Grapevine

Registration Begins for Mines and Minerals Symposium

The Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines is now accepting registrations for its 18th Annual Mines and Minerals Symposium, to be held December 11 and 12 in the Macdonald Block, 900 Bay St., Queen's Park, Toronto.

The symposium opens Monday, December 11 with an afternoon session on the latest advances in the field of Airborne Geophysics and their application to mineral exploration. This will be followed on Monday evening by a public presentation. Virgil Sharpton of the Lunar and Planetary Institute (Johnson Space Centre, Houston) will talk about Meteorite Impacts on the Planets, including Earth.

Ontario Geological Survey activities and other related topics are featured on Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon features a "diamond session" focusing on diamond exploration in Ontario and delivered by representatives of the exploration industry, Geological Survey of Canada, Queen's University and the University of Toronto.

For further information on the symposium or to pre-register, please send either a business card or your name, address and affiliation to: Clive Stephenson, Symposium Co-ordinator, Ontario Geological Survey, Willet Green Miller Centre, 933 Ramsey Lake Rd., Sudbury, Ontario P3E 685 or phone: (705) 670-5870 or fax: (705) 670-5905.

Landmark and QC Data Announce Plans to Develop an Enterprise-Wide Data Management Environment for the Petroleum Industry

To help manage the data explosion within the petroleum industry, Landmark Graphics Corporation and QC Data International, Inc., announced recently that they have signed a definitive agreement to develop software to provide an enterprise-wide data storage and access environment. This client/server environment will provide geoscientists, engineers, managers, executives and others throughout petroleum companies with easy access to data in various formats for projects, departmental reviews, or even enterprise-wide distribution.

The result will be an industry-standard repository for storing and accessing the tremendous volume of newly-generated, legacy and commercially-available data that is critical to the management of exploration and production of oil and gas. The flexibility and openness of the client/server environment based on the Oracle database demonstrates the two companies' commitment to providing the oil and gas industry with the ability to manage and widely access information throughout their enterprises.

SEG Courses to be Held in Calgary in 1996

Two SEG Continuing Education courses are scheduled for Calgary in conjunction with the 1996 National Convention. Courses being offered are "The Interpretation Problem" and "The Role of Geophysics in Risk Management". For further information or to register, contact the SEG Office, Continuing Education Department at (918) 497-5500.

United States Minerals Management Service Signs Contract with QC Data

The United States Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service (MMS), recently signed a multi-year, sole source contract with QC Data Inc. (Houston). QC Data will act as an agent on behalf of the MMS for management, storage and retrieval of digital well logs and related header information from wells spudded on or after December 1, 1995. Digital well log data will also be provided from QC Data's existing Digital Well Log DATABANK, with additional data being captured utilizing QC Data's proprietary digitizing software. The agreement specifies digital curve data, however related data sets may be included in the future.

The MMS recognizes QC Data to be in a unique position to provide these services based on: i) Possession of the largest commercially available Digital Well Log Databank with quality assured curve and header data for over 17,000 wells, funded by industry, in the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico; ii) in-house conversion software and related software developed exclusively to meet the needs of petroleum-related documents; iii) experience in operating a geoscience data utility for the Canadian oil and gas industry, including operational systems to handle well log submissions; and iv) participation by operators in the Gulf of Mexico in existing and historical projects.

New Technology for Onboard 3-D Seismic Processing

Western Geophysical has introduced the latest in 3-D seismic onboard data processing with the installation of an IBM SP-2 scalable parallel computer on its M/V Western Legend marine seismic vessel, currently operating in the Far East.

Through the parallel processing capabilities of the SP-2 computer and Western's Omega® seismic processing software, the Western Legend will be able to acquire and process onboard full-fold, multistreamer 3-D data. The onboard processing will include the use of sophisticated processing techniques, including 3-D DMO and migration.

Western has equipped the SP-2 computer with advanced parallel technology, including the high-performance switch, multipathed disc arrays, and high-performance tape technology. The SP-2 can be scaled up with additional processors to handle more complex data volumes and sequences.

The full 2-D onboard processing will be complemented by real-time quality-control processes, including 3-D cubes and data attribute analysis through the Seisport® system developed by Western Geophysical. The Seisport system allows the capture of up to 2,000 channels of seismic data for real-time quality control.

New Appointments in Western

Western Geophysical Senior Vice President Denby Auble will assume dual responsibilities for Technology and Western Hemisphere Operations. Currently Senior Vice President for EAME operations, Auble will relocate to Houston. Senior Vice President Bill Schrom will transfer to London and assume Auble's responsibilities.