Oil companies’ growing hunger for late sales of seismic data has been the driver behind the best quarterly results in four years at Oslo-listed TGS.

The main reason for the sales spike is not increased budgets but record-high activity in acreage sales, swaps and farm-ins among large and small oil companies, according to TGS chief executive Kristian Johansen.

While the severe slump in exploration and production budgets throughout the offshore downturn has severely exacerbated troubles with oil-reserve replacement, changes in oil portfolio strategies continue to push acreage sales or cooperation through farm-ins.