Prime Newswire: Petroleum Geo-Services ASA -- Long Term Cooperation With METI in Japan.
"Petroleum Geo-Services ASA ... announced today that it has entered into a Heads of Agreement with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) for a long term cooperation agreement, which will include the sale and flag change of the 3D seismic vessel Ramform Victory and the continued provision by PGS of intellectual property and technical and operational services."
Central Peace Signal, Canada: MD 133 owes a thank you to seismic in Greenway.
"I want to thank the seismic crew for plowing my road (Range Road 45). Our road has not been plowed all winter, that was until seismic plowed it last week."
Victoria Times Colonist: DFO pulls plug on seismic testing project.
"DFO guidelines, combined with the Species At Risk Act, mean that driving away humpback whales, fin whales and orcas to ensure they are not in the vicinity of the airguns could be construed as harassment, said Ron Clowes, University of B.C. earth and ocean sciences professor.
"‘One of the things we were going to do was move the whales out of the way. That's standard mitigation procedure all over the world,’ said Clowes, one of 13 principal scientists from six U.S. and two Canadian universities, working on the project.
"The aim of the project is to help explain how the Earth's crust was formed."
Marine Log: Ship Finance in seismic vessel acquisition and leaseback.
"John Fredriksen controlled Ship Finance International Limited has agreed to acquire three newbuilding high capacity 3D vessels, including complete seismic equipment, from Norway's SCAN Geophysical ASA, based on a total price of $ 210 million, or $ 70 million per vessel. The agreement includes a lease-back over 12 years with purchase options after 6, 10 and 12 years."
AP: French oil executive detained, questioned.
"The new CEO of oil giant Total was held for questioning Wednesday in an investigation into the group's activities in Iran, the latest legal challenge for France's biggest company and its embattled chief."
AP: Mexico says oil monopoly struggling.
"‘We should be conscious that this situation cannot go on,’ said Energy Secretary Georgina Kessel, referring to policies that bar Pemex from entering joint ventures and alliances. She said Mexico must seek ‘complementary investment,’ especially in technology and scientific knowledge, in order to develop energy infrastructure projects."
AP: Turkey set to launch tender for offshore exploration.
"Turkey will launch an international tender for undersea oil exploration in the eastern Mediterranean, a senior oil official said yesterday."
The Journal of Turkish Weekly: Turkish Petroleum (TPAO) to open oil exploration tenders for Mediterranean.
"Tenders for oil exploration and seismic studies in the eastern Mediterranean could well upset Greek Cypriots who last month opened a bidding process to license offshore oil and gas exploration in the same region. The exploration sites are likely to overlap, further raising political tensions between Turkey and Greek Cyprus."
Baton Rouge Advocate: Firm pitches seismic surveys to East Baton Rouge.
"‘What have you got to lose?’ Lyle Gremillion asked about 50 people at the Zoar Baptist Church demonstration site on Hooper Road." ...
"After a homeowner gives Seismic Exchange consent to conduct seismic testing, a crew will show up and install temporary vibration-sensitive cables in his yard. The cables are staked in the ground and could stay for about two weeks.
"Then four vibroseis trucks will come to the house, lower their pallets to the street and pulse sound waves for about 10 minutes."
KRISTV Corpus Christi: Seismic crews ruin farming conditions.
"A Nueces County farmer said he's upset because a a seismic company damaged the land on which he farms. He said it'll be impossible for him to produce a cotton crop this year."
Petroleum News: Cussler novel boasts super seismic.
"When a mad descendant of the infamous Genghis Khan ... stumbles upon a 40 billion barrel oil field that also contains 50 trillion cubic feet of gas, all the normal rules of business change and mayhem results.
"In this case the advantages of the super-giant oil field are accentuated by evil use of a seismic wave system that, not only produces perfect images of geological strata, but also can induce earthquakes when the energy source is focused on subsurface fault planes."
Houston Chronicle: Houston's role in energy may not end -- just evolve.
"Halliburton's plan to move its top office to Dubai has touched a nerve in Houston."
NYT: Venezuela to Give Currency New Name and Numbers.
Hugo Faría, an economist at the Institute of Higher
Management Studies --
"Anyone who sees a 12 1/2 cent coin as a remedy for
this country's problems isn't thinking too
clearly."
