CGG lands OBN survey job at Bacalhau field

CGG has secured a contract by Equinor to carry out ocean bottom node (OBN) seismic imaging at the Bacalhau offshore field in Brazil.

The project is already underway at CGG’s subsurface imaging center in Rio de Janeiro where its team is employing proprietary imaging technologies to address pre-salt illumination challenges caused by the presence of very thick stratified salt.

The work includes reverse time migration, time-lag full-waveform inversion (TLFWI) and interbed multiple attenuation.

Final products for the fully imaged dataset are expected to be delivered within ten months after the survey, planned to be completed this month.

According to CGG, combining OBN data with TLFWI will result in more detailed and reliable velocity model building and imaging, bringing geological insight at post-salt, intra-salt and, most importantly, at pre-salt levels.

The resulting subsurface image is expected to reduce uncertainties and enable a better structural interpretation to guide future drilling plans and development of the Bacalhau field.

Equinor is the operator of the Bacalhau field with a 40 per cent stake, while ExxonMobil and Petrogal hold 40 and 20 per cent each. Pré-sal Petróleo, a non-investor government agency, is also a partner in the field.

The field, located 185 km from the coast of Ilhabela/SP in water depths of 2 km, is slated for first oil production in 2024.