Shearwater has a head office in Bergen, Norway and is an integrated supplier of marine geophysical services, primarily acquisition and processing of seismic data for oil, gas and multi-client companies all over the world.

The company was founded by RASMUSSENGRUPPEN AS and GC Reiber Shipping ASA in 2016 with 4 seismic acquisition ships, including streamer equipment. In November 2018, Shearwater purchased Schlumberger’s offshore-related seismic activities, including 10 seismic acquisition vessels with streamer equipment and streamer technology. In January 2020, Shearwater purchased 7 seismic acquisition ships owned jointly by CGG and Eidesvik, via the company Global Seismic Shipping AS, and streamer equipment to fit out 5 seismic acquisition ships. In addition, CGG committed to leasing a minimum of 2 seismic ships per year for 5 years for its multi-client operation. In April 2021 Shearwater purchased 5 seismic acquisition ships and streamer equipment to fit out 4 seismic acquisition ships, from Tiger Moth AS. The ships and streamer equipment were formerly owned by Polarcus.

As of September 2022, Shearwater owns a total of 23 seismic ships and is by far the world’s largest seismic company, measured by the number of self-owned ships. In addition to its head office in Bergen, the company has offices in Oslo (R&D department), United Kingdom (Shearwater’s largest seismic data processing and interpretation department), USA (among them the centre for “Reveal”, Shearwater’s processing software) and Singapore (follow-up of customers in Asia and the Pacific region), along with a factory for manufacturing of streamer and other seismic equipment in Malaysia. As of 31.12.2021, the company had approximately 850 employees.

As of 31.12.2021 the Rasmussen group owned 77.2% of share capital in Shearwater Geoservices Holding AS (Schlumberger 12.9% and GC Rieber Shipping 8.4%).