Subsea UK News - August 2018 Issue

SUBSEA UK NEWS THE MAGAZINE FROM SUBSEA UK WWW.SUBSEAUK.COM AUGUST 2018

IN THIS ISSUE Embracing Digitalisation in Subsea Supporting Subsea at Home Q2 Market Intelligence Report from SubseaIntel Subsea News and Events from Around the World

Subsea UK News Supported by:

LIGHTWEIGHT. LOW FRICTION. CORROSION RESISTANT. CUSTOM MADE.

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GROWTH FOREWORD / PROJECTS

Welcome to Subsea UK News As an increasing number of industries look to digitalisation to transform the way they work, we are currently experiencing the fourth industrial revolution – but what does this mean for the subsea industry?

Neil Gordon, Chief Executive, Subsea UK

Subsea UK Subsea UK News, produced by Subsea UK, reaches over 28,000 subsea-affiliated subscribers each issue.

Subsea has always been at the forefront of new technology; developing efficient and safe ways of working in some of the most hostile environments across the globe. We’ve had to constantly adapt in order to grow, looking at how we can use the latest developments in technology to further drive down costs and improve efficiencies.

Now, we must embrace the next technological transformation and explore how digitalisation can improve how we operate.

Find out more at www.subseauk.com

The technology is particularly beneficial as it can be adapted and used across several industries; including renewables, defence and mining. Embracing new innovations is vital to the success and longevity of our industry and the sector’s willingness to adapt and invest in new technology is key to this.

We will be exploring the opportunities presented by digitalisation at our Underwater Vehicles Conference at the AECC in September. The latest developments in underwater vehicles, marine robotics and autonomous operations will be discussed at the event.

In September, Subsea UK is travelling to Hamburg for the Wind Energy Hamburg, where we will be hosting our subsea theatre. This will provide subsea companies a platform to present in front of exhibitors and attendees from more than 100 countries.

We are expecting the end of 2018 to begin an exciting time across the industry as companies begin to look to the future and we believe that digitalisation and focusing on working more efficiently is one of the key elements which must be explored to ensure the subsea industry is fit for decades to come.

Subscribe to the electronic version of the Subsea UK News magazine If you’d like to receive this magazine in its digital form, as well as keep up to date with the latest news, events and market intelligence from Subsea UK, subscribe for free at: www.subseauk.com/9418/general-consent-form or scan the QR code

The UK subsea industry leads the world in experience, innovation and technology. The UK will maintain a leading technological edge by sustaining and expanding this important business sector.

Whether you are a company looking to join and reap the benefits or an individual looking to develop your career in the subsea industry, explore our website or contact us to find out how Subsea UK can help you, your business and your industry.

From automated ROVs to the use of real-time data, there is an endless amount of uses for digitalisation in subsea, and we are seeing an increased focus from companies on how it can be developed. In subsea operations digitalisation has the potential to optimise production and reduce life of field costs.

Neil Gordon Chief Executive, Subsea UK

Subsea UK is the champion for the UK subsea industry. We act for the entire supply chain bringing together operators, contractors, suppliers and people in the industry.

New Members Atlas Copco

First Marine Solutions

Blue Gentoo Ltd

Hydrus Energy Engineering Ltd

Cable Solutions Worldwide Ltd

Subsea International Ltd

Ecosse IP Ltd

Tubular Sciences Ltd

ESID Consulting

WeSubsea UK Ltd

To view the full Subsea UK members list, visit the Subsea UK Directory at www.subseauk.com

Forthcoming Events September 2018 Lunch and Learn: Sellafield Decommissioning Opportunities 6 September 2018 Aberdeen, UK

Subsea UK at WindEnergy Hamburg 25-28 September 2018 Hamburg, Germany

Underwater Vehicles Conference 11 September 2018 Aberdeen, UK

October 2018 Marine Autonomy: Current Reality and Future Aspirations 11 October 2018 Southampton, UK

Subsea Cables Conference 18 September 2018, London, UK

November 2018 Life of Field Conference 6 November 2018 Bristol, UK

Subsea UK Networking Dinner 18 September 2018 London, UK

Back to the Future of Subsea 22 November 2018 Woking, UK

These are some of Subsea UK’s events but please visit our website for full details of all forthcoming events www.subseauk.com

Subsea UK News is a magazine which invites contributions from the subsea industry, and is published by Subsea UK. The views and opinions expressed herein are not those of Subsea UK News or its owner, Subsea UK. The opinions and views expressed herein are those solely of individual contributors, and do not reflect in any way those of Subsea UK News, Subsea UK or its staff. All materials published in this magazine are published with the consent and authority of the authors.

Subsea UK News makes no representations about the suitability of any information and/or services published for any purpose. Subsea UK News is not responsible for, and expressly disclaims, all liability for, any indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages (including damages for loss of business, loss of profits, litigation, or the like) of any kind arising out of use, reference to, or reliance on any information published within this magazine. Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information in Subsea UK News, no guarantee is given that the information published is correct, complete, reliable or current, and its publication in this magazine does not constitute an endorsement by Subsea UK News.

To contact Subsea UK News, please email editor Dan Fearon at magazine@subseauk.com

Subsea UK News | August 2018

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BUSINESS

Scotland’s First Minister Announces £31m Boost for Global Oil & Gas Manufacturing Campus First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today announced £4.9 million in funding as part of a £31 million investment being made by Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE), in its manufacturing footprint in the North East of Scotland. The funding package – provided to BHGE following an application to Scottish Enterprise - will support the transformation of an existing facility, creating an ambitious new Centre of Excellence (CoE) that will support the global oil and gas industry.

The First Minister made the announcement during her keynote speech at the Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service (SMAS) conference and said that the government funding would directly support people training and Research & Development (R&D) activity at the new CoE. BHGE’s investment will fund infrastructure improvements, enabling the company to upgrade and expand its Montrose operations, creating a state-of-the art manufacturing ‘campus’.

This is an important boost for the region, which supports oil and gas activity globally. Subsea equipment designed and manufactured at this facility will support activity worldwide, from 10,000-ft water depths offshore West Africa and Australia, to the Gulf of Mexico and some of the world’s most remote oilfields, such as the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway.

The new campus will benefit from advanced manufacturing tools and processes, designed to improve efficiency and productivity, including: • Virtual reality tools to help technicians assemble equipment digitally and troubleshoot issues before construction begins; • Automation to boost efficiency on activities like welding, testing and material-handling; • Sensor-equipped machines that allow customers to view updates of manufacturing activities and equipment test results via an iPad in real-time. The sensors will also provide BHGE with critical data to improve operations and increase productivity; • 3D printers to help quickly develop fully-functional prototypes of components and highly complex structures, as well as actual production parts; • Laser measuring devices, including trackers and scanners, allowing engineers and designers to make better, faster measurements of components and improve equipment build accuracy.

R&D activities will focus on bringing new technologies to market that reduce costs, enhance productivity and lower the carbon footprint of oil and gas operations in some of the world’s most demanding offshore and onshore environments, including ultra-deep water, and high pressure-high temperature subsea wells.

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Subsea UK News | August 2018

The First Minister said: “Manufacturing, which employs more than 180,000 people in Scotland, is crucial to the success of our economy. Therefore I welcome the ambitious plans by BHGE to create a world-leading subsea centre of excellence in Montrose, supported by Scottish Government funding.

“This facility will bring new jobs and investment to Scotland. And as one of the most advanced centres of its type in the world, it will underline our international reputation for oil and gas innovation, developing the products and services the industry needs for the future.”

Graham Gillies, Vice President-Subsea Production Systems & Services, BHGE, said: “This is very welcome news for the oil and gas industry, and for the UK manufacturing sector in particular. We are investing in our facilities globally and our collaborative approach with Scottish Enterprise is a strong example of how we are supporting a more sustainable future for this industry. Subsea technology is undoubtedly one of the UK’s greatest export success stories, with industry-leading technology and solutions being designed and manufactured here, and installed across basins worldwide.

“The downturn has been immensely tough for all industry players and the world we operate in has fundamentally changed. We have to challenge ourselves to find more efficient, smarter ways to reduce cost and increase productivity, driving greater value for our customers. We also need to develop the skills of our existing workforce, and bring on the future generations to ensure we are wellpositioned and ready to adopt the new ways of working demanded by a pioneering digital manufacturing environment.”

Paul Lewis, managing director, Scottish Enterprise, added: “Scotland’s oil and gas industry, and in-particular the subsea sector, is in the vanguard of global industrial development in this field and BHGE is at the forefront. We are pleased to be able to support this exciting project which is testament to BHGE’s vision and ambition, and the company’s skilled and talented workforce here in Scotland.”

BUSINESS

MAATS Tech Secures Milestone Contract on World’s Largest Cable Vessel Carousel UK marine engineering company MAATS Tech has confirmed that it has been awarded the supply of a ground breaking deck spread by Nexans. The scope will be installed on a state of the art newbuild cable lay vessel the ‘Nexans Aurora’ scheduled to be delivered in Q2 2021.

The main item is a 10,000te cable carousel, which will be a concentric ‘carousel in a carousel’ design and therefore able to process 2 cables simultaneously, or alternatively it can store a single length weighing 10,000te. Other equipment includes a capstan hold back, two deck tensioners, laywheels and integrated control system.

The vessel has two firing lines and is primarily intended to lay submarine high voltage interconnectors and export cable systems as well as umbilical systems for Nexans customers.

MAATS Tech have enjoyed a dynamic relationship with Nexans, working closely together for around 18 months to achieve an innovative design. MAATS Tech Managing Director, Lisa Edwards, states: “We are very pleased to have worked with Nexans to get to this point and look forward to delivering the equipment for an exciting new vessel in this market.”

Knut Flage, Vessel operations Manager at Nexans said:

“The vessel is a significant and strategic investment for Nexans as it will increase our installation capacity, and securing the right supply chain criticalto toits itsfuture future isiscritical success as a key piece of the global cable lay industry.”

