offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
wwwohmsurveyscom
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ohmsurveyscom
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870 429 6581
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870 429 6582
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resist drilling offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
value proposition
offshore hydrocarbon mapping’s remote
sensing technology can detect the presence and
extent of hydrocarbon accumulations before they are
drilledthis developing application could signiﬁcantly
reduce the risk of drilling dry holes and reduce the
scope of appraisal drilling programmes
at ohm we believe the opportunity exists to
transform the way companies explore for oil and gas
our vision is to create value for our clients by
signiﬁcantly lowering the risk of their exploration 
and appraisal drilling programmes
by working with clients closely we are able to 
identify the prospects most likely to deliver
discoveries and then reduce the number of 
wells the client must drill to delineate them
contents
1 highlights
2 chairman’s statement
4 chief executive’s review
9 board of directors
11 directors’ report
13 remuneration report
16 corporate governance report
18 independent auditors’ report
19 consolidated proﬁt 
and loss account
20 consolidated balance sheet
21 company balance sheet
22 cash ﬂow statement
23 notes to the accounts
32 shareholder information
resist drilling 1 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
results for year ended 31 august 2004
highlights
£47mturnover
t urnover up19 1  on last year
£40402 1 pretax proﬁt
newhqestablished in aberdeen
increased
adoption ofcsemi

by industry 
successful placing 
and admission to 
aim
†
raising a net£99m
 controlled source electromagnetic imaging
† alternative investment market  2 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
this ﬁnancial year has represented a watershed
for your companyour ﬁnancial performance 
was pleasingwith proﬁt after tax of £365879
compared to a loss of £367220 the previous year 
in march we successfully completed the placing of shares
and admission to the alternative investment market in 
london and raised £99 million of new money net of 
costs to ﬁnance the expected growth in demand for 
our services and technology in what we see as a market
with huge potential
in june we extended our contract with a major client
keeping our ﬁrst crew active in many of the deep water
basins of the atlantic coasts i am particularly pleased 
that last year’s work for this crew was completed with 
an outstanding record for health and safety
following investment of funds raised in the placing
we mobilised our second crew in augustthe vessel is
equipped with our latest source and receivers and will
initially test on behalf of a consortium of oil companies
the validity of our concepts in shallow waters in the
north sea
it is then expected to work for various clients in 
norway and the west coast of africa
we are also investing in additional capacity beyond 
this second crew
we have made signiﬁcant progress in our integrated 3d
modelling and data processing gaining several contracts
to reprocess data acquired by others
at a recent major conference in paris the presentation 
of our technology and new processing techniques
created a lot of interest amongst potential industry
clients giving us comfort that controlled source
electromagnetic imaging csemi will gain industry
acceptance at an accelerating pace
a cornerstone of our strategy remains the defence of
our existing intellectual property and pursuit of an 
active research and development programme designed 
to maintain our position as industry leader in csemi 
and data processing as part of this effort we maintain
strong links with the university of southampton
with new ofﬁces in aberdeen management research
operations and marketing personnel are able to work
togetherthat and the strengthening of all teams lay 
the foundation for progress in the future
over the past year oil and gas prices have been very 
ﬁrm through a combination of high demand reﬁning
capacity constraint especially in the us and lack of
progress in the industry’s ability to access the middle
east’s hydrocarbon potential
the lack of recent world class discoveries has led 
to growing concerns over potential future supply
shortfalls coupled with many companies’ failure to
replace production continuing reserve downgrades 
and accelerating depletion of old ﬁelds the possibility 
of high energy prices for some time to come is very real
despite this the oil and gas companies still appear to run
their planning at prices which are signiﬁcantly lower than
ﬁve or even ten years averages let alone futures prices
this may be due to the memory of several periods of low
oil prices in the past and their impact on the industry or
possibly to a lack of access to world class opportunities
in this context we believe that our company has the
capacity to provide the industry with the technology 
and its application which could change the economic
model of exploration and appraisal offshore by providing
a powerful risk management tool as signiﬁcant as 3d
seismic was in the 1980sthis would allow an increase 
in activity levels even at prudent pricing models
in line with good corporate governance for listed
companies we have recently appointed two independent
nonexecutive directors to the board keith lough
formerly finance director of british energy and lasmo
and gary jones previously president of western geco
western geophysical and baker atlas both bring 
to the board key skills which will reinforce our
deliberationsthey will offer themselves for election 
at the coming annual general meeting
finally i would like to thank our ceo dave pratt the
teams both onshore and offshore and management 
of ohm for all their hard work over the past 12 months
their efforts should place your company at the centre 
of an exciting step change in exploration for oil and gas
dr pierre jungels cbe
chairman
chairman’s statement
gaining industry acceptance
dr pierre jungels
chairman presurvey modelling is a vital part of the
process as it determines to a great extent 
just how valuable the work to be undertaken
will ultimately be as the electric dipole
source provides a threedimensional signal
the placement of the receivers for the survey
is of absolute importance ohm works
closely with its clients to ensure optimisation
of the survey
 below left electromagnetic
inversion constrained by seismic data
below right receiver deployment
main image detail of survey
geometry
planning 4 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
in ﬁscal year 2004the company made 
immense progress in attaining its strategic goals
of establishing itself as the leading provider of 
the controlled source electromagnetic imaging
csemi service to the oil industry and of
promoting the use of the technique by industry
the company made substantial advances in 
each area of its service offeringand recruited 
and trained key operational staff
the company’s new headquarters in aberdeen were
opened by lewis macdonald msp  deputy minister for
enterprise and life long learning and provide us with
excellent workshop facilities in the oil capital of europe
together with ﬂexible work areas which should be able 
to support the company’s likely expansion needs over
the next few years
ohm provides a range of services including
 survey design using our inhouse software to model
acquisition parameters from clients’ geological scenarios
 data acquisition using our own proprietary sources 
and receivers
 data processing and interpretation using proprietary
software
the company also focuses a large part of its efforts 
on research and development aimed at improving the
capabilities of the technique in cooperation with the
university of southampton short courses are offered 
to industry allowing oil company explorationists to 
fully understand the technique its beneﬁts and how 
to incorporate it into their workﬂows
t raditionally the oil industry has used the seismic
technique and especially 3d seismic to assist in the
search for oil and gasthe seismic technique uses
acoustic energy to provide an image of structures in 
the earth and interpreters use this to identify areas 
that could potentially trap oil and gas however the
seismic technique gives relatively little information on 
the nature of the ﬂuids within these structures and the
oil industry has to drill into these structures to test for
the presence of oil and gas with the large majority 
of exploration wells being commercially unsuccessful
as hydrocarbon saturated reservoirs are generally very
resistive compared to water saturated sediments the
presence of resistive bodies within these structures can
be compelling evidence of the presence of hydrocarbons
and can signiﬁcantly reduce the risk of drilling dry wells
as the csemi technique is signiﬁcantly more cost effective
than drilling oil explorers can afford to test many more
prospects and hence reduce the risk of relinquishing
acreage that contains undiscovered hydrocarbons
csemi and the value created
csemi is an offshore geophysical technique which uses
electromagnetic measurements of the subsurface
resistivity to reduce uncertainty in exploration appraisal
and production drilling programmes a controlled
electromagnetic source is towed at depth generating 
a deep penetrating ﬁeld which is measured by receivers
placed on the seabedthe recorded data after advanced
processing and interpretation produce images of the
subsurface resistivity structure which when integrated
with all other available information can signiﬁcantly
improve the understanding of the hydrocarbon producing
potential of the prospect
with deep water wells costing many tens of millions of
dollars the value created in avoiding unsuccessful wells is
high however even this value may be small compared to
the value of a discovery made on a prospect that would
not otherwise have been tested
industry adoption
ohm’s largest client during the year employed one 
of the company’s ﬁeld crews for most of the year  and 
have used the technique in a number of deepwater 
basins around the worldthrough early adoption of the
technique ohm believe that their client an international
oil company who cannot be named for contractual
reasons are enjoying signiﬁcant competitive advantage 
over their peers and have gained a signiﬁcant lead in 
their understanding of the beneﬁts that the technique 
can deliver 
