A few years ago I graced this page with speculation about the possibility of seismic surveys off of the eastern coast of the U.S. At the time several things had to happen before this became a reality, not the least of which was an environmental impact statement determining whether seismic activity would be harmful to marine life.

Things have been pretty quiet since then, although several companies have filed permits. But a different, “less scary” approach might be the key to easing the U.S. government into allowing at least some types of surveys to proceed.

I recently chatted with Jim White, president of ARKeX. White has been visiting with government officials giving presentations on his company’s technology, which uses airborne and marine full-tensor gravity gradiometry (FTG) measurements to provide insight into the subsurface.

“What’s important about these presentations is what the technology can do, how it can be used by both the oil and gas companies and the seismic contractors as well as the BOEM [Bureau of Ocean Energy Management] to target their initial licensing rounds,” White said. “We were warmly received by the BOEM, and the reason is because it’s a passive technique.”

While seismic surveys require active sources to create the sound waves that penetrate the earth, FTG surveys don’t send energy of any sort into the environment, White explained. “Subsurface structure induces a reaction by the instruments that we assemble into a map,” he said. “Instead of seismic energy, it’s gravity that’s driving the measurement, but the structures we’re sensing are the same ones.”

The western portion of the Atlantic Ocean—at least the part that the U.S. claims as its federal waters—is truly a frontier area. Very little seismic data has been acquired since the 1970s, and most of that is vintage 2-D data that is only now undergoing reprocessing.

And while the area has been off-limits to E&P activities for decades, there actually are wells that have been drilled in some of the most sensitive areas. “There are wells drilled right on the beach in North Carolina,” White said. “They drilled wells in the bay, and this was back in the ’40s when they didn’t have the environmental constraints we have today. The fact that there are no environmental impact disasters would indicate to me that we need to educate the general public on the fact that it’s already been done.”

So far about nine companies have applied for permits, and eight of them are seismic contractors. Several events need to occur before anyone starts acquiring data in the region. First and foremost, the U.S. government actually needs to announce a lease sale. Before that happens it will be a challenge for any contractor, ARKeX included, to obtain the prefunding necessary to plan a survey. “Once that happens, there will be a sense of optimism that things are moving in the right direction,” he said.

From White’s perspective it also makes sense for FTG to be the first technology applied. While no company would drill based solely on gravity data, the “first look” would help seismic contractors high-grade the areas they want to survey. It would also be helpful to the BOEM to determine which areas to offer up for license.

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