China Oilfield Services Ltd. (COSL) completed a 3D seismic survey in the Barents Sea using its 12-streamer seismic vessel HYSY 720.
The operation, over two blocks, had taken 100 days and signified a new monthly seismic data acquisition record of 1820.58sq km for China, says COSL.
COSL highlighted the significance of it working in global markets, but also in the far north, within the Arctic Circle above the latitude 75 degrees.
"The insurance industry has already declared operations in areas above latitude 70 degrees as high risk," COSL says. "This is the first attempt by China in performing 3D seismic data collection in ultra-high latitude and ultra-low-temperature waters."
“HYSY 720 has become the first vessel setting sail to that region in the history of outbound transportation of China. The capability to operate in those waters is rare among the few global geophysical services providers."
COSL's operation team manager Chen Zhiwei said: “We have no precedence to follow for this operation in North Pole. The low temperature operation, the persistent daylight and the narrow window that allowed operation to take place presented unprecedented challenges to team members and the exploration equipment."
COSL also highlighted its efforts towards the environment. The firm says it used low-sulphur fuel oil that met European standards and minimized the impact of the operation on the environment.
There is only a short window of four to five months in a year for operations in Arctic waters, says COSL.
COSL says HYSY 720 is the first deepwater 3D seismic vessel of the latest generation in Asia and the first major deep water seismic vessel proprietarily built in China. It is the first ocean engineering vessel that meets PSPC standards ever designed and built in China and the first 12-streamer dual-source large-scale seismic vessel in China driven by diesel-electric propulsion system that is capable of sail to Class 1 unlimited navigation zone around the world.
COSL says it is now deriving 40% of its revenue from the overseas. In the geophysical data acquisition segment, on the top of its latest Arctic seismic campiagn, another vessel, HYSY 718, has completed operations in New Zealand and the Far East, since the beginning of this year, while vessels HYSY 751 and HYSY 770 are operating in the Middle East.
COSL says it now operates 43 pieces of large-scale equipment in Northern Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the Far East and the Americas.