AGR Notes New Drilling Technology and Growth Strategy

- AGR Notes New Drilling Technology and Growth Strategy

Thursday, September 01, 2011
AGR Group ASA

AGR Group is embarking on a new growth strategy that will allow it to maximize opportunities presented by today's market conditions. The strategy, announced by Skogen at Pareto, focuses on new technology and closer working relationships across divisions and markets.

AGR Group is launching a new technology which enables safer, cost-effective drilling of wells where reservoir conditions require more precise bottom-hole-pressure management. The EC-Drill® technology, which can be used off both fixed and floating rigs, is expected to enable further growth across the businesses.

Skogen's Pareto address signaled the official launch of this technology, "As a leading provider of technologies for demanding drilling and well operations, we are focused on developing new solutions which can enhance our customers' operations. With some reservoirs located a further 5,000 to 10,000 meters below the seabed, it is imperative that our equipment can handle very high pressures and temperatures."

Skogen also plans to bring the company's drilling technology and petroleum services divisions together to form 'AGR'. He continued, "In addition to EC-Drill® we have developed a range of established and market-leading technologies, including the Riserless Mud Recovery (RMR®) system.

"Previously, our drilling services division operated independently from our petroleum services division. We are now bringing them together to offer customers more choice and flexibility and to allow us to grow the company."

As Skogen turns his attention to growing 'AGR' he is seeking new opportunities for AGR's highly successful Field Operations business.

"Field Operations has grown significantly over the past few years and is today a substantial business. Going forward, we will consider how we can best further develop Field Operations. This is an attractive business and we see a range of interesting opportunities."

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Halliburton Breaks Ground at Brazil Technology Center

- Halliburton Breaks Ground at Brazil Technology Center

Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Halliburton Co.

Halliburton broke ground at the construction site of its new Technology Center at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) Technology Park, located at Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The groundbreaking represents a milestone in the Cooperation Agreement signed in 2010 between Halliburton and the UFRJ for the purpose of providing research and technology development projects in Brazil.

"The Halliburton Brazil Technology Center will provide solutions and services that Halliburton can implement to accelerate deepwater field
development and to continue enhancing production from mature fields," said Tim Probert, president of Strategy and Corporate Development for Halliburton. "It is also an excellent opportunity for our company to collaborate with leading Brazilian universities and customer research centers to solve subsurface challenges in an innovative and economical manner."

The new 7,062-square-meter technology center will have three floors and include specialized laboratories, a collaboration room, a testing area, and conference and training rooms.

Halliburton has had a presence in Brazil for more than 50 years.

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Toyota Working On New Safety Technology

- Toyota Working On New Safety Technology



Jul 21, 2011

Toyota (NYSE:TM) is working on a safety technology that takes control of the steering so the car can swerve away when it isn't able to stop before a collision.

The new technology system uses cameras along with enhanced radar called "millimeter-wave," which will be put in front of the vehicle to, to detect potential crashes such as pedestrians crossing on the road.

Toyota did not comment on when the feature might be offered on a commercial model, or in which markets, but officials implied it was geared up to be offered soon.

Toyota Motor has a potential upside of 8.8% based on a current price of $84.92 and an average consensus analyst price target of $92.4.

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Ford Plans To Invest About $100 Million In Robotic Laser Technology

- Ford Plans To Invest About $100 Million In Robotic Laser Technology



Jun 2, 2011

Ford (NYSE:F) plans to invest about $100 million in robotic laser technology to make parts fit better and reduce wind noise inside the vehicle.

The company said that it was installing the equipment first at plants that make the Ford Focus and the Explorer crossover sport utility vehicle.

Ford Motor has a potential upside of 39.9% based on a current price of $14.23 and an average consensus analyst price target of $19.91.

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Schilling Seeks to Reach New Depths in ROV Technology

- Schilling Seeks to Reach New Depths in ROV Technology

Friday, May 20, 2011
Rigzone Staff
by Karen Boman

Demand for remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) in the offshore oil and gas industry, which uses ROVs for well drilling and development, production facility construction and inspection, repair and maintenance, will continue to grow as strong oil prices and the global economy recovery spur worldwide exploration and development efforts.

Since its establishment in 1985, Schilling Robotics has primarily focused on ROV development for the oil and gas industry. The company's slogan, "So Deep, No One Comes Remotely Close," sums up the company's aim of expanding the technical capabilities of ROVs.

