Subsea World News has put together a recap of the most interesting articles from the previous week (December 07 – December 13).

French oil services provider, Technip, has denied alleged merger talks with Houston-based FMC Technologies.

Namely, last week, reports came out that Technip could be looking into a potential sale and that there might be possible takeover talks between these two subsea majors.

Amplus Energy Services, an Aberdeen-based floating production solutions firm, has agreed a new venture with Technip in the UK to develop marginal fields in the North Sea.

With much of the remaining reserves inaccessible using existing infrastructure, the two firms have joined forces using their individual expertise to provide an integrated and fit for purpose solution for challenging field developments.

McDermott International has been awarded a sizeable transport and installation contract by an upstream oil and gas operator for a project offshore Trinidad, West Indies.

The contract award includes the transport and installation of a 1,000-ton deck and 1,600-ton jacket. It also covers the onshore fabrication, reel-lay and pre-commissioning of 14,000 feet of 14-inch pipeline that includes the pull-in of a 12-inch riser at an existing offshore platform scheduled to be completed using McDermott vessels, Derrick Barge 50 (DB50) and the North Ocean 105 (NO105).

Statoil has, on behalf of the Johan Sverdrup partners, awarded contracts for the linepipe, coating and pipe installation of the Johan Sverdrup export pipelines.

The total contract value is estimated at slightly less than NOK 2.5 billion (approx. $288 million), the three contracts cover both the oil and the gas export pipelines for Johan Sverdrup.

The seismic market could see one of its players go under as Norway’s Dolphin struggles to secure sufficient funds to support its business.

The Oslo-listed firm looked for ways to solve its debt and obligations, however, it has not reached an agreement with the main stakeholders that would allow the seismic contractor to complete its financial restructuring.