Wavefield Geophysical and Inseis Announce Merger

Wavefield Geophysical AS

Wavefield Geophysical AS, the new Norwegian marine seismic acquisition company, and Oslo-based multi-client specialist Inseis AS announced today that the two companies have merged to form Wavefield Inseis AS. The new entity has been founded with an additional NOK 200 million (US$33 million) in new equity, which will be used for new acquisition capacity and investments in new multi-client projects.

Wavefield, based in Bergen, Norway, have made a rapid and successful entry into the 2D/3D marine acquisition markets since their start of offshore operations in April this year, operating two vessels, the 2D/3D vessel Bergen Surveyor and the high-capacity 3D vessel Geowave Commander. With a third vessel, the Geowave Champion, due to be delivered at the end of this year, and plans for additional capacity in 2007, all of which will be aimed at the high-density 4D, multi-azimuth, and wide azimuth markets, the new company is set to continue their rapid and efficient expansion in a currently very buoyant seismic market.

Inseis, pre-merger, already owned an extensive library of non-exclusive data in Europe, the Middle East, West Africa, South America, and the Far East. "The two companies complement each other perfectly," explained Erik Hokholt, Inseis' managing director. "Wavefield has a fast-growing fleet of highly specified 2D and 3D vessels, while Inseis is looking to expand their portfolio of multi-client and non-exclusive surveys. The newly merged company is now poised to rapidly expand its non-exclusive data activity and exploit the huge potential of this sector."

The new merged company will focus not only on the towed streamer market. Wavefield already offers permanent seismic monitoring and plans to develop and commercialize other exploration, development, and monitoring tools. "Of course the current towed streamer market is excellent and we will continue to bring more competition into this market," commented Wavefield CEO Atle Jacobsen. "But for us this really is just the beginning."

Both the Bergen Surveyor and Geowave Commander have full North Sea seasons ahead of them before transiting to the Gulf of Mexico, where they will work together on a large wide-azimuth survey. The new 12-streamer vessel Geowave Champion is currently aimed at West Africa prior to high-density 4D work in the North Sea in 2007.


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