New Multiclient Contract for the reprocessing of offshore 2D seismic data

22/01/21

On December 15th, 2020, ANCAP and PGS Geophysical AS (PGS) signed a new Multiclient Agreement to carry out a non-exclusive reprocessing work of a minimum of 5000 km of 2D seismic data offshore Uruguay, owned by ANCAP, corresponding to UR70, UR71, UR74, UR75, UR82 and UR11 surveys, at completely cost and risk of PGS.

The 2D seismic data to be reprocessed in this Agreement are those acquired offshore Uruguay in Pelotas and Punta del Este basins, with water depths between 20 and 3300 meters, acquired during the 1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1982 and 2011 surveys.

Regarding the company´s experience, it has a multiclient library that comprises approximately 650,000 linear kilometers of 2D seismic data, in addition to almost 790,000 square kilometers of 3D seismic data. In the last five years, PGS has developed 2D seismic data processing projects in offshore basins of the Mediterranean region (Malta, Egypt, Greece, Lebanon, Cyprus), South Africa, South West Asia (Oman), Eastern Europe (Azerbaijan), Africa (Guinea, Mauritania, Libya), Australia, Europe (Norway, Denmark), West Africa (Namibia, Angola, Congo), Asia (Indonesia), Gulf of Mexico and South America (Peru).

Additionally, this company made the acquisition of approximately 15,900 km2 of 3D seismic, under the modality of multiclient contract signed with ANCAP in 2013, to comply with the obligations that BP, operator of areas No 6, 11 and 12 and Tullow Oil, operator of area 15 offshore Uruguay, were committed within their Exploratory program in the framework of Uruguay Round II. This survey demonstrated the great technical performance of the company during this operation as well as the quality of the data obtained.

The objective of the Program proposed under this multiclient agreement is to apply modern processing techniques to the existing data in order to highlight their potential, thus creating a revitalized data package, obtaining a better image quality product. The 2D data that is proposed to be reprocessed will help to understand in detail the shallow region in the Punta del Este and Pelotas basins, and above all it will allow to tie the resulting data to the data generated within the 3D seismic acquisition multiclient agreement that ANCAP signed with PGS, thus creating a regional integrated product that will contribute with a clearer and more precise understanding of the extension of the oil system, attractive to oil companies interested in investing and developing exploration activities offshore Uruguay. This new regional interpretation of the horizons of Pelotas and Punta del Este basins will delineate the variable structural framework and timing of faulting between these basins, which resulted in a varied depositional history during the Jurassic, Cretaceous and Cenozoic. The area offers an abundance of exploration opportunities. Numerous clastic-channel and fan systems, plus carbonate build-ups form stacked plays throughout the Paleozoic to Tertiary section. The majority of these plays have yet to be tested. Fluid inclusions of oil and gas, gas chimneys and BSRs identified offshore indicate a working petroleum system with predicted source rock intervals in the Paleozoic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.

In addition, ANCAP will benefit from a leading market services company promoting this Project in its product portfolio, promoting exploration opportunities in Uruguay simultaneously.

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