CGG, a fully integrated Geoscience company providing geological, geophysical and reservoir services, has announced that  Argas, its joint venture with Taqa in Saudi Arabia, has been awarded a major contract by Saudi Aramco.

The contract is for an extensive, high-density land seismic program across the kingdom.

Sercel, CGG's equipment division, will supply all the seismic equipment deployed on this survey program, said a statement.

The three-year contract provides for two optional extension periods of one year each. The program is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2014 and cover a wide variety of terrain.

It will be acquired by a 50,000-channel mega-crew operating with the Sercel 428XL acquisition system, Sercel SG-10 geophones and a fleet of 24 Sercel Nomad 65 Neo vibrators. A mix of high-productivity and conventional acquisition techniques will be deployed depending on survey requirements. CGG's broadband UltraSeisTM technology portfolio will be deployed to acquire the high-resolution data, the statement said.   

Jean-Georges Malcor, CEO, CGG, said: "We are delighted that Saudi Aramco is continuing its long-term relationship with CGG by awarding what is one of the world's largest land seismic survey programs to our Argas joint venture with Taqa. With Sercel also supplying the new seismic equipment, this program marks a key milestone in our 2014-2016 strategic roadmap to benefit from the expansion of ultra-high-channel-count surveys in the Middle East region."