Polarcus - a new Dubai based 3D marine seismic company

Polarcus

Polarcus is a pure play marine geophysical Company with a pioneering environmental agenda, specializing in high-end towed streamer data acquisition from pole to pole.

Launched in 2008 and led by a team of highly experienced maritime and seismic industry professionals, Polarcus has a vision of becoming a pioneer in an industry where the frontiers of seismic exploration are responsibly expanded without harm to our world. To achieve this, the Company has committed to being at the leading edge of maritime and technological innovation and has set itself an ambitious and pioneering environmental agenda to perform its operations with minimal impact to the environment, both above and below the oceans. Polarcus has made a significant investment into an ultra-modern fleet of high-end 3D seismic vessels which the Company intends to operate worldwide from its Dubai base, providing towed marine contract acquisition services and multi client projects to the global oil & gas industry. The Company is currently building 6 advanced marine seismic vessels, designed by Ulstein Design AS of Norway, at the Drydocks World Dubai shipyard in the United Arab Emirates. The first of these new vessels, the Polarcus Nadia, is a 12 streamer 3D vessel that will be operational in Q3 2009. All six vessels in the current fleet plan will be fully operational within 2010.

Figure 1: Polarcus' 3D seismic fleet incorporating the innovative ULSTEIN X-BOW® hull

The desire to operate responsibly runs deep at Polarcus. The Company recognizes that the seismic industry has taken many positive steps to reduce its environmental footprint, but believes that there is still more that can be done, especially with regards to the maritime element, and it sees this as becoming increasingly urgent as hydrocarbon exploration moves into more environmentally sensitive areas from the Red Sea to the Arctic where preservation of the environment and indigenous marine life is of paramount concern. This culture of responsibility runs deep throughout the Company and is evidenced in several initiatives both onshore and offshore, through a combination of advanced environmental maritime technologies, waste reduction, recycling, and in future operations, carbon offsetting. “It’s an expense, but we feel it’s very well invested because we’re doing everything we can that’s technically available in the market to reduce our environmental exposure,” says Peter Zickerman, co-founder and Executive Vice President of Polarcus.

The Polarcus Fleet

The Polarcus fleet of initially 6 marine seismic vessels has been designed by Ulstein Design AS and incorporates the innovative new ULSTEIN X-BOW® hull. Six vessels are currently under construction at Drydocks World Dubai in the United Arab Emirates with, in the order of construction, the following capabilities:

Polarcus Nadia and Polarcus Naila (Q3/Q4 2009): 12 streamer 3D seismic vessels
Polarcus Samur and Polarcus Selma (Q4 2009 / Q1 2010): 6 streamer / source seismic vessels
Polarcus Alima and Polarcus Asima (Q1/Q2 2010): 12 streamer 3D seismic vessels

Figure 2: Polarcus vessel features

These vessels combine the latest developments in maritime systems with the most advanced seismic technology commercially available today. The Polarcus Samur and Polarcus Selma have also been designed as multipurpose vessels for both 6 streamer 3D seismic operations capable of a wide 800m total spread and for wide azimuth source operations to accompany one of the other Polarcus 12 streamer vessels. All the vessels are amongst the most environmentally sound vessels in the market, with diesel-electric propulsion, high specification catalytic convertors, grounding avoidance systems, double hulls, and advanced ballast water treatment / bilge water cleaning systems that will prevent organic or inorganic contamination of the marine environment. All the Polarcus vessels will also comply with the stringent DNV CLEAN DESIGN and COMF-V (3) class notations ensuring that they will be amongst the most advanced and environmentally responsible seismic vessels in the world.

The innovative ULSTEIN X-BOW® hull design being employed by Polarcus also has several advantages compared to conventional hulls. These include:

• A higher transit speed in calm water due to the low angle of entry
• Higher transit speeds in head seas, and as a result reduced power consumption and/or higher fuel efficiency both in waves and in calm water
• Lower pitch and heave acceleration due to fore ship volume distribution and slender hull lines
• Less bow impact and/or slamming due to the absence of bow flare
• Reduced noise and vibration levels in fore ship due to soft entries in waves
• Less spray due to water not being thrown forward
• Negligible occurrence of green water on bridge deck

The overall vessel design will provide substantially improved performance, with increased systems redundancy, superior environmental impact mitigation, and greater crew comfort. Four of our vessels will have additionally the DNV ICE-1A class notation which will allow safer access and passage to the Arctic Ocean currently attracting significant industry attention, and all vessels will incorporate the DNV DYNPOS-AUTR (Dynamic Positioning Class 2) notation which mitigates many systems failure risks during operations, especially important when working in the vicinity of producing fields.

The vessels run on marine gas oil with low sulfur content and are fitted with exhaust catalysts for all main engine exhaust lines in order to substantially reduce the emission of SOx, NOx & COx. There are also no fuel oil tanks adjacent to the vessels external hull, which further mitigates potential exposure to the environment. The COMF-V (3) class notation for reduced noise and vibration caters for the higher standards that offer safety, comfort, and environmental benefits to the crew.

Seismic Technology

In keeping with the latest maritime innovations being employed in the design, the Polarcus vessels will also be equipped with the latest proven seismic technology commercially available in the market today. The Company has elected to buy and combine the best-in-class systems from a number of leading equipment suppliers, to establish the optimal configuration for high end 3D operations.

Figure 3: Stern view of the Polarcus Nadia with the Odim designed back deck layout

The full seismic configuration of the Polarcus fleet comprises the following:

• Sercel’s Seal Marine Data Acquisition System
• Sercel’s Sentinel® solid streamers
• Sercel’s G Gun II dual sources
• Ion’s Orca integrated navigation system
• Ion’s DigiFin lateral controllers for streamer steering
• Ion’s DigiBird depth controllers and DigiRange acoustics
• Seamap GunLink 4000 fully distributed digital gun controller
• ProFocus Systems Argus QC and Data Management System

For more information about Polarcus, contact:
Christian Fenwick
Senior Vice President Business Development
Polarcus DMCC,
Saba 1, Level 34, Jumeirah Lakes Towers
PO Box 283373, Dubai
United Arab Emirates
www.polarcus.com

T: +971 4 4360 800
F: +971 4 4360 808
E: info@polarcus.com