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Page added on March 2, 2014
New Spy Technology to Spawn Oil Revolution
The future of oil exploration lies in new technology–from massive data-processing supercomputers to 4D seismic to early-phase airborne spy technology that can pinpoint prospective reservoirs.
Oil and gas is getting bigger, deeper, faster and more efficient, with new technology chipping away at “peak oil” concerns. Hydraulic fracturing has caught mainstream attention, other high-tech developments in exploration and discovery have kept this ball rolling.
Oil majors are second only to the US Defense Department in terms of the use of supercomputing systems, which find sweet spots for drilling based on analog geology. These supercomputing systems analyze vast amounts of seismic imaging data collected by geologists using sound waves.
What’s changed most recently is the dimension: When the oil and gas industry first caught on to seismic data collection for exploration efforts, the capabilities were limited to 2-dimensional imaging. The next step was 3D, which gives a much more accurate picture of what’s down there.
The latest is the 4th dimension: Time, which allows explorers not only to determine the geological characteristics of a potential play, but also tells them how a reservoir is changing in real time. But all this is very expensive. And oilmen are zealous cost-cutters.
The next step in technology takes us off the ground and airborne—at a much cheaper cost—according to Jen Alic, a global intelligence and energy expert for OP Tactical.
The newest advancement in oil exploration is an early-phase aerial technology that can see what no other technology—including the latest 3D seismic imagery—can see, allowing explorers to pinpoint untapped reservoirs and unlock new profits, cheaper and faster.
“We’ve watched supercomputing and seismic improve for years. Our research into new airborne reservoir-pinpointing technology tells us that this is the next step in improving the bottom line in terms of exploration,” Alic said.
“In particular, we see how explorers could reduce expensive 3D seismic spending because they would have a much smaller area pinpointed for potential. Companies could save tens of millions of dollars.”
The new technology, developed by Calgary’s NXT Energy Solutions, has the ability to pinpoint prospective oil and gas reservoirs and to determine exactly what’s still there from a plane moving at 500 kilometers an hour at an altitude of 3,000 meters.
The Stress Field Detection (SFD) technology uses gravity to gather its oil and gas intelligence—it can tell different frequencies in the gravitational field deep underground.
Just like a stream is deflected by a big rock, SFD detects gravity disturbances due to subsurface stress and density variations. Porous rock filled with fluids has a very different density than surrounding solid rocks. Remember, gravity measurement is based on the density of materials. SFD detects subtle changes in earth’s gravitational field.
According to its developers, the SFD could save oil and gas companies up to 90% of their exploration cost by reducing the time spent searching for a reservoir and drilling into to it to determine whether there’s actually any oil and gas still there.
“Because it’s all done from the air, SFD doesn’t need on-the-ground permitting, and it covers vast acreage very quickly. It tells explorers exactly where to do their very expensive 3D seismic, greatly reducing the time and cost of getting accurate drilling information,” NXT Energy Solutions President and CEO George Liszicasz, told Oilprice.com in a recent interview.
Mexico’s state-owned oil company Pemex has already put the new technology to the test both onshore and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, and was a repeat customer in 2012. They co-authored with NXT a white paper on their initial blind-test used of the survey technology.
At first, management targeted the technology to frontier areas where little seismic or well data existed. As an example, Pacific Rubiales Energy is using SFD technology in Colombia, where the terrain, and environmental concerns, make it difficult to obtain permits and determine where best to drill.
The technology was recently contracted in the United States for unconventional plays as well.
18 Comments on "New Spy Technology to Spawn Oil Revolution"
Davy, Hermann, MO on Sun, 2nd Mar 2014 2:17 pm
The oil industry will need these advances and many others to offset the real danger of an economic and financial system correction, contraction, and or collapse. A correction will translate into lower liquidity and higher interest rates. These adverse conditions will greatly stress the oil industries already difficult capex trends of poor risk and rewards
SilentRunning on Sun, 2nd Mar 2014 2:57 pm
>Oil and gas is getting bigger, deeper, faster and more efficient, with new technology chipping away at “peak oil” concerns.
If oil & gas exploration *IS* getting more efficient, how do these fossil fuel spokesthings explain why it is they are having to spend vastly more on exploration, while finding less and less?
No, everything is moving along exactly as peak-oil theory would explain – we’re having to spend more and more to find less and less. In the near term, we won’t be able to find as much as we need, and the price of oil/gas will explode even beyond its already high levels.
bobinget on Sun, 2nd Mar 2014 3:32 pm
Given that every square meter is being charted, it’s only a matter of time, four, five years, before at least two, perhaps three ‘elephant fields’ are turned up. When this happens, there will be rejoicing across the land.
That’s the ‘good’ news. (apart from climate change repercussions) When every drill-able acre is mapped
and nothing more of commercial value is discovered, what then? Controversy will end over ‘peak oil’ when the last barrel of so called ‘conventional oil’
has been logged.
Even though it’s called a ‘futures market’ i’ll warrant
when the end is in clearly in sight, we will still be enjoying the fruits of some major discovery where
none thought to prospect. Prices will remain stable right up to the end.
rockman on Sun, 2nd Mar 2014 4:17 pm
One more giant load of marketing bullsh*t IMHO. Gravity was the first exploration tech developed about 100 years. Many of the largest Gulf Coast Basin fields were discovered using grav data. And airborne exploration new??? Been going on for more than 30 years all around the globe measuring much more sophisticated parameters than grav. I used airborne magnetic data to high grade seismic shoots in 1986…28 years ago. Heck…we were using Satelite images for exploration 30 years.
