Petroleum Technology Mincom (PTM) is to be sold to Paradigm Geophysical. Mincom's flagship product is the successful Geolog tool for petrophysical data management and interpretation. Paradigm, building on its GeoDepth origins, particularly with the Cogniseis acquisition in 1997 (PDM Vol. 2 N° 7) already offers a broad coverage in the geophysical field, so the fit between the two product lines is extremely good, a point that Eldad Weiss, Paradigm's president and CEO makes clearly in this month's PDM Interview. Mincom, PTM's parent group produces the MIMS Enterprise Asset Management software which has tended to dwarf the E&P focused PTM arm.

Recognizing the inevitability of the spin-off, David Merson, Managing Director of Mincom, said that the company had decided to offer PTM for sale so that the division could "better exploit its highly-specialized software capabilities in the oil industry". Merson continued; "The sale is good news for both Mincom and PTM as it will allow PTM to grow under a specialized parent company and Mincom to focus on its core business area, Enterprise Asset Management" Speaking of the bidders, Merson continued "from a field including many of the world's major oil and gas software companies, we selected Paradigm as the most dynamic, and the one with the best cultural fit for PTM. Under its ownership PTM should be able to grow strongly and its employees enjoy continued security as well as continuing to be in the forefront of technical development in this field." Geolog will ultimately be embedded into Paradigm's Epos data model, the core of Paradigm's new Shared Earth Model.

The PTM offices in Brisbane, Houston, Calgary, London and Aberdeen will all continue to operate under the new owners and all current PTM staff will be offered the opportunity to transfer to Paradigm. Paradigm Chief Executive Officer, Mr Eldad Weiss, said he was delighted to welcome PTM and its staff into his company. "We are a strong company with a mission to be the best in our business and PTM's world-leading software and staff will help us to achieve this." Weiss also expressed his pleasure at having a new part of his group based in Brisbane. "The existing operations of PTM in Brisbane, the world headquarters for PTM's business, will continue to be the hub of its network."

"With PTM in Brisbane, and our existing operations in Perth, Paradigm is well placed for growth in the region." PTM had its best ever results in 1997/8 with strong growth in European sales provided from French distributor CGG-Petrosystems. Consulting revenues also rose by 70%.

Paradigm's software products enjoy an installation base of more than 2,000 licenses and 350 customers worldwide. The transaction is expected to complete by the end of April. More from www.geodepth.com.