Survey company filed for bankruptcy after it misread the market and activity declined

An announcement by Norwegian survey company Argeo that it planned to file for bankruptcy has come as a shock to the market. The company delivered geophysical, geotechnical and geological services, having been established in late 2016. It provided lifecycle services to the offshore oil and gas; renewables; and marine minerals markets using robotics and digital solutions and had quickly gained a reputation for innovation.

The company, which went public in 2021, first indicated it planned to file for bankruptcy on 4 July 2025. Not long before that, in February 2025, it had completed a Nkr150M (US$15M) private placement, only to secure less work and revenue than expected, resulting in it using up its cash reserves and requiring additional funding – which it ultimately failed to obtain.

Trouble had been brewing at the company for several months as a letter to shareholders in the company’s first quarter 2025 report explained. Board chair Jan Grimnes said although the year began with a healthy level of operational activity, Argeo quickly faced significant political headwinds in all three of its primary markets, offshore wind, oil and gas and marine minerals. In a presentation about the Q1 period, Argeo said it had a firm backlog of US$14M but expected that to be consumed during Q2. It said it had a total “expected backlog” of US$164M, including firm and “additional expected contracts currently in negotiation.”  

The cautious but upbeat presentation said Argeo was “entering a new phase of growth and innovation.” It noted that until then, its focus had been on identifying and commercialising solutions – which included autonomous underwater vehicles, deployment systems, vessels and geotechnical services. It had also expanded its capabilities, integrating autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). “Looking ahead,” said the presentation, “our goal is to become the most efficient provider of seabed information.”

Sadly, that goal could not be realised as attempts to secure equity or debt financing, dispose of assets and seek other financial help failed and the decision to file for bankruptcy was announced, only for Argeo’s board to briefly suspend that process when it received “indication of interest from a significant industrial player” and “interest from multiple parties.” The parties in question reportedly “expressed interest in conducting transactions with Argeo and/or all or substantial parts of its subsidiaries.”  

However, this brief period of optimism was short-lived, and in late July Argeo admitted “various processes” had not resulted in concrete offers that would secure sufficient funding. The board therefore resolved to proceed with filing for bankruptcy for Argeo ASA and its subsidiaries Argeo Survey AS, Argeo Robotics AS and Argeo Multiclient AS. Then, in a 25 July 2025 statement, the company confirmed that Asker and Bærum District Court had initiated bankruptcy proceedings.

Reflecting on what had gone wrong at the company, a further statement from Argeo said, when it went public in 2021, its objective was to acquire a minimum of five AUV systems for seabed mapping. The AUVs were to be mounted on chartered, rather than owned, vessels. “At that time,” the company said, “we believed five systems would provide the necessary flexibility to manage periods with limited work.”  

However, as the company also explained, customers invariably requested offers based on the use of specific, known vessels, not vessels that happened to be available to be chartered at the time deals were awarded. This conflicted with Argeo’s business model of chartering vessels after contracts had been awarded. It therefore had to acquire a vessel and take another on a on long-term charter with an option to acquire it, in addition to acquiring an extra container-based survey system.