Subsea World News has put together a recap of the most interesting articles from the previous week (November 02 – November 08).

Fugro said it will lay off around 500 employees in the coming quarters as it feels the pressure of deteriorating market and anticipates an even more challenging times ahead.

In addition, the Dutch offshore services provider, reporting a headcount of 1054 at the end of Q3 2015, said it expects non-cash impairments in the range of EUR 250 to 300 million in the fourth quarter, mainly related to its subsea services division, which is under most pressure.

Subsea World News has gathered all the highlights to a summarized version of the most popular articles from the previous month.

The month of October marked announcements from some of the major subsea players including Subsea 7, Technip and Saipem. The trio managed to secure new contracts in the third quarter in Africa, Gulf of Mexico and Middle East, despite the challenging market.

GE Oil & Gas has agreed to acquire Advantec, a provider of subsea intervention equipment and services.

Advantec will operate under the existing name and management team as part of GE Oil & Gas’ Subsea Services & Offshore division. As such, it will continue to supply products and services directly to existing and new clients, GE wrote.

Financial terms of the agreement to acquire the company were not disclosed.

French seismic contractor, CGG, will be reducing its global workforce by additional 930 positions, as part of its transformation plan, the company said during third-quarter earnings presentation.

Furthermore, in the third quarter 2015, as a result of deterioration of market conditions and the reduction in its fleet, CGG booked assets impairment & write-off and non-recurring charges (NRC) of approximately $1 billion.

Subsea 7 has been awarded a long term agreement with Centrica to provide support to Centrica throughout early phase Concept engineering, FEED, SURF project execution and Life of Field operations.

The agreement is applicable to the Centrica portfolio on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and has a duration of five years plus options for extension.