastern Mediterranean, Adriatic,
Eastern GoM and India. The recent
technical presentations will continue with
a series of worldwide frontier exploration
seminars taking place during 2011. These
Spectrum-hosted events, specifically
designed to provide oil companies with
valuable geological and geopolitical
information from strategic global frontier
regions, will take place every 6 months in
both London and Houston before rolling
out to other locations.
Contact our Multi-Client team for
details of the next seminar taking
place near you.
COME AND SEE US:
SEAPEX 2011, Singapore
4th – 7th April
For Multi-Client enquiries:
UK office: [email protected]
US office: [email protected]
For Data Processing enquiries:
UK office: [email protected]
US office: [email protected]
Telephone Enquiries:
UK office: +44 1483 730201
US office: +1 281 647 0602
AAPG Annual Conference 2011
Houston, Texas
10th-13th April - Booth 341
APPEA 2011, Perth, Australia
www.spectrumasa.com
10th-13th April
Booth 314/315
Spectrum and Petroleum Geo Services (PGS) have
completed reprocessing 7,623km of 2D seismic data
offshore the south east coast of Greenland. The significant
improvement in data quality reflects the combined
processing expertise of the two companies.
The seismic data is located between 62 and 72 degrees
latitude. This area includes the southern part of the East
Greenland rift basin. A 2007 US Geological Survey
(USGS) assessment of this province indicated
undiscovered oil and gas reserves of 31,400 MMBOE
(million barrels of oil equivalent).
East Greenland forms the conjugate margin to the
Norwegian continental shelf, Faroe-Shetland Islands
and Rockall Basins. It is anticipated that analogues
of successful play types found in these relatively well
explored petroleum provinces can be extrapolated into
East Greenland. This offshore area is considered frontier
for hydrocarbon exploration, with only limited, regional,
wide-spaced 2D seismic lines available and only a few
shallow Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) wells drilled.
Using contemporary techniques perfected for sub-basalt
imaging in the UK Atlantic Margin and offshore India West
Coast, Spectrum and PGS significantly improved the
definition of the pre-Tertiary basalt sedimentary section.
This reprocessed seismic data is now available as a final PreStack Time Migrated product from either Spectrum or PGS.
Figure 1: Spectrum’s Multi-Client coverage offshore East Greenland
Spectrum Launches Suite of
New East Mediterranean Products
Spectrum has teamed up with leading industry experts
on the East Mediterranean to release a comprehensive
package of products to enhance exploration knowledge
in a region which has seen three recent gas discoveries.
The Dalit and Tamar successes and the recently
announced Leviathan discovery have intensified exploration
interest in the Eastern Mediterranean. Spectrum’s MultiClient seismic data contributed to all three of these recent
discoveries. Spectrum’s Multi-Client library includes an
extensive package of modern 2D seismic data and a
variety of supporting technical reports relating to the
East Mediterranean.
This new, comprehensive suite of products encompasses
over 22,000km of exceptional quality 2D Multi-Client
seismic data, a Well Data report, a detailed analysis of
offshore Lebanon geology, a Lebanese country guide
and a three-day training course on ‘Applied Deepwater
Exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean’.
The Petroleum Geology of Offshore Lebanon report
recently compiled by ATenergy provides in-depth
interpretation of the regional geology and tectonics of
offshore Lebanon. It also contains seismically derived
mapping and an analysis of the recent Noble discoveries
to the south. In addition, ATenergy has compiled a
Lebanon country report outlining the political and social
aspects of the country as well as giving information on
relevant government departments and procedures.
Spectrum’s Well Data report contains valuable well
and calibration data through detailed stratigraphy
(biostratigraphy and lithostratigraphy), well logs,
pressure tests and drilling results. It focuses on
9 key wells in the region.
Finally, the training course, designed for those with
reasonable technical knowledge, provides practical
instruction on the application of deepwater exploration
technology, from basin to prospect scale. Delivered
through a series of lectures and role-model exercises,
attendees will tackle real-world industry data from the
Eastern Mediterranean and be challenged to create
hypothetical work programs for a competitive bid
round exercise.
