Shearwater GeoServices and PGS, the two remaining players with significant towed-streamer seismic acquisition fleets, are both positioning themselves to capture a bigger share of the ocean-bottom node (OBN) seismic survey business, especially when offered in combination with towed-streamer technology.

Shearwater intends to pursue OBN opportunities with its own Pearl system, due to be launched next year.

PGS, which up to now has steered clear of OBN surveys, has been awarded a high-end 3D exploration survey by Lundin Energy Norway in the Barents Sea, where it will deploy sparse node and high-density multi-sensor streamer seismic simultaneously, a first for the company.