Interpretation Services News

Norwegian marine geophysical services company Shearwater GeoServices Holding AS has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the marine seismic acquisition assets and operations of Schlumberger’s geophysical services product line, WesternGeco.The transaction, which remains subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018.Houston based Schlumberger will receive cash consideration based on an enterprise value of $600 million plus a 15 percent post-closing equity interest in Shearwater. For a limited period, Schlumberger  will be entitled to payments under an earn-out agreement linked to future vessel usage over and above specific thresholds.

The Republic of Paraguay is a landlocked country in South America bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. The Paraguay River runs through the center of the country from north to south. Due to its central location in South America, it is sometimes referred to as the Heart of South America. Paraguay’s geography consists of grassy plains and wooded hills in the east and mostly low, marshy plains to the west. Paraguay has a population of around 6.5 million, who consume 28,000 barrels per day (bpd) of refined petroleum products. Paraguay currently imports all of its oil, as it does not yet have any domestic production.

Seafarers’ suggestions on how to improve their situation when facing criminal charges were presented at the landmark 100th session of the Legal Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) which met in London from April 15-19, 2013. The suggestions, which emanated from a comprehensive eight language survey conducted by Seafarers’ Rights International (SRI) over a 12-month period to February 2012, focus as much on fears of their own human rights being violated as on a lack of due process in the criminal process.

ABB won a $26m order to supply electrical power and propulsion systems for two next generation ‘Ramform’ vessels, capable of three-dimensional (3D) seismic data acquisition for deep sea resource exploration. The ships will be constructed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and delivered in 2015 to Norway’s Petroleum Geo-Services ASA (PGS), a leading company in marine seismic and reservoir data acquisition, processing and analysis/interpretation services. Oil and gas companies use this data to explore for hydrocarbon accumulations, develop new oil and gas fields, and manage their producing fields.

The survey by international legal research centre Seafarers’ Rights International (SRI) of 3,480 seafarers in the 12 months to the end of February 2012 was conducted in eight languages, with responses returned from 18 countries and 68 different nationalities of seafarers. Of the seafarers surveyed, 8% had faced criminal charges; 4% had been witnesses in criminal prosecutions, while 33% knew of colleagues who had faced criminal charges. Almost 24% of masters in the survey had faced criminal charges. Questions in the survey specifically asked about the experiences of seafarers who had faced criminal charges. 44% of seafarers reported that they were bodily searched.

A worrying indictment of the plight of seafarers has been delivered by a far-reaching survey of the experiences of seafarers facing criminal charges with seafarers complaining of unfair treatment, intimidation and a lack of legal representation and interpretation services. The survey by international legal research center, Seafarers’ Rights International (SRI), of 3,480 seafarers in the 12 months to the end of February, 2012, was conducted in eight languages, with responses returned from 18 countries and 68 different nationalities of seafarers. Of the seafarers surveyed, 8 percent had faced criminal charges; 4 percent had been witnesses in criminal prosecutions, while 33 percent knew of colleagues who had faced criminal charges.