PGS expands seismic operations in Northern hemisphere

Norway-headquartered seismic player PGS is preparing its fleet for a busy season in Europe, with two Titan-class Ramform vessels and an ultra-high-resolution 3D spread. 

PGS has taken over the work on the Norwegian Sea GeoStreamer X survey, providing more coverage and understanding of this area.

The survey uses wide-towed sources and dense streamers for better near-offset distribution, and long streamer tails for accurate velocity model building. By the end of the season, the PGS data library will include about 20,000 square kilometers of GeoStreamer X data from the Norwegian Sea.

The Ramform Hyperion has started work on the Outer Vøring, continuing a project from 2023. Towing a GeoStreamer 3D spread, the vessel is mapping a natural gas exploration area with available pipeline capacity across open blocks, open for licensing in Norway’s APA 2024 round. The area was popular in the 2023 APA, and the new acquisition covers additional areas for the 2024 blocks, said PGS. 

The Sanco Swift has finished its second offshore wind site characterization in the New York Bight and will soon head to the Southern North Sea for a third project where it will use an ultra-high-resolution 3D spread. 

PGS said its geophysicists and engineers had optimized configurations to enhance efficiency and target resolution for ultra-high-resolution seismic of shallow subsurface areas, tailored for offshore wind needs.

In terms of most recent news, the Norwegian player received the final permit for a large 4D survey for Petrobras in the Campos basin off the coast of Brazil, allowing it to start operations after being delayed multiple times.

With the start-up meeting finished and the final permit received from the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), the Norwegian company said that the data acquisition in the Barracuda Caratinga fields can now begin.