Vessel to Conduct 3D Seismic Survey Arrives

The vessel to undertake a 3D seismic survey of Jamaica’s south coast this month has arrived in the island.

The state-of-the-art 3D seismic vessel, Polarcus Adira, will carry out a seismic survey to determine the way forward for the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica’s (PCJ) oil and gas exploration programme.

This follows two 2D surveys conducted in partnership with Tullow Oil after a Production Sharing agreement was reached in 2014.

Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Dr. the Hon. Andrew Wheatley, who led a delegation on a tour of the vessel on Friday, March 23, noted that the 3D survey is a historic moment for the country.

“We’re very encouraged; it’s the first time that we’re actually moving to this level of exploratory work, and so we are very pleased with the level of support and collaboration with Tullow,” he said.

The Minister said further that it will take approximately two years to gather and analyse the data from this phase of the study.

Under the direction of Tullow Oil, a marine geophysical company, Polarcus Adira will undertake detailed data gathering over a 2,250 square-kilometre area within the Walton Morant block, south of Jamaica.

The vessel will navigate the area using a sound-based method to generate detailed 3D images of rock layers beneath the sea floor, which will be analysed to identify potential oil and gas reservoirs.

In the meantime, Captain of the Polarcus Adira, Tom Reiten, said that for this survey, which is estimated to last 50 days, Jamaica’s good weather will help to make the job easier.

Operations and External Affairs Manager for the Caribbean and South America at Tullow Oil, John McKenna, said that “risks assessments had been done, which have concluded that there are no obvious dangers with this survey.”