New Norwegian Seismic JV Formed

In a response to a tailoff in exploration activity, Norwegian firms GC Rieber Shipping and Rasmussengruppen said October 13 they have teamed up to establish a new 50-50-owned marine geophysical company called Shearwater GeoServices.

Shearwater GeoServices will become an integrated provider of marine geophysical services to oil and gas and multi-client companies worldwide, starting out with a fleet of four modern seismic vessels currently owned by GC Rieber; the two partners will each inject $60mn as cash. "We have found a partner who shares our view of the opportunities offered by the geophysical market at present,” said Irene Waage Basili, GC Rieber’s CEO.

Polar Empress (above) is one of the four seismic vessels that will belong to Shearwater, others being Polar Duke, Polar Duchess and Polar Marquis (Photo credit: GC Rieber)

Terms have been renegotiated with the lending banks for the four vessels. They include a 75% reduction in instalments until June 2019 and an extension of the term of the loans until end-2022. Shearwater has also agreed on the main terms to purchase the seismic equipment (including streamers) and the operative entity, Dolphin Geophysical UK., which includes the processing business from the former lending banks of Dolphin Geophysical.

Mark Smedley