chief executive’s review
immense progress made
dave pratt
chief executive
ofﬁcer execution
the technique uses a dipole source towed
just above typically 30 metres the seaﬂoor
ohm’s source dasi emits complex low
frequency electromagnetic signals that diffuse
outwards through the water column and
into the underlying sedimentsthe resulting
electric ﬁelds are measured by ohm’s
receivers on the seaﬂoor
 dasi  deep towed active source
instrument during deployment 
and recovery 6 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
ohm are now experiencing strong interest from most
other oil majors and many of the leading independent oil
companies and believe that mass industry adoption of
the method will follow in the foreseeable future
ohm have recently commissioned a second ﬁeld crew
using the latest generation of ohm’s equipment to
address the early part of this anticipated demand and 
the company stands ready to make further expansions 
as is warranted by industry demand
healthsafety and the environment
the company believes that it best serves its stakeholders
by ensuring that its activities are carried out in a safe and
environmentally sensitive manner
the company has invested signiﬁcantly in the
development of a comprehensive safety management
system which has given our staff the tools to perform
complex operations in difﬁcult environments while
assessing and controlling the risks involved in the last
year our crews operated in offshore environments
ranging from tropical to arctic climes we recruited 
new staff and trained them to operate new equipment
it is a testament to the diligence of our staff and the
effectiveness of our safety management systems that 
this was all achieved without serious injury or lost 
time incidents
the company also retained the services of third party
specialists to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the
potential environmental impact of our activitiestheir
ﬁndings show that our activities have no signiﬁcant
environmental impact and are considerably more benign
than other remote sensing techniques used in industry
in fact by preventing the drilling of unnecessary oil and
gas wells it is likely that we will have a positive
environmental impact
research and development
our strategic aim is to use focused research and
development to improve the utility of our product 
for our oil company clients and to cement our place 
as the technological leader in the csemi ﬁeld in 2004
our research and development effort focused on three 
main fronts
1 improving signal to noise ratios in our data enabling 
us to image ever more subtle and deeper targetsthe
introduction of our third generation transmitter system
dasi iii early in 2004 has led to more than a 25fold
improvement in signal to noise ratios and our latest
generation of receivers efmals ii exhibit noise ﬂoors
signiﬁcantly below anything we have had available in the
past both these systems are proprietary to ohm and
are part of an ongoing development process which we
expect to bear more fruit in 2005
2 improving our ability to produce images of the 
resistive nature of the subsurface in ﬁscal year 2004 
we developed the ability to create three dimensional
inversions of our ﬁeld data enabling complex images to
be produced of the resistivity structure of the subsurface
at a major industry convention in june we announced 
a signiﬁcant breakthrough in how csemi data can be
imaged using non invertive techniques and this has led to
high levels of industry interest and to a number of data
reprocessing contracts our aim is to deliver images of
the resistivity of the earth to our clients which they can
corender with their existing seismic data and geological
models to allow them to achieve a fuller understanding 
of their exploration objectives
3 extending our ability to operate in shallower water
environments we completed a project sponsored by 
a consortium of oil companies to investigate fully the
nature of the ‘airwave’ problem in which energy trapped
at the seawaterair interface overwhelms the useful
information contained in signals coming from subsurface
targets in areas where targets are particularly deep or
where the water depths are shallow armed with this
improved understanding we have opened up a number 
of research avenues which show great promise in
overcoming these problems and which should lead to a
signiﬁcant increase in potential market for our technique
we anticipate that this research will lead to further
progress in 2005 and to a number of proof of concept
surveys to show the effectiveness of these advances
in addition to this research which is conducted in house
we sponsor ongoing research at the university of
southampton and at scripps institution of oceanography 
in california
through our research and development efforts we 
have proprietary electromagnetic transmitters
electromagnetic receivers and data processing suites 
that are speciﬁcally designed for csemi operations and
we believe that this creates signiﬁcant security both in
our supply chain and in our technical edge our research
team have clear views on how future improvements will
be made in each of these areas and we expect to deliver
incremental improvements in capability over the years 
to come
chief executive’s review continued  above a priori data
right detail of swath receiver 
simulations over a 3d earth
main image corendered
electromagnetic inversionsurface 
seismic data
siesmic data courtesy tgs nopec
interpretation
ohm’s people have developed their
interpretative skills over many years and 
this part of the process is key to creating 
real value for the client ohm’s advanced
forward and inverse techniques combined
with high speed imaging methods make 
up some of the tools designed to deliver
results to directly inﬂuence decision making 8 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
financial performance
in this our second year of trading we are delighted to
report that the company has achieved pretax proﬁts 
of £404021 on revenues of £4678597 a signiﬁcant
contribution towards this result has been our
performance on a long term contract with one major
client however material contributions have also come
from data processing and interpretation carried out on
surveys gathered by our competitors and from feasibility
modelling studies conducted on exploration prospects 
of potential new customers we believe that the data
processing and interpretation element of our business
will continue to grow as clients become more aware 
of the possibilities of the csemi technique and of our
technical lead in this area feasibility study work should
lead to future data acquisition and processing projects
our gross margins before depreciation of capital
equipment show that industry recognises the value 
of our method our net proﬁt before tax of £404021
is due largely to signiﬁcant expenditure in research and
development and to aggressive amortisation and write
off of early generations of our equipment which have
often been rapidly overtaken by improvements coming
out of our research and development we expect that
our current generation of sources and receivers are likely
to be the workhorses of our business for years to come
and while we anticipate no slowing down in research 
and development effort we will be applying longer
depreciation periods to reﬂect these anticipated longer
working lives
operating activities generated positive cash ﬂows during
the year and funded signiﬁcant portions of our capital
expenditure for equipment for our second crew we end
the year in a strong cash position with reserves which
will allow us to rapidly react to industry demand growth
and to maintain business stability through any periods 
of sporadic demand that may occur during this phase 
of early client adoption of our technology
current trading outlook
we believe that we are making tremendous progress in
solving the issues that prevent the csemi method being
used in shallow water areas as we need to gather data
over known oil ﬁelds to prove this concept we are
dedicating blocks of time on our second ﬁeld crew to
accelerate research and development efforts in this area
in 2005 we expect this not only to maintain our lead in
this area but to bring to early fruition the added value
from offering our services in this new market assuming 
a successful outcome
since completing the 2004 ﬁscal year end we have had 
an incident resulting in the loss of the dasi iii transmitter
on our long term contract crew with a resulting
requirement to send our ﬁrst dasi iv to that crew
a second dasi iv is in production and will be delivered
within a matter of weeks to replace that unit
these issues are likely to impact on proﬁtability in 
ﬁscal 2005
we continue to see strong evidence from the oil
companies that they have signiﬁcant increases in their
planned work in calendar year 2005 and we are actively
involved in discussions and negotiations with potential
clients for work in 2005
in summary
the last year has been one of signiﬁcant progress for 
the company we have developed the capability to 
offer industry the full range of services surrounding 
our technique and have made signiﬁcant progress in
encouraging industry adoption we have operated for
demanding clients in demanding locations and we have
delivered results in line with our ﬁnancial performance
expectations we have made immense progress in
building the infrastructure necessary to grow the
company to meet anticipated demand
i am also very pleased to observe that the company 
has generated proﬁts at such an early stage in its
development and should acknowledge the hard 
work and dedication of all the company’s staff who 
have contributed greatly to this achievement
our successful ﬂotation on aim in london has given 
us the resources to support future expansion and 
our research and development efforts continue to
improve the effectiveness of our technique our focus 
in 2005 will be to build on our achievements of 2004 
by continuing to invest in research and development
promoting industry adoption and growing capacity to
meet demand as it arisesthe difﬁculty in forecasting
exact demand levels through this period of industry
adoption requires us to be vigilant and ﬂexible in 
planning and managing our growth but we are conﬁdent
that our technique delivers game changing value to our 
clients and that widespread adoption is inevitable
dave pratt
chief executive ofﬁcer
chief executive’s review continued 9 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
dr pierre jean marie henri jungels cbe 60
