PGS recently undertook a 3D broadband seismic multiclient survey covering both frontier and mature parts of the East Shetland Basin.
The seismic vessel Ramform Tethys. © PGS.
One of the most popular areas for bids in the UKCS 31st Offshore Licensing round in 2019 was the frontier area of the East Shetland Platform, abutting the mature graben axes of the North Sea rift system. Historically, this region had been dismissed as a broad flat high, with shallow basement and few visible structures, but results from GeoStreamer surveys undertaken by PGS between 2011 and 2016 have revealed significant unexplored potential (see GEO ExPro Vol. 14, No. 6). The company now believes that the East Shetland Platform comprises an alternation of persistent basement highs and intra-platform Permo-Triassic depocentres containing a nearly continuous Palaeozoic-Mesozoic succession, with Middle Devonian source rocks and fault- and tilting-related migration pathways.
In order to discover more about this promising area, PGS recently undertook 3D broadband seismic multiclient survey covering both frontier and mature parts of the East Shetland Basin to enable the interpretation of the internal reflectors of the main Brent Group reservoir level. The new dataset will help de-risk the less tested Upper Jurassic Intra-Draupne sandstone analogue of the Home and Magnus sandstones and improve understanding of the trapping mechanism and the petroleum system.
The PGS seismic vessel Ramform Tethys has completed work on the survey and the first data is expected Q3 of 2020.
Further Reading on PGS Activity in the East Shetlands
The East Shetland Platform: Illuminating Sub-BCU
Stefano Patruno and Christine Roche, Petroleum Geoservices Ltd.
PGS GeoStreamer® data unravels the true geological story of the Palaeozoic of the East Shetland Platform, paving way to a whole new era for exploration.
This article appeared in Vol. 14, No. 6 – 2018
