The contract represents the largest single pre-funding commitment ever captured by TGS and supplements significant previously announced pre-funding already in place. The initial program, referred to as mcWAZ Phase 1, will cover approximately 15,000 square kilometers in the Mississippi Canyon and Atwater Valley areas of the Gulf of Mexico.
Mississippi Canyon is a prolific hydrocarbon producing province with many notable oil and gas fields such as Thunderhorse, Mars, Thunderhawk and Devil’s Tower. Survey acquisition is expected to commence around the end of 2007 and initial preliminary products are scheduled to be available in summer 2008.
Over 250 wells are being used for the anisotropic calibration. TGS believes that the mcWAZ program is the world’s largest contiguous wide-azimuth (WAZ) program, as well as the world’s largest 3D survey with anisotropic well calibration.
Hank Hamilton, CEO, said: Over the last several months TGS has positioned itself to become a major player in multi-client wide-azimuth programs. The support we have generated for the mcWAZ program demonstrates the industry’s confidence in our capabilities.
