ION Geophysical Corporation announced that it has increased its ownership interest in OceanGeo B.V., a geophysical company specializing in multicomponent ocean bottom seismic acquisition.
ION now owns 70% of OceanGeo, up from the 30% the Company acquired in February 2013. Formerly known as GeoRXT, OceanGeo is owned by ION and Georadar Levantamentos Geofisicos S/A.
OceanGeo was awarded a 510 square km ocean bottom 3D seismic survey offshore Trinidad for Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (Petrotrin). Work commenced in December 2013 and is expected to be complete in April or May 2014.
Brian Hanson, ION’s President and CEO , commented , “Our ownership increase in OceanGeo is a key milestone in executing our strategic shift from being a seismic equipment company to leveraging our technologies to provide higher-value solutions directly to E&P companies. Through OceanGeo, we will be putting our next generation, industry leading CalypsoTM ocean bottom seismic acquisition system to work in a service model.
“The ocean bottom seismic market has grown tremendously over the past six years, and we see this trend continuing as oil and gas companies seek higher quality seismic data to better locate wells and manage their reservoirs. OceanGeo provides a full suite of ocean bottom seismic services, including survey design, planning, optimization, data acquisition, geophysical QC and, through ION, can provide data processing, interpretation, and reservoir services.”
Celso Magalhaes, Georadar’s Chairman of the Board , added, “We are pleased to partner with ION to bring to the growing seabed seismic market the most advanced ocean bottom seismic acquisition services in the industry. While we have a new name and new ownership, we have a proven track record of successfully acquiring ocean bottom seismic data, safely and efficiently, with over five years of operation offshore Brazil. Now we bring that expertise to the global marketplace.”
Press Release, January 30, 2014; Image: