Grapevine

NOIA Conference '94

The 10th International Offshore Petroleum Conference will be held June 20-21, 1994 at Hotel Newfoundland, St. John's. Topics include Hibernia Today, Future Developments and Risk and Reward: Corporate Case Panel Discussion. The Conference features a tour of Bull Arm Hibernia Construction Site for delegates only. For more information contact: Newfoundland Ocean Industries Association, Suite 602, Box 44, Atlantic Place, 215 Water St., St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada A1C 6C9, phone (709) 753-8 I23 or fax (709) 753-6010.

Geco-Prakla Announces Availability of New Family of Seismic Imaging Services

Geco-Prakla, the seismic services unit of the Schlumberger Oilfield Services group, recently announced the availability of a new family of seismic imaging services named VIVID*. The VIVID family contains the latest technology for meeting the challenges in imaging complex 3D structures such as those found in subsalt, salt flank environments and thrust belt areas. Implementation of the series of applications is achieved using ultra-fast, massively parallel supercomputers.
*Mark of Geco-Prakla

For additional information, contact Linda Silinsky, Schlumberger Oilfield Service, 300 Schlumberger Blvd., Suger Land, TX 77478, phone (713) 275-8791.

New Ground-Penetrating Radar Introduced

GeoRadar Inc. has introduced an improved ground penetrating radar based on stepped-FM technology. Ground penetrating radar has many applications, including mapping buried utilities prior to excavation; locating unexploded ordnance and hazardous waste; mapping soil depths; tunnel, sinkhole and cavity detection; inspecting concrete and asphalt; searching for archeological artifacts; and conducting forensic investigations. Since GPR is sensitive to any change in conductivity between the target and the host material, it can locate non-conductive pipes, plastic drums, animal burrows, dinosaur bones, changes in soil types, and even plastic land mines, as well as the metallic targets detectable by conventional devices.

The stepped FM design appears to offer several advantage over the pulsed radar systems now commercially available. Because the antennas have a narrow cone of illumination, images created by the system resemble the actual object rather than the broad hyperbolas characteristic of pulse systems. Closely-spaced objects appear as distinct targets which can be resolved in the image. The stepped-FM system requires a minimum of controls and adjustments, so a non-technical user can operate the system and interpret the results as well. For more information, contact Doug Crice, President GeoRadar Inc., 19623 Via Escuela Drive, Saratoga, CA 95070 USA, phone (408) 867-3792 or fax (408) 867-4900.

SPE/CIM/Canmet 1994 Horizontal Well Conference

The Horizontal Well Special Interest Group of the Petroleum Society of CIM, Canadian Section of CPE, and Canmet are pleased to present the 1994 International Conference "Recent Advances in Horizontal Well Applications", to be held at the Calgary Convention Centre on March 20-23, 1994. The conference will feature over 75 papers highlighting worldwide technical achievements resulting from the application of Horizontal Well Technology. A number of short courses are also being offered to complement the technical program and further enhance the exchange of information and ideas. The continued insatiable interest in horizontal wells combined with the excellent program prepared by the organizing committee promises to make this conference a resounding success.

Short courses being offered at the Conference on March 20 are: Reservoir Aspects of Horizontal Wells - Instructor: Dr. S.D. Joshi; Horizontal Wells: Design and Application - Instructor: Dr. S.M. Farouq Ali; Introduction to SAGD Engineering - Instructor: Dr. R.M. Butler; Workshop on Performance Projection of Horizontal Wells - Instructor: Dr. Ashok Singhal; and Horizontal Re-Entry Wells for Increased Productivity - Instructor: Dr. M.T. Olanson.

For further information contact the Petroleum Society of CIM Office at (403) 237-5112.

Tectonics and Metallogeny of Early/Mid Precambria Orogenic Belts: An International Conference, Montreal, Canada, August 28 to September 1, 1995

Precambrian rocks of the Canadian Shield have inspired major advances in the understanding of ancient tectonic and metallogenetic processes, as well as offering windows into the lower crust. Through its rich array of Precambrian terranes, highlighted by modern mapping, geochronology, geophysical coverage, and multidisciplinary LITHOPROBE experiments, the Shield presents many further challenges and opportunities as a source of information on early Archean to middle Proterozoic plate interaction and associated mineralization. The Canadian Shield will provide the thematic backdrop for this international meeting, designed to explore current global issues in Precambrian geology from an interdisciplinary perspective, in the context of an increased understanding of modern processes. Montreal, the modern, multicultural centre hosting the meeting, is within easy striking distance of many classic Precambrian pre- and post-meeting field trip localities, now boasting state-of-the-art geoscientific databases.

For further information, or to receive the second circular, contact J.A. Percival, Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0E8, phone (613) 995-4723, fax (613) 995-9273.

Solutions to Environmental, Infrastructure Problems to Be Presented at Geophysical Conference in Boston

Solutions to hazardous waste dumps, polluted rivers and lakes, and crumbling roads and bridges will be the focus of the Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society (EEGS) in Boston, March 27-31, 1994.

Solutions to hazardous waste dumps, polluted rivers and lakes, and crumbling roads and bridges will be the focus of the Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society (EEGS) in Boston, March 27-31, 1994. EEGS has selected the Boston Park Plaza Hotel for its seventh annual Symposium on the Application of geophysics to Environmental and Engineering Problems (SAGEEP).

The conference will open with short courses on geophysical methods of addressing pollution clean-up, engineering problems, and infrastructure maintenance and repair. Technical sessions and exhibits of products and services will follow the short courses.

Geotechnical, structural, civil, and environmental engineers and consultants are among those for whom SAGEEP '94 is designed. Governmental users of these services are an equally important audience. All will have the opportunity not only to learn, but also to contribute, via panel discussions and Q&A sessions.

EEGS is an organization formed to address engineering and environmental geophysics, which will surpass gas and oil exploration as the primary concerns of geophysicists by the year 2000.

For more information on SAGEEP '94, contact Mark Cramer, EEGS, P.O. Box 4475, Englewood, CO 80155, phone (303) 771-6101, fax (303) 843-6232.

CAGC 1994 Officers and Directors

The Canadian Association of Geophysical Contractors (CAGC) recently announced their Officers and Directors for 1994. The Officers elected were: Chairman, Ian Reid (Western Atlas Inc.), Vice Chairman, Murray Olson (Enertec Geophysical Services Ltd.) and William Kammermayer (W.J. Kammermayer Consulting Services Ltd.) continues to serve as CAGC's permanent President.

Marinus Synders (Pioneer Exploration Inc.), Chris Fenwick (Geco-Prakla, A Division of Schlumberger Canada Limited), Rolf Wenzel (Wega-D Geophysical Ltd.) and Don Janveau (J.R.S. Exploration Company Ltd.) were elected Directors.

ROB WIENS has returned from CGG in France and CHIN YEW CHOO from Pulsonic Nigeria to assume positions as Senior Geophysicists in Pulsonic Geophysical's Calgary Office. Both can be reached at 262-0755.

ARNOLD WOELFLE has taken the position of Division Manager with Pulsonic Computer Systems. Arnold will be providing hardware sales and services for various UNIX systems as well as supplying computer peripherals.

Call for Paper – Supercomputing Symposium '94

Supercomputing Symposium '94 (SS '94), Canada's Eighth Annual High Performance Computing Conference and Exhibition will be held June 6-8, 1994 in Toronto, Ontario, sponsored by Supercomputing Canada/HPC Canada and hosted by The University of Toronto.

The symposium is concerned with all aspects of high performance computing. It attempts to expose attendees to the latest developments in this field. Papers are sought that describe the hardware, software, programming tools and techniques, applications and experiences related to high performance supercomputing.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: vector computing technology; parallel computing technology; workstation clusters; parallel programming techniques; distributed computing; languages for high performance computing; experiences with high performance computers; applications of high performance computing technology to solve problems in government, academia and industry; networking and communications; scientific data visualization; and compiler and operating system issues.

You are also invited to submit proposals for tutorials, panel discussions, debates, demonstrations or other specialized sessions that address any aspect of high performance computing.

For further information contact Dr. John W. Ross, SS '94 Program Chair, Instructional and Research Computing/UTCC, University of Toronto, 4 Bancroft Avenue, Room 202, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A1, phone (416) 978-6356, fax (416) 978-6110 or e-mail: yjohn@utirc.utoronto.ca.

Dr. D.C. Fraser and CGG Canada Ltd.

are pleased to announce that on December 17, 1993, Dighem Surveys & Processing Inc., including its I*Power custom processing division, became an integral part of the worldwide CGG geophysical service group.