CGGVeritas has begun field operations on the first in a series of planned wide-azimuth data library surveys in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

The new data library survey is currently the largest wide-azimuth project in the world, covering 464 lease blocks in the prolific Walker Ridge area of the Gulf of Mexico, where substantial reserves have been recently discovered, including the Jack discovery last year.
The SR/V Veritas Viking is recording the wide-azimuth data along with four newly rigged vessels – the Sigma, Bjorkhaug, Tenor and Vardholm – acting as source vessels. Together, they are using an acquisition configuration modified from the industry-first deepwater Gulf of Mexico survey that Veritas recorded in 2006. The modified acquisition configuration is designed primarily for regional exploration purposes but also is adaptable to reservoir delineation across a producing deepwater field.
This configuration records double the cross-line offset with each sail line compared to previous wide-azimuth surveys while maintaining optimal data quality.

"Our first non-exclusive wide-azimuth survey brings a whole new scale of data acquisition to a highly prospective area of the Gulf of Mexico," said Tim Wells, president, Western Hemisphere, CGGVeritas. "The survey is substantially pre-funded by multiple clients and will provide our customers with increased illumination and an enhanced understanding of the complex geology of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico."

Using proprietary software specifically designed for wide-azimuth geometry, including multiple removal, tomography, beam migration and wave equation migration, processing of the wide-azimuth data will begin approximately 2 weeks after the first sail line has been recorded, and a Fast-Trax Migration will be ready approximately 2 months after completion of acquisition in early 2008.

For further information, please follow this link to our website: http://www.cggveritas.com/default.aspx?cid=15-59-324

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