CGGVeritas sees 3 yrs-plus of double-digit rev growth

SINGAPORE, Jan 17 (Reuters) - French oil services firm CGGVeritas (GEPH.PA)(CGV.N) said it expects revenue to grow by 10 to 20 percent a year for at least the next three years as it cashes in on booming exploration spending.

CGGVeritas, the world's biggest listed provider of seismic surveys which are used to map potential oil and gas deposits, is due to reports its fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday.

Robert Brunck, CGGVeritas Chairman and CEO, said identified reserves do not match the pace at which demand for oil and gas is expected to rise, driving the hunt for oil to frontier areas such as deepwater, deserts and the Artic region.

"So double digit (revenue) growth for years to come and for sure for three years to come," Brunck told reporters on Thursday in Singapore, the company's Asia Pacific headquarters and where it has opened a new $55 million seismic data processing centre.

The seismic survey sector has boomed globally in recent years as record oil prices CLc1 encouraged oil companies to boost exploration spending.

CGGVeritas was born out of the merger of Compagnie Generale de Geophysique and Texas-based Veritas in 2006. Its main competitors are WesternGeco, the seismic arm of U.S. oil services group Schlumberger (SLB.N), and Norwegian surveyor Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS.OL).

Brunck said total group revenue in 2007 grew at about 20 percent from the year before.

The company would add two new and modern seismic survey vessels in 2010 to its existing fleet of 20 and might order more vessels, for delivery in 2011 and 2012, if survey market remains as hot as expected, Brunck said.

The company expects revenue from Asia, now at about 20 percent of the total, to increase in coming years making it the fastest growing region for the company.

Of the $500 million planned investment by CGGVeritas in 2008, about $100 million would be spend in Asia, Brunck said.

He said the company also plans to double its research and development spending from current level of 15 percent of revenue, and establish new facilities in China and India.

Shares in CGGVeritas, with a market capitalisation of $6.8 billion, have dropped by about 16 percent this year, after a near 19 percent rise last year. (Reporting by Ovais Subhani; Editing by Lincoln Feast)