MacArtney Benelux is pleased to announce the addition of a modern and fully equipped pressure tank facility to the company's workshop in Rotterdam, NL.

 Subsea 7 S.A. announced the award of a contract valued at approximately US$380 million from Statoil for the Aasta Hansteen gas field, located west of Bodø in the northern part of the Norwegian Sea.

 Technip announces that it has signed two agreements with State Corporation Russian Technologies (Rostec) during the official meeting between François Hollande, President of the French Republic, and Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, held yesterday in Moscow, Russia. The agreements aim at manufacturing flexible pipes and umbilicals in Russia, for the Arctic region and the Black Sea oil fields, as well as at the construction and renovation of refining and petrochemical units in Russia.

 Marking the successful introduction of the internationally renown 5S manufacturing system into the company, Saab Seaeye’s Small Assembly Department becomes the first to win the accolade of top department.

The 5S system is adopted by leading organisations the world over as a proven way of improving manufacturing efficiency.

 Subsea 7 S.A. (Oslo Børs: SUBC) announced the award of a contract from Talisman Sinopec Energy UK Limited to install two 5 kilometre pipeline bundles. The contract, valued at US$285 million is for the provision of subsea construction services in support of Talisman Sinopec Energy UK’s Montrose Area Redevelopment Project.

 Following the introduction of tax changes designed to encourage growth in the UK oil and gas sector, the industry has responded with the highest investment for more than thirty years. As a result, according to Oil & Gas UK, which (25 February) published its 2013 Activity Survey, thousands of jobs are now being created across Britain and the production of UK oil and gas and resulting tax revenues can now confidently be expected to rise over the coming years.

The Activity Survey shows a diverse mix of investment, ranging from projects of less than £50 million through to some of over a billion pounds, in total soaring to £11.4 billion in 2012. This is now expected to rise even further to at least £13 billion in 2013.

 Four wells are onstream under a new phase of development drilling on the Bualuang oil field in the Gulf of Thailand, according to operator Salamander Energy.

 BP has been successful in its bid for four deepwater exploration blocks offshore Nova Scotia. 

 Following the European Commission’s announcement of agreement on an EU Directive on offshore safety, Robert Paterson, Oil & Gas UK’s health, safety and employment director, said: “Oil & Gas UK has worked tirelessly to highlight the very real damage that an EU Regulation could have done to workers’ safety. 

  Subsea Americas has added to its rental rov tooling fleet recently a WebTool RCV 155 cable cutter capable of cutting cable wire over six inches in diameter.  The tool was modified to be operated via 17H API hot stab whereas simplifying its subsea use via ROV. 

 TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity Ltd. company and an industry pioneer in undersea communications technology, today announced that work is underway for Chevron U.S.A. Inc.’s Big Foot offshore facility undersea fiber optic communications system in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Under terms of a contract awarded to TE SubCom in April 2012, the cable system is slated for completion in December 2013.

 Recently, renewable energy technology developer, Principle Power, was awarded a Department of Energy grant worth $4M and up to $47M in total funding, to support its WindFloat Pacific Demonstration Project.

 Oil & Gas UK has announced more details of the major offshore safety conference to be held in the summer to mark the 25th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster.

Piper 25, a three-day event to be held at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre from 18 to 20 June 2013 and principally sponsored by Talisman Sinopec Energy UK Limited, will bring together people from across the global oil and gas industry to reflect on the lessons learnt from the tragedy, review how far offshore safety has evolved since and to reinforce industry commitment to continuous improvement.

 Technip was awarded by BP Angola an important five-year contract* for engineering and modification services for the existing Greater Plutonio and Plutao, Saturno, Venus and Marte (PSVM) floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) units, located in Blocks 18 and 31 offshore Angola.

 With numerous UK and overseas sales already secured, the new OceanTools C-Switch is off to a very successful start.