Largest 3D-seismic in the last 10 years/Old an new oil fields in target/Stayed on schedule and budget
Heidelberg. The oil and gas company Rhein Petroleum GmbH, co-founded by Deutsche Rohstoff AG, announces that the extensive 3D seimsic campaign in Hesse, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria has been successfully completed.
Dr. Michael Suana, Managing Director and CTO of Rhein Petroleum, commented: “We are proud that our young company successfully completed the largest German 3D seismic survey of the last 10 years. The present rough analyses indicate a number of potential oil or gas bearing structures, including large structures. After completion of the evaluation work, we will devise an appropriate drilling program and preferably drill the first hole this year. “
The seismic acquisition began in early September 2011 in the license area “Mindelheim”, in the Lower Allgau. It covered an area of 157 km2 north-east of the city of Memmingen. In this area, the former largest Bavarian oil field Arlesried is situated, which produced about 14 million barrels between 1964 and 1994. The field has significant remaining potential that can be developed economically with current technology. In the surrounding areas fields with remaining potential as well as undiscovered deposits are assumed. The seismic there was completed in November 2011.
In the Hessian part of the Upper Rhine Valley, in the license area “Nördlicher Oberrhein,” the survey started in late October 2011. For the 245 km2 area along the river Rhine north of Mannheim, right up to Darmstadt, the work continued until the end of March 2012. It is a densely populated area, which also contains some old fields, Stockstadt among others. These fields produced around 7 million barrels of oil from 47 wells between 1952 and 1994. Here, too, undiscovered deposits are assumed in the surrounding areas (“near-field potential”).
The third study in the license area “Karlsruhe-Nord” and “Graben-Neudorf “began in early January 2012 and was completed on 16 May. The survey in these two licenses covered an area of 270 km2. Especially in this area “Speyer-like” oil fields are expected. Speyer was discovered by chance a few years ago (by geothermal drilling). It is the largest oil field in Southern Germany yet that has gone into production in the meantime. According to the operators it has recoverable reserves of 50 million barrels of oil.
For the license areas “Mindelheim” and “Karlsruhe-Nord” partnerships exist with Wintershall and GDF SUEZ. Both large companies entrusted Rhein Petroleum with the operatorship of the 3D seismic. Both the budget and the schedule were met without any variances despite the size of the campaign. A total of 672 km2 were surveyed.
Rhein Petroleum sees the quick and relatively easy implementation of such a large survey in densely populated regions as a remarkable success. This was made possible by a very experienced team and professional management, close cooperation with the involved authorities and a very open communication with the public. In the three licence areas, there were information centres for citizens and the contracted service providers distributed thousands of information leaflets to all households who were situated in the survey area. The local media reported extensively before and during the surveys. The response was predominantly very positive.
Heidelberg, 31 May 2012
Deutsche Rohstoff AG (Heidelberg, Germany), listed in the Entry Standard segment of Frankfurt Stock Exchange, is establishing a new primary producer. The company’s focus is placed on gold, oil & gas and so called high tech metals such as tin, tungsten, and rare earth metals. All projects are located in countries marked by political stability, the core area being Germany. The business concept is based on redeveloping deposits, which have been well explored in the past. For more information please visit www.rohstoff.de.
The purpose of seismic investigations is to ensure a better understanding of the construction profile/structure of possible oil or natural gas layers and thereby significantly improve the chances of locating them. The 3D seismic technology/design enables a representation of the area of the geological structures beneath the surface following an evaluation of the recorded data. For this, there are measurements performed over certain periods of time with the amplitude of sound waves, which are artificially generated at the earth’s surface and run underground. The inaudible sound waves generated have frequencies of between 12 Hz and 100 Hz and are referred to as ”seismic waves“. These seismic waves are so weak that they can only be detected with highly sensitive measuring instruments (geophones). For more information please visit www.rheinpetroleum.de
Contact:
Dr. Thomas Gutschlag
Deutsche Rohstoff AG
Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 24, 69117 Heidelberg
Tel. (06221) 87 100-0
Fax (06221) 87 100-22
info@rohstoff.de
www.rohstoff.de
Horst Koppelstätter
Koppelstätter Kommunikation GmbH
Friedrichstraße 2, 76530 Baden-Baden
Tel. (07221) 97372 11
Fax (07221) 97372 22
hok@koppelstaetter-kommunikation.de