t o p i c Technology explained

The next Global Frontier

The is the next, and maybe the most challenging, global frontier – but how can it be effectively explored with only a two-month ice-free season? Photo: ION

20 geo expro december 2010 jane whaley

“The Arctic is surely the next large global purpose-built solution for acquiring seismic frontier, but it is going to take time and effort data in the ice for up to nine months of the to effectively explore,” says Joe Gagliardi, year, depending on which Arctic basin we are Director for Arctic Solutions and Technol- focusing on. We have combined our operation- ogy for seismic solutions company, ION al experience with purpose-built seismic equip- Geophysical. “For some time, we have been ment and Arctic-focused imaging algorithms.” working to help companies understand this vast area and assist them with their strategic complex challenges analyses. But to do that, we need to fill the ex- “In 2009, we became the first company to ploration time gap. If we are to take Arctic ex- shoot long offset seismic under the ice. To do ploration further, we can’t rely on the limited this requires a very stable acquisition platform period of open water in these frozen seas – with no surface features,” Joe continues. “That one to two months at the most. We have to includes no gun floats or tail buoys. Solving rethink and modify our methods of marine these mechanical issues, however, leaves us seismic data acquisition.” with complex noise events, very different To better understand how to operate in from those seen in open water. For example, this extreme environment, from 2006 to when operating in the Arctic, an ice breaker 2008 ION worked in the Arctic Beaufort and vessel sails the line just ahead of the seismic Chukchi Seas. “Technologically, the chal- boat clearing its path and, as you can imagine, lenge has been to develop seismic methods the noise created sets up some very complex that work in and under the ice,” explains Joe. reflections. Completely new algorithms were “This has also given us a great opportunity to built and have been incorporated into the understand the additional factors involved in processing system in order to deal with this - geopolitics, working with and similar issues. However, from the point of local communities, ensuring the welfare of view of the end user, the data looks the same marine mammals, and many other dynamics as that acquired from more conventional areas that need to be addressed when planning pro- – but considerably better than any previously grammes in this complex arena.” obtained in this area.” “Those three years of investigation gave us Developing ION’s Intelligent Acquisition the knowledge and confidence to develop a [IA]TM Arctic Solution required collaboration Image: GeTech

The covers an area about one and a half times the size of the United States and lies almost entirely above the Arctic Circle. Nearly surrounded by land, its only outlets are the Ber- ing Strait between Alas- ka and Russia, the Davis Strait between Green- land and Canada, and the Denmark Strait and Norwegian Sea be- tween and Europe.

geo expro december 2010 21 t o p i c Technology E x p l a i n e d Photo: ION National Archives of Canada

The HMS Investigator made two voyages to the Arctic in the 1850s and had to be abandoned in 1853 after becoming trapped in the ice in the notorious McClure Straits. Her wreckage was found in July 2010, shortly before ION commenced the first ever seismic survey in the area. MV Geo Explorer working in the ice in the Arctic.

across all the business units within ION, in- “Technical risk is also reduced. We have tool for interpreting new petroleum systems cluding its GX Technology (GXT) data pro- had very little technical downtime during our in the offshore Arctic region. Joe and his col- cessing group and its Marine Imaging Systems Arctic surveys, usually something in the order leagues believe that such basin-wide studies Division, which makes the streamers. Within of only 2%. Average seismic vessel downtime will help exploration companies to focus their ION there are also in-house scientists who in the industry is 7 – 10%.” resources, as the lines transect key geological specialise in forecasting Arctic ice conditions features and also wells, where present, to place and regional experts who help create the ideal virgin territory the geology in a basin-wide context. survey designs for positioning and shooting Since 2006, ION has shot about 45,000 long seismic lines in these extreme conditions. line kilometres of seismic data in the Arctic, production in ten years? “We believe we have amalgamated the best covering waters belonging to Greenland, the With an estimated 90 billion barrels of oil and expertise in the world for this niche market,” US, Canada and Norway. Much of this is in possibly a third of the world’s undiscovered Joe adds. “By having an precede areas where there was either no seismic data, gas reserves, the Arctic is heating up for oil the seismic vessel, long straight lines can be or the quality was too poor to be used for ex- and gas exploration, and is surely the next, and the shot. We are now obtaining high quality ploration purposes. In 2010, two crews worked possibly the last, great frontier region. With long offset data that is beginning to unlock the Arctic using the [IA] Arctic Solution, so little good quality seismic data available, oil the exploration potential of previously under- producing excellent images of the sub-seabed companies need all the help they can get to explored basins.” in Northeast Greenland and the Canadian evaluate this fascinating but challenging area. and McClure Straits. The latter “Companies love the data they can get from risks reduced is particularly virgin territory, having ice con- our new under ice acquisition techniques,” Joe Joe Gagliardi points out that the IA Arctic ditions that stopped the SS Manhattan in says. “But exploiting this area will not be rapid; Solution that ION has devised can sig- 1969, and was the final resting place for the we estimate that it will need significant invest- nificantly reduce key risks in Arctic explora- HMS Investigator in 1853. ment now on the part of the oil companies, in tion. “These systems lessen operational risk The esults r of ION’s Arctic surveys have order to see production in ten years time. by giving companies the ability to conduct been combined in its ArcticSPANTM multi- “We believe that by obtaining high quality seismic exploration in transitional ice regimes client data program that covers the Beaufort- data over a longer annual survey period, com- without concern for the disposition of first year MacKenzie, , Chukchi, East panies can move closer to achieving the goal ice,” he explains. “We have been able to expand Greenland Rift, and Danmarkshavn basins. of producing oil and gas from the Arctic the operational window in the Chukchi Sea, The program gives geoscientists a basin-level waters,” says Joe. an area with an estimated 29 Bboe of recover- able reserves, from just two months, July and August, to five or six months, working right Joe Gagliardi is ION Geophysical Corporation’s Director into November or even December.” of Arctic Solutions & Technology, where his focus is on “This also means that we can conduct the development of proprietary solutions (equipment & seismic operations in environmentally sen- procedures) for the acquisition of Multi-client and propri- sitive areas after the ice has begun to form, when many protected species have completed etary seismic surveys in the global Arctic region. He is a their summer activities and are moving away graduate of Rice University’s Executive MBA program and to warmer areas, and also without interfering holds a B.S. in Geological Oceanography from Florida with the summer prime hunting season for Institute of Technology. the indigenous people.”

22 geo expro december 2010