Closure Interview, Gary Wu, Managing Director, Dynamic Technologies (DTCC)
Please describe your role at DTCC and your responsibilities?
I have been the Managing Director since the company was founded in 2000 in Calgary, Canada. My partner
Jack Feng, Vice President of DTCC is more focused on the R&D and manufacturing and I am more on the marketing and sales.
DTCC started from seismic cable manufacturing and expanded to geophone manufacturing. DTCC is now the most reputable geophone maker in seismic industry.
Late last year, we released SmartSolo-World’s First Smart Seismic Sensor and entered into the nodal system market. Since then, our SmartSolo product has received tremendous positive responses on the market.
What are the key challenges facing the Russian seismic market place at the moment?
We think the main challenge is that while the oil and gas companies are in need of high resolution, high-density seismic data at affordable costs, the seismic contractors are not really able to provide it because of high equipment and operation cost. You end up seeing a deadlock which contractors are not making profit because of no enough projects and high costs, and oil companies are not willing to issue bigger projects because contractors could not run these projects cost effectively.
SmartSolo is designed to break the deadlock.
How long has your company been in the region?
DTCC has been selling products to this market since 2003 but mainly through agents or other manufacturers. For SmartSolo products, we decided to enter the market directly because we think Russia/CIS is one of the most important markets in world for seismic equipment.
The plan is to have local sales and technical support personnel based in Russia to provide the best support for the local clients.
How do you describe your SmartSolo products in a few words?
SmartSolo is basically a smart geophone which knows it timing, location and records high fidelity signal. By utilizing mobile internet era technologies, SmartSolo is very liable and extremely cost effective.
How does your smart geophone compare to the systems currently used in Russia?
SmartSolo is very easy to use. Anybody with 10 minutes training could deploy the equipment without problem. It is also much lighter in weight and smaller in size. However, with above differences, the data quality is as good as any other system on the market.
What applications within O&G do you target your geophones at?
High-density seismic project is what SmartSolo designed for. In many areas of the world, the receiver interval has been changed to 15m, 10m or even shorter. This will require an extremely large channel count. 20,000 channels are standard crew size in North America and some projects in middle east require over 100,000 channels.
The greater the number of receivers the greater data clarity the survey company will have, but this also increases the cost in manpower and receivers. How can a geophysical company look to achieve greater data quality whilst controlling costs?
There are two major parts of cost for seismic operations: equipment purchasing costs and operation cost. SmartSolo not only has the most competitive purchasing costs (estimated about 25% to 30% of the cost of other systems), but more importantly the lowest operation costs. Compare to a crew using same channel of cable system, SmartSolo crew uses at least 60% less people, 75% less transportation equipment and shooting much faster. It all means contractors will be able to make profit by using SmartSolo system and run the large survey cost effectively. SmartSolo is also the most environment friendly system.
How robust are your solutions for the diverse conditions in Russia from the arctic tundra to heat of the Caspian summer?
This is a very good question. As a seismic acquisition system, without the high reliability in various environments, it has no meaning despite how cost effective it is. Reliability is one of the major factors considered starting from designing to manufacturing. The system has also been field tested in various conditions: from arctic winter to desert summer, from urban to forestry. Nearly 20 field tests have shown that SmartSolo is field-proven to be very reliable.
What do you want to say to your potential clients in Russia?
SmartSolo is so highly efficient, reliable and cost effective that I call it “the money printer for seismic contractors”. To prove this, I encourage seismic contractors in the region to contact us for a field trial. We will provide equipment free of charge to be tested by your crew in any kind of environment: hot, cold, urban or mountain.
