Seabed Geosolutions Receives LOA for Americas OBN Survey

Fugro's soon-to-be-sold marine seismic acquisition subsidiary Seabed Geosolutions has received a conditional Letter of Award (LOA) from an undisclosed company for an ocean bottom node (OBN) project in the Americas region.

The project is anticipated to start in the fourth quarter of 2021 after the completion of the current crew commitment in Brazil, extending the crew’s operational engagement. The survey size has yet to be finalized, Fugro said Friday.

"Subject to closing of the recently announced divestment of Seabed Geosolutions to PXGEO, which is expected for mid-2021, this project will be executed by PXGEO provided the LOA conditions are met," Fugro said.

Fugro said in March it had agreed to sell its Seabed Geosolutions to PXGEO Seismic Services (PXGEO) for $16 million with the transaction expected to be completed mid-2021, marking Fugro's exit from deep seismic data collection.

The divestment includes Seabed’s ocean bottom node (OBN) inventory, handling equipment, related technology, and order backlog. 

In addition, Fugro said that "a significant number of personnel" responsible for delivering the Seabed Geosolutions’ business will transition to PXGEO, with the exact number depending on further analysis of the needs of the business. 

Seabed Geosolutions is currently getting ready to kick off the first of the two seismic acquisitions of the Sapinhoá field monitoring project, in the pre-salt of the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil, for Petrobras. The project is slated to begin on Sunday, June 13.

Petrobras said this week that the contract signed with the company Seabed Geosolutions do Brasil includes 3D and 4D geophysical acquisition and processing, with total investments of about US$ 118 million. 

Base seismic (3D), with an area of 575 km², is set to start this month, and monitor seismic acquisition (4D), with an area of 478 km², is scheduled to begin in 2024.

The surveys will use Ocean Bottom Nodes (OBN), which allow for better collection of the deposit´s information from sensors installed on the ocean floor to obtain a better seismic response in geologically complex areas such as the pre-salt.