Fugro Geoteam News

DNV has developed a class notation for seismic vessels in consultation with key industry players, WesternGeco, PGS and Fugro-Geoteam. The need to have enhanced redundancy and proper deck arrangements to ensure continuous operation without loss of speed is the backbone of these new technical requirements. Seismic vessels contain high end computerized technology to find resources below the seabed, and represent a key element in the value chain leading to future offshore field developments. Any interruptions in the ships forward movement can complicate the seismic data processing, and continuous operations with focus to avoid any downtime of key functions are hence of utmost importance.

Fugro-Geoteam, with headquarters in Oslo, is one of the world’s larger offshore seismic contractors operating 8 seismic vessels world-wide. Several of the vessels are equipped with as many as five Vestdavit davit systems. Øyvind Norlen, marine superintendent, Fugro, says, “My absolute priority is to keep our fleet operating safely with no injuries, downtime or failures. We use davits to launch and recover work boats and FRCs on a frequent basis. Davits are critical to our operation and to providing a safe working environment for our crews.

Marlink, the global provider of maritime satellite communications, has recently extended its contract with seismic vessel operator Fugro-Geoteam for a further five years. As part of the latest agreement, Marlink will supply its innovative Sealink(TM) VSAT service to the seismic vessels via Marlink's Eik teleport in Norway, providing 512 Kbps of bandwidth and 10-15 telephone lines for each vessel. "For safe, efficient and reliable operation of our vessels worldwide, it's important to have satellite communications solutions that we can trust.

StatoilHydro has signed a letter of intent for six seismic acquisition vessels which will gather data on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). Secured seismic capacity includes three petroleum geo-service (PGS) vessels - Ramform Challenger, Ramform Sovereign and Atlantic Explorer, as well as Fugro Geoteam's Geo Celtic, Wavefield Inseis's Geowave Commander and Western Geco's Geco Triton.

ODIM has signed a contract with the seismic company Fugro Geoteam on delivery of the remaining parts of a complete handlings system for the 3D seismic new building Geo Celtic. In addition to this contract, ODIM received on January 26 the first part of the complete handling system for this vessel. ODIM has over the last years built up a key expertise on electric drive systems for handlings systems to be used aboard 3D seismic vessels. Fugro Geoteam will be the first seismic company to outfit a vessel with an all-electric automated handling system.