  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Gore Contact: Harry Anderson +1 410 506 4852 handerso@wlgore.com
Gore Media Contact: Marie Smith +1 443 406 0314 lmullina@wlgore.com
Infoterra Ltd Contact: Daniel Hughes +44-116-273-2357daniel.hughes@infoterra-global.com
Infoterra Ltd Media Contact:Cheryl Bilson +44-7791720460cheryl.billson@commacomms.com
GORE & INFOTERRA COOPERATE ON OFFSHORE NEAR REAL TIME SLICK MAPPING & SAMPLING
November 9th, 2009, (Elkton, Maryland, USA) — W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. (Gore) and Infoterra Ltd an EADS Astrium company are working cooperatively to offer oil slick
mapping and sampling services for the offshore petroleum exploration industry. This unique
combination provides for near real time results from satellite data together with the most sensitive and easy to use slick sampling and analysis technique to characterize your slick.
 
Infoterra have been using satellite data to screen the world’s offshore basins for oil slicks
for over 15 years. In late 2005 Infoterra continued its slick screening programme to cover new
areas in the Arctic region using mainly archived data from satellite providers. Since then,
Infoterra has completed a number of updated projects adding new satellite imagery to the current
coverage. Additional data can help increase confidence that previously located slicks are being
sourced from natural seepage; it also identifies new areas of slicks not previously located on the
original imagery. In 2008, Infoterra introduced Near Real Time Results; this involved tasking
the satellite to acquire data during the same time our client was out at sea in a vessel. The slick locations were sent directly to the team on the vessel within hours after the imagery was acquired
to direct the vessel to potential seeps. The team on the vessel used Gore’s Slick Sampler Kit to
take surface geochemical samples for hydrocarbon analysis.
The GORE™ Surveys Slick Sampler Kit is designed with strong hydrophobic adsorbents
to sample even the thinnest slicks. Designed like a fishing lure, it is cast onto the slick in one
easy step. The Slick Sampling Kits, packed in a rugged, waterproof case, include 20 samplers,
casting rod, and materials and should be carried on any offshore exploration vessel. Using its
Amplified Geochemical ImagingSM technology, Gore will analyze the sample using state-of-theart
thermal desorption, gas chromatography, and mass spectroscopy to characterize petroleum
compounds in the C5 to C35 range including important biomarkers. This sampling and analysis
of slicks imaged using Infoterra’s mapping is critical in any offshore exploration program to
characterize a basin petroleum system and validate its thermogenic nature.
With approximately $2.5 billion in sales and more than 8,000 employees worldwide,
W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. specializes in innovations that improve the quality of life. In 50
years of product development, Gore has applied its world-renowned expertise to thousands of
products for high-volume, cost-sensitive markets, such as automotive, energy, electronics, and
industrial filtration. The company operates more than 45 facilities worldwide with headquarters
in Newark, Delaware, USA. Gore’s Survey Products Group maps buried petroleum and mineral
resources using Gore’s Amplified Geochemical ImagingSM technology to directly measure
hydrocarbons and other volatile compounds seeping in nanogram quantities from deep buried
deposits. For over 12 years in more than 60 countries and 100 basins, Gore has performed
mapping surveys in onshore exploration basins ranging from arctic tundra to dense jungles, to
deserts over reservoirs as deep as 25,000 feet and buried below thousands of feet of volcanic
rock or anhydrite. Mapping and geochemical analysis services offshore are provided in areas
ranging from swamps to transition zones to deep ocean blocks. For more information about
GORE™ Surveys, visit www.gore.com/surveys/
Infoterra, an EADS Astrium Company, is a leading provider of geo-information products and services for managing the development, environment and security of our changing world.
Their satellite imaging services are used to map persistent slicks used to validate the presence of
petroleum systems in offshore exploration blocks. The company offers the Global Seeps Database as well as permafrost mapping, seasonal ice cover monitoring, drainage mapping, land
cover mapping for pipeline planning, high resolution radar imagery, vegetation mapping, and
digital terrain models. For more information about Infoterra services, visit http://www.infoterraglobal
com/applications_oil.php
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