Archive for February, 2010
Merrick Systems Launches Hosted Production Technology Solution
Houston-based Merrick Systems announced the launch of its Software as a Service (SaaS) technology solution, based on the company’s Production software suite. With this service, Merrick allows companies to host their choice of Merrick’s production software package – Field, Operations or Enterprise – on its secure online environment. Merrick’s production software packages include field data capture for volumes, inspection and maintenance, production operations, hydrocarbon accounting, regulatory filings and Web-based management reporting.
“Merrick has been informally supporting clients who lack the necessary IT resources with hosting services for several years,” stated Clara Fuge, VP Production, Merrick Systems. “Responding to the growing demand for our hosted services, we recently invested in expanding our infrastructure to serve a larger market and assembled a team that is highly experienced in running data centers for the oil and gas industry and hosting software solutions for a large number of clients. To help companies choose only the features they need for their business, we also repackaged our software offerings. Of course, our hosting services are backed by Merrick’s Support and Consulting Team that has worked on implementing, training and integrating our software in our existing clients business for over 15 years.
“Working alongside our clients, Merrick’s Infrastructure Team works to set up the hardware and communications, manage the maintenance and upgrades of the hosting servers, conduct necessary system software maintenance and monitor overall system health. We also assist with routine tasks, such as adding new users, resetting passwords, ensuring weekend connectivity support and monitoring response time. Moreover, with our hosted service, clients always have access to Merrick’s latest software,” Fuge added.
“Merrick’s hosted solution can yield significant increases to our clients’ bottom lines and amplify the economic appeal of our production technology to a greater segment of the oil and gas market. The flexibility to choose between licensing and hosted services helps our clients optimize the application of their strategic resources without compromising the quality and efficiency of their operations – an imperative benefit in today’s volatile economy,” said Samina Farid, Merrick’s co-founder and CFO.
Fugro-Jason Releases Latest Geologic Modeling Software
Fugro-Jason announced EarthModel FT 4.1, the latest version of its geologic modeling software, which completed the transition its acquired FastTracker technology into the Jason Geoscience Workbench family of products. EarthModel FT 4.1 is built upon the UpdateAbilityTM and TrackAbilityTM capabilities that allow geomodelers to update their subsurface models quickly to keep pace with the changing understanding provided by new wells, production information, etc. Fugro-Jason is a leader in reservoir characterization technology for the oil and gas industry.
“Fugro-Jason acquired Volumetrix and their product Volumetrix FastTracker in 2003, and the stratigraphic grid building and deterministic model building capabilities were incorporated into the Jason Geoscience Workbench (JGW) as EarthModel FT for Low Frequency Modeling,” said Joe Jacquot, Strategic Marketing Manager for Fugro-Jason. “Now the stochastic modeling and upscaling capabilities are being released within the JGW environment as additional modules in the EarthModel FT 4.1 release. The entire geologic modeling product line is now called EarthModel FT Geologic Modeling Software.”
“Fugro-Jason is a leader in seismic-to-simulation technology,” said Eric Adams, Fugro-Jason Managing Director. “The stochastic modeling and upscaling capabilities added to EarthModel FT 4.1 streamline the link from Petrophysics – Rock Physics to Rock Properties from Seismic into dynamic reservoir simulation models, increasing our customers’ ability to build accurate reservoir models that yield accurate production forecasts.”
EarthModel FT 4.1 Geologic Modeling Software will be available as a standalone system beginning March 8, 2010, and as additional modules in the Jason Geoscience Workbench in the third quarter of 2010.
PEMEX Awards Seismic Data Processing Contract to GX Technology
ION Geophysical Corp. announced that its seismic imaging subsidiary, GX Technology (GXT), has been awarded a multi-year contract with Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), the national oil company of Mexico. Under this contract, GXT will be delivering a broad range of seismic data processing and imaging services for multiple offshore and onshore projects during the next three years. To execute the work, GXT has established a local presence in Villahermosa, Mexico, where PEMEX’s exploration headquarters are located.
