Project Description
EcoSeis™ is an innovative land footprint reduction technology that allows oil and gas operators to sustainably acquire high-resolution seismic images of their resources. The technology is a ground-breaking collaboration that successfully brings environmental conservation and GHG accounting practices into the design and execution of data collection in the field. EcoSeis™ utilizes proprietary algorithms to rank biological, ecological and geographical surface information to automatically guide the creation of custom survey designs.
Field acquisition of subsurface data is often conducted in remote areas with varying terrain and habitat types. Historically, seismic exploration in forested regions has required the clearing of cutlines for safe access and equipment deployment resulting in numerous interconnected pathways. Decades of ecological research have uncovered the impact this work has on revegetation as well as the challenges it poses to sensitive species and habitats, such as woodland caribou in Canada’s boreal forests. Innovative land stewardship combined with recording equipment miniaturization was the spark that drove OptiSeis™ to envision and create EcoSeis™ in 2019, which can reduce the total amount of seismic line clearing by more than 50%.
OptiSeis™ Solutions Ltd. is the Canadian developer of the EcoSeis™ exploration footprint reduction design technology, which incorporates over a decade of OptiSeis’™ seismic acquisition geometry research and a combined 100+ years of seismic acquisition, processing, interpretation, Geographic Information System (GIS), and environmental analysis experience. EcoSeis™ allows operators to focus on their environmental, GHG and subsurface targets, and helps companies deliver on their goals to provide environmentally sustainable and reliable energy for generations to come.
Benefits/outcomes
- The technology enables decreased land footprint and potentially significant reductions of GHG emissions.
- The EcoSeis™ software and process provide an opportunity for highly skilled environmental scientists and geoscientists to work collaboratively to collect and analyze data for the ecologically sustainable development of resources.
- The data collected during the project provides opportunities for further research in the fields of geophysics, environmental science and data analytics.