CGGVeritas doubles Q3 net, sees robust market ahead

PARIS, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Oilfield services group CGGVeritas (GEPH.PA) posted doubled third-quarter net profit on Thursday, spurred by booming demand from oil and gas producers for its seismic surveys and equipment.

The group, born from the merger of Compagnie Generale de Geophysique and Texas-based Veritas, also said the seismic market should remain "robust".

The world's biggest listed provider of seismic surveys, which are used to make detailed maps of potentially oil-bearing deposits, earned a quarterly net profit of $93.5 million, against $46.6 million a year ago.

Operating profit rose 50 percent to $157 million, helped by a 33 percent rise in revenue to $829 million as surging oil prices spurred exploration activity around the world.

CGGveritas said nine-month revenue was $2.38 billion.

CGG has targeted full-year sales of more than $3 billion.

Revenues at its Sercel division, which makes land and marine seismic equipment, jumped 69 percent to $291 million, while revenue at its Services unit rose 27 percent to $596 million.

CGGVeritas's order backlog was $1.650 billion on Nov. 1.

CGGVeritas's results compare with equally strong results from smaller rivals such as Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS.OL), which reported a a stronger-than-expected 86 percent rise in third-quarter operating profit at the end of October.

CGGVeritas shares closed at 215 euros on Wednesday. The stock has gained 30 percent since the start of the year. CGGVeritas recently acquired a 12.7 percent stake in Eastern Echo ECHO.OL, heating up a battle for the Norwegian seismic group with oilfield industry giant Schlumberger SLB.L.

Earlier this month, Eastern Echo rejected an unsolicited bid of up to $679 million from Schlumberger.

(Reporting by Marie Maitre; Editing by David Holmes)

((marie.maitre@reuters.com; +33 1 4949 5331; Reuters messaging: marie.maitre.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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