C-Kore Subsea Testing Units Successfully Deployed by PTTEP C-Kore Systems Ltd recently completed another successful deployment for PTTEP Australasia. The supplied C-Kore Subsea Testing units optimised the offshore operation, quickly bringing the field back on-line.

C-Kore’s Subsea Testing tools are used to monitor the health of electrical systems by measuring the insulation resistance and continuity directly onto assets subsea. They are easy to deploy and give quick, accurate results while eliminating the need to work with down-lines.

Tony Suphawat, Electrical & Instrument Engineer at PTTEP said:

“These excellent devices quickly located our fault, optimising our offshore operation. We now have our subsea system back on-line.”

Greg Smith, General Manager of C-Kore said: “The C-Kore units are designed to simplify subsea testing, so it is very satisfying to hear how the units save so much time and money on offshore operations.”

The C-Kore Tronic

Subsea UK News | August 2018

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BUSINESS Directors James Gregg and Dave Acton

Strong Motive to Overcomes Tough Times to Secure Award Win A leading North-east offshore services firm has come through its toughest three years to secure a respected business award.

Motive Offshore Group, which is headquartered in Boyndie, near Banff, specialises in the manufacture, rental and services of high quality marine equipment and associated services to the onshore and offshore oil and gas and marine industries.

Directors, James Gregg and Dave Acton, fought to drive the business through a challenging three years, against all the odds achieving its most successful financial year in 2017 since launching eight years ago.

The company was recently announced as the winner of the Business Success Over Three Years award at the Elevator Awards in Aberdeen in recognition of how they have steered the business through these tough times.

Facing real risk of closure in 2014/2015, the directors had the conviction they could trade out of the situation and through careful restructuring, with the support of Scottish Enterprise and KPMG, succeeded in surviving the downturn and turning the business towards a more financially secure position.

Managing Director, James Gregg, said: “We truly hit rock bottom during the oil downturn and we had a choice whether to sink or swim and we chose the latter. During this time, we were surrounded by

some fantastic experts who helped us to stabilise the business within a tough twelve-month period.

“Securing the Business Success award is a great accolade for Team Motive but we are very open and honest about the tough times we have faced and recognise that we were not alone, so we hope that our success story will help and inspire other struggling businesses to stay motivated and keep going.”

With its highest turnover to date in 2017 of £10million, Motive now employs 80 staff at its base in Boyndie and office in Dyce, Aberdeen, and is on track for an additional 20% growth in 2018. The company has also recently launched in Houston and is further expanding in the Middle East to meet client demand.

Caledonia Competence Achieves International ISO Accreditation Caledonia Competence has recently secured ISO 9001:2015 accreditation from awarding body QMS International.

Based in Westpoint House in Westhill, Caledonia Competence provides specialist services in personnel assessment and development.

Managing Director, Gavin Smith, launched the company in 2015 and believes that the certification will help the company to secure new business and further build on its success to date.

Their core services include the creation, support and audit of Competence Assurance Schemes which allow companies to assess the competence of their personnel against predetermined Standards, using evidence from their workplace.

Gavin said: “We

ISO accreditation will now allow Caledonia Competence to accelerate the growth strategy it has in place whilst ensuring that its consistently high levels of customer satisfaction are maintained.

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Subsea UK News | August 2018

are committed to delivering a first-class service to our clients, and our quality management system plays a key role in this.”

BUSINESS

The Underwater Centre Restructures and Launches New Closed Bell Training System with SPHL The Underwater Centre has recently restructured as a not-for-profit company, limited by guarantee, thanks to collaboration with subsea industry partners including Subsea 7, TechnipFMC and Premier Oil alongside help and support from Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Oil & Gas UK and Subsea UK. This restructure came as a result of immense effort to secure the training and trials Centre’s future and is something that will bring benefits to the subsea industry in the future.

Thanks to the significant support from the global oil and gas sector, The Underwater Centre has also relaunched its three-week closed bell diving course in Fort William that now includes a Self-Propelled Hyperbaric Lifeboat (SPHL) making them the only commercial diver training centre globally to offer these facilities.

Subsea 7 and TechnipFMC have provided technical support and conducted the refurbishment work alongside The Underwater Centre team, which was also project managed by Subsea 7 with close collaboration and support from TechnipFMC. The combined resources and collaboration between The Underwater Centre, Subsea 7 and TechnipFMC staff served as an example of working together as one team.

As well as refurbishing equipment, completely rebuilding the closed bell and adding the SPHL from Subsea 7’s decommissioned Rockwater 1, a vessel has been converted to create the new closed bell training vessel – renamed Deep Diver 1.

Having the SPHL facility available on The Underwater Centre’s closed bell courses will provide a more realistic training environment than was previously available, better preparing trainees for their future roles.

David McGhie, Managing Director of The Underwater Centre, said: “We

are now the only closed bell trainer in the world which has a self-propelled hyperbaric lifeboat. This is something our industry partners have been calling for and it demonstrates renewed confidence that the need for new saturation divers will be there for many years to come as a vital skill set for the subsea sector.

“The Underwater Centre continues to deliver realistic closed bell training that is industry focussed and the new saturation diving system combines fantastic equipment, industry support, the latest training techniques and current best practice to significantly enhance our saturation diver training.

Neil Gordon, chief executive of Subsea UK, said: “Subsea UK has been supporting The Underwater Centre, as one of our member companies, to work more closely with industry and the launch of the new SPHL training facility is great news which will ensure the centre remains the global diving centre of choice.”

Deep Diver 1 Closed Bell During Dive and Refurbished Closed Bell Undergoing Testing (Inset)

Subsea UK News | August 2018

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FEATURE ARTICLE

EMBRACING DIGITALISATI N IN SUBSEA SUBSEA UK NEWS TALKS TO KEVIN WHOOLEY, VP OF STRATEGY AND DEVELOPMENT AT WOOD, ABOUT THE NEXT PHASE OF SUBSEA’S INFORMATION REVOLUTION.

There is an increasing realisation across the industry that in today’s challenging market environment, integrated digitalisation is no longer optional. By leveraging the latest digital technology, companies can make significant cost savings and improvements in collaboration and productivity. Subsea UK sat down with Kevin Whooley, vice president of strategy and development at Wood to discuss how embracing digital technologies could help to restructure the subsea services value chain for years to come.

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Subsea UK News | August 2018

COMPARED TO OTHER INDUSTRIES, THE SUBSEA OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY HAS BEEN SLOW TO ADOPT DIGITALISATION, WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS? As an industry, especially from a subsea perspective, we’ve always embraced new technology. If you look back over the past 40 years, we have figured out how to design almost every permutation of subsea systems possible, allowing us to push the boundaries, in deeper, colder and ever harsher environments.

However, there hasn’t always been a compelling business case to go digital.

Currently we see a confluence of both market need and digital innovation.

The recent downturn, coupled with the increasingly competitive market, means we are thinking smarter and leaner. Ten years ago, digital capability was limited (the iPhone was released in 2007), but recently the pace of digital innovation is generating interesting and disruptive technologies.

Five years ago, shale and renewable technologies (with the exception of offshore wind) were in their infancy.

However, now, the subsea industry is realising it has some serious competition and to drive costs down further, it must wake up to and embrace the benefits of digitalisation. If an operator’s subsea projects are stacked up against shale projects, whichever is the most economically advantageous will take priority. So, as an industry we need to figure out how to make our projects sustainably competitive, not just today, but going forward. The landscape is changing and in order to keep up, the subsea industry must get on board and enter the new digital era.

DIGITALISATION IN SUBSEA

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY ARE THE MAIN BENEFITS OF ADOPTING DIGITALISATION? Digitalisation is an enabling technology.

It’s enabling the industry to take a fresh approach to how it delivers projects and operates subsea assets more cost effectively, allowing us to take a leap forward, accelerating delivery and activities in a way that is just as safe and reliable, if not more so.

For all companies, digitalisation will offer opportunities to improve workflow efficiency through process digitalisation, automation, integration and visualisation; leading to reductions in service cost as a benefit, from amongst other things, being able to accelerate through pre-engineering and engineering phases. Companies with data analytics capability and access to integrated information networks will see benefits around equipment performance and forecasting. Benefits will accrue in operations also through the use of smart inspection and monitoring.

We expect that digitalisation will mainly yield advantages through service efficiency improvements, or optimisation, and build on the cost reduction efforts that the industry has achieved in recent years. However, technologies such as robotics and AUV offer potentially more disruptive solutions because they represent a substitutive solution. For example they are transforming how we carry out routine underwater inspection making it quicker and costing a fraction of more traditional methods.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY ARE THE MAIN BARRIERS TO DIGITALISATION? I think there are four primary barriers to the adoption of digitalisation. Change is often driven by mind-set - there has to be a willingness to adapt and try something different. Some would argue that oil and gas is a conservative industry, but we have pushed the barriers, especially subsea – we’ve pioneered many technical breakthroughs. Whether we like it or not, digitalisation is happening, so we need to accept the disruption it’s going to cause.

Another issue is capability. Digitalisation is bringing and requiring a new set of skills.

For example, in our subsea business we typically organise our teams by the disciplines associated with a subsea design (e.g. structures, pipeline etc). I see data analytics, data mining, data visualisation and software coding as disciplines of future project teams. Companies need to invest in upskilling existing

talent if we want to leverage the benefits of digitalisation. Which leads on to another related challenge - attracting talent - a lot of which will, in today’s skills landscape, come from out with our industry.

Finally, a key challenge to encouraging the supply chain to develop new digital solutions is to remove existing information barriers. Traditionally, the industry’s mindset has always been to restrict information access, but we need to change this position because the more we share as a sector, the more ideas and solutions will be generated.

