To date WesternGeco has
`
`undertaken 160 or so
`
`0-Marine surveys enough to
`
`suggest that the technology
`has some real traction in the
`
`industry
`
`Moving up
`the
`
`The story of 0-Marine is worth
`
`telling It
`
`cautionary
`is primarily
`introducing new
`tale about
`technology into the EP business
`Overnight success is not the
`expression that comes to mind
`more like slow and steady wins the
`race Andrew McBarnet explains
`
`he reality is that even
`seemingly
`like Q-Marine takes
`whining concept
`an immense amount of effort
`conviction and commitment
`to
`commercialise So staying power is
`major component in realising innovation
`particularly in the oil and gas industry
`which for lots of reasons not all
`admirable has traditionally been slow to
`innovation Latest example of this
`things new is the rate of
`suspicion of all
`take-up for marine controlled source
`electromagnetics CSEM at one point
`halled as an industry revolution but now
`struggling to cross the barrier to routine
`
`adopt
`
`by Andrew McBarnet
`
`andrewmcbarnet@telus.net
`
`deployment by more than the early
`converts
`With Q-Marine Schlumberger and its
`WesternGeco
`business unit has
`undoubtedly achieved
`comprehensive marine
`producing
`acquisition and processing technology
`that genuinely differentiates the company
`is part of the
`from its competitors
`Q-Technology suite of advanced seismic
`services and technologies for exploration
`
`its intention of
`
`It
`
`and enhanced
`reservoir delineation
`characterisation and monitoring
`services have marine land and seabed
`applications and can cover
`the life of the
`field from exploration through to
`improved oil recovery with the idea of
`superior method
`providing operators
`for managing risk and making reservoir
`management decisions UK August 2001
`The marine application of
`has been
`focused primarily on the improved
`the technology can bring to
`results that
`the 4D 3D time-lapse seismic survey
`arena Its big claim is that Q-Marine
`surveys achieve an average 40%
`in bandwidth and are three
`improvement
`times better than conventional systems in
`terms of repeatability the key element of
`any 4D survey if data comparisons are
`going to be informative The four key
`components of the technology are
`calibrated point-receivers
`
`calibrated
`
`Coil Shooting an acquisition technique using circular geometry full-azimuth with
`Q-Marine technology
`
`www.offshore-eng
`
`neer.com
`
`EXHIBIT
`
`O5bk
`
`PGS Exhibit 1073, pg. 1 PGS v. WesternGeco (IPR2014-00688)
`
`

`
`sources
`
`positioning system that deploys
`
`full acoustic network along the entire
`streamer length and steerable streamers
`Needless to say some pretty heavy duty
`proprietary data processing is involved to
`
`It
`
`the full package
`deliver
`is hard to quantify success in the
`viA other contractors
`marketplace vis
`partly because there is no other
`technology quite like it Furthermore
`the companys 4D seismic
`virtually all
`business for which Q.Marine is purpose
`designed comes from outside the normal
`tendering process because it
`complete
`acquisition and processing package
`Clients who come to WesternGeco
`effectively made an evaluation and
`decided that Q-Marine is the optimal
`solution for their requirements
`As
`contribution to the business of
`WesternGeco company president Dalton
`Boutte GE April said that Q-Technology
`as whole including marine land and
`seabed amounted to $114 bfflion or 38% of
`the companys full year revenue The
`order has gone out that all new
`vessels will be Q.Marine
`WesternGeco
`
`is
`
`have
`
`the clearest possible indication of the
`companys belief
`in the technology and
`the perceived demand for the service
`Currently the companys fleet of 14
`vessels is split half and half between
`Q.Marine and conventionally equipped 3D
`seismic vessels But all eight new vessels
`on order the first of which arrives later
`this year will be Q-Marine WesternGeco
`backlog for Q-Marine surveys is greater
`than that for conventional surveys but
`the company makes clear that some
`conventional capacity will be maintained
`for the foreseeable future because by no
`means all marine seismic business
`sophisticated solution
`requires such
`To date WesternGeco
`has undertaken
`
`160 or so Q-Marine surveys enough to
`the technology has some real
`suggest
`that
`traction in the industry About half the
`surveys have been exploration and the
`other half for 4D projects either baseline
`for future reference or repeat reservoir
`monitoring surveys What surprised the
`company following the launch was that
`the early adopters were not as expected
`the larger commercial oil companies but
`instead national oil companies like
`Pemex Petrobras ONGC and Statoil
`along with some enterprising
`independents wanting to steal march on
`their bigger colleagues That pattern is
`now changing as is the geographical
`the UK and Norway saw
`focus Initially
`most Q-Marine activity but now the
`technology is global with surveys
`completed in Southeast Asia offshore
`India West Africa and South America
`and of course in the Gulf of Mexico
`Getting to this scenario has taken what
`must seem an inordinate length of time
`
`for the geoscientists and engineers who
`kicked off the idea for this technology in
`the early 1990s At that time 3D seismic
`was just beginning to come into its own as
