Workshop Overview

EAGE is proud to announce its first Workshop “Advanced Seismic Solutions and New Exploration Concepts to Unlock the Potential of the Caribbean Shelf”, due to be held in Bogotá, Colombia, from 24 – 25 October 2019. Here, the “Continental Shelf” is loosely defined as comprising offshore sedimentary basins covered by bathymetry less than 200 meters. Although the primary focus of the workshop shall be on the shallow-water Caribbean shelf, strong links will be maintained with the adjacent areas of interest to explorers; i.e. the continental slope & rise, and abyssal plain at the distal shelf edge, and the proximal transition zone.In the last decade, and more recently, headlines havebeen dominated by significant discoveries and exploration commitments in deep-water blocks of the Western Caribbean. 

In contrast with more prolific and mature continental-shelf basins (e.g. GoM, North Sea), where deep- water exploration activities naturally followed a flat-lining “Creaming Curve” of the adjacent continental platform, there are significant areas of the Caribbean Continental Shelf that have effectively been by-passed to date.This is broadly due to a low exploration success ratio in these shallow Caribbean waters to date. In turn, this is typically attributed to unresolved exploration challenges, high associated subsurface risk and geological uncertainties of current exploration concepts, petroleum systems and plays, combined with low coverage of 3D seismic surveys and a generally low final image quality of available 2D/3D seismic data volumes, in shallow-water environments compared to deep-water blocks.The workshop will provide an excellent opportunity for geoscientists, asset teams, and decision-makers fromthe region and around the world to learn and exchange knowledge about 1) advancements in seismic technologies and solutions from data acquisition to inversion and end- user applications on any shallow-water seismic data, 2) future possibilities and new exploration concepts for the Caribbean Shelf, and 3) the role of seismic technologies and integration with other disciplines in overcoming shallow- water subsurface challenges.

Bogotá, as seat of the Colombian Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos (ANH) and regional power-house of recent Caribbean offshore exploration, provides an ideal location for discussion of innovative topics in oil and gas exploration on the Caribbean Shelf. Continuous bidding rounds for shallow- and deep-water offshore blocks in the Colombian Caribbean basins have recently attracted a fresh plethora of E&P companies, including some of the leading players in the industry, in search of new exploration opportunities in the country’s offshore Caribbean areas. With a large exploration effort anticipated in the oncoming years, there can be no better place than Bogotá to exchange ideas and knowledge to improve our ability to image and explore the subsurface of the shallow-water Caribbean Shelf. For workshop participants, the buzzing atmosphere and bohemian city lifestyle make Bogotá an especially appealing environment in which to meet and network.