TGS (United Kingdom)

In areas with high impedance contrast reflectors, which are common offshore in the Middle East, the stark contrast between high-velocity formations (typically salt or carbonates) and the surrounding sediments often gives rise to converted wave modes. These occur when compressional (P-wave) energy transforms into shear (S-wave) energy upon encountering the sharp velocity boundaries at the top or base of a high-velocity body. Since S-waves travel more slowly than P-waves, their arrival times differ, and they can appear as misleading deeper events in seismic records. If not properly managed, this energy can obscure true reflections and hinder accurate subsurface interpretation (Elbassiony et al., 2018). For example, one of the main challenges in hydrocarbon exploration within the Messinian salt province of the Eastern Mediterranean is the contamination of P-wave seismic images by these converted wave modes. In this region, the salt typically has interval velocities around 4200–4300 m/s, while adjacent post- and pre-Messinian sediments range from 2400 to 3000 m/s (Jones and Davison, 2014). This sharp velocity contrast promotes mode conversion, especially at steep salt boundaries, often resulting in complex interference patterns in seismic data. While converted waves can occasionally improve subsurface illumination or provide additional geometric insight, they more often act as noise—particularly problematic for imaging sub-salt targets where precision is crucial. This leads to the dilemma for the imaging geophysicist, shall we use the information provided by these shear arrivals or remove these arrivals as noise? Whilst emerging technologies such as elastic FWI tantalisingly offer the opportunity to exploit the information carried by the shear wave arrivals, in exploration areas with little well control, there are likely to be significant uncertainties in shear velocity information (especially in the shallow subsurface) that may hinder this approach. Thus, for the purpose of this paper we will be generally looking at ways of attenuating these unwanted arrivals – without harming the underlying primary arrivals. Among the various types of converted waves, those involving conversion at both the top and base of the salt—such as PSPP and PPSP modes—are especially problematic due to their strong amplitudes and complex moveout behaviour. Symmetrical conversions like PSSP, although theoretically possible, are rarely observed in practice due to their weaker amplitudes and longer travel times. Traditional suppression techniques, such as velocity-based filtering or targeted muting using travel-time models, often fall short in regions with complex or irregular salt geometries.

This extensive study highlights the significant remaining pre-salt and post-salt potential in an open acreage area within the Santos Basin, Brazil's largest producing basin. By utilizing a reprocessed regional 3D seismic dataset, we identified multiple promising leads. The findings underscore the presence of key petroleum system elements and reveal significant exploration opportunities. The region's exploration potential is further enhanced by existing infrastructure for natural gas supply and distribution, making it an attractive area for future investments and development.

Chemicals provide numerous benefits that support and improve the health and welfare of humans and the environment in a wide range of applications. The environmental release of chemicals, however, can result in risks to humans and the environment. Minimizing and eliminating chemical pollution should thus represent an important goal for all stakeholders and rights holders. Recognizing the global concerns associated with chemical pollution, in 2022 the United Nations Environmental Assembly 5.2. approved the adoption of resolution 5/8, declaring that a science-policy panel should be established to contribute further to the sound management of chemicals and waste, and to prevent pollution. Three years later, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel for Chemicals, Waste and Pollution (ISPCWP) was established on the 20th June 2025 at an Intergovernmental Meeting in Punta de Este, Uruguay. A globally harmonized approach and collective international effort can maximize the value of existing national efforts, overcome regional disadvantages related to socioeconomic and geopolitical factors, and fast-track international responses to emerging and legacy chemicals and waste issues. The mission of the ISPCWP will only be achieved with multi-stakeholder and rights owner engagement, a robust scientific foundation, and the sound implementation of policies. A conceptual framework is presented that supports a risk-based prioritization of issues and actions for environmental and human health protection. It is proposed that the conceptual framework provides a tool that can be adopted to support science-based prioritization, and which can facilitate transparency with respect to the decision-making process of the ISPCWP's work programme.

