Gulf of Mexico Wide-Azimuth Multiclient Seismic Survey

Our multiclient wide-azimuth surveys provide nearly continuous coverage across the most active portions of three major Gulf of Mexico deepwater exploration plays:

• subsalt Lower to Middle Miocene
• Lower Tertiary (Wilcox)
• emerging subsalt Pliocene.

Primary exploration targets in most of these areas are at depths from 20,000 to 35,000 ft beneath a complex and highly variable allochthonous salt canopy. These areas are characterized by various structural styles and trap types, from four-way closures associated with turtle structures or salt-cored folds to three-way traps against salt keels, feeders, or welds. 

Acquisition technology and technique

Wide-azimuth acquisition is one of the primary techniques being used in Gulf of Mexico surveys. It addresses the imaging issues common to this area by recording a wider range of azimuths and offsets than conventional narrow-azimuth acquisition techniques. This acquisition technique employs

• four vessels equipped with Q-Marine point-receiver marine seismic system: two source and two recording boats
• ten 8-km steerable streamers per recording boat.
• Latest acquired data—wide-azimuth streamer acquisition survey; acquisition with point-receiver marine seismic system