Land and Marine Surveys

Land
MTEM® has been used on land with great success. Our first commercial crew began operations in the second half of 2005. The crew design and ergonomics are based upon those of seismic. MTEM employees include party chief, observers, source mechanics, and field geophysicists, while professional subcontractors are used for the labour intensive tasks. Key equipment includes the source, which is purchased from a commercial supplier, and the proprietary MTEM acquisition units which are being assembled by outside manufacturing houses.

Marine
MTEM has been demonstrated on land, and all our scientific analysis and tests indicate that it will be equally successful for marine reservoirs. We have performed a scientific marine demonstration of the MTEM technique in the second half of 2005, and are now seeking clients with a suitable reservoir in the North sea. We are currently building a commercial marine system ready for operations in the second half of 2006.

Safety and the Environment

Source electrodes with safety fence.

HSE issues are taken extremely seriously in all parts of the company starting with equipment design right through to operations in the field. The safety of our crews, the public, and wildlife is of primary importance. On land, in addition to general field procedures our focus is on the source electrodes. At the surface, the voltage drops off exponentially, and we find that at a distance of 5 meters there is no danger. At each source electrode a fence is erected, and when the electrode is active, a guard ensures that no human or animal encroaches inside the fence.

 

A Quad bike recovering equipment

With regard to marine life, our source will be similar to that used by other EM contractors and academic institutions. Whilst the current will be large, the current electrodes will are also correspondingly large, so that the current density remains small, which means that small fish and mammals are not harmed.'