The rat sub-total nephrectomy (SNx) is a functional model of general chronic kidney disease (CKD) where the main pathological driver is glomerular hypertension representative of several subtypes of CKD. Comprehensive transcriptomics and proteomics analyses on the SNx rats were performed to identify biomarkers in plasma or urine that correlate with kidney disease and functional kidney loss. Kidneys were subjected to collagen I and III staining for fibrosis scoring, SWATH-MS proteomics and bulk RNA-sequencing transcriptomics, with SWATH-MS also performed on plasma and urine. Differential expression analysis demonstrated significant dysregulation of genes and proteins involved in fibrosis, metabolism, and immune response in the SNx rats compared to controls. Gene ontology analysis of the intersecting genes and proteins from both studies demonstrated common biology between animal cohorts that reached the predefined kidney disease thresholds (serum creatinine > two-fold or proteinuria > three-fold increase over sham-operated). Thirteen significantly differential molecules were detected with consistent directional changes in both omics datasets. These molecules were detected independently in kidney (both RNA and protein) and urine (protein only), but not in plasma. Bioinformatics analysis enabled the identification of mechanistic CKD biomarkers including lumican and collagen alpha-1(III) chain, whose co-expression has previously been both implicated in fibrosis and detected in urine in CKD patients.

Summary Along the Norwegian Southern Viking Graben flank multiple Triassic-Eocene reservoir sections have been proven prolific on the Utsira High and Heimdal-Gudrun Terrace. Main reservoir targets are Tertiary and Middle Jurassic clastics. The adjacent sub-basins representing the rift graben center have received attention particularly due to Paleocene-Eocene sandstone plays. However, Middle Jurassic reservoirs that are primary targets on the highs and graben flanks are deeply buried and have been tested only locally by a limited number of wells, while most wells penetrate not deeper than Early Cretaceous. Upper Jurassic reservoirs are known on the UK flank of the SVG where petroleum is produced e.g. from the submarine fan clastics of the Brae play and in the Northern Viking Graben, where they are interpreted as syn-rift gravity flow deposits. Recently, a discovery was made in what is initially described as Upper Jurassic turbidites in the outboard Vana sub-basin at a depth of 4650 m. This indicates the presence of syn-rift sediment gravity flow systems in the rift centers. The well results and seismic data interpretation suggest that the Upper Jurassic syn-rift section include mass transport complexes (MTC) in a lateral succession from basin flank head scarp to distal basin floors.

Summary The energy industry is in the process of undergoing a profound digital transformation. This transformation is using advanced technologies to enhance efficiency, safety, and sustainability. User Experience (UX) design plays a pivotal role in this evolution, ensuring that sophisticated tools and data are not only accessible but also useable for professionals in diverse operational contexts. This paper explores the strategic importance of UX in enabling the digital transformation of the energy industry. We discuss examples where UX-driven solutions have empowered decision-making, leading to measurable improvements in performance and quality. By considering the role of the UX in the digital strategy, we will show how we aim to bridge the gap between the technology and the people who rely on it.

Summary The low-frequency sources developed in the last two decades such as Wolfspar® ( Dellinger et al., 2016 ) and the Tuned Pulse Source (TPS) (Ronen and Chelminski, 2017), have been designed to provide lower frequency data for Full Waveform Inversion (FWI). Others, such as the Gemini extended-frequency source ( Brittan et al., 2020 ) are designed to give both low frequencies for FWI and higher frequencies for imaging. As they utilize larger chambers, the new sources require longer refill times and have other operational characteristics that affect survey design compared to traditional air-gun arrays. We describe how we iterate over survey design practices when working with low frequency sources in exploration settings. We illustrate this process using a recent sparse OBN survey in the Gulf of America (GoA).

Summary We propose an elastic dynamic matching full waveform inversion (EDMFWI). Similar to the acoustic case, EDMFWI tries to invert a velocity model that maximizes the local windowed cross-correlation of the dynamically matched synthetic and field datasets with an optimized matching scheme. Though it can be applied to jointly invert multi-parameters like [(v_p,v)] _s and density(ρ), this paper focuses on inverting P wave velocity. With the successful applications to different datasets, it demonstrates that EDMFWI can significantly improve P-wave images by properly handling the elastic impacts in different scenarios: it derives a higher resolution velocity model for a target reservoir with a known class 2p amplitude variation with offset response; in the area where salt bodies present, EDMFWI can produce velocity model with sharp salt interface and reduced salt halo resulting the improved subsalt images; on the other hand, it can significantly improve illumination and fold coverage in the subsalt area by taking advantage of the contribution of mode converted waves at the salt boundaries.