20th Sep, 2023

Solving the onshore geophysical challenges and needs in the MENA region: Q&A with Mehdi Tascher

Mehdi Tascher Website Image

In the third quarter of 2023, STRYDE appointed Mehdi Tascher to the role of Sales Director. Boasting an impressive 28-year career, Mehdi has garnered extensive experience working with prominent companies like CGG, ARDISEIS, and ARGAS across more than 30 countries worldwide. His wealth of expertise positions him well to comprehend the diverse challenges and requirements of the onshore and shallow water geophysical markets from various corners of the globe.

In this Q&A, Mehdi shares valuable insights into his extensive experience and unique perspectives on the current state of the seismic industry in the MENA region. Furthermore, we explore the reasons behind his decision to join the STRYDE team and his expectations regarding how his colleagues in the field can leverage the latest advancements in onshore seismic technology.

In your experience, what are the most common challenges the seismic industry experiences in desert environments?

“Cabled geophone technology is the dominant type of seismic sensor technology used in the MENA region to acquire seismic data. Due to the sheer weight and volume of this equipment, large field crews are required to deploy and retrieve the sensors.

“The huge quantity of personnel, added logistics, and the large amount of light and heavy vehicles required to do this, significantly increases CAPEX and OPEX while setting HSE exposure to an all-time high.

“In addition to this, cabled systems do not provide flexible design from one project to another, you are basically stuck with the same receiver interval on each seismic survey you do. Using cabled systems typically means lower receiver density per km2 which in turn forces higher vibrator effort (thus additional costs) and therefore increases environmental footprint (more bulldozer openings in dunes, more demining, more fuel consumption, etc.).

“In my experience, companies typically experience longer delays to project start-up when dealing with cable recording setup due to more line clearance, more demining effort, more permitting effort, more social community management, and more procurement delays to source heavy trucks, a large number of vibrators and recording cables with accessories (external batteries, solar panel, road mat and mast, etc.).”

How do you think STRYDE will solve these challenges?

“Moving from cabled geophone arrays to STRYDE’s cable-free seismic nodes (the smallest and lightest in the world) will transform the economic model (providing more affordable seismic) of any seismic survey while delivering a huge uplift on trace density per km2- for superior subsurface imaging.

“Due to the lightweight and nimbleness of the nodes, the use of STRYDE technology will reduce field crew size, manual handling risk, and vehicles (no more heavy trucks in the recording department). Consequently, it is guaranteed to reduce to the lowest possible, HSE exposure and ensure companies achieve the best possible HSE outcome, in any environment.

“With STRYDE Node™, companies can ramp up seismic operations quickly, with less focus and time spent on pre-surveying, survey design changes, and permitting. Quicker receiver deployment and higher production levels enabled by STRYDE Nodes™ and our state-of-the-art positioning procedures allow surveys to be accelerated post-start-up, allowing customers to get to the final subsurface image faster than ever before.

What element of the technology do you think will be most beneficial to future STRYDE customers in the Middle East?

“For seismic acquisition contractors

  • Confidence in assuring the delivery of a high-quality product to their customers.
  • The ability to deliver on any survey design and size.
  • Highest trace density per km2 for any design.
  • The lowest possible OPEX and CAPEX.
  • Faster recording turnaround.
  • Less people, with less kilometers driven - lowest possible HSE risk exposure.

“Oil and gas operators/end users of the data:

  • The ability to feasibly commission any survey design and size they want.
  • High trace density, and high-resolution seismic data required to make informed investment decisions.
  • Minimum environmental footprint, minimum permitting, field clearance, and licensing preparation.
  • Safest contractor for QHSE performance.”

What would be your advice to companies who are considering a move from cables to nodes?

“Be open to trialing and benefiting from the multiverse of seismic benefits and innovation that will truly transform your onshore seismic operations.

“In my experience, The STRYDE Node™ is the most innovative piece of seismic equipment that the onshore geophysical world has seen in the last 2 decades and has proven its expertise and agility to penetrate multiple industries, on all-size projects, in a diverse range of environments.

“With over 600,000 nodes delivered to the market within the last 3 years, covering 167 projects in about 45 countries, STRYDE’s innovation and edge is not only its node receiver but also its unrivaled and mastered field data management for high productivity mega crews.

“You can both rely on and benefit from STRYDE - allowing you to focus on your core business and domain of expertise, which is Geophysics and Imaging, instead of dealing, over and over again, ongoing cable crew related logistics, permitting, HSE and cables integrity nightmares…”

What advice can you give to companies who have concerns about using a system like STRYDE’s with no real-time data transmission?

“I do believe live data transmission for real-time seismic data QC was relevant for cable systems due to their frequent failures, caused by things like cable breaks, lightning events, field equipment damage, 3rd party interferences - especially as this usually coincided with low source productivity and very sparse receiver grid density.

“Today, the reduced price point of the STRYDE Node™ allows companies to densify receivers to trace per km2, to a level that has never been seen before. Allowing companies to acquire high-density seismic data at a lower cost than conventional surveys, whilst providing the data redundancy measure required in the unlikely event of node failure.

“With more and more customers in the MENA region switching to unconstrained blended acquisition, STRYDE’s solution is the perfect source methodology partner for node implementation.”

As a previous customer of STRYDE’s (when you were at ARGAS) – what sold the system to you?

“The decision was simple…

  • Lowest possible HSE risk exposure in the field
  • Operational efficiencies gained by using the nodes and data management system.
  • Impressive market penetration of STRYDE in less than 3 years in all regions and in multiple industries.
  • Extremely efficient scale-up.
  • The only solution ready and available for a 1 million channel seismic survey, a common goal for a lot of the oil and gas operators in the region.
  • The huge experience and multi-horizon expertise of the field support team who are available on hand, at any time.”


Keen to hear more? Get in touch with Mehdi at mehdi.tascher@strydefurther.com, or click below to discover more about STRYDE.

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