Reach Subsea buys Norwegian geophysical monitoring solutions provider

Reach Subsea has entered into an agreement with Equinor Ventures to acquire OCTIO, a provider of geophysical monitoring solutions for hydrocarbon producing fields and CO2 storage reservoirs.

Under the terms of the deal, Reach Subsea will acquire Equinor’s interests in the Bergen-based company, as well as the associated company MonViro AS, owned by OCTIO employees.

The acquisition is expected to add a strategic pillar to advance Reach Subsea’s strategy for technology and data processing, as well as key competence required for gathering and processing of seabed survey data for offshore wind farms.

As part of the transaction, certain OCTIO employees will subscribe for 974,700 new shares in Reach at NOK 3 per share.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

“The acquisition of OCTIO will deepen Reach Subsea’s technology competence and expand our value chain, accelerating the company’s strategy to become a full-service provider of subsea data and solutions for clients globally,” said Jostein Alendal, Reach Subsea CEO.

“We have worked with OCTIO for several years and are well-acquainted with how their cost-efficient and highly-accurate survey and monitoring technology enhances data value for clients and provides optimal solutions for monitoring of future CO2 reservoir storage. In addition, OCTIO’s patented technologies and competence will strengthen the data gathering, data processing, and data analytics capabilities of Reach Remote, the unique USV solution that we will introduce in 2023.”

Established in 2006, OCTIO performs geophysical studies that lead to overall monitoring strategies, plans and executes operations and provides support to integrate data in interpretation workflows.

The company’s main technological propositions are real-time passive seismic monitoring and survey-based 4D gravity and seafloor subsidence monitoring that offers an alternative to seismic at 10% of the cost and with no impact on marine life. The monitoring technologies are typically deployed and recovered using ROVs.