Kristen Hays, Houston Chronicle: This oil is worth its salt.
> I almost skipped this, but then this quote caught my eye --
"Companies use sophisticated 3-D seismic imaging -- pioneered by Exxon Mobil Corp. -- to gather images of salt, sediment and likely reservoirs of oil."
> In what universe does Exxon get credit for any significant seismic imaging technology? Write me, I'd like some nominations. While we're at it, let's include acquisition technologies.
> Anyway, given that the subject of the article is subsalt imaging, I would particularly have to say that Exxon doesn't have any claims to leadership. I've heard that they have a great internal processing organization, and it's possible they were way ahead of everyone else, but it would be one of those "super double secret" things.
WSJ (subscription): Halliburton Expands Mideast Presence; CEO to Spend More Time in Dubai.
"... North America is a mature oilfield province and most of the industry's growth is occurring elsewhere. Halliburton reported a 40% decline in fourth-quarter net income, with a drop in North American revenue heightening concerns about a slowdown in drilling."
Washington Post: Midwest Has 'Coal Rush,' Seeing No Alternative.
"While lawmakers are drawing up ways to cap and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, the Energy Department says as many as 150 new coal-fired plants could be built by 2030, adding volumes to the nation's emissions of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent of half a dozen greenhouse gases scientists blame for global warming."
Dow Jones Newswires: PdVSA, ConocoPhillips, Chevron Set Transition Team for Orinoco, Corocoro.
"ConocoPhillips and Chevron Corp. have agreed to set up a transition team with Petroleos de Venezuela SA to guarantee stable supply during the transfer of two major projects in the Orinoco tar basin and the Corocoro offshore oil block"
BNamericas: ExxonMobil CEO -- No New Investments in Venezuela.
The Oil Drum: Saudi Arabian oil declines 8% in 2006.
"Overall, I feel this data is clear enough that I'm willing to go out on a limb and conclude ... Saudi Arabian oil production is now in decline."
AP: Schlumberger CEO Paid $22.9M in 2006.
"[Andrew] Gould, 60, saw his salary rise to $2.5 million from $1.5 million a year earlier, but the bulk of his pay package came from stock and option awards that were valued at $15 million on the day they were granted...."
Houston Business Journal: Input/Output reports 'solid year'.
"Input/Output Inc. on Wednesday posted fourth-quarter 2006 net income of $13 million, or 15 cents per diluted share, on revenue of $166.2 million, compared with net income of $15.6 million, or 17 cents per share, on revenue of $131 million for the same period in 2005."
Innovations Report: TU Delft proves that seismic noise measurements work in practice.
"Geophysicists Kees Wapenaar and Evert Slob of TU Delft, and Roel Snieder of the Colorado School of Mines, have recently generalised the underlying theory of seismic interferometry and demonstrated that the seismic noise can now be applied to a much wider scale of physical applications than was previously thought."
Associated Press: Texas oilman Pickens says global oil production at its peak.
"The 78-year-old former wildcatter, who now heads the Dallas-based hedge fund BP Capital, is credited with a history of prescient predictions about the direction of oil markets. His bets have paid off handsomely. BP Capital's returns have exceeded 800 percent since 2001, he said."
Petroleum News: North Slope gas hydrate well hits target.
"A joint government, industry and university team investigating gas hydrate deposits under Alaska's North Slope hit the jackpot in mid-February, when the BP-operated Mount Elbert stratigraphic test well successfully penetrated several hundred feet of hydrate bearing sandstone at Milne Point."
Today's Zaman: Greek Cyprus claims big companies show interest in oil exploration plans.
"Greek Cyprus launched an international licensing round for offshore exploration of oil and gas last week in spite of opposition from Turkey, its northern neighbour which has warned the move could stoke tensions in the region."
Press Release: GXT Delivers First Release of Autobahn.
"... a post-acquisition processing system which is capable of streamlining access to large seismic datasets and automating pre-stack quality control workflows."
I'm about two weeks late on this one --
UPI: Ex-oil minister dis on Iraq oil.
"Former Iraq Oil Minister Issam Al-Chalabi paints a bleak picture for the future of Iraq's oil industry, panning the result of the U.S.-led war, its insistence on passing an oil law, and the situation aboveground hampering development of the resources below it."
