Publications

This paper aims to review the role seismic contractors, in cooperation with MIGAS and BP MIGAS, have played in stimulating new exploration activity and in so doing attracting new Oil and Gas Investments to Indonesia. With over 100,000 kilometres of multi-client 2D and over 30,000 square kilometres of multi-client 3D seismic data acquired offshore Indonesia to date, this represents a significant investment by those seismic contractors engaged in such activities.Whilst recognising that multi-client surveys have some critics the paper aims to dispel some of the myths surrounding such activities and objectively demonstrate how these programmes benefit all stakeholders namely, the government, the oil companies and the seismic contractors.As with such activities worldwide, key to their continuation is the support of government in providing a conducive business environment, whereby such surveys are recognised as bona-fide and, wherever reasonably possible, the scheduling of block offerings coincides with the availability of processed (and in some instances preliminarily interpreted) multi-client seismic data.With this in mind, this paper shall examine the role of multi-client seismic surveys in the context of recent changes in the Governments licensing strategy and conclude by offering an opinion on the future role of multi-client seismic surveys offshore Indonesia.