CGG has been awarded a major contract by Equinor for the seismic imaging of its Bacalhau 3D ocean bottom node (OBN) survey covering 409 sq km currently being acquired in Brazil’s deepwater Santos Basin. Final products for the fully imaged dataset are expected to be delivered within ten months after the survey is scheduled to complete in May 2021.

The project is already underway at CGG’s Rio de Janeiro subsurface imaging center where its highly experienced team of geoscientists are employing CGG’s industry-leading proprietary imaging technologies, including reverse time migration, time-lag full-waveform inversion (TLFWI) and interbed multiple attenuation, to address pre-salt illumination challenges caused by the presence of very thick stratified salt. Combining OBN data with TLFWI will result in more detailed and reliable velocity model building and imaging, bringing geological insight at post-salt, intra-salt and, most importantly, at pre-salt levels. The resulting high-quality subsurface image will reduce uncertainties and enable a better structural interpretation to guide future drilling plans and development of the world-class Bacalhau field.

Sophie Zurquiyah, CEO, CGG, said: “This new OBN award, after the recent successful completion of several OBN processing projects, confirms CGG’s position as the world-leading OBN seismic imaging company. With our sixty-year track record in Brazil, in-depth geological knowledge of the Santos Basin and proprietary imaging capabilities for the Brazilian deep water, clients know they can count on our expertise and technology to deliver the best-possible pre-salt subsurface images to support their critical field development decisions.”