Reach Subsea has agreed to buy OCTIO AS, a provider of monitoring solutions for oil and gas producing fields and CO2 storage reservoirs, from Equinor Ventures.
OCTIO performs the geophysical studies that lead to overall monitoring strategies; plans and executes operations and provides support to integrate data in interpretation workflows. The company’s main technological propositions are real-time passive seismic monitoring and survey-based 4D gravity and seafloor subsidence monitoring that offers an alternative to seismic at 10 percent of the cost and with no impact on marine life, Reach said. OCTIO’s monitoring technologies are typically deployed and recovered using ROVs.
"The acquisition of OCTIO will deepen Reach Subsea’s technology competence and expand our value chain, accelerating the Company’s strategy to become a full-service provider of subsea data and solutions for clients globally,” said Jostein Alendal, CEO of Reach Subsea. “We have worked with OCTIO for several years and are well-acquainted with how their cost-efficient and highly-accurate survey and monitoring technology enhances data value for clients and provides optimal solutions for monitoring of future CO2 reservoir storage.
In addition, OCTIO’s patented technologies and competence will strengthen the data gathering, data processing, and data analytics capabilities of Reach Remote, the unique USV solution that we will introduce in 2023.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Reach Subsea will acquire Equinor’s interests in Bergen-based OCTIO, as well as the associated company MonViro AS, owned by OCTIO employees. Reach Subsea will settle the acquisition in cash, which will be funded from our available financial resources. As part of the transaction, certain OCTIO employees will subscribe for [974,700] new shares in Reach at NOK 3 per share. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Reach Subsea said the deal would strengthen its survey and inspection data capabilities, with patented technology.
According to the company, the acquisition would offer "a highly compelling" value proposition to oil and gas companies through higher accuracy of seabed monitoring and better insight into critical field parameters such as pressure depletion or fluid substitution throughout the reservoir.
OCTIO will also expand Reach Subsea’s services portfolio into the carbon capture and storage (CCS) segment through a portfolio of monitoring tools, including 4D gravity, Microseismic, and seafloor deformation monitoring.
"For CO2 reservoir storage monitoring, OCTIO’s core monitoring technology, 4D gravity, has demonstrated success and has been utilized on the two CO2 sequestration projects in Norway, Sleipner and Snøhvit," Reach said.
The deal will also add an operating team of 30 employees to advance Reach Subsea’s broader strategy for technology and data processing, as well as adding key competence required for gathering and processing of seabed survey data for offshore wind farms.
“We are excited to be joining forces with Reach Subsea, a fast-growing subsea operations provider serving energy majors across the world,” said Leon Løvheim, CEO of OCTIO. “Our unique monitoring solutions and data offering will be highly complementary to Reach Subsea and will offer significant benefits to the clients Reach Subsea serves. We believe there is enormous potential through the combination of our organizations to support clients in enhancing their field recovery rates, improve reservoir management and optimize subsea infrastructure through our services and data insights offering.”
“Equinor Ventures has supported the development of OCTIO’s technology, and we have seen substantial cost savings from applying the company’s solutions to our assets, including monitoring services on the Oseberg, Aasta Hansteen, Troll and Midgard fields. Equinor Ventures believes the next phase of OCTIO’s development is better served by an owner with a broad customer base, where OCTIO can be embedded into a compelling integrated service. We see synergies between OCTIO’s solutions and Reach Subsea’s growth strategy providing cost-efficient and sustainable data and solutions to offshore asset owners,” said Gareth Burns, Head of Equinor Ventures.