Some operators are already doing this; specifically, some operators are forming ‘data lakes’ that integrate their existing live information networks and opening these up to the supply chain. Joint industry projects (JIPs) are a great example of how operators can collaborate to share information. For example, Wood’s SEAR JIP in Australia has clearly demonstrated the benefits around sharing information about subsea equipment performance and integrity.

We need to address each of these barriers that stand in the way if we are to have a sustainable future for the industry.

HOW IS WOOD EMBRACING DIGITALISATION? I think it’s about looking at how we leverage the combined benefits of 40 years of subsea experience and knowledge with the benefits of digitalisation to transform the design and delivery of projects and how we operate subsea assets.

Digitalising all of our project knowledge will give us the ability to provide operators with more reliable benchmarks of proven designs from similar successful projects. This enables design replication and standardisation, making use of digital catalogues, which supports quicker, well informed decision making during the concept evaluation phase.

For example, by digitalising 2000+ flexible riser designs into a riser screen tool our riser engineers can now very quickly determine a suitable riser system for a given location with minimal input criteria.

However, the design of a project is typically only 10% of its total installed cost; therefore, our second focus area is looking at how digitalisation can reduce the cost of construction and installation of subsea systems. We are exploring areas such as information management, creating a single source of truth, installation optimisation and advanced work planning.

Immediately we see significant opportunity in the subsea

operations and integrity management space to help operators reduce OPEX. By strengthening our capability in data analytics and artificial intelligence, our digital solutions are helping operators better visualise and understand the current and future performance of their assets and systems.

In particular there is a lot of interesting work ongoing in the area of equipment failure prediction and loss of containment that has enabled operators to considerably reduce or defer subsea inspection. Our recently announced collaboration with IBM will help Wood accelerate what we do in this area and in many other aspects of digitalisation.

Similarly, by using robotics, AUVs, new camera technology and subsea monitoring systems, there’s a great opportunity for the industry to reduce inspection costs by 50% and more. If you look at a subsea operation, one of the biggest costs is the inspection vessel. If we can carry out the programme with robotic technology, we can significantly drive down the cost of the operation. It’s about looking at how we use the data captured to remove the need for a vessel, and make the best use of AUV technology.

And, if a vessel is required, we look at ways to optimise the performance using technology like LiDAR and new camera technology.

Digitalisation is a huge tipping point for the industry. We’re on the cusp of something truly transformational. I believe that if we pioneer the possibilities of digitalisation now, in five years’ time the way we design, deliver and run subsea projects will be radically different.

BUSINESS

New Brimmond Group Animation Showcases Benefits Brought to Subsea and Decommissioning Sectors Brimmond Group are delighted to announce and unveil a new animation video showcasing its modern marine crane rental fleet. Designed by Robin Hall’s PolyWRX Digital Media, it showcases the various applications that the rental cranes can be used for in the subsea and decommissioning sectors and the benefits that they can bring.

The animation pays particular detail and attention to the Effer 175000-6S, one of the largest knuckle boom marine cranes available for rental in Europe, and displays its multiple uses in an offshore environment. This includes the stacking of recovered mattresses on the deck of a decommissioning project vessel in a neat, efficient and safe manner, which can result in reduced main crane utilisation.

It also highlights the ease that the knuckle boom crane can be disassembled and assembled, as the design of the crane allows it

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Subsea UK News | August 2018

to be installed/uninstalled in sections keeping the maximum lift to a minimum. When installed onto a platform the crane is shown to be ideal for carrying out platform and vessel to platform lifts. Heavy lifting is also performed without the need to keep expensive vessels on site.

The animation is available to watch on Brimmond Group’s website, www.brimmond-group.com.

BUSINESS

Ocean Power Technologies Signs Contract with Premier Oil for a PowerBuoy™ Deployment in the Central North Sea Ocean Power Technologies has announced that it has signed a contract with Premier Oil, to supply a PowerBuoy™ for deployment within the Huntington Field in the North Sea. The agreement calls for a nine-month lease with an initial three-month trial, then an extension upon successful completion of the trial. The project is expected to start in June of 2018 and deployment is anticipated for October of 2018.

The OPT PowerBuoy™ will serve as a self-sustaining intelligent platform to provide communications and remote monitoring services.

During the deployment, Premier Oil will utilise the PowerBuoy™ for surveillance, generating power, and monitoring safety while driving toward maximum cost efficiency.

The project is also backed by the Aberdeen-based Oil & Gas Technology Centre (OGTC), which has provided co-funding, support and technical input.

Chris Pearson, Small Pools Solution Centre Manager for the Oil & Gas Technology Centre, said: “The PowerBuoy™ is an exciting technology and the project represents the first time that a wave power device is being deployed on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf on an oil and gas development. The system can provide monitoring to safeguard subsea safety zones and generate power with a view to operate subsea assets, meaning it fits well with our focus on reducing the cost of decommissioning and unlocking small pools.”

George H. Kirby, President and Chief Executive Officer of OPT, said: “For

the second time in less than four months, we have signed a contract for the lease of a PowerBuoy™ in the offshore oil and gas market.

This commercial contract is a breakthrough for OPT and reflects our continuing commitment to support customers where decommissioning activities can benefit from an autonomous solution for surveillance and monitoring. We’re pleased to be working with OGTC, and we look forward to helping Premier Oil advance its safe operational excellence in the North Sea through this phase of the project, as well as potentially other oil and gas operators around the world.”

In parallel with this deployment, Premier Oil is considering another longer-term deployment where the PowerBuoy™ would be utilised to power and communicate with subsea well control modules. Planning for this phase would commence in late 2018, with potential installation in the summer of 2019.

This is the second OPT contract with an offshore oil and gas operator this year.

Together, these Agreements provide the potential for over $3.1 million in revenues through, PowerBuoysTM purchases, pre-trial work, trial deployments, service, and support.

Subsea UK News | August 2018

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BUSINESS

Infinity Secures Series of Contracts from UKCS Operators Independent engineering company Infinity has seen record growth following the award of multiple contracts from three UK North Sea Operators.

The projects will see Infinity support on pre-FEED & FEED subsea developments providing production assurance and subsea design expertise on behalf of the clients.

The project wins come amid a period of sustained growth for Infinity who have added a further four engineers to their team in recent

months. To support this success, Infinity’s engineering division has moved to larger premises in Westhill, Aberdeenshire and it is expected that an additional 10 employees will be recruited over the next 12 months. In what has proven to be an exciting time for the company, Infinity’s combination of client focussed solutions and independent company status has led to a substantial upturn in subsea project awards. This has contributed to a record-breaking year to date turnover and a positive forecast for the company.

Andy MacGill, Engineering Director at Infinity, said: “As

From left to right – Mark Banks (Business Development Director), Andy MacGill (Engineering Director), Joao Conde (Flow Assurance & Process Manager)

an independent engineering company Infinity provide bespoke engineering solutions tailored to our client’s needs. Our approach has been well received within the market and demonstrated by the latest project awards from existing and new clients.

We are excited to continue to grow our team and capabilities in the coming months and years.’’

Global Technical Engineering Consultancy & Recruitment Specialists Well Engineering . Subsea . Subsurface . Production

Providing contractor and permanent recruitment support services to the global subsea industry.

Avanteq Ltd 1st Floor, Suite 2, Seabrokers House, Prospect Road Arnhall Business Park, Westhill, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, AB32 6FE 12

Subsea UK News | August 2018

forward@avanteq.com +44 (0)1224 766966 avanteq.com

GROWTH

The Flow of Time: A History of Subsea Flowmetering Litre Meter, specialists in flow measurement engineering, have come a long way since 1985.

Follow their journey of design through the decades.

France 1985 The first custom design involved the LM pelton wheel. A compact product was required for installation on a submarine. The pelton wheel is a radial turbine meter type suitable for low viscosity liquids and, in this incarnation, with a stainless steel body rated to 20 bar internal pressure and capable of 0.1 to 28 l/min.

North Sea 1993 For a simple solution to the flotation and righting of an offshore vessel two VFF 4 flowmeters were designed with subsea totaliser displays. The VFF4 was the original VFF flowmeter size capable of measurement, at that time, of 4 l/minute as they were fitted with carbon graphite rotors. A simple reed switch sensor was used. With a battery powered LCD display mounted behind a clear acrylic window the diver were able to assess the amount of hydraulic fluid being used and thereby the angle of the platform as it slowly rotated from itís horizontal transport position. The challenge was to design a compact subsea display against a tight cost restraint.

Subsea Visual Rate Display 2005 → By upgrading an existing turbine design Litre Meter engineers were able to add a submersible battery powered display for use by an ROV mounted camera.

Starting with a standard topsides meter a subsea collar was welded on. Then a stainless steel canister was constructed with a heavy duty acrylic window to withstand the pressure at 800m external depth. A large height LCD rate and total instrument was incorporated. As the turbine used a magnetic sensor requiring no power, a simple battery powered solution was provided to the client. Flow rates were typically 5 to 90 l/min of water but the design has been incorporated in to Turbine flow meter for subsea duty different size turbines since. with battery powered LCD totaliser

Subsea Valve 2006 → The VFF meter in itís various sizes were becoming more and more popular for chemical injection particularly at high pressures and low flows. The MF15 was redesigned as the LF15. This enabled a higher accuracy, lower flow ability and crucially a smaller chamber diameter. This, in turn, allowed a more compact meter design at the same pressure or, usefully, a higher pressure rating for a specific cap diameter.

With an expected lifetime of 30 years all efforts were made to increase the ability of the rotor and chamber. Testing proved that 90 litres per hour was the new maximum flow with its refined design and coating.

North Sea 2013 Apart from the Pelton Wheel, turbine and VFF rotary piston flowmeter designs there are other meter types that an provide a significant design benefit to subsea modification. The ZHM gear meter offers a wide range and high pulse output rate. A SubConn subsea connector was incorporated and a high pressure 690bar design modified for 0.3 to 6 litres per minute. The application was again chemical injection and 409 bar was the external rating.

