Arabian Geophysical and Surveying Company (ARGAS) has been awarded a major three-year contract by Saudi Aramco for a high-density land seismic program, the French geoscience company CGG announced today
According to the contract, which includes two optional extension periods of one year each, operations are expected to commence from Q4 2014 and will cover a variety of terrain across Saudi Arabia.
CGG CEO Jean-Georges Malcor said, “We are delighted that Saudi Aramco is continuing its long-term relationship with CGG by awarding what is one of the world’s largest land seismic survey programs to ARGAS.”
ARGAS is a result of a joint venture between CGG and Saudi Arabia-based company TAQA, which explains why the program’s seismic equipment will be supplied by CGG’s equipment division Sercel.
“With Sercel supplying the new seismic equipment, this program marks a key milestone in our 2014-2016 strategic roadmap to benefit from the expansion of ultra-high-channel-count surveys in the Middle East region,” explained Malcor.
Acquired by a 50,000-channel crew, the program will utilise the Sercel 428XL acquisition systems, Sercel SG-10 geophones, and a fleet of 24 Sercel Nomad 65 Neo vibrators, according to CGG.
This comes after CGG and TAQA announced in March an agreement to fully incorporate Ardiseis – another of their Middle East-based joint ventures – into ARGAS. By combining the two companies, they intend to create a larger, more powerful ARGAS, with the capability to serve customers across the Middle East region.
