PGS Sells OptoSeis to Geospace Technologies

Norwegian marine geophysical company PGS said it has sold its OptoSeis fiber optic sensing technology business to Houston based Geospace Technologies.

The transaction includes an initial cash payment at closing of $1.8 million, plus contingent cash payments of up to an additional $23.2 million over a five-and-a-half year earn-out period. Contingent payments will be derived from revenues generated from products and services utilizing the acquired fiber optic technology.

"After reorganizing during the fourth quarter 2017, we started exploring opportunities to divest our non-core OptoSeis technology early 2018," said PGS President & CEO Rune Olav Pedersen.

Pedersen said PGS will support and complement Geospace's offering with survey planning, imaging and acquisition services.

Walter R. "Rick" Wheeler, President and CEO of Geospace Technologies, said, “The continued adoption of permanent reservoir monitoring (PRM) by exploration and production (E&P) companies, combined with our leading expertise in PRM systems, prompted the acquisition of the OptoSeis business."

The OptoSeis fiber optic technology has been deployed by PGS in a marine permanent reservoir monitoring system in the Jubarte field located offshore Brazil and has also been demonstrated as a viable technology for large scale cabled land seismic data acquisition systems.