The evolution of subsea systems from mostly static to more dynamic and complex mean that ROVs must be capable of performing complex tasks, said Tyler Schilling, CEO and founder and Schilling Robotics. This evolution has occurred as exploration and production efforts move further in the world's deepwater regions.

Last year, the company launched its Heady Duty (HD) ROV system that can accommodate specific needs of the inspection, maintenance and repair, drill support and medium-duty construction markets. Schilling won the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Spotlight on Technology award for its HD ROV, which is rated for 13,123 feet (4,000 m) to allow for more effective remote deepwater intervention.

Development of this ROV was driven by Schilling's goal of wanting an ROV that could conduct service and repair activities in less than an hour. "Changing out a pump on a conventional hydraulic power unit can take three to six hours to do properly, and is expensive, with the most expensive as much as $9 a second to operate," Schilling said. "Being able to eliminate a three to five hour repair operation is a huge savings for our customers." Schilling said efforts are underway to map these technologies for fast service and repair for Schilling's UHD ROV model.

The Davis, California-based company has been collaborating with FMC Technologies to improve remote intervention of subsea equipment. Schilling accepted an investment from FMC in the company last year because "the direction we believe remote intervention needs should go in are related," said Schilling. While Schilling conducted all the development work on its HD ROV, input from FMC helped Schilling better understand the requirements that oil and gas companies have for ROV technology.

As part of this collaboration, Schilling has been working to developing an ROV system in which the camera and other equipment will target visual aids that FMC has installed on its subsea equipment panels. This allows the ROV system to do automatic work on the panels. Developing ROVs and subsea equipment together makes for more efficient and effective subsea intervention operations, Schilling said. "We believe further extensions of this technology will have ROVs capable of reading codes from those symbols and knowing what the characteristics of those underwater devices. This means that operators will not need to keep track of quite as much specification information. Information will be automatically retrieved, not unlike bar coding at the store that tells the cash register what item you're scanning."

This joint development is a new practice within the energy industry, but if we can cut the time it takes to do a single activity, it would really help customers, Schilling said. "It's not uncommon to have a circumstance in which an ROV can't actually perform the activity intended by the sea floor equipment designer, so operators have to improvise offshore to get a task done," Schilling said. "We're trying to bring about circumstances in which the ROV and the subsea floor equipment are designed together."

Since the Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, which brought ROV and other offshore work in the region to a halt, Schilling has seen its customers wanting accessories for ROVs that allow them to deliver fluids, and that can override a blowout preventer at a much higher rate. While the BOP is typically actuated from the drilling rig, an ROV can be used as a backup if remotely closing it fails. The ROV will fly over the BOP with a hot stab, plug the hot stab into a panel, causing it to close.

One general trend Schilling sees for ROVs is greater degree of automation, or intent interface, for ROVs. "Rather than an operator pushing all the little buttons to make this complicated machine work, they tell the machine what they intend to do, and the machine takes care of the rest," Schilling said.

This trend has led Schilling to focus on making machines easy to use as their use in offshore oil and gas grows. The company has developed a method to simplify hot stabs, which are used to power hydraulic tools, transfer fluid, perform chemical injections, and to monitor pressure, in which a robot arm on the ROV places a hot stab in a receptacle on a subsea tree.

Schilling also has developed a stationkeeping system for its UHD and HD ROVs to automatically position an ROV; before that, ROVs had to be controlled manually, meaning an ROV pilot would have to monitor the ROV's position in relation to a Christmas tree and issue corrective commands through a joystick. Now, a computer monitors the ROVs' position, allowing the pilot to focus on the job he or she is getting paid for, which is getting quality video, Schilling said..

Additionally, the company has developed a wrist-mounted camera to allow ROV pilots to perform closer inspection tasks. This product is available to any customer who buys a manipulator from Schilling.

Breakthroughs in silicon and software technology enabled the evolution of cars, and Schilling believes the adaptation of more silicon and software in subsea equipment and ROVs will help the oil and gas industry take advantage of the efficiencies of productivity. However, the cost of packaging electronics for use in the ocean is huge, and many times more expensive than in other industries. Serviceability of parts, which is expensive, is another hurdle.

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CAVU to Boost Production from Chisholm Wells

CAVU to Boost Production from Chisholm Wells

Tuesday, May 10, 2011
CAVU Resources, Inc.