ZHM positive displacement gear meter for subsea use

1992 Challenger Oceanic Litre Meter contributed a plastic bodied LM pelton wheel. The internal and external pressures were identical so the plastic housing was quite strong enough with simple hose connections. The electronics, however, was inside a submersible pod where the pressure was 1 bar. To withstand the pressure differential (300bar, 3000m) the sensor wall, thin for good signal acceptance, was constructed in a titanium alloy, previously purposed for the nose cone of a Harrier Jump Jet.

1996 Heron and Egret As Litre Meter extended itís capability with increased design freedom internal pressures increased to 690bar. The smallest meter at the time, the MF15, was selected, again with a carbon graphite rotor. The next problem was designing for 300 bar external pressure and provide a loop powered 4-20mA output with a customer specified Tronic connector. Two sensors were utilised with a well designed electronic board that provided redundancy by continuous monitoring each sensor. A stainless steel housing was constructed incorporating the connector and fully O-ring sealed.

The housing was tested by Sira at 300bar.

VFF MF15 for subsea duty with 4-20mA loop powered output

2006 Galley Tieback Hydraulics measurement was needed, in a very specific envelope. The fluid was Castrol Brayco running at a wide ranging 1 to 50 litres per hour. Internal pressure was up to 414bar and the external pressure was 20bar.

A 4-20mA loop powered electronics was integrated within a cylindrical housing and utilised a Tronic connector.

2012 North Sea The VFF4, when specified with a PVD coated Nitronic rotor and chamber, can measure up to 8 litres per minute. With a pressure rating of 300 bar (external and internal) a compact 3 wire 4-20mA meter was designed with 1/2” NPT connections. Hydraulics footprinting was then possible subsea. A Seacon Micro Wet-Con 4 pin connector was utilised with dual reed switches for redundancy.

Field not known.

2015 → North Sea When a clean sheet of paper is used then a streamlined solution can result. The subsea turbine flow meter developed for hydraulics measurement from 3 to 33 l/min (HM009) is typical of this approach. The turbine blades are standard whilst the sensor and Canbus electronics board are encapsulated by welding into the integral stainless steel housing. The customer specified subsea connector provides easy integration electronically. Internally, the meter can withstand 1,035 bar (tested to 1550 bar, 22,500 psi) and externally the specification allows for 300 bar.

HM turbine flowmeter for subsea use in two common configurations

Subsea UK News | August 2018

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GROWTH

Trelleborg Focuses on Accelerating Technological Breakthroughs at its Expanded R&D Centre Trelleborg Sealing Solutions has expanded its research and development capabilities at its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. Housed at the new Trelleborg Sealing Solutions Innovation Center, the facility is a critical element in the business area’s global R&D network. Substantial investment in the Innovation Center has seen usable space for R&D increased by 50%, to around 3,000 square metres, including a 300 square metre showroom area dedicated to the department and demonstrating R&D and product innovation capabilities.

Prof. Dr. Konrad Saur, Director Global R&D at Trelleborg Sealing Solutions, says: “Innovation is not only about new products and materials, but advancements in analytical and technical capabilities to support problem resolution and to accelerate technological breakthroughs.”

The new Innovation Center in Stuttgart will host laboratories with the latest analytical equipment and measurement centres, next to innovation and prototype facilities, as well as a major test area with a fully equipped tool room and a materials laboratory. The capabilities will range from standard mechanical testing to material analytics, including Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Digital Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, to a highly advanced high-resolution Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) with an Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX).

fundamental research of sealing designs and interactions in sealing systems, as well as root cause and failure analysis in production and from the field.

“Customer and field problems resolution is one key service expectation we have. With the new and integrated capabilities in our Innovation Center, Trelleborg Sealing Solutions will continue to make major steps in exceeding our customers’ expectations. Competence counts particularly when it comes to problem resolution and we intend to be there for our customers - always.”

The new Innovation Center is also home to the Trelleborg Sealing Solutions global headquarters, its German headquarters and various global support departments for the business area. Personnel have begun moving into the Innovation Center and its official opening is planned for September 2018.

Saur continues: “With such capabilities working in combination, complex problems can be assessed and brought to resolution rapidly. No time is lost shipping samples from lab to lab, turnaround times and iterative assessment are enabled as cross-functional competencies work directly together. These capabilities support material and product development efforts,

Trelleborg Sealing Solutions has extended its R&D capabilities at its headquarters in Stuttgart

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Subsea UK News | August 2018

Webtool’s new machining centre in Accrington has reduced manufacturing lead times

Allspeeds Streamlines Webtool Manufacture with £150,000 Investment Hydraulic tools specialist, Allspeeds, has invested over £150,000 in a new vertical machining centre at its Accrington manufacturing facility in Lancashire. The Hartford Plug & Play Series MVP-16 will streamline production of larger Webtool cutting tools, significantly reducing manufacturing lead times.

Webtool hydraulic cutting tools are used by ROVs, as well as in integrated systems for IWOCS emergency disconnection and other applications. Webtool is one of the few cutters capable of providing rapid simultaneous cutting of umbilical multiple fluid transfer jumpers, electrical lines and tension wire assemblies. In maritime applications the cutters are a key feature of winch and towline emergency cutting systems.

“The MVP-16 is a step-change in our production capability for handling large cutting tool projects,” said Keith Elliot, managing director, Allspeeds Ltd. “In addition to its increased machining capacity, the Intelligent Machining Centre will allow us to reduce product development times by integrating it with our design software to provide a completely integrated CAM environment.”

Webtool hydraulic cutting tools range in size from the cut loop cutter for 9mm diameter pipe to the heavy-duty submarine cable cutter for up to 450mm diameter cables, umbilicals and flexible risers. They provide a rapid guillotine type cutting action to provide a clean cut within seconds of being activated.

The Webtool range of high performance cutting tools is designed and manufactured exclusively by Allspeeds Ltd in the UK.

MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Market Activity Report Q2 2018

Using the market intelligence tool, SubseaIntel, we have compiled this report covering the latest oil & gas developments worldwide.

North Sea The Oil and Gas Authority Launches 31st Offshore Licensing Round

South America The Liza Phase 1 Development Advances

From $65 a barrel towards the end of March, the oil price has improved – reaching almost $75 a barrel by the end of the second quarter. Oil and gas production is set to increase going forward with significant opportunities on the UK Continental Shelf and the Norwegian Shelf in both mature and less explored areas. Brazil’s competitive subsea sector continues to thrive with operators competing amongst each other in recent licensing rounds. Improved data and new work methods are helping bring in more profitable discoveries. The renewables sector continues to develop with the European Offshore Windfarm Deployment Centre in North East Scotland already generating first power and the United States Revolution Wind 400-megawatt offshore wind farm project pushing to get underway.

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Subsea UK News | August 2018

North Sea The Oil and Gas Authority Launches 31st Offshore Licensing Round The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) launched it’s 31st Licensing Round, which offers blocks in frontier areas of the UKCS. 1766 blocks are currently available across the UKCS, including but not limited to the West of Scotland, the Mid North Sea High and the English Channel, which is covered by over 80,000km of premium seismic data which is available to any interested parties.

The government-funded seismic data and reports were released ahead of this licensing round to further fuel interest in these basins yet to be fully explored and to support companies in their search.

The data and reports, which are available for download from the OGA Data Centre, include geological maps for specific regions and a report on the Liassic’s hydrocarbon potential. This latest Licensing Round follows the recent success of the 30th Offshore Licensing Round in May, where 61 companies were awarded 123 licenses for 229 blocks within the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).

MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Norwegian Sea Many Developments and High Exploration Activity on Norwegian Shelf

Asia-Pacific West Africa

Ninth Discovery Offshore Sarawak for Sapura Energy

New Oil Discovery for Eni Offshore Angola

The deadline for applications for blocks on offer in the 31st Licensing Round is 7th November 2018, where decisions are expected to be made early 2019.

and developments to increase recovery from producing fields. As of 30th June, 83 fields were operational on the Norwegian Shelf, and there have been 86 new development wells drilled so far this year. No new fields have commenced production yet, but Aasta Hansteen is scheduled to start up production later in the year.

Norwegian Sea Many Developments and High Exploration Activity on Norwegian Shelf There are currently 20 projects under development on the Norwegian Shelf, with six discoveries being produced from 13 exploration wells in the first half of 2018. According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), around 115 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of oil equivalents (o.e.) has been produced so far this year. However, this is still almost 4.5 million Sm3 o.e. lower than the first half of 2017, with technical problems on certain fields and a somewhat colder winter, amongst other reasons, resulting in reduced production.

The NPD wants to make sure that all parts of the industry remain active, exploring every possible prospect to achieve the highest value from oil and gas deposits on the Norwegian Shelf, and it is crucial that companies sustain high levels of exploration activity

South America The Liza Phase 1 Development Advances With development drilling beginning in May, ExxonMobil’s Liza Phase 1 Development on the Stabroek Block Guyana is swiftly making headway. A 17-well is planned with a production start-up targeted for 2020. ExxonMobil and its partners have, to date, discovered more than 3.2 billion oil-equivalent barrels in estimated recoverable resources.

Liza Phase 1 is anticipated to generate over USD 7 billion (£5.4bn) for Guyana in royalty and profit revenues, and other development projects currently being planned will bring in added benefits.

Approximately 50% of ExxonMobil’s employees, contractors and

Subsea UK News | August 2018

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MARKET INTELLIGENCE West Africa

subcontractors are Guyanese, and as the project continues to move forward, this number will increase. The project involves converting an oil tanker into a FPSO vessel, as well as creating four subsea drill centres with 17 production wells. 12 countries are already contributing to the construction of the FPSO and subsea equipment. The FPSO vessel, named Liza Destiny, has been designed to produce up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd), while a second FPSO will have a production capacity of 220,000 bopd which will be part of the Phase 2 development.

