Shearwater will carry out a seven-week ocean bottom node (OBN) survey in the North Sea using newly installed electric ROVs on SW Tasman, bringing the systems into commercial service for the first time.
Operations are scheduled to begin shortly after completion of the vessel’s ROV upgrade. SW Tasman will serve as the ROV vessel and deploy Pearl ocean bottom nodes, while SW Gallien will operate as the source vessel.
The project follows earlier upgrades to SW Tasman for OBN operations. The vessel returned to service in September 2023 after being equipped with dual ROV capability, Pearl nodes and seismic source equipment, according to Shearwater.
The SW Tasman and SW Gallien combination has also been used on previous OBN work. Shearwater deployed the two vessels together on projects offshore Angola announced in October 2024 and August 2025, with SW Tasman handling the Pearl node system and SW Gallien acting as source vessel.
For the new North Sea survey, Shearwater has not disclosed the client, specific survey location or technical specifications of the newly installed electric ROVs.
Bergen-based Shearwater specialises in offshore marine geoscience data acquisition and processing. The company said on 8 September 2026 that it employs around 1,000 people.
