Seismic Shift………. Industry Transformed

Just ten years ago the seismic industry was a vibrant segment representing over $10 billion each year and including industry heavyweights such as Schlumberger WesternGeco, CGG, PGS, and others.

Today, the seismic industry is a fraction of its historic size and the marine acquisition segment is led by companies little known previously such as Shearwater, MagseisFairfield, and BGP.

With only approximately 10% of oil & gas investment projects requiring the acquisition of new seismic to help define and de-risk prior to implementation, the seismic industry is expected to remain smaller in size and not return to its former glory of a major oilfield services segment.

With that said, however, the seismic industry continues to innovate and deliver cutting-edge technology led by nodal/wireless systems, artificial intelligence/machine learning, advances in seismic data processing, and a variety of imaging advances and sparse node acquisition efficiencies to support reservoir management.

Among today’s industry leaders for the marine acquisition segment, Shearwater is the top-performing supplier and is viewed as delivering the best overall value. Shearwater is positioned to grow market share and defend their current market position as well as improve margins and provide pricing leadership. BGP continues to underperform while using low pricing as a key

mechanism to compete and PGS is shifting more focus on multi-client projects and rates unfavorably with respect to responsiveness, crew availability, and image quality versus that of Shearwater, the industry leader for marine acquisition using streamers.

Among today’s industry leaders for marine nodal acquisition, MagseisFairfield is the top-performing supplier and is viewed as delivering the best overall value. MagseisFairfield is competitively positioned to defend and grow market share but lacks pricing leadership in the newly transformed and consolidated market.

These updated findings and observations are based on interviews with oil and gas operators surveyed worldwide and published in Kimberlite’s 2022 Seismic Acquisition & Data Licensing report. Kimberlite will continue to track and report updates on key seismic technologies driving the future of the industry as well as updates on supplier performance and competitive position. Feel free to reach out to discuss.