Shearwater GeoServices has been awarded a contract to acquire 3D seismic for Genel Energy in the Sidi Moussa license offshore Morocco. Additionally, Shearwater has been awarded a five months contract for an undisclosed client engaged in West Africa. The market outlook is improving, and the two contracts add significantly to Shearwater´s backlog for the 2018 summer and autumn seasons.

Genel Energy, one of the largest independent oil producers listed on the London Stock Exchange, has been active in Morocco for several years and plan to acquire seismic offshore Morocco with the expectation to materially de-risk the prospectively of the Sidi Moussa license.

The survey will include dual, FlexiSource and multi-azimuth shooting, for appraisal and exploration targets. In all the volume of data to be acquired is equivalent to more than 3,500 sqkm. The program is scheduled to start in Q3 2018 and is expected to take 3-4 months.

The proprietary contract with the undisclosed new Shearwater client is for two surveys off West Africa this summer. The surveys will commence early in the second quarter and are expected to take 5 months in total to complete and cover approximately 10,000 sqkm combined. Shearwater will use the Polar Marquis for this contract. One of the surveys will be acquired with FlexiSource, which reduces wide-tow large survey acquisition time by a third compared to conventional dual source seismic acquisition.

Shearwater's fleet has been engaged on acquisition surveys in the Indian Ocean through the winter season, providing good utilization in the two first quarters of 2018. With the recent awards and a gradually improving market, Shearwater is well positioned for growth. 

"We are excited to work for Genel in Morocco where our vessels and crews have worked before. When also adding the award from the undisclosed client - and the recent award from TGS in the North Sea - our backlog has increased significantly and we have expanded our client list. We see these awards as another confirmation of the attractiveness of the Shearwater's fleet and our offering. The seismic market shows signs of strengthening, and we expect this to materialise into more awards in the time to come", said Irene Basili, CEO of Shearwater.