Magseis, WesternGeco teaming up in Ocean Bottom Node game

Oslo-listed seismic specialist Magseis is teaming up with Schlumberger’s geophysical services subsidiary WesternGeco in the space of ocean bottom nodes, hydrophones connected by electrical wires and deployed on the seafloor to record and relay data to a seismic recording vessel. 

Magseis on Monday said it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Westerngeco to offer joint bundled seismic services including ocean-bottom nodes (OBN) acquisition from Magseis,” the world’s largest nodal acquisition company” and data QC and processing from WesternGeco “a world leader in ocean-bottom seismic (OBS) processing.”

Magseis CEO Per Christian Grytnes said: “We are delighted to partner with WesternGeco to deliver full system services for OBN surveys with a focus on 3D exploration and 4D reservoir monitoring.”

“As market leaders in our respective domains, we will jointly provide unparalleled services to the industry. The clients will receive integrated solutions taking advantage of the full suite of our intellectual property and technology portfolios.”

“WesternGeco is at the forefront of OBS processing and we are very excited about teaming up with Magseis to give our customers high-quality 3D exploration and reservoir management services that can help them accelerate hydrocarbon discovery,” said Maurice Nessim, president, WesternGeco, Schlumberger.

As previously reported, Schlumberger in January said it wanted to make WesternGeco an asset-light company, meaning it would exit the acquisition business and sell its vessel fleet, and stay in the business only through the seismic data processing. What was said in January was completed last week, when WesternGeco sold its vessels and equipment to Norway’s Shearwater.

On the other hand, while WesternGeco is going asset-light, Magseis is expanding. The company late in October it would acquire Fairfield’s seismic technology business in a deal valued $233 million.

Based in Houston, Fairfield is specializing in Ocean Bottom Node surveys, and it has approximately 230 full-time employees and 250 contracted personnel.

The transaction entails Magseis acquiring data acquisition, nodal and system sale & rental activities including all shares in Fairfield’s wholly owned UK subsidiary WGP Group.

Also worth noting, the WesternGeco-Magseis pact is the second such agreement Offshore Energy Today has reported on in the past week.

Norwegian seismic data firm TGS last week said it had entered into a strategic collaboration with Axxis Geo Solutions (AGS) for multi-client ocean bottom node projects in the North Sea. According to TGS, the area of mutual interest covers the core part of the central North Sea up to and including the Utsira area.

Offshore Energy Today Staff