ION Geophysical Corporation announced that it has completed the reprocessing and reimaging of approximately 19,100 km² of 3D seismic data offshore West Africa for its Mauritania 3D reprocessing program. The multi-client program was undertaken through an exclusive agreement with the Ministry of Petroleum, Energy and Mines in Mauritania. It is comprised of 11 vintage seismic surveys and provides a seamless, modern, high resolution data set spanning the Mauritanian offshore coastal basin. This basin is a key part of the frontier MSGBC basin in which several large-scale, offshore, gas fields have been discovered, with an estimated 63 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in place in Mauritania thus far.

With foreign investment flowing in, field developments expected to come online in 2023, gas favored as a source of energy for the energy transition, and capacity expected to exceed domestic needs, contracts for LNG export to European and other markets is anticipated. “The MSGBC basin has become one that matters in the global oil and gas landscape, even if it is still a frontier area.