TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co. ASA of Norway announced on Wednesday it will employ two Chinese vessels to survey the seabed off central and southern Brazil.

The company issued a written statement saying it will begin this year a three-dimensional survey of 1,400 square km of the Espírito Santo Basin, in partnership with state-owned China Oilfield Services, and finish it by the end of next March.

TGS says it intends to begin a two-dimensional survey of 7,000 square km of the Pelotas Basin in the first quarter of next year, in partnership with Chinese state-owned BGP Inc.

Data from the Pelotas Basin survey will be available in the third quarter, in time for the 17th round of auctions of oil exploration blocks off Brazil, according to the TGS statement.