Twenty five years after the Hamill brothers discovered the world's most productive oilfield ever at Spindletop, an emerging exploration technology uncovered oil in Fort Bend County Texas.
The problem in those days was that unless you were
lucky enough to have oil bubbling out of the ground, it was nearly
impossible to figure out exactly where to drill.
You could spend many fortunes drilling test holes,
looking for oil. And if you were even a few feet off of a major vein,
you'd be out of luck - and out of money.
Enter a solution that's still being used and
perfected today...
The year was 1926. A German scientist named Ludger
Mintrop employed an exploration crew for Gulf Oil using technology he had
developed during World War I.
The technology analyzed how sound waves traveled
through space. Mintrop had originally designed it to help locate Allied
artillery firing positions. To do so he set up three of his specialized
instruments, and when the Allied gun fired, he could use the data
gathered by his instruments to triangulate and pinpoint the gun in
question.
After the war, he developed the technique to work
in the earth. Again, he set up a series of instruments, set off a charge,
and measured the time it took the sound waves to travel through the earth
from the point of the charge. The result was a host of data that could
detect changes in geological structures beneath the earth's
surface.
Since certain types of structures were more likely
to hold hydrocarbons (like oil and natural gas) than others, and
Mintrop's tools could tell the difference, this technique was worth a
literal fortune to energy exploration companies. They knew they had to
have it.
Today, energy companies all over the globe rely on
this specialized technology to pinpoint potential oil and natural gas
reserves. It is the only way they can economically explore for these
energy sources.
The technology, broadly known as reflection
seismology or simply as 'seismic' has evolved and is used on land, in
marine environments, and in the transition zone between land and
water.
The companies that make this technology today are
manufacturing a 'must have' for energy explorers. Shooting seismic is
standard procedure before drilling. The best companies are making this
technology more accurate, more efficient to deploy - and as with
technology for computers, phones and most other electronic
devices...
...Seismic technology is now going
mobile.
In the past, most sensors were linked by cables -
shooting miles of seismic required miles of cables. Now, the market is in
transition - getting rid of the cables and moving to cableless
systems.
I can't emphasize enough - this type of mobile
seismic technology is a huge growth catalyst for companies that make and
lease this equipment to seismic contractors.
Mobile seismic technology makes surveying a given
property much more efficient, and potentially much less expensive -
because it's now completely un-tethered by cables.
For the past couple of years survey crews have
been testing this equipment to see if it stands up to the rigors of
intense field work. An April 2010 article in E&P Magazine discussed the
advantages of cableless systems based on trials by major oil and gas
production companies.
The results were overwhelmingly positive, and
suggest that cableless systems can open the 'exploration door' to
previously inaccessible regions, decrease environmental impacts, and
reduce health and safety hazards for seismic
contractors.
With energy demand back on the rise, exploration
crews have begun to rely on these wireless systems for special
applications. I believe their use will become main-stream within the next
decade as older, more cumbersome equipment is phased out, and the
advantages of cableless systems make them standard
equipment.
Right now, the energy market has hit a soft spot.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently forecast that oil demand
will decline in the first half of 2011, and energy stocks have pulled
back as a result. In my opinion, this is not going to last, the IEA's own
forecasts show oil demand rising above record levels later in 2011, and
into 2012.
And as long as there is demand in the world for
oil and natural gas, there will be demand for seismic
equipment.
I believe this soft spot has created a buying
opportunity for energy stocks. I've recently added two companies to my
portfolio that are leaders in seismic technology development. These
additions increased my previous exposure, which included two companies
that are searching for oil and natural gas in regions of the world with
huge, yet untapped, energy production potential.
If you're interested in learning more about the companies that are perfecting this new, vital technology, I encourage you to take a closer look at my research by clicking here now.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.