Seismic-data company Searcher has announced the completion of its offshore Peru OpenSeis 2D and 3D seismic data set as part of its offshore Peru multiclient campaign.
The offshore Peru OpenSeis seismic data set consists of 2D and 3D vintage seismic data that has been rectified in a post-stack reprocessing method. The data package is composed of 44,389 km of 2D and 15,526 km2 of 3D seismic data along the coast of Peru.
Offshore Peru offers high-impact, moderate-risk exploration in shallow water, with high prospectivity in multiple, unexplored basins, supported by Perupetro, which is welcoming foreign investment.
Searcher applied its OpenSeis post-stack reprocessing method to the Peruvian database to rectify navigation, metadata, amplitude, phase, and time to create a contiguous database that can be loaded into any interpretation software. The Peru data set consists of 19 rectified and merged 2D seismic surveys and 21 rectified and merged 3D seismic surveys.
The rectified seismic data is also loaded and hosted on Searcher’s multiclient platform, Saismic, for consistent and instant online access. Saismic is a web-based platform that offers seismic data as a service with support for deep learning and advanced analytics. The Saismic geographic information system web portal has traditional functionalities of ingestion, online viewing, and export to SEG-Y functions and offers a global collection of rectified open-file seismic data.
Offshore Peru already has a proven prolific oil play and prospectivity within multiple basins containing both thick reservoir seal pairs and a rich array of structural traps, yet offshore Peru remains underexplored. Hydrocarbon fields both on and offshore along the north coast in the Tumbes-Progreso and Talara extensional basins currently contribute more than 1.8 billion bbl of domestic oil production. To the south of these producing fields lie five additional offshore basins where little to no exploration activity has been undertaken.
With only four exploration wells, the Trujillo and Salaverry basins have proven source and the Lobos-1 and Morsa North-1 exploration wells encountered significant oil shows during drilling. Hydrocarbon samples recovered from natural slicks on the sea surface demonstrate the existence and veracity of active petroleum systems within these basins. Numerous large undrilled structures in a variety of trap types have been identified on legacy seismic data that has been recently rectified by Searcher.
The Lima and Pisco basins are interpreted as strike/slip (pull-apart) basins with significant extensional horst and graben structures present. Geological and geophysical studies conducted on just under 50 samples collected for geochemical analysis indicate that the Carboniferous Ambo Group is likely to be one of the main source rocks within these basins, with Eocene and Oligocene sandstones being proven reservoirs onshore and, therefore, interpreted to be effective reservoirs offshore as well.
To the south, no exploration wells have been drilled in the Mollendo basin. This frontier basin comprises a long narrow forearc basin located mostly on the continental slope. Asphalt layers encountered onshore in Lower and Middle Jurassic formations indicate the presence of potential source rocks, which extend offshore. Even with limitations of the available offset information, multiple leads have been identified on Searcher’s rectified seismic data set, suggesting that the Mollendo Basin may yet prove to be the dark horse of Peruvian exploration.
Offshore Peru has proven hydrocarbon systems and strong evidence of significant untapped hydrocarbon potential. The Searcher rectified seismic is a consistent regional data set that can be leveraged to gain a comprehensive understanding of the basins, geology, and plays and, ultimately, build up a leads inventory within these basins.