The ARGGONAUTS – the only German participants in the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE – are expanding their team. Sasa Jevtic (40) will be supporting the Fraunhofer IOSB team with immediate effect in their development of autonomous robot systems used for deep sea exploration. Last February, the team led by Dr. Gunnar Brink reached the semi-finals of the competition, which offers a total of seven million dollars in prize money.

Wood Group has been awarded a new industrial services contract by BAE Systems Submarines. Effective immediately, the two-year contract is to provide insulation installation services to the UK Royal Navy's Astute class submarines based in Barrow-in-Furness, and includes up to three one-year extension options.

Following an extensive upgrade and modernisation programme, a remotely operated vehicle designed and manufactured by Tyneside-based subsea engineering specialist Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd (SMD) has successfully completed its first round of projects burying offshore power cables.

With a maiden voyage that takes her to the deep waters of Ireland’s Atlantic margin and the far North of the Barents Sea, Fugro Venturer is the newest of Fugro’s successful purpose-designed, standardised survey vessels - a series originally formulated in 2013.

Stress Engineering Services, Inc., (SES) the global leader in consulting engineering services, has teamed up with DeepMar Consulting to expand its existing upstream service offerings. The integrated team will work alongside clients to increase assurance of successful projects in regards to health, safety and environment (HSE), reliability and efficiency.

With its very low magnetic and acoustic signature, the AUV A9-M underwater drone is particularly adapted for mine disposal diverse uses. Easily deployable from a small rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), it operates safely, close to the most sensible mines. This underwater robot, designed by ECA Group experts in navigation, communication or underwater imagery, complies with the most demanding specifications of NATO navies. It has been selected among different solutions for its compactness and its operational performances.

A major digital resource developed for the oil and gas industry, has received £50,000 from the Scottish Government. This supplements the £800,000 received from industry, the universities and other sponsors to enable the research, development and launch of this multi-disciplinary project. The International Centre for Oil and the Environment (ICOE) is working with industry, academia and regulators to produce this authoritative resource for today and tomorrow’s industry leaders. This platform captures the accumulated knowledge and inter-disciplinary expertise of the last 40 years of offshore operations to transfer it to the next generation.

Oi China, the premier marine technology and ocean science forum in China where industry, academia and government share knowledge comes to Qingdao for the first time from 1st - 3rd November 2017. Don't miss this opportunity for your company to learn how domestic and international suppliers capitalise on China's rapidly developing offshore energy and marine industries.

Energy services company Proserv is preparing for future growth by investing in a new purpose built technology centre for subsea controls and communications in Great Yarmouth. The move will see around 190 employees consolidate from two sites in the area into the new 65,000 sq ft Beacon Park site in Gorleston-on-Sea which will feature modern office, manufacturing and yard space and provides the flexibility to add a further 20,000 sq ft of workshop capacity. Construction will commence next month with the building expected to be completed during March 2018.

BP Trinidad & Tobago (bpTT) today announced that it has made two significant gas discoveries with the Savannah and Macadamia exploration wells, offshore Trinidad. The results of these wells have unlocked approximately 2 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas in place to underpin new developments in these areas.

BP Trinidad and Tobago LLC today announced the sanction for the development of its Angelin offshore gas project. The project will feature the construction of a new platform - bpTT’s 15th offshore production facility - 60 kilometres off the south-east coast of Trinidad in water-depth of approximately 65 metres. The development will include four wells and will have a production capacity of approximately 600 million standard cubic feet of gas a day (mmscfd). Gas from Angelin will flow to the Serrette platform hub via a new 21 kilometre pipeline. Drilling is due to commence in Q3 2018 and first gas from the facility is expected in 1Q 2019.

The scale and severity of attacks on industrial cyber systems is growing and has the potential to put oil and gas infrastructure, critical processes and workers’ lives in danger. SPE Offshore Europe 2017 will host a keynote panel session on cyber and physical attacks on the industry to help delegates understand the risks, manage detection of threats and defend against malicious actions.

Valeport has reported a surge in sales of tide gauge equipment in its most recent quarter. The UK’s leading manufacturer of oceanographic, hydrographic and hydrometric instrumentation said that sales of tide gauge equipment rose 22% over the same period in 2016. Valeport’s performance and reliability in tide gauges is well renowned and the firm confirm that sales across the portfolio of tide gauge instrumentation including TideMasters, Radar sensors and the TideStation are significantly ahead of forecast.

Two Norwegian companies have embarked on development and testing of a new underwater power & data connection system that will reduce cost and improve efficiency of vessel-based offshore ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) operations. DOF Subsea, a leading provider of integrated subsea services and WiSub, an innovative subsea solutions company, have begun cooperation on the development and testing of WiSub’s pinless connection systems in an international initiative to set a new standard in subsea connection.

Aberdeen based Imenco UK Ltd has actively promoted various new products to successfully drive new business opportunities during the first 5 months of 2017. Efforts over the last few years to provide diversification from the company’s traditional oil and gas background have led to new business in aquaculture, offshore renewable energy, marine survey and most recently in nuclear.

Materia Inc., a leader in the development and manufacture of catalysts and advanced polymers, has appointed Neal Gilmore as vice president, operations, and Wesleyne Greer as senior manager, sales. Gilmore and Greer are based in Materia’s Huntsville, Texas, manufacturing facility.

UK subsea companies showcased their technology and expertise to senior officials from India's largest oil and gas exploration and production company, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), last week on a trade mission to South Asia.

Restrata, a global leader in safety and security consultancy and training services, has appointed Craig Menzies to head up its UK emergency response and crisis management business, which includes the state-of-the-art Incident Management Centre (IMC) in Aberdeen.