Survey suggests numerous petroleum plays in the eastern Gulf of Mexico

Glyn Roberts and Kjell Finstad of GGS-Spectrum discuss the implications of a recently acquired 2D seismic survey off western Florida in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, an area that has been off limits to E&P operations in recent years. Owing to a drilling moratorium imposed on the oil industry, very little modern seismic has been acquired in the eastern GOM prior to a recent survey by GGS-Spectrum. The 2D seismic survey (West Florida WF-05 survey) covered a section east and southeast of the original Sale 181 area in the eastern Gulf of Mexico (GOM), running SSE along the Florida Escarpment towards the Dry Tortugas and the EEZ boundary (Fig.1) and covering OCS protraction areas: De Soto Canyon, Florida Middle Ground, Lloyd Ridge, The Elbow, Vernon Basin, and Howell Hook. Its eastern margin is approximately 125 miles from the West Florida coast. Water depths vary from 200 m to 3200 m and the present day bathymetry is dominated by the Florida Escarpment. The seismic data was acquired with an 8000 m streamer, 13 seconds record length and a fold of 107. An environmental impact assessment (EIA) was undertaken prior to survey start up and both marine mammal observers (MMOs) and a passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) system were deployed to assess and mitigate any effects of the survey on marine mammals. The eastern GOM area is one of the last remaining US petroleum frontier areas, and analysis of the results of this survey are intended to allow oil companies and regulatory authorities to more accurately identify potentially commercial volumes of oil and gas and to consider their future development.