Metatek completes aerial survey for onshore exploration in Angola
Published by Jessica Casey,
Editor
Oilfield Technology,
UK-based geophysical company, Metatek-Group Ltd, has completed an airborne survey of the Kwanza Basin in Angola to support onshore oil and gas exploration in the region.
It is the first time the basin has been surveyed with modern technology, offering new insights into the subsurface and the precise locations that hold the most potential for future drilling programmes.
Conducted in partnership with Angolan-based upstream consultancy Striped Horse and the Agência Nacional de Petróleo, Gás e Biocombustíveis (ANPG), the survey captures the full Kwanza Basin, with over 36 000 km flown. It comprises enhanced Full Tensor Gravity Gradiometry (eFTG), scalar gravity, magnetic, and LiDAR data.
eFTG is the world’s most advanced and highest-resolution airborne gravity gradiometry technology, providing geological insight and accuracy from near-surface through to deep basement.
The gravity and magnetic data captured enables enhanced imaging of the Basin’s architecture, including fault and transfer zone geometries and regional structural domains, alongside more detailed analysis of sediment thickness and the distribution of salt, carbonate, and volcanic bodies.
The LiDAR data provides high-resolution terrain models to support surface access planning, geomorphological interpretation and environmental baselining.
Selected priority areas were flown at higher resolution and can support with detecting critical minerals in addition to hydrocarbon resources. It comes as Angolan state-owned oil company, Sonangol, recently announced an ambition to diversify into critical minerals.
The complete dataset – together with optional interpretation products including block viability ranking – will be available for licensing from 2Q26 under a multi-client model.
Dr Mark Davies, CEO of Metatek, commented: “This survey represents a step-change in regional and prospect scale subsurface understanding of the onshore Kwanza Basin. The integration of eFTG, gravity, magnetics and LiDAR deliver a robust, basin-wide framework enabling more informed exploration and de-risking seismic planning and acreage decisions.”
Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/exploration/16032026/metatek-completes-aerial-survey-for-onshore-exploration-in-angola/