Electromagnetic Seabed Logging: A New Tool for Geoscientists

Seabed logging (SBL) gathers the electromagnetic methods of marine subsoil exploration and more specifically those dedicated to the exploration of oil and gas at sea. Appeared in 2000, these techniques, with more than 500 industrial jobs, present after 15 years of commercial success a discovery record rate of nearly 90 % and seem now to turn the world in the offshore exploration field. Proposing a serious index of the presence of hydrocarbons, electromagnetic SBL coupled with seismic reflection survey is probably the first reliable method for direct detection of hydrocarbons. Complementing the structural concepts of oil exploration used since the 1920s, the SBL now radically modifies the approach and the philosophies of exploration especially those then including drilling and well logging activities.