Perth-based oil and gas services company DownUnder GeoSolutions (Dug) has seized the chance to capitalise on what may be Australia’s biggest oil find in decades by commissioning the nation’s largest seismic survey.
Perth-based oil and gas services company DownUnder GeoSolutions (Dug) has seized the chance to capitalise on what may be Australia’s biggest oil find in decades by commissioning the nation’s largest seismic survey.
To carry out the mammoth survey of 22,130 square kilometres off the Pilbara coast, Dug will require one-third of the total power of its $12 million supercomputer, affectionately known as Bruce.
Subiaco-based Bruce is the biggest supercomputer in the Southern Hemisphere, and five times larger than the Pawsey supercomputer in Kensington, which is being used to support the Australian Square Kilometre Array pathfinder.
DownUnder co-founder Matthew Lamont told Business News his company had taken a calculated risk to pursue the giant seismic survey, initiating the project and taking on a quarter of the costs itself.
In a joint partnership with Dubai-based vessel and seismic contractor Polarcus, the two companies have begun work on a 3D survey and analysis of Roebuck basin.
Oil and gas explorers and producers Apache Corporation, Karoon Gas, BHP Billiton, Repsol, JX Nippon, Carnarvon Petroleum and Finder Exploration have already signed up to buy results from the survey.
Dug initially approached Apache with the idea to survey the not well explored area after Apache and its joint venture partners discovered what could be a potential new oil province in the Roebuck basin in August last year.
Initial results from the Phoenix South-1 well have led Apache and its joint venture partners to herald the discovery as potentially the biggest oil find in Australia in decades.
Sandwiched between the Browse basin in the north, and the Carnarvon basin and offshore Canning basin in the south, Roebuck has been largely ignored by explorers for 20 years, but has since gained prominence in the oil and gas sector for its potential.
Mr Lamont said DownUnder decided to take on 25 per cent of the costs of the project because he believed the data would be valuable to many more clients than those who have already signed up.
“We believe we can sell the data three times over,” he said.
“It’s the largest seismic survey ever done in Australia and potentially the largest ever done in the world.
“This is huge for us.”
Dug, which has grown to have 200 staff in seven worldwide locations, will devote seven Perth based staff, along with supercomputer Bruce’s help, to analyse the seismic data which Polarcus will acquire, using some of Dug’s hardware and software.
The survey, which has already begun is due to be completed in October, with analysis completed in early 2016.
While Mr Lamont believes Bruce’s capabilities won’t require any upsizing for at least another year, he already has plans to install Bubba, a supercomputer at its Houston office, which would be three times Bruce’s size.
While the vast majority of Dug’s work is for propriety clients, or those that pay upfront for the full cost of a project, the company is seeking to grow its services to ‘multi-clients’ where the business takes a risk carrying out work it believes it can then onsell to more than one client.
“We’re trying to increase the multi-client at risk part of business, and that’s going very well. DownUnder is now working for eight multi-client companies,” Mr Lamont said.
