Technip announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Global Industries, Ltd. The shareholders of Global Industries approved the merger at a special shareholders meeting held on November 30, 2011 and will receive US$8.00 per share in cash. Global Industries has become an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Technip and trading of its shares will be suspended after NASDAQ closes today.

Scientists have successfully transitioned fundamental research in autonomy to undersea gliders, demonstrating in recent sea tests how the new software, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), can help robots become smarter at surveying large swaths of ocean.

Emerald Networks, Inc., a subsea cable system owner/operator that provides low latency transatlantic capacity to the wholesale market, today announces that the Group is to install, for completion by the Spring of 2013, the highest capacity, low latency, transatlantic submarine cable system in order to meet the ever increasing high density data requirements between the U.S. and Europe. The Group which already has cornerstone investment from the Wellcome Trust, has recently appointed Jefferies & Company, Inc., the global investment banking firm, to complete a US$300 million fundraise in order to finance the project.

Corrintec completes first CP surveys in West Africa Corrintec, a division of Cathelco, specialising in subsea pipeline cathodic protection surveys, have completed their first survey in the Rio Del Ray field off Cameroon. The survey was commissioned by IOTA Survey & SBM on behalf of their client Total and involved inspecting 90 kms of pipeline radiating from KLP1 and KLF1 in the Eastern Complex.

 Subsea 7 S.A. (Oslo Børs: SUBC) announced today the award of a SURF contract valued at approximately $60 million from Santos Limited on the Fletcher- Finucane Development offshore Western Australia.

Registration is now open for Oceanology International 2012 (ExCeL, London, 13-15 March 2012), the biennial global forum where industry, academia and government share knowledge and connect with the marine technology and ocean science community with the aim of improving their strategies for measuring, exploiting, protecting and operating in the world's oceans.

The ruling, together with last week's decision on Transocean's financial obligations stemming from its conduct at the Macondo well, is a strong signal that contractors involved in critical well operations will be held accountable for their actions under the law. 

Savante launch full service subsea laser scanning, measurement and inspection services on their stunning new web site at www.savante.co.uk
Savante are the leading subsea laser inspection, laser measurement and laser scanning specialists in the offshore oil and gas sector, with applications in positioning, measurement, corrosion management, damage assessment and communications. 

Forum Energy Technologies (UK) Ltd (FET) has announced that its Subsea Services business VisualSoft has launched VisualWorks 9.0, a major upgrade to their existing Pipeline and Structural Inspection Survey Suite.
 
VisualWorks 9.0 introduces unique workscope support tools and a new integrated 3D Structural Viewer across the entire range of online and offline products:

•    Visual3D-Inspector adds inspection workscope planning and progress tracking seamlessly integrated with digital video acquisition controls and anomaly logging;
•    3D Structural Viewer loads electronic drawings and provides two-way linking of components in asset models with the real video and all associated survey and inspection data for better visualisation during analysis and reporting.

Oil & Gas UK’s chief executive, Malcolm Webb, said: "Oil & Gas UK is very pleased that the highest UK Court, the Supreme Court, has upheld the previous rulings of the Court of Session and Employment Appeal Tribunal that time off work enjoyed by UK offshore oil and gas workers more than meets the minimum legal amount of annual leave that employers must provide their employees."

In Q1 2013 Fugro will take delivery of a new-built vessel, M/V Fugro Pioneer, the first of Fugro's dedicated Offshore Survey Costal Vessel series. Featured on Stand 11121 at EWEA Offshore Amsterdam, the new vessel will operate in North-West European waters.

Test your geography....

"At the Airport"

A young man about to take off in his private super-jet spotted a pretty girl on the concourse.
"Hi, did you miss your flight?" he asked.
"Yes, and now I am stranded here for a few more days."
"I'd be glad to give you a lift," he offered.
"But," she replied, "you don't even know where I'm going!"
"It doesn't matter. I can take you there without going out of my way more than a few miles."

Naturally, the girl thought this was a fresh young man with a new line, and she refused his offer until he had told her where he was headed. She then realised he had been telling the truth and went with him.

Given that this sequence of events happened at the airport in Perth, Australia, can you say where the young man was heading?

Clean up of the 20 December leak from the Bonga offshore oil field has now been completed successfully. Production resumed at Bonga on January 1 2012, following reinforcement of asset integrity and safety programmes.

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) had shut down production from the field after a leak occurred on one of the three export loading lines as oil was being transferred from the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to a loading tanker.

McAfee report indicates cyber-attacks on global energy, oil and petrochemical companies

Recently, computer security firm, McAfee reported that global oil, energy and petrochemical companies were targets of cyber-attacks over the last two years. The firm has made the disclosure in a report titled "Global Energy Cyberattacks: "Night Dragon". The covert attacks referred to by the security firm as "Night Dragon" were allegedly initiated from China.

 New Poll added for days worked offshore in 2011.

The Poll is located to the left side of the page.  Please vote!

  EvoLogics S2C USBL (Ultra-Short BaseLine) underwater positioning system demonstrated a highly accurate performance in a recent series of pool tests, estimating the position of a ROV for baffle bolt inspection in nuclear power plants.

 Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. (FET) is pleased to announce the sale of four Perry XLX Generation 2 (G2) Work-Class Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to Technip. Technip, a world leader in project management, engineering and construction for the energy industry, will deploy two of the vehicles in Southeast Asia on its new build flexlay construction vessel, the Deep Orient. The other two will be deployed on the world’s largest purpose-built ultra-deep water pipelay and subsea construction vessel, Deep Blue, primarily in the Gulf of Mexico.

AC­CESS reinforces its position as the dominant European based micro ROV manufacturer with highly innovative applications while developing new markets further afield.

ITER ­ Cran­Gevrier, France.  Smart AC­ROV’s go their own way ­ together!
Longtime AC­ROV distributor ITER has delivered a block order of three systems to the Ocean Sensing and Mapping Laboratory (OSM) of the world renowned research institute ENSTA­BRETAGNE (Brest, France).
 

ABOUT 31% of adults in the UK now own a smartphone, an increase from 13% in January 2010, according to the results of the first quarter of 2011  Ipsos MediaCT Technology Tracker.

Increasingly, people expect apps to perform like a website, enabling ease of buying or booking items.

More than 50% of smartphone owners have now completed some sort of purchase on their mobile, according to NewMediaTrendWatch.com.

Recognising these trends, Maersk Training Aberdeen has launched the first iPhone application for offshore survival training.

 Ensco plc announced today that one of its subsidiaries has entered into a contract for ENSCO 8506 with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. The initial contract term is for two and one-half years in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico at a day rate of $530,000, plus cost adjustments. The contract adds more than $480 million to revenue backlog.

A handful of flights returned to the skies over Scotland yesterday, but forecasters warned that a fresh plume of ash from the erupting Icelandic volcano could hit the country over the weekend.   Airports at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen took advantage of the window of opportunity to act as the UK’s main hub, receiving thousands of passengers who were otherwise unable to travel home.

Aim is unlimited high speed broadband for New Zealand and Australia

Pacific Fibre, an early stage international fibre venture founded by a group including New Zealand businessmen Stephen Tindall, Sam Morgan and Rod Drury, announced its plans today, aiming to break the digital divide between New Zealand, Australia and the rest of the world.
 

One year after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the northern Gulf of Mexico, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is unveiling a new multimedia website, Science in a Time of Crisis. The site features scientists and engineers who continued the WHOI legacy of oil spill research by providing an objective insight into the immediate and potential impacts of the historic event, which took 11 lives and released millions of gallons of oil and gas into the Gulf over three months.