GXT will utilize its proprietary imaging technologies to process and interpret seismic data acquired on behalf of PEMEX, including in deepwater regions of the Gulf of Mexico, in highly complex subsalt areas, and in various onshore regions throughout Mexico. The scope of services includes velocity model building and pre-stack depth migration (PreSDM) using both beam migration and reverse time migration (RTM) techniques. By establishing a presence in Villahermosa, GXT professionals will be able to collaborate closely with their PEMEX counterparts on a daily basis in order to accelerate the interpretation of the imaging results and to identify new exploration and development drilling targets rapidly.
Jose Antonio Escalera, Sub-Director of Exploration Technology at PEMEX, commented: “PEMEX will be investing heavily in hydrocarbon exploration and development in the years ahead. Much of this investment will be directed at E&P projects in which the targets are located in complex geologic regimes, including in fractured carbonate and deepwater subsalt reservoirs. Processing these datasets requires the most advanced imaging techniques. GXT is well suited to help us address these challenges and have demonstrated their ability to deliver superior images within our required timeframes.”
Subsea UK, OPITO Team Up for Subsea e-Learning Modules
Alistair Birnie, chief executive of SubsSubsea UK, and OPITO, The Oil & Gas Academy are working together to develop a series of subsea modules within the Academy’s successful Petroleum Open Learning (POL) program.
A flexible self-learning tool aimed at increasing technical knowledge, POL allows learners to take responsibility for their own training and study at their own pace. Learners complete a set of program modules, eventually gaining a recognized National Certificate accredited by City & Guilds. Employers benefit by being able to develop the capabilities of their current and future workforces easily.
The new subsea modules are targeted at a wide audience that includes technicians and engineers. The curriculum will focus on subsea controls, valves and process components, subsea hardware, pipelines, flexible pipelines, risers and umbilicals, ROV systems, subsea operations and subsea intervention operations. The six-module course will be completed by spring 2011.
“The UK Subsea sector has a dominant position in a global market, having strong connections with major projects ongoing all over the world,” said Birnie. “To retain this position and beat off worldwide competition, we must keep investing in people and in developing new capabilities to ensure we maintain our key differentiators. This partnership with the Academy and its POL program offers a significant step towards that goal.”
David Doig, CEO of OPITO Group, said: “Developing and nurturing skills of the oil and gas employees will not only serve to enhance the industry but also extend the timeframe of activity in the North Sea. It’s vital the industry invests in the skills of our existing workforce to allow them to reach their personal potential, but also to ensure we have a flexible and accessible route into the energy sector for the next generation.”
Knowledge Reservoir Releases Deepwater GOM Knowledge Base 2010
Knowledge Reservoir announced the 2010 release of its deepwater knowledge base, ReservoirKB. This release features significant improvements in both application design and content, now covering:
- More than 290 fields (~100 additional)
- More than 900 reservoirs (~250 additional)
- More than 1,240 wells (~200 additional)
Not only does this update make ReservoirKB the most comprehensive knowledge base on the market, the improvements to the application make it the most capable knowledge base on the market. This update features:
- a completely redesigned user interface;
- new user-defined tables;
- new user-defined charts;
- new user-defined statistics; and
- GIS map navigation.
ReservoirKB currently represents the most comprehensive knowledge base directed towards exploration and appraisal geoscientists and engineers in the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico region. It provides coverage of all deepwater productive sands discovered, constituting reservoirs currently either in production or sanctioned for development. Additionally, the service provides continually updated reservoir performance metrics, analogs, lessons learned and regional knowledge not available from any other single source. The knowledge base provides a unique combination of reservoir engineering data, geological description, production data analysis and regional knowledge.
