During the last couple of years, regional geological studies have been proven a cost-efficient and time reducing method of conducting site surveys. 3D seismic surveys originally acquired for petroleum exploration purposes, are studied with particular emphasis on drilling hazards. When a drilling location is chosen the results from the regional study are implemented in the survey. As a result only a limited survey program has to be acquired for the site survey, reducing both the acquisition time and the survey cost.

Another way of conducting regional surveys is to acquire high-resolution seismic data over a larger area. When this has been carried out the client can pick an infinitive number of new wells on the regional maps, and thus drilling prognosis can be produced at a very short notice.