Fugro has completed the geophysical acquisition portion of a 2018 Carson Basin seep hunting programme offshore eastern Canada.
The workscope covers an area of 18,875 square kilometres in water depths from 300 to 3,300 metres in this frontier region offshore Newfoundland.
From its deepwater survey vessel, Fugro Searcher, Fugro acquired multibeam echosounder data (bathymetry, backscatter intensity and water column) and sub-bottom profiler data which were used to interpret geologic features and optimise target selection for geochemical sampling and heat flow measurements.
The second portion of the programme – coring for geochemical sampling, shipboard geochemical screening analyses and heat flow measurements – starts in August, once targets are agreed upon by geoscientists at Fugro and Nalcor Energy, an investor in the programme. Shore-based, advanced geochemical analyses, including isotopes and biomarkers on selected samples, will be coordinated by Amplified Geochemical Imaging, Fugro’s partner on this project.
The data package and final, integrated report will be available in early 2019; these should help exploration and production companies to evaluate lease options for Newfoundland and Labrador’s 2019 licensing round later that year.