TGS launches MC3D Vision PSDM seismic reprocessing project covering 14,691 sq km offshore Côte d’Ivoire
TGS has launched a major seismic reprocessing initiative offshore Côte d’Ivoire, joining forces with the Direction Générale des Hydrocarbures (DGH) and PETROCI. Announced on October 20, 2026, the MC3D Vision PSDM project will reprocess 5,672 square miles of existing 3D seismic data originally acquired between 2014 and 2018 across the deepwater Côte d’Ivoire and San Pedro Basins.
The scale of the effort reflects persistent imaging challenges in the region — challenges that have long complicated oil and gas exploration in these waters.
TGS and partners commence offshore Côte d’Ivoire reprocessing project
The announcement came out of Oslo on October 20, 2026. TGS confirmed the start of the MC3D Vision PSDM project alongside two regional partners: Direction Générale des Hydrocarbures (DGH) and PETROCI. Those partnerships with national hydrocarbon authorities aren’t incidental — they’re central to how TGS operates in the region, not a formality tacked on afterward.
That model depends on close collaboration with national authorities, which is precisely where partnerships with bodies like DGH and PETROCI become essential.
The dataset at the heart of the project is substantial. The 5,672 square miles of GeoStreamer 3D seismic data were gathered across multiple surveys TGS conducted between 2014 and 2018 — a wide geographic footprint spanning the deepwater Côte d’Ivoire and San Pedro Basins, two areas that have drawn sustained exploration interest despite the difficulties involved in reading what lies beneath.
Why reprocessing is needed: Complex deepwater geology poses imaging challenges
The deepwater geology of these basins isn’t straightforward. Complex geological structures make it genuinely hard to get a clear picture of what’s happening below the seabed.
A key part of the problem is velocity variation in the overburden — the layers of rock and sediment sitting above the primary exploration targets. When seismic waves travel through material where velocity changes significantly and unpredictably, the resulting data gets harder to interpret. Deeper targets get obscured. Features that might indicate a viable hydrocarbon reservoir become blurry or ambiguous, and the uncertainty compounds quickly.
Those same velocity variations also compromise amplitude fidelity — essentially, the reliability of the signal strength data that geoscientists use to evaluate what a subsurface feature might contain. Shakier amplitudes mean shakier interpretations built on them. Older processing methods simply weren’t designed to handle these conditions at the resolution modern exploration demands, and that’s the gap this project is trying to close.
Advanced techniques applied: E-DMFWI and Kirchhoff PSDM imaging
The workflow TGS is applying draws on modern pre-processing steps and more sophisticated velocity model building than earlier approaches allowed.
The centerpiece is Enhanced Deep-Model Full-Waveform Inversion, or E-DMFWI. Full-waveform inversion works by comparing recorded seismic data against modeled waveforms, then iteratively updating the subsurface velocity model to reduce the difference between the two. The “enhanced deep-model” variant pushes that process into deeper parts of the section where standard FWI tends to struggle most.
With a more accurate velocity model in place, Kirchhoff Pre-Stack Depth Migration — Kirchhoff PSDM — repositions seismic reflections to their correct subsurface locations in depth. These two techniques together are expected to sharpen reservoir definition and improve the mapping of stratigraphic features along the offshore Côte d’Ivoire margin, giving geoscientists a more reliable foundation for interpretation.
Delivery timeline and expected impact on exploration confidence
TGS has set out a clear delivery schedule. Fast-track data products are expected in Q2 2027, with final products following in Q4 2027. That two-stage approach is fairly standard for multi-client reprocessing projects at this scale — operators can start working with improved data well before the full dataset arrives.
The stated goal is to help operators identify and evaluate exploration prospects with greater confidence. David Hajovsky, TGS’s Executive Vice President of Multi-Client, put it directly: “Enhanced imaging will enable operators to identify and evaluate prospects with greater confidence, reduce subsurface uncertainty and mature exploration opportunities across Côte d’Ivoire.”
Reducing subsurface uncertainty matters acutely in a deepwater setting where drilling decisions carry significant financial risk. Better imaging doesn’t eliminate that uncertainty, but it can meaningfully shift the odds of making well-informed decisions before committing to expensive wells.
Project fits into TGS’s broader MC3D Vision reprocessing program across West Africa
This project doesn’t stand alone. TGS describes the Côte d’Ivoire initiative as part of its wider, ongoing MC3D Vision reprocessing activities across West Africa — a program spanning multiple basins and datasets throughout the region.
West Africa continues to attract deepwater exploration interest, and TGS‘s approach leans heavily on multi-client data models: reprocessing existing seismic surveys to a higher standard and making the results available to multiple operators. That model depends on close collaboration with national authorities, which is precisely where partnerships with bodies like DGH and PETROCI become essential. TGS maintains a global energy data library and provides data services to companies active across the energy sector, and its West Africa work fits that broader positioning — squeezing more value from existing datasets rather than requiring entirely new acquisition programs.
What this project means for Côte d’Ivoire exploration
Taken together, the MC3D Vision PSDM project is a focused effort to extract more value from seismic data that’s already been collected. E-DMFWI velocity model building paired with Kirchhoff PSDM imaging targets the specific geological challenges — velocity variation and compromised amplitude fidelity — that have made the deepwater Côte d’Ivoire and San Pedro Basins difficult to image reliably. Fast-track products are due mid-2027, with final deliverables by year-end. Operators in the area will have access to a materially improved subsurface dataset as they evaluate their next exploration moves.
Kelly is an experienced writer with 15 years of experience exploring the big stories that shape our world, from tech breakthroughs and space exploration to climate, energy, and the fascinating quirks of science. She has a talent for turning complex ideas into sharp, memorable insights that stay with readers long after they’ve finished reading.