The 6.6 million acres the Stabroek Block is operated by ExxonMobil’s affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, and its partners are Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana Limited.

Asia-Pacific Ninth Discovery Offshore Sarawak for Sapura Energy Sapura Exploration and Production (Sarawak) Inc. announced, in June, its ninth gas discovery offshore Sarawak. It comes after the 2017 drilling campaign was completed as part of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) of the high volume SK408 gas field development. Upon being drilled, the exploration well Pepulat-1, located offshore Bintulu, came across high quality reservoir. This latest gas discovery adds to Sapura E&P and its partners’ success in the substantial SK408 area where they continue to explore, and it marks another important milestone for the exploration operator who with their partners announced their plans to develop the Bakong, Gorek and Larak fields within the SK408 gas field development.

New Oil Discovery for Eni Offshore Angola In June, Eni announced a new oil discovery in the Kalimba exploration prospect, deep offshore Angola. It is estimated that this discovery in Block 15/06 contains between 230 and 300 million barrels of light oil in place.

The Kalimba-1 NFW well was drilled by The West Gemini in a water depth of 458 metres, reaching 1901 metres total depth, leading to the discovery. The data that was required from the well revealed a production capacity of over 5,000 bopd. The Kalimba discovery opens the door to new oil exploration opportunities in the Southern part of Block 15/06, which has considered to be mainly gas prone. As a result, there is the likelihood of adding increased value in the block. Eni’s Joint Venture with Sonangol P&P and SSI Fifteen Limited will assess the new potential following the discovery and will begin the analysis and research to speed up its development.

The next start-ups in block 15/06 this year will be the Upper Miocene, in the East Hub, and the Subsea Boosting System for the Mpungi field, located in the West Hub Development Project. The Vandumbu field, which will be connected to the West Hub, is expected to start production at the end of 2018, ahead of schedule. These start-ups will add further 30,000 barrels of oil to the overall production from Block 15/06, which in 2019 will exceed 170,000 bopd gross.

Sapura E&P has working interest with partners PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd and Sarawak Shell Berhad.

Further Information This market intelligence tool is free to Subsea UK members The information contained in this report was gathered using SubseaIntel For more details visit www.subseaintel.com

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Subsea UK News | August 2018

NSRI UPDATE

NSRI MatchmakerTM Database Enabling Opportunities in the ‘Blue Economy’ for Companies The National Subsea Research Initiative (NSRI) has updated its MatchmakerTM service to help subsea companies identify opportunities presented by the blue economy.

MatchmakerTM offers a portal, that now includes the Wave and Tidal sectors.

Scottish Enterprise has predicted that the UK subsea industry will be worth £140bn by 2035. Key to this growth will be the industry’s willingness to diversify. NSRI has identified several technology areas which are common across the sectors and could unlock opportunities and enhance the supply chain.

The MatchmakerTM database is made up of seven blue economy industry sectors; oil and gas, offshore wind, subsea mining, wave energy, tidal energy, defence and ocean science. Each of these industries then has themes to explore with companies, organisations, universities and research institutes featured.

Tony Laing, director of research and market acceleration at NSRI,

NSRI has identified nine core common themes across the blue economy and accepts there are others.

“A report issued by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2016 estimates that the blue economy will have a gross added value of more than $3 trillion by 2030; this highlights the massive opportunities which exist in these industries.

Our MatchmakerTM database is a unique platform for companies to identify these opportunities and secure working relationships with the correct organisations, to ensure that the UK subsea industry continues to thrive.”

said: “The

Test Facilities

System Integration

Safety

Numerical Modelling

S SUB EA

Environmental

MA

subsea industry’s successes in oil and gas are well documented and will continue to be a very important sector for the industry, however the recognition of the opportunity across a much wider subsea industrial base is significant. The growing blue economy in the UK is an opportunity which subsea companies cannot afford to miss.

“Marine energy, defence, subsea mining and aquaculture are all sectors which provide opportunities for subsea companies to showcase their expertise. Much of the remote operation and data management technology already in use across the industry can be beneficial across these sectors, they present an opportunity to develop existing technology and encourage innovation. This is particularly the case as society advances through the era of digitalisation to the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence.”

TC

Materials

Integrity

Marine Operations

R TM

The NSRI MatchmakerTM service provides easy access to partner end users with technology researchers, developers, testers and deployers. The online platform has been updated to include industries associated with the wider blue economy, to ensure that subsea companies, particularly those traditionally associated with oil and gas, can leverage their full potential across multiple sectors.

H M A KE

Control & Monitoring Sensors & Instruments

Offshore Survey Fabrication The focal point for subsea research and development in the UK

E: info@nsri.co.uk T: +44 (0)845 505 3535

www.nsri.co.uk

30 Abercrombie Court Prospect Road Westhill Aberdeenshire AB32 6FE

Offshore Construction

Mechanical Design

For more information or to use the MatchmakerTM service visit: www.matchmaker.nsri.co.uk

TECHNOLOGY

Aberdeen Tech Start-up sets Record Time for Subsea Scanning Saving Operator 50% of Project Cost An Aberdeenshire technology start-up company has produced 3D scan data for a major North Sea Operator saving them 50% of the usual cost.

Viewport3, based in Ellon were contracted to work in collaboration with N-Sea on a project, to carry out subsea scanning of multiple locations at a North Sea based semi-submersible in order to collect 3D data to enable cofferdam design and construction.

Typically, divers would provide this data, however the Photogrammetry technique utilised by Viewport3 provides data accurate to less than a millimetre and is far quicker. On this project

View of the colour 3D output from subsea scan

the data was collected in eight days rather than a more typical 20 days. The longest capture session at one site was just two hours and 30 minutes. Onboard review of pointcloud data enabled early analysis and confirmation the site was fully captured.

The technique uses ROV mounted digital cameras to obtain point cloud scans, eliminating the need for additional hardware, logistics and bed space which all provides cost savings.

Richard Drennan, Director and Co-Founder of Viewport3 said: “We helped to deliver a dense dataset, accurate to less than a millimetre, which was beyond the stated requirement.

“The process is becoming the industry’s go-to technology for 3D scanning underwater, largely due to the simplicity of the capture process. Because of this, it can also be carried out at short notice which means we can collect and produce data sets within extremely tight operating deadlines.”

“N-Sea’s world-class approach to problem solving was the perfect platform for our technology.

“With our process, we can also 3D print the results, create 3D scenes for meeting room visualisations, and give the dive company an option to use Virtual Reality to train their divers for the installation phase, allowing them to effectively “swim” around during the job planning phase, without leaving dry land. This means the whole site is familiar to them, before they go into the water.”

David Hamill, N-Sea Business Development Manager, said: “As an innovative and forward-thinking company, we are always looking for ways to develop our expertise and assets to offer the best possible service to our clients. Utilising Viewport3’s subsea scanning expertise during this project has been hugely beneficial for our team.

“In a first for both companies and a great example of local collaboration, our joint approach resulted in time and cost savings for the client. It has also given us a great platform from which we can continue to trial and refine utilising this innovative technology on future projects in a mutually beneficially way.”

TenzorGeo Supply Seismic Solution to Isolated Small Pools The UKCS has 3 billion barrels in technically recoverable, but stranded resource, in small pools. At current exploration rates, it would take 14 years and 500 wells to discover this same volume. As an ultra-mature region, this level of discovered resource can no longer be ignored.

Small pools have been overlooked previously due to the challenges they present which makes them not economically viable. However, exploiting them could significantly aid maximising the economic recovery from the UK’s offshore oil and gas resources (MER). New technology is at the core of the solution, holding the potential to help unlock these small pools.

Aberdeen based company, TenzorGeo, specialists in micro seismic surveying, are part of this new solution with the design and development of their new technology.

A challenge operators face in exploration is the unknown and the associated time and financial implications that brings when drilling new wells, especially in the case of small pools.

TenzorGeo’s technology mitigates the risk of oil and gas exploration of small pools by in its simplest form, providing increased accuracy of what’s going on subsurface to aid decision making related to drilling.

Based on geophysical and sonar principles, it combines micro-seismic

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Subsea UK News | August 2018

data acquisition and interpretation to precisely locate hydro-carbon deposits.

TenzorGeo’s technology is not a replacement to the conventional methods currently being utilised but is an add-on service that gives additional data to confirm what it has found. This extra layer of certainty helps to support making the right drilling decisions and ensure viable projects. The improvement in accuracy offers a significant potential saving of millions.

So how does it work? Ocean Bottom Seismometer specialist equipment is designed to reliably record low-frequency signals. They are deployed from vessels in a free-fall fashion and reliably record low-frequency signals on the seabed before an automatic resurfacing system allows the units to be recovered and the data collected. A high precision report is then compiled for drilling.

So far, the technology has been used onshore with commercial success in Russia, India and Latin America since 2010 and has also been successfully tested in coastal waters.

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Lunch and Learn: Sellafield Decommissioning Opportunities 6 September 2018 Aberdeen, UK

Underwater Vehicles Conference 11 September 2018 Aberdeen, UK

Subsea UK Networking Dinner

Subsea UK at WindEnergy Hamburg

18 September 2018 London, UK

25-28 September 2018 Hamburg, Germany

Oil and Gas Conference

Marine Autonomy: Current Reality and Future Aspirations

4 October 2018 Newton Aycliffe, UK

Life of Field Conference 6 November 2018 Bristol, UK

11 October 2018 Southampton, UK

Back to the Future of Subsea 22 November 2018 Woking, UK

These are some of Subsea UK’s events but please visit our website for full details of all forthcoming events.

www.subseauk.com

TECHNOLOGY

Expro Donates Interactive Learning Technology to Primary School Leading international oilfield services company, Expro, has partnered up with an Aberdeenshire primary school to donate £1,500 of interactive learning technology – bringing learning to life for nearly 450 school pupils.

