After nearly a decade of false dawns, the global geophysical services business has learned to be cautious about any forecast of a brighter outlook.

The last time there was a glimmer of hope, in 2018, Covid soon came along and plunged the industry into another round of restructuring.

The downturn made marine seismic contractor Polarcus a casualty and put illustrious names such as PGS and CGG on the danger list, or, in the case of ION Geophysical, on the critical list.