SpiceRack: CGGVeritas & Saudi Aramco join in major R&D collaboration to develop seabed seismic acquisition.
Five months after CGGVeritas and Saudi Aramco signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for collaborative research and the development of geophysical acquisition, processing, analysis and interpretation technologies, the two companies have entered into a collaboration to conduct a major joint R&D project, known as SpiceRack, intended to herald a new innovative solution for seabed seismic acquisition.
Under the terms of the SpiceRack project, CGGVeritas and Saudi Aramco will work in close partnership to develop, manufacture, and commercialize an innovative robotized solution for seabed seismic acquisition. Based on the deployment of self-propelled recording nodes, this innovative solution is expected to lead to a step-change in the efficient delivery of reservoir quality seismic data.
Both companies will draw on their extensive seismic acquisition experience and allocate resources to the SpiceRack project. CGGVeritas will strengthen already close ties with the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. CGGVeritas will also establish a Center of Excellence for Automation in Geophysical Acquisition within the new technology center to be jointly opened in the Dhahran Techno Valley with ARGAS, its Saudi joint venture with TAQA.