Geco-Prakla Launches New Seismic Vessel

The Geco Eagle was launched March 20th in Bergen, Norway, becoming the latest in Geco-Prakla's fleet of seismic vessels. The first of a new generation of integrated seismic recording ships, the Geco Eagle's launch follows a period of extensive high capacity 3D upgrades to the company's existing fleet.

Rather than focus only on the Geco vessels, Schlumberger—Geco Prakla's parent company—has developed proprietary, in-sea equipment, such as lightweight towing leads and new streamer designs, combined with Monowing II deflector technology, to achieve record spreads over some 1,400 meters width without the aid of additional vessels.

The Geco Eagle has 20 towing points and up to 120 km of seismic streamer, providing expanded seismic acquisition capacity. The versatile towing system will meet the industry demand for longer streamers, the need for wider tows in exploration, and the dense blanket coverage required for the growing high-resolution market.

"We wanted a vessel that was the best of everything," said Umar Qureshi, president of Geco-Prakla, "extremely cost effective in the high-resolution market and at the same time giving unparalleled performance in the exploration market. We are very excited about this launch, even in today's tough market."

The new vessel design retains a relatively conventional hull, but a new ultrawide back deck "wing," based on a design used by aircraft carriers, provides space for storage and deployment of large spreads of in-sea seismic recording equipment.

The impact of safety considerations in the design of the vessel resulted in a streamer control station overlooking the back deck, enabling control of the instrument room equipment, back deck resources, and in-sea equipment by a single operator.

"We have adopted a hands-of approach to minimize human contact during equipment deployment and retrieval," said Arild Viddal, marine technical manager. "Where back deck equipment handling is absolutely necessary, we have made it as safe and ergonomically efficient as possible."

The Geco Eagle is designed to remain at sea for up to five years without a port call after she sails to Brazil for her first job.