CGGVeritas completes Jamaica 2D survey

Offshore staff

PARIS -- CGGVeritas has completed an extensive multi-client long-offset 2D survey offshore Jamaica. The survey was conducted in cooperation with the Petroleum Corp. of Jamaica (PCJ) to complement the second official offshore Jamaica licensing round, expected to be announced in early 2010.

The new 6,118-km (3,802-mi) survey was acquired by the CGGVeritas vessel Discoverer 2 deploying a 9,450-m (31,004-ft) long streamer and a 3,980 cubic inch point source over the Pedro Bank area to deep water with strong currents.

The survey will be processed and made available to the international oil and gas industry well in advance of the licensing round application deadline. An additional 2,594 km (1,612 mi) of 2D multi-client data, covering licensed blocks 9, 13, and 14 and tying the two exploration wells in the Pedro Bank area, have also been acquired for availability to the industry ahead of the licensing round.

The objective of the long-offset survey is to delineate the tectonic setting and prospectivity of the North and South Nicaragua Rise area offshore Jamaica as well as its relation to the more well known area of the Walton basin (Pedro Bank area). The survey covers large, essentially uncharted and unexplored deepwater areas south of Jamaica and is tied to existing seismic data and exploration wells, the company says.

“We expect the results of this survey to be instrumental in understanding the prospectivity of the deep offshore areas south of Jamaica and make a significant contribution to preparations for the upcoming licensing round,” says Luc Schlumberger, executive VP of Latin America region for CGGVeritas. “Initial data screening has revealed the presence of large basins and thick sections of Cretaceous and possibly Jurassic strata on the Southern (Lower) Nicaragua rise.”

06/09/2009