Strathburn Primary School in Inverurie launched its ‘Coding Club’, for children in primaries four to seven, which focuses on building the knowledge and skills of coding in order to deliver the next generation of digital creators.

Expro’s funding will supply Lego WeDo 2.0 sets that allow the children to design, build and control their devices to complete a range of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) challenges. The Apple Parrot drones are used by the older children to programme flight paths, manoeuvres and even aerobatic tricks for the drones to perform in order to complete set challenges - or just to impress!

Commenting on the school partnership, Andy Gould, IT Solutions Architect for Expro, said: “In an increasingly digital age, the knowledge and skills of coding are becoming more important for our next generation of school children. We have seen the demand for apps and technology in the workplace increase exponentially, therefore future generations who can build/develop these will have a significant career advantage.

“The equipment we’ve donated to the new coding club harnesses the enthusiasm shown by the pupils, allowing them to build their skills and confidence in this area. It’s been inspiring to see them embrace this technology so quickly, often outperforming the adults in the room!”

Cara Hay, Depute Head Teacher at Strathburn Primary School, added: “We are extremely grateful to Expro for its generous donation towards the development of our Coding Club. We’re thrilled that the company sees the potential of pupils, alongside the broader benefit our project brings to the curriculum.

“With this support, I’ve no doubt that our students will develop their digital literacy skills and become the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates.”

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Subsea UK News | August 2018

TECHNOLOGY

Fathom Systems Drives Towards an HD Future

fNET and HD video technology

Subsea innovators Fathom Systems have recently launched a new wave of products ready for deployment. Established in 2005 and with a reputation as a trusted supplier of life monitoring and potentially lifesaving equipment, the team at Fathom Systems are bringing an HD future to the subsea, oil and gas industry.

Marine, underwater and offshore locations can now be supplied with HD quality digital video systems. Achieved through the use of best-inclass HD IP Network cameras, digital viewing/recording software and another new addition, fNET modem technology.

Gareth Kerr, Managing Director said: “With our fNET technology, high bandwidth, video and audio streams can be sent over twisted pairs, coaxes or even power cables of up to 1km. The result is that you can exploit pre-existing cables and infrastructure, and yet achieve HD quality video solutions in any environment. Underwater, hyperbaric and even brownfield infrastructures once considered impractical for upgrade, can now enter the HD world.”

The innovation does not stop there, with black box feature and “Edge” recording cameras, live streaming of footage can be accessed anywhere in the world.

Stuart Falcus, Commercial Manager said: “This is a game changer for our industry. The ability to record, store and stream HD quality video without the necessity for a full-scale rewiring, not only saves money, but reduces the installation time for these systems.

Factor in bespoke display software, this will without doubt, have a positive safety impact along with substantial operational benefits.”

Seatronics Increase Investment in Teledyne Marine Pipe Tracking Technology Seatronics, an Acteon company, global leaders in the rental and sale of marine electronic equipment has increased its investment in Teledyne Marine pipe tracking technology with the purchase of a HydroPACT 660 system to add to Seatronics’ extensive global rental fleet.

The new, compact HydroPACT 660 sports a single small form factor coil array measuring 1,200mm x 600mm at a weight of only 15.8kg that offers an operating range of greater than 85% of that of the significantly larger HydroPACT 440 system. This smaller and lighter coil array has been designed to help reduce the operating cost of subsea pipe surveys by allowing the use of smaller classes of underwater remotely operated vehicles.

The HydroPACT 660 operates to 3,000m depth, and is offered with two different power options: 24VDC or 110VAC. The installation, operating routines and information displays are identical to those used on the 440 system, utilising the user-friendly, comprehensive DeepView operating software.

Derek Donaldson, VP Global Operations, Seatronics, said:

“The investment in the new HydroPACT 660 system was a clear choice for Seatronics. Our customers have trust in the Teledyne Marine products and we have seen significant interest in their range of pipe tracking solutions. The purchase is yet another example of Seatronics’ continued dedication to providing our global customers with innovative subsea technologies from industry leading manufacturers.”

“We are delighted to have supplied to Seatronics our new HydroPACT 660 Pipe Tracking Detection systems,” said William Egan, VP Sales & Marketing, Instruments & Imaging, Teledyne Marine. “This order reflects the demand for adaption of new technology within the proven, easy to operate, accurate and comprehensive range of pipe and cable detection equipment. The HydroPACT 660 has been designed to help reduce the cost of subsea pipe surveys by allowing the use of smaller classes of ROVs.”

Subsea UK News | August 2018

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TECHNOLOGY

Australia’s Safest Ever Submarine Rescue System goes into Service The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the Australian Government have granted the licence to operate new $A19.7 million (£11.05 m) hyperbaric equipment which means that for the first time, the whole crew of an Australian submarine can be treated at once.

The equipment – a transfer under pressure chamber and recompression treatment suite – was received from JFD, the world’s leading company in submarine rescue and part of James Fisher and Sons plc as part of an existing Escape and Rescue contract at its advanced manufacturing headquarters at Bibra Lake, south of Perth.

“Achieving acceptance and global certification from Lloyds Register is a very rigorous and demanding procedure” said General Manager JFD Australia, Toff Idrus (himself, a former submariner).

“And what it means for submariners is extremely significant as up to 88 people can now receive life-saving medical treatment in the hyperbaric equipment suite and pressurised transfer chamber at any one time.

“When you consider that a Collins-class submarine has a crew of 48 - 60, this new capability is very significant and represents an important milestone for submarine rescue in Australia.”

The hyperbaric equipment suite is able to withstand and operate effectively in rough, continuous seas with swells of five metres – conditions not uncommon around the Australian coast.

This capability is critically important as the new kit is the final step in a submarine rescue which begins with rescuing the crew from a disabled submarine and transferring them safely into a JFD freeswimming, piloted rescue vehicle which carries them safely to the surface and on to the deck of a rescue ship.

From here, the submariners are moved through the transfer under pressure chamber and into the hyperbaric equipment suite with doctors monitoring their wellbeing and helping them overcome any life-threatening effects that come from being rescued from pressurised waters.

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Subsea UK News | August 2018

“ Emergencies of this type rely on highly-skilled personnel and world-class equipment to bring people who have been under pressure at depth to the safety of the surface and it is critical for Australia’s defence capability and national security, that we are able to do this,” said Mr. Idrus. “ Quite simply, the lives of the men and women of the Australian Defence Force may depend on us and we must ensure they are as safe as possible, even in worst-case scenarios.”

The new equipment took two years to build using JFD’s highly skilled workforce of some 100 personnel who will now conduct further naval testing and evaluation of the new equipment in August, culminating in the annual Black Carillion naval exercises in November 2018 “JFD Australia has developed world-leading local knowledge and skills in submarine rescue and it has confirmed our reputation as a provider of proven, safe and reliable submarine rescue service to the Australian Government,” said Mr Idrus.

Importantly, the acceptance of the new system could lead to JFD creating more defence industry jobs in Australia as it opens up opportunities to export similar equipment to other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

TECHNOLOGY

ESID Consulting Sets Sights on Cyber Security Awareness The safety of company information is of immense importance to companies, particularly those operating in the oil & gas and subsea sectors. But a recent survey from Clearswift revealed that more than half of employees do not understand the value of company information.

The survey showed: • Half of employees don’t understand the consequence of company information loss • Half of employees have access to company IP that they themselves deem is above their pay scale • Lack of understanding is apparent in the boardroom too, where the value of company information is poorly understood • Senior managers also fail to see the threat.

But perhaps the most worrying revelation is that over a third of employees stated they would sell private company data for the right price.

ESID Consulting have identified a unique solution that takes advantage of a joined-up approach in thinking between HR, Security and IT to remove fragmented reporting processes and ensure clear lines of communication.

“In our internet connected world, a strong perimeter and robust firewalls are no longer the defence they once were. Things are a little more porous, and the human factor is often the gap in our defences,” said Gary Peace, founder of ESID Consulting.

“ESID’s approach means that risks, threats and security issues will be recognised quickly and dealt with holistically.”

ESID designs, implements and supports companies’ information security management systems to secure the business and manage the employee security risk, increasing trust, transparency and promoting a more ethical working environment. Their standardsled assessment, planning and management of insider threats, cyber security and business continuity plans remove, mitigate or control risks facing organisations that have a human, business and reputational impact.

ESID Consulting is a UK based professional services consultancy with expertise in protecting information and preventing business disruption.

Subsea UK News | August 2018

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Supporting One of Scotland’s Global Strengths

by David Rennie Head of Oil & Gas, Scottish Enterprise

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Subsea UK News | August 2018

SUPPORTING SUBSEA

Readers of the Subsea UK News Magazine will need no convincing that the subsea sector is one of Scotland’s (and indeed the UK’s) true global areas of excellence.

It supports just under 40,000 jobs in Scotland, mostly in the North East, along with many more across the UK. But of course, this is a success story which needs to continue to be nurtured and supported. Scottish Enterprise, along with partners, has supported the subsea sector for many years. In fact along with the UK Government, Scottish Enterprise helped to set up Subsea UK back in 2004.

In early 2017, we recognised that there was an opportunity to do even more to help support our subsea sector to ensure that we continued to grow it, both in its core business but also to help diversify and

spread expertise and know-how into other markets, at home and abroad.

So, we published our subsea engineering plan which set out how we want to help grow the subsea sector to even greater heights.

There are three main themes to the plan: • Giving support to the supply chain to land new market opportunities, both here and abroad, both in oil and gas and other sectors • To encourage higher levels of innovation into the subsea sector • To ensure that we have the right level of infrastructure including test facilities to make us an ongoing attractive location for further investment On the supply chain element, we have published on our website a series of market guides highlighting potential market opportunities in non-oil and gas markets such as aquaculture and renewables. We have also undertaken a benchmarking exercise to assess how Scotland compares with the other main subsea hubs globally.

