Major leap towards commercialisation of revolutionary marine seismic autonomous robotics technology

• Blue Ocean Seismic Services is a joint venture between Blue Ocean Monitoring and industry majors bp Ventures and Woodside Energy. Blue Ocean Seismic Services is focused on disrupting the US$8bn marine seismic survey market.

• A successful round of seismic sea trials has significantly reduced the technology risks and advances Blue Ocean Seismic Services (a UK/Australian tech company) towards operational scaleup and commercial operations in 2024.

• The rapid commercialisation of Blue Ocean Seismic Services technology validates the Blue Ocean Monitoring strategy of partnering with tier 1 customers to bring technology to market faster.

• Blue Ocean Seismic Services’ autonomous underwater nodes are on track to transform the offshore seismic sector to become more affordable, faster, safer, and significantly less carbon intensive, enabling underwater seismic surveys to be completed by swarms of autonomous subsurface drones removing the need for expensive, large, specialised support vessels.

• Major industry appointment of Chief Geophysicist, Dr Fabio Mancini, previously with Woodside Energy, strengthens management team at Blue Ocean Seismic Services.

Marine seismic survey disruptor Blue Ocean Seismic Services (“the Company”), has successfully completed a series of passive and active seismic trials with its unique autonomous marine robotics technology. The trials have definitively proven the quality of data collection techniques and the Company is on track to commence pre-commercial data collection trials during the second half of 2023.

Established in 2018 and now based in Farnborough, UK, Blue Ocean Seismic became a joint venture in December 2019, in which Blue Ocean Monitoring holds the largest equity share (40.2%) with venturers bp Ventures and Woodside Energy.

The Company is developing the world’s first commercial fleet of autonomous low-impact ocean bottom seismic nodes. This unique technology can capture high-quality seismic data from the ocean floor with primary focus on oil and gas reservoir optimisation in the near term. The technology has numerous additional applications such as offshore wind, oil and gas exploration and development, and carbon capture and storage. These underwater vehicles will transform the offshore seismic sector ensuring seismic testing operations become more affordable, faster, safer, more environmentally friendly, and significantly less carbon intensive.

Since its previous update in October 2021, the Company has undertaken substantial further testing in Plymouth in the United Kingdom, the North Sea and Australia. The testing has confirmed the effectiveness of command and control systems, underwater flight performance, seismic coupling, and active seismic data acquisition.

At its recent North Sea active seismic trial, the Company achieved technology and data collection objectives, including:

acquiring additional cycles of active seismic data with its Alpha Prototype OBSrV nodes (AP-OBSrV) operating, for comparison purposes, alongside conventional ocean-bottom nodes (OBNs);

testing engineering solutions for optimisations identified in trials undertaken in August 2021; and

testing the ability of the AP-OBSrV to maintain a close seismic coupling with the seabed even where cross currents exist.

The active seismic survey objectives were achieved and confirmed that geophysical performance is on track. The results of these trial provide significant assurance to potential customers in respect of the quality of data collected.

The Company will continue to drive towards the commencement of commercial operations in early 2024, starting with the assembly of up to 250 OBSrV version 1 nodes (based on the AP-OBSrV design) in batches, with pre-commercial trials to begin in H2 2023.

Blue Ocean Seismic Services is progressing discussions with industry partners regarding their strong interest in its services and pre-qualifying for future tender opportunities. Due to this interest and in line with its strategy to establish a presence in key markets, the Company plans to open a new office in Houston, Texas in 2023.

Further, the Company is delighted to announce the appointment of Fabio Mancini, PhD, as Chief Geophysicist. Dr Mancini joins the Company from Woodside Energy where he was Chief Geophysicist from 2018.

Dr Mancini has extensive industry experience: he spent five years at TotalEnergies in R&D and operations, working on projects covering both seismic processing and acquisition. He subsequently moved to Hess, where he worked in the Exploration and Production Technology team and was in charge of Hess’s seismic activities for the Eastern Hemisphere. Dr Mancini then moved to Australia to join Woodside where he covered several roles over ten years.

Mike Deeks, Group Managing Director, Blue Ocean Monitoring, said:

"As the largest investor in Blue Ocean Seismic Services, we are delighted to see the progress they are making towards commercialisation. These recent trials are a significant technical risk reduction milestone and pave the way for the transition of the business to a full operational capability.”

“It is pleasing to see the growing strength of the Blue Ocean Seismic Services team. Dr Fabio Mancini is an excellent addition to the team, joining with a wealth of experience and knowledge of the seismic industry.”

Simon Illingworth, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Blue Ocean Seismic Services said:

“The successful results of the various pre-commercialisation trials over recent months are the culmination of a huge amount of work by the Blue Ocean Seismic Services team and represent a massive leap forward on our path to full commercialisation.

We are now planning our final round of tests in the first half of next year, and we are in an excellent position to continue with the operational scale up of the business, engaging with government regulators in our key initial markets and to begin commercial operations in 2024.

Substantial investment is also being made in securing components for our initial inventory of pre-commercial vehicles.”

On Dr Mancini’s appointment Mr Illingworth said:

“As a leading figure in the subsea exploration sector, it is a huge endorsement to have someone of Fabio’s calibre join the business, and he will bring considerable expertise and experience to the team as we move to the next phase of our development.”