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BP to use new technologies for surveys in Azerbaijan

Oil&Gas Materials 4 February 2016 13:14 (UTC +04:00)
BP Azerbaijan will use two kinds of special technologies for seismic surveys of potentially prospective structures in shallow waters of Azerbaijan’s Absheron Peninsula, said Greg Riley, the company’s vice-president for exploration and development.
BP to use new technologies for surveys in Azerbaijan

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 4

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

BP Azerbaijan will use two kinds of special technologies for seismic surveys of potentially prospective structures in shallow waters of Azerbaijan's Absheron Peninsula, said Greg Riley, the company's vice-president for exploration and development.

Offshore 2D seismic surveys were completed at a depth of over 10 meters in December, Riley told reporters in Baku, Feb. 4, adding 3D seismic surveys will have to start in shallow part of the sea, as well as onshore.

He added that the upcoming 3D seismic surveys are more difficult technically.

Riley explained that the specially equipped big boats, which can't work in shallow water, are used for operations at great depths.

Therefore, he said, BP Azerbaijan has to work out new special ways of work.

BP Azerbaijan official added that in this regard the company will use two new kinds of special technologies for the 3D seismic survey in shallow parts of the sea to make data collection faster and simpler.

The first technology, Riley explained, is the use of nodes - small devices, which will be placed on the bottom of the sea to record sound waves.

The nodes are working independently and have batteries charged for two months, he said.

Riley said the nodes can be moved from one place to another at any time, which gives some flexibility in the work.

He went on to say that the second special technology will allow looking through the data from all the sources at the same time, without wasting time to gathering data from each source separately.

This will make it possible to receive and clean up the data much faster using a powerful computer system with a special algorithm, he explained.

The company's official also added that the data collection process will be completed before late 2016.

A production sharing agreement (PSA), called the Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula (SWAP), meant for geological exploration and development of promising structures in the Absheron Peninsula's shallow waters, was signed in December 2014.

The PSA, inked by Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR and BP, was ratified in April 2015.

The PSA area stretches along the Absheron Peninsula's southern part, covering an area of about 1,900 square kilometers. In this area the sea depth is about 25 meters, with potential reservoir depths of 3000 to 5000 meters.

BP, which is the project's technical operator, holds 50 percent of shares in the PSA, while the remaining 50 percent in it belongs to SOCAR.

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