PGS’ New Seismic Vessel Sets Standard for Next 25 Years
This newbuild enhances the Ramform Titan-class acquisition platform and sets the standard for seismic operations for the next 25 years, the company said in a statement.
Norwegian seismic company PGS celebrated the launching latest Ramform Titan-class seismic vessel, the Ramform Tethys at a ceremony in Nagasaki, Japan on March 17.
This newbuild enhances the Ramform Titan-class acquisition platform and sets the standard for seismic operations for the next 25 years, the company said in a statement.
The Ramform Tethys is PGS’ third Ramform Titan-class vessel, a fourth is due in a year’s time. Despite the lowest oil price in two decades, fleet renewal now is good news long term for PGS and the industry, the company assured.
“With the increased power output and the back deck modifications we are enhancing the Ramform Titan-class acquisition platform further. Productivity, safety, stability and redundancy are the key benefits of these vessels. Their ability to tow many streamers gives high data quality with dense cross-line sampling and cost efficient acquisition with wide tows,” says Per Arild Reksnes, EVP Operations.
The delta-shaped vessel is 104 meters long with 70 meters at the stern. The back deck houses 24 streamer reels with 16 reels aligned abreast across the stern and 8 reels further forward, each one has capacity for 12 kilometers of dual-sensor streamer.
PGS says that this is a $285 million investment in the future of seismic. At the current market price, covering the cost may take a little longer than was the case for her predecessors but this ship has an arsenal of advantages in a competitive market, PGS says.
Jon Erik Reinhardsen, President and CEO of PGS states in a comment: “The Ramform Tethys further strengthens our fleet productivity and together with the other Ramform Titan-class vessels will enhance our competitive edge. In the current challenging market environment we also experience more demand for our best capacity and Ramform Tethys will add to PGS ultra-high-end value proposition.”
According to PGS, the Ramform Tethys will head for Europe, where several clients have indicated their interest in “our new flag ship”.
