This week marks a significant milestone for subsea engineering company SMD as the MV Happy Delta, loaded with the world’s first deep sea mining vehicles, leaves the port of Tyne. In late 2007 SMD was awarded with a contract to design and build the world’s first deep sea mining vehicles for Canadian listed company Nautilus Minerals. Eight years on, having worked in close partnership with the customer, this massive feat of engineering is complete. The SPTs and associated equipment, totalling over 1000 Tonnes, have now been loaded onto the vessel which has set sail for Duqm Port in Oman where they will undergo further testing.

Nautilus Minerals Inc. (TSX:NUS, OTCQX:NUSMF, OTC:NUSMF Nasdaq Intl Designation) (the "Company" or "Nautilus") announces that the Solwara 1 Joint Venture (comprising Nautilus 85% and Eda Kopa (Solwara) Limited 15%) has taken delivery of the three Seafloor Production Tools (“SPTs”) from Soil Machine Dynamics Limited’s (“SMD”) facility in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Submission Date Extended to 15 February Present Your Paper at ATC 2016

Independent subsea remotely operated vehicle (ROV) service provider ROVOP and wireless instrumentation and control solutions developer WFS Technologies have today, (Monday 1st February), announced a new collaboration effort to reduce certain operating costs by up to 80% and extend asset life by years.

The contribution of the monitoring of offshore structures to reduce risk and improve reliability is key to achieving operational efficiencies in the offshore oil and gas industry and is a new topic to come under the conference spotlight at Oceanology International 2016 (OI 2016), the world’s largest marine science and ocean technology exhibition and conference (ExCeL London, 15-17 March).

C-Kore Systems Ltd, has been awarded a contract for BP to purchase their C-Kore Subsea Monitoring tools. BP trialed the tools on earlier umbilical installation projects and will now purchase a number of units for their prestigious Quad 204 project in the North Sea. Due to their unique design, the CKore units can monitor the insulation resistance and continuity of umbilicals during the complete installation process, even with both ends of the umbilical submerged to full deployment depth.

Italian Oil and Gas industry contractor, Saipem Società per azioni (S.p.A) [Saipem] has selected Tritech’s Gemini 620pd multibeam profiling system for its Work Class Remotely Operated Vehicles (WROVs).

GLOBAL oil and gas industry skills and workforce development body, OPITO, has appointed a new managing director to lead the continued growth of its rapidly expanding international business. Formerly the ‎managing director of Falck Safety Services in Brazil, Graham Gall brings a wealth of experience and an impressive industry track record in safety, skills and workforce development to the global role.

The Committee for the AAPG 2016 Annual Convention and Exhibition (ACE), chaired by Paul MacKay and vice-chair Jen Russel-Houston, announced a record number of abstracts – 1,830 – submitted for the event taking place 19-22 June 2016 in Calgary, AB, Canada. The number represents a six percent increase in submissions from the 2015 event.

Hydrography, geophysics and geotechnics lie at the heart of Oceanology International, the world’s largest marine science and ocean technology exhibition and conference, (ExCeL London, UK 15-17 March), and this year’s conference session at OI 2016 shows just how relevant the topics continue to be.

As part of the UK Government’s strategy to increase British exports to £1trillion, Subsea UK is encouraging companies to set their sights on international expansion to sustain long-term growth. The industry body has widened its “Global Opportunities” programme during Subsea Expo, Europe’s largest subsea conference and exhibition, to be held at AECC from 3 – 5 February.

Stimulating creative thinking by business leaders, senior academics and technologists with an interest in key disruptive technologies in areas such as artificial intelligence, autonomous inspection and coordination of multiple vehicles, lies at the heart of the one-day Catch the Next Wave Conference being held in London on 14 March, the day before the world’s largest marine science and ocean technology event, Oceanology International 2016, opens.

Two advanced elastomers developed by Trelleborg Sealing Solutions capable of withstanding extremely low temperatures have passed rigorous international industry standards.

Aker Solutions won a front end engineering design (FEED) contract from Statoil for the Trestakk field tie-in to the Åsgard A production vessel in the Norwegian Sea. The company also secured a separate concept study order for a low well-pressure project at Åsgard A.

Forum Subsea Rentals, a subsidiary of Forum Energy Technologies, Inc., and Aquatec Group Ltd are pleased to announce the signing of a global agreement for the rental of Aquatec’s proven LEAKlog™ leak detection and inspection suite. The Aquatec LEAKlog leak detection sensors are utilised for routine inspection and surveillance of a variety of subsea installations as well as for permanent leak monitoring applications. The suite incorporates a data acquisition system and interchangeable sensors.

Wood Group has established a collaborative agreement with international engineering consultancy, Magma Products (Magma) to extend its existing commissioning service. Headquartered in Aberdeen and specialising in the field of commissioning and start-up, Magma's services and software system will complement Wood Group's global commissioning experience.

Nautilus Minerals Inc. (TSX:NUS, OTCQX:NUSMF, OTC:NUSMF Nasdaq Intl Designation) (the "Company" or "Nautilus") announces that it has signed agreements with United Engineering Services LLC (“UES”) to provide support services associated with wet testing the Company’s Seafloor Production Equipment and storing the equipment as it is delivered from various suppliers prior to integration onto the Company’s Production Support Vessel (“PSV”).

Wood Group has secured a three year contract with Shell Australia's Prelude, Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) project. Perth-based Wood Group Kenny will provide specialist consultancy services for flexible riser integrity management prior to and during operation of Prelude FLNG, which will be located 475km north-north east of Broome in Western Australia.