Subsea in April - Offshore Energy

Nordic Trustee ASA and Harkand Finance Inc. have exercised their rights to terminate the internal bareboat charters for the dive support vessels Harkand Da Vinci and Harkand Atlantis. Vessels were scheduled to deliver subsea support for Maersk Oil’s Flyndre development.

FMC Technologies is taking legal action against its four former Norwegian employees and their company Optime Subsea Services, established in alliance with DeepOcean last year. Reportedly, Optime has used FMC knowhow and technology for inventions that they have patents pending.

A crew member on board a Technip-operated pipelay vessel Deep Energy has died as the result of an incident on quayside at Invergordon, Scotland. The crewman is believed to had been of Phillipine nationality and the accident reportedly involved a forklift truck.

Saipem has been awarded new E&C contracts valued at approximately €430 million ($487 million). The first is a contract with Statoil for the Hywind Scotland project. Saipem secured additional works related to the installation of multi-phase pipelines in the Caspian Sea.

During the first quarter 2016 Subsea 7 released one chartered vessel and stacked two owned vessels, including Seven Waves which returned to Europe for extensive repairs following damage to the lay-tower. As at March 31, 2016 there were 38 vessels in the total fleet.

Norway’s Statoil has presented a new subsea concept at the Barents Sea Conference in Hammerfest, designed to reduce cost and increase efficiency. The new concept, called Cap-X, is estimated to cut costs by as much as 30% compared with conventional technology.

A 150-meter steel structure that weighs about 4,200 tonnes was recently loaded out at Vlissingen yard. The structure is a stinger, a frame that will hang behind the “world’s largest” vessel the Pioneering Spirit. The stinger is used to lead the pipe to the bottom of the sea.

FMC Technologies, has notified the employees in Norway of its decision to cut up to 700 jobs. Workforce adjustment comes as a result of activity decline in the oil & gas industry and the company’s efforts to position its business in response to market conditions.

DOF Subsea has been awarded several IMR and subsea installation contracts the past months, with a total contract value in excess of NOK 500 million ($61.4 million). The contracts will secure utilization of the subsea project fleet in the regions.

Kongsberg Maritime’s UK division has uncovered the long lost model of Nessie which was used during filming of 1970’s “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes”. The discovery was made during a survey of Loch Ness, supported by The Loch Ness Project and VisitScotland.