ION announces new 2D multi-client program offshore Canada

HOUSTON -- ION Geophysical Corporation has announced a new 2D multi-client program offshore Grand Banks in Newfoundland, Canada. In the first phase of GrandSPAN, ION will acquire approximately 10,000 km of data with an expectation to sanction a second phase of approximately 5,000 km of data further south in 2019.

The industry-supported program is designed to investigate the architecture, evaluate the petroleum potential of proven basins and understand the geologic differences between producing and non-producing areas. GrandSPAN will integrate with two other ION BasinSPAN programs in the area, providing a contiguous regional seismic data set in excess of 20,000 km offshore northeast Canada. ION expects acquisition to begin this summer with initial deliverables available during third-quarter 2018.

"There has been a significant amount of oil and gas activity offshore northeast Canada for some time," said Joe Gagliardi, senior V.P. of ION's E&P Business Development group. "However, exploration efforts to date have been fragmented, with a limited understanding of small geographic areas. This program is designed to understand on a regional scale differences between basins in the area and why some exploration wells were successful and others were not. This kind of information provides E&P companies with new insights to more cost-effectively explore and develop acreage in this area."