But heck: don’t take my word on it. Go buy stock in this company deploying all this “new” tech. Surely big profits ahead. LOL
peakyeast on Sun, 2nd Mar 2014 5:45 pm
Perhaps the difference from older tech lies in the sensitivity and improved analysis?
action on Sun, 2nd Mar 2014 8:06 pm
The more efficient the process becomes, the faster the resource will be extracted, speeding up depletion. If this is indeed new and groundbreaking (an anti-pun) then it heralds nothing more than another sign pointing towards the end, of civilization, and the speed limit keeps increasing.
Nony on Sun, 2nd Mar 2014 8:35 pm
What do you all think of this company’s product?
http://info.drillinginfo.com/
Newfie on Sun, 2nd Mar 2014 9:24 pm
We will just go over the cliff faster and land harder. ROTFLMAO.
Pops on Sun, 2nd Mar 2014 10:16 pm
I’d say it’s been downhill since the Clampett oilfield discovery and development rig hit it’s last payday.
What would make you feel better, “up through the ground comes a bubblin’ crude” or billions in supercomputer time to find hardly enough grease to stain your Sunday shirt – and it 50 miles out and 5 miles down?
LOL, the point of peak oil is the easy half has been produced and the hard half is what’s left, they better get to finding it.
rockman on Sun, 2nd Mar 2014 10:30 pm
Pesky – Exactly. The “new” tech is magnitudes much more sensitive. And has been for at least 20 years. If interested search “exploration micromagnetics” and the same for microgravity. The equipment they are flying today is the same as two decades ago. In the oil patch we call it “black box exploration”. And have for more then 30 years. A host of other systems: radiometrics and electrotelurics (Petrosonde…one of personal favorites).
To grasp the entire (and old) concept search “hydrocarbon geochemical chimney”. You can also dig thru “soil geochemical exploration”. This is very well established branch of exploration tech…and has been for decades. They even have their own publication societies.
rockman on Sun, 2nd Mar 2014 10:38 pm
Damn auto complete peaky not pesky. LOL. BTW I’m probably one of the more knowledgable Gulf Coast geologists in this field. Not that I’m that much smarter but this tech isn’t as useful in this area the elsewhere on the planet. But I did run airborne micromagnetics almost 30 years ago in Texas. The very same equipment is still operational today. I should also point out that a big red light doesn’t start flashing when you fly over a new field. The data becomes the basis for complex modeling. Get the model wrong and you end up with a pile of very expensive toilet paper.
Newfie on Mon, 3rd Mar 2014 12:29 am
Improved exploration technology means we can plunder the resource faster. And the faster we get it out the ground, the quicker it’s gone. Peak oil will only be delayed.
Nony on Mon, 3rd Mar 2014 1:12 am
You didn’t answer my question on the analytics suite. Is it good tool? Is it valuable to make things more user friendly and bring analytics in house?
rockman on Mon, 3rd Mar 2014 1:40 am
Nony – Sorry…didn’t see your question. It showed up in very tiny text.
Great technology: gravity survey. No more – no less. Using it the same way it’s been used for decades. And if you read THEIR report closely you’ll see that they don’t claim to be able to find trapped hydrocarbons but they produce maps showing potential trapping features. Whether they contain oil/NG is beyond their capability… which they indirectly admit.
It was very useful in the area they discuss because there was virtually no other data. And they clearly imply that you don’t drill wells based on their data. You use it to high grade the much more expensive seismic aquisition required to drill on. Which has been the primary use for grav and mag data for more than half a century.
I’m not saying their data wouldn’t be useful in such remote unexplored areas. But it neither new nor will it prove or disprove hydrocarbons in an area. Just one more use but crude tech…as it has been for a long time
Keith_McClary on Mon, 3rd Mar 2014 3:50 am
From the nxtenergy.com site:
“SFD®’s sensitivity to perturbations is accomplished by a proprietary approach which utilizes wave-particle duality of matter based on the De Broglie-Bohm interpretation of quantum mechanics.”
:>)
rockman on Mon, 3rd Mar 2014 4:02 am
Yep… good ole gravity. Wish I had invented it. LOL.
Aside from the valid application of a parameter developed about 100 years let me point out for those that didn’t read the fine print: this amalgamation of hyped verbiage was put out by the stock market. You know…the folks who make a living talking folks into trading stock.
Again the highlight nothing that isn’t true: 3d seismic, super computers, arborn exploration recon, etc. All valid. And been valid for decades during which time all has been heavy applied in every hydrocarbon bearing basin in the world. And has been responsible for much of our current production. In essence they are pushing optimism based on the future use of tech that we’ve been using for a long time already.
And we’ll certainly continue using all this tech because it’s all we have left to find what we’ve missed.
Nony on Mon, 3rd Mar 2014 4:13 pm
@Rock:
I don’t think Drilling Info suite has much to do with gravity or magnetic data. If you read the website, they talk about a lot of different products (and they bought a seismic software company). Just tools for analysis and display. I think mostly it’s about mapping data from well logs.
I don’t think they have any secret algorithm, nor do they claim to have one. They’re just selling the ability to do things a little easier, little faster, little more intuitively. Like CAD versus hand drafting.
http://info.drillinginfo.com/well-interpretation-structural-stratigraphic/
rockman on Mon, 3rd Mar 2014 5:34 pm
Nony – I agree. Nothing to say negative about that company… Just one more vendor peddling his wares. It was the tone of the article I didn’t care much for.