WorldOil

Acquiring seismic data in the Arctic’s environmentally sensitive areas

Exploration is now being conducted in many environmentally sensitive sea areas of the world, and increasingly in Arctic waters, where minimizing the environmental impact of any activity is a high priority. Since 2008, Polarcus has built and introduced eight specialized seismic vessels. In building these vessels, the company placed specific focus on technologies relevant to operating in the Arctic offshore areas, where many national and international oil and gas companies are turning their attention in the quest for additional hydrocarbon reserves. In these areas, sources of environmental impact are severely regulated by the national authorities that grant permits for offshore operations, and all elements of exploration operations must have required mitigation technologies and procedures in place to meet the permit requirements.