Aker BP announces small discovery in Norwegian Sea
Well 6607/12-4 was drilled to target Jurassic/Triassic reservoir rocks of the Garn, Ile, Tofte, Tilje and Åre Formations, but even though a 80 m gas column was found, reservoir quality disappointed and the total recoverable volume has now been estimated to be between 3.1 and 6.3 MMboe.
At the same time, the secondary target in the Lower Cretaceous Lange Formation proved oil, which made the operator decide to appraise the Lange Formation instead of the anticipated Jurassic reservoir through drilling sidetrack 6607/12-4A. As the oil found in the Lower Cretaceous may form the southern extension of the Cape Vulture discovery, the volumes are presented are limited by production licence 127 C boundary: between 6.3 and 17 MMboe recoverable.
From GIS to Geomodel
The Department of Computational Geoscience and Reservoir Engineering at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, have released a tool to link GIS systems to open-source geomodelling software GemPy. The aim of the so-called GemGIS software is to let the user create raw data in any GIS Software and preprocess the data for further usage in a geomodelling tool with GemGIS.
This will facilitate Earth Scientists who are new to the world of geomodelling to create subsurface models with the data they are used to work with. The package handles different types of vector data, raster data, data obtained from online services (WMS, WCS, WFS) commonly used among different earth science disciplines.
GemGIS is not reinventing the wheel but utilizes the already existing functionality of packages like GeoPandas, rasterio, shapely, PyVista and others to make it easier to work with geological data within a programming environment. Last but not least, GemGIS is providing 3D visualization of for instance geological cross sections/seismic data (see feature image), borehole data, map data sets and many more powered by PyVista.
Do you work from home and you are working in the UK Energy industry? Take part in a survey!
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the way we live and work. More people than ever before are having to work from home on a regular basis to protect themselves and others from the spread of the virus. This moment in time offers a unique opportunity to explore the experience of working from home and consider how the well-being of people, specifically in terms of flourishing, might be impacted by the use of information and communications technology (ICT).
Susan Brimmer from Aberdeen University is dedicating her PhD research to this and her work would greatly benefit from the input of as many people working in the UK energy industry as possible. So if you are, and you would have normally worked in an office environment before Covid-19, you are invited to participate in this short survey to examine your experience of how, if at all, ICT supports you to flourish while working from home.
Licensing Round for mineral exploration Norway
Against a backdrop of a world-wide growing need for minerals in order to meet demand of the renewable sector, Norway is now getting ready for exploring deep water resources. In March 2019, the Norwegian Parliament passed the Norwegian Law of Seabed Minerals and there is a proposal for a concession round in 2023.
During the upcoming NCS Exploration Strategy Conference next week, a session dedicated to Deep Sea Mining is part of the programme. The session includes 6 talks given by experts in various fields: Rolf-Birger Pedersen, professor at the KG Jebsen Centre for Deep Sea Research at the University of Bergen, Ketil Hokstad, senior researcher in Equinor working with geophysical data analysis, Walter Sognnes, CEO and co-founded of Loke Marine Minerals, Anette Broch Mathisen Tvedt, ADEPTH Minerals, Steinar L. Ellefmo, Associate Professor at the Department of Geoscience and Petroleum, NTNU and Harald Brekke, senior geologist in the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.
Merlin Energy Resources completes landmark project offshore Ireland
Any geoscientist who has worked the Irish offshore basins to date is acutely aware that a standard stratigraphic nomenclature had not been previously available, however, with the completion of a milestone project by Merlin Energy Resources, this identified gap has now been filled. The main project deliverable is a large format illustrative Atlas, which documents new lithostratigraphic, chronostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and sequence stratigraphic frameworks for drilled Phanerozoic section of the Ireland offshore region.
The new stratigraphic framework is summarised in the accompanying chronostratigraphic chart. The Atlas incorporates over 1000 pages of A3 format text, and is copiously illustrated with 444 figures plus 197 well and borehole summary (composite) logs.
Geothermal Association chooses The Hague as new headquarters
The International Geothermal Association (IGA) announced this week that they will transfer their operating headquarter from Bonn, Germany to The Hague, the Netherlands. This is a landmark decision based on the strategic positioning of geothermal energy as a key enabler of the net-zero future energy mix.
The Netherlands has been pioneering geothermal solutions for its greenhouse sector and is setting off to harnessing geothermal heat for smart sustainable cities.
Dr Marit Brommer, the Executive Director of the IGA, is clear on the future of geothermal and The Hague as the new operational headquarter: “In the coming decade we will see the geothermal sector scale up to a mature energy provider that is able to offer a cost-effective, clean, baseload supply to its customers. With the Hague as our new seat, we can unleash the geothermal potential through building a global coalition that will drive the standardisation, investment and sustainability agenda needed for geothermal technologies to be deployed effectively around the globe.”
Multilaterals – a webinar
The FORCE Well Technology and Drilling Group is organising a webinar about multilateral wells on 25th November at 10.00 am CET. Presented by Gorm Liland from Haliburton, an overview of the multilateral history on the NCS, including case stories, as well as technical solutions and new ongoing development projects for future use will be discussed. For more information and registration, you can sign up here.
Have a good weekend,
HENK KOMBRINK