nonexecutive chairman
pierre a certiﬁed engineer has a phd in geophysics and
hydraulics from the california institute of t echnology
he has over 30 years’ experience in the oil industry
12 of which have been served at main board level
including appointments as chief executive of enterprise
oil plc and managing director roles at petrofina and
british gas he currently holds nonexecutive
directorships at woodside petroleum ltd offshore
logistics inc and imperial t obacco plc he was twice
president of the institute of petroleum
david charles newall pratt 45
chief executive ofﬁcer
dave has more than 20 years’ experience in the oilﬁeld
service industry and was formerly president of veritas
geophysical services a division of veritas dgc inc a
nyse quoted company based in houston at veritas
dave reshaped key product lines within that company
increasing turnover in these areas to over us100 million
and making a major contribution to the corporation’s
proﬁtability prior to this role dave was vp of marine
operations and technology for digicon geophysical
corporation later merged with veritas previously
dave spent over ten years at racal survey group
working in a variety of onshore and offshore roles in
numerous countries dave is a geophysicist by training
and has an mba with distinction from the university of
strathclyde graduate school of business
garry allan 46
finance director
garry is a chartered accountant having qualiﬁed in 
1983 with deloitte haskins and sells and has a masters
degree in ﬁnance from the university of aberdeen
he has 20 years’ experience in ﬁnancial management in
the oil exploration industry having held posts at kca
drilling nabors wilrig and hamilton brothers oil 
and gas his last position was as finance director 
of ois international inspection plc
dr lucy margaret macgregor 31
chief scientiﬁc ofﬁcer
lucy has over ten years’ experience as a leading
researcher in csemi and is an inventor of key patents
lucy has signiﬁcant experience in data processing and
modelling techniques and has been responsible for 
survey design and data interpretation on a number of
commercial surveys lucy has a phd from the university
of cambridge for research in the ﬁeld of csemi
landon thomas cla y 78
nonexecutive director
landon is a managing member of east hill management
company llc which manages investments in early stage
companies focusing on physical and life sciences landon
has over 50 years of investing experience in both private
and public companies he is the current chairman of
nasdaq listed ade corporation a worldwide leader in
automated metrology and inspection systems for the
wafer manufacturing and computer disk drive industries
for over 20 years landon was the chairman and chief
executive ofﬁcer of eaton vance corporation a new
y ork stock exchange listed investment ﬁrm that currently
manages in excess of us76 billion
gary jones 50
nonexecutive director
gary has a bsc in geological engineering from the
university of arizona and an msc in geophysics 
also from the university of arizona he has over 20 years’
experience in the oil and gas industry including recent
appointments as president of westerngeco president 
of western geophysicalvice president of baker hughes
president of baker atlas and vice president corporate
business development waii he is currently the owner
of earthworks inc a consulting company
board of directors 10 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
keith lough 45
nonexecutive director
keith has an ma in economics from edinburgh university
a masters in ﬁnance from london business school and is
a fellow of the association of chartered certiﬁed
accountants he has over 20 years’ experience in the 
oil and gas and energy industries including recent
appointments as finance director british energy plc
chief financial ofﬁcer hurricane hydrocarbons 
now petrokazakhstan inc and md europe  north 
africa for lasmo plc he is currently chief executive 
of composite energy ltd a privateequity funded 
energy company
david robert norwood 35
nonexecutive director
david is the chief executive of ip2ipo the aim quoted
technology commercialisation specialist which was
instrumental in the formation of ohm dave has
signiﬁcant experience of working with quoted and
unquoted technology companies and in july 1999 he
founded indexit partnership ltd a technology advisory
boutique which in march 2000 was acquired by beeson
gregory group plc ‘beeson gregory’ david was a
director of beeson gregory and became an executive
director of the evolution group plc ‘evolution’
following its merger with beeson gregory in july 2002
and became a nonexecutive director of evolution in
september 2003
dr anthony raven 49
nonexecutive director
t ony graduated with a first in physics from manchester
university and obtained his msc and dphil from oxford
university he worked at rutherford appleton
laboratories and osaka university before joining pa
consulting in 1983 in 1985 he was closely involved with
the formation of summit t echnology the boston ma
based market leader in laser refractive surgery which was
acquired by nestle alcon in 2000 in 1987 he cofounded
the generics group plc a london stock exchange listed
technical and management consultancy in 1991 he
founded diomed inc the amex listed pioneer and world
leader in therapeutic medical diode lasers he is currently
director of the university of southampton’s centre for
enterprise  innovation and is responsible for commercial
exploitation of the university’s knowledge base through
licensing and spin out company formation
professor martin clarebrough sinha 51
nonexecutive director
martin is professor of earth sciences at the university 
of southampton’s oceanography centre he has played 
a leading role in csemi research for 18 years and has
been the leader of many of the most signiﬁcant csemi
studies carried out worldwide since the early 1990s
he has extensive experience in geophysical instrument
development survey design data analysis and geological
interpretation and in formulating and leading strategic
research and development programmes martin received
his phd in marine geophysics from the university of
cambridge and is chairman of the company’s t echnical
steering committee
board of directors continued 11 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
directors’ report
the directors present their report together with 
the audited ﬁnancial statements for the year ended 
31 august 2004the remuneration report and corporate
governance report on pages 13 to 17 have not been
subject to audit as these have been prepared voluntarily
principle activities and business review
the company’s principal activity was that of the provision
of electromagnetic remote sensing services to the oil and
gas exploration and production industry
in august 2003 the company began operations on a long
term international contract for a major oil company and
also has a number of smaller contracts with other leading
oil and gas explorers as a result of better than forecast
utilisation and lower than expected operating and
maintenance expenses the proﬁt offset by an increased
expenditure on ﬁeld testing of new equipment for the
year was in line with expectation
the company continues to place the highest priority 
on investing in research and development and has a
number of key projects under way its current focus 
is on extending the use of its surveying method to
shallower water environments and to improving the
image of the subsurface created by its techniques
on 1 1 march 2004 the group successfully raised
£99 million net of expenses when it ﬂoated on 
the alternative investment market aim of the london
stock exchangethe proceeds from the ﬂotation are
being used to build additional capital equipment to
provide the company with additional ﬁeld crews and
expanded data processing capacity
results and dividends
the group made a proﬁt after taxation for the year
ended 31 august 2004 of £365879 2003 loss for the
year £367 220the directors do not recommend the
payment of a dividend 2003 £nil
directors
the names of the directors who held ofﬁce during the
year ended 31 august 2004 are as follows
executive directors
david charles newall pratt 
garry robert allan appointed 26 february 2004
dr lucy margaret macgregor
nonexecutive directors
dr pierre jean marie henri jungels cbe appointed
22 december 2003
landon thomas clay 
david robert norwood appointed 26 february 2004
dr anthony raven 
professor martin clarebrough sinha 
john davies resigned 26 february 2004
keith lough appointed in august 2004
gary jones appointed in august 2004
details of the interests of directors in the share capital 
of the company together with details of share options
granted to them are set out in the remuneration 
report on pages 13 to 15
substantial shareholders 
in addition to the directors’ beneﬁcial interests shown 
on page 14 as at 31 august 2004 the company had been
advised of the following shareholders with interests of
3 per cent or more in its ordinary share capital
east hill university spinouts 
funds lp 7 164767 2471
southampton asset 
management ltd 3891580 1342
bank of new y ork nominees ltd 1717 359 592
ip2ipo management ltd 1577 765 544
ip2ipo ltd 1444000 498
state street nominees ltd 1003440 346
change of name
the company was reregistered as a public limited
company on 26 february 2004 and its name changed to
offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
share capital
the following movements in the share capital of the
company occurred during the year
 on 6 february 2004 464 ordinary shares were issued
at £10761 per ordinary share
 on 10 february 2004 3700 ordinary shares 
were issued for cash at par to southampton asset
management ltd pursuant to the exercise of 
an option
 on 26 february 2004 the authorised share capital was
increased from £1000 to £227 1 16 by the creation of 
an additional 2261 1600 ordinary shares and 2261 1600
ordinary shares were issued pursuant to a 360 for
1 bonus issue
 the company issued a further 6323529 ordinary
shares with a par value of £001 at an issue price of
£170 for cash on 1 1 march 2004 through a placing
the company was admitted to aim on 1 1 march 2004
post balance sheet events
the second offshore crew mobilised in august 2004
utilising the newly developed source and receivers and
completed its ﬁrst commercial survey in september 2004
for the year ended 31 august 2004
directors’ report 12 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
payment of creditors
it is the group’s current policy to establish payment
