Hacking through jungles or navigating swamps to survey onshore locations for potential oil, gas or even diamond deposits can be a slow, dirty and expensive business, fraught with sensitive environmental risks.

Cambridge-based start-up ARKeX is developing leading-edge technology which will make onshore exploration easier and its achievements are attracting the close attention of the oil and mineral industries which scent an opportunity to benefit from the company’s breakthroughs.

ARKeX, a start-up headed by chief executive Kitty Hall, a highly respected geophysicist, was formed as a joint spinout from Oxford Instruments Superconductivity Ltd and ARK Geophysics (which was co-founded by Hall). The company has raised £4 million in a funding round co-led by Scottish Equity Partners and RWE Dynamics and will use the funds to complete
an innovative device called the Exploration Gravity Gradiometer (EGG).

Hall explains the EGG is a unique concept which was developed with funding from the European Space Agency. Flown over the ground in a light aircraft at a height of 120-150 metres it uses minute variations in the earth’s gravitational field to assist the detection of oil, gas and mineral deposits lying deep beneath the earth’s surface.

“EGG represents a factor of 10 improvement over what’s currently available and significantly it allows you to see smaller features of interest at enhanced resolution,” Hall says.

Airborne gravity gradiometry gives oil and mining companies rapid access to detailed structural information. ARKeX is building the world’s highest resolution gravity gradiometer (the EGG) which it expects to take delivery of in 2006, but in 2005 it will begin commercial flying operations of its precursor, an FTGeX, which will generate revenue before the arrival of the EGG.

The FTGeX is a gravity gradiometry system that it is being built by US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin. It will combine the latest technology from Lockheed Martin with ARKeX’s own proprietary technology. The FTGeX represents a significant improvement over previously available gravity gradiometry devices, but even this enhanced system will be outclassed by the EGG when it launches in 2006.

ARKeX’s backers include major oil companies Shell, Amerada Hess and Anadarko but Hall believes the EGG could also benefit smaller cost-conscious oil independents as it offers a cheaper and more efficient alternative to shooting reconnaissance seismic. The EGG’s superior resolution means it could also have potential applications in the defence sector.
ARKeX has a highly skilled team of geoscientists and instruments engineers and it benefits from proprietary software and patented instrumentation from its founding companies - ARK Geophysics, the leading European provider of gravity and magnetic processing and interpretation to the oil industry; and Oxford Instruments, a global player in advanced instrumentation and world leader in several technologies including the application of superconductivity.

Hall is supported by an experienced management team, including non-executive chairman Dick Stabbins, an industry veteran and formerly exploration director of Goal Petroleum and chairman of the UK’s Petroleum Exploration Society. The company’s technical director John Lumley is another key player. The former technical director of Oxford Instruments Superconductivity Ltd led the EGG project from its inception and is regarded as a world leader in his field.

Scottish Equity Partners has been increasing its focus on energy- related technology and ranks ARKeX as one of the most
technically innovative players in the sector.

Hall appreciates SEP’s assistance in helping the company become established, saying: “SEP’s encouragement helped to get the fundamental proposition strong enough to secure funding and they put a great deal of effort and energy into making it happen, with their leadership bringing together a very complex deal.”