CGG Conducts Multi-Client Oil and Gas Seep Survey in SE Barents Sea

CGG has announced that Robertson Geolab, specialists in surface geochemistry in its GeoConsulting business line, is currently performing a multi-client surface geochemistry (shallow core) survey to detect seafloor seepages of hydrocarbons in the South East Barents Sea. The project has received high prefunding from major oil industry players.

The main aim of the survey is to detect active petroleum systems in the area, targeting both larger and smaller structures of interest. The extensive geochemical analysis program for both the gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons in the sediments will yield information as to the gas- or oil-affinity of the petroleum systems and the sourcing /maturity of the hydrocarbons. This information will be of prime importance in connection with de-risking of areas by the oil companies, prior to more detailed investigations. It is therefore also of importance in limiting any future environmental issues, e.g. from over-drilling, and not least in assessing the background levels of natural seafloor seepage pollution that occurs in the region.

Location of CGG’s multi-client oil and gas seep survey in the southeastern Barents Sea. Click to enlarge

The collected data will be processed to provide a full geochemical interpretation report, including anomaly mapping in ArcGIS format for assimilation into clients’ own seismic or geological databases. The final report for this survey will be available in December 2014, in time for our clients’ future licensing round decisions.

Sophie Zurquiyah, Senior Executive Vice President of CGG’s Geology, Geophysics & Reservoir Division (GGR), said: “Our Barents Sea oil and gas seep survey is part of our rich multi-disciplinary multi-client data library that we are developing in the region. It complements existing exploration products ranging from our offshore hydrocarbon seeps database and regional Gravity & Magnetics coverage to our state-of-the-art BroadSeis™ surveys. It will result in unique exploration data, which directly targets and measures the hydrocarbons, within an exciting frontier area about which we have, as yet, very little information regarding active petroleum systems.”