05-01-09 Asker, Norway-based TGS-NOPEC Geophysical is acquiring a new multi-client 3-D survey in the DeSoto Canyon area of the central and eastern Gulf of Mexico. The survey, named Hernando, covers an area of 300 blocks, or 6,900 sq km (2,644 sq miles).
Hernando is supported by industry funding. Participants will receive fast track data covering a 1,100-sq-km (424-sq-mile) area before the Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 208 in March.

Bergen Oilfield Services vessel BOS Arctic has already acquired 25 % of the project and is scheduled to complete the acquisition in May. Project deliverables include pre-stack time migration along with anisotropic Kirchhoff and wave equation pre-stack depth migrations. Gravity data is also being collected along with the seismic data.
TGS Vice President for New Ventures Kim Abdallah said, "The Hernando survey will provide 3-D data over a geological trend that was actively leased in the last Central Gulf of Mexico lease sale and also an area that has not been available for exploration during the last 20 years."