Revealing Africa's Most Successful Plays of Recent Times

Since the Fan and Sangomar (formerly SNE) oil fields were discovered in October 2014, two-thirds of all the oil and gas discovered offshore Africa has been found in the North West Africa Basin*. This statistic alone makes it clear why understanding the key play components in this basin is so important for explorers who operate in Africa. BP-Kosmos, operator of the Tortue discovery, directly attributed the company's success in this region to the huge 3D seismic projects that gave their geologists a holistic understanding of the complete petroleum system and hydrocarbon potential.

                                                                      *measured in BOE, source Wood Mackenzie Petroview

Jaan seismic coverage across the MSGBC Basin

Targeted Depth Imaging Solution Reveals New Structure

The depth imaging workflow is based on layered tomography, which updates velocity in a top-down sequence. Geological models and interpretations are integrated into the tomography for an optimal estimate of the fine-tuned velocity models. The imaging workflow is targeting and building on amplitude recovery and the improvement of signal-to-noise ratio for stacking and depth migration algorithms. The resulting velocity model and depth imaging of the JAAN 3D demonstrates that the above-presented workflow is applicable to extensive 3D volumes.

Moreover, it was demonstrated that the workflow allows joining together areas with different geological settings and multiple imaging targets, including those with challenging carbonate and salt structures. Hence, the quality of the continuous 3D image facilitates the mapping of potential Jurassic to Early Cretaceous source rocks beneath the carbonate shelf, which has, until now, been notoriously difficult.