Hoover Ferguson Group (Hoover Ferguson), the global leader in container, workspace and packaging solutions for the energy and petrochemical industries and general industrial enterprises, has announced Troy L. Carson as its new chief financial officer. Based in Houston, Carson will be responsible for planning, implementing, managing and controlling all financial-related activities of the company. This includes direct responsibility for accounting; finance; strategic planning; property management; deal analysis and negotiations; investor relationships and partnership compliance; and private and institutional financing.

DNV GL, the multinational provider of risk management services, is further developing its consultancy services to address key industry challenges such as enhancing safety, efficiency and performance. To drive this process, DNV GL has appointed Peter Boyle as Aberdeen Operations Manager and John Morgan as UK Business Development Leader for Risk Advisory Services. Both positions will be based in DNV GL’s Aberdeen office. Peter Boyle says: “It has been a challenging period for the industry, which has led us to innovate our core services for the Aberdeen market. Our main services have become more efficient by concentrating on the elements that add value to operators either by improving safety, or increasing production.”

A multi-skilled team of subsea engineering experts representing the UK has advanced to the semi-finals in the $7 million Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, a prestigious international competition which aims to create the next generation tools, technologies and techniques for rapid, unmanned ocean exploration and discovery. Teams are challenged to design and build new ways to map the ocean floor at depths and a resolution never achieved before using advanced deep-sea technologies for autonomous, fast and high-resolution ocean exploration. Based in the National Centre for Subsea and Offshore Engineering in Newcastle, Team Tao is the only UK team to make the semi-final and will compete against 21 teams from 13 countries vying for their share of the $7 million prize purse. Team Tao brings together industry experts from Tyneside-based subsea engineering specialist Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd (SMD) and Newcastle University who are together developing an autonomous swarm system for rapid surface to deep ocean exploration.

UK-based start-up Rovco has taken its firsts steps into international waters and made significant progress towards growing its global footprint following the completion of two subsea survey contracts in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The contract awards saw Rovco perform advanced subsea survey work in Fiji and Oman, utilising its state-of-the-art SubAtlantic Mojave, Seaeye Falcon and VideoRay Pro 4 ROVs. Launched in September, the company has also been awarded its first ROV consultancy project with one of the UK's leading engineering solutions providers and recently employed two new ROV pilots. It is now looking to appoint a chief technology officer as it continues to grow its UKCS position and gear up for further overseas expansion. With an increasing pipeline of work, the firm aims to become a leading ROV and inspection company within the next three years, with expertise and capacity to carry out underwater inspection projects across the globe. Currently tendering for work in the Gulf of Mexico, the Middle East and across the UK and Europe, Rovco is poised for further success both at home and further afield.

Craig International has signed a global agreement with energy major, Shell to provide services for equipment stock resale. The oilfield procurement specialist recently launched Craig Collaboration to provide companies with the opportunity to reduce wastage and duplication, recoup financial outlay and sell unwanted items which are often sitting in storage, this is considered a radical shift in the approach to procurement in the oil and gas industry. Craig Collaboration connects companies looking to sell spare equipment with those looking to buy. Oil and gas companies around the world have substantial surplus equipment stock, much of which is sitting in costly storage, and Craig Collaboration will allow them to realise value from this. Jill MacDonald, joint managing director of Craig International, said: “There is a lot of equipment going unused in the oil and gas industry and it makes sense from a business and environmental point of view to reuse it. “We have developed a system that leads the way in improving efficiency right across the supply chain in the oil and gas industry. Rather than waiting for things to improve, Craig International is delivering inventive approaches and investing in products that make life easier and provide value for clients.”

BP group chief executive Bob Dudley will underline the value of the North Sea in the oil major’s global portfolio when he leads the opening plenary session at SPE Offshore Europe 2017 being held in Aberdeen from 5-8 September 2017. Dudley, who calls BP’s UK North Sea business one of its “crown jewels”, will address the hundreds of delegates expected to attend the opening plenary session at Europe’s foremost exploration and production (E&P) technical conference and exhibition. Other senior level plenary speakers will be announced in due course.

Fugro has been awarded a contract by Shell/BG Kenya for the execution of a seabed survey to detect natural leakages of hydrocarbons. The seeps survey complements a seismic exploration programme that was completed recently offshore Kenya. Undertaking a four-week campaign of multibeam data acquisition and precise sampling, Fugro will mobilise its specialised survey vessel, Fugro Discovery, to Kenya in March. Seabed sampling will be carried out using a drop corer and multibeam data will be acquired with the latest deepwater high resolution multibeam echo sounder, installed in a newly designed gondola on the vessel hull.

At the occasion of IDEX/NAVDEX exhibitions, ECA Group is pleased to announce the creation of its subsidiary ECA Middle East in Abu Dhabi. ECA Group wins the trust of new customers in the region and the GCC countries in particular, and identifies numerous business and partnership opportunities in the area. Therefore, in order to be closer to its customers and to better support them, ECA Group creates a new subsidiary in Abu Dhabi: ECA Middle East. The UAE and Abu Dhabi were selected to set up ECA Middle East for having historical and recent customers and many identified business opportunities. Several ECA Group systems are already in service in the Middle East countries, among them: the PAP Mine Disposal Vehicle, the UAV IT180 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, MVS Military Vehicle Simulator, CAMELEON Unmanned Ground Vehicle..., some of them for many years.

