STRYDE: seismic projects currently operating on unacceptable timeframes
Published by Nicholas Woodroof,
Editor
Oilfield Technology,
Currently, most seismic acquisition projects across the world continue to use legacy cable technology. In regions where nodes are now accepted over cables, companies are still having to use overly large, expensive nodes, which carry many of the same drawbacks as cabled technology. These solutions can take many months to arrive on site, after which a significant period is needed to test the equipment before acquisition can begin in earnest. Once that is complete, a large crew is required to deploy and retrieve the land receivers, using big vehicle fleets to move equipment around the field. Large projects with such legacy equipment can take up to six months just to mobilise plus a year or more to acquire.
This is despite the fact that seismic data is critical to successful energy operations such as geothermal exploration CCUS and hydrogen storage as well as efficient oil and gas recovery. With global geothermal energy capacity set to surge 50% from 16GW in 2020 to 24GW in 2025 and the CCUS market set to grow almost 120% in the same period, delivering high-definition seismic imagery that provides geophysical and geological insights is crucial to project success.
Furthermore, as sustainable, and safe operations become ever-more paramount, it is essential to decrease the environmental footprint of seismic acquisition projects across the energy industry. Nodes as light as STRYDE’s, at 150g per node, allow receiver-line clearing to be eliminated since receivers can be deployed on foot. There is no need for environmentally disruptive cable laying or a requirement for vehicles to move equipment along the receiver lines. With fewer vehicles needed, CO2 emissions are reduced. Finally, better visualisation of the subsurface enabled by high-quality seismic imagery reduces wasteful drilling in oil and gas or geothermal, unnecessary excavation in mining and provides confirmation that injected CO2 is remaining below the surface in carbon capture and underground storage projects.
Nodal technology also reduces project health and safety risks. Smaller crews mean fewer people are exposed to risk and, with less or no line clearing and preparation, some of the more hazardous activities are reduced. By lessening the number of vehicles and trips required, nodal technology reduces the risk of driving accidents.
Including the smallest and lightest node on the market by a distance, STRYDE’s systems can be delivered by air freight and mobilisation and demobilisation time is significantly reduced. Even the largest system that STRYDE provide, the Pro system, capable of supporting 1 million nodes in the field, has been shown to be ready for full scale production within a week of arriving on site, set up by just two engineers. Additionally, there is no non-productive time needed to check equipment in the field, pre-survey time for receivers can be eliminated and the need for line clearing is either eliminated or greatly reduced. Depending on the environment, large projects can typically be completed over four times faster with the same crew size when compared to single sensor cabled system and over six times faster than projects using cabled geophone arrays.
“We are committed to the rapid and collaborative development of exceptional quality, economically accessible high-definition seismic solutions,” said Mike Popham, CEO of STRYDE. “Drastically reducing the delivery times of seismic acquisition projects is something we can already offer, together with a reduced health and safety risks, environmental footprint and cost. We aren’t content to stop here, we will continue to innovate to further shorten the timescale between a customer committing to start a seismic acquisition project and having the end products available for them to use.”
“We believe that high-quality seismic imagery is critical to global decarbonisation” continued Popham. “By developing the smallest, lightest and cost-effective autonomous node in the world we aim to bring the benefits of seismic to the industries that will shape our clean energy future.”
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Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/exploration/22022021/stryde-seismic-projects-currently-operating-on-unacceptable-timeframes/
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