CAVU Resources, Inc. announced Tuesday that the Company is utilizing new technology and introducing computer controlled directional drilling and enhanced dewatering processes to recomplete two wells on the Chisholm lease. CAVU plans on reentering two of its existing wells, utilizing chemical stimulation and dewatering processes after drilling four horizontal legs out from each well.

The two producing wells were originally drilled in the 1950s to the Bromide formation at about 3,000 feet. The wells will be deepened to the Oil Creek formation at about 3,800 feet with the horizontal legs to be drilled in zones with oil shows out 1,000' to 1,500' in four different directions. This allows for production in multiple zones without the cost of drilling four separate wells. Based on analyses from surrounding wells is estimated that the Bromide and Oil Creek zones can produce up to 200 barrels of oil per day, (BOPD) per well.

"After reviewing our recent production and well log analyses from the Chisholm Lease, we are very confident that we should hit our targets for the seven current wells we have reentered or plan to, which would put our combined production at between 10 to 200 BOPD per well. This is part of an old Marathon Oil water flood, where over 4 million of barrels of oil were recovered. We feel this field and surrounding acreage has the great potential, using the new technology we are introducing and drilling offset wells that could provide increased reserves and long term cash flow. We currently in negotiations for targeted lease opportunities in the surrounding area. These leases have producing wells that we will introduce a similar rework program as we have on the Chisholm lease. This along with potential new development and drilling programs could quickly duplicate our projected production," said William Robinson, President of CAVU Resources, Inc.

CAVU was formed with the goal of becoming a recognized regional player in the independent oil and natural gas industry by growing the company's oil and natural gas reserves. CAVU is a natural resource company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of oil and natural gas properties. The Company operates in the upstream segment of the oil and gas industry with planned activities including the drilling, completion and operation of oil and gas wells in Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Montana and Texas. The Company also owns two pipelines in its area of operations, which will be used for gathering its gas and oil and the gas and oil production of other producers. The Company has acquired leases and is currently exploring additional opportunities in oil and gas leases. The company has acquired significant oil and gas equipment including rigs, trucks and completion equipment.

CAVU's 100% owned subsidiaries, CAVU Energy Services, LLC provides contract drilling, fracture stimulation and directional drilling services to oil, natural gas exploration and production companies. EnviroTek Fuel Systems, Inc., provides natural gas delivery and marketing thru its own pipelines and FILO quip Resources, LLC a licensed Oil and Gas Operating Company manages the company's properties and targeted leases in Oklahoma, Colorado and Montana.

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Plexus Bags Gazflot Contract in Okhotsk Sea

Plexus Bags Gazflot Contract in Okhotsk Sea

Thursday, April 07, 2011

Plexus Holdings plc

Plexus has signed an agreement to supply as the end user Gazflot, a subsidiary of leading Russian oil and gas company Gazprom, with its proprietary TRT-S™ mudline suspension ('MLS') equipment for oil and gas exploration drilling activities for one well offshore West Kamchatka in the Magadan Basin in the Okhotsk Sea, Russia. The contract for the supply of both MLS and service is worth approximately $500,000 USD, and is expected to be completed by November 2011.

Plexus' patented TRT-S MLS equipment enables jack-up drilling rigs to transfer casing loads from a rig to the sea bed whilst allowing for a subsequent planned disengagement and possible suspension platform tieback options for a wellhead system. Due to climate conditions in the West Kamchatka region drilling activities for the well can only be conducted from May to September. However it is anticipated that additional wells will be drilled in 2012, of which Plexus is hopeful to tender both MLS services and potentially for the supply of its POS-GRIP surface wellhead equipment technology.

Plexus CEO Ben van Bilderbeek said, "This contract marks yet another geographic milestone in Plexus' growth strategy as it continues to develop into an internationally recognised force in the supply of specialised and technically superior oil and gas wellhead and equipment services. Not only is Gazflot a new customer for the Company, Russia is also a new region for us and one in which Plexus is focussed on gaining a foothold in given the ever increasing number of opportunities with large operators active in the Russian Artic Shelf such as Rosneft and Lukoil.

"I would also like to highlight that our equipment allows the removal of temporary abandonment caps through the blow out preventer ('BOP'), and for tie back to occur before the abandonment caps are removed. The importance of such an essential safety feature was formally recognised by the Montara Commission of Inquiry Report in June 2010 in relation to the oil spill incident offshore Australia in late 2009."

