Chevron Completes Its Largest-Ever Seismic Survey Off Australia

By James Paton

(Bloomberg) — Chevron Corp. is learning knowledge from its largest-ever seismic survey to determine the place to drill for oil in an untapped frontier off southern Australia.

The seismic program, carried out by Norway’s TGS Nopec Geophysical Co., gathered knowledge protecting about 22,000 sq. kilometers (8,500 sq. miles) of the Great Australian Bight, Chevron’s native unit stated in an e-mail response to questions.

Chevron is attempting to find oil within the deep-water area that U.Ok. vitality big BP Plc has referred to as “pretty much the last big unexplored basin in the whole world.” The U.S. oil producer received acreage within the Bight in 2013 and has proposed spending nearly A$500 million ($388 million) on exploration.

Ion Geophysical Corp. can also be planning to start out a seismic program round November over a broader space off South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania states after getting approval from the nation’s offshore oil regulator, Shawn Rice, senior vp of operations and engineering, stated by cellphone.

BP, which plans to start out drilling within the Bight in October 2016, accomplished a seismic program within the area three years in the past. BP is in search of alternatives to work with different explorers to probably lower your expenses and make their operations extra environment friendly, it stated final month.

Seismic surveys, typically step one in exploring for oil and gasoline, have been described by the business as “ultrasounds of the earth” that assist explorers get data on the situation and dimension of deposits.