`the method of choice for the oil
`industry
`replacing 2D seismic which had been the
`staple of the exploration business since
`the 1960s The main benefit was the
`appreciably better imaging of the
`subsurface for the identification of
`
`prospective hydrocarbon-bearing
`had been made
`structures Advances
`
`possible by the growing size of streamer
`spreads from the single cable
`characteristic of 2D surveying onboard
`data processing and improved navigation
`and positioning New computer
`technology also had lot to do with the
`emergence of 3D seismic although
`worry in those days was how the
`enormous extra volumes of seismic data
`generated by 3D acquisition could be
`managed in reasonable time frame
`
`the
`
`is that
`
`Precision and accuracy
`The legend in Schlumberger
`Q-Technology research people began with
`the admirably far-sighted view that
`the
`future for seismic would belong to those
`companies which not only could otter the
`best quality high resolution data but with
`the advent of 4D seismic in mind could
`facilitate repeat surveys over the same
`area with thc grcntcst prccision for
`
`reservoir monitoring purposes In
`essence emerging 3D seismic
`applications such as imaging for well
`
`placement predicting pore pressure or
`
`monitoring fluid fronts all required
`extremely accurate data
`Opinion at the time was that there was
`limit to how much improvement would
`
`be possible with conventional 3D seismic
`for much of the 1990s that was not much
`concern because contractors were
`of
`working flat out simply meeting the
`massive demand from oil companies for
`the immediate imaging benefits from 3D
`acquisition over new prospects and
`previously surveyed acreage Increased
`streamer counts to harvest more 3D data
`in one survey seemed to be given the
`highest priority
`Yet after what was apparently an
`exhaustive assessment the Schlumberger
`that the main
`research teams concluded
`challenge to taking 3D seismic resolution
`to the next level lay in tackling the
`problems of noise and positioning
`accuracy of the streamer acquisition
`spread Basically high quality seismic
`data depends upon as high signal-to-noise
`ratio as possible and wide bandwidth
`meaning the range of frequencies
`contained in the signal According to an
`account published in 2001 the plan was to
`source of noise
`identify every significant
`in seismic data then suppress or
`minimise it The dominant sources of
`noise were revealed to be swell and wave
`action at the surface variation in source
`characteristics and positioning errors
`associated with receiver groups along the
`streamer cables Some of these issues
`were acute enough to complicate or
`distort interpretation of the data
`When Q.Marine was finally launched in
`2001 the most radical element of the solution
`was seen as the introduction of the first
`point-receiver acquisition system in which
`the returning seismic wave data is digitally
`recorded from each individual sensor buried
`in the streamer cable This means recording
`4000 hydrophones per streamer for up to
`
`30 OFFSHORE ENGINEER
`
`june 2008
`
`www.offsho
`
`re-eng nee r.com
`
`PGS Exhibit 1073, pg. 2 PGS v. WesternGeco (IPR2014-00688)
`
`

`
`sufficiently
`
`shortly wifi further improve the steering
`according to WesternGeco
`Two problems designers had to overcome
`with the introduction of steerable
`streamers were creating
`accurate positioning system to track the
`location and shape of the whole spread
`during acquisition and eliminating extra
`noise from lateral steerage movement
`which could potentially interfere with the
`seismic data recording As
`Q-Marine has
`
`result
`
`calibrated control system
`which uses acoustic
`location data received
`by the hydrophones and emitted by
`separate coded sources This provides an
`extraordinarily accurate positioning
`record for the whole spread that can also be
`replicated in subsequent survey The
`TRISOR digital gun control system which
`is also used on WesternGecos
`conventional
`seismic vessels provides additional marine
`source calibration to the system
`Robin Walker group marketing director
`for WesternGeco who in previous posts
`has been involved in much of the process
`of bringing Q-Marine to market says the
`task of developing
`successful steerage
`system should not be underestimated
`Over the last seven years we have got
`better and better at attenuating the noise
`long time to learn how
`but it
`took us
`streamers behaved through water when
`you steer them
`
`Practical benefits
`
`According to Walker the Q-Marine highly
`calibrated approach to seismic data
`acquisition and the experience gained
`with steerable streamers has some very
`practical benefits now that wide-azimuth
`towed-
`surveys are emerging as the best
`streamer option for imaging subsalt and
`other complex geological settings He
`the companys multi-client
`states that all
`wide-azimuth surveys use Q-Marine
`because in complex imaging
`environments the point-receiver system
`can uniquely capture half or
`full octave
`more lower frequency data than
`conventional systems and this makes
`fantastic difference to the final result He
`also makes the point
`that WesternGeco
`the challenge of only using one
`1-Marine vessel
`for its wide-azimuth
`surveys especially when they are smaller
`or remote and cannot
`justify the
`mobilization of large spreads Some
