From Bulletin 1997, N.2

THE HISTORY OF SCHLUMBERGER ITALIANA

In Italy the discovery of hydrocarbons goes back to Roman times and sipping of oil to the surface were exploited already during the Neolithic period. The first real drilling of a well for oil, however, was carried out at Salsomaggiore in 1860. In the same field on the 4th of January 1937 , the logging engineer O. Barbey was sent out from Paris by SPES-Societè de Prospection Electrique Schlumberger to record the first electrical log in Italy -a Normal Device for Resistivity and -a Spontaneous Potential for Porosity and Lithology in Well No. 101 for the Oil Company SPI of Fornovo.

Since then, Schlumberger, the company founded by the two brothers Conrad and Marcel in France, has been the "well doctor" for all the oil companies involved in hydrocarbon search in Italy.

In 1912 Conrad Schlumberger conceived the idea for electrical measurements and his father Paul, who was the first sponsor, wrote:

"I undertake to supply my sons Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger with the necessary funds for research on the use of electrical measurements, for the exploration of the subsurface. For their part my sons agree not to dilute their efforts by working in other areas. In this undertaking the interests of scientific research take precedence over financial ones. Marcel will bring to Conrad his remarkable ability as an engineer and his common sense. Conrad on the other hand will be the man of science. I will support them."

In 1921 the two brothers opened an office in Paris, at rue Saint-Dominique near Les Invalides, which still today remains the headquarters for Schlumberger Limited. During the following years they conducted geophysical surveys in Romania, Serbia, Canada, South Africa, Congo and USA. In 1927 the first electrical log was recorded in the well -Diefenbach at Pechelbronn, Alsace. During the 1930 well surveying was conducted in Venezuela, India and Russia with further expansion into Germany, Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, Austria and Borneo. Schlumberger Well Services was founded in Houston, which became the temporary world headquarters in 1940.

The same logging equipment used to record the first Italian log in Salsomaggiore was then rented to SPI during the second war and operated by their own specialised crew and engineers.

In 1948 Pierre Giraud opened the first permanent base in Italy at Collecchio -Officine Zaccardi and then moved to the legendary via Moletolo 1, at the time, a small suburb of Parma. His wife Francoise still remembers her husband going to work on VESPA 98cc and spending week-ends with Enrico Mattei fly fishing in the Adda river.

The first company called SPEI, for Società Prospezione Elettrica Italiana, conducted the survey not only for the discovery of the light oil "Supercortemaggiore" but also for the detection of shallow gas in the Po valley where the logging bill was paid in Sangiovese and Lambrusco wine, eels from Comacchio and "culatello ham" from Busseto.

Marcel Delessert, a Swiss engineer who replaced Giraud in 1960, one day was called by the "Questura di Bologna" and put in jail, because one Fiat Topolino stopped in via Emilia by the road police for a control was found overloaded with shaped charges for the perforation of a well, while the driver had declared that he was just transporting caps. Marcel then asked the questore to phone the "Onorevole Mattei" in Rome and after the call he was free to return to work.

In '58 AGIP drilled down to 5100 meters in Piadena the deepest well in Europe. For the logging of the well, Schlumberger sent among the other engineers the young trainee Bruno Massenti, who several years later became the general Manager of SISPA Schlumberger Italiana in Parma via Manara.

"Wherever the drilling goes, Schlumberger goes"

or as Cesare Colamasi uses to say:

"Schlumberger is like Coca-Cola, you find them everywhere".

In 1955 Schlumberger opened a base in Catania with "Blouson noir" Renè Mathivet and later moved the workshop to Ragusa for the Gulf operations. In 1956 after the discovery by Petrosud of Cigno and Cellino fields the Pescara base started to operate particularly for the development of the Candela Palino and Ascoli Satriano gas fields. A satellite base was later established in Crotone after the Luna discovery.

In 1959, when Agip drilled the first European offshore well in the Sicilian Sea off Gela, offshore skids had not yet been invented, so Schlumberger brought a truck on the Saipem Scarabeo1 to log and perforate the well Gela Mare 21.

Logging a well is not only important for hydrocarbon detection but also for geothermal exploration, so special high temperature equipment was provided for surveys in " soffioni boracciferi " for SAFEN near Naples and for ENEL in Larderello.

In 1968 after the discovery offshore Adriatic of important gas reservoirs Umberto Gragnani moved the Parma workshop to Ravenna and Piero Bruni the SISPA district office to Milano to be close to Metanopoli. With the discovery by Agip of the deep Malossa field the first 15000 psi well-head pressure equipment was introduced in Europe and a specialised base was opened in Canonica d'Adda and subsequently in Fizzonasco when the activity shifted to Villa Fortuna/ Trecate. In 1981 when Elf Italiana , after the discovery of the Rospo Mare field decided to drill horizontally , a world première of horizontal logging was accomplished.

In November 1983, due to the expansion of the oil exploration, the Latin Training Centre (LTC) was opened near Parma. The school facilities consisting of class rooms, laboratories and wells , cased with plastic liners, are used for the on-the-job training of young graduate engineers. In 1986 Schlumberger Italiana acquired Flopetrol ,creating the Wireline and Testing Division. A year later at Stresa was presented the Well Evaluation Conference book- WEC Italia 1987, the result of a joint effort between Italian Oil Companies and Schlumberger. This book is a valuable reference work for the Italian hydrocarbon industry providing an accurate description of Italian geology and of the most modern logging and testing techniques.