MicroSeismic, Inc. Participates in Altira Case Studies
HOUSTON - September 25, 2011 - MicroSeismic, Inc. (www.microseismic.com) participated in a case study with Altira to identify passive seismic as the next frontier in the field of exploration geophysics.
The Opportunity Peter Duncan, Founder and President of MicroSeismic, PhD in geophysics, former President of SEG, and serial entrepreneur, identifies passive seismic as the next frontier in the field of exploration geophysics. This approach offers a much lower cost and more environmentally benign way of exploiting oil and gas reserves.
The Challenge Beginning with a core set of technologies developed by a MacArthur Fellow, Peter's challenge was to develop and prove a whole new approach to exploration and build MicroSeismic to exploit these technologies.
Altira's Solution Altira's legacy of traditional energy technology investing allowed us to rapidly assess the market opportunity, technology viability, and value proposition. Altira led the first round, investing $380,000 of a $450,000 investment, and brought Chevron in as a strategic investor.
Altira worked closely with management to form the company, purchase the initial technology to be commercialized, field test the technology, and grow and scale both field operations and processing teams. We also played a key strategic advisory role as the company launched its Buried Array initiative. And we led the second investing round and brought in Rockport Capital Partners.
Results
- MicroSeismic successfully purchased technology, built a team, and deployed the first and only commercial surface-based microseismic monitoring array for fracture monitoring – Frac Star™.
- The company evolved its business model from single-well surveys to a new near-surface approach through Buried Arrays, which changes the cost and pricing structure to operators, and erects barriers-to-entry for other service providers.
- The company has deployed one-of-a-kind data gathering technologies and has demonstrated real-time, remote microseismic monitoring – the only one of its kind in the world.
- From its initial start up a few years ago, the company is on track to exceed $50M in revenues in 2010.
About MicroSeismic
MicroSeismic, Inc. (MSI) is a global geophysical service company providing real-time monitoring and mapping of hydraulic fracture operations for developing unconventional oil and gas plays. Founded in 2003, MSI is the pioneer in monitoring microseismic activity utilizing surface and near-surface arrays. MSI’s technology provides real-time information on fracture location and geometry helping operators increase production and recovery while decreasing cost and risk. For more information, visit www.microseismic.com.