Eastern Mediterranean:
The Hot New Exploration Region
Dave Peace, Exploration Director, EastMedCo
Three recent gas discoveries containing
estimated reserves of 25 Tcf (700 Bcm)
indicate the Levantine Basin in the Eastern
Mediterranean contains some of the hottest
new exploration plays in the world. With licence
rounds planned offshore Cyprus, Lebanon and
Syria, the region seems set for an exciting period
of increased exploration activity.
of the Levantine Basin has recently become
the focus of a successful drilling campaign by
the Noble-Delek group who have discovered
three new large gas fields at Dalit, Tamar and
Leviathan. These three new finds have estimated
reserves in excess of 25 Tcf (700 Bcm), making
them both the largest discoveries in the region
and the largest in Noble’s portfolio.
The Eastern Mediterranean has been a
large commercial and trading hub for many
centuries. More recently, during the last 20
years, the southeast of the region has also
become successful for oil and gas exploration,
particularly offshore the Nile Delta Cone and to a
lesser extent in South East Turkey. However the
extensive area in between was almost entirely
overlooked until the BG Group extended their
successful Nile Delta exploration campaign
into the southern Levantine Basin, where they
discovered a number of biogenic Pliocene gas
fields. These discoveries amounted to a modest
volume of gas, some of which have now been in
production for several years.
Spectrum and EastMedCo have been
evaluating the greater East Mediterranean
region jointly for the last 10 years. This
commenced with the evaluation and
enhancement of a 1975 regional seismic survey
(EMED-75) reprocessed by Spectrum in 1999.
In 2000 Spectrum acquired a further 12,300
kms of new 2D regional data (EMED-00). This
dataset was further augmented in 2002 by
the acquisition of an inshore infill survey off
the Lebanese coast (LEB -02). The EMED-00
dataset was depth migrated in 2007 to provide
enhanced imaging of the deeper data and to
better understand the evolution of the basin and
hydrocarbons systems within the basin.
The large central and generally underexplored
region comprises the Levantine Basin which is
bounded by the Larnaca-Latakia thrust belt to
the north and the Erastothenes Seamount and
Herodutus Basin to the West. The southern part
EastMedCo made a full interpretation and
evaluation of the data and not only identified
the structures containing the recent discoveries
many years before they were drilled, but also
catalogued a significant number of leads
and prospects throughout the whole East
Mediterranean region where many similar
structures are present (Roberts & Peace,
GeoArabia, 2007).
Oil Potential As Well?
The recent discoveries have all contained gas,
but there is good evidence to suggest that
there also exists significant oil potential in the
Levantine basin. In the adjacent Nile Delta, many
of the early successes consisted of discoveries
of post-Messinian biogenic gas. However, as
companies have drilled deeper, into the pre-salt
section, the hydrocarbons discovered have
included both thermogenic gas and, more
recently, thermogenic oil.
EastMedCo has evaluated the hydrocarbon oil
potential through seepage studies. Numerous
oil seeps have been found in the greater East
Mediterranean region from Southern Turkey to
the Nile Delta indicating a potential widespread
oil source. Many of these can be correlated
with clear migration pathways on seismic data.
(Johnson and Peace AAPG Denver 2002).
The current Leviathan well is targeted to
investigate this deeper oil potential, with recent
press announcements stating the well has
discovered a minimum 67m of gas bearing
reservoirs of the same Lower Miocene sands as
Tamar and Dalit. It is reported the Leviathan well
is now continuing to a target depth of around
7,200m to test the remaining Tertiary section and
possibly the Cretaceous and Jurassic.
Figure 2:
Spectrum’s extensive
East Mediterranean
Multi-Client data is
complemented by
specialist technical
reports and a unique
training course.
Underexplored Levantine Basin
The huge underexplored area of the Eastern
Mediterranean has all the elements of a
significant hydrocarbon province. Good seismic
datasets are available, leads and prospects
have been identified and new licence rounds
are imminent.
Spectrum Multi-Client Data
To assist with the exploration initiative
the Spectrum Multi Client library includes
approximately 22,500 line kilometres of seismic
data with a record length of 12 seconds twt.
The EMED -00 original PSTM (pre stack time
migration) dataset proved the presence of the
deeper part of the Levantine basin. Further
imaging improvements were achieved with
PSDM (pre stack depth migration) reprocessing
especially where structuring is more complex.
Spectrum is currently reprocessing the EMED
-00 survey through PSTM to produce a fully AVO
compliant dataset.
This article is based on a feature published in
GEO ExPro Magazine, Issue 2
Figure 4: Enhanced seismic imaging