PGS is reprocessing 8000 km 2 of 3D data West of Shetland in the North Sea, offshore UK.
PGS is reprocessing 8000 km2 of 3D data West of Shetland in the North Sea, offshore UK. Despite big exploration successes in the region, challenges related to subsurface structure and stratigraphy remain, said PGS. Fully migrated 3D data to provide an improved and consistent regional geological perspective will be ready in January 2022, it added.
The 2021 PGS MegaSurveyPlus rejuvenation project targets data including GeoStreamer multisensor data acquired in 2013 and 2015. The GeoStreamer component adds content with a very high signal-to-noise ratio and a broad bandwidth into a data mix of various vintages.
‘New broadband reprocessing of a largely conventional dataset will help to confidently derisk upcoming projects in West of Shetland. Advances in processing and imaging techniques, combined with increased compute power, mean that we can extract more details from the data, improve velocity models, and deliver more reliable and detailed images that will improve sub- and post-basalt imaging in general and sub-basalt assessment in particular,’ said Christopher Schou Watts, VP sales and services at PGS.
There are giant fields in multiple petroleum plays in the area, where nearfield exploration can exploit access to infrastructure. Substantial growth potential is expected in the Flett Sub-Basin extending to the northeast where new discoveries can supplement reserves and expand production from existing facilities.
The Faroe Shetland Basin experienced a major Cretaceous to early Paleogene rift event, that was followed by extensive intrusions and volcanism in the latest Paleocene period. The main proven reservoir units in the area are Paleocene sub-and intra-basaltic sandstones, which are found along the Rosebank structural trend and generated by inversion tectonics in the Eocene section deposited within volcanic extrusions. This play is difficult to image but very prolific, as demonstrated in the Rosebank field and other discoveries in the Flett Sub-Basin.
Shows and smaller discoveries also attest to the petroleum potential in the Cretaceous and Eocene sections, said PGS. The former is particularly relevant towards the flanks of the Flett Sub-Basin and the adjacent Corona and Flett/Rona ridges. Additional imaging challenges in the area are posed by shallow features such as injectites and gas chimneys while intrusives and sills further obscure the Paleocene and deeper sections.
PGS added that key factors in successful exploration and petroleum potential evaluation of the area are structural/combined trap geometry definition, the use of prestack seismic attributes, and accurate resource assessment based on reliable subsurface data.
