BP awards Fugro the West Nile Delta AUV Survey, Offshore Egypt

Fugro Survey Limited in Aberdeen, UK is pleased to have been chosen by BP Exploration (Egypt) Limited as survey partner for their regional AUV Hydrographic and analogue geophysical survey over the West Nile Delta concession, offshore Egypt.

This prestigious project to survey more than 7,000 survey line kilometres in water depths between 150m and 2000m will be the largest survey ever undertaken by Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The AUV survey is scheduled to take 3 months to complete. The contract value is very significant, and provides options for similar work volumes in 2006 and 2007, which would represent the largest such investment ever by an operator, and is a clear demonstration of BPs faith in Fugro's AUV technology.

Fugro Egypt will undertake an extensive programme of Ultra High Resolution (UHR) seismic survey using their vessel, M/V Western Shore.

Fugro are able to offer BP access to geohazard site investigation expertise and a wealth of local interpretation experience for BP’s planned developments in the West Nile Delta. Fugro will work closely with BP to produce a comprehensive report covering all aspects of geohazard risk in the development. The proven reporting production procedures which were developed for BP’s Plutonio field development in Angola, ensure timely report deliverables.

For the AUV survey, Fugro will use it’s tried and tested dedicated survey vessel, M/V Geo Prospector, as survey platform for their new “Echo Surveyor” Hugin 3000 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV).

“Echo Surveyor” will use a EM2000 200 kHz Multibeam echosounder and an Edgetech Full Spectrum Chirp seafloor mapping system (sidescan sonar and sub-bottom profiler) to provide detailed images of seabed and sub-surface conditions over the West Nile Delta terrain.

The Echo Surveyor’s tightly coupled inertial navigation system adds rigour to the positioning of hazards and features. The tight turning circle - “Echo Surveyor” can turn almost in it’s own length - enormously reduces the time to change between survey lines. It would take more than a year to complete this survey using traditional towed technologies.

The benefits to the Client in using “Echo Surveyor” are:

• Improved data quality and positioning accuracy enables a confident interpretation of seabed and sub-seabed conditions
• Confident interpretation permits assured engineering that reduces risk and reduces cost.
• Faster data acquisition combined with tried and tested onboard reporting routines with high speed satellite data link delivers faster results to the asset team.
• Faster results delivery can reduce development time and bring forward oil field revenue

“Echo Surveyor” is the latest generation of specialist deepwater survey tools that help Fugro's customers plan their hydrocarbon field developments. Fugro has built up a considerable track record of managing complex field development survey projects involving integrated geophysical and geotechnical services.

Fugro has a fleet of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles including “Echo Ranger” and REMUS vehicles in the Gulf of Mexico. The AUV fleet combines state of the art technology with flexibility and broad geographic reach.

Fugro is committed to providing global high technology services to our Clients.