“Sparse 3D” Acquisition – An Efficient Exploration Technique

With the seismic and rig markets being very tight in Libya, and in light of the 5 year EPSA-IV licence period, any chance to fast-track the work programme should be examined. For BG Libya, the ‘sparse’ 3D acquisition design discussed in this paper should allow acquisition of high quality 3D data, whilst retaining an efficient survey acquisition schedule and pricing. Use of the existing 2D data and acquisition of a test line ahead of the survey design was a great advantage in the design optimisation, and should be considered as best practice in ‘sparse’ 3D design.