Fugro has announced a partnership with the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE to support its global, three-year competition. The competition incentivises development of rapid, unmanned and high resolution ocean mapping technologies and the partnership supports the first round of testing. Fugro’s role is to provide high resolution deepwater baseline bathymetry data over a 500 km² competition area. The company has recently collected more than 1 million km² of high resolution bathymetry data per year globally, predominantly in water depths greater than 750 metres.

University of Hawaii researchers partner with Schmidt Ocean Institute to map 11,000 square kilometers of the ocean floor, creating detailed images of major seamounts. HONOLULU, HAWAII – In a recent research expedition sponsored by Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) and led by University of Hawaii scientist Dr. John R. Smith, over 11,000 square kilometers of the ocean floor were mapped in high-resolution for the first time. Smith, working with Jonathan Tree, University of Hawaii, and Joyce Miller, used multibeam sonar on SOI’s research vessel Falkor to generate detailed maps of portions of the remote Johnston Atoll Unit (JAU) of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM).

Subsea Technology & Rentals Ltd (STR); global specialists in the design, production and rental of advanced subsea technology for the offshore industry has announced the appointment of Paul Elliott as General Manager for the Asia Pacific Region. Paul will be responsible for working with STR’s existing customers and agents within the Asia Pacific region to support business and develop new opportunities and relationships.

In December 2016, the Norwegian underwater robotics company Eelume AS has successfully built and demonstrated the world’s first snake-like underwater robot, constructed for offshore operations. The testing took place in deep waters of Trondheimsfjorden, and at the PREZIOSO Linjebygg Subsea Test Center in Trondheim.

Planned Succession to Become Effective After 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders in May. HOUSTON, February 14, 2017 – Oceaneering International, Inc. (“Oceaneering”) (NYSE:OII) announced today that Roderick A. Larson, who currently serves as Oceaneering’s President, has been designated to succeed M. Kevin McEvoy as Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), immediately following Oceaneering’s 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which is scheduled to be held on May 5, 2017.

Fugro has secured its continued utilisation of high performance offshore IRM vessel, REM Etive, and has finalised a purchase agreement at conditions significantly more beneficial than a renewed charter agreement, with owner Solstad. The move supports a portfolio of IRM contracts being executed by Fugro in the Asia Pacific region and is expected to strengthen the company’s position in relation to future subsea inspection business in the area.

Coda Octopus reports Van Oord successfully executed the impressive ground improvement project for client Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) using the Coda Octopus real time 3D sonar, Echoscope®. Project Details The project, which started in 2014, involved the reclamation of 65 million cubic metres of sand and extensive soil improvement. The reclamation area of 1,320 hectares is intended for one of the largest oil refining plants in the Middle East. This project comprises land reclamation for the construction of a port and the first phase of a LNG import facility. Part of the scope is the construction of revetments and breakwaters which contains some 24,000 CORE-LOC armour units of 1m³.

Modus Seabed Intervention has completed system integration and trialling of one of the subsea industries first commercially available hybrid unmanned underwater vehicles; driving high performance, quality and cost-effective delivery of survey and inspection projects in the offshore, defence and oceanographic sectors. The Modus hybrid is one of the first Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) to feature the capabilities and characteristics of a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). Working in partnership with Saab Dynamics for over three years, global subsea service provider Modus has developed the Saab Sabretooth specification for greater endurance and speed, and is also developing advanced sensor payload packages and operating methodologies.

Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. has delivered a custom built simulator to California Science Center, the largest hands-on science museum in the Western United States. The dual simulator station provides visitors with the experience of operating a subsea remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for themselves. The core technology used in the simulator is Forum’s proprietary VMAX™ ROV Simulation Software used by Forum’s ROV customers for training and evaluation of their ROV pilots. Forum’s development team have tailored the control interface within the software to allow the virtual ROV to be flown by visitors with no prior experience. The control consoles provided use the same robust hardware as Forum’s standard ROV control consoles. The system runs in both English and Spanish.

New for Ocean Business 2017, Diversified are delighted to announce that they are hosting two new events organised by the Marine South East and the Enterprise Europe Network and supported by the European Commission that focus on defence and commercial applications in autonomous systems and satellite applications. Visitors can register for these FREE to attend events – a conference on Tuesday 4 April, 2017 and a B2B match making event on Wednesday 5 April 2017. Both events will be held alongside the Ocean Business exhibition and training forum that is being held at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK, from 4-6 April. Autonomous systems and satellite applications are both themes that are on a growth curve for investment, and are attracting widespread interest across public and private sectors. The goal of the conference is to highlight innovation priorities and initiate relationships across defence and commercial, involving major primes and SMEs.