In collaboration with multi-client geoscience data company, TGS, Fugro has continued its hydrocarbon seep mapping campaign in the Gulf of Mexico.
Fugro said on Friday that this latest survey named Otos follows the completion of the TGS industry-funded Gigante survey in 2016, on the Mexican side of the 1,500-kilometer wide Gulf.
Fugro has deployed two geophysical survey vessels to acquire multibeam echo sounder (MBES) and sub-bottom profile data over the western, central and eastern regions of the United States’ continental slope.
The company deployed the multi-purpose offshore survey vessel, Fugro Gauss, to join the Fugro Brasilis offshore Mexico back in the summer of 2016 to help complete the seep-hunting survey.
In water depths ranging from 750 meters to more than 4,000 meters, geoscientists on board the two vessels will analyze seafloor bathymetry, its acoustic reflectivity, and shallow subsurface structures to identify hydrocarbon seep features on the seafloor and throughout the water column.
Fugro explained that the final results of the Otos survey will provide insight into the regional-scale distribution of hydrocarbon seeps throughout the entire deepwater area of the northern Gulf of Mexico. TGS will license the data to exploration and production companies to support development activities in the region.
Fugro Exploration Geoscientist, Garrett Mitchell , a member of Fugro’s dedicated Global Centre of Excellence for Seep Hunting in Houston, said: “With the acquisition of the Otos seep survey, Fugro will have mapped almost 1,000,000 square kilometers of seep and geological features over the entire Gulf of Mexico.”