Subsea Systems News

The specialized deepwater oil & gas and floating offshore wind segments will share many of the same stakeholders and supply chains, competing for increasingly scarce resources.To receive a full version of Inteletus analysis, click hereThe established floating production segment is forecast to experience continued growth through this decade, driving demand for, among other things, moorings, subsea systems, umbilicals, risers, flowlines and the large anchor handlers and subsea support vessels that will install and maintain the elements.At the same time…

The U.S. Navy uses unmanned and robotic underwater vehicles for a multitude of functions, including environmental sensing, mine hunting, and salvage. The Navy plans to evolve an unmanned systems operating concept that is platform agnostic and capable of operating in highly complex contested environments with minimal operator interaction.The most recent edition of the Navy’s Unmanned Systems (UxS) Roadmap was issued in 2018, and a new version is expected in the near future. The 2018 document states that UxS will operate in every domain…

The Netherlands Ministry of Defence (MOD) has selected France's Naval Group to enter the next phase in the selection process for the Submarine Replacement program."Naval Group looks forward to entering an in-depth technical cooperation with DMO to conduct this joint-design phase in close association with the involved stakeholders. The Group strongly believes that the envisaged operational profile is very much in line with the mission capabilities of the conventionally powered Barracuda family submarine," said a press note from"Naval Group thankfully acknowledges this new phase, which will allow the joint in-depth design process to be translated into a full industrial solution…

Anyone who has been around the Offshore Oil and Gas or the Marine industries for long has heard of plans for mining various minerals located on or just below the seafloor. In fact, when Howard Hughes built the Glomar Explorer in 1972, the cover story for its true mission – recovering a Soviet submarine - was that the rig would be used to mine manganese nodules from the deep ocean floor. This cover story was so effective that it had the unintended consequence of stirring great interest in ocean mining among offshore companies and the general public.In the years since…

The Norwegian Continental Shelf’s journey from the very first basic marinized subsea trees to today’s complex and sophisticated subsea processing equipment has been a rapid, at times turbulent, but always remarkable.There are many engineers who have seen through that journey, from the first exploration wells using Norwegian rigs in the mid-1970s to today. One has now written the history of subsea technology in Norway and this year’s Underwater Technology Conference (UTC) has been chosen for its launch…

The Oil and Gas industry reported 1242 contracts, of which 1178 were awarded contracts, said Quarterly Oil & Gas Industry Contracts Review.Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region recorded the most contracts with 569 contracts, representing around 48% of the total awarded contracts in Q1 2019, followed by Americas region with 366 contracts, accounting for 31% of the total awarded contracts.Upstream sector reported 73% of the total awarded contracts, with 862 contracts. The midstream sector recorded 156 contracts, representing 13% of the total awarded contracts, followed by 141 contracts in the downstream sector; representing 12% of the awarded contracts during the quarter…

Rolls-Royce and the Technology Center for Offshore and Marine, Singapore (TCOMS) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to form a strategic partnership to develop smart ship technologies. The partners will work on world leading research to develop fundamental technologies, such as smart sensing, digital twinning and integrated modelling which are essential to the development of future marine data based solutions. These developments will be applied to technology demonstrators to show how they can be used by specific ship types.

ABS, the leading provider of classification and technical services to the offshore industry, has expanded its subsea services team to deliver specialized validation and verification services for subsea systems, including subsea hardware, flowlines, umbilicals, and risers. These services include design review, inspection of physical components and regulatory services using performance data to support continuous service of new and existing assets. “Offering best-in-class verification and validation services contributes to the safe and reliable operation of subsea systems,” says ABS Chairman, President and CEO Christopher J. Wiernicki. ABS currently delivers its offering to major operators in the US Gulf of Mexico and is expanding services for key clients globally.

USA subsea equipment firm FMC Technologies and French engineering company Technip have jointly announced that they expect their merger to be formally complete by January 16. Houston-based FMC and Paris-based Technip will form a new entity called TechnipFMC. Their planned amalgamation was first announced in May. The parties also announced the filing of a Delaware certificate of merger pursuant to which FMC Technologies and a subsidiary of TechnipFMC will merge effective immediately after the merger between Technip and TechnipFMC on January 16, 2017, which will complete the business combination between FMC Technologies and Technip. Trading of the TechnipFMC shares is expected to begin on January 17, 2017, on Euronext Paris at 9:00 a.m. (Paris time) and on the NYSE at 9:30 a.m.

Bibby Offshore announced its decision to move into the offshore wind array cable installation market. The company has purchased a power cable lay carousel from Ecosse Subsea Systems (ESS), which will enable Bibby Offshore to lay power cables for offshore wind projects from its vessels. Bibby Offshore and ESS have also entered into strategic alliance by way of a framework agreement. Under this alliance, Bibby Offshore will provide commercial expertise supported by subsea project management and engineering experience, while ESS will provide innovation and in depth sector competence through its trenching expertise. Both companies will collaborate to develop other technologies and working methods which will benefit clients by reducing risk and lowering project costs.

D’Appolonia, the independent engineering consulting company of RINA Group, headquartered in Italy, announced it has acquired a majority stake in Fano-based SeaTech Srl. According to D’Appolonia, the acquisition aims to strengthen its position in the marine offshore oil and gas sector. SeaTech provides analysis and design services, manages projects for offshore pipelines, subsea systems and structures and met-ocean monitoring systems, and also provides engineering supervision services on site. Founded in 2000, SeaTech has a current turnover of €2.8 million.

