French seismic contractor CGG has kicked off an extensive shoot in the northern North Sea.that it claims is the largest multi-client 3D survey ever carried out off Norway.

The so-called Horda survey, being shot by CGG’s vessel Viking Vanquish using its proprietary BroadSeis and BroadSource technologies, spans a total area of 19,000 square kilometres from the Horda platform in the south-east to the Sogn Graben in the north.

A second vessel will join the shoot later in the season, with the seismic work covering a total of 80 licences – including Troll, Brage, Fram and Gjoa – set to continue into 2015.

CGG said it has received a high level of pre-funding from the industry for the survey that aims to acquire fresh high-resolution data to better define the geology of the area.

Chief executive Jean-Georges Malcor said “we expect the survey to generate a significant uplift in data quality and provide a valuable tool for all stages of ongoing and future exploration and production activity in the region”.