Petroleum Africa
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Sunday, April 30, 2017
Release
HOUSTON – April 26, 2017 – ION Geophysical Corp. announced that Scottish Enterprise (SE) will provide a grant of £522,984 over 15 months to support the company’s £1.5 million software development program, which aims to revolutionize offshore operations management. The SE support will create one job and protect twelve jobs in Scotland, and enable the timely release of technology that will benefit the industry. Today, offshore operations are often managed manually and can be especially complex around busy, congested oil and gas installations. These workflows and operations can greatly benefit from proactive use of intelligent, automated software such as ION’s Marlin solution.
The announcement came ahead of the Offshore Technology Conference next week in Texas, where the company will host a stand in the Scottish Pavilion to promote Marlin.
ION’s Marlin project is to be undertaken by a wholly owned subsidiary, Concept Systems Ltd. (CSL), an Edinburgh-based software provider developing real-time navigation and data management solutions for the seismic industry.
CSL will develop an innovative marine management system that combines temporal project planning with 3D spatial situational awareness across diverse activities to support increased operational efficiency, safer operations and reduced expenditure across oil and gas marine support operations. The Marlin project expands CSL’s market from the seismic sector into a broader range of exploration and production operations and potentially also beyond the oil and gas sector.
Marlin technology currently exists in a form that can be delivered via a service model. This new project will transform the Marlin solution into a scalable software product that will deliver value across a wide range of oil and gas activities, from use in a single project to an enterprise-wide solution for all assets in a company’s portfolio. Development of Marlin is aligned with E&P companies’ operational need for efficiency, safety and performance.
Christopher Usher, EVP & Chief Operating Officer of ION’s E&P Operations Optimization group, said, “We have demonstrated the value that Marlin can deliver to E&P operations via our service model. This process has allowed us to deliver value to our clients on a project basis, but has also helped us identify the need for and requirements of an enterprise software solution to optimize operational planning and execution. The support and funding provided by Scottish Enterprise has been essential to help us develop our solution for this market.”
Lena Wilson, Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise, said, “ION is a fantastic example of a U.S. company recognising the benefits of Scotland’s top talent and effective business environment. We are very pleased to have been able to support the company to get to this stage and wish them every success in achieving their future ambitions.”
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