Subsea World News has gathered all the highlights to bring you a summarized version of the most popular articles from the previous month.
The most attention from our industry readers was reserved for the recently launched company, Rovco. The Bristol-based firm, focused on underwater integrity, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), surveying and subsea services has secured its first contract, awarded by UK Marine Trust.
Nevertheless, most of the positive news were shadowed by continuous industry struggle to adjust to lower activity levels and slowdown in new orders. Norwegian provider of subsea equipment to the industry, NLI Subsea, has been declared bankrupt, causing over 70 job losses at its subsidiary in Odda, with other two subsidiaries still unresolved.
Capacity adjustments are expected at Technip UK as it’s set to axe some 130 jobs. Job cuts in Norway also continue with two major equipment manufacturers FMC Technologies and Aker Solutions line up more layoffs of 200 and 100 respectively.
In addition, Aker Solutions has introduced a new executive management team as part of the company’s broader reorganization. The new organization will have five delivery centers: Customer Management, Front End, Products, Projects and Services.
Shell Starts Up Stones Development
To in-a-way lighten up the mood in the industry, Shell informed it has begun production from the “world’s deepest offshore oil and gas project” the Stones development in the Gulf of Mexico.
The host facility for the Stones is a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, Turritella. It is the thirteenth FPSO in Shell’s global deep-water portfolio and produces through subsea infrastructure beneath 9,500 feet (2,900 meters) of water. Stones is expected to produce around 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) when fully ramped up at the end of 2017.
For the month of September, our 10 most-read articles were:
New Subsea Company Wins First Contract Norwegian Subsea Company Goes Under
Technip to Cut UK Jobs FMC Tech and Aker Solutions Line Up Layoffs
Shell Starts Up Deepest Offshore O&G Project Subsea 7, Det norske and Aker Solutions Ink Pact
Swan Hunter Enters Subsea and Renewables Aker Solutions Sets Up New Leadership
Kongsberg Presents ‘Integrated Vessel Concepts’ Mermaid Wins Close to $7M in New Deals