Broadly we shape up well with key strengths in certain areas such as IRM and renewables. Our challenge now is how to build upon these strengths to help companies access more markets and win more business.

In terms of innovation, Scottish Enterprise provided support to 83 subsea companies in 2016/17 worth £12m. We have also supported many company-based projects in

the last year, including helping Balmoral to enhance its testing capability in Aberdeen; Baker Hughes General Electric to develop a new centre of expertise at Montrose; and assisting the development of a world leading flow measurement facility at TUV SUD NEL at East Kilbride. Such projects demonstrate that expertise and capabilities are spread across Scotland and not just the North East.

In addition to the projects mentioned above we have been working with partners such as Subsea UK and National Subsea Research Initiative to assess the likely requirements for test and demonstration facilities in the future as well as inputting into the proposal for an oil and gas sector deal with a focus on subsea as one of three priority areas.

Looking forward, we want to deliver even more assistance to the subsea sector including more support to companies, projects, and facilities, that will continue to position Scotland as the go-to location for subsea both in oil and gas and the wider Blue Economy. If you want to find out more information on what we can do to help support the subsea sector, including business support, then please feel free to get in touch. We are delighted to be working with Subsea UK and a whole range of partners to help grow the subsea sector to reach even greater heights in the future and capitalise on what is truly one of Scotland’s global star sectors.

40,000

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companies supported in 2016/17

invested during 2016/17

industry

innovation

investment Subsea UK News | August 2018

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TECHNOLOGY Kawasaki AUV During Testing at The Underwater Centre Fort William

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Plan Robot Arm Pipeline Inspection Trial in Scotland The Underwater Centre, based on a tidal sea loch in Fort William, has signed a basic agreement with Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd (KHI) in Japan to carry out a verification test of a prototype AUV equipped with a robot arm for subsea pipeline inspection.

KHI plans to use a prototype AUV equipped with a robot arm with an attached inspection tool unit – which is currently under development – to achieve autonomous locating and tracking of subsea pipelines.

The test will focus on verifying the robot arm’s capability to absorb the movement of the AUV due to tidal currents, as well as verifying that the inspection tool unit can continuously track a pipeline under those conditions.

Building on the work undertaken during their previous trial at The Underwater Centre in November 2017, where KHI successfully completed a 15-day verification test for the automated underwater docking of a prototype AUV to its charging station involving contactless charging and large-capacity optical communication, the focus is now on the growing demand for pipeline maintenance in offshore oil and gas fields. Kawasaki has been developing leadingedge component technologies for AUVs, based on sophisticated submarine technologies fostered in-house over many years.

Reflecting the Scottish Government’s strong interest in this collaboration, the basic agreement with The Underwater Centre was signed in the presence of the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, who was visiting Japan and Steve Ham, Commercial Director of The Underwater Centre was also in attendance to sign the agreement.

Ms Hyslop gave an address, saying: “I am delighted that Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd, one of Japan’s major companies, has decided to develop this innovative technology in Scotland. It is fantastic news

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Subsea UK News | August 2018

for The Underwater Centre in Fort William. Scottish Development International has worked hard behind the scenes to help secure this hugely significant agreement.

“Kawasaki also has excellent links with Edinburgh Centre for Robotics at Heriot-Watt University, which is developing the control software and multi sensor algorithms for the AUV system to enable it to track pipes underwater.

“The Scottish Government’s Subsea Action Plan, launched in January 2017, reflects our ambitions to support this important sector, not only in international oil and gas markets, but also to diversify into other sectors including renewables and deep-sea mining.”

The agreement also states that The Underwater Centre will be collaborating with Kawasaki on future development of underwater vehicle technology.

The contract will advance Kawasaki’s commitment to further strengthening its partnership with the Scottish Government and The Underwater Centre, to drive the development of technologies forward for AUVs and other underwater vehicles.

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Subsea UK News | August 2018

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TECHNOLOGY

Step Change in Diver Safety as JFD’s COBRA Completes First Dive in North Sea JFD’s COBRA (Compact Bailout Rebreather Apparatus), has successfully completed its first North Sea dives, marking a significant leap forward in diver safety.

Bibby Offshore, leading subsea services supplier to the oil & gas industry, is the first North Sea contractor to adopt COBRA, thereby setting a precedent for diver safety in the region.

In March 2018 JFD delivered six of the rebreather sets to Bibby Offshore in order to enhance diver safety within their saturation diving teams by providing up to 20 minutes of bailout gas at depths of 300msw. COBRA is certified to a depth of 450msw and is currently being tested to 530msw - therefore greatly improving the chances of survival.

Over a two-week period, the COBRA sets were operated from the Bibby Topaz at a water depth of 110 metres. In all, over 30 bell runs were safely and successfully completed during the course of the operation.

On board assistance was provided by a JFD COBRA technician and instructor who conducted familiarisation training, and also provided advice to the divers and operators throughout the duration of the project.

On the back of this success - and with a high level of diver satisfaction – Bibby Offshore is already commencing its second North Sea dive with the COBRA sets. This new project will see the apparatus tested further, with a diving depth of 130 metres.

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Subsea UK News | August 2018

Allan Nairn, Director of Diving at Bibby Offshore, commented:

“The entirety of our dive team responded positively towards the introduction of the COBRA rebreathers onto the Bibby Topaz. In particular, they emphasised that the benefits of additional breathing duration, the ability to test the COBRA at any time and the apparatus’ ease of use with regards to weight all made them feel safer in conducting their dives.”

JFD worked closely alongside Bibby Offshore personnel in the research, development and testing phases of the system, gaining invaluable feedback which has driven the inclusion of some of the main functionality and safety features.

JFD Managing Director Giovanni Corbetta said: “Enhancing the standard of subsea safety is JFD’s main driver. We have a longstanding reputation of producing the world’s most innovative, capable and proven diving equipment and technologies. By working closely alongside companies like Bibby Offshore who share the same values, we can ensure our products are developed in direct response to user requirements. After a lot of hard work, time and dedication from the JFD team throughout the development and testing phases, it’s a huge triumph to deliver COBRA to one of our most valued clients.”

TECHNOLOGY

MDL Delivers First LiveWire Spread Maritime Developments (MDL) has completed the first LiveWire system – an innovative solution for efficient wire rope inspection services and change-outs.

Developed in a joint partnership between MDL and global mooring and subsea specialist Delmar Systems, LiveWire is designed to significantly cut costs associated with large wire rope maintenance and operations, particularly by minimising disruption to rig or vessel schedules.

The LiveWire system, which includes a multi-reel handling system, back tension and inspection units and a compensator unit, has been commissioned and FATd (Factory Acceptance Test) in MDL’s manufacturing and testing facility in Peterhead, Scotland.

The system is fully automated using remote controls developed inhouse by MDL, and is entirely powered by an independent generator, preventing the need for connection to any vessel or quayside services.

Using LiveWire, Delmar Systems and MDL can carry out wire rope inspection services from a quayside to support construction vessels, or the system can be mobilised onto any PSV to support offshore rigs.

The compact spread allows for a spare wire rope to be carried onboard the PSV when conducting offshore rig crane wire change-outs.

Mark Williamson, President of MDL Americas, said: “I am very excited to see LiveWire come to life and look forward to introducing it to the Gulf of Mexico.

“It has been a project of mine since July 2016 when MDL first started exploring the topic of crane wire inspection and handling. Working alongside Delmar, we were able to re-define how clients approach crane wire maintenance and operations. This out-of-the-box thinking is consistent in our client-focused approach to subsea services as a whole.

“The market has never had an elegant and efficient solution before, never mind one which can service both onshore and offshore applications. I expect LiveWire to have a significant impact on the crane wire inspection services - here in the GoM, and globally.”

MDL LiveWire System

The inaugural LiveWire spread has been dismantled and is on the way to its new base in Delmar’s Port Fourchon, Louisiana shore base facility, where it will be mobilised for its first mission.

Seatronics Introduces VALOR ROV Seatronics, an Acteon company, are developing a product service offering via technology which will assist in the acquisition of data, which can be used intelligently by its clients, to lower the total cost of ownership of critical and dynamic subsea assets via life extension, lower risk of failure and reduced intervention.

Key to this is the introduction of VALOR an observation class ROV with associated sensors and tooling building on Seatronics’ reputation as a market leading systems integrator. VALOR was launched during Oceanology International 2018.

Seatronics’ experienced in-house team of ROV and Survey engineers consulted with major players in the ROV industry on the specification of the VALOR platform, taking years of operational experience into the design ensuring it is capable to carry diverse equipment loadouts, quick to mobilise and easy to maintain at a reduced cost base.

The market desires a vehicle that is easily transportable, capable of operating in higher currents and with a greater sensor capacity to replace ageing ‘eyeball’ systems. The VALOR was developed to fill this gap in the market.

At under 50kg in air and with horizontal and vertical bollard pulls in excess of 70kgF and 43kgF respectively, the system is more than capable of working in heavy current and shallow waters with additional tooling. With a 100Kg through frame capacity, bespoke skid solutions can be fitted to the vehicle to allow a range of

tooling / sensor options to be added to the vehicle including dual manipulators, dynamic laser scanning and even pipe-tracking skids.

For situations where the power or data capacity is insufficient, an additional 10kW of power can be provided for the skid through the standard vehicle umbilical. Seatronics-designed control software uses this power to keep the platform stable in currents.

Up to 10 x ‘universal’ user connectors and 3 x dual-camera connectors are available. Each of the user connectors simultaneously provide 12-48v power, Gigabit Ethernet, RS232/485/422 serial, analogue input and outputs as well as synchronisation options including 1PPS and IEEE1588v2. Camera ports can take PAL/NTSC composite video or 3G-SDI- with two cameras on each port- as well as supporting GigE Vision and IP Cameras.

