CGG Announces Largest Ever Seabed Survey

French geoscience company CGG said it will perform its largest seabed survey to date in the UK Central North Sea.

Prefunded in part by BP, the multi-client ocean-bottom node (OBN) seismic survey has already received significant industry interest, CGG said. 

Operations are scheduled to begin in early 2020, with first results targeted for the first quarter of 2021. CGG said it aims to acquire over 2,000 square kilometers of OBN data in the first phase of this multi-year program.

"In the Central North Sea, where complex salt diapirism has created significant challenges to imaging deeper reservoir targets, this new survey, with its long-offset, full-azimuth coverage and good low-frequency signal in a shallow water environment, together with CGG’s advanced imaging technology, will provide a step-change in seismic image and reservoir characterization quality," the company said.

Sophie Zurquiyah, CEO, CGG, said, “We are pleased to initiate this exciting new OBN program which will deliver unprecedented industry insight and lead to a step-change in development in this critical Central North Sea area.

“Our asset-light configuration enables us to best take advantage of key opportunities and fully leverage our core capabilities.

“The new data set will also complement CGG’s extensive high-quality Cornerstone towed-streamer data library in the area and support the UK Oil & Gas Authority’s strategy for Maximizing Economic Recovery.”