Work will continue this summer and autumn on installing a permanement seismic monitoring system on the Snorre field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
A dedicated system, with a seismic streamer, will also be installed on Grane.The work is due to complete in early winter 2015, the Norwegian Petroleum directorate says.
Permanent reservoir monitoring involves permanently installing a streamer on the seabed to provide a more frequent and better-quality seismic picture of changes in the reservoir. The cable will be used to acquire more knowledge about the reservoir, and thereby provide an opportunity to produce more oil.
Installation of the system will involve laying the cable on the seabed before it is trenched or covered with rocks to make it trawlable.
On the Snorre field, the cable will be laid using the Havila Phoenix, and the trenching will be operated from the Northern Wave. On the Grane field, the vessel Olympic Zeus will both lay and bury the cable.
The fields are operated by Statoil. Snorre is in Blocks 34/4 and 34/7 in the North Sea. Water depth in the area are 300-350m. Grane is in Block 25/11. Water depth in is about 130m.