Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent
MELBOURNE, Apr. 4 -- Melbourne junior explorer Gippsland Offshore Petroleum Ltd. (GOP) has begun an exploration program in the Walton basin off southern Jamaica.
The company, in conjunction with Perth-based private company Finder Exploration Pty. Ltd., is running a 7,180 km, 2D seismic survey across its four permits, which encompass virtually the whole basin.
The survey should be completed in May and results known by September.
The long offset (8 km) streamer length is designed to acquire high-quality data beneath the extensive reef system in the basin where the company anticipates finding source rocks and deeper potential traps.
The information will be coupled with data from an aerial survey to be flown using BHP Billiton's Falcon technology and used to map structure and lithology.
The Walton basin has not been licensed since the mid-1980s. (see map, OGJ, Sept. 13, 2004, p. 49). GOP and Finder expect to identify drillable prospects by yearend or early 2007.
