90-year-old French firm rebrands for strategic growth

With the wish to accelerate growth as an advanced technology company, France-based geophysical services company CGG has rebranded following 90+ years of history.

With the launch of the new brand, CGG, created in 1931 and now known as Viridien, said it marks the next stage in its strategic growth as an advanced technology, digital and earth data company.

Since this strategy was announced in 2018, the company has divested its data acquisition activities and increased the differentiation in its core businesses of geoscience, earth data and sensing & monitoring.

New businesses are also positioned for growth in the low-carbon markets of minerals and mining and carbon storage, as well as in markets beyond energy in high-performance computing (HPC) and infrastructure monitoring.

Viridien stated that the new brand pays tribute to the company’s history, purpose, and values while affirming its growth aspirations for the future. With the French spelling, the new name is formed by two parts, ‘Virid’ – inspired by the Latin ‘Viridis’, meaning “fresh, green, drawn from the root”, and ‘ien’ means “coming from”.

The company also noted that the new wordmark in blues and greens reinforces its core geoscience expertise and commitment to the planet.

“This momentous occasion marks a pivotal moment in our timeline, linking our distinguished 90+ years of history as CGG to our forward-looking trajectory as Viridien. The transformational changes we are seeing across society, driven by increasing energy demand, a growing commitment to take care of our planet, and the accelerating capabilities of our digital era, bring challenges and opportunities that make our technology, data, and expertise more relevant than ever,” said Sophie Zurquiyah, company CEO.

“As Viridien, we are building on our track record of innovation to advance our core business capabilities and accelerate the growth of our new businesses to position our company for continued success for decades to come.”

Shortly after rebranding, Viridien’s Sensing & Monitoring business line, marketed under the Sercel brand, sold and delivered a GPR300 ocean bottom nodal (OBN) solution for a total value of approximately $20 million, destined to be deployed by a “major customer” on an upcoming North Sea seismic survey project.

Furthermore, ExxonMobil Guyana purchased the Sercel Marlin vessel monitoring and alert system to support its offshore operations in Guyana. The system is designed to protect floating production storage and offloading platforms (FPSOs) and other high-value assets against marine risks by delivering comprehensive insights into vessel movements, operational parameters, and potential risks, enabling more informed decisions to be made and enhancing operational safety.