Third East Africa seismic survey completed

Offshore staff

HOUSTON -- ION Geophysical has acquired 8,700 km (5,406 mi) of regional seismic data offshore Tanzania, Mozambique, and Comoros. This supplements the 14,000 km (8,700 mi) of data the company previously compiled in the region during the first two phases of its East AfricaSPAN program.

This third phase of is designed to provide the basis for an improved understanding of the hydrocarbon potential in the region, following last year’s deepwater discoveries off Tanzania and Mozambique.

East AfricaSPAN III was acquired using long offsets and a source optimized for deep penetration and imaging. The data will be processed using ION's latest proprietary processing and imaging technologies. Pre-stack time migration results should be available in November, with pre-stack depth migration due out the following month.

Ken Williamson, senior VP of ION's Integrated Seismic Solutions group, said: "Recent development activities in East Africa, particularly in Kenya and Tanzania, were initiated as a result of geologic insights provided by the first two phases of our East AfricaSPAN program. This additional dataset will provide important ties to the southern petroleum provinces of East Africa in Mozambique and southern Tanzania, and help shape ideas for exploration in the rest of the margin."

07/19/2011