Viridien

Viridien

Company type	Société Anonyme
Traded as	Euronext Paris: VIRI
ISIN	FR0013181864
Industry	Geoscience
Founded	1931
Headquarters	Massy, France
Area served	Global
Key people	Sophie Zurquiyah (CEO)
Services	Geoscience
Number of employees	3,500 FY2024
Subsidiaries	Compagnie Générale de Géophysique (Norway) Wavefield Inseis (Norway)
Website	www.viridiengroup.com

Viridien (VIRI), formerly CGG, is an advanced multinational technology, digital and Earth data company, specializing in solving complex natural resource, environmental and infrastructure challenges.

The Viridien portfolio of solutions highlights expertise in:

• Geoscience
• Earth data
• Sensing and monitoring
• Minerals and mining
• Carbon capture and storage (CCS)
• High-performance computing (HPC) and cloud solutions
• Infrastructure monitoring

The Viridien investment and acquisition strategy focuses on asset-light, highly differentiated businesses. Ordinary Viridien shares are listed on the Euronext Paris (Compartment C) stock market (ISIN Code FR0013181864).

History

In 1926, Conrad Schlumberger, and his brother Marcel Schlumberger, formed Société de Prospection Electrique (SPE) which specialized in oil and coal exploration as well as civil engineering.

In March 1931, SPE and Société Géophysique de Recherches Minières (SGRM), both specialists in seismology and magnetometry, merged into La Compagnie Générale de Géophysique (CGG). SGRM provided 5,000,000 francs of capital and CGG provided 120,000 francs of capital. In his premises at 30 rue Fabert, in Paris, Conrad Schlumberger decided to transfer the subsurface business to CGG while SPE retained the logging. At the same time, Raymond Maillet from SGRM was appointed President of CGG.

In 1954, CGG acquired its first IBM 604 computer and an MT4 analog computing center for processing field data.

In 1957, CGG pioneered seismic exploration in North Africa through shot-hole charges and other techniques which were innovative at the time.

In 1958, CGG completed its first dual-vessel marine survey with one source vessel.

The first two years of business for CGG were shaky. Near-surface surveys (hydrology, mining and civil engineering) and oil exploration were not enough to break even in a period when oil was worth 10 cents a barrel. In 1966, CGG opened its first seismic data processing center in Massy, France.

In 1971, CGG introduced 3D marine seismic exploration with wide-line profiling and became the first contractor to tow three parallel streamers.

Veritas DGC

Veritas Energy Services, a geophysical services company, was established in 1974 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with the purchase of a Rafael Cruz owned firm Rafael B. Cruz and Associates Ltd. by David B. Robson.

Meanwhile, Digital Consultants Inc. had been established in Houston, Texas in 1965. In 1969, Digital Consultants reincorporated as Digicon Inc. (DGC), becoming a public company on the American Stock Exchange.

In 1977, the first single-channel cable telemetry system used for extreme conditions, SN348, was introduced and quickly became the industry standard.

In 1979, commercial depth migration was offered, a quantum leap in seismic imaging fidelity.

In 1994, the first 4D seismic surveys were carried out and Veritas Energy Services became the first geophysical company to offer pre-stack time migration.

In 1996, Veritas DGC was formed from the merger of Veritas and Digicon.

In 2000, a deep neural network for reservoir characterization made its first commercial appearance in the industry, bringing machine learning to oil and gas operations.

Then in 2000, the company began imaging 4D time-lapse seismic data for carbon storage injection and monitoring.

CGGVeritas

The company became CGGVeritas through its merger with the North American company Veritas in 2007.

CGGVeritas acquired Norwegian company Wavefield Inseis in December 2008.

In 2009, CGGVeritas pioneered wide-azimuth seismic acquisition and imaging with large-scale surveys onshore in the Middle East and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.

In 2010, CGGVeritas pioneered oil immersion cooling, allowing higher-powered density computing and enabling rapid advances in subsurface imaging technology.

CGG

In September 2012, CGGVeritas acquired Fugro's Geoscience Division for €1.2 billion, and changed back its name to CGG.

In 2015, CGG led the industry in applying new full-waveform inversion and reverse-time migration imaging technologies on massive regional-scale, multi-client datasets in Norway, Gabon and the Gulf of Mexico.

