E566ed08 feb0 4db7 b6ce 397e285ad3ce Thumperand Node Namibia

Case study

STRYDE powers subsurface imaging for frontier hydrocarbon exploration in Namibia’s Kavango Basin

A case study demonstrating how STRYDE's Nimble Seismic System enabled Polaris Natural Resources to conduct an efficient and cost-effective seismic survey for oil and gas exploration in Namibia.

Project Snapshot

Untitled design 45

Seismic acquisition contractor

Polaris Natural Resources

Untitled design 45

Location

Kavango Frontier Basin in Namibia

Untitled design 45

On behalf of

ReconAfrica

Untitled design 45

Environment type

Vegetated flat savanna land, utilising existing roads and trails where feasible

Untitled design 45

Survey size

2,600 km

Untitled design 45

Project goal

To validate existing positive drilling results and pinpoint future drilling locations.

Results

The ReconAfrica exploration program has confirmed the initial play concept of a Permian rift basin in northeast Namibia, with indicators of migrated petroleum. It has also identified a Damara Fold and Thrust Belt play.

The company is now completing its regional seismic program alongside the start of acquisition of the eFTG survey and the next well. All will add to the data required to further advance our knowledge of this newly explored basin, and hopefully identify commercial hydrocarbon accumulations.

Examples of the seismic data can be seen below:


The seismic data

1
2

I believe the use of STRYDE’s low cost, nimble and environmentally friendly nodes, coupled with our proprietary thumper source technology that has been designed to minimise environmental impact was key to the success of assuring this survey was sanctioned, and the acquisition of this critical subsurface dataset was achieved in the most efficient way possible. At Polaris, we are extremely conscious about the impact our work has on the environment, the local economy, and the local people, and I am proud to say that the technology used in this survey enabled the project timeline to be accelerated, without compromising data quality and therefore minimised disruption to the local communities and environment.

Bill Mooney
Bill Mooney

CEO, Polaris Natural Resources

waves

Survey snapshot

  • Standard North, South, East, and West 2D lines, taking logistical and environmental elements into consideration for zero environmental impact shooting
  • 5m receiver point, 10m source point spacing, recording 5 thumps per shot point

Single impulse thumper trucks (Polaris’ proprietary Explorer low impact source technology)

2ms

240,000 seismic traces per kilometer

Challenges experienced during survey planning...

Untitled design 45

Need to demonstrate environmental protection

It was critical to use seismic equipment that was proven to reduce the environmental impact of the survey to obtain a permit to work

Untitled design 45

Adhere to strict environmental conditions

Demonstration of how environmental footprint would be managed during the survey planning, preparation, and execution

Untitled design 45

Remote location

The survey was conducted in a remote location, in a complex terrain causing logistical challenges

Untitled design 45

A need to comply with local requirements

There was a requirement to utilise local content to attain a level of socio-economic progressiveness

Untitled design 45

Tight weather windows

The window of opportunity for shooting the survey was weather dependent, resulting in the survey having to be shot within a tight timeframe

Untitled design 45

Limited budget

As this was a frontier, unexplored basin, the Upstream Exploration and Production company required a solution that was low cost, without compromising the quality of the output dataset

How STRYDE helped

STRYDE’s low-cost, low-environmental impact Nimble Seismic System™ was deployed to Polaris in Namibia, featuring a complete solution that included 9,000 STRYDE nodes and the hardware for charging, harvesting, and node management, as well as backpacks, planting devices, navigator tablets, and on-the-ground field support personnel.

61af0cd3 6c40 4648 8056 36521cdc7300 Nodesloadinginpickup Namibia

The benefits of using STRYDE

F9d7a6bf b89b 4297 b063 d0b541e74402 STRYDE Icon Reduced Cost

Project wide cost efficiencies

The seismic imaging system provided by STRYDE unlocked significant cost savings related to the number of people required, equipment needed, logistics, vehicles, and project time when compared to competitor Nodal systems

Improving

Accelerated acquisition rate

Utilising the world’s smallest and lightest nodes, the team were able to carry 90 nodes per person by foot, resulting in being able to deploy and retrieve thousands of nodes per day and shoot the survey in a much more efficient manner, which reduced the project timeline significantly

Ccac05ea c34d 4d9e bb73 9d0de48697e9 STRYDE Icon Improved Image Quality

High-resolution seismic data

Efficient acquisition of high-resolution, deep structure data that provided the insights required to make informed drilling decisions and to help plan future surveys

9c3eeeb1 bc31 45ed 829c 2e5e18b10298 STRYDE Icon Responsible

Immediate access to additional equipment

When the parameters of the survey were changed by the Exploration and Production Company, an additional 3,500 STRYDE’s Nodes™ were rapidly deployed and delivered on-site to mitigate delays in the project timeline

C9b37bb1 e9ba 42e6 87ae fb71b43a37ed STRYDE Icon Low Environ Footprint

Minimised environmental impact

The nodes' miniature size and lightweight traits allows for up to 90 nodes to be transported and handled by one person on foot, minimising the need for line clearing and land disruption

9ef2abf3 f7cb 4431 846f c12bebff7b6e STRYDE Icon Improved HSSE

Reduced exposure to HSE risk

The unique characteristics of the Nimble nodal system™ reduces the number of people and vehicles required to deploy and retrieve the nodes on site, in turn, reducing the acquisition contractor’s exposure to risk

We went back to STRYDE with an emergency situation requiring another 3,500 nodes to become more efficient. On Friday August 13th, 2021, we agreed the contract and STRYDE had those nodes in Windhoek on August 26th and we deployed them on August 31st. This resulted in a 100% increase in production, and we finished the program on a strong note.

Joe Little

Executive Vice President

waves

Discover more about STRYDE

Get in touch with the STRYDE team

Would you like to learn more about our nodal technology and recent success stories? Fill in the form below and a member of the STRYDE team will be in touch as soon as possible.