Ocean Bottom Node News

Autonomy is often described as removing people from operations. That’s not quite right.It’s not a case of people ‘simply’ being replaced by machines. It’s about the move from vessel-centered operations to shore-enabled operations. People still matter, but their roles, locations and relationships with the operation change fundamentally. Uncrewed doesn’t mean unattended.Control is redistributed, not removedIn our coastal surveillance work in the Middle East, multiple vessels can operate simultaneously under the oversight of an onshore control center.

SeaBird Exploration, a wholly owned subsidiary of SED Energy Holdings, has secured a contract for ocean bottom node (OBN) source work in West Africa.The company said the Fulmar Explorer vessel will be deployed for the campaign, which has a total duration of about three months, including mobilization and demobilization.Mobilization is expected to begin after the vessel completes its five-year classing, which is currently scheduled for August 2026."We are pleased to secure additional work for Fulmar Explorer, further strengthening our backlog.

Norwegian marine seismic survey services firm SeaBird Exploration, part of SED Energy Holdings, has secured a contract extension for its Fulmar Explorer seismic survey vessel.SeaBird Exploration has signed a three-month contract extension for ocean bottom node (OBN) source work for the vessel in the Western Hemisphere.This extension now commits the 2009-built vessel through mid-June 2026, maintaining the same commercial terms as the original agreement, the company said.The name of the client or the value of the contract extension has not been disclosed.

Norwegian vessel owner Solstad Offshore has signed a letter of intent (LoI) with client for its Normand Tonjer construction support vessel (CSV).According to Solstad Offshore, area of operation for the vessel will be Asia-Pacific. The contract has a duration of 225 days, including mobilization, with further options thereafter, and will start in February 2026.The commercial terms and conditions are confidential between the parties.Normand Tonjer is a CSV built in 2010. The vessel…

Solstad Offshore has exercised its option to purchase the construction support vessel (CSV) Normand Tonjer.The vessel was bought from the Norwegian Mpsv for the net amount of $4 million.In 2021, Normand Tonjer was sold to Mpsv for a gross amount of $10 million and leased back on a bare boat agreement for a firm three-year period with options for two one-year extensions.At the end of year two, Solstad had an option to buy the vessel back for which was concluded on December 20,…

Argeo, a Norwegian autonomous underwater vehicle provider, has signed a 5-year bareboat contract for the vessel Argeo Searcher (former Ocean Pearl), with an option to purchase the vessel for $2 million after 12 months and $1 million after 27 months. The vessel is expected to be delivered to the company on December 10, 2022."The international expansion of Argeo means contracts are significantly larger, with longer duration, and therefore require predictability in our operational value chain.

Norwegian offshore vessel owner Eidesvik Offshore has won a contract with the seismic survey company PXGEO under the master time charter agreement for the Subsea Viking vessel. Ediesvik said that the contract would start "ultimo April 2022," in direct continuation of the existing stand-by contract. No financial details were shared.The firm period is 100 days with options for extensions. According to MarineTraffic, the vessel is currently docked in Høylandsbygd, Norway.The 1999-built…

Norwegian offshore vessel owner DOF Subsea has sold its 2001-built construction support vessel Skandi Neptune.According to DOF Subsea, the vessel has been sold to an unnamed "international buyer."The vessel will be delivered to the new owner in Q3 2022, after completing its current commitments, DOF Subsea said Monday, without sharing further details. VesselsValue estimates the 104.2 meter-long vessel's value to be around $3.13 million.Per the vessel's AIS, the Skandi Neptune left Vitoria, Brazil last week, en route to Petrobras' Jubarte offshore field.The vessel was earlier this year awarded a contract with marine seismic contractor Shearwater Geoservices, to support Shearwater's Ocean Bottom Node seismic campaigns on Petrobras' Jubarte, Tupi, and Iracema fields offshore Brazil.

