French Seismic specialists CGG Veritas are making a big push into the Middle East, and have been promoting their new seismic technology as a means of making unconventional resource recovery make economic sense in the region.
Speaking to ArabianOilandGas.com live from the exhibition floor at MEOS 2011 in Manama, Bahrain, Denis Mougenot of CGG subsidiary Sercel said that, using improved sensors and data gathering, CGG can better target the ‘sweet spot’ in an unconventional play.
“This reduces the number of exploration wells required and the environmental and economic impact that comes with it. CGG can also study the orientation of a fracture to predict how it will release oil or gas,” he explained.
Mougenot said the process of fracturing shale is not environmentally damaging, but some independents have not properly protected the water table from recovered water or properly cemented wells, leading to unnecessary spills.
Mougenout said that, while the gulf is “the kingdom of the conventional reservoir,” there are potential projects, from the neutral zone in Saudi to tight gas recovery in Abu Dhabi and Oman.
