Aberdeen, UK, 8 – 11 June
The Gulf of America is a vital part of US energy infrastructure, with its future increasingly dependent on new seismic technologies to tackle complex geology. As exploration advances into salt-dominated regions, operators are relying on advanced imaging and novel acquisition technologies to better map subsurface formations, improving visibility beneath salt layers and deepwater sediments that previously hid critical structures.
Modern Super-Regional profiles observing an entire margin are often difficult to procure as the emphasis in seismic acquisition is becoming increasingly focused on smaller-scale high-definition 3D volumes. In margins where the expected success has not yet been realised, these large regional profiles can be particularly insightful. They offer new perspectives on petroleum system–controlling features that have an impact at scales far larger than can be resolved when examining a more localized, prospect specific, 3D. Geoex MCG’s regional 2D seismic survey offshore Morocco provides an opportunity to conduct such an analysis (Figure 1). Despite numerous wells in the proximal domain of the margin, the distal portion of the Morocco offshore, more specifically on oceanic crust, remains significantly underexplored. This regional long offset 2D provides significant insights into key locations for further exploration invoking an untested petroleum system that has been demonstrably active.
Ecuador has an estimated 8.3 Bbbl of oil reserves and a rich history of oil exploration and production within the Amazon Basin east of the Andes. To the west of the Andes, early onshore exploration resulted in a number of onshore oil discoveries, which provided much of Ecuador’s oil exports from 1920 to 1960. Taking this oil province offshore with the rudimentary seismic available in the 1960s and 1970s led to a hit-or-miss exploration affair, and despite oil, condensate and gas discoveries, the offshore sweet spot remained illusive. Until now. Reprocessing of the legacy seismic dataset, using 2026 technologies, is generating new confidence in offshore exploration. It is clear now that this offshore margin, with its large prospects (that we can now image), in shallow water, is so prospective, it’s like looking for a candy in a sweetshop.
Indeed, seismic reprocessing follows much the same path as extracting sugar from sugar cane. Raw materials – the legacy offshore Ecuador datasets – are carefully pounded by modern algorithms until the sweet primary signal is distilled from the chaff of noise and multiples that made working the data so difficult for the early explorers.
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