Two companies, GeoSoftware and dGB Earth Sciences, have donated software to aid the teaching and research of oil and gas exploration to the Geophysics Unit of the Department of Physics of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on Wednesday, 30th March 2022 at the Ibis Tek Board Room, College of Science.
Dr. Cyril Dziedzorm Boateng, a lecturer at the Department of Physics and facilitator of the donation, disclosed that the software namely, OpendTect, Hampson-Russel and PowerLog, are some of the most widely used software in the oil and gas industry for reservoir characterisation. The presentation was done by Arnaud Huck, Chief Technology Officer of dGB and Natasha Hunt, Business Manager for GeoSoftware.
In his address, the Provost of the College of Science, Professor Leonard K. Amekudzi revealed that his vision for the College is to build strong partnerships with industry to provide the necessary backbone for the training of students and conducting high-quality research. “The industry and academic relationship are mutually beneficial for human resource development and cutting-edge research. It is possible if industry plays its role by supporting universities with financial and material resources for research,” he said.
Professor Amekudzi expressed his gratitude to the benefactors. “I am very excited about this donation. We are very grateful to you for this generous assistance. If we were to purchase the three software, we would need over $200,000. Therefore, it is quite significant that dGB Earth Sciences and GeoSoftware have decided to donate this software and licenses to the Geophysics Unit of the Department of Physics. I hope this is just the beginning of a fruitful and long-term partnership,” he stated. He appealed to more companies to emulate the worthy example set by dGB Earth Sciences and GeoSoftware to assist the Department in training industry-ready students.
The Coordinator at the Geophysics Unit, Professor Akwasi A. Aning, receiving the software on behalf of the Unit stated that it will enable lecturers to train students on what is currently used in the industry before they graduate. This, he added, will go a long way to shorten the time it takes for oil and gas companies to train students they recruit from the Department. The software will also help the Department’s researchers conduct quality research in oil and gas exploration in Ghana, which would significantly impact Ghana's oil and gas industry.
dGB Earth Sciences B.V. offers leading-edge seismic interpretation software solutions and interpretation services. Its software, OpendTect, is used by more than 50,000 users in 146 countries around the world. They serve thousands of open-source users, thousands of academic users, and hundreds of commercial users. The commercial user base covers the entire spectrum of seismic interpretation users in the Oil and Gas Industry, Geothermal Industry, Mining and Geo-Engineering.
The GeoSoftware provides an advanced package to help Exploration and Production companies develop a better understanding of the subsurface, manage exploration and development risks, and maximize the potential of reserves. The combined capabilities from GeoSoftware provide high-end, integrated, and easy-to-use technologies that effectively address the challenges associated with achieving economically viable exploration and production.