terms with suppliers when agreeing terms of supply to
ensure that suppliers are made aware of the terms of
payment and to adhere to those termsthe group’s
average creditor payment period at 31 august 2004 
was 63 days
the company had no creditors during the year
charitable and political donations
the group made charitable donations of £355 during 
the year 2003 £nil no political donations were made
2003 £nil
cash
it is the group’s current policy to place cash surplus 
to working capital requirements with reputable banks
offering the most competitive rate of interest
directors’ responsibilities
the directors are required by uk company law to prepare
ﬁnancial statements for each ﬁnancial year which give a
true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company
and the group as at the end of the ﬁnancial year and of 
the results of the group for the year 
the directors conﬁrm that suitable accounting policies
have been used and applied consistently and that
reasonable and prudent judgements and estimates have
been made in the preparation of the ﬁnancial statements
for the year ended 31 august 2004the directors also
conﬁrm that applicable accounting standards have been
followed and that the ﬁnancial statements have been
prepared on the going concern basis
the directors are responsible for keeping proper
accounting records and for taking reasonable steps to
safeguard the assets of the company and the group
they should use reasonable endeavours to prevent and
detect fraud and other irregularities
the maintenance and integrity of the website is the
responsibility of the directors the work carried out 
by the auditors does not involve consideration of 
these matters and accordingly the auditors accept no
responsibility for any changes that may have occurred 
to the information contained in the ﬁnancial statements
since they were initially presented on the website
auditors
on 31 december 2003 bdo stoy hayward the group’s
auditors transferred its business to bdo stoy hayward
llp  a limited liability partnership incorporated under 
the limited liability partnerships act 2000 accordingly
bdo stoy hayward resigned as auditors on that date 
and the directors appointed bdo stoy hayward llp 
as its successor a resolution to reappoint bdo stoy
hayward llp as auditors will be proposed at the next
annual general meeting
by order of the board
garry r allan
company secretary
14 october 2004
directors’ report continued 13 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
remuneration report
this report which has not been audited has been
voluntarily prepared so as to comply with the listing
rules the combined code and the companies act 1985 
as amended by the directors’ remuneration report
regulations 2002the company’s remuneration policy 
is the responsibility of the remuneration committee
this committee is chaired by gary jones and also
comprises keith loughthe committee is authorised 
if it wishes to seek independent specialist services to
provide information and advice on remuneration at 
the company’s expense
the committee has speciﬁc responsibility for
determining the remuneration and other beneﬁts of
executive directors an overall policy in respect of
remuneration of other employees of the group and
establishing the group’s policy with respect to employee
share option schemes in determining executive
remuneration packages of individual directors the
remuneration committee takes account of the levels 
of experience performance and responsibility of each
director and the remuneration packages for similar
executive positions in companies it considers are
comparable it also considers the remuneration 
packages offered within the group as a whole
remuneration policy
a executive remuneration
the committee aims to ensure that the remuneration 
of executive directors is competitive takes into account
individual performance and provides a package which is
sufﬁciently dependent on achievement to motivate and
incentivise the individual executive directors executive
remuneration currently comprises a base salary which 
is not performance related and an executive bonus
scheme certain directors also have an entitlement 
to private medical insurance and pension contributions 
to individual personal pension schemesthe board
believes that the interests of directors and shareholders
are best aligned with a remuneration policy that 
provides a modest base salary that is not dependent 
on performance together with a discretionary 
bonus arrangement further details relating to 
bonus arrangements and pension contributions 
are detailed below
bonuses
executive directors are eligible to receive speciﬁc
bonuses at the discretion of the remuneration
committee such payments do not form part of
pensionable earnings
pensions
david pratt and garry allan are entitled to a contribution
of annual salary which is paid directly into personal
money purchase pension plansthis contribution is
£9600 for david pratt and £7 200 for garry allan
share options
the directors believe that the success of the company
depends to a high degree on the future performance of
the management team accordingly the company has
entered into option agreements with its executive
directors and certain employees through the company’s
approved management incentive scheme and unapproved
share option scheme executive options are granted at
the middle market price of the company’s shares on the
date of grant or in respect of options granted before the
company’s shares were publicly traded at the directors’
best estimate of fair value at the date of grant
b nonexecutive remuneration
dr pierre jungels dave norwood landon clay
keith lough and gary jones each receive a ﬁxed fee for
services which covers preparation for and attendance 
at meetings of the full board and all committees thereof
professor martin sinha and dr anthony raven are not
currently entitled to a fee for services as directors
however professor sinha has a separate consultancy
agreement with the companythe nonexecutive
directors are also reimbursed for all reasonable expenses
incurred in the performance of their duties non
executive directors are not entitled to participate in 
any of the group’s incentive schemes including the 
share option scheme and bonus schemesthe executive
directors are responsible for setting the level of non
executive remuneration
c service contracts
david pratt has a service contract which commenced 
on 8 july 2002 and contains a contractual notice period
of one year by either party dr lucy macgregor has a
service contract which commenced on 18 december
2002 and contains a contractual notice period of one
year by either party garry allan has a service contract
which commenced on 19 january 2004 and contains a
contractual notice period of six months by either party
the contracts for executive directors do not provide any
predetermined amounts of compensation in the event 
of early termination in the event of early termination
payments for loss of ofﬁce would be determined by the
remuneration committee who would take account of
the particular circumstances of each case including the
unexpired term of the service contract
executive directors may accept other outside
nonexecutive appointments
for the year ended 31 august 2004
remuneration report 14 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
directors’ emoluments unaudited
the following information has not been subject to audit
the aggregate remuneration received by directors who served during the year was as follows
t otal t otal t otal
t otal incl excl incl
base excl pension pension pension pension
salary bonus fees beneﬁts pension pension 2004 2003 2003 2003
££££££££££
executive
david pratt
1
132851 41250 – 502 174603 7200 181803 87385 – 87385
dr lucy macgregor 78333 10000 – 142 88475 – 88475 40833 – 40833
garry allan
2
39693–––39693240042093–––
nonexecutive
dr pierre jungels
3
– – 32865 – 32865 – 32865 – – –
landon clay – – 7 912 – 7 912 – 7 912–––
david norwood
4
––2084 –2084 –2084–––
professor martin sinha ––––––––––
dr anthony raven ––––––––––
john davies
5
– – 5000 – 5000 – 5000 19300 – 19300
keith lough
6
––1603 –1603 –1603–––
gary jones
7
––––––––––
t otal 250877 51250 49464 644 352235 9600 361835 147518 – 147518
1
david pratt was the highest paid director during the year ended 31 august 2004
2
garry allan was appointed to the board on 26 february 2004
3
dr pierre jungels was appointed to the board on 22 december 2003
4
david norwood was appointed to the board on 26 february 2004
5
john davies resigned as a director on 26 february 2004
6
keith lough was appointed to the board in august 2004
7
gary jones was appointed to the board in august 2004
directors’ interests in ordinary shares
the directors who held ofﬁce at 31 august 2004 had the following interests in the ordinary shares of the company
2004 2003
number number 
directors’ interests in ordinary shares of shares of shares
david pratt 26714 26714
dr lucy macgregor 1552300 1552300
garry allan – –
dr pierre jungels 167504 –
landon clay – –
david norwood – –
professor martin sinha 1552300 1552300
dr anthony raven – –
keith lough – –
gary jones – –
the 2003 comparatives have been adjusted to reﬂect the 360 for 1 bonus issue which took place in february 2004
there has been no change in the interests set out above between 31 august 2004 and 15 october 2004
remuneration report continued 15 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
directors’ options unaudited
the following information has not been subject to audit
the executive directors have the following interests in options over the shares of the company under the group
share option scheme no options have been exercised during the year by any directors
adjusted
at granted adjustment granted at exercise earliest
1 september during the for bonus during the 31 august price exercise expiry
date of grant 2003 year issue year 2004 p date date
david pratt
281 12002 1900 – 684000 – 685900 710 281 103 271 112
01032004 – 940008 – – 940008 17000 010305 280214
dr lucy macgregor
01122003 – 586 210960 21 1546 21 1546 2981 011204 301 113
garry allan
01032004 – 216600 – – 216600 17000 010305 280214
these options have been granted under ohm’s enterprise management incentive option scheme emi and
unapproved share option scheme
the option granted to david pratt on 28 november 2002 vested or will vest in three equal tranches on the ﬁrst
second and third anniversaries of the date of grant
of the options granted to david pratt on 1 march 2004 representing 3 per cent of the fully diluted issued share
