Southern African Survey Contractor with Truly Global Pedigree

7 Sea Geosciences is an emerging marine and terrestrial geoscience company based in Cape Town, South Africa, offering high-quality, cost-effective, contracting, consulting, processing and reporting services. The company undertakes exploration, geotechnical, geophysical and construction support projects within the oil and gas, mining, energy and construction sectors.

7 Sea Geosciences is privately owned and operated. It was co-founded by Mr Steve Horwood and Dr Don Pupuma in 2008, while servicing all geotechnical requirements for the 2010 world cup soccer stadium in Cape Town. The company has in excess of 50 years of cumulative experience in different fields spanning specialties including deep seismic, site surveys, pipeline route surveys, construction and dredging support, mining exploration and geotechnical projects. The staff has grown from 2 in 2008 to 5 in 2010 and has, through partnerships, developed the resources to undertake geophysical and geotechnical surveys from onshore to deep water environments, allowing us to offer full turnkey projects. 

Apart from its partners, the company is able to draw on a large network of specialist consultants and contractors in the industry to enable it to fulfill almost any scope of work.

Local Content
7 Sea Geosciences is accredited as complying with ‘broad based black economic empowerment' (BBBEE) which is a prerequisite to undertake any government contracts in South Africa. The company has embraced this philosophy and sees it as an essential component of business in South Africa to facilitate the change from the past to the future where all persons will have had access to equal opportunities and education.

On the starting line

The company's mission statement is: ‘to strive for quality, cost-effective products which are fit for the purpose, delivered expeditiously with no compromise to standards of health, safety and the environment, thus ensuring minimal risk and maximising profit to all parties.' In order to provide the product which best meets the client's needs, the company believes in using the correct and most reliable tool for the environment to be studied and not necessarily the tool that happens to be in the toolbox at the time. Steve Horwood, CEO, says; "Part of our success has been due to our commitment to identifying the need behind the product through effective communication with the client, and to meet goals timeously."

7 Sea Geosciences sees its core markets as the offshore oil and gas industry, the offshore mining industry and the onshore and offshore construction industry. In nearly all contexts outside of exploration, the line which is often drawn between marine hydrographic survey, geophysical survey and geotechnical survey is one created by the availability of resources rather than the fundamental requirements of the project, which are mainly geotechnical in nature. The geophysics informs the geotechnical survey and consequently 7 Sea Geosciences is proud of its ability to tailor-make geotechnical solutions using geophysics as another, albeit remote, geotechnical technique.

With a liberal management style, commitment to a practice of good corporate governance, 7 Sea Geosciences is committed to a flat organisational structure which involves all employees in the day to day running of the business. The company's current size, structure and management style lend to teamwork and an organic structure with personnel taking on a number of roles, gaining valuable experience in different fields. Our credo is that it is people who run the equipment and collect the data, so no matter how good the equipment you operate, the results are only as good as the ability, experience and commitment of the operators. 7 Sea Geosciences is a team and we intend to maintain this team and family approach as we grow into a much larger organisation.

Steve Horwood, CEO, says; "One of the challenges facing any company in this sector is to maintain control over the product whilst making a profit for us and our clients and simultaneously, allowing individuals the space to express their individuality through guidance and communication, thereby allowing both the company and the individuals to grow at the same time."

The company started just before a major recession and has survived and grown during this period. "We are very bullish about the future and while most companies use this as a period to consolidate, 7 Sea Geosciences has used this period as an opportunity to diversify."

Our Strengths
The company brings a wealth of large project experience, project management, data management, planning and quality management skills to clients. The multi-faceted skills set provides the company with the opportunity to be truly innovative, and transfer experience and techniques across discipline boundaries. The company experience allows the production of high-quality, cost-effective, time-efficient products within a safe and conducive working environment.

7 Sea Geosciences is the only Southern African survey contractor with a truly global pedigree having experience in projects such as the Ormen Lange Gas field development and the Ichthys project in NW Australia and many other projects in the North Sea, Caribbean, Middle East, Africa, Malaysia and Australia.

The company has a strong core in marine geophysics and engineering geology. We believe in using the correct techniques for the job and believe there is a large scope for innovation within both the geophysical and geotechnical fields. One of the company's projects, which indicates its commitment to innovation, has been the development of a new class of vibrocorer, called the ‘Sonic Hammer Corer', which utilises variable frequency and a state of the art hammer while measuring real-time penetration to drive a 110mm barrel into the seafloor to penetration depths of up to 12 metres.

7 Sea Geosciences has finalised discussions and entered into an agreement with Coastline Surveys Ltd. in the United Kingdom to share experience and resources and allow both companies to expand their presence outside of their conventional markets. "We are very excited about the potential synergies for the 2 companies, both of which are extremely innovative"

Dr Don Pupuma, chairman, says; "The current economic climate highlights the need for countries to have as broad a skills base as possible. We, as a proud South African company, would relish the opportunity to test, learn and benchmark our skills against our international counterparts."

In addition to the above, 7 Sea Geosciences has an agreement to offer the DEMCO resistivity system, and is an agent for Coda Octopus in Sub Saharan Africa.

Going forward
At the time of writing, the company is exploring agreements which will allow the company to foray into the deepwater geotechnical environment and to offer seismic acquisition and processing of high-resolution 2D and 3D seismic data. In addition, 7 Sea Geosciences has been exploring the use of geosynthetics in both the onshore and offshore environment and sees this as a niche market in which the company can fulfill its aspiration to supply innovative cost engineering to clients.

By virtue of its location, the company is strategically situated to service both the East and West coasts of Africa and the East coast of South America. Commitment to international standards of product delivery will allow 7 Sea Geosciences, along with its partners, to develop into a truly international company with the ability to compete in most parts of the world.

To grow, 7 Sea Geosciences has to participate in skills generation in the region. Consequently the company is establishing a field school in which graduates are trained intensively over a relatively short period of a month. This course will cover practical aspects of the geophysical and geotechnical industry and is open to both regional and international students.

Steve Horwood, the CEO, says "We see it as our duty to raise the awareness of scholars in Southern Africa and to aid tertiary training institutions in training people to sufficient practical skill levels."

7 Sea Geosciences has recently taken on a trainee civil technician with the aspiration to develop into a geotechnical specialist and has in addition supplied a mentorship bursary to a young black woman student currently in her second year at the University of the Western Cape.