Sw-Duchess

The new high capacity 3D vessel "Polar Duchess" entered into production for TGS in the Barents Sea on Apr 14, 2012, under the terms of a six-month contract. The vessel has been chartered on an initial three year time charter from Armada Seismic from 6 April 2012 with options to extend the charter by an additional eight years.

Norwegian seismic contractor Dolphin Geophysical has been awarded a six-month contract for the "Polar Duchess" from TGS-Nopec. The contract is scheduled to start in early April of 2012, following delivery of the vessel from Spain’s Factorias Vulcano yard, and continue through the summer season. Dolphin, which itself recently exercised a three-year charter option for the "Polar Duchess" with owner Rieber Shipping, has earlier said it was looking to deploy the vessel in the North Sea. TGS intends to use the vessel to shoot multi-client projects in Europe which have a demand for high-capacity 3D seismic vessels.