SEISMIC VESSEL HEADS FOR MISSISSIPPI CANYON
A seismic vessel touted as the world's most sophisticated oil exploration ship is conducting its first seismic survey in the Mississippi Canyon deepwater area of the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana.
The Western Monarch will acquire seismic data through two, three, or four hydrophone studded fiber optic cables towed in a parallel array that can extend miles behind the ship.
The vessel was built for the Western Geophysical, Houston, a division of Litton/Dresser's Western Atlas oilfield services subsidiary. It is the second of four new survey ships being added to Western Geophysical's fleet at a combined cost of about $130 million.
The company operates more than 30 vessels, the industry's largest fleet.
Orval Brannan, executive vice-president, said more than two thirds of Western Geophysical's marine work consists of three dimensional seismic surveys. The job at Mississippi Canyon, where oil companies have reported major discoveries this year, is a 3-D spec survey, he noted (OGJ, Dec. 16, p. 18).
"We have been surveying in waters as deep as 3,000 to 5,000 ft off Louisiana since 1988," Brannan said. "As oil companies develop the capability to drill in deeper water, these areas have attracted the increasing interest of both majors and independents."
Ulstein Hatioe AS, Ulsteinvik, Norway, is the builder of the four new vessels. The first, the 230 ft Western Pride, was delivered in August 1991 and is working in European waters. The third ship will be delivered at yearend and the fourth in spring 1992.
Western Monarch, with a beam of 65 ft, is one of two widebody flagships of exceptional size ideally suited for multistreamer, multisource 3D data acquisition.
Each vessel will have a crew of 40-60 persons rotated ashore regularly.
Western Monarch cruises at as much as 16 kt, has a range of more than 27,000 nautical miles, and can remain at sea for more than 60 days straight.
All of the vessels have been designed specifically to keep ambient noise and vibrations at minimum levels in order to optimize seismic data acquisition.
A seismic vessel touted as the world's most sophisticated oil exploration ship is conducting its first seismic survey in the Mississippi Canyon deepwater area of the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana.
The Western Monarch will acquire seismic data through two, three, or four hydrophone studded fiber optic cables towed in a parallel array that can extend miles behind the ship.
The vessel was built for the Western Geophysical, Houston, a division of Litton/Dresser's Western Atlas oilfield services subsidiary. It is the second of four new survey ships being added to Western Geophysical's fleet at a combined cost of about $130 million.
The company operates more than 30 vessels, the industry's largest fleet.
Orval Brannan, executive vice-president, said more than two thirds of Western Geophysical's marine work consists of three dimensional seismic surveys. The job at Mississippi Canyon, where oil companies have reported major discoveries this year, is a 3-D spec survey, he noted (OGJ, Dec. 16, p. 18).
"We have been surveying in waters as deep as 3,000 to 5,000 ft off Louisiana since 1988," Brannan said. "As oil companies develop the capability to drill in deeper water, these areas have attracted the increasing interest of both majors and independents."
Ulstein Hatioe AS, Ulsteinvik, Norway, is the builder of the four new vessels. The first, the 230 ft Western Pride, was delivered in August 1991 and is working in European waters. The third ship will be delivered at yearend and the fourth in spring 1992.
Western Monarch, with a beam of 65 ft, is one of two widebody flagships of exceptional size ideally suited for multistreamer, multisource 3D data acquisition.
Each vessel will have a crew of 40-60 persons rotated ashore regularly.
Western Monarch cruises at as much as 16 kt, has a range of more than 27,000 nautical miles, and can remain at sea for more than 60 days straight.
All of the vessels have been designed specifically to keep ambient noise and vibrations at minimum levels in order to optimize seismic data acquisition.
Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.