ARKeX announced it has been awarded the first geological and geophysical oil and gas exploration permit by the Bureau of Ocean Management (BOEM). The ARKeX survey will acquire an airborne broadband gravity and magnetic survey over Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) blocks offshore the US east coast.
The broadband gravity system utilizes a full tensor gradiometer (FTG) which will remotely map geological structures, potentially revealing the location of billions of barrels of untapped oil and gas reserves. The ARKeX survey will be acquired in three phases covering nearly 150,000sq km between Virginia and South Carolina.
This large, regional survey will provide a wide bandwidth and high signal-to-noise ratio data set which will become a valuable and long lived component of the exploration knowledge base. It will contribute not only to the assessment of hydrocarbon prospectivity, but also to the optimization of subsequent exploration activity, to the efficient construction of accurate subsurface models and to the understanding of the dynamic structural geology of the region. The measurement techniques employed are completely passive, utilizing no energy source, such that the environmental footprint is only that of a small aircraft.
The new data will be integrated with existing complementary geophysical and geological data including 2D seismic, bathymetry and satellite imagery to develop geological understanding of the area.
The ARKeX survey will be acquired in anticipation of BOEM’s five-year OCS oil and gas leasing program. Acquisition is expected to commence 4Q 2015.
Image: AX FTG survey area map/ARKeX
Subscribe