The VALOR systems’ versatility is near-limitless given the significant payload, unrivalled power capability and ability to manage complex tooling and sensor packages. It is lighter and smaller than its competition both as a vehicle and as a system. The VALOR platform is available for rental or sale from Seatronics global bases in Aberdeen, Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Houston.

Subsea UK News | August 2018

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PEOPLE

Proserv’s Newly Opened Centre of Excellence Welcomes Oil and Gas UK Boss Proserv, an energy services company, has welcomed Deirdre Michie, CEO of Oil and Gas UK, to its newly opened Centre of Excellence - Artemis House - in Great Yarmouth.

The visit marked Deirdre’s first time at the 65,000 sq ft facility since its official opening in May this year, as well as the official launch of Share Fair, Oil & Gas UK’s flagship business development event.

Iain Smith, Proserv’s UK Regional President, said: “We were delighted to welcome Deirdre to Artemis House which highlights our commitment to the industry and, of course, the area. It was not only an opportunity to showcase our contribution to the industry, in terms of our people and subsea controls technology, but we were able to champion the issues that companies, like ourselves, are encountering.

“Now that investment is returning to the basin, we are well equipped to work hand in hand with the industry to optimise production in as cost-effective a way as possible, utilising our extensive technology portfolio.”

Deirdre Michie said: “I’m delighted to be in Great Yarmouth to launch Share Fair 2018 as the East of England is a major energy hub for our industry. Supply chain companies such as Proserv contribute to the UK’s global exports of almost £12 billion of goods and services. Over the past 50 years of oil and gas production, the supply chain has successfully developed throughout the UK. Building on this success is critical not only for our industry, but for the UK’s economy.

“Investment is slowly returning to the basin and activity levels are starting to rise, hopefully opening fresh opportunities for the supply chain.

At our Share Fair there will be a great opportunity for companies to showcase their capabilities to potential clients.”

Deirdre Michie, CEO of Oil and Gas UK with Iain Smith, Proserv’s UK Regional President

Artemis House is Proserv’s Centre of Excellence for global subsea controls and the largest site within Great Yarmouth’s Beacon Park, featuring modern office and manufacturing space, as well as a yard area. There is also the ability to add a further 20,000 sq ft of workshop capacity in the future and increase office headcount.

Xodus Appoints New Director to Drive Growth in Renewables Sector International energy consultancy Xodus Group has appointed Peter Tipler as its Renewables Director to help drive growth across the sector.

Having been with Xodus for almost 10 years, Mr Tipler has worked across several roles in the company’s renewable energy, environment and decommissioning divisions.

Mr Tipler said: “We have a long history of working in the renewables sector. Our view is that offshore renewable energy is a fundamental part of the global future energy mix. We aren’t waiting for it to happen, we are making it happen.”

Earlier this year, Xodus signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Atlantis Resources to pursue the development of a tidal energy project in Japan. The ambition for this agreement is to secure funding and establish a commercially viable tidal energy demonstration project of three to eight turbines in the country.

The companies visited Japan to meet with government departments, supply chain and utility companies to promote the collaboration and join the lobbying effort for the general promotion of tidal energy as a credible future energy source in Japan.

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Peter Tipler as its Renewables Director

PEOPLE

N-Sea Strengthens Survey Capabilities with Key Appointment UK and Netherlands-based subsea provider N-Sea has appointed Hans van Peet as the company’s survey authority.

Hans van Peet

Hans van Peet, who joins the organisation from Heerema Marine Contractors, brings more than 30 years of specialist experience in survey, positioning and ROV intervention to the role. He previously led subsea services for a variety of leading offshore companies, including the technical management of major frame agreements for ROV and survey and positioning services.

N-Sea, known for its expertise in integrated survey services, specialises in survey and data management for: hydrographic and geophysical survey, UXO survey/ID/disposal, cable and pipeline inspection and construction and installation support. Based in the Netherlands, Hans will be responsible for overseeing all survey activities within N-Sea, as well as driving forward innovation of survey products, services and technology.

Gerard Keser, N-Sea’s CEO, said: “We are delighted to welcome Hans van Peet to N-Sea’s management team. His vast survey knowledge, technical background teamed with his management experience, will be a tremendous asset to the company. We are confident that his appointment will ensure we continue to create sustainable competitive advantages through continual innovation of our survey services.”

Hans van Peet added: “I am looking forward to helping shape the direction of future survey activities for N-Sea, at what is an exciting time for the company. I believe the role will allow me to play a key part in delivering the strategic results required for long-term success and I’m pleased to be working with a company with such a strong track record.”

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www.innospection.com Subsea UK News | August 2018

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ACHIEVEMENT

Rotech Subsea Celebrates 500th Project as Revenue Doubles Year-on-year Rotech Subsea Ltd. has marked a major milestone by completing its 500th subsea project. The milestone, which the company has racked up since beginning operations under the Rotech Group banner in 1994, was passed after Rotech Subsea mobilised for four major projects in the month of May alone, with two vessels sailing from Aberdeen in the space of just nine days.

The momentous 500th project saw Rotech Subsea mobilise its TRS1LD controlled flow excavation system to the North Sea on a cable post trenching scope of work off the coast of Germany for long-term client, Jan De Nul Group.

Speaking about the milestone – which rounded off an impressive financial year for the subsea excavation innovator – Director of Subsea, Stephen Cochrane, said: “Rotech Group has, since its inception nearly 25 years ago, earned a reputation as being a pioneer in the development of cutting-edge controlled flow excavation (CFE).

It’s a reputation we are proud of and that we continue to build on, operating across the renewables, oil & gas and decommissioning sectors for a growing list of clients.

“We are delighted to have passed the 500th project mark. More than that, this milestone project also contributed to an extremely strong finish to our financial year that has seen revenue double year-on-year against a backdrop of some of the most challenging times in recent memory for these sectors.”

May 2018 saw Rotech Subsea working offshore in Europe with four CFE RS spreads of equipment. This spike in demand for its state of the art trenching and excavation equipment has led to an accelerated order from Rotech Subsea to sister company Rotech Fabrication to build brand new RS spreads of equipment for a major client.

they witnessed firsthand the advantages of our CFE RS equipment over other Mass Flow Excavation tools on the market - not to mention the dedicated service we provide.

“Rotech Group are the only company in the world who design, build and operate non-intrusive trenching & excavation equipment. Having done so since 1994, Rotech Subsea are able to meet and fulfil client expectations time after time, whilst constantly evolving the technology through the Rotech Engineering division.”

Rotech Subsea is currently preparing to mobilise on soon-to-be announced projects in the North Sea, Mexico, Vietnam and the Middle East, marking a strong start to the new financial year.

“We have been very satisfied with the market’s response to the introduction of our cutting-edge RS CFE equipment in late 2015,” adds Cochrane.

“Demand has been high, driven by a combination of winning new business and retaining key clients after

TRS1-LD mobilisation May 2018

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ACHIEVEMENT & AWARDS

Dan Hanstrom image of the SP6000

Gordon Donald image of Twin R2000 in South Africa

Scott McKay image of Twin R2000

Subsea Snappers put JFSE in the Picture The team at James Fisher Subsea Excavation proved a dab hand behind the lens when they focused on showcasing their industry expertise in action.

The Aberdeenshire-based company recently ran an in-house photographic competition, Subsea Snappers, inviting team members to produce images illustrating the teams at work.

The result was series of superb shots capturing JFSE’s projects around the globe. The winner was offshore supervisor Scott McKay who pictured the company’s Twin R2000 working on the Walney offshore wind farm cable burial off Cumbria, near Barrow-in-Furness.

Runner-up was offshore supervisor Dan Hanstrom’s photo of the SP6000 during a 110km pipeline trenching project in the Arabian Sea. Third place went to senior offshore team leader Gordon Donald who captured the Twin R2000 in South Africa on a 48” pipeline lowering project.

JFSE managing director Kenneth R Mackie said: “The way they all managed to capture the essence of the job and the backdrops was very impressive and really helps to illustrate our tools in operation around the world.

“We are now planning to run a further Subsea Snappers competition as our current volume of work, spanning numerous ongoing projects, should provide lots of additional photographic opportunities worldwide for our talented team, resulting in many more inspiring shots.”

EC-OG are European Rising Stars EC-OG were this month named as ‘Rising Stars’ in the European Business Awards for the Environment.

After successfully being shortlisted to represent the UK, EC-OG’s Subsea Power Hub was put forward in the ‘Product’ category to the European Business Awards for the Environment jury.

With 161 applications from 19 different countries across Europe, 22 overall Finalists for the ceremony were selected as well as six Rising Stars. As a Rising Star, the application made a particular impression on the jurors as an innovative and exciting product.

Only winners, runners-up and companies specially commended in national competitions are eligible to apply for the European award.

The Subsea Power Hub (SPH) is a subsea hybrid drive system that uses a combination of a marine energy converter coupled directly to a lithium-based energy storage system. The SPH provides localised electrical power to remote subsea locations by converting ocean currents into renewable power.

Organised by the Directorate-General for the Environment European Commission, the European Business Awards for the Environment play a key role in the European Commission’s mission to promote a

circular economy, innovation and participation in green markets across European companies. The Awards are held every two years to reward businesses that successfully combine innovation, competitiveness and outstanding environmental performance.

Richard Knox, Managing Director of EC-OG said: “It’s

great that our team has been identified as undertaking some of the best environmental innovation in Europe. From such a high number of applications, we are thrilled to be one of the six Rising Star companies. This accolade means a lot for EC-OG, recognising the first-class work that we do.”

Subsea UK News | August 2018

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EMPOWERING

WORLD LEADER IN UNDERWATER e-ROBOTIC SYSTEMS

THE FUTURE IS ELECTRIC