Editor’s Picks for 2018

The editors of Subsea World News have selected a few among many worth remembering articles from the previous year that received exceptionally high attention from our readers.

In no particular order, here are some of the news to look back on, in case you missed them last year. Enjoy!

The finalists have been announced for next year’s Subsea UK awards, which recognize the companies and individuals who are leading the way in the UK’s £7.5 billion subsea sector.

The awards ceremony will take place on February 06, 2019 at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre.

The Underwater Centre, located in the Scottish Highlands, has ceased trading and it has been placed into administration, putting 50 jobs at risk.

The news came just months after Underwater Centre completed restructuring to become a not-for-profit company, which has seen support from industry and public bodies.

Saudi Aramco has awarded  the first large scope integrated services contract for its Marjan oil field to Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE).

The field is the first of three major offshore expansions in Saudi Arabia, and the company’s largest upstream development project this year.

Under the contract’s terms, BHGE will provide drilling services, coiled tubing services and drilling fluids engineering services in Marjan.

Nexans Subsea Operations has contracted Ulstein Verft to construct its new DP3 cable laying vessel ‘Nexans Aurora’.

The vessel will be outfitted for power cable laying, including bundle laying, cable jointing and repair and cable system protection and trenching.

JDR, part of TFKable Group, has been selected by Jan De Nul Group to manufacture and supply inter-array, export and land cables for Taiwan’s Formosa 1 development.

Formosa 1 is Taiwan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm and is being developed by Formosa Wind Power, a partnership of Macquarie Capital Group (50%), Orsted (35%) and Swancor Renewable Energy (15%).

General Electric (GE) has said it plans to fully separate and divest its equity ownership position in oilfield services major Baker Hughes (BHGE).

The plan is to fully separate its 62.5% interest in BHGE in an orderly manner over the next two to three years. The announcement came just one year after the combination of GE’s Oil & Gas business with Baker Hughes.

Boskalis has presented its integrated service portfolio for the offshore energy market under one single brand name.

As a result, Dockwise, Fairmount and VBMS, subsidiaries of Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V., will continue to offer their services under the brand name Boskalis.

DeepOcean has acquired Delta SubSea and expanded its presence into the US Gulf of Mexico.

Delta SubSea is the provider of inspection maintenance and repair (IMR) and light construction services with a strong focus on the US Gulf of Mexico (GoM), with international operations such as West Africa, Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana.

Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC) has informed that it will cease its offshore pipe lay activities with immediate effect, leading to dismissal of 350 employees. 

The decision, a part of the strategic transition of the company, follows from a review and commercial evaluation in early 2018 of HMC’s current position in the highly competitive pipe lay market which continues to suffer from significant overcapacity.

Saipem said it has entered into an agreement to acquire the ultra deepwater rigid and flexible pipelay, 3000-ton heavy lift and construction vessel – Lewek Constellation.

Completed in 2013, Constellation is readily available to be promoted for commercial opportunities. The Constellation will be marketed in all geographic areas including the Gulf of Mexico and the North and Norwegian Seas where the vessel characteristics make it suitable to pursue the subsea tie-back initiatives predominant in those areas.

Subsea 7 has acquired Siem Offshore Contractors GmbH and two vessels.

The acquisition will include the entire issued share capital of Siem Offshore Contractors, the inter-array cable lay vessel Siem Aimery and the support vessel Siem Moxie. The initial consideration is EUR 140 million subject to adjustments for working capital and net cash in Siem Offshore Contractors and a deferred contingent consideration, based on the contracted volume of work achieved in each year up to 2024, which is not expected to exceed EUR 40 million over the period.