ROV Planet would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Monterey, California — Two underwater robots, known as remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) – and the teams that built, designed, and operated them – rose above the rest at last month’s Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center’s International Student ROV Competition. Jesuit High School of Carmichael, California won first place in the Explorer (advanced) class for the third year in a row, while AMNO & CO, a home school team from Seattle, Washington, took the first-place honor in the Ranger (intermediate) class.

The offshore energy industry’s highest achievers and most successful companies were recognised on Thursday, 12 March at the 2015 Offshore Achievement Awards (OAA), with our own Murray Kerr receiving the Young Professional Award, and also being highly commended by the judges in the Inspiring Leader category.

Statoil has awarded the Johan Sverdrup SURF Detail Engineering and Services 2015-20 contract to IKM Ocean Design. Johan Sverdrup field is a large oil discovery in production licenses PL265, PL501 and PL502 in the Utsira High region of Norwegian Continental Shelf, 140 km west of Stavanger. The field development is a phased development. Phase one includes the establishment of the field center, consisting of four platforms: A process platform, a drilling platform, a riser platform and a living quarter platform. Subsea, phase one consists of umbilicals and water injection pipelines running from the field center to the injection templates, with the purpose to provide pressure support.

This year’s Subsea Expo was a record-breaking event with almost 9,000 recorded visits by 6,500 registered delegates over the three days, Subsea UK reported. Europe’s largest annual subsea exhibition and conference and Aberdeen’s second largest event after Offshore Europe, broke all records this year with a 23% increase in attendees and 200 exhibitors. The outstanding achievements and innovative technologies devised by some of the country’s leading subsea companies over the past 12 months were recognised at Subsea UK Awards.

The fast-growing UK subsea sector, which supports 60,000 jobs, is in for two years of tough times and will only weather the storm if it embraces innovation and new technology, says industry body. On the opening day of Subsea Expo, Europe’s largest subsea event, the chief executive of Subsea UK told delegates that the industry is facing considerable challenges but the fundamentals in subsea remain relatively strong and the sector could see a significant improvement in 2017 – 2019.

The world's most premier event for Commercial Diving Contractors, Remotely Operated Vehicles, Manned Submersibles, and all other aspects of the Underwater Operations Industry will take place at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, LA. February 10-12, 2015. Please ask for a paper copy of ROV Planet from the MATE Center Booth 330 or take one from the UI magazine distribution bins!