Dolphin Geophysical AS is using the M/V Polar Duchess to acquire a 1500km seismic survey for Ophir Energy and WHL Energy. The ship left the Seychelles port of Victoria on 5 July.
The survey will cover the Junon Block, in the Seychelles Exclusive Economic Zone, about 125km southeast of the main Seychelles island of Mahé.
The two-year old Polar Duchess is rigged with Sercel SSAS Sentinel streamers and is capable of towing 14 streamers at 100m separation. Dolphin says it will take up to seven weeks to acquire the survey. The Polar Duchess uses software developed by Open Geophysical (OGI) for real-time quality control of data during acquisition.
"The vessel will be traveling at a speed of around 8-9 km/hr while towing ten 6km-long cables,” Bruno Webster, the shore representative for Dolphin Geophysical, told the Seychelles News Agency before they left Port Victoria on Saturday.
The Polar Duchess will be accompanied by three support vessels and has armed security personnel on board.
This is the second 3D seismic survey in the Seychelles Exclusive Economic Zone, with the previous survey focused on the area northwest of Mahé.
In April, the Seychelles’ government approved Ophir Energy's plan to acquire 75% interest in WHL's offshore Seychelles assets. Ophir will fund the initial 1500sq km 3D seismic acquisition program, up to US$17million.
David Rowbottam, WHL Energy’s Managing Director, said: “It is very pleasing to see the Seychelles project reach an important milestone with the acquisition of the first 3D dataset in the acreage. Because of the geological nature of the Seychelles region, it is believed that 3D seismic data will provide a significant upgrade to the understanding of our large exploration area. The Junon 3D dataset for example is expected to provide a high definition image of the Junon structures and provide a number of prospects for targeted drill site selection.”
Related news:
Ophir moves into Seychelles, 4 March 2014
Seychelles extension for WHL, 11 September 2013
Full stream ahead, 1 May 2013
Dolphin Geophysical, 27 May 2012
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