The Chinese fishing trawler that served as the ZPX 
The ZPX crew prepares MT survey equipment on the trawler 
Professor Wenbao Hu of CYU participated in the Bohai feasibility study. 
Figure 1 
Figure 2: Comparison of 2D Inverted MT Resistivity Section (top) with Seismic Section (bottom) 
Figure 3: Geological Interpretation Based on MT Profile The very first marine magnetotellurics survey in China was completed in summer 2004 with Phoenix on-shore MT equipment adapted for off-shore use.
Zhejiang Petroleum Exploration (ZPX) of Hangzhou, PRC, adapted their existing Phoenix System 2000 to conduct an extremely cost-effective shallow marine MT survey of the oil- and gas-producing Gulf of Bohai in northeast China. Several Chinese and multinational oil companies are exploring the area.
Marine Magneto-tellurics was used because some costly offshore wells in Bohai (based on seismic images of the deep structure) were dry holes; feasibility studies (see below) showed that MT could image the deep structure better than seismic. ZPX found that marine MT cost less than marine seismic, provided better resolution for this problem, and provided faster interpretation turnaround.
Since 1995, marine MT (originally developed by oceanographers for midocean deep crust studies) has been tested and successfully adapted for deep-water oil and gas exploration. Dr. Steve Constable at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego, California, played a key role in the adaptation of oceanographic marine MT to hydrocarbon exploration.
The initial deepwater (1,000 |
