ARKeX Ltd., a geophysical service company for the oil & gas exploration industry, has been awarded the first G&G oil and gas exploration permit by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
The ARKeX survey will acquire an airborne broadband gravity and magnetic survey over Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) blocks offshore the US East Coast.
According to ARKeX, the broadband gravity system utilizes a Full Tensor Gradiometer (FTG) which will remotely map geological structures, potentially revealing the location of billions of barrels of untapped oil and gas reserves.
The ARKeX survey will be acquired in three phases covering nearly 150,000 square km between Virginia and South Carolina.
The company explained that this survey will provide a wide bandwidth and high signal-to-noise ratio data set which will become a valuable and long lived component of the exploration knowledge base. The company further added that it will contribute not only to the assessment of hydrocarbon prospectivity, but also to the optimization of subsequent exploration activity, to the efficient construction of accurate subsurface models and to the understanding of the dynamic structural geology of the region.
ARKeX emphasized that the measurement techniques employed are completely passive, utilizing no energy source, such that the environmental footprint is only that of a small aircraft.
Jim White , President of ARKeX said, “ARKeX is very proud to be the recipient of the first geophysical survey permit to acquire data in the Atlantic OCS in more than 30 years. The data will contribute to the positioning and design of future exploration programs, a responsible planning approach which ensures that exploration methods such as marine seismic acquisition are deployed in the most effective and efficient way possible.”
The new data will be integrated with existing complementary geophysical and geological data including 2D seismic, bathymetry and satellite imagery to develop geological understanding of the area. The ARKeX survey will be acquired in anticipation of BOEM’s five-year OCS oil and gas leasing program. Acquisition is expected to start in Q4, 2015.