Latest Oil and Gas News Russia

Integra is one of the world's leading geophysical companies with over 40 crews operating in Russia and Kazakhstan as well as having an international presence. In Russia, the company's subsidiary, Integra Geophysics, is one of the leading companies by volumes acquired and Azimut Energy Services, it's Kazakhstan subsidiary, leads the industry in acquisition volumes. The company has acquired 2D and 3D seismic surveys for all of Russia's leading oil companies (Gazprom, Rosneft, LukOil, TNK-BP etc) and in Russia and Kazakhstan has a growing reputation with international oil companies like ENI, Shell, Chevron and BG after acquiring major 3D surveys over some of the world’s largest oil and gas fields.



Since 2006 Integra has been investing in new equipment and technology to improve health and safety (HSE) and operational performance. The result is that that the company is now equipped with some of the most advanced geophysical equipment available including a fleet of modern ION and Sercel vibrators and recording systems. This allows Integra to compete with some of the world's leading geophysical companies and implement technology routinely used in other areas of the world.

Heli-portable operations
In the summer of 2008 Integra Geophysics conducted a heli-portable seismic operation for TNK-BP in the Uvat region of West Siberia. The objectives of the survey were to improve operational efficiency, reduce the impact of seismic operations on the environment and test the viability of summer operations in areas where winter acquisition is the norm. Helicopter seismic operations are widely used in Canada and the USA to over come logistical challenges in mountainous terrains. Equipment is moved by helicopters thus reducing the need for heavy cross-country vehicles which can cause a long lasting impact on the environment.



The absence of helicopters suitable for heli-portable operations in Russia meant the company had to work closely with service provider UTair to acquire 2 AS350 helicopters and access Canadian pilots to train their Russian counterparts to conduct operations. Equipment required to carry large amounts of ground equipment and slings and hooks to allow helicopters to pick up equipment on the fly was also acquired. Restrictions on satellite receiver technology to help with positioning limited the full impact of operations.

The Uvat region is heavily forested and requires a significant amount of tree cutting. Typically shot and receiver lines are cut to a width of 4 metres to allow the passage of cross-country vehicles and tree-cutting is both labour intensive and a significant HSE risk. In summer, the region is very boggy and the movement of vehicles causes deep ruts and restricts movement. The use of helicopters allowed Integra to reduce the amount of tree-cutting and limit the use of vehicles thus reducing the impact on the environment.

In the Uvat region helicopters were used to move geophysical ground equipment and demonstrated nearly a 2 fold increase in productivity measured by the average number of shot points acquired per day with a daily maximum of over 700sps/ day. The increased costs of helicopter operations can be offset by increased efficiency and reductions in vehicles and personnel. Future operations could be extended to include movement of drilling equipment as well as seismic recording equipment.

Mulchers
Over the last few years the biggest contributor to seismic industry fatalities and injuries was tree-cutting. The industry cuts a significant volume of trees every year, approximately 300,000 line kilometers, and tree-cutters are exposed to significant HSE risks due to falling trees and debris. The efficiency of seismic operations is also dependent on the quality of line preparation. Typically tree cutting operations are carried out in summer to ensure residual tree stumps are cut to a minimum - stumps visible above winter snow cover often limit the movement of drilling equipment. The disposal of cut trees and debris is both time consuming and a requirement to allow the safe passage of vehicles. This adds to the time and risk of manual tree-cutting operations.



In 2007, Integra purchased a mulcher to test the efficiency and suitability of equipment regularly used in other areas of the world for tree-cutting. The equipment was deployed on the same summer project as the heli-portable operations in the Uvat region. The advantage of mulchers is that the number of people involved in tree-cutting operations is reduced from a typical 5 man manual tree-cutting crew to a single operator who is totally enclosed in a safe cabin. The machine effectively "pushes-over" trees and a series of teeth, on a rotating drum, chop the fallen trees in to a fine mulch of wood chips that are deposited behind the machine.



The deployment of mulchers has demonstrated a significant reduction in HSE incidents on tree felling operations with no incidents to date. The effectiveness of mulcher operations has also been proven with a single mulcher capable of clearing between 4-5 kms/day compared with a typical 1km average for a tree-cutting brigade. The advantage of the debris left after mulcher operations is that it provides a flat surface through the cut line that allows a safe and efficient "road-way" for drilling and seismic recording vehicles to follow. A further advantage of a better roadway is that there is less stress on cross-country vehicles and therefore reduced equipment failure and maintenance.

Average operational costs for mulchers and manual teams are comparable but reduced camp sizes and lower HSE risks demonstrate the benefits of such technology. The down-turn in North American seismic market means operators in Canada and the USA are now able to offer high quality machines suitable for the Russian terrain and climatic conditions. Now many leading seismic operators are now looking to stimulate the Russian contracting industry to provide a significant volume of mulchers for the 2009-10 winter season.

High productivity vibroseis acquisition
Approximately 50% of Integra's projects use vibroseis seismic sources. These are commonly used on the flat terrains of the Russian tundra and Kazakhstan Steppe. Individual vibroseis shot points typically use 4 vibrators simultaneously vibrating for up to 20 seconds, known in the industry as a sweep. Oil companies normally request up to 4 or 6 sweeps per shot point. Average survey acquisition rates for Integra operations are between 250 - 300 shot points per day. Daily productivity can be as high as 400 - 500 sps / day depending on weather conditions and terrain. Standard 3D seismic surveys require the acquisition of 20 - 25,000 shot points which will generally take 3-4 months to acquire - the normal duration of the Russian winter season.



Globally, acquisition companies have started to deploy multiple fleets of vibrators and significant volumes of ground equipment to increase vibroseis productivity. This means oil companies are able to acquire larger surveys or high data density coverage during a single operating season. In 2009 Azimut Energy Services has been contracted by a consortium of oil companies to conduct a 3D seismic survey requiring over 250,000 shot points in a area of complex field infrastructure. At typical acquisition rates this would normally take over 2 years to acquire but the consortium's requirement was to acquire the entire data set in 2009.

Working closely with the operator, Azimut was able to design a survey that could be completed within 9 months. The requirement was to utilize up to 10 vibrators, 18,000 channels and 19,000 geophone groups. With it's combined Russian and Kazakhstan resources the company was able to offer the consortium top quality HVA-IV ION vibrators and Sercel 428 ground equipment. The survey design called for 4 groups of 2 vibrators working in both flip-flop and slip-sweep acquisition mode acquiring a single sweep at each shot point. The chosen deployment of the vibrator groups allowed simultaneous operations with some groups vibrating and acquiring data whilst others travelled to a subsequent shot point. 18,000 channels were deployed in the field with an active spread of 9,900 channels. The 428 central electronic system was upgraded to handle the large active spread and new communication equipment acquired to allow the central electronics to "manage" the vibrators and distribution of the channels in the active spread.

The current operations are impressive and have almost certainly set a record for daily production in Russia and Kazakhstan. To date over 100,000 shot points have been acquired in just over 2 months with an average daily productivity of -1700 sps / day. The highest productivity achieved to date was just under 2900 sps / day, the equivalent of 6 seismic parties under normal conditions.

The handling of such daily volumes and advanced electronics has not been without its challenges but the experience gained on this survey will allow Integra to offer advanced acquisition technology to oil companies in Russia and Kazakhstan and allow it to compete globally with western seismic acquisition companies.

Labels: 2D 3D seismic survey, Exploration, onshore acquisition, Russia oil gas

posted by The Rogtec Team @ 16:03 

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home