ION Acquires Additional Seismic Data Offshore Northeast Greenland

ION Geophysical announced that it has acquired an additional 5,200 km of regional seismic data from offshore Northeast Greenland, bringing the total kilometers the company has acquired in the region over the last two seasons to nearly 18,000.

The Arctic is one of the least explored, most prospective regions in the world, containing an estimated one-quarter of the earth’s undiscovered hydrocarbons, including an estimated 90 billion barrels of oil and 1.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The successful acquisition, during an extremely challenging ice year, was further validation of the company’s proprietary, purpose-designed marine streamer technology that enables data acquisition in the presence of ice. This technology, coupled with ION's Arctic program management expertise, again enabled the company to acquire data further north and in the presence of heavier ice than had been previously possible, at the same time mitigating HSE risk and reducing cycle time.

In addition to its Northeast Greenland survey, ION was also engaged during the summer season in the 2011 Arctic Expedition at the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Russian Federation. The survey was performed by order of the Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency, under the guidance of the State Research Navigation and Hydrographic Institute, in support of submission of Russia to the U.N. for extension of the limits of the continental shelf. Seismic data (approximately 6,000 km) was acquired over 57 days, culminating in the acquisition of data at a distance of less than 300 km of the North Pole.

Joe Gagliardi, ION's Arctic Solutions and Technology Director, commented, "This extension to our Greenland regional program and our acquisition in the Russian High Arctic served as further validation of the value of our proprietary Arctic acquisition technology. Together, this data provides the sponsoring entities with an understanding of the relationships among micro basins in the area, which they can use to more effectively assess the Arctic's hydrocarbon potential, identify new opportunities, and mitigate exploration risk."