Ocean science company, Sonardyne International Ltd., has announced that its deep water acoustic tracking technology, Ranger 2, has been installed on one of the most modern vessels in the German research fleet, the Maria S. Merian. The announcement was made at the annual meeting of the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO), which this year is hosted by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA.

Trelleborg’s applied technologies operation will showcase its range of buoyancy materials at Underwater Intervention in New Orleans, Louisiana, February 6-8 on stand 747. In addition, Will Ricci is set to present as a materials expert with regard to buoyancy as a critical component of unmanned subsea vehicle design.

Underwater Intervention is again in the wonderful town of New Orleans February 6-8, 2018. This year’s ROV Track is one of the best ever with heavy-hitters of the industry presenting some of their latest innovations. Some of the highlights include:

OEG Offshore (OEG) – which specialises in the design, build and rental of specialist A60 cabins and cargo-carrying units for the offshore oil and gas market, has delivered several high value ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicles) module contracts worth £1.8 million GBP ($2.5 million USD) for TechnipFMC, Saipem and other leading subsea contractors.

A breakthrough in electric torque tool technology is set to further advance the capability of electric underwater robotic vehicles. A new lightweight electric torque tool is being launched globally in a collaboration agreement between Saab Seaeye, the world leader in electric underwater e-robotic systems, and Australia-based Total Marine Technology (TMT).

The Sea Based X-Band Radar (SBX-1) a floating, self-propelled missile tracking system operated by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency consists of an X-band radar array mounted on a 50,000 ton twin-hull semi-submersible. SBX-1 uses four azimuthing thrusters for propulsion and positioning and the requirement to change-out the forward-starboard thruster waterborne fell to Phoenix International. Working closely with thruster OEM Wärtsilä Defense, the Phoenix team of divers and technicians installed a unique underwater hydraulic trolley system to allow the 25-ton thruster to be moved outboard of the thruster well once separation from the steering pipe was complete. This innovation was required because the semi-sub deck overhang coupled with a shallow Pearl Harbor repair berth precluded a direct yard-and-stay procedure. The Phoenix team was able to remove the existing thruster and, reversing this process, install a rebuilt thruster all within the tight timeline stipulated by the ultimate client. As the thruster work commenced, our client asked if Phoenix could also prepare SBX-1 for and perform an ABS in-water survey (IWS) in parallel with the thruster change-out. Our Pearl City location and Hawaii based team allowed us to answer in the affirmative and we went to work immediately performing waterborne hull cleaning, shell-plate thickness gauging, sea-chest blanking, and visual inspection with an ABS surveyor in attendance. During the inspection our divers discovered fishing net inside the aft-port thruster. They subsequently removed the rope guard, cut away all netting, inspected the thruster seals and re-installed the rope guard. All pre-inspection, inspection and repair work was conducted while the thruster change-out was in-process.

DeepOcean 1 UK Limited, a subsidiary of DeepOcean Group Holding BV (DeepOcean), has been awarded a significant contract for performing ploughing operations on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea.

Underwater Intervention (UI2018) has announced The Blueprint Lab as the feature of this year’s Underwater Technology Showcase. Based in Sydney Australia, The Blueprint Lab develops miniature sub-sea robotics to push the boundaries in remote underwater intervention. Still in their infancy, The Blueprint Lab brings a fresh view of the industry and will be conducting live demos to showcase the capability of their technology and presentations to share their insights into the future of remote intervention.

Fugro has commenced a programme of geophysical and geotechnical surveys for Artelia, Abu Dhabi as part of the Hail and Ghasha development, a landmark project by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

Imenco Corrosion Technology AS have been awarded a contract to deliver equipment for corrosion protection of the world’s largest offshore wind farm; Hornsea Project One off the coast of UK.

OceanGate Inc., a provider of manned submersible services and SubC Imaging, a global leader in intelligent underwater imaging equipment, have formed a strategic alliance to capture the first 4K images of the RMS Titanic shipwreck and debris field. SubC Imaging cameras and lights will be installed on OceanGate's Cyclops2, the first manned submersible to survey the Titanic since 2005.

(Houston, TX – January 17, 2018) Teledyne Marine is pleased to announce that Mark Grabowski has joined the Teledyne Marine OneTeam of professionals as sales manager in the Gulf of Mexico region for our Imaging and Instruments product lines. Mark brings with him a wealth of relevant experience, having supervised and implemented a broad scope of technical marine projects for the oil and gas industry over the past 18 years.

iXBlue, one of the leading suppliers of IMU systems to the world and Newton Labs, the world’s largest and oldest manufacturer of underwater laser scanners announced today demonstrations and tests of advanced integration technology between their systems to supply the highest possible resolution of laser scanning coupled with an IMU in ROV/AUV service. Performed at Newton’s facility in Seattle, the combination of the two advanced systems and coupled with the advanced integration technology developed between the two companies; this test demonstrates the highest possible resolution in subsea laser scans.

With UK subsea exports valued at almost £4 billion, Subsea UK is encouraging British firms to target international expansion to sustain long term growth.

Statoil awards a contract to Alcatel Submarine Networks for Permanent reservoir monitoring (PRM) on the Johan Sverdrup field. The seismic technology – a potential digital enabler for the field – will be a key contributor to delivering on Johan Sverdrup’s 70 percent recovery ambition.

The Echoscope Surface Coda Octopus is delighted to announce the release of the Echoscope4G® Surface. The Echoscope4G® Surface is the first product in our new 4th generation real-time 3D sonar line-up, and is a major step forward for our technology offering a package which is 50% lighter, 40% smaller with a 30% lower power requirement.

Delta SubSea LLC. and Optime SubSea AS have entered into an agreement to provide combined service solutions to their clients’ deep-water control needs, whether it is XT control for installation, interventions, testing, SCM diagnostics or other subsea XT test or controls applications. This will be supplied via their small and light deepwater Intervention Workover Control (IWOC) system for 3,000m (9,843 ft) waters.

In connection with the Award in Predefined Areas (APA) for 2017 Statoil has been offered interests in 31 exploration licences on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS), 17 of these as operator, and 14 as a partner.