Officials from the Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Water have signed a contract extension with Spectrum for the licensing of the highly successful “LEB-02” and “EMED-00” Multi-Client seismic datasets offshore Lebanon. The signing ceremony was attended by leading figures in the Ministry including the Honourable Minister Gebran Bassil. The ceremony was also covered by local press organisations with both television and newspaper representatives present.

Spectrum's comprehensive suite of East Mediterranean products is comprised of four seismic surveys totalling 22,645 km of high quality 2D data including 5,526 km over Lebanese waters. With the recent discovery of the deepwater multi TCF gas fields in the south Levantine Basin, hydrocarbon exploration in the region has increased significantly. Spectrum's unique dataset covers the entire highly prospective Levantine Basin, considered to contain the most exciting exploration plays in the Mediterranean. The Spectrum dataset provides vital structural insight of the basin and includes a detailed grid over Lebanese acreage, enabling companies to efficiently review hydrocarbon prospectivity ahead of the first Lebanese bid round.

Following the signing ceremony, which extends the existing arrangement by a further 5 years, Spectrum announced that it will be reprocessing the LEB-02 seismic survey in time for the forthcoming Lebanese bid round expected during the first half of 2012. This complements the enhancement of the EMED-00 survey which was completed in 2011.

Spectrum's EVP of Multi-Client, David Rowlands signed the agreement and commented 'This is a very significant deal for Spectrum. We consider our East Mediterranean Multi-Client data to be one of the most valuable assets in our global library. With the anticipated first Lebanese bid round later this year I believe that Spectrum offer the highest quality seismic data to assist oil companies in their exploration of this highly promising region.'

Reprocessing of the LEB-02 survey is due to commence in early 2012 with the final products scheduled to be available for purchase on a Multi-Client basis in Q1.

Tags: Spectrum ASA