ION hired for seismic program offshore Colombia

January 23, 2020, by Offshore Energy Today

Geoscience company ION Geophysical has entered into a multi-client agreement with Colombia’s National Hydrocarbon Agency (ANH) granting rights to reprocess existing data and acquire new 2D and 3D multi-client programs offshore Colombia’s Caribbean coast.

In February 2019, the ANH announced a series of reforms to encourage investment in exploration and production, such as a permanent license round and a more attractive tax regime, to boost declining production and increase reserves.

ION said on Wednesday that the data was intended to enable a better understanding of hydrocarbon potential and investment opportunities of underexplored shallow and deepwater offshore blocks on offer.

Joe Gagliardi, SVP of ION’s Ventures group, said: “We are continuing to extract maximum value from existing datasets by seamlessly reimaging them into a single volume, tying all available well data and then supplementing with new data where necessary.

“The combination of Colombia’s new permanent license round and improved legislative terms are causing E&P companies to take a second look at Colombia’s offshore frontier. Analysis to date suggests several established petroleum systems offshore that we believe are worth better understanding.”

Analysis of the available seismic and well data reveals established functional petroleum systems in offshore Colombia producing different hydrocarbon types.

The offshore areas in Colombia can be divided into four areas, three of which have been extensively studied – Uraba, Sinu Offshore, and the Guajira Offshore area.

The fourth area, the deepwater and ultra-deepwater region in the Colombian basin, is the least explored offshore territory in Colombia.

ION stated on its website that the Caribe Colombia Reprocessing project is a 2D multi-client program designed to further improve understanding of the area and tie all main offshore wells.

The aim of this phase is to provide seamless, contiguous and consistently reprocessed data across the area. Colombia Caribe Reprocessing ties to existing ION survey, AntillesSPAN, and facilitates the construction of a basin-wide seismic grid that allows regional-scale correlation, and helps assess the tectonic framework and petroleum systems in South and Central Caribbean.