capital at admission 313336 vest in three tranches upon the satisfaction of performance criteria agreed between 
mr pratt and the remuneration committee
the options granted to garry allan vest in three equal tranches upon the satisfaction of performance criteria agreed
between mr allan and the remuneration committee
the options granted to dr lucy macgregor also vest in three equal tranches upon the satisfaction of performance
criteria agreed between dr macgregor and the remuneration committee
options will lapse after ten years from the date of grant and option holders who cease to be employed by the group
are required to exercise the vested part of their option within six months of cessation
the middle market price of the ordinary shares on 31 august 2004 was 252 pencethe high and low market prices
during the year were 2925 pence and 2075 pence respectivelythe subscription price of the shares offered at the
placing was 170 pence
apart from the interests disclosed above none of the directors had any interest at any time during the year ended
31 august 2004 in the share capital of the company or its subsidiaries
performance graph
the chart left shows the shareholder return performance
over the period from 1 1 march 2004 when the company’s
shares were ﬁrst publicly traded on the alternative
investment market aim to date alongside the
performance of the ftse aim allshare index and the 
oil service sector osx index of the philadelphia 
stock exchange as in our opinion these comprise the
most relevant equity indices against which the total
shareholder return of offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
should be measured
by order of the board
gary jones
chairman of the remuneration committee
100
80
120
140
160
180
200
rebased closing price
ohm plc share price performance rebased
source datastream
ohm plc
osx
aim
march 
2004
april 
2004
may
2004
june
2004
july
2004
august
2004
september
2004 16 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
corporate governance report
the board supports the principles of corporate
governance advocated by the principles of good
governance and code of best practice the ‘combined
code’ issued by the financial services authoritythe
company is moving towards voluntarily applying the
principles of the combined code as indicated below
the board
the group’s business is managed by the board of
directorsthe full board meets regularly and met a 
total of 1 1 times during the year ended 31 august 2004
a discussion of current and future performance and
strategy is included on the agenda for each meeting
in addition terms of reference for full board approval 
are in place which includes inter alia the approval of
annual and interim results signiﬁcant transactions major
capital expenditures the yearly business plan and budget
the group’s long term commercial strategy establishing
ﬁnancial authority limits litigation and executive
remuneration and appointments
each board member receives monthly management
accounts including a review and analysis of performance
against budget and other forecasts directors are sent 
an agenda and a full set of board papers for each 
agenda item to be discussed at the meeting additional
information is provided as appropriate
the board currently consists of ten directors seven 
of whom are nonexecutivetheir names are set out 
on pages 9 and 10the company has a separate 
chief executive ofﬁcer and chairman gary jones and
keith lough are considered by the board to be free from
any business or other relationship that could materially
impact their independent judgementthe nonexecutive
directors with the exception of professor martin sinha
and dr anthony raven receive a ﬁxed fee for their
services and all nonexecutive directors receive the
reimbursement of reasonable expenses incurred in
attending meetings
there is an agreed procedure for directors to take
independent professional advice at the company’s
expense in addition every director has direct access 
to the impartial advice of the company secretary
the company secretary is responsible for ensuring that
board procedures and applicable rules and regulations
are followed
while the board retains overall responsibility for the
company the day to day management of the business 
is conducted by the executive directors in addition in
accordance with best practice the board has established
audit nomination and remuneration committees with
written terms of reference for each that set out their
duties and authority
committees of the board
audit committee
the audit committee was established in march 2004 and
has met twice since then it will meet at least three times
a year going forwardthe committee originally
comprised dr pierre jungels professor martin sinha and
david norwoodthe members of the committee now
comprise keith lough chairman gary jones and 
dr pierre jungels and as noted above both keith lough
and gary jones are considered to be independent non
executive directorsthe committee’s terms of reference
are principally concerned with accounting matters
ﬁnancial reporting and internal controlsthe committee
will meet not less than three times a year two meetings
have been held to date which had a 100 per cent
attendance to review all signiﬁcant judgements made 
in the preparation of the halfyearly and annual accounts
before they are submitted to the board it agrees with
the auditors the nature and scope of their work and
discusses with them the results thereofthe committee
has the power to seek external advice as and when
required in addition the audit committee makes
recommendations to the board regarding the
appointment of the external auditors reviews their
independence and objectivity and is also responsible 
for agreeing the level of audit fees and monitoring 
the provision of non audit services provided by the
group’s auditors
remuneration committee
the remuneration committee was established in 
march 2004 and meets as and when required it originally
comprised dr anthony raven landon clay and
professor martin sinha and now comprises gary jones
chairman and keith lough and as noted above both
keith lough and gary jones are considered to be
independent nonexecutive directorsthe committee’s
objective is to develop remuneration packages for
executive directors that enable the group to attract
retain and motivate executives of the appropriate calibre
without paying more than is necessary no director is
involved in deciding his or her remunerationthe board’s
policy on executive remuneration and the details of
executive director’s individual remuneration packages are
ﬁxed by the committee or the board full details of the
directors’ remuneration are set out in the remuneration
report on pages 13 to 15
for the year ended 31 august 2004
corporate governance report 17 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
nomination committee
the nomination committee was established in march
2004 and meets as and when requiredthere were no
meetings in the 20034 ﬁnancial year it considers the
appointment of both executive and nonexecutive
directors and makes recommendations to the board
it originally comprised dr pierre jungels chairman
david pratt and landon clay and now comprises 
dr pierre jungels chairman keith lough and gary jones
and as noted above both keith lough and gary jones
are considered to be independent nonexecutive
directors all directors are required to submit themselves
for reelection by the shareholders at the company’s
annual general meeting following their ﬁrst appointment
and thereafter at least every three years notwithstanding
this at least one third of all the directors must submit
themselves for reelection each year at the forthcoming
annual general meeting dr pierre jungels david pratt
garry allan dr lucy macgregor  landon clay gary jones
keith lough and professor martin sinha will submit
themselves for reelection having either retired by
rotation or having been appointed since the last annual
general meeting
internal control
the board is responsible for establishing and 
monitoring internal control systems and for reviewing
the effectiveness of these systemsthe board views 
the effective operation of a rigorous system of internal
control as critical to the success of the group however it
recognises that such systems can provide only reasonable
and not absolute assurance against material misstatement
or lossthe key elements of the group’s internal control
system are as follows
control environment
the group has a clear organisational structure with
deﬁned responsibilities and accountabilities it adopts the
highest values surrounding quality integrity and ethics
and these values are documented and communicated
clearly throughout the whole organisation
identiﬁcation and evaluation of risks
the board actively identiﬁes and evaluates the risks
inherent in the business and ensures that appropriate
controls and procedures are in place to manage 
these risks
control procedures
detailed written policies and procedures have been
established covering key ﬁnancial operating and
compliance risk areasthese will be reviewed and updated
at least annually by the board due to the nature of the
group’s operations and its size the board considers that
there is no current requirement for an internal audit
function although it will continue to review the
requirement for such a function on a periodic basis
performance evaluation
the performance of the chairman and each director 
will be formally evaluated on an annual basisthe non
executives will meet annually and whenever deemed
necessary to appraise the chairman’s performance in 
the absence of the chairmanthe performance of non
executive directors other than the chairman will be
reviewed by the chairman and executive directors on an
annual basisthe performance of executive directors will
be reviewed by the board as deemed necessary in the
absence of the executive director under review
relations with shareholders
the company is committed to constructive dialogue
with its shareholdersthe company uses the annual
general meeting as an opportunity to communicate 
with its shareholders notice of the annual general
meeting which will be held at 2pm on 10 november 2004
at the ofﬁce of kpc peel hunt ltd1 1 1 old broad street
london ec2n 1ph is enclosed with this report details
of the resolutions and explanatory notes thereon are
included with the notice along with a proxy form for
members of the company unable to attend
the group’s website wwwohmsurveyscom is the 
primary source of information on the groupthis
