Offshore staff

PARIS --CGGVeritas has begun the first in a series of wide-azimuth seismic data acquisition surveys in deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

The new data library survey is currently the largest wide-azimuth project in the world, covering 464 lease blocks in the prolific Walker Ridge area of the Gulf of Mexico, where substantial reserves have been recently discovered, including the Jack discovery last year.

The SR/VVeritas Viking is recording the wide-azimuth data along with four newly rigged vessels – the Sigma, Bjorkhaug, Tenor, and Vardholm – acting as source vessels. Together, they are using an acquisition configuration modified from the industry-first deepwater Gulf of Mexico survey that Veritas recorded in 2006. The modified acquisition configuration is designed primarily for regional exploration purposes, but also adaptable to reservoir delineation across a producing deepwater field.

"Our first non-exclusive wide-azimuth survey brings a whole new scale of data acquisition to a highly prospective area of the Gulf of Mexico," says Tim Wells, president, Western Hemisphere, CGGVeritas. "The survey is substantially pre-funded by multiple clients and will provide our customers with increased illumination and an enhanced understanding of the complex geology of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico."

Using proprietary software specifically designed for wide-azimuth geometry, including 3D SRME, Tomography, Beam Migration, and Wave Equation Migration, data processing will begin approximately two weeks after the first sail line has been recorded, and a Fast-Trax Migration will be ready approximately two months after completion of acquisition in early 2008.

5/8/2007