CGG has signed an agreement with Axxis Multi Client, a subsidiary of Carbon Transition, to reprocess the Utsira ocean bottom node (OBN) seismic survey in the prolific petroleum basin offshore Norway.
Planned for completion in 2024, the 2,000km² Utsira survey is claimed to be the North Sea’s largest ultra-high-resolution OBN survey.
For the reprocessing, CGG plans to deploy OBN processing and imaging technology including time-lag full-waveform inversion.
CGG expects the technology to significantly enhance the overall image resolution, velocity model, and frequency content for fault interpretation and reservoir characterisation workflows.
CGG said the reprocessed product would help in substantially advancing the Utsira OBN survey and assist in the management of existing petroleum production and reservoirs for clients.
CGG Earth Data executive vice-president Dechun Lin said: “The agreement recognises CGG’s ability to provide superior OBN imaging results. This was recently demonstrated by the significant uplift in quality that we achieved on a proprietary reprocessing of a sub-set of the Utsira Survey.
“The result was so well received that the clients decided to commit to reprocessing the complete survey. We are delighted to partner with Carbon Transition to expand our multi-client footprint and deliver a dataset that will be of significant value for production, development, and further near-field exploration in a prolific area of the North Sea.”
The Utsira area comprises several significant oil and gas fields. These include Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen, Balder, Gina Krog, Gudrun and Johan Sverdrup, in addition to several undeveloped discoveries and prospects.
Carbon Transition interim CEO Nils Haugestad said: “Together with CGG, as the leading technology provider in OBN processing, we will deliver a product that will significantly improve imaging of the area.
“We are confident that this new product will maximise our clients’ prospects for making new discoveries as well as optimising existing production.”