includes an overview of the activities of the group
and details of all recent group announcements
statement of compliance
the directors are satisﬁed that the company is now
voluntarily complying with the code provisions set 
out in section 1 of the combined code
by order of the board
garry r allan
company secretary 18 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
t o the shareholders of offshore hydrocarbon
mapping plc
we have audited the ﬁnancial statements of offshore
hydrocarbon mapping plc for the year ended 31 august
2004 on pages 19 to 31 which have been prepared under
the accounting policies set out on pages 23 to 24
respective responsibilities of directors 
and auditors
the directors’ responsibilities for preparing the annual
report and the ﬁnancial statements in accordance with
applicable law and united kingdom accounting standards
are set out in the statement of directors’ responsibilities
on page 12
our responsibility is to audit the ﬁnancial statements 
in accordance with relevant legal and regulatory
requirements and united kingdom auditing standards
we report to you our opinion as to whether the ﬁnancial
statements give a true and fair view and are properly
prepared in accordance with the companies act 1985
we also report to you if in our opinion the directors’
report is not consistent with the ﬁnancial statements if
the group has not kept proper accounting records if we
have not received all the information and explanations 
we require for our audit or if information speciﬁed by
law regarding directors’ remuneration and transactions
with the company and other members of the group is 
not disclosed
we read the directors’ report chairman’s statement
chief executive ofﬁcer’s review remuneration report
and corporate governance report and consider the
implications for our report if we become aware of any
apparent misstatements within them
our report has been prepared pursuant to the
requirements of the companies act 1985 and for no
other purpose no person is entitled to rely on this
report unless such a person is a person entitled to rely
upon this report by virtue of and for the purpose of 
the companies act 1985 or has been expressly
authorised to do so by our prior written consent
save as above we do not accept responsibility for this
report to any other person or for any other purpose 
and we hereby expressly disclaim any and all such liability
basis of audit opinion
we conducted our audit in accordance with united
kingdom auditing standards issued by the auditing
practices board an audit includes examination on a test
basis of evidence relevant to the amounts and disclosures
in the ﬁnancial statements it also includes an assessment
of the signiﬁcant estimates and judgements made by the
directors in the preparation of the ﬁnancial statements
and of whether the accounting policies are appropriate 
to the group’s circumstances consistently applied and
adequately disclosed
we planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all
the information and explanations which we considered
necessary in order to provide us with sufﬁcient evidence
to give reasonable assurance that the ﬁnancial statements
are free from material misstatement whether caused by
fraud or other irregularity or error in forming our
opinion we also evaluated the overall adequacy of the
presentation of information in the ﬁnancial statements
opinion
in our opinion the ﬁnancial statements give a true and fair
view of the state of affairs of the group and the company
as at 31 august 2004 and of the proﬁt of the group for
the year then ended and have been properly prepared in
accordance with the companies act 1985
bdo stoy hayward llp
chartered accountants and registered auditors
glasgow
14 october 2004
independent auditors’ report 2004 2003 
note £ £ 
t urnover 2 4678597 1608589
cost of sales 1922192 1023937
gross proﬁt 2756405 584652
administrative expenses 2483462 993474
272943 408822
other operating income 810 –
group operating proﬁtloss 3 273753 408822
loss on disposal of ﬁxed assets 93643 –
proﬁtloss on ordinary activities before 
interest and other income 1801 10 408822
interest receivable and similar income 225928 46602
interest payable and similar charges 6 2017 –
proﬁtloss on ordinary activities before taxation 404021 362220
t axation on proﬁtloss on ordinary activities 7 38142 5000
proﬁtloss on ordinary activities after taxation 18 365879 367220
earnings per share
basic 8 146p 220p 
diluted 8 139p 220p 
all amounts relate to continuing activities
all recognised gains and losses in the current and prior year are included in the proﬁt and loss account
19 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
for the year ended 3 1 august 2004
consolidated proﬁt and loss account 
the notes on pages 23 to 31 form part of these ﬁnancial statements 20 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
2004 2004 2003 2003 
note £ £ £ £ 
fixed assets
intangible assets 10 68758 28328
t angible assets 1 1 2520 191 780838
2588949 809166
current assets
debtors 13 1219203 369522
cash at bank and in hand 9944483 11 12435
11  1 63  686 1481957
creditorsamounts falling due within one year 14 1 44352 1 298550
net current assets 9720165 1183407
t otal assets less current liabilities 123091 14 1992573
capital and reserves
called up share capital 17 289979 586
share premium account 18 12102992 2441723
proﬁt and loss account 18 83857 449736
equity shareholders’ funds 19 12309 1 1 4 1992573
the ﬁnancial statements were approved by the board on 14 october 2004
d c n pratt garry r allan
chief executive ofﬁcer finance director
at 3 1 august 2004
consolidated balance sheet 
the notes on pages 23 to 31 form part of these ﬁnancial statements 21 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
2004 2004 2003 2003 
note £ £ £ £ 
fixed assets
fixed asset investments 12 2 2
current assets
debtors 13 1248871 8 1586923
cash at bank and in hand 3504 992043
12492222 2578966
creditorsamounts falling due within one year 14 – 42079
net current assets 12492222 2536887
t otal assets less current liabilities 12492224 2536889
capital and reserves
called up share capital 17 289979 586
share premium account 18 12102992 2441723
proﬁt and loss account 18 99253 94580
equity shareholders’ funds 19 12492224 2536889
the ﬁnancial statements were approved by the board on 14 october 2004
d c n pratt garry r allan
chief executive ofﬁcer finance director
at 3 1 august 2004
company balance sheet 
the notes on pages 23 to 31 form part of these ﬁnancial statements 22 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
2004 2004 2003 2003 
note ££ ££
net cash inﬂowoutﬂow from 
operating activities 22 1409653 491006
returns on investments and servicing of ﬁnance
interest received 103438 46602
interest paid 2017 –
net cash inﬂow from returns on investments 
and servicing of ﬁnance 101421 46602
t axation
corporation tax paid 43142 –
capital expenditure and ﬁnancial investment
payments to acquire intangible ﬁxed assets 54414 25178
payments to acquire tangible ﬁxed assets 2532132 868320
net cash outﬂow from capital expenditure 
and ﬁnancial investment 2586546 893498
cash outﬂow before ﬁnancing 11 18614 1337902
financing
share capital issued 10799967 2342096
share issue expenses 849305 –
net cash inﬂow from ﬁnancing 9950662 2342096
increase in cash 23 8832048 1004194 
for the year ended 3 1 august 2004
cash ﬂow statement 
the notes on pages 23 to 31 form part of these ﬁnancial statements 23 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
1 accounting policies
the ﬁnancial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and are in accordance with
applicable accounting standards
the following principal accounting policies have been applied
basis of consolidation
the consolidated ﬁnancial statements incorporate the results of offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc and its
subsidiary undertaking as at 31 august 2004 using the acquisition method of accountingthe results of the subsidiary
undertaking are included from the date of acquisition
t urnover
t urnover represents sales in respect of the provision of oil exploration services to external customers at invoiced
amounts less value added tax or local taxes on salest urnover is recognised in line with the performance of these
services to the extent that the performance entitles the group to receive consideration in line with the terms of 
the service contracts under which the group operates
included within turnover are amounts in respect of data modelling and data interpretation services provided to
external customerst urnover is recognised on these contracts in accordance with ssap 9 ‘stocks and long term
contracts’the accounting policy is described in more detail below
reimbursable expenses billed to customers are included in turnover
depreciation
depreciation is provided to write off the cost less estimated residual values of all tangible ﬁxed assets except for
assets in the course of construction over their expected useful lives it is calculated at the following rates
plant and machinery – 1 to 3 years straight line
computer equipment – 333 to 50 straight line
ofﬁce equipment – 333 to 100 straight line
stocks and long term contracts
due to the nature of the principal activity of the group no stocks are held any spare parts for oil exploration
devices owned by the group are expensed as purchased
long term contracts are assessed on a contract by contract basis and are reﬂected in the proﬁt and loss account by
recording turnover and related costs as contract activity progresses where the outcome of each long term contract
can be assessed with reasonable certainty before its conclusion the attributable proﬁt is recognised in the proﬁt and
loss account as the difference between the reported turnover and related costs for that contract as soon as a
contract is expected to be loss making overall all future contract losses are provided for in the period
foreign currency 
foreign currency transactions are translated into sterling at the rates ruling when they occurred foreign currency
monetary assets and liabilities are translated at the rates ruling at the balance sheet dates any differences are taken
to the proﬁt and loss account
research 
expenditure on pure and applied research is charged to the proﬁt and loss account in the year in which it is incurred
deferred taxation
deferred tax balances are recognised in respect of all timing differences that have originated but not reversed by the
balance sheet date with the exception that the recognition of deferred tax assets is limited to the extent that the
