TotalEnergies SE has awarded Shearwater Geoservices Holding AS an ocean bottom node (OBN) project in Angola. The project will take place in Block 32, covering the Louro and Mostarda fields, where Shearwater had earlier carried out a 4D streamer survey for TotalEnergies.
The deepwater OBN survey will be conducted by the dual remote operated vehicle (ROV) equipped SW Tasman. The fit-for-purpose seismic node-laying vessel, which was converted in 2023, with SW Gallien as the source vessel, Shearwater said in a news release.
The survey will begin in January 2025, with a duration of two and a-half months. Shearwater said it plans to use its compact, high-endurance Pearl node for the project.
Shearwater CEO Irene Waage Basili said, “We are very satisfied with the performance of our SW Tasman/Pearl OBN platform, which has been in continuous operation since its introduction last year. We are pleased to see one more key client use this unique platform to introduce deepwater OBN to new areas of their operations.”.
Last month, Shearwater announced the award of a 4D seismic monitoring contract for the Jubilee field in Ghana, operated by Tullow Ghana Ltd.
The two-month survey will be conducted in early 2025, using capacity from Shearwater’s high-end fleet, supported by the company’s state-of-the-art technology offering and extensive operational experience, the company said in an earlier news release.
This will be the first contract conducted by Shearwater Ghana in conjunction with local partner Destra Energy and will include considerable local content participation, according to the release.
Basili said, “Our leading towed streamer technology is an ideal fit for the Jubilee field, enabling repeatable surveys to provide Tullow and partners with high-quality data in support of better-informed reservoir optimisation. We look forward to executing this project as part of our long-standing commitment to our clients in Ghana and West Africa.”.
Further, Shearwater recently received the Petrobras Best Suppliers award, which it said reflects the support that Shearwater provides to the ongoing offshore exploration programs of Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras).
Since 2020, Shearwater and Petrobras have collaborated on several major projects, including advanced 3D and 4D seismic programs. The award, which covers the period from January 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, “showcases the operational capabilities of Shearwater and its ability to deliver, over the years, reliable, high-quality datasets to Petrobras,” it said.
In June, Petrobras and Shearwater signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for joint research and development on seismic acquisition and processing technology. The joint effort will focus on data quality, value, and efficiency.
The five-year agreement comes in addition to previous collaborations between the two companies, which included Marine Vibroseis and the software licensing of Reveal software.
To improve insights into the subsurface and enhance data value, the MoU establishes a governance platform to support the joint effort of Petrobras and Shearwater. Governance also reduces the time, cost, and environmental impact of seismic acquisition projects.
Bergen, Norway-based Shearwater describes itself as a global marine geoscience and technology business that specialises in collecting data offshore. The organisation uses state-of-the-art seismic vessels and equipment to explore the seabed and processes the data using market-leading proprietary software.
