Engineered by Trace Australia's MD, Stephen Tobin, the new entity is now known as Terrex Pty Ltd. It will trade under the name "Terrex Seismic".

The MBO now means that Terrex is now a 100% wholly owned Australian firm, under the aegis of Tobin's The Maple Trust. The MBO came about as a result of Trace's (Canada) decision to re-focus on the North American seismic services market.

In a media statement, Terrex stated, "The 'buying back the farm' psychology of the Terrex Seismic MBO is significant to our staff and management as this allows us to focus purely on the Australian business, reinvest further in camp and equipment upgrades and provide a wider range of seismic services and technical solutions to our clients than was previously possible.

"We wish to assure all clients and subcontractors that all existing contracts, arrangements and relationships will be honoured and upheld. Further, the same high standards of professionalism and integrity you have come to expect from Trace (Australia) will be built upon and enhanced with the operations of Terrex Seismic," added Terrex.

Terrex and Trace (Canada) will still maintain a formal, ongoing technical support relationship in the areas of skilled personal and specialised equipment.

However, according to Terrex, "Our primary focus is on re-engineering our OH&S System and on improving crew efficiency and productivity through selective personnel and equipment enhancements."

The other Australian onshore seismic company is the Brisbane-based Vibroseis.

APPEA’s safety awards have regained some credibility with Woodside winning the top position for a producing company for its efforts over 2003.

The safety wards have come under criticism in recent years after Esso won the awards for two years running after the Longford disaster and injury causing incidents on platforms in Bass Strait.

Inpex Browse won the award for exploration companies while Bonus Well Servicing and Diamond Offshore won the Category C for onshore and offshore drilling companies respectively.

Our performance as an industry in 2003 has not been all that we should have been able to hope for.

APPEA chairman Malcolm Garrett said the performance of the industry in 2003 had not been all that it should have been able to hope for.

“On one side the broad indicators of industry performance are trending downwards and compare favourably to most other industries in Australia and to industry performance overseas. However, these overall indicators hide an unacceptable and highly regrettable situation. In 2003 the industry had four fatalities - one offshore and three onshore,” he said.

“In the areas of safety and the environment, good performance requires two things – management leadership and an operational culture that pervades all decisions at all levels of operation. Safety is a necessity every hour of our lives every day of the year. The only acceptable benchmark is zero incidents.

“While these are messages that we repeat every year at this time, they are vital messages for us as individuals, as companies and as an industry. Only the world’s best standard of performance is acceptable. It can never be a matter of standing still.”

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