group anticipates making sufﬁcient taxable proﬁts in the future to absorb the reversal of the underlying timing
differences
deferred tax balances are not discounted
pension costs
contributions made by the group to the personal pension plans of certain directors are charged to the proﬁt and
loss account in the period in which they are payable
impairment of ﬁxed assets
the need for any ﬁxed asset impairment writedown is assessed by comparison of the carrying value of the asset
against the higher of realisable value and value in use
for the year ended 3 1 august 2004
notes to the accounts 24 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
notes to the accounts continued
1 accounting policies continued
patent development costs
patent development costs are amortised over the period prior to the patents being granted estimated by the
directors to be a period of four years
financial instruments
the group’s principal ﬁnancial instruments comprise short term debtors short term creditors and short term
deposits used to ﬁnance the group’s operations and future growththe group has no borrowings and transacts 
only in its functional currency
the group has taken advantage of the exemption available under frs 13 to speciﬁcally exclude short term debtors
and creditors from disclosure except in relation to currency risk should this risk ever arise
the group does not hold or issue derivative ﬁnancial instruments for trading purposes
2 t urnover proﬁt and net assets
the information in respect of turnover proﬁt before tax and net assets required to be disclosed by statement of
standard accounting practice 25 ‘segmental reporting’ has not been provided as in the opinion of the directors
such disclosure would be seriously prejudicial to the interests of the group
t urnover is wholly attributable to the principal activity of the group
3 operating proﬁtloss
2004 2003 
£ £ 
this is arrived at after chargingcrediting
depreciation of tangible ﬁxed assets 699136 90320
amortisation of intangible ﬁxed assets 13984 5034
auditors’ remuneration
group – audit services 26300 8000
group – nonaudit services 7800 –
exchange differences 810 –
included in the group audit fee is an amount of £6000 2003 £4000 in respect of the company
in addition the auditors were paid £80152 for services in connection with the ﬂotation on aimthese costs have
been offset against the company’s share premium account
4 employees
staff costs including directors consist of
2004 2003 
£ £ 
wages and salaries 1149365 442271
social security costs 132 1 1 9 91687
other pension costs 12000 –
1293484 533958
the average number of employees including directors during the year was as follows
2004 2003 
number number 
management 7 3
scientists 6 5
operations 14 9
27 17 25 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
5 directors’ remuneration
2004 2003 
£ £ 
directors’ emoluments 345151 128218
company contributions to directors’ personal pension schemes 9600 –
amounts paid to third parties in respect of directors’ services 7084 19300
the total amount payable to the highest paid director in respect of emoluments was £174603 2003 £87 385 group
pension contributions of £7 200 2003 £nil were made to his personal pension plan during the year
more detail of directors’ emoluments can be found in the remuneration report on pages 13 to 15 note that this
information has been presented voluntarily by the directors and is accordingly unaudited
6 interest payable and similar charges
2004 2003 
£ £ 
bank overdrafts 2017 –
7 t axation on proﬁtloss on ordinary activities
2004 2003 
£ £ 
uk corporation tax
current tax on proﬁts of the year – 5000
adjustment in respect of previous periods 4673 –
foreign tax
current tax on foreign income for the year 42815 –
t otal current tax 38142 5000
the tax assessed for the period is lower than the standard rate of corporation tax in the uk
the differences are explained below
2004 2003 
£ £ 
proﬁtloss on ordinary activities before tax 404021 362220
proﬁtloss on ordinary activities at the standard rate 
of corporation tax in the uk of 30 2003 30 12 1 206 108666
effect of
expenses not deductible for tax purposes 39 12 10974
fixed asset timing differences 128812 75732
small companies relief – 2895
rd enhancement 73885 52787
utilisation of tax losses brought forward – 30817
t ax losses carried forward 90423 264923
foreign tax charge 42815 –
adjustment in respect of prior year 4673 –
double tax expense relief claimed 12844 –
current tax charge for period 38142 5000
at 31 august 2004 the group had corporation tax losses carried forward amounting to £1187 752 2003 £883076
the full utilisation of these losses in the foreseeable future is uncertain and consequently no deferred tax asset has
been recognised in the ﬁnancial statements 26 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
notes to the accounts continued
8 earnings per share
earnings per ordinary share have been calculated using the weighted average number of shares in issue during the
relevant ﬁnancial periods
the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue is 25085696 200316703373the comparative weighted
average number of ordinary shares in issue has been adjusted for the bonus issue that took place during 
the current year
earnings being proﬁts after tax are £365879 2003 loss of £367 220
2004 2003 
number number 
reconciliation of denominator for diluted eps calculation
number of shares used in calculation of basic eps 25085696 16703373
dilutive potential ordinary shares held under share option schemes 1242884 –
number of shares used in calculation of diluted eps 26328580 16703373
in 2003 the loss for the year resulted in any potential ordinary shares held under share option schemes being 
antidilutive and in accordance with frs 14 have been excluded from the calculation of diluted eps in that year
9proﬁt for the ﬁnancial year
the company has taken advantage of the exemption allowed under section 230 of the companies act 1985 and has
not presented its own proﬁt and loss account in these ﬁnancial statementsthe group proﬁt for the year includes a
proﬁt after tax and before dividends of £4673 2003 £177 096 which is dealt with in the ﬁnancial statements of the
parent company
10 intangible assets
patent
development
costs
group £
cost
at 1 september 2003 33362
additions 54414
at 31 august 2004 87776
amortisation
at 1 september 2003 5034
provided for the year 13984
at 31 august 2004 19018
net book value
at 31 august 2004 68758
at 31 august 2003 28328 27 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
1 1 t angible ﬁxed assets 
assets in
plant and computer ofﬁce the course of 
machinery equipment equipment construction t otal
group £££££
cost
at 1 september 2003 720538 37 376 1 9 537 938 1 9 871 270
additions 327601 203434 64757 1936340 2532132
disposals 204076 – – – 204076
t ransfers 93819 – – 93819 –
at 31 august 2004 937882 240810 84294 1936340 3199326
depreciation
at 1 september 2003 77 288 8855 4289 – 90432
provided for the year 624772 53929 20435 – 699136
disposals 1 10433 – – – 1 10433
at 31 august 2004 591627 62784 24724 – 679135
net book value
at 31 august 2004 346255 178026 59570 1936340 2520191
at 31 august 2003 643250 28521 15248 93819 780838
12 fixed asset investments
group undertakings
company £
cost
at 1 september 2003 and 31 august 2004 2
company investments represents a holding of 100 per cent of the ordinary share capital of ohm ltd a company
incorporated in england and wales whose principal activity is the provision of services to the oil exploration and
production industry
13 debtorsamounts falling due within one year
group group company company 
2004 2003 2004 2003 
£ £ £ £ 
t rade debtors 669382 124590 – –
amounts owed by group undertakings – – 1 2488718 1584200
other debtors 280238 98278 – 2723
prepayments and accrued income 210583 42068 – –
amounts recoverable on contracts 59000 104586 – –
12 1 9 203 369522 1248871 8 1586923
14 creditorsamounts falling due within one year
group group company company 
2004 2003 2004 2003 
£ £ £ £ 
t rade creditors 593001 240930 – 17622
corporation tax – 5000 – 5000
other taxation and social security 42785 23835 – –
accruals and deferred income 807735 28785 – 19457
1443521 298550 – 42079 28 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
notes to the accounts continued
15 financial instruments
the group had no material ﬁnancial instruments other than short term debtors and creditors during both this and
the prior year
it is and has been throughout the year under review the group’s policy that no trading in ﬁnancial instruments shall
be undertaken
financial assets
the group’s ﬁnancial assets comprise cash at bank fixed rate ﬁnancial assets are sterling deposits held in a ﬁxed term
deposit bank account with a six month notice period prior to ﬂotation on 1 1 march 2004 and also during the prior
year sterling deposits were held in a seven day rollover accountthe weighted average ﬁxed rate of interest was 404
per cent 2003 31 1 per centthe weighted average period for which the rate is ﬁxed was 61 days 2003 seven days
as the ﬁnancial assets disclosed below are cash the fair value is the same as the book value
floating rate fixed rate
ﬁnancial ﬁnancial 
t otal assets assets
currency as at 31 august 2004 £ £ £ 
sterling 9944483 4944483 5000000
floating rate fixed rate
ﬁnancial ﬁnancial 
t otal assets assets
currency as at 31 august 2003 £ £ £
sterling 11 12435 1 12435 1000000
financial liabilities
the group has no ﬁnancial liabilities other than short term creditors
16 provision for liabilities and charges
group group company company 
2004 2003 2004 2003 
£ £ £ £ 
deferred taxation
accelerated capital allowances 205396 76584 – –
unutilised tax losses 356326 264923 – –
150930 188339 – –
in line with the group’s accounting policy on deferred taxation the potential deferred tax asset has not been
recognised in these ﬁnancial statements 29 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
17 share capital
allotted called up
authorised and fully paid
2004 2003 2004 2003
£ £ £ £
equity share capital
43000000 2003100000 ordinary shares of 1p each 430000 1000 289979 586
ordinary shares of 1p each
number £
in issue at 1 september 2003 58646 586
issued on 6 february 2004 464 5
share options exercised on 10 february 2004 3700 37
bonus issue of 360 1p ordinary shares for every 1p ordinary share 
held at 26 february 2004 2261 1600 2261 16
shares issued on 1 1 march 2004 pursuant to ﬂotation on aim 6323529 63235
in issue at 31 august 2004 28997 939 289979
