Woodside, Reliance Terminate Survey Deals with Shearwater

Norwegian seismic survey company Shearwater has lost two contracts in the Asia Pacific, joining the likes of Polarcus, SeaBird, EMGS which have all been hit by the recent low oil prices and COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Shearwater said Tuesday it had received project termination notices for two contracts in the Asia Pacific.

The first includes a short project for Woodside in Australia which was part of the award announced on November 18, 2019, when the company said it would carry out the largest-ever 4D seismic campaign in the Asia Pacific region covering up to six fields operated by Woodside

The second contract termination covers a 3D broadband marine seismic acquisition for Reliance in India announced on January 28, 2020.

"The projects are terminated as per client’s rights within the respective contracts," Shearwater said.

The Woodside survey was to be carried out by the Amazon Conqueror vessel, while the Polar Duchess vessel had been planned for the Reliance survey.

Due to the combination of the coronavirus and low oil prices, several seismic surveys were canceled or delayed in the past weeks leading seismic contractors to stack vessels and cut workforce and costs.

Polarcus recently lost two contracts in W. Africa and Asia, with subsequently moved the company to reduce workforce and employees' salaries, and warm-stack survey vessels.

Offshore survey firm EMGS has said it would terminate all employees and consultants except for a skeleton crew, which will continue to service the multi-client late sales and consulting market. The move followed contract cancellations with Pemex and BP in Mexico, and Senegal, respectively.

Offshore vessel Eidesvik recently saw the contract for its source seismic vessel Vantage cut short, and marine seismic survey company Axxis Geo Solutions late in March said a client had canceled a contract for work in the North Sea.

Seismic surveyor PGS earlier this month announced it would cold-stack two of the eight currently operated 3D vessels early in Q2, after completion of current projects, meaning the company does not expect to be awarded further work for those vessels anytime soon.

PGS said early in April that it hadn't yet received contract cancellations, however, it said that most processes to conclude contract negotiations have since early March been substantially delayed or resulted in a postponement of projects.

Further, another Oslo-listed seismic explorer, SeaBird Exploration, said Friday it would further cut the costs, and might cold stack vessel due to the market situation.

SeaBird, which early in April lost a survey contract in Africa, has also put plans in place to be able to run the company on less than $400,000 per month, in case the seismic market situation doesn't improve for a prolonged period.

Related Stories