WesternGeco received a revenue boost in the third quarter from added seismic vessel work in the North Sea, providing a bright spot amid declining earnings at Schlumberger.
The New York-listed company also said its WesternGeco subsidiary scored a contract with Statoil 4D monitoring survey for the Gulfaks oilfield in the Norwegian waters of the North Sea.
And it said Lundin Norway signed up for a similar survey for the Edvard Grieg field.
Two vessel used
"Each survey in the North Sea will use Q-Seabed multicomponent seabed seismic system technology and be conducted by two WesternGeco vessels specially rigged for complex seabed operations," Schlumberger said in its earnings report.
The Houston oilfield services giant said its reservoir characterisation business saw its revenue rise 5% in the third quarter to $1.7bn compared to the prior year, with WesternGeco's marine surveys contributing to that improvement.
The company said its marine and land seismic surveys also saw improved profitability.
Backlog shrinks
Still, WesternGeco's backlog fell to $845m from $865m at the end of the second quarter.
Overall, Schlumburger said reported a third-quarter profit of $176m, down from $989m a year earlier.
