Sonardyne Wins Magseis' Deal to Supply Acoustics for Saudi Aramco Project

Sonardyne International Ltd. reported Monday that Norway's Magseis has selected its acoustic positioning equipment to support a Saudi Aramco's S78 project, a deepwater ocean bottom seismic survey, in the Red Sea.

The Norwegian firm and partner BGP will commence work on the 9 month-long project in July, using a large network of ocean bottom recording nodes, each of which will be accurately positioned using Sonardyne's Ranger 2 USBL (Ultra-Short BaseLine) and Small Seismic Transponder (SST) technologies.

Magseis will also deploy its proprietary Marine Autonomous Seismic System (MASS) for the survey. In addition, Magseis has ordered Sonardyne's Lightweight Release Transponders (LRTs) and rope canisters to enable recovery of seafloor equipment following data acquisition.

"Magseis have been long term users of our technology and we're naturally very pleased that they have chosen to increase their investment with this major order for acoustic positioning and release equipment ... We are continuously evolving our subsea technology to match the ever increasing demand for higher positional accuracy and increased measurement speed so that seismic operators can generate more detailed reservoir information whilst minimizing cost," Trevor Barnes, sales manager at Sonardyne, said in the press release.