High density 3D seismic survey for oil & gas

Historically, Reach has hired contractors to help it acquire new seismic surveys However, the team was keen to reduce costs and, following a recommendation from another of our clients, highlighting the ease of use, the data quality and the efficiencies that The STRYDE Nimble System™ unlocks, Reach approached STRYDE.

The Covid-19 pandemic restrictions were in place during the scheduled survey, meaning we had to rely on remote support and training to ensure the team could keep their work on track.

Crucially, this was achieved without costly and environmentally damaging line cutting and land clearance associated with more traditional seismic technologies.

That planning was particularly important given land access restrictions in some parts of the survey, due to private land ownership. This restricted acquisition to roads and tracks that didn’t require permitting or access to private land. Deploying more STRYDE Nodes™ in a dense pseudo-3D pattern allowed Reach to compensate for this and for areas that couldn’t be reached by the sources.

Based on this seismic acquisition dataset, Reach Exploration identified a new target, which following drilling in 2021 was found to have oil. Consequently, they have decided to buy our full system for their US operations, allowing them to perform rapid, cost-effective seismic surveys for oil and gas in the US on-demand.

We are particularly delighted at this result given that this was a team with no prior experience of seismic acquisition. Their success is a great demonstration of just how easy it is to use our technology. In fact, Reach told us that their vibroseis source contractor was stunned at how many nodes they had laid in a short space of time.

They also told us that our long-lasting battery proved essential since variable local weather patterns meant they had to stop work when it was too wet. Instead of having to collect and redeploy the nodes, they simply left them in the field until they were able to start work again.

Because our nodes are completely independent, the team didn’t have to worry about collecting data in the field. Instead, they were able to concentrate on deploying and retrieving the nodes as quickly as possible and then downloading and processing the data back at their offices.

The tests were successful, giving Reach data showing a new perspective and unseen prospectivity in the subsurface to be used in their oil and gas operations. STRYDE processed the data to create a 3D volume of the subsurface, giving Reach confidence in the final subsurface results..