CGG says it has started acquiring the largest broadband multi-client 3D survey ever shot offshore Norway.
The BroadSeisTM/BroadSourceTM 3D Horda survey will also be the largest broadband multi-client program CGG has acquired in NW Europe.
Extending from the Horda platform in the southeast to the Sogn Graben in the north, the 19,000sq km survey program includes the entire quadrant 35 and large parts of quadrant 31, 32 and 36, and covers more than 80 production licenses, including Troll, Brage, Fram, and Gjøa.
The survey is being acquired by the Viking Vanquish, and a second vessel will join later in the season. The acquisition program will continue in 2015.
Following several recent discoveries, the greater Horda area has become an area of high exploration activity, says CGG. The survey program’s main objective is to provide a large, uniform dataset with increased seismic resolution, which will offer a platform to improve industry understanding of the regional geology.
The survey has received high prefunding from the industry. Early participants have had the option to recommend priority areas and will also be invited to monitor the data processing which will be conducted in CGG’s Oslo subsurface imaging center.
Jean-Georges Malcor, CEO, CGG, said: “CGG is deploying its latest broadband acquisition and subsurface imaging technology on a seismic project of this magnitude in order to meet the industry’s need for state-of-the-art broadband data delivered in a cost-effective manner for a large area offshore Norway where no equivalent data of this quality exists. The Horda project has already been well received among the key players in the Northern North Sea and we expect the survey to generate a significant uplift in data quality and provide a valuable tool for all stages of ongoing and future E&P activity in the region.”