TGS: Seismic Market Recovery 1-2 Years Away
TGS, which maps out the seabed in search of oil and gas deposits, sees no growth in the global seismic market in 2018, with a recovery taking another one or two years, the firm's CFO, Sven Boerre Larsen, told Reuters on Wednesday:
"The uncertainty of the oil price is affecting the spending of the oil companies. We do not believe that 2018 is going to be the year of the big recovery. We believe in a flat market," Larsen said on the margins of an oil conference. "It will take another year or two before a stronger recovery," he said
"All the major oil companies are still quite cautious on average in terms of their spending. If you see that, we should actually expect a small decline in exploration spending in 2018," he added.
"Another interesting pattern is that a lot of the larger oil companies are now (focusing) on shale in US which means that there are less funds for offshore exploration. The Eastern (part of the Norwegian side of the) Barents Sea is a very constructive area. We are very strong in the Barents Sea and we have ambitions there," said Larsen
"In Norway, in terms of seismic there is definitely going to be lower demand this year comparing to last year. Last year we had three vessels operating in Norway, this year we will have one or two."
Reporting by Lefteris Karagiannopoulos
