ION wins grant to help develop offshore operations management software

U.S.-based ION Geophysical Corporation has been given a grant by the Scottish Enterprise (SE) for the company’s £1.5 million-worth ($1.93 million) Marlin software development program.

ION said on Wednesday that SE’s £522,984 ($673,230) grant would be distributed over 15 months.

The company added that the software development program would be aimed at revolutionizing offshore operations management.

The announcement came ahead of the Offshore Technology Conference next week in Texas, where the company will host a stand in the Scottish Pavilion to promote its automated Marlin software.

The Marlin project is to be undertaken by a wholly owned subsidiary, Concept Systems Ltd. (CSL), an Edinburgh-based software provider developing real-time navigation and data management solutions for the seismic industry.

CSL will develop a marine management system that combines temporal project planning with 3D spatial situational awareness across diverse activities to support increased operational efficiency, safer operations and reduced expenditure across oil and gas marine support operations.

The Marlin project expands CSL’s market from the seismic sector into a broader range of exploration and production operations and potentially also beyond the oil and gas sector.

Marlin technology currently exists in a form that can be delivered via a service model. The new project will transform the Marlin solution into a scalable software product that will deliver value across a wide range of oil and gas activities, for use in a single project to an enterprise-wide solution for all assets in a company’s portfolio, the company explained.

Christopher Usher, EVP & COO of ION’s E&P Operations Optimization group, said: “We have demonstrated the value that Marlin can deliver to E&P operations via our service model. The support and funding provided by Scottish Enterprise have been essential to help us develop our solution for this market.”

Lena Wilson, CEO of SE, said, “ION is a fantastic example of a U.S. company recognizing the benefits of Scotland’s top talent and effective business environment. We are very pleased to have been able to support the company to get to this stage and wish them every success in achieving their future ambitions.”