While most oil companies recognise the need for continuing research and development to create competitive advantage, the imperative of cost control makes it difficult to justify large dedicated research and development centres. A solution is to outsource research and development tasks, and 3D-GEO undertakes such projects on behalf of oil companies, either singly or through group sponsorship. Project objectives, budgets and schedules are established by or with the sponsors, who also have the option of placing selected staff of their own in the 3D-GEO project team. Regular management meetings monitor and control the progress of such programmes. 3D-GEO’s flexibility allows it to work with other service sector companies and with universities to achieve particular research and development goals. Indeed, one of 3D-GEO’s strengths is its ability to manage these programmes to achieve optimum results for significantly lower cost than oil companies might achieve on their own. Confidentiality is often vitally important in such initiatives, a quality for which 3D-GEO is renowned.

In some countries, PSA and similar agreements have a requirement for research and development expenditure within the  overall work programme. Outsourcing this obligation to 3D-GEO is a cost-effective and less management/staff resource intense route than handling it internally. We have the experience and ability to assemble a group of companies with similar obligations to put a more meaningful programme appropriate to the country and the E&P problems encountered there than perhaps a single company's research and development expenditure commitment can achieve.