Norwegian offshore vessel provider Solstad Offshore said Thursday it had won new contracts for two of its subsea construction vessels (CSV), the Normand Fortress and the Normand Mermaid, in offshore wind and seismic sectors, respectively.The CSV Normand Fortress has secured a contract with the UK-based contractor Manor Renewable Energy for operation on a UK offshore wind farm. The contract is scheduled to start in October 2021, in continuation of the former announced contract with MHI Vestas…

Oslo-listed Magseis Fairfield on Friday said it had won a deep-water 4D Ocean Bottom Node (OBN) monitor survey contract in the US Gulf of Mexico with a repeat customer.The survey will be conducted with Magseis Fairfield’s ZXPLR technology, currently in use for ongoing projects in the same region. The start-up is expected to be mid-Q2 2021, and the project will run for approximately two months.“We are glad to see our customers recognizing the value we bring, and award us repeat business.

Norwegian ocean bottom node (OBN) seismic company Axxis Geo Solutions (AGS) has signed the contract for the 3D OBN seismic acquisition survey in the Middle East following the securing of a letter of intent for the project in September.The work is expected to commence in early January 2020 and will continue through most of the first quarter 2020."This contract will secure activity for the company and contribute with revenues through most of the winter season. In addition, this contract is a sign of seismic activity re-emerging in the region through advanced OBN seismic and imaging technology with potential demand for OBN seismic in years to come.

Seabed Geosolutions, the provider of comprehensive ocean bottom seismic (OBS) solutions to the global oil and gas industry, has signed a contract to sell the entirety of its shallow water ocean bottom cable (OBC) recording equipment.The joint venture between Fugro and CGG said that the equipment was used on a recently completed project for Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the United Arab Emirates. The sale fetched around  US$ 10 million.Stephan Midenet, CEO of Seabed Geosolutions said: "The sale of our last cable-based system completes the transformation of Seabed Geosolutions into a pure ocean bottom node (OBN) company."He added: "We are now largely focused around our Manta suite of technologies…

The geophysical services provider SAExploration Holdings successfully completed the largest shallow water ocean-bottom marine project in its history.Contracted to SAExploration by a major national oil company, the project, located in the Arabian Sea off the coast of India, utilized over 20 vessels, which included three ocean-bottom node deployment vessels and two seismic source vessels operating in dual source/simultaneous source mode.A total of 5,400 ocean-bottom nodes and in excess of 1,300 kilometers of rope were deployed on the project to acquire approximately 1,200 square kilometers of full fold seismic data.Jeff Hastings, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer…

Norway-based Songa Bulk AS, an investment vehicle established to invest in dry bulk assets, has made an agreement to merge with company Axxis Geo Solutions (AGS).Per deal, Songa Bulk will assume the assets, rights and obligations of the Houston-based AGS against issuance of shares in Songa Bulk to existing shareholders of AGS.The exchange ratio in the Merger is based on an equity value of Songa Bulk of NOK 17.93 million, corresponding to a price per share of NOK 0.5, and an equity value of AGS of NOK 514.82 million, corresponding to a price per share of NOK 0.7.The shareholders of AGS will receive 1.4 shares of Songa Bulk per one share in AGS…

FairfieldNodal has signed a contract with Marathon Oil Corporation for an ocean-bottom node seismic acquisition survey. The survey is scheduled to begin in July and will run through the end of August. Marathon Oil will use the company’s Z3000 system at water depths of 200 to 600 meters in the Gulf of Mexico’s Ewing Bank area. The data acquired will help improve the quality and resolution of Marathon's existing dataset over the area. FairfieldNodal's cable-free ZNodal systems, available worldwide, are designed to acquire data in virtually any terrain or marine depth. Because they are completely self-contained, these small-footprint systems provide continuous data capture.

Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) announced that crude oil and natural gas production has begun at the Jack/St. Malo project in the Lower Tertiary trend, deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Jack/St. Malo is a key part of Chevron's strong queue of upstream projects and was delivered on time and on budget. The Jack and St. Malo fields are among the largest in the Gulf of Mexico. They were discovered in 2004 and 2003, respectively, and production from the first development stage is expected to ramp up over the next several years to a total daily rate of 94…