A new 5,080-square-kilometer wide-azimuth (WAZ) multiclient survey has commenced in the Salina del Istmo Basin in the Gulf of Mexico Bay of Campeche, providing the first 3D coverage over this shallow-water target area that includes the recent Zama-1 discovery, Schlumberger announced.
The project, called WAZ-6, has industry prefunding and is being commissioned by Schlumberger's geophysical services and subsurface data solutions division WesternGeco, using Polarcus acquisition services. The survey will complement existing WesternGeco WAZ coverage, merging with other WesternGeco Campeche WAZ programs.
According to Polarcus, the project incorporates two streamer vessels plus two source vessels. The duration of the project is approximately four months; a total of eight vessel months, it said.
This is the first Polarcus project working for WesternGeco since the divestment of its marine acquisition business in 2018.
“The WAZ-6 project builds on our vast subsurface understanding of Campeche and will help clients solve their illumination and imaging challenges in this geologically complex area,” said Maurice Nessim, president, WesternGeco. “We have acquired and processed more than 72,000 km2 of new WAZ data and reimaged around 95,000 km2 in the Campeche basin alone. This is part of our commitment to help our clients accelerate their exploration plans.”
A range of advanced imaging technologies will be applied to improve reservoir continuity and ensure reliable amplitude and quantitative interpretation (QI) analysis, thus reducing predrilling risk and increasing the exploration success rate. WesternGeco will use cloud computing power to accelerate processing, with expected delivery to clients in late 2020.
The seismic data acquired by Polarcus will be transferred via satellite directly to the client using Polarcus Cirrus. This provides the client with near real-time access to high fidelity seismic data allowing for faster, more informed project decisions and contributing to shortening the exploration cycle.
Polarcus CEO Duncan Eley said, “We are extremely pleased to be underway on this complex, multi vessel project for a new Polarcus client. This will be our second commercial project using the Polarcus Cirrus data transfer and cloud processing offering, helping our clients to shorten the exploration cycle by giving real-time access to their seismic survey data.”