Offshore staff
LONDON – The Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) has awarded more than £0.2 million ($0.26 million) in grants under the final stage of its exploration license competition.
This was launched earlier in 2016 to help stimulate interest in offshore oil and gas exploration activity across theUnited Kingdom continental shelf (UKCS).
Australian geoscience company Frogtech, earth sciences consultancy Geoscience Wales, and Geop4ysics will complete their interpretations and products using data from last year’sUK government-funded £20-million ($25.8-million) seismic survey over the Rockall Trough and Mid-North Sea High (MNSH) areas.
Canberra-based Frogtech will use its SEEBASE (Structurally Enhanced view of Economic BASEment) software to produce a hand-contoured, depth-to-basement model of the Rockall and MNSH areas.
This, OGA said, should provide greater insight into the foundation of the geological basement, rather than relying on more traditional gravity inversion methods.
Additional deliverables are the interpretation of basement terranes, major structures and basement-derived heat flow.
Six associates of Geoscience Wales worked on the MNSH area throughout their careers. Their main goal is to document the potential effective petroleum systems present within the area, with a focus on source rock geochemistry and basin modeling.
Kinga Wroblewska, owner of Geop4ysics, established the company in March after spending more than 17 years working for various oil and gas service companies in the geosciences industry.
The company will integrate rock physics into the overall interpretation of the MNSH data set, aims being to identify lithological variations and use these to help define the extent of both potential and known reservoir units.
Gunther Newcombe, OGA Exploration, Production and Decommissioning Director, said: “All the projects submitted will provide greater insight into our understanding of the Rockall Trough and Mid-North Sea High areas, while adding value to our evaluation of 29th Offshore Licensing Round applications.”
The OGA’s exploration licence competition launched in March 2016 and attracted more than 60 applications from the UK, Canada, USA, Australia, and Europe. It was designed to encourage geoscientists to develop innovative interpretations and products using the data acquired from the Rockall Trough and MNSH areas and to increase the understanding of these frontier areas ahead of the29th Seaward Licensing Round which opened last month.
08/15/2016
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