VIEW FROM THE TOP
SPREADING THE POWER OF DATA TO THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY KRISTIAN JOHANSEN CEO of TGS
Q: How significant is Mexico to your global operations and
tie extremely well with US plays that are well-understood by
what is your flagship project in the country?
certain oil and gas companies, whereas other areas present
A: Mexico has become an increasingly significant market
new and interesting geological challenges for explorers. We
for TGS since we carried out a major investment in 2D
have seen many discoveries by international companies and
seismic after the country’s opening to international players.
the overall interest from the industry is very good. Mexico
We acquired the largest 2D seismic survey ever performed
underwent a hectic time in 2015 because all the companies
in Mexico by a multiclient data company. This 186,000km
wanted to enter and obtain an early-stage understanding
survey, called Gigante 2D, covers the entire Mexican side of
of its geology. As things have evolved, everything has been
the Gulf of Mexico and is complemented by a 600,000km2
kept at pace and the country has provided great transparency
multibeam and coring survey. These surveys provide oil and
during the licensing rounds.
gas companies with a good regional understanding of the subsurface as well as hydrocarbon seeps and geochemical
Q: How does your data access contract with CNH add value
analysis. This represents a large investment for TGS and it
to your operations in Mexico?
is one of the biggest projects in our data library. TGS has
A: We have access to more than 30,000 wells from CNH,
undertaken the second-largest data investment in Mexico,
of which we have so far audited and digitized 3,000 in our
having made over 20 percent of all investment in seismic data
database to sell to our clients that are keen to invest in Mexico.
acquisition in the country so far. Our extensive and uniquely-
We see this data access as a great opportunity for TGS since
featured database covers pretty much all the basins in the Gulf
we manage 9 million well logs and associated data types all
of Mexico and we are pleased with the high interest that our
around the world. We deem our Mexican operation a great
Mexican database has raised among operators.
achievement based on the extensive interest we have received from other companies to obtain a better understanding of the
Q: What makes Mexico an attractive market for seismic data
country’s subsurface. Moreover, we have been impressed with
companies?
the approach from CNH, which has overseen a smooth and
A: The geoscience data industry was eager for the moment
effective process for new entrants into Mexico.
when the Mexican oil and gas industry would open up, and when it finally happened seismic acquisition occurred in
Q: What technology is TGS introducing into the market?
record time. Opening the industry to foreign competitors has
A: We offer many different products. Our greatest investment
been a great success for the Mexican authorities, since they
so far is a large-scale regional 2D survey, which includes long
attracted a great number of players into the Mexican market.
offsets for better subsalt imaging and long record lengths
We were skeptical about how things would evolve, bearing
for mapping of deeper structures. We process the seismic
in mind the country’s long-standing closure to foreign oil and
data using our supercomputer, which is one of the largest in
gas investors, but CNH and the other regulatory bodies moved
the world. We apply the latest imaging technologies, such
quickly and we have been impressed by how well they have
as broadband processing and multiple other techniques to
delivered on their plans.
address both shallow and deepwater environments. We are the only company with the capacity to provide a full regional
Q: How would you characterize Mexico’s geology?
view of the basins and our clients are taking advantage of that.
A: Mexico has quite an interesting geology, prolific basins and some challenges present in its deepwater areas that will certainly require large infrastructure investments moving
TGS is the world’s largest geoscience data company, known
forward. The Gulf of Mexico’s geology has both differences
for its asset-light, multiclient business model and global data
and similarities between the Mexican and the US sides,
library. The company has approximately 600 employees, with
which makes the market even more interesting. Some areas
its corporate headquarters located in Asker, Norway
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