Advent mulls ocean bottom nodes use for Sydney Basin seismic program

MEC Resources has informed that ocean bottom seismographs or nodes are being considered for deployment for the planned seismic program within PEP11 in the Sydney Basin, offshore Australia.

PEP11 is held 85% and operated by Asset Energy which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Advent Energy, an investee entity of MEC Resources. Bounty Oil & Gas NL holds the remaining 15% of PEP11.

According to MEC’s statement on Thursday, application has been made to Geoscience Australia for their potential use in PEP11.

Geoscience Australia is now home to a new generation of broadband Ocean Bottom Seismographs (OBS), MEC said. Each OBS is an instrument engineered to withstand extreme ocean depths down to 6000 m and can remain on the seafloor continuously recording for up to 12 months, MEC further explained.

An OBS can be deployed prior to or during acquisition of traditional seismic surveys. MEC stated that they have the benefit of a direct coupling with the seabed, thereby eliminating the noise associated with seismic wave travel through the water column.

MEC addeed that, in conjunction with surface towed seismic surveys, an OBS program can yield a much more robust image of the subsurface than previously known.

“Ocean bottom seismic is vastly gaining in momentum as a potential exploration tool, and are becoming an increasingly popular technique to acquire reservoir imaging data,” MEC Resources said.