In 2019, CGG introduced time-lag full-waveform inversion, revolutionizing subsalt imaging.

In 2020, CGG exited seismic acquisition services to focus on multi-client, geoscience and equipment businesses.

Viridien

In May 2024, CGG officially rebranded to Viridien, further strengthening its focus across a portfolio of solutions including geoscience, Earth data, and sensing and monitoring — the core business — as well as new offerings in both the low-carbon markets of minerals and mining and CCS, and markets beyond energy in high-performance computing (HPC) and infrastructure monitoring.

Operations

Natural Resources

Viridien develops geoscience technology to find natural resources and manage those resources sustainably. The organization focuses on oil and gas exploration, development and production; mineral exploration and mine development; and geothermal monitoring.

Oil and gas: Viridien integrates market-leading subsurface imaging, digitally transformed geologic data and AI-powered geoscience insight to accelerate exploration and optimize field development.

Minerals and mining: Viridien supports mineral exploration through global geological predictions and plate kinematic studies, satellite-derived surface material alteration targeting, provision of geophysical equipment, and the development and provision of modeling software, as well as monitoring services for mining operations and mine tailing storage facilities.

Geothermal: Viridien provides global screening datasets, as well as evaluating and monitoring geothermal developments to gain insight across asset life cycle by utilizing: data and analytics, resource assessments, reservoir characterization, and production and monitoring.

Environmental

Viridien utilizes analytics and Earth monitoring to understand and provide insights about human impact on the environment. Viridien focuses on critical environmental insight (on land, ocean, or atmosphere) through remote sensing, machine learning analytics, data analysis and interpretation, and high performance computing (HPC).

Some of the environmental projects in which Viridien has worked on include conducting microplastics pollution surveys as part of a study for an effort to create a Plastic Free zone at Yr Wydffa (Snowdon).

Infrastructure

Viridien utilizes monitoring technology and digital twin models to understand an infrastructure’s life span, condition and maintenance needs. Viridien Sercel Structural Monitoring solutions detect potential issues early on to provide structure integrity and public safety.

One of the known applications of Viridien infrastructure monitoring technology is in its work on the "Connected Bridges" project for a French public body. Viridien contributed to the implementation of autonomous sensors and cloud-based signal processing.

Energy Transition

Viridien is focused on monitoring geothermal developments, carbon capture utilization and storage, and management of minerals to find solutions to reach a sustainable and zero-carbon future.

Viridien provides datasets to help identify and screen suitable sites for geological carbon storage. Its services characterize storage sites, optimize CO2 injection and monitor long-term storage.

Viridien has screening, evaluating and monitoring capabilities for subsurface risks, helping to speed-up development and minimize risk. Additionally, Viridien works on responsible management of minerals for energy transition.

Digital

Viridien has digital capabilities in data management, data transformation, machine learning and cloud services. In 2023, the Viridien HPC hub in the UK helped increase its global total HPC capacity to 500 petaflops, and the HPC business has expanded its commercial offering with AI cloud services.

Organization

Viridien divides its expertise into two segments:
• Data, digital and energy transition
• Sensing and monitoring

Data, Digital and Energy Transition

This includes geoscience (subsurface imaging, geology, reservoir, technology function) and Earth data.

Geoscience helps reduce risk and optimize project delivery across natural resource exploration and development, mining, engineering and environmental sectors with comprehensive expertise and world-class laboratory services.

Earth data includes the vast Viridien library of Earth data and digital ecosystems for data that assists in natural resource development and energy transition applications. It features the best high-end, multi-client seismic data in key basins, digitally transformed geoscience data and satellite imagery, along with unique taxonomy, global cloud services and data platform.

Sensing and Monitoring

Sercel designs and manufactures high-tech solutions for subsurface exploration, structural monitoring, defense and underwater acoustics, positioning Viridien as a world leader in seismic acquisition equipment.

Seismic Survey Controversies

In December 2023, it was announced by environmental group Seaspiracy that CGG had been granted authorization by the South African government to conduct seismic blasting between Plettenberg Bay and Gqeberha.

The announcement stirred backlash from environmental groups and South African civil society. This backlash mirrored a similar response to attempts by Shell PLC and Shearwater Geo to conduct seismic blasting off the Wild Coast in December 2021.