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Incoming SEG Pres. Beasley links energy demand, need for research

Oil & Gas Journal

An important product of past research is 3D seismic, which oil companies consistently cite as especially valuable, Beasley notes. But the value creators have largely missed out on the rewards.

"When you look at providers of that [set of 3D technologies], it hasn't been very profitable for them."

Evolving role
Along with profitability challenges, geophysical contractors have had trouble communicating to the financial world their complex activities and evolving role in the upstream petroleum business.

Outside the oil and gas industry, for example, the view persists that seismic surveys are principally exploratory tools; in fact, seismic and other geophysical methods have become at least as important to reservoir monitoring and production management as they are to exploration. When investors hear that exploration is declining in relation to development activities, Beasley says, some of them conclude the news is bad for geophysical contractors.

"The old split of oil companies' efforts into exploration and production in a way doesn't fit with today's reality very well," he says. For example, production departments often conduct work that's technically exploration in existing fields.