A year ago, Douglas-Westwood (DW) commented that E&P companies within West Africa were focusing reduced Capex plans on high-quality deepwater assets in the region. At the time, Brent crude was rebounding towards a mid-2015 peak of over $60 per barrel. However, in the months since this peak, oil prices plummeted once more, with Brent reaching lows of $26 per barrel in January 2016. DW has since revised its outlook considerably for West Africa’s deepwater prospects. With Brent on the rise last year and operators reiterating their commitment to deepwater assets in the region, DW foresaw the drilling of 483 deepwater development wells over 2016-2021 with deepwater production to continually increase to 4.0 mmboe/d by the end of this period.

Subsea IMR provider, N-Sea, has won the Safety Innovations award at this year’s SPE Aberdeen Offshore Achievement Awards. Winners were announced at a prestigious awards ceremony last night at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC).

Dutch contracting company, Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors B.V. [Van Oord], have purchased a suite of Gemini 720is multibeam imaging sonars, in the week of its launch at Oceanology 2016, 15 - 17 March, ExCel, London.

Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors, a leading contractor for dredging, marine engineering and offshore energy projects has selected Valeport’s SWiFT SVP for its various survey activities. The SWiFT SVP is designed to ensure a seamless workflow and has an integral GPS to geo-locate every profile. The compact unit features high accuracy sound velocity, pressure, temperature, salinity and density measurement, plus integral GPS and re-chargeable battery. Suited for coastal, harbour and inland hydrographic survey use, Van Oord is to deploy the SWiFT SVP as part of their operations worldwide

In October 2015 a consortium of UK companies and academic partners, led by Steatite began an R&D project to develop a battery pack that will be pressure tolerant up to depths of 6000 metres.

Recently two ECA Group H800 Full HD ROVs, one to China, the other to a Middle East, have been selected for their power, ruggedness, compactness and stability performances.

Aberdeen-based Ashtead Technology has become the first subsea services company to be accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) for its state-of-the-art calibration laboratory. This official seal of approval from UKAS demonstrates that Ashtead delivers professional and technically competent calibration of survey, positioning and oceanographic sensors crucial to their customers’ subsea operations.

Statoil has exercised an option with Ocean Installer for flexible jumper replacement at the Vigdis field. The option falls under an amendment to the previously awarded SLMP Marine Installation contract.

The new Dolphin 2D sonar from Marine Electronics Ltd (MEL) is making a splash on the company’s stand at Oceanology (E200) where designers of small AUVs and ROVs are able to see what can be achieved when using such a small, low cost package. A prototype of the new sonar was first presented to the industry a year ago since when it has been refined and tested to the point where it is now ready for operational use.

Atlantas Marine Ltd has made its first move into ROV instrumentation with the design and manufacture of a video overlay device intended to make cathodic protection surveys easier and faster. Being shown in public for the first time at Oceanology International (Stand E 201), the new tool has been designed to display the readings obtained by a cathodic protection probe as an overlay on the ROV’s video display. This creates a permanent record and eliminates the need for the ROV operator to make handwritten notes of individual probe readings while surveying the condition of a vessel’s anodes.

Oceanology International 2016, 15-18 March, Stand D600 Kongsberg Maritime has received IMO Type Approval (Wheelmark) for its state-of-the-art MGC R3 COMPASS system. The gyro compass fits well into the range of offerings from KONGSBERG for navigation and ship control systems.

Oceanology International 2016, 15-18 March, Stand D600 Kongsberg Maritime has unveiled innovative new additions to its highly regarded Seapath range of integrated Heading, Attitude and Positioning sensors at Oceanology International 2016 (stand D600). The new Seapath 130 series is a compact, portable take on the proven Seapath technology used by hydrographic surveyors globally. As an easy to deploy solution for KONGSBERG’s leading multibeam, single beam and sonar systems, the Seapath 130 series is ideally suited for operation on a diverse array of survey platforms, including vessels of opportunity.

Oceanology International 2016, 15-18 March, Stand D600 The latest development of Kongsberg Maritime’s EM 2040 multibeam echo sounder technology platform is being demonstrated at Oceanology International 2016. The new EM 2040P is a highly portable shallow water multibeam echo sounder designed for easy transport and quick deployment on any vessel, while offering survey performance up to and exceeding the IHO-S44 special order and the more stringent LINZ specification.

Oceanology International 2016, 15-18 March, Stand D600 Integrated Solutions for Research Vessels are in focus on the Kongsberg Maritime stand (D600) at Oceanology International 2016. The Norwegian headquartered global maritime technology company has over many years focused on a ‘Full Picture’ strategy, which enables it to support Shipowners, Naval Architects and ship-builders throughout the entire design, construction and operational life-time of a vessel. KONGSBERG’s Integrated Solutions for Research Vessels cover all key technology areas on board including navigation and automation, in addition to cutting-edge hydroacoustic and position reference systems.

The whole offshore industry was impatiently waiting for it: specifically designed for ROV navigation, ROVINS NANO provides highly accurate positioning at all depths, including for Middle Water Station Keeping. With now a full range of subsea inertial navigation systems, from ROV navigation to offshore survey, iXBlue can help you everywhere you need it under the sea.

HARKAND has been awarded a multi-million pound contract with Maersk Oil North Sea UK Ltd to deliver subsea support services to the operator including a commissioning support campaign for the Flyndre development located in the south-eastern part of the Central Graben Basin in the North Sea.

The DMC-30012 Series is Galil's latest generation single-axis motion controller. It uses a 32-bit RISC processor to provide higher speed than older models. The DMC-30012 features an internal 800-Watt brushless sine drive which minimizes space, cost and wiring .The motion controller operates stand-alone or can be networked to a PC via Ethernet.

Subsea IMR provider, N-Sea, has signed a letter of intent with CERES Recherches & Expertise Sous-Marine and TechSub Industrie Environement, to provide subsea survey, installation and remediation services to the French offshore wind industry.