The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has awarded £1.5 million of contracts to purchase comprehensive subsurface databases and information sources to encourage further exploration in under explored areas of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).
The datasets purchased will underpin much of the OGA’s work across the exploration and production (E&P) lifecycle including; promotion of future licensing rounds and undeveloped discoveries, regional exploration projects, area strategies and asset stewardship. Four of the contracts awarded will result in the data purchased being made freely available to the general public, industry and academia.
In total eight contracts have been awarded, detailed below:
- APT: West of Shetlands geochemical database
- Belltree: Reservoir benchmarking
- CGG: Well logs and key databases
- Geostrat: Jurassic stratigraphy of the Central North Sea
- Getech: UKCS satellite gravity data
- Hannon Westwood: Prospect and lead database
- IHS Markit: Fields and discoveries database and prospect and lead database
- IKON: Rock physics studies
The following datasets will be made available to download via the OGA’s website during 2017; APT (geochemical database only), CGG, Geostrat, Getech.
Gunther Newcombe, Operations Director at the OGA, said: “The UKCS remains a highly attractive exploration destination and in order to maximise the economic recovery of oil and gas from the UKCS, exploration activity must be revitalised in both mature and frontier plays. Comprehensive, high quality well, seismic and subsurface databases which are made freely available are critical to this.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
- The 2016 UK Government funded seismic acquisition programme focused on South West Britain and the East Shetland Platform. Contracts were awarded to WesternGeco and PGS respectively and over 13,500 km data was acquired from July to October 2016
- Data will be available to download via Common Data Access (CDA) in Q3 2017
- Common Data Access (CDA) is an operating subsidiary of Oil & Gas UK, set up in 1995 to provide cost-effective data management services to its members and to the UK oil industry in general
- Last month, the OGA awarded 25 licences in the 29th Offshore Licensing Round which was focused on the frontier areas of Rockall and Mid-North Sea High
- The OGA’s Exploration Strategy can be found here.
For more information about the OGA, please contact:
Leona Minellas
Communications Manager
Oil & Gas Authority
Tel: +44 (0) 300 020 1072