Abstract

The land seismic crew count has been on an almost uninterrupted decline for more than 15 years (figure 1). Until recently it was claimed that a high oil price would see an international revival in land exploration. However, during this time there has been no correlation between oil price and land seismic activity, and despite $60/bbl oil and increasing world demand, the majority of oil companies still do not plan an expansion in their land exploration (figure 2). Their view may be summed up by saying that the oil exploration industry awaits a system which can provide