Dolphin’s world record questioned by CGG

French seismic data acquisition specialist CGG has questioned a reported world record by its Norwegian rival Dolphin Geophysical.

To remind, Dolphin Geophysical recently reported it had mobilised “the ‘world’s largest floating object’ by deploying a seismic spread of 12 streamers, 7,050 meters in length with 150 meters streamer separation, off the coast of Myanmar for Ophir Energy Plc. This configuration of equipment has a moving width of 1.850 meters and the seismic spread covers a total area of about 12 square km.”

At the time, Bjarne Stavenes, Dolphin VP Technical, said that the effort was believed “to be a world record for our industry.” Dolphin used the Sanco Sword seismic vessel for the operation.

CGG disputes Dolphin’s claim

However, France’s CGG issued a statement today describing Dolphin’s claimed record a ‘misinformation’. CGG has said that Dolphin’s numbers are “less than the more impressive 13.44 sq km, CGG announced in 2013.”

Below is an excerpt of a press release published by CGG back in April 2013, claiming “the title of the largest man-made moving object on the face of the earth.”

“….the Geo Caribbean operating in the Gulf of Mexico can claim the title of the largest man-made moving object on the face of the earth, with its record-breaking 13.44 km2 towing configuration.

The challenge was to design a configuration that would enable the client to meet its survey objectives in a cost-effective and efficient manner, while also achieving the survey’s geological objectives. CGG proposed a wide tow of eight streamers with a 160-m separation, 60% wider than a typical survey with a 100-m separation, enabling a greater area of data to be acquired in a single pass and hence greater production efficiency. By deploying a streamer length of 12000m, CGG delivered the long offsets required to achieve the survey’s geological objectives.

The end-result is an efficient survey design and the largest single-vessel acquisition footprint in the world. “

By the time of the publication of this article, Dolphin Group, based in Oslo, did not reply to an e-mail seeking comment, sent by Offshore Energy Today.

Offshore Energy Today Staff