`surveys have deployed
`cluster of source
`vessels and maybe two recording vessels
`The problem will come if
`client wants to
`narrow down
`second survey to say
`4D purpose
`1000km2 for clearer data or
`second survey with this kind
`Mobiising
`of armada especially outside the Gulf of
`Mexico will be very difficult
`and costly
`We wont have such
`challenge
`new method
`Walker is excited about
`for wide-azimuth surveys about to be
`
`set itself
`
`launched following number of
`commercial proof-of-concept surveys The
`new Coil Shooting system builds on an
`old idea of circular shoots to image the
`substructure from different angles now
`made more practical by using steerable
`streamers and all
`the other positioning
`and recording bells and whistles of
`1-Marine This wifi be major change
`he says and it makes perfect sense We
`are shooting continuous line changes and
`the shape of the streamers
`can control
`Better coverage with less turning and
`requirements are just some of the
`advantages
`Up to now much of the evolution of
`1-Marine has needed stealth marketing
`for reasons which go back to the less than
`favourable climate in which the
`technology was launched Back in 2001
`the marine seismic business was in the
`tank Contractors were virtually buying
`
`infifi
`
`recipe
`
`novel
`
`surveys to keep vessels busy or
`undertaking totally speculative unfunded
`multi-client surveys Neither was
`success The introduction of
`for
`acquisition system from the
`Schlumberger camp was unfortunate
`timing The technology was perceived as
`complex with lot morc clcctronics and
`the industry understood that
`WesternGeco would he looking for
`premium price to justify the substantial
`development costs but also to compensate
`the potentially excellent high resolution
`results Some companies were also
`to being bound to WesternGeco
`resistant
`for seismic data acquisition and
`processing tasks which are often divided
`between different companies Many
`others simply played it safe with wait-
`and-see attitude
`Over the next several years the
`company did actually win growing
`trickle of supporters for the technology
`but obstacles
`such as client
`
`confidentiality prevented the opportunity
`to present the torrent of case studies
`which normally accompany such
`in EP geoscience applications
`advances
`For example the Norne field project on
`behaif of Statoll was for
`long time the
`only Q-on-Q repeat survey case study
`available in the public domain Even
`today there is relatively little ifiustrative
`material on Marine Robin Walker
`hopes that this will change very soon In
`number of cases it
`is nothing more
`than getting the time with our clients to
`the history
`put together
`Ironically the current boom in demand
`for seismic acquisition surveys is so
`intense that oil companies feel compelled
`to take whatever vessel and technology is
`available in order to meet their short-
`term EP goals Its
`trend that seems to
`mitigate against getting the gen out on
`1-Marine
`CE
`
`www.offshore-eng
`
`inee r.com
`
`DWerence in clarity between conventional
`solid streamer left and Q-Marineprestack
`time migrationseismic data right
`
`capability of 80000 channels
`20 streamers
`although this many has not been achieved on
`commercial survey to date Nonetheless the
`vast
`vastly increased data flow is
`
`improvement on conventional seismic
`acquisition where traces from group of
`receivers are summed in step called
`analogue group forming providing
`significantly less informative picture The
`concept of acquiring data from each
`individual sensor defined as digital group
`forming process was first proposed in the
`late 1980s by Shell geophysicists but was
`beyond the compute-power of that era
`The point receiver system epitomises the
`
`significant
`
`imitation is the
`
`is
`
`calibration approach to the acquisition of
`towed streamer 3D seismic data embodied
`in Q-Marine to make it
`viable alternative
`to surveys based on ocean bottom cable
`recording which offer obvious advantages
`in terms of survey repeatability but at
`price oil companies have proved reluctant
`to pay This is why in some respects the
`steerable streamer aspect of the
`technology has probably attracted more
`attention overtime If
`sincerest form of flattery then it
`that Petroleum Geo-Services
`PGS with ION Geophysical and
`CGGVeritas subsidiary Sercel are both
`developing
`steerable streamers
`presumably treading carefully around the
`patents owned by Schlumberger for its
`Q-Fin streamer steerage system not to
`mention virtually every aspect of
`Q-Marine technology
`Q-Fins are typically placed at 400m
`intervals along each streamer and two
`remotely controlled wings can adjust the
`depth and horizontal position of the
`streamer to within 4m laterally and 0.5m
`
`vertically This is important for
`countering the effect of wind waves
`currents and other variables in repeat
`surveys Currents for example can cause
`streamers to feather ie go off course
`even to the extent of getting tangled with
`In 4D surveys over producing
`reservoirs where infrastructure
`obstructions may be an issue steerable
`streamers allow more flexibility
`in
`covering the target area Redesigned
`wings for the Q-Fin to be introduced
`
`each other
`
`32 OFFSHORE ENGINEER
`
`June 2008
`
`PGS Exhibit 1073, pg. 3 PGS v. WesternGeco (IPR2014-00688)