Shearwater, Equinor team up to develop next-gen marine seismic technology

Geoservices company Shearwater will develop the next-generation marine seismic source technology in collaboration with Norwegian oil major Equinor.

Image source: Shearwater Geoservices

Shearwater said on Tuesday that the development was supported by the Research Council of Norway.

Irene Waage Basili, CEO of Shearwater, said: “This collaboration targets an untapped potential of seismic sources with the goal of delivering better quality seismic data faster than current source technology.

“We aim to bring about a step-change in productivity by completing surveys faster and reducing the overall cost and external impact of marine seismic acquisition.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Shearwater will accelerate the development of its marine vibratory source technology.

Marine vibrator sources provide total control of the emitted wavefield, which is fundamentally different from existing source technology. The non-impulsive nature of this type of source technology will bring environmental benefits, especially in sensitive, difficult to reach areas and extreme climates.

Klaas Verwer, VP of exploration technologies research at Equinor, added: “This new collaboration offers a great opportunity to develop an efficient source with less sound impact on the environment. The project is a good fit in our Sustainable Seismic Solutions research portfolio.”

The company added that Shearwater would have exclusive rights to market the system, and Equinor would have initial and preferential access to the technology.


Spotted a typo? Have something more to add to the story? Maybe a nice photo? Contact our editorial team via email. Offshore Energy Today, established in 2010, is read by more than 10.000 industry professionals daily.

We had almost 9 million page views in 2018, with 2.4 million new users. This makes us one of the world’s most attractive online platforms in the space of offshore oil and gas.

These stats allow our partners advertising on Offshore Energy Today to get maximum exposure to their online campaigns. If you’re interested in showcasing your company, product or technology on Offshore Energy Today contact our marketing manager Mirza Duran for advertising options.