Hanoi – The Vietnamese government on Thursday protested seismic study activities by China and the country’s expansion work in the Tri Ton Island area of the Paracels Archipelago.

“China’s actions have violated Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Paracels Archipelago, Vietnam’s sovereign rights to the continental shelf, the 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone, going against the spirit of the Declaration of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (…),” said government spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga.

Nga said since late May, China had been sending the M/V Western Spirit seismic survey vessel, together with escort ships, to conduct seismic studies in the Tri Ton Island area and in oil and gas exploration lots 141, 142 and 143 on Vietnam’s continental shelf, approximately 90 – 116 nautical miles (167 – 214 kilometres) from Ly Son Island of Quang Ngai province.

China has also been carrying out ground leveling on Tri Ton Island for construction works on this island, Nga said.

Vietnam’s foreign ministy raised the matter several times withEeijing, but “China is continuing those activities,” Nga said.

China has occupied the Paracels since 1974 when its troops overwhelmed a South Vietnamese garrison occupying the islands. China has seized hundreds of Vietnamese fishermen fishing near the Paracels for the past years for “infringing China’s territory.”

Both Vietnam and China are signatories to the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. It commits the parties to resolving the islands’ status through negotiations and provides for freedom of navigation.

The US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in July called on the Association of South-East Asian Nations and China to reach agreement on a full code of conduct in the South China Sea to prevent conflicts.

She also pushed for proper settlement of the South China Sea issue through multilateral negotiations, but China rebuffed as saying it favoured a bilateral negotiations.

The South China Sea is believed to contain substantial undersea oil reserves.

Copyright DPA

TGS announced another season of acquisition of long offset data on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) in cooperation with Fugro.  The data to be collected (shown on the attached map) include approximately 15,000 km for the North Sea Renaissance (NSR) survey in Holland, Norway and UK, approximately 10,000 km for the Mid-Norway Regional (MNR) survey in the Norwegian Sea and approximately 15,000 km for the Norwegian Barents Sea Regional (NBR) survey in the Barents Sea.

TGS will dedicate two vessels, Bergen Surveyor and Northern Genesis, during the summer season to acquire the NSR project.  The data acquired by these vessels will be processed at TGS’ imaging center in Bedford, England.  Fugro will also contribute two vessels, Geo Arctic and Akademik Lazarev, to acquire the MNR and NBR data, respectively.  Fugro will process the data acquired on those two projects.

With the 2010 acquisition program, TGS’ total long offset grid on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) increases to approximately 260,000 km, constituting the most important 2D seismic dataset for the oil industry in the NCS. Data from the three surveys will be available for customers from Q4-2010.

Codevintec was on the receiving end of numerous hours of training regarding 3D technology and Marine Seismology including the GeoEel (digital towed hydrophone streamers) and MicroEel (analog seismic solid streamer). Bart Hoekstra, 3D Product Manager conducted the training.

Source: http://www.geometrics.com/blog/2010/03/italy-embraces-3d-and-marine-seismic-technology