The Ramform Valiant, a seismic vessel owned and operated by Petroleum Geo-Services ASA, has started acquisition of over 26,000 km² of GeoStreamer® data in five blocks in the Kwanza/Benguela Basins in Angola.
The size of the survey area corresponds to an area slightly larger than Massachusetts or Wales. Following the block awards made on December 20th, oil supermajors BP, Total and Statoil have been made operators of blocks 24, 25, 38, 39 and 40. Sonangol is a partner in all of the blocks.
All four oil companies have committed to funding the survey. With early access to 3D seismic data based on the most advanced seismic technology, the operators will benefit from clearer images and more time to plan the exploration wells that they are committed to drill within the next five years.
In February, the PGS Apollo will join the Ramform Valiant and acquisition will continue with both vessels until Q4 2012. PGS teams will start processing data in March, utilizing the latest depth imaging technology and building on their experience of illuminating pre-salt targets in Angola. Together, the two vessels will operate 20 vessel months on this project. Previous PGS press releases in December summarizing vessel backlog included this project.
The salts basins of Angola have a clear geological link to similar basins offshore Brazil. Recent advances in tectonic reconstruction point to parallels with the prolific pre-salt Santos and Campos areas, and PGS will use its extensive MC library on both sides of the Atlantic to take a closer look at these links.
[mappress] Offshore Energy Today Staff, January 11, 2012; Image: PGS