Dr. Ivor Ellul, President and CEO of Knowledge Reservoir, stated: “ReservoirKB was developed in response to operators’ needs for a knowledge base of deepwater data to evaluate projects, assess risks and measure them against other opportunities in their portfolios. Our clients find it an invaluable resource when researching analog fields, as reservoir assessment and benchmarking are at the heart of good appraisal and sanction decisions. We are very excited with the new interface and user-defined reporting options, which we are confident our users will find a strong enhancement on the utility of the service.”
PGS Chooses CyrusOne as Data Center Provider
Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) will occupy a 10,000 sq ft data hall in CyrusOne’s newest co-located data center located in West Houston. PGS will co-locate high-density, mission-critical data and applications servers to support exploration projects and operations worldwide.
These data processing systems and applications support several critical functions at PGS, including large-scale seismic data processing, complex reservoir analysis and interpretation and electromagnetic services. PGS desired a data center solution that could provide a secure, scalable, high-density environment for the enormous amounts of vital data needed to sustain the success of its business. PGS also wanted a colocation provider that matched its commitment to minimizing environmental impact related to data center infrastructure and power consumption.
This data hall represents PGS’ largest and most robust data center environment in North America, with 10,000 sq ft of high-powered servers to render maximum application reliability and security.
Software Toolbox Snags “Readers’ Choice” Award
Software Toolbox® has been selected for a “2010 Control Readers’ Choice” award from Control magazine. Readers honored Software Toolbox in the “OPC Connectivity Software” section, a new category for this year’s awards.
“Being selected by Control readers validates the successful strategy of Software Toolbox to deliver software products and technical support that meet the specific needs of engineers in the field,” said John Weber, president of Software Toolbox. “OPC technology was created to provide open interoperability, compatibility and connectivity between multiple systems and applications. The use of OPC standards ensures successful real-time data connectivity and continues to be top-of-mind for engineers in the plant today.”
Software Toolbox has 14 years of expertise with OPC and is a charter member of the OPC Foundation. The company has been an active participant in OPC interoperability testing for 10 years, and involved in supporting the OPC UA standards, compliance and marketing teams. The OPC DataLogger from Software Toolbox was the first OPC DA client application in the world to pass the OPC Foundation’s rigorous independent lab compliance certification tests. The company offers OPC servers, OPC application tools, OPC development tools and OPC consulting.
The “Readers’ Choice” award from Control magazine ranks the opinions of process control professionals assessing the industry’s best technology offerings. More than 1,000 readers were asked to select technologies that have best met their needs in manufacturing and industrial process industries.
Palantir, Fekete Form Software Alliance
Palantir Solutions announced an alliance with Fekete Associates Inc., which provides reservoir engineering software and services to producing companies worldwide. Fekete’s F.A.S.T. Harmony™ is being integrated with Palantir Solutions’ planning tool PalantirCASH. The production forecasts flow directly into Palantir’s cashflow and portfolio models to create a seamless link between technical analysis, economic, financial and portfolio planning. The result is an integrated planning system that is efficient, responsive and dynamic. Changes in the technical or commercial environment can be modeled and updated on the fly as new business opportunities arise.
PalantirCASH is an economic evaluation system for doing accurate and reliable economic analyses in a secure and standardized manner. It allows planning teams and asset managers to access rapid economic valuations of global portfolios to enhance decision making.
F.A.S.T. Harmony is the core component to Fekete’s reserves evaluation and production analysis software toolkit. It brings together all of the accepted methods of evaluating reserves and forecasting production plus advanced methods for unconventional reservoirs.
Jason Ambrose, CEO and co-founder of Palantir Solutions, commented: “The synergy of integrating Fekete’s reservoir management and Palantir Solution’s economic planning brings a nose-to-tail production data analysis and reserves evaluation toolkit. Oil and gas companies with access to this rapid and accurate analysis will be at a natural competitive advantage.”
Kevin Dunn, Fekete’s VP of Software Business Development, added: “Fekete and Palantir Solutions are working with many progressive producers who want the efficiency and reliability that this solution will provide. The first implementations of these tools will give early adopters a competitive edge in the market.”