Bahamas Petroleum Contracts CGGVeritas for Seismic Services

Bahamas Petroleum Contracts CGGVeritas for Seismic Services

Friday, April 01, 2011
Bahamas Petroleum Co. plc

Bahamas Petroleum has signed a Letter of Award with CGGVeritas to carry out a minimum of 1500 km2 3D seismic survey across its Southern license area. The details of the contract are to be finalized in April 2011 with commencement of operations in May 2011. Bahamas Petroleum Company will engage the ship 'Veritas Viking' to acquire the seismic 3D survey. The Veritas Viking will use ten seismic streamers incorporating CGGVeritas' new BroadSeis technology for the first time in the Americas.

Paul Crevello, Chief Executive of Bahamas Petroleum Company, said, "I am very pleased to announce the award of this 3D seismic contract to CGGVeritas. CGGVeritas is one of the world's most proficient seismic survey providers and its BroadSeis technology is regarded as being one of the most advanced systems. We are looking forward to commencing operations in May 2011. Fast track interpretation of the data will follow with results to be announced thereafter. The Government of the Bahamas are fully supportive of this program and we are working closely with them to put regulations and protocols in place for further exploration."

DNS Outlines Strategy to Aid UK Companies in Decommissioning Work

DNS Outlines Strategy to Aid UK Companies in Decommissioning Work

Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Rigzone Staff
by  Karen Boman

Decom North Sea (DNS), an industry body established in 2010 to assist UK companies in obtaining work opportunities in future North Sea decommissioning activity, now has more than 120 members, and is stepping up effort to help companies pursue decommissioning work opportunities.

DNS Chief Executive Brian Nixon said, "With around £1billion of decommissioning expenditure forecast annually for the UK North Sea by 2015 and only 7% of projects completed to date, there is a clear need for us to support our supply chain to secure maximum business potential.

"Compelling support was recorded for Decom North Sea to look at increasing current activities, namely networking events which provide value to our members; regional and topical focus groups; industry communication and knowledge sharing; mapping the supply chain strengths and capabilities; further development of appropriate contracting models: and facilitating introductions across the industry."

In addition, a range of more strategic initiatives and opportunities have been identified and prioritized including the following:-

• provision of detailed and reliable market intelligence drawn from existing industry sources and filtered to be easily accessible by DNS members – (an industry led workgroup has now been established to lead this initiative)
• facilitate groups of members to share information, form alliances, address technologies etc.
• research decommissioning in other sectors including nuclear and salvage, to study how they deal with timing uncertainty, identify areas for transfer of experience, cross business opportunities etc. – (a first workshop on nuclear synergies has been held, with a separate group reviewing the salvage industry)
• be active with governments, regulators and operators on behalf of DNS membership
• understand capabilities and gaps relating to people, processes and technologies, and then put in place mechanisms to address the issues and opportunities – (a skills steering group is now in place)
• promote existing capability, new capacity, case studies etc.
• engage with the financial investment community to understand their drivers – promote awareness of members capabilities and needs, facilitate introductions
• look overseas to identify market opportunities and to promote member capabilities.

Nixon added, "These initiatives are listed in line with the priorities established recently by board members. The next step is for Decom North Sea to scope out and assess the level and type of resource that will be required to progress and deliver them."

In line with the priorities identified, DNS has organized a program of events, seminars and share fairs in collaboration with regional energy development organizations and government agencies, with activity covering the north-east, Highlands and Central Belt in Scotland, and the north-east and south-east in England where most of the potential supply chain for the decommissioning market is based.

DNS Board Chairman Murdo MacIver said, "One of the principle reasons for setting up Decom North Sea was to provide a mechanism for sharing non commercial information and to establish a platform that would allow companies from across the industry to obtain consistent and clear information. The recent strategy consultation, which involved all the new directors recently voted onto the board, has fully supported this and it is great to see some real drive and enthusiasm from the board in delivering these strategic objectives."

Editorial: Oil NIMBY-ism

Editorial: Oil NIMBY-ism

Monday, March 28, 2011

The Washington Post

When was the last time an American president stood before an audience in a foreign country and announced that he looked forward to importing more of its oil? Answer: Just over a week ago, when President Obama joined political and business leaders in Brasilia in hailing the fact that their newly discovered offshore petroleum reserves might be twice as large as those in the United States. Americans "want to help with technology and support to develop these oil reserves safely, and when you're ready to start selling, we want to be one of your best customers," Mr. Obama said.