IRClass Academy of the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding last month with Lloyd’s Maritime Academy (LMA) and IBC Academy (IBCA) that are part of Informa PLC in the UK. The objective of this collaboration is to deliver customised training solutions in specialist areas for Indian organisations as well as individuals in maritime and energy sectors. IRClass Academy aims to emerge as a leader in professional development by partnering with industry and by collaborating with established providers of education and training services such as LMA and IBCA. Informa was formed in 1998 when the IBC Group merged…

The Harkand Haldane is a DP3 dive support vessel currently being designed and built in Europe to reduce downtime in the North Sea’s winter marginal weather months. Along with its well-equipped and logically planned layout, Harkand’s clients looking for increased efficiency to maximize production during these challenging times may well have struck gold. There is no doubt this is a demanding time for the oil and gas industry. With the slump in the oil price operating companies in…

The Houston-based subsea specialist FMC Technologies Inc. (FTI) reported first-quarter earnings of $147.6 million, beating Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 34 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 60 cents per share on a per-share basis. But it had net income of 63 cents. The company has generated first quarter 2015 revenue of $1.7 billion, down 7 percent from the prior-year quarter $1.82 billion, as stronger Subsea Technologies performance was offset by the continued strength of the U.S. dollar and the decline in the North American land market. Subsea Technologies operating profit increased 19 percent from the prior-year quarter to $168.7 million, primarily due to improved execution and stronger project margins related to backlog conversion.

Floating production has been one of the most significant achievements in the upstream oil and gas industry over the past four decades. There are two basic types of floating production systems: oil/gas production units and LNG/gas processing units. Common to both is the use of a floating facility to support an oil and/or gas processing plant to monetize oil and/or gas deposits. •    Floating oil/gas production systems:  These production systems are positioned on offshore fields and used to produce oil and gas contained in subsea reservoirs.

McDermott International, Inc. says that one of its subsidiaries has entered into an agreement with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation to provide construction and decommissioning support services employing Derrick Barge 50 (“DB50”) on the Red Hawk project, located in Garden Banks 876. The DB50 will remove mooring lines for the Red Hawk spar and provide accommodation and decommissioning support services. Mobilization is expected during the third quarter 2014. “This project is yet another example of our efforts to improve asset utilization beyond the requirements of our existing backlog,” said Dominic Savarino, Vice President and General Manager, Americas. The DB50 is a dynamically positioned (DP2) premier heavy-lift vessel with deepwater lowering capabilities that can accommodate 320 personnel.

Bergen, Norway – May 20, 2014 – A newly established research center on Norway’s west coast hopes to improve subsea operation and maintenance by bringing risk management into real time. Integrated Well and Subsea Instrumentation (IWSI) is the latest development from independent technology research institute Christian Michelsen Research AS (CMR), which aims to establish an arena for subsea and well instrumentation research and development to find real time risk management solutions for reduced cost and improved safety – on the Norwegian continental shelf and internationally. Working in collaboration with the University of Bergen, University of Stavanger…

McDermott International, Inc. apprise that the Derrick Barge 101 was recently mobilized to Indonesia to perform fast-track heavy-lift work for a client offshore Indonesia. Response time to fast-track work is just one of the key elements to a successful project outcome,” said Hugh Cuthbertson, Vice President and General Manager, Asia Pacific. “Our Project Management and Offshore Resources teams expedited the planning process, while ensuring compliance to safety throughout, to achieve mobilization within just a few days. McDermott adds that this contract is included in its first quarter 2014 backlog. McDermott is a leading provider of integrated engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) services for upstream field developments worldwide.

Offshore exploration is a history of man v. Prospecting for oil is a dynamic art. From a lake in Ohio, to piers off the California coast in the early 1900s, to the salt marshes of Louisiana in the 1930s, to the first “out-of-sight- of-land” tower in 1947 in the Gulf of Mexico, the modern offshore petroleum industry has inched its way over the last roughly 75 years from 100 ft. of water ever farther into the briny deep, where the biggest platform today, Shell’s Perdido spar, sits in 8,000 ft. of water. As a planet, we have two unquenchable thirsts – for water and for oil.

McDermott International, Inc. informs that one of its subsidiaries has been awarded a large engineering, procurement, construction and installation (“EPCI”) project by an operator in the Arabian Gulf. The award is included in McDermott’s fourth quarter 2013 backlog. The contract includes the engineering, fabrication, transportation and installation of four new offshore topsides facilities, plus modification of two existing production facilities to extend the current deck space and maximize the size of modules. The combined total weight of the structures will exceed 3,500 metric tonnes.

Sales were NOK 11.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013, up from NOK 11.2 in the fourth quarter of 2012. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) amounted to NOK 1.06 billion in the quarter, compared with NOK 1.09 billion in the year-earlier period. The prior-year figure includes a gain of NOK 160 million from the sale of real estate. The EBITDA margin was 9.3 percent in the quarter versus 9.7 percent a year earlier. The prior-year margin was 8.4 percent excluding the sales gain.

Brazil’s Petrobras has been one of the leading players in deepwater, subsea development projects since the turn of the century. These projects include pre-salt and post-salt plays, which require extensive and complex subsea engineering and construction efforts. It would be impossible for Petrobras to develop all of its projects alone, therefore much is done by specialized companies, mostly of foreign origin. “We could not have advanced in this project (pre-salt) conventionally, developing the production individually. We needed a global vision of the projects, starting from a high level plan,” said José Formigli, Petrobras’ Executive Director of E&P, speaking of the primary plan for the development of the pre-salt at the Santos Basin, the Plansal, which was created in 2008.

All-electric tube bending machines from Unison are helping FMC Technologies - the leading supplier of subsea tree hydraulic control systems for wellheads - to substantially reduce build times and multiply its manufacturing capacity. Six sites worldwide now use Unison tube bending machines in a new production method pioneered by FMC Technologies employees in Norway and Scotland. The subsea systems supplier used to plan the routes for the hydraulic tubing runs that interconnect the valves and other component parts of the subsea trees…