Oil companies are licensing seismic data in the U.S. as a cost effective alternative to shooting new data.
Phillips Petroleum Co. returned to licensing its selected data through independent brokers in fourth quarter 1988.
The company has shot in nearly every oil producing state, including Oklahoma, Alaska, Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, California, and the Rocky Mountain states.
Phillips' data are available through Seismic Exchange Inc., (SEI) Houston, and North American Exploration Co., Englewood, Colo.
Both companies have been successful in providing Phillips seismic data to oil exploration companies, supplying sample seismic shot point location maps, meeting and negotiating with interested parties, and providing advice and guidelines.
SEI licensed more Phillips data in 1990 than it did in 1989. It expects the trend to continue this year, said John Havens, president.
LICENSING PROCESS
The customer requests from a broker an 8 in. by 11 in. stick map showing the location of seismic data Phillips has available.
If the line is located in the customer's area of interest, he can request a viewing to check data quality and make sure shot point locations are acceptable. Next comes a firm order.
"Typically, seismic data are licensed at around the same price by all companies for the same vintage and multiplicity of data, so price is secondary to quality and location," says Hugh Reeves, licensing consultant for Phillips.
The broker's organization helps pinpoint the seismic data more quickly than if an oil exploration company conducted the data search on its own, Reeves said.
Seismic data are licensed by the mile, with 5 mile minimums, at license fees of $900-1,750/mile.
"These costs are generally 15-20% of the price an oil company would pay to shoot the data on its own," Havens said.
Phillips began recording common depth point/common reflection point seismic data in the early to mid 1950s.
SEI handles Phillips data covering Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and New Mexico. North American handles Phillips data covering Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, and Oklahoma.
Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
