First 3D marine seismic survey completed |31 July 2014

Research vessel Polar Duchess has completed a 3D survey to collect seismic data in the Junon area, located approximately 115 km east-southeast of Mahé.  
This is the first 3D survey done in Seychelles during the southeast trade winds season.

After spending over 30 days in Seychelles for the exercise, the Polar Duchess left Port Victoria on Tuesday en route to West Africa to acquire seismic data for another company.

In April 2014 Ophir Energy, a British oil and gas company completed the acquisition of 75% equity of the Seychelles license from WHL Energy and became the operator to carry out further exploration in these blocks. Ophir Energy subcontracted the seismic company Dolphin Geophysical to acquire a three dimensional marine seismic survey in the Junon area, located approximately 115km east-southeast of Mahé. This survey covered an area of approximately 1,500 square kilometres.

The survey started on June 21 and ended on July 29.

Kevin Pratt, the ship’s manager, expressed his satisfaction while leaving our shores.

“The project went well; the sea was rough as expected but that did not affect our operations.  Our vessel is equipped to work in such conditions. The only downtime we encountered were with old fishing gear getting entangled with our recording equipment.  Nonetheless we were successful in our mission and no one was hurt. We had no environment issue as we complied with all the environmental protection guidelines,” he said.

Gavin Heendbury, the party manager on Polar Duchess said that “all parties concerned are happy with the survey and now the data collected has been submitted to Ophir Energy for processing”.

Fifty-seven crew members were on board the vessel and two other support vessels accompanied the Polar Duchess with another 13 and eight crew members respectively.
 
“We are grateful to the Seychelles Vessel Protection Detachment unit (SVPD), PetroSeychelles and Mahe Shipping for all their support,” Mr Heendbury said.
PetroSeychelles told Seychelles Nation that it acknowledged the weather was rough but there are fewer activities during that time including fishing vessels and piracy issues.

The seismic data acquired will now be processed and this will take about six months. Geophysicists will then interpret the processed data and work out if the structure being investigated is one that can be drilled. Interpretation of this data is expected to take approximately three months.

“Geo-scientists from PetroSeychelles will work closely with Ophir Energy and we eagerly await the result of this survey. We remain optimistic but at this point it is too early to comment on what the data will show,” a spokesperson for PetroSeychelles said.

Two British Marine Mammal Observers (MMOs) and two trainees from the Seychelles Marine Parks Authority were also part of the team.

Seismic vessels carrying out surveys in Seychelles follow certain guidelines aimed at minimising the risk of acoustic disturbance to marine mammals including whales, dolphins, porpoises, turtles and any other representatives of marine fauna. A component of these guidelines is to have MMOs on board the vessel.
These MMOs maintain a close watch for cetaceans, whale sharks and turtles during the course of the survey and advise the survey vessel master, or party chief, of the presence of these marine fauna.

They also ensure recording and reporting of cetacean, whale shark and turtle sightings, as well as implement a specific visual monitoring and interaction procedures during acquisition operations and prepare the MMO final report.