Building on BP's large-scale OBC monitoring experience—The Clair and Chirag-Azeri projects

From the very beginning of 4D seismic technology in the 1990s, BP has taken a great interest in testing and developing ocean-bottom cable (OBC) monitoring as an alternative to conventional streamer surveys. Today, permanent OBC or “life-of-field-seismic” (LoFS) systems, together with semipermanent OBC systems, are an important method to acquire high-quality, consistent, and potentially frequent 4D data in selected fields. They are believed to represent a cost-effective means to acquire 4D data at intervals of about one year or less and are considered a key step toward the goal of optimally managing reservoirs as part of the “digital oilfield” concept.