Marine Controlled Source Electromagnetics: Principles, Methodologies, Future Commercial Applications*

The exploration community, from the earth scientist to the investment manager, has surely recognized the recent surge of interest in the use of controlled source electromagnetics for offshore hydrocarbon detection and assessment. The targets, petroleum, natural gas and gas hydrate, are resistive zones in an otherwise conductive background. I trace the academic and commercial development of marine methods from basic theory through experimental design to the few published relevant exploration case histories.