Subsea World News has put together a recap of the most interesting articles from the previous week (June 15 – June 21).

A diver who failed to correctly declare where he found historic cannons dating back to the 1600s has pleaded guilty to fraud in excess of £46,000.

Vincent Woolsgrove from Ramsgate in Kent, said he had found three 24lb cannons off North Foreland which were originally from the City of Amsterdam. However, photographs were found on his computer showing the cannons being recovered off Southend.

Statoil has estimated potential workforce reduction at 1,100 – 1,500 permanent employees by end 2016.

In addition Statoil will further reduce the number of consultants by around 525. The estimate for workforce reductions reflects the STEP efficiency potential and further corporate improvements over the coming 18 months.

Contracts awarded by Statoil Aberdeen to the UK supply chain have now surpassed a value of GBP 1 billion, including all the major contracts for the operational phase on the Mariner field.

“In the tendering process for operational contract scopes we are pleased to experience excellent capacity and quality in the UK Supply chain. We also see a constructive response to the challenges we are all facing,” said Gunnar Breivik, managing director for Statoil Production UK and head of the company’s Aberdeen office.

French cable giant Nexans is downsizing its European workforce as it launches a new savings project aimed to respond to market challenges.

The company said that the project may involve all European countries and in particular France, Norway and Germany. According to Nexans, these new adjustments would result in 478 positions cuts and the creation of 46 new positions in Europe.

Dutch shipbuilder and maritime equipment supplier, Royal IHC, has decided to speed up the process of the company’s planned downsizing, called ‘IHC 2020 strategy’, due to rapidly deteriorating market.

According to the IHC, the number of slipways in The Netherlands will be reduced from four to two and IHC intends to terminate the employment of 487 of its employees. Simultaneously, a large percentage of the flexible workforce (a total of 1,127 employees), will be phased out.