Seismic Processing Provider

The Australian Government has provided $125 million to Geoscience Australia to continue and expand the Exploring for the Future (EFTF) program in phase 2 in Trans-Australia potential corridors, with the program designed to increase investment in minerals, energy and groundwater resources. The EFTF program has been, and will now continue to be, integral to the Australian Government’s vision ‘to have the world’s most advanced, innovative and successful resources sector that delivers sustained prosperity and social development for all Australians’. The program will also be critical in achieving our targets in Strategy 2028. As part of the newly announced extension to the Exploration for The Future (EFTF) program, Geoscience Australia is embarking on various new data acquisition programs. The “Australia’s Future Energy Resources” project will evaluate the prospectivity of selected underexplored sedimentary basins and assess their untapped resource potential of natural gas, oil, and groundwater. One of the identified priority areas is located in the greater NE South Australia/SW Northern Territory region and is partly represented by a stacked sequence of sedimentary basins including the Eromanga, Simpson, Pedirka and Warburton basins.

Previous exploration carried out in the 1960s to 1990s confirmed the existence of petroleum systems, however no commercial discoveries were made. During that period several seismic surveys have been acquired by the industry which are now open file. In order to improve the understanding of hydrocarbon prospectivity and to gain a clearer picture of the geological evolution of this region it appears important to revisit the existing seismic data sets. It is anticipated that by applying state-of-the-art reprocessing techniques the currently available vintage seismic data can be dramatically enhanced to provide better imaging of the tectonic architecture and its control on the development of key sedimentary sequences and their relationship with regional unconformities. The aim is to de-risk the region for future exploration activities, and facilitate decision making for both government and industry organisations.

The reprocessing of 2D vintage seismic data, as a component of the EFTF program, will produce an improved quality seismic dataset using modern processing techniques, which were unavailable at the time of the original data acquisition and initial processing, will lead to improved imaging of the subsurface, with better resolution of structural features to allow more confident interpretation of shallow structures. The new seismic reprocessed data will be available as pre-competitive information to assist industry to better target areas likely to contain the next major oil, gas and mineral deposits.

Geoscience Australia seeks to contract a Seismic Processing Provider to conduct the reprocessing of legacy onshore seismic data to obtain the newly reprocessed precompetitive geoscience data. The proposed Project is approximately ~2000 line kms (this value may change by +/- 10-15% depending on data availability and quality) comprising about 34 lines from 7 surveys of different vintages. The recording time for the surveys varies from 3s to 4s.

A map location with proposed line for reprocessing (Appendix 1) and available acquisition parameters are (Appendix 2).

Geoscience Australia requires that the data be processed over a period of 18-22 weeks.

Acquisition parameters and data quality vary between surveys. Care is needed to select optimal lines/surveys and may need some revision in collaboration with the Service Provider relative to the list supplied in Appendix 2.

Geoscience Australia requires the Service Provider to undertake land seismic reprocessing of legacy 2D seismic reflection data listed in the table and provide the optimum processing flow given the acquisition parameters. The expectation is that the data quality will be improved through the application of contemporary processing methods including re-examination of the velocities, informed in turn by the geological framework of the area. QC and testing of the data at appropriate intervals will be required and included in the work program. Geoscience Australia is currently in the process of engaging a Quality control specialist to oversee the processing.

We require common routines for 2D land seismic data including but not limited

• Post-Stack Time Migration;

• Pre-Stack Time Migration (optional alternate workflow where supported by data quality);

• Depth Conversion

As per Statement of Requirement, please include a table for the Proposed Dates of Completion for different stages of processing and intermediate products.

The Seismic Processing Provider Services Provider will have a demonstrated record of achievement in the planning, management and delivery of seismic data undertaken with the mineral resources or related industries. The Seismic Processing Services Provider will be able to demonstrate prior experience in working collaboratively with a diverse stakeholder base in the exploration and community sectors to deliver successful projects, and scientific and business outcomes.