Searcher Seismic is working to acquire about 17,000 km of 2-D long-offset, high resolution, broadband seismic data over the Gulf of Papua, the company said in a news release.

BGP is a partner in the project, which is being conducted in cooperation with the Department of Petroleum and Energy. The BGP Explorer has now mobilized for the project, the release said.

Haere is a grid of modern, high quality data that will be fundamental in assisting the re-interpretation of the geology in the Gulf of Papua and the identification of prospective structural and stratigraphic trends that can be used for regional evaluations and future detailed seismic survey designs, said Rachel Masters, Searcher’s global sales manager.

“Deep grabens in the area are believed to contain extensive Mesozoic and Palaeozoic sediments, which may be associated with multiple unexplored petroleum systems, highlighting the prospectivity of the Gulf of Papua,” she added.

The new survey brings Searcher’s total data library in the Gulf of Papua to 58,000 km. Fast track data deliveries will commence in first-quarter 2016.