WesternGeco

WesternGeco is a geophysical services company. It is headquartered in Schlumberger House on the property of London Gatwick Airport in Crawley, West Sussex.

WesternGeco

Schlumberger House, the head office of WesternGeco at London Gatwick Airport
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Energy equipment and services
Founded	1933 (in 2000, company took on current name)
Headquarters	London Gatwick Airport Crawley, West Sussex, UK
Key people	Maurice Nessim, President [1]
Products	Seismic data acquisition, data processing and electromagnetics
Parent	Schlumberger
Website	www.slb.com/companies/westerngeco

WesternGeco offices in Westchase, Houston, Texas, U.S.

Background

The company provides reservoir imaging, monitoring, and development services. The company, a business segment of Schlumberger, offers 3D and time-lapse seismic surveys, electromagnetic surveys, and multicomponent surveys for delineating prospects and reservoir management. It also provides geophysical, land and transition-zone acquisition, marine acquisition, electromagnetics, and data processing and reservoir seismic services.

The company was formed by the merger in 2000 of two of the world's largest seismic contractors, Western Geophysical (founded in 1933)^[2] and Geco-Prakla. Schlumberger, owners of Geco-Prakla paid cash to Baker Hughes, which then owned Western, for a 70% stake in a joint venture of the combined companies.^[3] In May 2006, Schlumberger bought out Baker Hughes' 30% stake for a reported $2.4 billion, making WesternGeco one of its subsidiaries.^[4][5]

Exit seismic data acquisition

In January 2018, Schlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard announced that Schlumberger would be exiting the seismic data acquisition business, both onshore and offshore, while retaining its multiclient data processing and interpretation segments. This decision followed the bankruptcy filings of several competitors in the seismic services sector.^[6]

In August 2018, the seismic data acquisition business was sold to Shearwater GeoServices.^[7]

Head office

WesternGeco had its head office and its Europe/African offices in the Schlumberger House,^[8][9][10] a 124,000-square-foot (11,500 m²) building on the grounds of Gatwick Airport in Crawley, England.^[8][11][12] The building was vacated in 2022 and remaining operations moved to the nearby Manor Royal industrial park.