LAND DATA ACQUISITION
In the past 10 years ARGAS has operated four Land 3D crews and one Land 2D Vibroseis seismic crew, which combined have acquired over 50,000 square of seismic data in Saudi Arabia alone.
ARGAS uses the latest SercelTM technology to acquire this data. The equipment we deploy generally provides optimal productivity, with reduced downtime, low power consumption and reduced equipment weight, by as much as 20%. This enables us to reduce operating costs while enhancing productivity.
All our land crews are equipped with the latest 3D technology, including:
- Sercel 508 XT acquisition systems with over 40,000 channels with capability for expansion to 200,000+ channels. This technology balances real-time data acquisition and autonomous modes, and can perform in any land environment
- Sercel 428 XL acquisition systems with over 120,000 channels. Offering high performance results, this system provides us with the high channel counts and the layout flexibility needed for the operations
- Sercel SG10 geophones – over 150,000 strings. These sensors have very low distortion levels, as well as the highest tilt tolerance in the industry, in temperatures o-40°C to +70°C.
- Sercel Nomad 65 Neo Vibrators – we currently have 60 vibrators that can deliver enhanced low frequency content with full drive achieved at only 5.4Hz, coupled with 15% lower fuel consumption
- Sercel Nomad 65 Vibrators – we currently have 38 of these units on our crews
- Vehicle fleets of over 200 light and 100 heavy vehicles all equipped with vehicle tracking, driver monitoring, and speed limiting technology
RECENT LAND DATA ACHIEVEMENTS
In early 2016, ARGAS reached a new milestone with the first large-scale deployment of Sercel’s new generation 508XT land seismic acquisition system. We were the first seismic contractor in the world to acquire one million VPs using this system.
To achieve this, our land crew operated 12 fleets of two Sercel Nomad 65 Neo all-terrain broadband vibrators using the Distance-Separated Simultaneous Slip-Sweep (DS4) vibroseis source method. To record the data, we deployed 38,000 channels and 40,000 sensors with a 150 square kilometer active spread.
MARINE SEISMIC ACQUISITION
ARGAS has acquired marine data from the Qatar peninsula to the Iraqi border. We have simultaneously operated the world’s largest Ocean Bottom Cable Crews (2010-2013) which acquired 14,351 km² of high quality 3D four component (4C) seismic data covering Saudi Arabia and the Partitioned Neutral Zone with Kuwait. We acquired our first 3D marine survey in the Arabian Gulf in 2008 and since then we have increased our capabilities dramatically. On the shallow water and transition side of our operations, in 2009, we acquired a 15-month 3D two-component (2C) transition zone survey in the Arabian Gulf for Saudi Aramco. We also acquired a 2D-2C shallow water survey offshore Kuwait, utilizing 50 kilometers of Sercel 408 ULS cable with a 50-meter receiver point interval and an airgun source.
Our marine and Ocean Bottom Cable crews were equipped with:
- Over 140 kilometers of SeaRay 300 Ocean Bottom Cable, with receiver points at 50 meter intervals – these cables are very robust and therefore perfect for use in ocean going vessels.
- Over 80 kilometers of SeaRay 300 Ocean Bottom Cable, with receiver points at intervals of 25 meters.
- Two source arrays (6 Sercel G-gun strings) per crew which allowed flip flop shooting, dramatically increasing source productivity. A powerful source combined with clean acoustic performance provided excellent data quality.
- Gator command and control navigation systems with a 4D module developed specifically for ARGAS. With it, ARGAS could track individual vessels in real time using a suite of controls which provided optimized vessel management.
Our other capabilities also include 2D and 3D Marine streamer services. ARGAS undertook a series of 3D streamer surveys in 2008 and 2009 in the Saudi waters off the Arabian Gulf, prior to the acquisition of the OBC projects.
TRANSITION ZONE AND SHALLOW WATER ACQUISITION
Our capabilities in transition zone and shallow water acquisition include:
Two master/slaved recording systems:
- Sercel 408 ULS for offshore – designed for optimal performance on smaller boats
- Sercel 428 in transition zone (WPSR cables) – high channel counts and world-class flexibility
- Sercel 428 on land (STPL cable)
Three source types:
- Two shallow water source vessels using airgun arrays in flip-flop mode, therefore increasing source productivity
- Shot-hole drilling/explosives
- Vibroseis
Three receiver types:
- Hydrophones
- Marsh geophones
- Land geophones