ExxonMobil picks Sercel’s Marlin software suite to coordinate offshore SIMOPS at Guyana’s Whiptail site

Exxon Mobil has selected Sercel’s Marlin software suite to support operations planning for its Whiptail project offshore Guyana, an industry publication reported. The decision centers on how ExxonMobil will coordinate complex work packages that happen at the same time on a field site, including activities tied to pipe-laying and mooring installation.

The Marlin platform is described as a tool to manage SIMOPS, an industry abbreviation for simultaneous operations. In offshore oil and gas, SIMOPS refers to the process of running multiple construction or support activities concurrently while controlling risk, sequencing tasks, and managing interfaces among vessels, crews, and systems. When SIMOPS are not tightly coordinated, conflicts can arise between equipment movements, work scopes, and safety controls.

For Whiptail, the operational scope highlighted in the report includes pipe-laying and mooring installation activities. Pipe-laying typically involves positioning and connecting subsea pipe segments, often requiring specific vessel movements and tight control over tolerances. Mooring installation, by contrast, focuses on anchoring or securing offshore infrastructure so that it maintains the correct position and orientation for ongoing work. Coordinating these processes is often a scheduling and risk-management challenge, especially when weather windows and vessel availability constrain timelines.

By choosing Marlin, ExxonMobil is effectively adopting a digital workflow intended to bring planning and execution under a common system for SIMOPS management. The industry report frames the selection as part of how ExxonMobil will handle the orchestration of concurrent field activities at the Whiptail site, rather than as a change to the project’s underlying engineering design.

Sercel, the provider of Marlin, is known for maritime and offshore technologies, and the report positions the software suite as an operational management layer. In practice, such platforms can support the creation and control of operational procedures, interfaces, and activity windows so that teams can align the sequence of work and safety measures across different contractors and internal groups.

ExxonMobil’s offshore portfolio has made operational execution a recurring theme, with customers and regulators alike emphasizing safety and reliability in complex marine environments. As offshore projects increasingly combine multiple contractors, vessel fleets, and overlapping construction schedules, companies tend to look for software systems that improve consistency in planning, documentation, and the real-time management of operational constraints.

The reported announcement does not provide further specifics about how Marlin will be configured for Whiptail, such as whether it will be used across the full life cycle of the project, which operating company teams and contractors will access it, or what performance metrics ExxonMobil expects to improve. It also does not disclose implementation timing, contract size, or any details about integration with ExxonMobil’s existing project systems.

Looking ahead, the key watch items are whether ExxonMobil describes additional deployment details for the Whiptail site, and whether Sercel or ExxonMobil provides follow-up information on how SIMOPS planning changes outcomes for vessel coordination, schedule adherence, and safety management during pipe-laying and mooring installation.