SINI Selects Intergraph SmartPlant for its Oil and Gas Projects
Siirtec NIGI SpA (SINI), an engineering and contracting company, has selected Intergraph® SmartPlant® Enterprise and related process and engineering schematics tools for its oil and gas projects. For 60 years, SINI has provided basic and front-end design, engineering, procurement and construction services for process plants and equipment. Its production spans across a wide range of process units including oil and gas field treatment and production as well as acid gas treatment units.
Intergraph’s SmartPlant Enterprise is an integrated solutions suite that provides full design, construction, materials and engineering data management capabilities needed for the creation, safe operation and maintenance, and capital Project Life Cycle Management (cPLM) of large-scale process, power, marine and offshore projects. The software’s life cycle data management also enables a smoother handover for EPCs to owner operators and for owner operators to more easily maintain, refurbish or modify their plants.
SINI launched its ambitious engineering integration project two years ago by selecting Intergraph SmartPlant Foundation, 3D, P&ID and Instrumentation as its cornerstone to support all plant engineering and design work processes. As a result, a new IT backbone has been created, integrating Intergraph design, data, and document management solutions with other third-party systems.
Eascon SpA, a process engineering IT consulting company, played an important role in the implementation of the project. Its strong expertise in integrating process control systems, work process re-engineering, Oracle solutions and change management was key to the integration success.
“Intergraph integrated solutions reflect and support our work processes. SmartPlant Enterprise allowed us to make the leap to state-of-the-art technology and enabled a significant improvement in our performance,” said Adalberto Bestetti, SINI president. “Special thanks to both Intergraph and Eascon who worked hard to achieve this project.”
“SINI has been running its process technology business successfully for a long time, and we are proud that they recognize the performance gains of our next-generation enterprise solutions. We are glad to partner with such a company,” said Gerhard Sallinger, Intergraph Process, Power & Marine president.
HP, Shell to Develop Wireless Onshore Seismic Technology
At International Petroleum Week 2010, HP and Shell announced a collaboration to develop a wireless sensing system to acquire extremely high-resolution seismic data on land. By delivering a much higher channel count and a broader sensor frequency range than are currently available, the new system promises to vastly improve the quality of seismic data.
HP and Shell will use their complementary knowledge and experience to produce a groundbreaking solution to sense, collect and store geophysical data. The system is designed to integrate seamlessly with Shell’s high-performance computing (HPC) and seismic imaging environment and to be deployed safely and more cost-effectively than current systems.
“We think this will represent a leap forward in seismic data quality that will provide Shell with a competitive advantage in exploring difficult oil and gas reservoirs, such as subsalt plays in the Middle East or unconventional gas in North America,” said Gerald Schotman, Exec. VP, Innovation/Research and Development, Shell. “As a result of this exciting collaboration, we expect to fully realize the potential of Shell’s processing and imaging technology on land.”
The new system reflects the breadth of HP’s portfolio. It will be delivered by HP Enterprise Services and includes a recent breakthrough in high-performance sensing technology from HP Labs (the company’s central research arm) and the company’s Imaging and Printing Group. Additionally, the system uses HP ProCurve networking products along with HP storage, computation and software products.
“These advances in technology to discover energy resources could transform the ability to pinpoint abundant new oil and gas reserves,” said Joe Eazor, Sr. VP and general manager, HP Enterprise Services. “HP is uniquely positioned to offer Shell a complete sensor system that delivers innovation to address key technical seismic challenges.”
This strategic relationship with Shell is a cornerstone in HP’s blueprint for an information ecosystem that empowers people to make better, faster decisions to improve safety, security and environmental sustainability while transforming business economics. Sensing solutions are positioned to provide a new level of awareness through a network of sensors, data storage, and analysis tools that monitor the environment, assets, and health and safety.
PetroComputing 