Scientists aboard Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor have developed the first 3D model of an entire hydrothermal vent field for Virtual Reality, covering the largest area of seafloor ever imaged that way.

Oceanology International 2016 (OI2016) held 15-17 March at London’s ExCeL attracted 7,836 unique attendees from 79 countries, with many revisiting on consecutive days to provide an overall show attendance of 14,161.

IKM Consultants AS, together with strategic alliance partners and subcontractors, has been awarded a 4-year framework agreement with Statoil for the delivery of multi-technical disciplines and project administrative consultancy services. The agreement covers onshore, offshore and international services and includes an option period of 2+2 years. The IKM Consultants Alliance is composed of a good match professionally and geographically complementary partners, which ensures the quality in each delivery to Statoil. The Alliance consists of partners with diversified expertise in different disciplines and provides a global footprint in more than 50 countries.

Fugro has completed offshore works undertaken in preparation for full construction of the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) at Aberdeen Bay, Scotland.

IKM Subsea was in 2015 awarded a 5 + 5 year contract by Norske Shell and the work will commence in March. The Merlin UCV ROV is successfully integrated to the Siem Pride and ready to commence services. In addition to the ROV service, IKM Subsea provides IMR related engineering, maintenance of Norske Shell’s tool pool, as well as handling survey through business partner iSurvey.

New modules will increase students’ employability. Subsea training facility, The Underwater Centre, is helping to increase its students’ employability in the downturn by adding new modules to its commercial air diving courses, offering an enhanced package which cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

With over 40 years of experience in Commercial and Operations Management, Business Development, Sales and Marketing, Atlas Professionals welcomes John Morse as the new Business Development Manager for the Offshore Wind business line.

Aker Solutions secured a global framework agreement to deliver engineering and project management services at BP-operated subsea oil and gas fields.

Happy Easter!

Subsea services specialist Bibby Offshore has awarded a frame agreement for rigging equipment inspection and wire rope management to leading marine and subsea business IMES, following a lengthy and competitive tender process.

Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD) and Underwater Mining Solutions (UMS) are teaming up to offer customers the full scope of mining equipment required for underwater mining projects, both offshore and inland, and in all territories. Their combined expertise, and the strength of each of their parent companies, enable SMD and UMS to provide customers with proven, de-risked solutions to deep-sea, near-shore and inland underwater exploration, mining and processing.

Tritech International Ltd, [Tritech], A Moog Inc. Company, is pleased to announce that Seatronics, an Acteon Company, is the first rental company to choose its next generation Gemini 720is multibeam imaging sonar.

The newly appointed conference chair of SPE Offshore Europe 2017 says that now is the time for the industry to reinvent itself and that SPE Offshore Europe 2017 will be the place where the industry will come together and shape its future for the next 10 years. Catherine MacGregor, President Europe & Africa, Schlumberger has been appointed chair of the event which will take place in Aberdeen from 5-8 September 2017 when the industry will have faced one of the longest and most severe downturns in decades.

Fugro is to supply ROV drilling support services on board the Ocean Guardian MODU under a new contract awarded by Dana Petroleum (E&P) Ltd. Operating one of its fleet of FCV 600 ROVs, specifically designed for North Sea drill support activities, Fugro will carry out drilling and completions projects at the Dana-operated Western Isles developments in the northern North Sea.

A year ago, Douglas-Westwood (DW) commented that E&P companies within West Africa were focusing reduced Capex plans on high-quality deepwater assets in the region. At the time, Brent crude was rebounding towards a mid-2015 peak of over $60 per barrel. However, in the months since this peak, oil prices plummeted once more, with Brent reaching lows of $26 per barrel in January 2016. DW has since revised its outlook considerably for West Africa’s deepwater prospects. With Brent on the rise last year and operators reiterating their commitment to deepwater assets in the region, DW foresaw the drilling of 483 deepwater development wells over 2016-2021 with deepwater production to continually increase to 4.0 mmboe/d by the end of this period.

Subsea IMR provider, N-Sea, has won the Safety Innovations award at this year’s SPE Aberdeen Offshore Achievement Awards. Winners were announced at a prestigious awards ceremony last night at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC).

Dutch contracting company, Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors B.V. [Van Oord], have purchased a suite of Gemini 720is multibeam imaging sonars, in the week of its launch at Oceanology 2016, 15 - 17 March, ExCel, London.

Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors, a leading contractor for dredging, marine engineering and offshore energy projects has selected Valeport’s SWiFT SVP for its various survey activities. The SWiFT SVP is designed to ensure a seamless workflow and has an integral GPS to geo-locate every profile. The compact unit features high accuracy sound velocity, pressure, temperature, salinity and density measurement, plus integral GPS and re-chargeable battery. Suited for coastal, harbour and inland hydrographic survey use, Van Oord is to deploy the SWiFT SVP as part of their operations worldwide