Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services

As worldwide oil and gas exploration expands, so does the need for geophysical surveying and mapping. To meet this demand and make up for depletion of existing oil reserves, companies must discover new oil reserves. The largest oil and gas producing areas of the world include Saudi Arabia, Russia, the US, Canada, and Iran according to Rystad Energy.

The US geophysical survey and mapping services industry includes about 1,000 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual revenue of about $3 billion.

Competitive Landscape

Demand is driven by oil and gas exploration activity. The profitability of individual companies depends on their ability to maintain a steady flow of contract work. Large companies enjoy economies of scale in purchasing and administration, as well as the ability to serve major clients from multiple locations. Small companies can compete by specializing in a specific geography or survey type. The industry is highly concentrated: the 50 largest companies account for about 90% of revenue.

In order for small companies to stand out and take market share from the leaders, it is important to invest in their business. Whether it is in equipment or in their staff, this can be a significant blow to their budget.

Employees are highly skilled and must operate equipment and provide technical services and support for clients. Equipment is highly technical and new technologies or product introductions often require companies to make large investments to upgrade or expand capabilities. While companies often own fleets of survey vessels, computers, and software, they also may rent certain pieces of equipment for specific projects.

Major survey types include magnetic, gravity, seismic, electrical, and electromagnetic and survey data is often used by oil and gas exploration and production companies to generate high-resolution two-dimensional (2D), three-dimensional (3D), and most recently, four-dimensional (4D) images of the earth’s surface and subsurface.