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50 st / May 2016 www.sea-technology.com 200-kN Seabed CPT For Vattenfall Investigation Horizon Geosciences' 200-kN Sea- bed CPT system was used recently with great success on a complex geotech- nical site investigation for Vattenfall, offshore Denmark. Horizon's scope of work centered on turbine locations in the North Sea wind farm, as well as in- feld cable routes. The program of work included downhole sampling and CPT testing, seismic CPT testing, pressure meter testing, P-S Logging, vibrocoring and seabed CPTs. Real-Time Downhole Data for Deepwater Install XACT Downhole Telemetry Inc. de- livered an industry frst by providing real-time downhole data during a deep- water completion installation with BP in the Gulf of Mexico. BP successfully accessed real-time downhole data throughout the well's completion using XACT's acoustic te- lemetry network. Six downhole measurement nodes from XACT spanned the 22,700-ft. well, enabling BP to monitor critical parame- ters, including downhole weight on the crossover tool, and pressures and tem- peratures during the well's completion. State of Big Data In Oil and Gas Only one in fve oil and gas compa- nies see themselves as highly digitalized today, but 45 percent of senior oil and gas professionals already see solid or high potential for big data and analytics to transform the operating effciency of the industry in 2016, according to re- search by DNV GL. The research among more than 900 senior oil and gas professionals reveals that despite its potential, only 36 per- cent plan signifcant or moderate invest- ment in big data and analytics in 2016. The IT-related technology expected by most respondents to have signifcant or high investment is cybersecurity attack/ prevention (44 percent), followed by automation/remote operation (43 per- cent). Early adopters are emerging, but many in the industry are still at early stages of maturity in data analytics and data-based decision making. Collabo- ration could prove essential to bridge this digital gap and ensure experience transfer in the conservation of data, ef- fciency drivers and ways to ultimately leverage the opportunities big data rep- resent for the industry. BSEE, NASA Partner On Risk Management The U.S. Bureau of Safety and En- vironmental Enforcement (BSEE) and NASA have announced a fve-year agreement allowing BSEE to capital- ize on the best risk management ap- proaches from the aeronautics indus- try to inform stakeholders and further strengthen worker and environmental safety protections on the Outer Conti- nental Shelf. NASA will assist BSEE in achieving three primary objectives: further de- velopment of BSEE's risk management capability through the use of NASA's probabilistic risk assessment tech- nique; evaluation, design and testing of technologies and hardware, includ- ing emerging technologies and best available and safest technologies; and assessment of failures and near-miss oc- currences using the resources and ex- pertise of NASA. "Whether the task takes one to deep space, or into the deep ocean, the analysis of the environment, training of personnel and risk mitigation factors are similar," said Jack James, technology transfer strategist at the NASA Johnson Space Center. Regulation Update for Offshore Air Quality Updated air quality regulations have bene proposed that will more accurate- ly account for emissions from offshore oil and gas activity, effectively ensuring that those activities do not signifcantly harm air quality. The proposal updates 36-year-old regulations and incorpo- rates BOEM's recent Arctic Outer Con- tinental Shelf (OCS) jurisdiction over air quality. The proposed changes will re- duce emissions of volatile organic com- pounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulfur oxide (SOx), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter (PM). These changes will also give the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement better tools to assess air quality compliance for OCS opera- tions. Third Phase Progresses For Parque das Conchas Shell and its joint venture an- nounced the start of oil production from the third phase of the deepwater Parque das Conchas (BC-10) development in Brazil's Campos Basin. Production for this fnal phase is expected to add up to 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) at peak production, from felds that have already produced more than 100 million barrels since 2009. These barrels, like other subsea tieback opportunities across Shell's deepwa- ter portfolio, have development cost advantages and will contribute to the strong production growth Shell expects from offshore Brazil. Shell has a strong development pipeline following the completion of the BG combination, across offshore Brazil, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Nigeria and Malaysia. Parque das Conchas Phase Three comprises fve producing wells in two Campos Ba- sin felds (Massa and O-South) and two water-injection wells.The subsea wells sit in water depths greater than 5,900 ft. and connect to an FPSO vessel located more than 90 mi. offshore Brazil. This is the latest major deepwater project for Shell. Shell's deepwater projects in development include Stones and Appo- mattox in the Gulf of Mexico. Malaysia's First MultiClient Seismic Program As a result of a new initiative by PETRONAS to stimulate offshore E&P; investment activity, PETRONAS, through Malaysia Petroleum Manage- ment (MPM), has decided to open an area of Malaysian offshore waters to the MultiClient model for the frst time. A consortium comprising PGS, TGS and Schlumberger WesternGeco, the industry's three largest MultiClient com- panies, has successfully won the tender for the rights to undertake a MultiClient seismic program offshore Sabah. The consortium is planning to apply a combination of the indus- try's most advanced technology so- lutions, including multisensor ac- quisition using PGS's GeoStreamer and WesternGeco IsoMetrix marine isometric seismic technology, PGS's Towed Streamer EM technology and advanced broadband 2D acquisition and processing techniques. ST offshore oil & ocean engineering