Pedro Parente, CEO of Petrobras and Robin Watson, chief executive of Wood Group are to speak at the opening plenary session at SPE Offshore Europe 2017 which is being held in Aberdeen from 5-8 September 2017. They will join Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell and Bob Dudley, group chief executive of BP to address the central theme of Embracing New Realities: Reinventing our Industry in a top CEO line-up on the opening day of Europe’s foremost exploration and production (E&P) technical conference and exhibition.

Leading offshore drilling contractor, Noble Corporation plc, has selected acoustically-aided inertial navigation technology from Sonardyne Inc., Houston, for its ultra-deep water drillship Noble Globetrotter I. The Marksman DP-INS system is being used to provide a high integrity, independent subsea position reference for the vessel’s GE DP3 dynamic positioning (DP) system as it drills exploration wells in water depths up to 10,000 feet.

2G Robotics is excited to announce it has been selected to supply AUV-based laser scanning, stills imaging, and illumination solutions for HUGIN AUVs to be delivered to the Royal Norwegian Navy. As part of this relationship, 2G Robotics is looking forward to being involved in the upcoming, state-of-the-art mine countermeasure project and would like to congratulate Kongsberg Maritime and the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (NDMA) on their latest agreement for the delivery of four complete HUGIN AUV systems.

Atlas Professionals B.V. (Atlas Professionals) has reached an agreement with Programmed Maintenance Services Limited (Programmed) for the acquisition of the international activities of Programmed Marine and the formation of a 50/50 joint venture for offshore and marine manning services in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ).

Arctic Rays, LLC has released Dragonfish to the wider market - a proven robust deep-sea LED Strobe light designed for imaging applications on AUVs and other underwater vehicles or platforms. Its compact size, high brightness (30,000 lumens @ 5ms, 42,000 lumens @ 200µs), and low current draw (550 mA @ 24Vdc), make it ideal for AUV-based still photography, where payload size and power budget are critical. Drive electronics, thermal protection, and intelligent microprocessor control are integral in the Dragonfish’s small 1ATM, 6,000m-rated, anodized aluminum housing. External power and trigger are all that are needed to operate. The unit is easily synced to a standard TTL camera shutter, and will self-quench automatically when the shutter line is released, allowing user-controllable strobe durations up to 5ms. It can also be quenched by an alternate source using the independent quench line. Standard beams are a wide 62⁰ flood, or a narrow 35⁰ spot.

A global leader in specialist subsea technology and services, Ashtead Technology has today (Tuesday 23rd May) announced that it has received further endorsement from the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) for its enhanced range of calibration services. Having previously gained UKAS accreditation for the calibration of survey, positioning and oceanographic sensors, this latest approval covers the delivery of calibration services for ultrasonic testing equipment used by non-destructive testing (NDT) inspection companies. UKAS assesses a laboratory’s calibration and measurement capability to produce precise and accurate test results by scrutinising the technical competence of staff, the validity of the test methods, and equipment used through a vigorous audit and validation process.

Energy services company Proserv has been awarded a series of contracts worth a combined value of more than $11million USD for its production control new-build and after-market services in the Middle East. In the UAE, Proserv will be engineering and manufacturing wellhead control panels, hydraulic power units (HPUs) and chemical injection systems to national oil companies, service companies and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies, estimated to be worth around $10m. Key to the awards is the strong installation, commissioning and life of field service offering that is unique to Proserv in the region

Oceaneering International, Inc. (NYSE:OII) announced that one of its oilfield business segments, Asset Integrity, has been awarded a three-year operational inspection Frame Agreement extension with Statoil Petroleum AS.

BP, on behalf of co-venturers Shell and Siccar Point Energy, is pleased to announce first oil from the redeveloped Schiehallion Area, following completion of the multi-billion-pound Quad 204 project in the west of Shetland region, offshore UK.

The Unmanned Mine Counter Measure Integrated System (UMIS) delivered and installed by ECA Group onboard the new mine hunter “10750E Class” of the Kazakhstan Navy, has successfully gone through Sea Acceptance Trials (SAT).

Premier is pleased to announce that the Zama-1 exploration well in Block 7 (Premier equity 25 per cent) in the shallow water Sureste Basin, offshore Mexico, was spudded at 0630 on 21 May 2017. This is the first exploration well to be drilled on acreage awarded in Mexico’s first international licencing round in 2015.

MMT Sweden has been awarded a three-year contract by Nord Stream AG to inspect both lines of the Nord Stream Pipeline running through the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. The external inspection of the pipeline will be executed by the joint venture between MMT Sweden and Reach Subsea.

M² Subsea, the global independent provider of ROV services, has secured its first contract award which is valued in excess of one million pounds. The project will see the firm supplying the Go Electra vessel, ROVs and personnel to support survey work on the world’s longest subsea pipeline system. The company, which has bases in Aberdeen and Houston, has been sub-contracted by Next Geosolutions, an independent geoscience and engineering service provider, to deliver the campaign in the Baltic Sea for the Nord Stream 2 project.

Building on the success of Oi China 2016, the 2017 conference and exhibition will take place in Qingdao for the first time. Oi China 2017 provides domestic and international suppliers the opportunity to capitalise on China’s rapidly developing offshore energy and marine industries, as well as a unique platform for the international marine technology and ocean science community to network.

The Oil & Gas Technology Centre’s Technology Zone at SPE Offshore Europe 2017 will present a series of technologies used in alternative sectors to encourage the oil and gas industry to think differently about the adoption of new products. The Centre believes technologies such as robots, composite materials, additive manufacturing and augmented reality are all currently underutilised in offshore oil and gas, despite being part of a general industrial transformation in other industries. The industry-led research and knowledge organisation, backed by the UK and Scottish Governments, aims to inspire, accelerate and fund innovative technologies that will help unlock the potential of the UK North Sea and anchor our world-class supply chain in North-East Scotland.

Novacavi just released its P_22SSA ruggedized custom cableP_22SSA ruggedized custom cable to support reliable and secure monitoring activity of marine environment. This electro-optical-mechanical custom cable enriches our extremely diverse production range of subsea armoured cable for detection and instrumentation in defence and environmental monitoring applications.

A major funding package for the Institute of Petroleum Engineering (IPE) at Heriot-Watt University will directly support research and training for the future of the industry in UK offshore waters. Heriot-Watt’s Chief Scientist, Professor John Underhill, has secured funding of £416k from Verus Petroleum, an independent oil company active on the United Kingdom continental Shelf (UKCS). The award will support a number of oil and gas related training and Applied Geoscience research activities in IPE including the NERC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT), the Ogilvie-Gordon 3D Audio-Visualisation Centre (OGAVC) and UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) and Frontier Basins PhD research activities.

15 May, 2017, Dubai, UAE: Topaz Energy and Marine (“Topaz”), a leading international offshore support vessel company, today announces its Multi-Purpose Supply Vessel, Topaz Resolve, has commenced a charter in support of geophysical and geotechnical survey operations in the Mediterranean Sea for a European Oil Major.