Brazil is probably a more stable, secure supplier than, say, Libya. Still, the president's words were ironic. Brazil already produces vast quantities of a fuel - ethanol - that the U.S. government, under a policy long supported by presidents and farm-state members of Congress from both parties, has promoted as a green alternative to gasoline. But the United States, protecting its own heavily subsidized ethanol industry by means of a 2.5 percent tariff and a 54-cent-per-gallon duty, prevents Americans from importing all but trivial amounts of the stuff from Brazil. Therefore, we need more oil - much of it imported. In Brasilia, Mr. Obama spoke of strengthening U.S.-Brazilian technical cooperation on ethanol but did not propose allowing U.S. protectionist measures to lapse after their scheduled expiration on Dec. 31.

As for offshore drilling, Mr. Obama's enthusiasm for punching holes in the ocean floor off Brazil is hard to reconcile with his decision, announced Dec. 1, to keep the waters off the East and West coasts and the eastern Gulf of Mexico off-limits to exploration indefinitely. His policy was a reversal of an earlier decision he had made to open some of those areas. We can understand that reversal, after the massive oil spill in the western Gulf last year. And, demonstrating a measure of flexibility even after the disaster, the administration has announced five deep-water drilling permits in the western Gulf since the spill.

The vast majority of U.S. shores, however, have remained off-limits for decades. This, too, is a policy made by two parties, with Republicans opposing drilling when it suited them; President George W. Bush prevented drilling off the Florida Gulf Coast in part to boost his brother Jeb's 2002 run for a second term as governor. But it is tough to reconcile with U.S. eagerness to "help" Brazil pump oil off its coasts and ship it here. U.S. companies, enticed by government loan guarantees, are already lined up to sell Brazil drilling equipment and services. Forget the implications for U.S. dependency on foreign sources. What does this posture say about American regard for the natural environment outside U.S. territory?

Privileged residents of scenic landscapes in America have long cried "NIMBY" - "Not In My Back Yard" - to stave off unwanted but necessary projects, from railway tracks to wind farms to power lines. Now NIMBY-ism, it seems, has become U.S. policy on offshore oil production. But the Nigerias, Angolas and Brazils of the world do not have that luxury. This makes no sense, economically or environmentally, and, sooner or later, a more balanced view must prevail. 

Eni Inks MoU for Ukraine Upstream Cooperation

Eni Inks MoU for Ukraine Upstream Cooperation

Monday, March 28, 2011
Eni S.p.A

The Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mykola Zlochevskiy of Ukraine and Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni signed in Kiev a Memorandum of Understanding defining the framework for possible cooperation initiatives in exploration and production of hydrocarbons in Ukraine.

The parties agreed to collaborate on the study of initiatives in conventional and unconventional oil and gas on the basis of a mutual sharing of data, competencies and technology. They also arranged to set up a joint working team that will begin the evaluation of such opportunities.

During his visit to Kiev, Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni also had the opportunity to meet with the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuriy Boyko to discuss possible cooperation in Ukrainian upstream sector.

Aker Solutions Delivers 100th Subsea Tree to Statoil's Troll

Aker Solutions Delivers 100th Subsea Tree to Statoil's Troll

Friday, March 25, 2011
Aker Solutions

Aker Solutions has reached a major milestone in delivering the 100th subsea tree to the world's largest subsea field development - Statoil's Troll.

A subsea tree is a key technology enabling oil and gas production directly from a subsea well to a processing facility. The tree is essentially an advanced set of valves and is used together with associated technologies to control the well flow. The subsea tree is an integral part of a subsea production system.

The Troll field is located in the northern part of the North Sea, approximately 65 kilometers west of Kollsnes, near Bergen in Norway. The field contains 40 per cent of the total gas reserves on the Norwegian continental shelf and is also one of the largest oil fields on the continental shelf.

"Aker Solutions has a proud history of subsea design, manufacturing and installation of subsea production systems and the delivery of Troll subsea tree number 100 is a testimony to our capabilities," said Mads Andersen, Executive Vice President of Aker Solutions and head of the subsea business.

The vision of embarking on a large subsea project began in 1991 when Kvaerner Energy, now known as Aker Solutions, started developing a subsea tree. In July 1996, they were awarded a major contract for the delivery of 65 subsea trees for the Troll project which opened up for the opportunity to be a major player in the subsea production system market. The delivery to Norsk Hydro, now Statoil, started in the spring of 1997.

