Ramform

The history of the Ramform seismic vessel design begins with a chance encounter in a Norwegian harbour.  The Norwegian Navy surveillance ship Marjata was tied up next the the PGS Nordic Explorer.  While the Nordic Explorer was the first seismic vessel to tow 5 streamers, PGS was looking for a vessel design capable of routinely towing 20 streamers, ideally at close separation (25.0 - 50.0 meters).  If possible, such a vessel would provide the ultimate platform for 3D seismic acquisition:

• Unmatched operational efficiency and safety
• Optimum sampling of the recorded seismic wavefield, thereby providing the platform for the ultimate seismic data products

Without the aspect of efficiency, quality would inevitably have to be compromised in the name of lower costs.

Fortunately, the Marjata, designed by Roar Ramde, provided just the style of vessel platform required by the seismic industry.  The Marjata hull design serves three strategic purposes, each of which are perfectly suited to marine seismic acquisition:

• Minimal vessel noise enters the water, providing a "stealth" technology
  • A seismic acquisition experiment desires the recording of only the seismic energy reflected back from the geological strata in the Earth.  Interference noise from the vessel is an historical problem in the seismic industry
• The wide back deck provides an extremely flexible and safe platform for deploying equipment, personnel, and machinery (including helicopters)
  • The hull design allows 20 full streamer reels to be maintained across the back deck, enabling safe and efficient handling, deployment, and towing with unmatched flexibility.  Streamers can be towed at separations between 37.5 and 150.0 meters
• The vessel stability is excellent at the stern, providing minimal pitch and roll
  • Vessel movements are negligible, avoiding "tugging" on the towing equipment.  Vessel tug is an establish source of unwanted noise problems on standard vessels.  Due to the Ramform vessel stability, very large numbers of streamers can be deployed at very close separations, without the classical risks of handling and towing problems

The Norwegian Navy surveillance ship Marjata

PGS secured the rights to the Ramform vessel design, and now operates the only fleet of Ramform seismic vessels in the world.  These vessels lead directly to the development of the HD3D seismic capabilities at PGS.

PGS operates a fleet of six Ramform vessels, in addition to four classic vessels. The Ramform vessels are built to tow up to 20 streamers at close separation, and each Ramform vessel tows at least 12 streamers on a regular basis. This gives PGS the majority of the industry's high-capacity, high-technology seismic equipment. The revolutionary Ramform class is the greatest example of innovative thinking and design that the seismic industry has seen.

Ramform Vessels

Ramform Sovereign (launched in 2008)

The new vessel is 16 meters longer than the previous Ramforms with significantly higher acquisition and transit speed, 25 percent longer endurance, and 60 percent higher production capacity compared to the existing Ramform fleet. The Sovereign is easily the most powerful seismic ship in the world and features many new innovations, including the world’s first roll compensated helideck, steerable sources, dual workboat capacity and unique gear handling systems. The range of technologies employed promises to make this the new benchmark for 3D, 4D and wide azimuth acquisition – in terms of productivity, efficiency, safety and data quality. Read more

Ramform Vanguard (launched in 1999)

Ramform Victory/Shigen (launched in 1999)

Another of the "V" class ships, the Ramform Victory holds the industry record for the largest spread ever deployed, towing 16 streamers on a HD3D survey in the North Sea in 2001. The total spread comprised 72 kilometers of active in-sea streamer. Despite the enormous size of the spread, the stability of the Ramform is such that the vessel did not need to retrieve the in-sea gear from start to end of this four month project. The vessel was sold to the Japanese government in January 2008 and renamed to “SHIGEN”. PGS continues to be involved in the daily operation of the vessel. Read more

Ramform Viking (launched in 1998)

Built alongside the Ramfom Valiant, and launched three months later, the Ramform Viking has delivered equal performance standards in all environments. Read more

Ramform Valiant (launched in 1998)

This was the first of the 20 streamer "V-class" ships in the Ramform series. The Ramform Valiant holds the current world record for daily production with 111 square kilometers during 1998. Read more

Ramform Challenger (launched in 1996)

The second Ramform class vessel, the Ramform Challenger was the first vessel ever to acquire 2,000 square kilometers in 38 days, then first to do the same in a single month. Today, she regularly reports sustained average production of at least 50 square kilometers per day. Read more

This boat launched the Ramform class and was the first ever seismic vessel to tow eight streamers, the first to acquire over 1,000 square kilometers in a month, the first to tow 12 streamers and the first to acquire 100 square kilometers in a single day. In 1998 the vessel towed industry's widest ever single-vessel spread: 1,350 meters. Read more