2007.11.28

Energy Current: CGGVeritas undertakes wide azimuth program.

"The Garden Banks survey will be the largest wide-azimuth data library survey in the world, extending over 600 Outer Continental Shelf blocks in the Garden Banks, Keathley Canyon and East Breaks areas. The survey will be acquired concurrently with the wide-azimuth survey in progress in the Walker Ridge area that is expected to be finished early next year."

Reuters: CGGVeritas doubles Q3 net, sees robust market ahead.

"The group, born from the merger of Compagnie Generale de Geophysique and Texas-based Veritas, also said the seismic market should remain robust."

Motley Fool: Oh, Say Can You CGG?

"... CGG simply failed to meet expectations, particularly with regard to the profitability of its new push into wide-azimuth surveys." ...

"...given this data's high quality, I'm sure it will be of economic value far beyond what accounting conventions might dictate."

Reuters: Schlumberger has 41 pct in Eastern Echo after bid.

Reuters: Schlumberger ups Eastern Echo bid to NOK 15/share.

"Schlumberger said it controlled 55.6 percent of all outstanding shares in Eastern Echo on a fully diluted basis, including holdings in convertible bonds."

Thomson Financial: CGG Veritas to sell 12.7 pct stake in Eastern Echo to Schlumberger.

Press Release: TGS secures $40 million commitment for first wide-azimuth survey.

"The initial program, referred to as ‘mcWAZ Phase 1’ will cover approximately 650 OCS blocks in the Mississippi Canyon and Atwater Valley areas of the Gulf of Mexico."

Reuters: Wavefield asks shareholders to delay TGS merger.

Reuters: TGS says no legal basis for Wavefield merger delay.

AFX News: Fugro ups FY net profit outlook to 210 mln eur; sees acquisitions in near future.

"Sales are being driven by 20 pct organic growth and an increase of 8 pct through acquisitions, offset by a negative 3 pct currency effect due primarily to the lower US dollar."

Thomson Financial: Exxon Mobil signs exploration agreement with Libya.

"The agreement includes ... about 2.5 million acres ... situated in water depths ranging from 5,400 feet to more than 8,700 feet, located roughly 110 miles off the Libyan coast. [I]ts ExxonMobil Libya Ltd. subsidiary committed to a five-year work program consisting of at least 4,000 kilometers of 2D seismic acquisition, 2,000 square-kilometers of 3D seismic, and one deepwater exploration well."

2007.11.20

PR Newswire: ION Reports Strong Third Quarter 2007 Results.

"Revenues increased 58% to $173.6 million from the third quarter of 2006, with ION Systems sales increasing 64% to $127.1 million. The increased revenues were the result of strong sales in all of our segments, including the Land Imaging Systems, Marine Imaging Systems and Data Management Solutions businesses." ...

"The ION Solutions division, which includes GXT, generated $46.5 million compared to $32.4 million in the same period a year ago. The 44% increase in revenues was mainly driven by increased multi-client seismic library sales."

Reuters: Wavefield says no threat to TGS merger -- for now.

"The $1.2 billion merger between Norwegian seismic surveyors TGS-Nopec and Wavefield Inseis is not under threat ‘for now’, even though a row over TGS's profit warning created some mistrust, Wavefield's chief executive said."

Reuters: Wavefield shareholder seeks TGS merger delay.

"The shareholder, London-based fund Audley Capital, said TGS probably knew it had missed market estimates of third-quarter earnings at the time Wavefield shareholders voted for the merger in September, unaware a profit warning was around the corner."

Reuters: Dawson Geophysical Q4 profit up, beats Street view.

Oil Marketer: PGS acquires Arrow Seismic ASA.

CBC News: Seismic research vessel plumbs new depths.

"The 72-metre Marcus G. Langseth will transmit sound pulses through the sea bottom and read the return signals with hydrophones streaming up to eight kilometres behind the vessel, Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory said in a release Monday."

2007.11.09

Associated Press: Oil discovery rocks Brazil.

"The government-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, said the new "ultra-deep" Tupi field could hold as much as 8 billion barrels of recoverable light crude ... -- equivalent to 40 percent of all the oil ever discovered in Brazil." ...

"The Tupi field lies under 2,140 meters (7,060 feet) of water, more than 3,000 meters (almost 10,000 feet) of sand and rocks, and then another 2,000-meter (6,600-foot) thick layer of salt. The company drilled test wells that lie under 2,166 meters (7,100 feet) of water, 286 kilometers (177 miles) south of Rio de Janeiro."

2007.11.06

Associated Press: Supply fears, attacks send oil past $97.

"On Tuesday, the EIA predicted oil consumption will rise in the fourth quarter and next year despite higher prices, and that inventories will fall. ‘Strong demand, limited surplus capacity, falling inventories and geopolitical concerns continue to weigh on the market,’ the EIA said in its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook."

"Crude prices are within the range of inflation-adjusted highs set in early 1980. Depending on the how the adjustment is calculated, $38 a barrel then would be worth $96 to $103 or more today."

AP: PetroChina 1st Firm Worth $1 Trillion.

"PetroChina became the world's first company worth more than $1 trillion on Monday, surging past Exxon Mobil as the Chinese oil producer's shares nearly tripled in their first day of trading in China." ...

"PetroChina's status as the world's most highly valued company by market capitalization thus does not necessarily reflect stronger profitability or productivity than its rivals."

Houston Chronicle: Plains-Pogo merger complete after shareholder vote.

"Plains announced in July that it would buy Pogo in a $3.6 billion cash-and-stock deal."

Press Release: Schlumberger Acquires Exclusive Development and Distribution Rights to ThinAnywhere for Oil & Gas Sector.

"The agreement grants Schlumberger the exclusive right to develop new applications based on the ThinAnywhere technology in the oil and gas sector."

2007.11.02

WSJ (subscription): Big Oil's Profits May Have Peaked.

"‘The secret ingredient of record profits was refining, and that's gone away,’ said Paul Sankey, an analyst at Deutsche Bank. ‘We've entered a phase where the higher the crude price, the lower the refining margin.’" ...

"Perhaps the most challenging factor is that operating expenses are rising faster than the price of oil. Exxon's third-quarter revenue rose 2.8% from a year earlier to a record $102.34 billion, but its costs rose 5.1% to $85.58 billion."

Houston Chronicle: Court ruling could save oil firms billions.

"To encourage production in the deeper waters of the Gulf, lawmakers agreed to waive royalty payments for oil and gas produced in deepwater tracks leased between 1996 and 2000 until an operator had produced a specified volume of oil or gas.... The Minerals Management Service [last year] asserted that it had the authority to assess royalties if oil and gas prices climbed to certain price thresholds."