On April 16, 2008, the Board of Directors of Global Geo Services ASA resolved to spin off the majority of the group's seismic business to a newly established, wholly owned subsidiary, Spectrum ASA.


The spin-off will create a new, independent, pure-play seismic company with headquarters outside London but with offices in China, Egypt, Libya, Pakistan, and the US. Spectrum's activities comprise acquisition, processing and selling of seismic data with a global perspective. GGS will focus on building and developing its tender-rig business after the spin-off.


The seismic business has developed strongly under David Rowlands, who will be chief executive officer of the new Spectrum ASA. "Our data processing business has shown remarkable growth recently and also the new on-board processing service is very promising,” Rowlands said. “The market has shown significant interest in our multiclient surveys, both in the Gulf of Mexico and Asia Pacific. Spectrum will be actively engaged in developing new surveys, particularly in the Asian region. We aim to obtain a listing on the Oslo Axess at the end of 2Q/2008 in order to fund our significant organic and corporate growth plans.”


The new company, Spectrum ASA, will continue to provide seismic data processing, multiclient surveys, and offshore seismic data acquisition services to the global oil and gas industry. The portfolio of services being offered to the industry includes 2-D and 3-D and land and marine seismic data processing in both depth and time along with specialized services such as amplitude vs. offset (AVO) and inversion. The company is recognized widely for its extensive multiclient library, which includes surveys from the Gulf of Mexico, South America, northwest Europe, the Mediterranean, and Asia Pacific.