The contract award and deliveries for the Troll project have helped to shape and develop Aker Solutions' subsea business. Today, the company is one of the major suppliers of subsea production systems in the world and the Tranby technology and manufacturing center outside Oslo, which is the main production site for subsea trees in Norway, has grown to employ over 500 people. In total, the subsea business in Aker Solutions employs more than 4300 people globally.

Aker Solutions continues to develop their technology to solve the challenges of deeper water, higher pressures and temperatures, longer step-outs and increased oil recovery demands.

"Aker Solutions is constantly breaking new technology frontiers to find solutions for more demanding fields. At the same time, we are developing smarter, more robust and adaptable technologies to standardize our existing portfolio of subsea production systems," said Andersen.

Shell was initially the operator of Troll when the first block was awarded in 1979. A large gas field with underlying oil was discovered in the same year and the field was then declared commercial in 1983. During the same year, the three neighboring blocks were awarded to Statoil, Norsk Hydro and Saga Petroleum.
Shell's block contained 32% of the Troll field's reserves while the remaining 68% were discovered in the other three blocks. In 1985, the two licenses were merged and Troll was developed as a field. Statoil became the operator for Troll Gas in 1996, while Norsk Hydro began production from Troll Oil in the autumn of 1995.

Of the 100 trees delivered to Statoil, 99 of them are oil producing
trees and one of them is a water injection tree. Thirty-two of the subsea trees are connected to the Troll B platform and the rest are connected to the Troll C platform.

Shell and HP advance seismic sensing capabilities

Shell and HP advance seismic sensing capabilities

March 23, 2011

Shell and HP have announced a breakthrough in the capability of their jointly developed inertial sensing technology to shoot and record seismic data at much higher sensitivity and at ultra-low frequencies.

The new onshore wireless seismic acquisition system is designed to provide a clearer understanding of the earth's subsurface, thus increasing prospects for discovering greater quantities of oil and gas to meet the world's increasing energy needs.

The sensing technology has now been demonstrated to have a noise floor - a measure of the smallest detectable acceleration over a range of frequencies - of 10 nano-g per square root Hertz (ng/rtHz), which is equal to the noise created by the earth's ocean waves at the quietest locations on earth as defined by the Peterson Low Noise Model. The tests were conducted in the seismic testing vault at the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory facility in New Mexico.

"Responding to the energy challenge, the oil and gas industry is tackling ever deeper and more complex reservoirs, as well as reservoirs in very tight rock systems," said Dirk Smit, chief scientist for Geophysics and vice president of Exploration Technology, Shell.

"In particular, for onshore settings, this requires enhanced quality seismic data as well as the cost-efficient, flexible deployment of seismic sensor networks. The collaboration with HP demonstrates Shell's strategic approach to driving innovative technology solutions through active partnering."

"This new sensing milestone is the latest step in the collaboration between HP and Shell, which is on track to produce a leap forward in onshore seismic data quality to improve the exploration risk evaluation and decisions, illustrating the industry-wide benefits that can be achieved through cross-company innovation," said Rich Duncombe, senior strategist, Technology Development Organization, Imaging and Printing Group, HP.

At the test facility, HP was able to compare the seismic response of the new sensor side by side with a USGS reference sensor when an earthquake occurred in the Gulf of California during the testing period. The signal from the reference sensor was matched by the new sensor down to 25 mHz, verifying the sensor's response at low frequencies.

The seismic system uses the breadth of HP's technology development capabilities as well as Shell's advanced geophysical expertise in seismic data acquisition systems and operations. As such, this collaboration builds on the core strengths of each company to advance technology in this field.

The system will be delivered by HP Enterprise Services and the company's Imaging and Printing Group (IPG). It is based in part on the high-performance sensing technology originally co-developed by HP Labs - the company's central research arm - along with IPG and Shell research in seismic network design.

HP and Shell's collaboration is a cornerstone for an information ecosystem that empowers people to make better, faster decisions to improve safety, security and environmental sustainability while transforming business economics. Sensing solutions are positioned to provide a new level of awareness through a network of sensors, data storage and analysis tools that monitor the environment, assets, and health and safety.

Additional information on HP's integrated sensing solutions, and the collaboration between HP and Shell, is available at www.hp.com/go/sensingsolutions.

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