12 seismic campaigns in licensing in Brazil

February 16, 2018
IBAMA has 12 seismic data acquisition projects in the Brazilian offshore with licensing in progress since last year. The survey carried out by E & P Brasil in the public data of the environmental agency indicates that Petrobras is currently the main claimant of projects licenses. The oil company has been anticipating its licensing and transferring to the Data Acquisition Companies (EADs) the license after contracting the service.

In the last year, CGG was the company that obtained the most authorizations from IBAMA. Between licenses, license renewals and even license rectification, there were altogether 11 authorized projects. Petrobras ranked second with seven seismic projects released. Spectrum, with acquisitions in Ceará and Campos and Santos, is third in the list, which also has a license issued to PGS.

Below is an overview of the projects currently being licensed at IBAMA.

Spectrum licenses 3D campaign in the Santos Basin

Spectrum has begun environmental licensing for a 3D seismic data acquisition campaign in an area where exploratory blocks will be offered in the 16th round of bids and also in the 5th pre-salt auction, both scheduled for 2019. According to data sent to Ibama, total area of ​​the acquisition will be 38,018.29 Km2.

3D with nodes in Búzios

Petrobras applied to Ibama for the acquisition of 3D seismic data, with nodes, in the Búzios field, an area of the onerous assignment of the Santos Basin pre-salt. The license application was filed by the oil company on January 23 at the environmental agency.

The campaign will be made by Seabed Geosolutions, which won a bid by the oil company last year, a contract valued at U$ 90 million. The forecast is that the entire campaign will last seven months and raise 1,600 square kilometers of nodes covered with a shooting area of ​​2,700 square kilometers.

Seismic in Marlim, Voador and Albacore

Petrobras is licensing a multi azimuth maritime acquisition campaign with 3D and 4D objectives in the Albacora, Marlim and Voador fields in the Campos Basin. The campaign will be carried out in an area of ​​approximately 2175 km², with approximately 1414 km² being the effective coverage area.

During the execution of the activity, the vessels involved may use the Rio de Janeiro Ports (CIA DOCAS of Rio de Janeiro – CDRJ), Terminal I of the Port Complex of Niterói, Porto do Forno, in Arraial do Cabo, the Port of Imbetiba, in Macaé or the Açu Port, in São João da Barra.

4D in Roncador and Albacora Leste

Petrobras intends to conduct a 4D campaign this year on the Roncador and Albacora Leste fields of the Campos Basin, using the stream technology Narrow Azimuth, with the objective of acquiring proprietary seismic data for a period of approximately 120 days.

The data area to be acquired is approximately 892 km², while the area of ​​shots covers 1128 km² and the maneuvering area of ​​the ship 2392 km². The cable arrangement will have the configuration of 12 cables with length of 6000 meters and spacing between them of 50 meters, totaling a width of 550 meters.

PetroRio seismic license in Foz

PetroRio licenses a project for the acquisition of proprietary 3D seismic data in the exploratory block FZA-M-539, in the Foz do Amazonas Basin. The area, bought in the 11th round of the ANP by Brasoil, entered the company’s portfolio after PetroRio bought 100% of the capital of Brasoil, an operation completed in March this year.

The PetroRio campaign in Foz foresees the acquisition of 1,536 km2 of data during a period that should vary between 22 and 25 days. The company expects to start the acquisition in the middle of next year. The Port of Belém will be used as a support base for the campaign.

BGP studies terrestrial spec in Alagoas

China’s BGP is studying a campaign to acquire non-exclusive 3D seismic data in the Pilar field area on the onshore part of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. The field is located 20 km from the city of Maceió and occupies part of the area of ​​the municipalities of Pilar, Marechal Deodoro, Satuba and Rio Largo.

According to the Chinese company, which is part of CNPC, in October 2017, based on data provided by the ANP, the field had 295 wells drilled, 32 exploratory wells and 263 development and production wells.

PGS to conduct seismic of Queiroz Galvão in Sergipe

PGS presented the best price and is expected to undertake the QGEP seismic data acquisition campaign in the area of ​​blocks SEAL-M-351 and SEAL-M-428, in deep waters of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. The campaign was expected to start between the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018. 4.2 billion km2 of data will be acquired.

The two blocks were the only offshore areas sold in the 13th round of ANP bids, held in 2013. QGEP offered R $ 100.0 million in signing bonus for the participation in the two exploration blocks, of which R $ 63.9 million was for the SEAL Block -M-351 and R $ 36.1 million for Block SEAL-M-428, both amounts equivalent to the minimum bonus required in the bid. In the minimum exploratory program (PEM) signed with the ANP, there is a forecast of acquisition of 3D seismic for the two blocks, which should demand between US $ 15 and 20 million. The local content commitment is 37% in the exploitation phase and 55% in the development phase.

3D with nodes in Sepia

Petrobras intends to carry out a campaign to acquire 3D seismic data, with nodes, in the field of Sepia, area of ​​the onerous assignment of the Santos Basin. The idea is for the campaign to be started in 2019, two years before the first definitive production system for the field came into operation, contracted last month by Petrobras with Modec.

This will be the second campaign by Petrobras with nodes in pre-salt areas. In September, IBAMA issued the environmental license for Petrobras to carry out a campaign to acquire 3D data with nodes, in the Libra block, the first area of ​​production sharing in the country, in the Santos Basin. The license is valid until July 31 of next year and the campaign is exclusively conditional to be carried out by the vessel Artemis Angler.

2D in the Pernambuco-Paraíba Basin

The company Seaseep Dados de Petroleo licenses the acquisition of 2D seismic data in the offshore portion of the Pernambuco-Paraíba Basin. The bathymetry of the survey area ranges from 800 to 4500 meters deep.

2D in the Foz do Amazonas

The company Seaseep Petroleum Data is also licensing a 2D survey in the Foz do Amazonas Basin, being in front of the state of Amapá. The data acquisition area is around 150 km from the coast. The survey corresponds to 58 2D seismic lines.

Spec in Carcará

Polarcus and PGS are licensing a campaign to acquire 3D seismic data in an area covered by the BM-S-8 block, operated by Statoil in the pre-salt cluster of the Santos Basin. The area is currently operated by Statoil and has participation of ExxonMobil, Galp and Barra Energia in the project.