CGG Land proposing 3 seismic shoots

The state is taking comments on three 3-D seismic programs that CGG Land Inc. is proposing to acquire this coming winter on the eastern and central North Slope.

The proposed West Canning 3-D seismic program would cover some 280 square miles of state-owned acreage between the Point Thomson and Badami units.

The region is home to the proposed Brooks Range Petroleum Corp. Telemark unit, as well as the proposed East Mikkelsen prospect at the eastern end of the Badami unit.

The proposed Great Bear & Niksik 3-D seismic programs would cover some 280 square miles of state-owned acreage just south of Deadhorse and the Prudhoe Bay unit.

CGG Land is permitting those two programs together, but describes them in permitting documents as separate efforts. The Great Bear program overlaps the Dalton Highway and the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, and the Niksik program borders it along its western edge.

The region is home to a source rock exploration program led by Great Bear Petroleum LLC. The company has commissioned two previous seismic campaigns over its acreage, and drilled the Alcor No. 1 and Merak No. 1 wells in late 2012, but recently said it would acquired a third seismic campaign before unveiling a development plan in late 2014.

CGG plans to conduct the programs using “tracked vibrators supported by tracked cable trucks.” The vibrator lines would run east to west, spaced some 550 feet apart with vibrator points every 50 feet along each line. The vibrators have a frequency between 4 and 100 hertz, used between eight to 12 seconds for each “sweep,” according to CGG.

All three programs would run through the end of May 2014.

The Division of Oil and Gas is taking comments on the plans through Dec. 16.

—Eric Lidji