3D Seabed Resource Exploration Ship “Ramform Titan” – Petroleum Geo-Services and Mitsubishi Heavy Industry
PGS Reveals the Ultimate Seismic Acquisition Platform
News Source: Petroleum Geo-Services
Safety, efficiency and productivity are the key features of the 24-streamer Ramform Titan which was named today at MHI(Mitsubishi Heavy Industry) yard in Nagasaki, Japan.
The new ship will be the most powerful and efficient marine seismic acquisition vessel ever and the widest ship in the world at the waterline. Safety and productivity have been the main focus points for her design. She is the first of four such vessels to be built in Japan.
The design dovetails advanced maritime technology to the imaging capabilities of the GeoStreamer® seismic acquisition technology. Her 70 meter broad stern is fully exploited with 24 streamer reels: 16 reels aligned abreast and 8 reels further forward. Increased work space and advanced equipment mean safer and even more robust operations.
For PGS and its clients, more rapid deployment and retrieval of equipment, as well as greater operational capacity will translate into faster completion of surveys and increased uptime in marginal weather. The period between major yard stays is also extended by 50%.
The Ramform Titan sets the new standard for seismic operations for the next 20 years.
Jon Erik Reinhardsen, President and CEO of PGS states in a comment:
“The Ramform Titan takes seismic acquisition to a new level. We have combined the most sophisticated technology in the business, with the most powerful and most efficient vessel in the industry. Ramform Titan further strengthens our fleet and will give us a clear competitive edge for the next decade.”
Ramform Titan is equipped with 24 reels with capacity for 12 km streamers, which give her tremendous flexibility and redundancy for high capacity operations. She carries over 6000 tons of fuel and equipment. She will typically tow a network of several hundred thousand recording sensors over an area greater than 12 km2, equivalent to nearly 1500 soccer pitches, or 3.5 times Central Park.
Ramform Titan provides a safe and comfortable living and working environment for up to 80 crew members, with 60 single cabins, and 10 twin cabins for visitors, all with separate bathrooms.
Magne Reiersgård, EVP Operations, states:
“We are very excited at the prospect of welcoming the first Ramform Titan class into operations. There has been enormous market interest for the vessel, and we look forward to leveraging the high productivity, efficiency and safety that this new vessel is expected to bring. Ramform Titan will spend her first season working on MultiClient projects in the North Sea. We expect to set more industry records for operational efficiency. This is a fantastic day for PGS and a great addition to the fleet.”
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MHI Signs contracts with PGS of Norway for 2 Additional Ramform Vessels, Capable of High-accuracy, Wide-range 3D Seismic Data Acquisition
Tokyo, April 25, 2013 – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has received an order for two vessels capable of three-dimensional (3D) seismic data acquisition for sea bottom resource exploration from Petroleum Geo-Services ASA (PGS), a leading company in marine seismic and reservoir data acquisition, processing and analysis/interpretation services in Norway. The contract was signed on April 25 in Tokyo. The order for the two vessels was placed upon exercise by PGS of the option right that was provided when two same type vessels were ordered to MHI in April 2011. The two newly ordered vessels are scheduled for delivery in the first and second half, respectively, of 2015. With this latest order, MHI will build a total of four vessels to support PGS’s highly efficient deep water natural prospecting services.
The vessels ordered are the “Ramform Titan-class,” the newest generation in the Ramform series featuring today’s most advanced 3D seismic data acquisition/analysis capability. The 104 meter (m) long vessel has a very wide breadth of 70m. For quiet operation, the vessel adopts diesel electric for the main propulsion system. The vessel is capable for receiving supply at sea to enable a long-term exploration over an expansive area.
The Ramform vessel tows multiple streamer cables from the vessel’s stern. The cables contain sensors which detect echoes of sound waves emitted from sound sources and bounced back from the sea bottom and stratum boundaries. The detected echoes are used for 3D seismic analysis. The Ramform Titan-class vessels ordered by PGS have a wider stern compared with existing vessels; this feature permits deployment of a greater number of streamer cables—up to 24 lines—enabling exploration of a wider area at one time.
MHI is currently building two previously ordered Ramform vessels at its Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works. The capability of these vessels to tow a large number of long streamer cables, further strengthens PGS’ to accommodate exploration needs, including geologically complex ocean areas.
MHI has a track record in building exploration vessels for deep earth, sea bottom and ocean applications. The company also instituted a policy to expand its business in high-value-added vessels and marine structures as part of a new strategy for its Shipbuilding & Ocean Development business segment. By further refining its capability to build specialized vessels through construction of the vessels for 3D seismic data acquisition for sea bottom resource exploration for PGS, going forward MHI intends to further strengthen its aggressive activities to attract demand for special ships in Japan and other countries.