Owners of seismic survey and support vessels have secured contracts from energy companies for advanced surveys using some of the latest seabed and acquisition technologies, as higher oil prices are underpinning hydrocarbon exploration
Eidesvik Offshore has entered into a bareboat contract for 130 days including transit, with an undisclosed third-party operator for its seismic survey vessel Veritas Viking. This 1998-built, 93.4-m vessel will be mobilised from its current location at Bømlo, Norway in May 2021 and is scheduled to commence the bareboat contract in June 2021.
Axxis Geo Solutions (AGS), which is working with creditors on financial restructuring, said it has entered into a time charterparty with Sanco Holding for a seismic vessel and sold another to Sanco. AGS has an agreement to sell 2002-built, 2008-converted, 65-m seismic acquisition vessel Neptune Naiad to Sanco for an undisclosed value in line with its reconstruction proposals.
In addition, AGS subsidiary Axxis Production has time chartered 2008-built, 80-m Sanco Star from Sanco for an ocean bottom node (OBN) survey for an unnamed international energy company. Both vessels are currently located in Norway according to automatic identification system data.
On the other side of the Atlantic, CGG won a major contract from Norwegian energy group Equinor for the seismic imaging of its Bacalhau deepwater oilfield in the Santos Basin off Brazil. It will carry out a long-term 3D OBN survey covering 409 km2 of the Atlantic.
CGG said the fully imaged dataset from this OBN survey is expected to be delivered within 10 months after the survey was completed in May 2021. Equinor will use this data from CGG for better imaging and modelling of the Bacalhau field, to guide future drilling plans and development of the deepwater oilfield.
“This new OBN award, after the recent successful completion of several OBN processing projects, confirms CGG’s position as a world-leading OBN seismic imaging company,” said CGG chief executive Sophie Zurquiyah.
“With our 60-year track record in Brazil, indepth geological knowledge of the Santos Basin and proprietary imaging capabilities for the Brazilian deep water, clients know they can count on our expertise and technology to deliver the best possible pre-salt subsurface images to support their critical field development decisions,” she said.
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