Searcher initiates new Gulf of Papua survey

Papua New Guinea

PORT MORESBY, November 3, 2015 – Australia’s Searcher Seismic has launched a new 2D-seismic survey offshore Papua New Guinea, the company announced on Tuesday. The Haere survey is being conducted in co-operation with the country’s Department of Petroleum and Energy and will cover around 17,000 kilometres of 2D long-offset, high-resolution, broadband seismic in the Gulf of Papua.

The survey will be performed by the BGP Explorer, which is owned by project partner BGP, the geophysical services subsidiary of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation.

“Deep grabens in the area are believed to contain extensive Mesozoic and Palaeozoic sediments, which may be associated with multiple unexplored petroleum systems, highlighting the prospectivity of the Gulf of Papua,” Rachel Masters, global sales manager for Searcher, said.

The survey will increase Seismic Searcher’s data for the Gulf of Papua to around 58,000 kilometres. The company expects fast-track delivery of the data will begin in the first quarter of 2016.