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Research Breakthrough: New Streamers Successfully Debuted In Gulf Of Mexice Western Atlas Inc. announced the successful sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico of a new generation of streamers. The company's Houston-based Western Geophysi- cal division deployed a 24,934-ft. (7,600-m) streamer in a 2-D pro- operates eight vessels that can be upgraded with up to 10 streamers, and an additional eight vessels for special-purpose surveys, such as very long offset shoots and shal- low-water data acquisition. "The objective of our R&D and investment efforts is to deliver superior seismic surveys with a faster turnaround time and con- stantly reduce costs to our cus- tomers," Mr. White said. "Our new marine streamer, ocean bot- tom cable technology and recent investment into a new generation of supercomputers are the latest examples of this ongoing commit- ment." duction mode, a world record for seismic vessels, and is currently acquiring 3-D data in the Gulf of Mexico using a single vessel tow- ing four 19,684-ft. (6,000-m) streamers. The new streamers, which are reportedly much slimmer than the previous generation, will also enable the company to add more streamer capacity to its fleet of multi-array vessels at very low cost. Currently, Western Geo- physical is preparing to re-rig ves- sels for up to 10 streamers. Richard White, president of Western Geophysical, said, "This new streamer technology, the WG- 24A, is based on our original WG- 24, the first marine streamer to acquire 24-bit data, which greatly increased signal range and data quality. Now, we have been able to reduce the diameter of the stream- er and build it in a modular form. "These design advances dramati- cally reduce weight and drag in the water, allowing us to adjust the length to the geologic and cus- tomer requirements, and especial- ly to increase vessel capacity at a very low incremental investment." The new modular, slim streamer has shown excellent noise charac- teristics, a prerequisite for acquir- ing high-quality seismic data. Western Geophysical expects a number of competitive advantages from the new product. In deepwater and subsalt sur- veys, the longer streamers will enable the company to achieve "long offsets" with a single ship, eliminating the necessity to use a separate shooting boat. Western Geophysical has tested a 28,871-ft. (8,800-m) single cable and plans to deploy up to 32,808-ft. (10,000-m) streamers for this application in the near future. In a multiple-streamer market such as the North Sea, more streamers can be added to the com- pany's vessels without the cost of major reconstruction of boats and with usage of the existing propul- sion system. The modular con- struction also reportedly allows for easy maintenance. "This design secures our invest- ment far into the future," said Mr. White. "With all of the control electronics in the electronic mod- ules, we can quickly respond to any changes in cable technology, but continue to utilize our electronic modules." The WG-24 and WG-24A systems were designed by Western Geo- physical and are now being manu- factured by Input/Output Inc. Western Geophysical currently Now, Every Mariner Can Operate In The Black. 12
