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Apache plans Cook Inlet 2-D seismic test
Apache Alaska Corp. has told state officials it plans to acquire one or more 2-D seismic surveys in the Cook Inlet area early next year. Apache acquired more than 200,000 acres of oil and gas leases in Cook Inlet earlier this year, “with the primary objective to explore for and develop oil fields,” the company said.
Apache said it will apply for permits for three 2-D lines, but will acquire only one or two, with the choice of which line or lines to be acquired to be determined early in 2011 “once proper consideration has been given to environmental, safety and logistical conditions that are present.”
The company said it expects to do the work in March.
Test program prior to 3-D Apache said this is a test program “to evaluate new nodal technology seismic recording equipment” and test seismic acquisition parameters in preparation for a planned 3-D program in Cook Inlet. Each of the lines will have an onshore, a transition zone and an offshore component in water depths up to 100 feet.
Each line will be laid out with a minimum of two seismic recording systems, with a conventional cabled digital telemetry recording system in parallel with a node-based autonomous recording system.
The land test program will evaluate charge size and hole depth to establish the most effective combination to generate the best recorded signal from exploration objectives as deep as 20,000 feet, the company said.
For the marine portion, airgun arrays will be tested to assess the best configuration for use in deep water as well as the intertidal area and airgun lines will be acquired twice, at slack tide and again when tidal currents are at their strongest.
—Petroleum News
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