Business news for the week of 1 May 2008

By Julie Colley

Ascend Geo donates equipment to EGL Consortium
25 April 2008—Ascend Geo donated the Ultra G5 System to the Exploration Geophysics Laboratory (EGL), a research group at the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin. The cable-free recording system will be used to research 3-C seismic data collection in acquisition projects undertaken by the EGL as part of their research in seismic vector-wavefield technology. Ascend will participate as a member associate in the EGL.  

Hess Libya awards seismic contract to SCAN
25 April 2008—SCAN Geophysical has confirmed receipt of a contract award from Hess Libya Exploration Limited for approximately 4000 km of 2D marine seismic work off the coast of Libya, to be acquired by the high-capacity seismic 2D vessel M/V Geo Searcher.

TGS launches new series of Greenland exploratory surveys
30 April 2008—TGS-NOPEC Geophysical (TGS) has started the 2008 Greenland data acquisition program to add 138 000 km of aeromagnetic and aerogravity data and 8300 kilometers of 2D seismic data to its Greenland database.

The two aeromag/aerogravity projects are in the Labrador Sea/Ungava Basin (80 000 km) and offshore northeast Greenland (58 000 km), respectively. Both surveys will be processed by TGS in Asker, Norway and will be available in 2008. 

SCAN Geophysical receives LOI from PetroVietnam
28 April 2008—SCAN Geophysical (SCAN) has received a Letter of Intent (LOI) from PetroVietnam Exploration Production for its new ice-class, four-streamer, dual-purpose vessel, the M/V SCAN Stigandi. The vessel is scheduled to acquire approximately 4000 km of 2D data for PetroVietnam in the Caribbean region, with mobilization in June 2008.

SPOT introduces nine new SPOTMaps mosaics
1 May 2008—Spot Image has added nine new nations and regions to its line of SPOTMaps mosaics, including Iraq, Kuwait, and North Korea.

Offered in nationwide and regional orthorectified mosaics, SPOTMaps serve as a geographic basemap layer for visualization, planning, or mapping projects that require a synoptic territorial view combined with close-up geographic detail.

Since introducing SPOTMaps products in 2007, SPOT has released more than 25 nations and regions, including many parts of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In addition to Iraq, Kuwait, and North Korea, the latest SPOTMaps releases are Botswana, Zimbabwe, North Chile, Namibia, Eastern South Africa, and Australia.