50 Questions SurvOPT can answer for Contractors
Can you answer these questions?
What might it cost you if you can’t?
During Planning…
We’ve got to cover a particular polygon with an 8000m streamer...
What’s the fastest way of acquiring this polygon?
How long will it take?
If we start on dd/mm/yy, when will it be completed?
Which is more cost effective, six or eight streamers?
We’ve got to allow for weather standby, technical downtime, and infill...
How do different estimates for infill and lost time affect completion dates?
Will the project be complete within the weather window?
Vessel running expenses are at an all time high...
How much will it cost us?
What profit will we make on this survey?
What will the revenue be if Infill is $X/km, Prime is $Y/km, and line changes are paid at a flat rate?
We’re competing for a tender…
Is this bid realistic?
Can we afford to discount to win the job?
Is the acquisition plan tailored efficiently to the block?
Does the predicted duration accurately reflect the vessel performance and survey geometry?
How do the fixed duration turns compare with the mean turn duration for this particular block?
How do the estimates and costing compare with the client’s expectations?
Now a vessel and configuration has been chosen...
Can I refine my estimates using production data from a previous survey by the vessel?
Where’s the best line to start shooting?
When can we expect to get the first swathe off to processing?
The client would like area A to be shot as a priority area before areas B and C...
When will the priority area be complete?
How much longer will the project take if a priority area is defined?
How much more will it cost?
If the priority area is inefficient to shoot, what minor changes would make it more efficient?
One group of lines must be shot towards the north...
How does that affect the shooting plan?
Would a different plan now be more efficient?
...and this group of lines all need to be shot in the same direction
What’s the most efficient way of incorporating that into the plan?
The client is considering adding a new area to the survey...
How much more will it cost?
What effect will it have on the shooting plan?
What’s the incremental cost per square km? Is there a better way to do it?
The survey area has four platforms and some shallows...
How should I shoot around the obstructions?
How much time will this add to the survey?
What’s my expected coverage?
How big will the undershoot program be?
Approximately how long will it take to do the undershoot program?
I want to deadhead all these obstructed lines to improve coverage…
How much time will this add to the survey?
Maybe we should use a smaller spread to improve coverage and safety around the obstructions...
Will it save time?
Will it be cheaper?
Will it reduce the undershoot program?
We’ve got an FPSO passing through during the 2nd week... we won’t be able to shoot within area G
How much (if at all) will this add to survey duration?
Is it worth paying a premium to get the FPSO to detour?
the survey area is subject to tidal currents...
Which swathes should I shoot at spring tide? What about neaps?
What happens if I change the start date?
How are currents going to affect my close passes?
How are currents going to affect my infill rates?
Should I shoot progressive infill?
Should I use a wider spread with closer preplots to eliminate infill?
During Acquisition
OPTIMIZATION
We’ve got 17 obstructions, a coastline and 150 preplot lines. Preplots 65 to 97must be shot northwards, and we can’t shoot on Preplots 1280 to 1704 during June...
How will we shoot this complicated survey efficiently?
How long will it take?
When will we finish?
How many days difference are there between an optimized and non-optimized plan?
Transit and Deployment took longer than expected...
How does that affect weather windows?
Should I rethink any aspect of my project plan?
We’ve got 11 lines left to shoot...
What’s the fastest way to shoot them?
Can we finish them, demobilize, and still crew change on time in port?
MAINTENANCE and DRILLS
We’re halfway along a line and we’ve just had an autofire...
Is it more efficient to circle or to change to a different line?
We need to balance two streamers sometime in the next two days...
Can we plan a safe time to send a workboat, without extending a line change and incurring downtime?
The gunners want to plan their maintenance schedule...
How can I easily show the shape and duration of every line change for the next few days?
We need to do a man overboard drill...
When will we be offline around midday, during daylight when everyone’s awake?
OTHER VESSELS
Squid Boats will move into the north end of the block for the week around full moon...
How can we best plan to work the southern end of the survey during this week without wasting time?
We’ve got an FPSO passing through next week and we won’t be able to shoot within area G...
How much (if at all) will this add to survey duration?
Is it worth paying to get the FPSO to detour?
We’re stuck timesharing with another vessel...
How can we best negotiate to minimize lost time?
How do we make best use of our time windows?
DAY-TO-DAY PLANNING
We’ve still got 38 lines to shoot, plus infill...
What’s a good estimate for when we’ll finish the survey?
We’ve got a helicopter crew change on Wednesday afternoon, but the chopper has a max range of 220km...
How can I be at the right end of the prospect to meet the chopper without having to detour?
TIDES, CURRENTS and WEATHER
We need to do a close pass of a rig on the starboard side...
How can I plan production so that I know I’ll have port feather during the pass?
Ten lines need to be shot into a shallow region...
How can I plan to arrive at each end of line around high tide?
A coverage hole can be filled with one infill pass if feather is between 5 and 10 degrees to starboard...
During what periods could we start these lines?
How can we arrive at the right time without adding an artificial delay?
The survey area is subject to strong tidal currents...
How are currents going to affect my infill rates?
Should we shoot progressive infill?
Will start of line feather on the next three lines of this 2D survey be within spec?
How can I avoid shooting with a strong tail current which is affecting separation?
Early storms have delayed production, and winter is approaching...
What can we reasonably complete before the end of the season?
What should we cut?
REVIEWING PRODUCTION
We’ve been in production for a month...
How can I calibrate the performance of the vessel to improve future predictions?
Where have we been gaining and losing time?
CLIENT REQUESTS
The client wants to shoot some priority lines...
If we shoot them immediately, how much will this extend the program?
Is there a way to do them quickly that doesn’t blow out the overall program duration?
When will lines 1040 to 1620 be complete and ready to send to processing?
The client is asking why a line change lasted five hours instead of three
How do I show the client rep that the delay was due to a tail current, not technical downtime?
SurvOPT provides answers
SurvOPT really can help you answer every single one of these questions.
There are so many things to weigh up with every marine seismic planning decision - SurvOPT will help you balance them all.
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SurvOPT is easy to learn and use – all you need to get started is a file of preplots and some basic survey parameters like vessel speeds and turn radius.
You can be getting useful results in minutes.