Subsea World News has gathered all the highlights to bring you a summarized version of the most popular articles from the previous month.
The month of August has seen companies adjusting to tough market environment with further workforce reductions, shipowners laying-up vessels and some major deals being struck among contractors. Some could be facing corruption charges while others are enjoying historic contract awards.
Offshore services provider Fugro will slash 200 jobs in the next six months and Norway’s Solstad said 300 of its workers will have to go due to its plans to lay-up 10 ships by the end of the year.
Japan’s front end engineering design (FEED) and engineering procurement and construction (EPC) company, Chiyoda, ventured into subsea market by acquiring 50% of Ezra’s EMAS AMC.
Schlumberger went Cameron shopping for $14.8 billion, while the largest ROV owner Oceaneering bought a minority stake in UK’s Viper Subsea and also introduced its most recent innovation, a deepwater Phased Array ultrasonic inspection tool.
Italian authorities will be looking into Saipem books on suspected corruption in Brazil. Meanwhile, Houston-based contractor, McDermott, has secured the largest single award for the company’s Middle East Area operations in history.
For the month of August, our 10 most-read articles were:
Italian oilfield services player, Saipem, has received notice of an impending investigation and a request for documentation from the Public Prosecutor of the Republic in Milan in relation to new criminal proceedings for the alleged crime of international corruption.Fugro has announced further headcount reduction of 200 employees in the coming half year, in particular in the Subsea Services and Geotechnical divisions as it anticipates an even more challenging market in the second half of 2015.
Ezra and Chiyoda have signed an MOU for Chiyoda to invest in Ezra’s subsea services business, EMAS AMC, to form a 50:50 joint venture EMAS CHIYODA Subsea. As part of the JV, Chiyoda will pay Ezra a USD 150 million in cash and inject USD 30 million into EMAS CHIYODA Subsea.Schlumberger and Cameron have signed a definitive merger deal in which the companies will combine in a stock and cash transaction. Cameron shareholders will get 0.716 shares of Schlumberger common stock and a cash payment of $14.44 in exchange for each Cameron share.
GAC Sweden hired Jumbo for the transportation and installation of an underwater restaurant. The restaurant consists of an acrylic dome on a steel structure, has a weight of 410 metric tons and is the second one of its kind. The restaurant will be assembled in New Zealand. Oceaneering’s UK subsidiary has, on August 7, completed the acquisition of a minority equity interest in Viper Subsea Technology. Viper designs and supplies hydraulic, chemical, and electrical subsea distribution systems and equipment, and offers engineering consultancy services.
McDermott has been awarded a lump sum contract by Saudi Aramco for brownfield work in various fields offshore Saudi Arabia. Work on the contract is expected to be executed through the second quarter of 2018. Revenue will be included in McDermott’s third quarter 2015 backlog.The first piece of the Johan Sverdrup development has now been completed and installed on the field in the North Sea. The Heerema Marine Contractors’ crane vessel “Thialf” completed the installation of the 280-tonne pre-drilling template on the Johan Sverdrup field.
Solstad is looking to lay-up additional vessels as it expects a weak market in AHTS and PSV segment, despite recording a year-on-year profit rise in the second quarter. 10 vessels, mainly PSVs and AHTSs, will be laid-up by the end of 2015. Oceaneering has introduced its most recent innovation, a deepwater Phased Array ultrasonic inspection capability for subsea applications down to 3000m (10,000 feet). The system is deployed by ROV using Oceaneering’s Neptune scanner.
Subsea World News has gathered all the highlights to bring you a summarized version of the most popular articles from the previous month.
