PGS of Norway and WesternGeco of the UK have been awarded joint contracts by the governmental Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) to acquire seismic survey data from the East Shetland Platform and South West Britain respectively as part of a £20m programme aimed at investigating under-explored areas of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).
The joint programme is expected to yield between 10,000 and 15,000 kilometres of new seismic data in areas where no substantial information has been obtained in decades. Acquisition of data is scheduled for completion later this year and will be available for release to industry around next Spring ahead of a frontier licensing round in 2018. PGS’s 85m geophysical survey vessel Nordic Explorer is being used for seismic operations across the East Shetland Platform which includes the East Orkney, East Fair Isle and Dutch Bank basins. WesternGeco’s undertaking around South West Britain aboard the 90m WG Magellan includes sectors of the Celtic Sea, Western English Channel, Bristol Channel, St George’s Channel and the Irish Sea.
By David Goodfellow
