Offshore staff
(US, Houston)- WesternGeco has announced that Shell Exploration will underwrite a major portion of the first exploration multiclient wide-azimuth (WAZ) towed-streamer survey in the Gulf of Mexico. The project covers a minimum of 200 Outer Continental Shelf blocks in the central GoM, about 125 mi off the coast of Louisiana in water depths of 4,400 ft.
Seismic data acquisition will begin in mid-July 2006 and conclude as early as December 2006 utilizing a design co-developed by WesternGeco and Shell.
To enhance the subsalt image, WesternGeco will employ its Q-Marine technology, with proprietary processing workflows and wave extrapolation migration (WEM). A final WEM product will be available for interpretation in advance of the March 2008 lease sale.
"This project provides WesternGeco with the opportunity to set the standard for wide-azimuth design, acquisition and processing using Q-Marine technology and breakthroughs in WAZ seismic processing," said Maurice Nessim, vice president, North America, WesternGeco. "The multiclient product will provide value by allowing a greatly improved image of key blocks on offer in the March 2008 and subsequent lease sales, and reducing subsalt drilling risk."
Shell Exploration and WesternGeco recently collaborated on a proprietary survey in the GoM applying a WAZ survey design to illuminate the geology beneath complex salt.
The success of that project has led to this new WAZ multiclient survey, which WesternGeco calls an acquisition step-change required for subsalt illumination in parts of the GoM and other salt provinces around the world.
07/06/2006
