Shearwater Geoservices has announced three more geoscience technology collaborations to develop seismic data.
Shearwater Geoservices has announced three more geoscience technology collaborations to develop seismic data.
First it has signed a technology sale and transfer agreement with ConocoPhillips, involving seismic imaging technology that will be implemented in Shearwater’s Reveal software.
Second, Shearwater GeoServices and Equinor are extending their technology collaboration to include Var Energi and Lundin Energy. The project aims at commercialising a sustainable marine vibratory source technology to minimize environmental footprint and enhance data quality from seismic data acquisition.
Third, Shearwater has struck an agreement with Petrobras, under which the Brazilian energy giant will license its Reveal geophysical software.
As part of the first agreement, Shearwater will incorporate ConocoPhillips’ Compressive Seismic Imaging, and other imaging-related algorithms into Reveal. CSI enables geoscientists to reconstruct more accurate and higher-quality seismic images with less data, and has enabled ConocoPhillips to improve decision quality, reduce cost and improve efficiency when exploring new areas.
Simon Telfer, SVP seismic processing and imaging at Shearwater, said: ‘Partnering with clients on technology is a key element of our strategy, enabling them to increase value-add from their core activities by leveraging the Reveal seismic platform.’
As part of the collaboration, ConocoPhillips will use Shearwater’s Reveal seismic processing and imaging software while Shearwater has committed to supporting future development and use of the CSI technology, and to provide ConocoPhillips with potential future seismic acquisition design and imaging services. The agreement also involves high-performance computing infrastructure with more than 4500 compute nodes and 50 Petabytes of storage, which will be deployed throughout Shearwater’s seismic acquisition fleet.
CSI uses algorithms to optimize the process of selecting nonuniform data collection points instead of the traditional method of using uniform sampling, which involves collecting data on a regular grid. It enables geoscientists to reconstruct higher-quality, more-accurate images with less data.
Shearwater Reveal provides time and depth processing and imaging for both land and marine environments from within a single user interface. Shearwater uses Reveal internally for all processing projects, ensuring continuous development. The software is licensed to oil and gas companies, contractors, consultants and is used by academia for both teaching and research.
Meanwhile, Shearwater GeoServices and Equinor are extending their technology collaboration to include Var Energi and Lundin Energy. The marine vibratory source project builds on the existing technology cooperation between Shearwater, Equinor and the Norwegian Research Council. Vår Energi and Lundin will add funding the multi-year development.
‘The joint ambition is to acquire better-quality seismic data, faster and with low sound energy by harvesting the untapped potential of marine vibratory sources,’ said Massimo Virgilio, CTO of Shearwater GeoServices. ‘We are investing in this technology as a solution for the energy transition enabling monitoring of carbon storage and efficient exploration and production of energy.’
Geophysical subsurface imaging uses sound energy to generate reflections from geological formations below the ocean floor. By selecting only the necessary sound frequencies and emitting gradually over time and space, marine vibroseis potentially allows optimal signal strength and direction towards subsurface targets, enabling surveys to be shortened in duration and with low sound emissions.
This technology allows tuning of the signal direction and also the combination of several vibroseis sources to reduce the time a survey takes to acquire, ‘in other words, acquiring a seismic survey faster and more efficiently.’ said Shearwater. The new source may also be used in environmentally restricted areas, where the reduced sound emission levels are favoured.’
Nick Ashton, Equinor VP subsurface solutions technology development, said: ‘Equinor has supported this development for several years already, as we believe this new source technology has potential to reduce the environmental impact of marine seismic surveys further and to increase survey efficiency. With better control of the frequency, phase and amplitude of the emitted signal, the new source should also provide an improvement in data quality.’
R&D manager Gjertrud Halset at Vår Energi said: ‘This project fits our R&D strategy and falls into the top-priority technology gaps and challenges we have identified. Replacing traditional technology would revolutionize the seismic survey process and strengthen our sustainability performance.’
Finally, Shearwater has announced a big licensing contract for its Reveal geophysical software with Petrobras. The agreement includes the provision of associated training and support services.
Petrobras’ geophysical processing team will have access to a range of geophysical processing tools, including time, depth, multicomponent, time-lapse 4D processing and advanced imaging offered by Reveal software.
