French geophysical services company CGG has recently signed a multi-client airborne gravity gradient survey agreement with the Republic of Congo’s national oil company, Société nationale des pétroles du Congo (SNPC) and the Ministry of Hydrocarbons.
With licensing expected to commence early 2021, the agreement seeks to boost exploration activities in the Cuvette Basin area.
“Our Congo Cuvette Basin multi-client survey will utilize the world’s best airborne geophysical technology in a truly frontier area,” stated Greg Paleolog, Senior Vice President, Multi-physics, CGG. “The Cuvette Basin could be considered one of the last provinces in Africa to potentially hold giant to supergiant oil and gas accumulations. It is exciting that the SNPC and our prefunders recognize the value that large-scale acquisition of high-quality data can add to their exploration programs.”
With the Congo Cuvette Basin being largely underexplored due to accessibility challenges, CGG will collect the gravity gradient, gravity, and magnetic data for interpretation, and additionally utilize the survey to understand the sedimentary thickness of the area (estimated to be approximately 9 km thick in some places). Due to existing geophysical data merely consisting of 2D seismic data from the 1950s and 1970s, this agreement serves as a significant milestone in expanding exploration activities in the Congo.
