General – Strategic Partnership
Aker BP has entered a strategic partnership with PXGEO, to deploy an innovative seismic acquisition technology that will enhance the quality and efficiency of its subsurface exploration and development activities.
Aker BP targets to maximize value creation and flow efficiency by working as ‘One Team’ and through a LEAN operations philosophy. To achieve this, Aker BP recognizes that a value chain with strategic partnerships and alliances is essential.
Recent results in seismic imaging and seismic velocity model building obtained from OBN (Ocean Bottom Node) data on the Norwegian Continental Shelf demonstrate an excess quality potential to other seismic datasets obtained by other methods. As part of Aker BP’s vision and strategy going forward, we seek to obtain and acquire more of these data. However, we are challenged by the relatively high cost of such operations.
PXGEO operates MantaRay, a hovering autonomous underwater vehicle engineered by Manta to deploy and recover ocean bottom nodes with minimal impact to the ocean floor.
The MantaRay technology has the potential to reduce a seismic survey operation time significantly. This will enable Aker BP to capture more detailed and accurate images of the subsurface, reduce operational risks and environmental footprint, and optimize its exploration and development activities in the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).
The partnership with PXGEO is part of Aker BP’s strategy to leverage digitalization and innovation to create value and drive performance. Ocean Bottom Node seismic data has traditionally been time consuming and expensive to acquire, and the technology has mainly been used for development projects and 4D seismic surveys.
Aker BP sees the potential for leveraging the new technology brought by PXGEO to acquire large-scale OBN exploration surveys.
