Blue Ocean Seismic Services, a company that describes itself as "the marine seismic survey disruptor," has secured a total of £10 million of Series A investment from bp Ventures, Woodside Energy, and Blue Ocean Monitoring.
The company will use the cash to continue the development of its offshore oil and gas seismic survey system which uses long-endurance self-repositioning autonomous underwater nodes, which can also identify and monitoring carbon storage opportunities under the seabed.
Blue Ocean Seismic Services has explained that its technology has been designed to be fully containerized, scalable, and modular allowing for deployment to survey locations across the globe.
"While collecting high-quality seismic data, the vehicle is anticipated to deliver substantial cost savings and to facilitate a significant reduction in survey time, thereby enabling results to be delivered much faster and at a lower cost than is available through current technologies. In addition to these commercial benefits, BOSS’ integrated autonomous system will reduce the HSSE risks, while the reduced survey time and the use of autonomous vessels will have a range of environmental benefits such as significantly reduced carbon emissions during operations," the company said.
To support the project, BOSS said it has appointed an experienced technical team and has "a number of forthcoming engineering roles providing BOSS with the in-house expertise to develop its first autonomous underwater vehicle."
Also, the company has established a new corporate head office, lab, and workshop facility in Farnborough, UK, adding to its existing premises in Perth, Australia. It is planning to open other offices from next year.
All three investors are actively involved in developing the technology and are represented at Board level, BOSS said.
Simon Illingworth, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Blue Ocean Seismic Services, said: “This significant investment marks an important milestone in the development of our revolutionary underwater vehicle and we are excited to be opening up a range of new job opportunities in Farnborough. This support from major industry innovators serves as a strong endorsement for our technology and vision as we continue our journey to disrupt the marine seismic acquisition sector. Through our technology, future customers will be able to explore the subsurface of the ocean whilst substantially reducing risk, carbon emissions, duration and cost, enabling customers to overcome a range of challenges.”