The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has dished out eight contracts worth £1.5million in total to buy data it hopes will spur exploration on the UK continental shelf (UKCS).
The regulator said the data would support its efforts to promote future licensing rounds and undeveloped discoveries, regional exploration projects and area strategies.
The datasets purchased from APT, CGG, Geostrat and Getech will be made freely available to download on the OGA website this year.
The other four companies who won contracts were Belltree, Hannon Westwood, IHS Markit and Ikon.
OGA operations director Gunther Newcombe said: “The UKCS remains a highly attractive exploration destination and in order to maximise the economic recovery of oil and gas from the UKCS, exploration activity must be revitalised in both mature and frontier plays.
“Comprehensive, high quality well, seismic and subsurface databases which are made freely available are critical to this.”