TGS is to undertake a new multi-client 3D seismic survey for Brazil Round 16 blocks located in the outer Campos Basin, for which production licences will be auctioned this year.
The seismic data will be acquired by Shearwater using its vessel Amazon Warrior (built 2015) over an 11,000-square-km area in the basin.
Ahead of the bidding, TGS will use advanced imaging (RTM) and velocity model building (FWI) technologies to turn this data into accurate, high-resolution images of the Pre-Salt objectives.
Kristian Johansen, the company’s chief executive, said the new project “confirms TGS’s commitment to the country and solidifies the continued expansion of our high-quality and timely exploration products in the Brazilian Salt Basins”.
“Furthermore, the survey provides additional visibility to our guided multi-client investments for 2019, with more than $200m already committed,” he said.
TGS said the Campos Basin project is supported by industry funding, but did not reveal the value of this contract.
Extracting oil and gas from pre-salt reserves remains a time-consuming and geologically complex process, but costs are falling, leading to increased interest in pre-salt exploration, especially as oil prices improve.
Petobras’ average cost of lifting pre-salt oil has fallen from $9.10 per barrel of oil equivalent in 2014 to below $7.00 in 2018, according to its website.
The mean construction time for Petrobras' offshore wells has also fallen by 183 days between 2010 and 2018.
This is the third multi-client programme TGS has worked on in Brazil over the past 12 months.
In 2018, the Oslo-listed company performed multibeam and seep project in the Campos and Santos Basins.
