Magseis Selects Sonardyne Tech for OBS Node Positioning

Subsea technology manufacturer, Sonardyne UK has won a contract from Norwegian seismic services company, Magseis for seabed node acoustic positioning technology.

The equipment ordered includes Sonardyne’s newly-developed SST 6 (Small Seismic Transponder 6), and associated vessel-based acoustic positioning system, Ranger 2 USBL (Ultra-Short BaseLine). All the hardware will be installed and operated by Magseis’ latest crew which is scheduled to be fully operational during the second quarter of 2018.

Sonardyne’s SST devices, attached to cables or ropes adjacent to stationary nodes deployed on the seabed, and when used in conjunction with Ranger 2 installed on a surface vessel, are meant to overcome the problem of node positioning during deployment.

Liam Flood, navigation manager at Magseis in Oslo, said: “We have collaborated with Sonardyne to provide the acoustic positioning infrastructure for our OBS operations since our company was founded in 2009. The scale and capabilities of our vessel operations have increased considerably since then; Sonardyne’s latest generation platform, SST 6, will allow us to deploy our seismic nodes quickly and accurately in all water depths up to 3,000 metres.”

Shaun Dunn, global business manager for exploration and surveillance at Sonardyne, said: “Continuous evolution and improvement of our acoustic positioning technologies is a strong conviction held by everyone at Sonardyne so we’re naturally delighted that Magseis has again chosen to place their confidence in us, and the performance of our latest products to meet the ever increasing demands of the marine seismic sector.”