Signal Hill Petroleum conducts aerial survey of Los Angeles Basin

Signal Hill Petroleum, Inc. (SHP) has recently completed the first airborne Full Tensor Gravity Gradiometry (FTG) survey of the Los Angeles Basin.

Airborne FTG surveys allow rapid, low impact, and detailed imaging of subsurface geology. Signal Hill Petroleum acquired more than 2900-line miles of airborne survey data to produce the most accurate available images of the entire basin’s gravity signature.

Signal Hill Petroleum contracted Bell Geospace, the leading provider of gravity gradiometry, to acquire the (FTG) data.

Bell Geospace

“Bell Geospace is proud to be involved with a survey over the 2nd most populous city in the United States; helping Signal Hill Petroleum with their commitment to explore for oil and gas in urban areas,” commented Scott Hammond, CEO, Bell Geospace.

The area that makes up the Los Angeles Basin is highly developed and densely populated, making it logistically challenging to map and extract its reserves. The non-invasive nature of the FTG survey allowed Signal Hill Petroleum to gather more information with no impact upon the urban area. The survey pilots followed pre-programmed flight lines at an altitude of 1000 ft.

On board aircraft on final approach into Chino Airport. Photo courtesy of Catherine Cox, Geophysicist at Signal Hill Petroleum.

Flight operations

To avoid high traffic within the survey’s airspace, flight operations were limited to the hours of 11pm to 6am. “Our operations crew worked closely with Los Angeles Air Traffic Control to acquire this sophisticated gravity survey safely and efficiently,” added Hammond. In total, data was collected over a span of eight days.

With known reserves estimated to be between 1.4 and 5.6 billion barrels, the Los Angeles Basin contains one of the highest concentrations of crude oil in the world. Previously Signal Hill Petroleum has used 2D and 3D seismic data to explore for new oil deposits. Signal Hill Petroleum now plans to integrate the new FTG data with the company’s seismic data to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the region’s geology and to engage in more precise and targeted exploration.

Urban environments

“Signal Hill Petroleum has worked hard and invested heavily to be a leader in oil and gas exploration in dense urban environments. Given the challenges of any data acquisition in densely populated regions, the safe operations and data quality provided by Bell Geospace have been excellent. We are confident that this cutting edge technology will be central to new exploration opportunities in the Los Angeles Basin,” concluded David Slater, Executive VP/COO of Signal Hill Petroleum.

Adapted from press release by Katie Woodward

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/digital-oilfield/21112014/signal-hill-aerial-survey-los-angeles-295/