Dolphin Geophysical and Hannon Westwood have entered into an agreement whereby Hannon Westwood will use its extensive northwest Europe databases of historically mapped hydrocarbon discoveries and potential plays to exclusively assist Dolphin with the location and planning of future multi-client 3-D seismic surveys.

In addition, the two companies will collaborate on the marketing and sale of these surveys. Hannon Westwood has developed these databases over many years so that, allied to its robust geoscience knowledge, it will be able to provide a solid and informed contribution for identifying highly attractive geological plays for future Dolphin multi-client surveys.

Dolphin currently has five fully operational seismic vessels with two new high-capacity 3-D vessels joining the fleet in 2013 and 2014. Dolphin will undertake all data processing utilizing its OPEN CPS facilities both onboard and onshore.

Ian T Edwards, Dolphin’s vice president of global multi-client surveys, said, "Access to the Hannon Westwood data and knowledge bases will provide opportunities for Dolphin to design new multi-client surveys focusing on areas or blocks that may have been overlooked or discarded by industry, as well as locations currently targeted by companies based on recent and future licensing rounds."