on 6 february 2004 dr pierre jungels a nonexecutive director purchased 464 1p ordinary shares for a
consideration of £49931
southampton asset management ltd exercised 3700 options held over 1p ordinary shares on 10 february 2004 
at an exercise price of 1p
the bonus issue on 26 february 2004 was funded from the company’s share premium account
the ﬂotation on aim took place on 1 1 march 2004 at a price of £170 per 1p ordinary sharethe consideration
received in respect of this issue was £10749999
share option scheme
at 31 august 2004 the following share options were outstanding in respect of the ordinary shares
number of 1p exercise price 
date of grant ordinary shares period of option per share
2 september 2002 823080 september 2002 – september 2012 710p
2 september 2002 137 180 september 2002 – september 2012 710p
28 november 2002 685900 november 2002 – november 2012 710p
1 december 2003 21 1546 december 2003 – december 2013 2981p
1 december 2003 261364 december 2003 – december 2013 2981p
1 march 2004 940008 march 2004 – march 2014 17000p
4 march 2004 216600 march 2004 – march 2014 17000p 18 reserves
share premium proﬁt and loss
account account
group ££
at 1 september 2003 2441 723 449 736
premium on shares issued during the year 10736690 –
share issue costs 849305 –
proﬁt for the year – 365879
t ransferred to share capital on bonus issue 2261 16 –
at 31 august 2004 12102992 83857
share premium proﬁt and loss
account account
company ££
at 1 september 2003 2441 723 94580
premium on shares issued during the year 10736690 –
share issue costs 849305 –
proﬁt for the year – 4673
t ransferred to share capital on bonus issue 2261 16 –
at 31 august 2004 12102992 99253
19 reconciliation of movements in shareholder’s funds
group group company company 
2004 2003 2004 2003 
£ £ £ £ 
proﬁtloss for the year 365879 367220 4673 177096
issue of shares 63277 333 63277 333
premium on shares issued during the year 10736690 2341763 10736690 2341763
share issue costs 849305 – 849305 –
net additions to shareholder’s funds 10316541 1974876 9955335 2519192
opening shareholder’s funds 1992573 17697 2536889 17697
closing shareholder’s funds 123091 14 1992573 12492224 2536889
20 commitments under operating leases
the group had annual commitments under noncancellable operating leases as set out below
2004 2003 2004 2003
property property other other
£ £ £ £ 
operating leases which expire
within one year – – 33000 –
in two to ﬁve years 51650 – 13 1 8 1 318
51650 – 34318 1 318
30 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
notes to the accounts continued 31 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
21 related party disclosures
related party transactions and balances
during the year the group paid consultancy fees to professor martin sinha a nonexecutive director of the company
amounting to £15000 2003 £15000
loans and transactions concerning directors and ofﬁcers of the company
during the year the group paid £5000 2003 £19300 to ip2ipo plc formerly ip2ipo ltd in which john davies 
is a director in respect of directors’ services
the group also paid £2084 2003 £nil in the year to ip2ipo plc in which david norwood is a director in respect
of directors’ services
22 reconciliation of operating proﬁtloss to net cash inﬂowoutﬂow from operating activities
2004 2003 
£ £ 
operating proﬁtloss 180 1 1 0 408822
amortisation of intangible ﬁxed assets 13984 5034
depreciation of tangible ﬁxed assets 699136 90320
loss on sale of tangible ﬁxed assets 93643 –
increasedecrease in debtors 727191 293036
increasedecrease in creditors 1 1 49  971 470574
net cash inﬂowoutﬂow from operating activities 1 409 653 491006
23 reconciliation of net cash ﬂow to movement in net funds
2004 2003 
£ £ 
increase in cash 8832048 1004194
movement in net funds 8832048 1004194
opening net funds 1 1 1 2 435 108241
closing net funds 9944483 11 12435
24 analysis of net funds
at at 
1 september 2003 cash ﬂow 31 august 2004
£ £ £ 
cash at bank and in hand 11 12435 8832048 9944483
25 contingent liability
there is presently a thirdparty action against the group alleging patent infringement it is not currently possible to
assess the likelihood of success or scale of this thirdparty action with any degree of certainty
the directors are of the opinion that no provision is required 32 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
company registration number
04329960
registered ofﬁce
co masons
30 aylesbury street
london
ecir oer
directors
dr pierre jean marie henri jungels cbe
nonexecutive chairman
david charles newall pratt chief executive ofﬁcer
garry robert allan finance director
dr lucy margaret macgregor chief scientiﬁc ofﬁcer
landon thomas clay nonexecutive director
gary jones nonexecutive director
keith lough nonexecutive director
david robert norwood nonexecutive director
dr anthony raven nonexecutive director
professor martin clarebrough sinha 
nonexecutive director
secretary
garry robert allan
nominated advisor and broker
kbc peel hunt ltd
1 1 1 old broad street
london
ec2n iph
registrars
capita registrars scotland ltd
sutherland house
108 dundas street
edinburgh
eh3 5dq
bankers
royal bank of scotland plc
aberdeen bridge of don branch
18 ellon road
bridge of don
aberdeen
ab23 8ea
solicitors
masons
30 aylesbury street
london
ec1r oer
public relations
aquila financial limited
90 long acre
covent garden
london
wc2e 9rz
auditors
bdo stoy hayward llp
ballantine house
168 west george street
glasgow
g2 2pt
shareholder information designed and produced by jacksonbone printed in england by mm print ltd offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
wwwohmsurveyscom
info

ohmsurveyscom
t elephone 44 

0

870 429 6581
fax 44 

0

870 429 6582
the t echnology centre
offshore t echnology park
claymore drive
bridge of don
aberdeen
ab23 8gd
resist drilling


Summary:
 2 offshore hydrocarbon mapping plc
annual report 2004
this ﬁnancial year has represented a watershed
for your companyour ﬁnancial performance 
was pleasingwith proﬁt after tax of £365879
compared to a loss of £367220 the previous year 
in march we successfully completed the placing of shares
and admission to the alternative investment market in 
london and raised £99 million of new money net of 
costs to ﬁnance the expected growth in demand for 
our services and technology in what we see as a market
with huge potential
in june we extended our contract with a major client
keeping our ﬁrst crew active in many of the deep water
basins of the atlantic coasts i am particularly pleased 
that last year’s work for this crew was completed with 
an outstanding record for health and safety
following investment of funds raised in the placing
we mobilised our second crew in augustthe vessel is
equipped with our latest source and receivers and will
initially test on behalf of a consortium of oil companies
the validity of our concepts in shallow waters in the
north sea
it is then expected to work for various clients in 
norway and the west coast of africa
we are also investing in additional capacity beyond 
this second crew
we have made signiﬁcant progress in our integrated 3d
modelling and data processing gaining several contracts
to reprocess data acquired by others
at a recent major conference in paris the presentation 
of our technology and new processing techniques
created a lot of interest amongst potential industry
clients giving us comfort that controlled source
electromagnetic imaging csemi will gain industry
acceptance at an accelerating pace
a cornerstone of our strategy remains the defence of
our existing intellectual property and pursuit of an 
active research and development programme designed 
to maintain our position as industry leader in csemi 
and data processing as part of this effort we maintain
strong links with the university of southampton
with new ofﬁces in aberdeen management research
operations and marketing personnel are able to work
togetherthat and the strengthening of all teams lay 
the foundation for progress in the future
over the past year oil and gas prices have been very 
ﬁrm through a combination of high demand reﬁning
capacity constraint especially in the us and lack of
progress in the industry’s ability to access the middle
east’s hydrocarbon potential
the lack of recent world class discoveries has led 
to growing concerns over potential future supply
shortfalls coupled with many companies’ failure to
replace production continuing reserve downgrades 
and accelerating depletion of old ﬁelds the possibility 
of high energy prices for some time to come is very real
despite this the oil and gas companies still appear to run
their planning at prices which are signiﬁcantly lower than
ﬁve or even ten years averages let alone futures prices
this may be due to the memory of several periods of low
oil prices in the past and their impact on the industry or
possibly to a lack of access to world class opportunities
in this context we believe that our company has the
capacity to provide the industry with the technology 
and its application which could change the economic
model of exploration and appraisal offshore by providing
a powerful risk management tool as signiﬁcant as 3d
seismic was in the 1980sthis would allow an increase 
in activity levels even at prudent pricing models
in line with good corporate governance for listed
companies we have recently appointed two independent
nonexecutive directors to the board keith lough
formerly finance director of british energy and lasmo
and gary jones previously president of western geco
western geophysical and baker atlas both bring 
to the board key skills which will reinforce our
deliberationsthey will offer themselves for election 
at the coming annual general meeting
finally i would like to thank our ceo dave pratt the
teams both onshore and offshore and management 
of ohm for all their hard work over the past 12 months
their efforts should place your company at the centre 
of an exciting step change in exploration for oil and gas
dr pierre jungels cbe
chairman
chairman’s statement
gaining industry acceptance
dr pierre jungels
chairman presurvey modelling is a vital part of the
process as it determines to a great extent 
just how valuable the work to be undertaken
will ultimately be as the electric dipole
source provides a threedimensional signal
the placement of the receivers for the survey
is of absolute importance ohm works
closely with its clients to ensure optimisation
of the survey
 below left electromagnetic
inversion constrained by seismic data
below right receiver deployment
main image detail of survey
geometry
planning