ADNOC signs BGP for giant offshore/onshore seismic survey

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has awarded contracts worth US$1.6 billion for what it claims will be the world’s largest continuous 3D offshore and onshore seismic survey.

This will cover an area up to 53,000 square kilometres (20,463 square miles), as the company seeks to identify new opportunities and maximise value from its hydrocarbon resources and fulfil its 2030 ‘smart growth’ strategy.

BGP, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), will acquire up to 30,000 square kilometres (11,583 square miles) offshore and 23,000 square kilometres (8,880 square miles) onshore.

The agreement was signed on the eve of a state visit to the UAE by China’s President Xi Jinping, and witnessed by Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State, who said:

“The scale of the project shows ADNOC’s commitment to upstream investment and to bolstering our oil and gas reserves and production for the long term.”

BGP will deploy industry-leading technologies, ADNOC said, to provide survey data density up to five times that of existing industry standards, capturing high-resolution 3D images of the complex subsurface structure, up to 25,000 feet (7,620 metres) below the surface.

Use of advanced technologies and methodologies should improve efficiency and reduce operational time, ADNOC added, helping to mitigate against the impact on marine life, or other users of Abu Dhabi waters.

The survey will employ seismic streaming vessels and ocean bottom nodes to acquire the offshore data and vibrator trucks to survey the onshore desert areas and should be completed by 2024.

ADNOC recently announced Abu Dhabi’s first ever block licensing round with six geographical oil and gas blocks opened for bidding, and the seismic project will include areas within these blocks with the data made available at a fee to the successful bidders.

Geoscientists will use the resources of ADNOC’s Thamama Subsurface Collaboration Centre to interpret the results and to characterise and model potential hydrocarbon reservoirs.

This will help ADNOC identify untapped reservoirs and future oil and gas development and production opportunities.

Source: Offshore Magazine