Exhibitors and delegates reported a strong third day attendance at MEOS 2011.
Kuwait Energy wins new investors
Egypt-focused exploration and production independent Kuwait Energy has secured two new investors who will take strategic shareholdings in the company.
The deals were struck at the MEOS 2011 conference in Bahrain. The company declined to name the new investors but their holdings were described as “significant.”
The company has been building its investor base after success in its Egyptian Exploration operations, with two recent strikes in the East Ras Qattara field in Egypt’s Western Desert, and news of new gas development contracts at the Siba and Mansuriya gas fields in Iraq. Qatar First Investment Bank took a $16 million shareholding in April this year.
The company has a targeted 80:20 portfolio between producing/developing assets and exploration assets respectively.
Kuwait Energy announced its maiden dividend this year, after earning a net profit of $21.9 million in 2010, up 291% from 2009, and $85.6 million in operating cash flow, up 68% from 2009.
Dana Gas CEO: Middle East must invest in gas
The head of the Middle East’s largest regional private sector natural gas company has drawn attention to the importance of better management of the region’s gas resources for prosperity.
Dana Gas CEO Ahmed Al Arbeed has said that despite being home to 45 per cent of the world’s natural gas reserves, the Middle East provides less than fifth of the global gas supply. “While the region sits on roughly half of the world’s proved reserves of gas, it only provides 19 per cent of the global gas supply,” Al Arbeed said.
Al Arbeed urged decision-makers to continue investment in significantly increasing the region’s gas reserves and production in the light of growing regional demand. “Industry estimates show gas demand in the Middle East has been rising by about 7 per cent per year, outpacing the growth in regional gas production,” he said.
Al Arbeed was speaking at the Middle East Prospect Exhibition (MEPEX) running in parallel with the MEOS exhibition and conference.
Performix aims for industry standards
Performix, a provider of real-time drilling management, surveillance and analysis software, is making a significant push into the Middle East, and is expanding its offering to Saudi Aramco.
Petromix have been supplying to Aramco for the last three years, and Celestine Vettical, Petromix’s President and CEO, says NOCs are waking up to the need to be innovative and the benefits of the digital oil field. “Aramco is really open for new innovation,” Vettical says.
Vettical is also passionate about the adoption of WITSML and PRODML industry standards to ensure well data is open across platforms and between companies, and the pace and cost of innovation is reduced, to the mutual benefit of the industry. Some of the big service companies have been sticking to their own proprietary data standards, but the data monitoring landscape is changing towards more openness and innovation. Vettical describes standardisation as a “constant process”.
The company has just signed a deal with data management giant Oracle as n ISV Embedded Software Partner, on a combined hardware and software solution for management of oilfield data that can work straight out of the box. Oracle are taking Performix’s software through a series of proof-of-value benchmark tests and Vettical is confident the combined system will post performance eight times faster than that of current solutions, and offers advantages of scalability to operators.
Vettical says the aim of Petromix’s products is to enable explorers to drill faster and more safely, while facilitating greater collaboration between the various specialists who contribute to well drilling and supervision.
The company’s solutions are marketed in the Middle East through Arabian Oilfield Services.
Neftex
Neftex were promoting their Earth Model software, which collates an array of public geological and well data to give explorers a readily-accessible view of fields mooted for exploration.
Owen Sutcliffe, Neftex’s Head of Consultancy, says the company has 17 clients for the Earth Model suite so far, and is pitching to investors as well as oil companies.
The software, comprising several integrated services, allows explorers to rapidly appraise hydrocarbon basins around the globe, from visual overviews to individual citations for each datum. The enables geologists to analyse source rocks, and use historical data to view the development of previous reservoirs with a view to making predictive decisions about a new reservoir to be drilled.
The product aims to allow explorers to make more better decisions ahead of making any capital spend on exploration, reducing pre-drilling risk and maximizing recovery.
The company also has the first commercially-available 3D plate-scale models for the subsurface of the Middle East and North Africa.
Video from Expro
International oilfield services firm Expro showcased enhanced drill stem testing (DST) services as part of its integrated well testing package.
The re-launched DST tools complete the integrated exploration and appraisal package well testing services. DST offers the fastest and safest method of evaluating the potential of a newly discovered source.
Following the drilling and casing of a well, DST is used on conjunction with Expro’s down-hole data system, which uses advanced wireless telemetry technology to transmit bottomhole pressure and temperature data to the surface in real-time, using electromagnetic (EM) through-tubing/casing communication; and its tubing conveyed sampling, which provides a high-quality alternative to traditional DST type full-flow samplers.
The firm also exhibited down-hole video cameras for use in call-out well diagnosis.
MEOS 2013 will be held on March 10-13, 2013 at the International Conference Centre, Manamar, Bahrain.
