Replies to post #173601 on ERHC Energy Inc (ERHE)

[Stay the Course]

Certainly Petrobras have had the most success in subsalt drilling and so have to be a leader in it, but here in GoM the BP operated Kaskida discovery in 2006 is a big one and there have been other wells drilled in the subsalt in GoM by other US operators.

Operators are getting better at seeing what may be there below the salt. But it is difficult and expensive to drill in adddition to the technical challenges, particularly so in US, e.g. $200+million/well in GoM.

This salt thing is serious, can mean drilling through a mile or two or more of it and the biggest and best rigs can barely just do it in GoM! Then if a discovery, high pressures and rocks that have no history of production.

So it can quite changes the risk/return economic equation in planning field developments and financially.

I don't know anything about presalt prosectivity of EEZ but if this is something being looked at in Angola, obviously needs consideration up the coast.

[old man]

Petemantx – I believe you’re thinking of spp119’s post 150388, 29 Jan. Applicable excerpt is below. He also has mentioned a 4th generation seismic called Kaleidoscope. Here’s one article on it.
John


c) There is also a very new hardware/software application (whose name escapes me having misfiled the reference), which performs actual deepwater drilling remotely…thus perhaps even removing the need for a drillship altogether. This (exciting) innovation is of Spanish design and construction, is way past the “proof of concept” stage and I believe Repsol, the Spanish NOC, is going to actually use it shortly in exploring one of their offshore field properties.

Repsol YPF'S 'Kaleidoscope' Seismic Imaging Project Named A 2008 Technology Winner By 'IEEE Spectrum'
January 7, 2008
Houston, TX - Repsol YPF, a globally integrated energy company based in Spain, was recently honored as a 2008 technology "winner" by the editors of IEEE Spectrum, the trade publication of IEEE, the world's largest organization of technology and business leaders, for Repsol YPF's Kaleidoscope Project.
The Kaleidoscope Project -- a partnership of top geophysicists, computer scientists and organizations from around the world -- has developed advanced computerized techniques that usher in the next generation of seismic imaging technology used for oil and gas exploration. The new technology reveals oil and gas deposits buried deep in the earth efficiently and cost-effectively that had been invisible to traditional imaging techniques.
Credited with "solving the oil equation" in IEEE Spectrum's January 2008 issue, the Kaleidoscope Project makes possible the full realization of the next generation seismic imaging technology, including a specialized technique called Reverse Time Migration (RTM), that will accelerate and streamline oil and gas exploration compared to current industry standards. This technology will significantly reduce exploration risks within a context where a hit-or- miss drilling test can cost over $150 million.
"We are advancing seismic imaging by moving from a science of 'approximations' due to lack of computer power to one of more precise algorithms tailored to a new generation of processors," said Francisco Ortigosa, Repsol YPF's chief geophysicist and project leader. "To achieve our scientific and business goals for the Kaleidoscope Project, we have assembled a premier dream team of professionals from industry, government and academia. We are excited and proud to raise the industry standard in seismic exploration and to be recognized for our work by the distinguished editors at IEEE and IEEE Spectrum."
Repsol plans to use the new seismic technology to locate hydrocarbons and oil reserves buried some 30,000 feet (10,000 feet of water and then 20,000 more feet of seabed) from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico's surface. The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service estimates that the Gulf of Mexico holds approximately 56 billion barrels of oil equivalent (oil and natural gas), which, at $90/barrel, would be worth nearly $5T and meet the entire U.S. demand for oil and gas for about five years.
These oil reserves are very difficult to find and reach due to the extreme depths of the "ultradeep water," as it is known in the oil industry, as well as thick layers of salt that preclude the visualization of oil-bearing sands underneath using only current seismic imaging technology. Ultradeep water represents the new frontier in petroleum exploration, and the Kaleidoscope Project's technological advances in earth imaging provide an opportunity to penetrate that frontier, yielding strong competitive advantages.
The Kaleidoscope Project uses new models, algorithms and one of the world's most powerful supercomputers, called the MareNostrum, operated by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) and equipped with IBM's processors and supercomputing architecture. In addition to utilizing this state-of-the art research facility, Repsol has successfully collaborated with some of the world's most experienced technology partners, including 3DGeo, a Houston-based imaging company formed by Stanford University professor and seismic imaging pioneer, Biondo Biondi, and Stanford University's Stanford Exploration Project (SEP), a leading industry-funded academic consortium, whose purpose is to improve the theory and practice of constructing 3-D and 4-D images of the earth from seismic echo soundings.
For a complete description of the Kaleidoscope Project -- including its scientific and business impacts -- please read IEEE Spectrum's article, "Solving the Oil Equation," in its January issue or on its Web site at: http://spectrum.ieee.org/jan08/5809.
More information about the Kaleidoscope Project itself, please visit www.KaleidoscopeProject.info.
SOURCE: Repsol YPF