Another three companies sign up to Getech’s oil data project

Leeds-based Getech, which sells complex geological and geophysical data to oil companies, said the three new sponsors are major, well known companies with international interests.

Their initial funding commitment runs through to early 2014.

Getech’s chief executive Raymond Wolfson said the group is seeing increasing interest in its Global Programmes interpretative data project.

The project, which will take three years to complete, will explain how the geology and a geography of an oil basin changes. The data covers the entire globe but the east coast of South America, particularly Brazil, and the west coast of Africa are particularly attracting attention. The project signed its first sponsorship agreement in December and its second in February.

Mr Wolfson said: “While we now have five sponsors already signed up to these multi-year commitments, we are extremely confident that more companies will sign in the near future.

“Underpinning these Global Programmes is a set of leading edge methodologies and dedicated scientific teams led by our technical director, Dr Paul Markwick, which we believe continues to strengthen our reputation as a leading ‘new ventures’ exploration consultancy.”

Talking about the announcement of the three new sponsors Eric Burns, analyst at house broker WH Ireland, said: “The significance is that it cements key relationships with major exploration and production players providing better earnings visibility over the contract term.

“Whilst we leave our forecasts unchanged, having raised both our full year 2012 and full year 2013 numbers last week, there is substantial newsflow momentum building and we reiterate our ‘buy’ recommendation and 32p price target.”

Getech’s shares closed up two per cent last night, a rise of 0.5p to 23.75p.

Earlier this month Getech announced a £758,000 licence deal for United States gravity data.

Getech won the contract to licence onshore US gravity data to an unnamed organisation for oil and gas exploration on the continent.

The deal followed Getech’s acquisition of Lisle Gravity Inc in late 2008, which came with a big library of US gravity and magnetic data.

The deal is its largest to date from the Lisle acquisition. Some of the data will be delivered before the end of July, while the rest will be delivered up to the end of December.

Getech recently reported a 22 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £358,000 in the six months to January 31, while revenues surged 20 per cent to £3.2m.

The company said the strong oil price continued to underpin exploration by its customers.

Concerns over energy security are also driving domestic exploration, such as the hunt for shale gas.

Getech traces its roots back to the University of Leeds’s Department of Earth Sciences, now part of the School of Earth and Environment, when founder Derek Fairhead collected gravity data for Africa in 1986.

The data was computerised to complete Getech’s first study, and it gradually gathered the data of 19 companies.

It opened an office in Houston, Texas in 1996, and a limited company was formed in 2000 when Getech spun out of the university.

It floated on AIM in 2005, raising £3m.

Getech’s data spans the globe, from the oil-rich West Coast of Africa to the Arctic Circle.

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