Subsea World News has put together a recap of the most interesting articles from the previous week (January 09– January 15).

French oil services provider Technip has acquired stake in the new industrial player in marine renewable energies established by DCNS and Bpifrance, and also supported by BNP Paribas Development.

DCNS Energies, majority owned by DCNS and 36% by the SPI fund of Bpifrance, will devote its activity to the industrial and commercial development of three technologies for the production of electricity from Marine Renewable Energies (MRE): tidal turbine power that uses the kinetic energy of sea currents, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) and offshore wind energy via semi-submersible floats.

Norwegian oil services company, Aker Solutions, is said to be reducing its workforce capacity mainly in Norway, UK and India.

According to reports, about 650 positions may be affected due to continued market slowdown and as part of company’s global reorganization. It is understood that some 100 positions may be affected in Aberdeen and London, while 270 jobs could go in Norway.

SapuraKencana’s wholly-owned subsidiaries have been awarded contracts with a combined value of approximately USD 300 million.

Namely, SapuraKencana Subsea Services has been awarded a 2-year contract, to be performed on a call-out basis, for the provision of underwater services for Petronas. Three other contracts have been secured, including a 12-months contract by Repsol Oil & Gas Malaysia.

ACE Winches, has secured a spooling contract with Oceaneering for Shell’s Prelude Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) project.

The contract will be the first time ACE Winches’ newly-developed 500te reel drive system is used. The tool is an upgrade of its existing 400te system that has been engineered and manufactured at ACE Winches facilities in Aberdeenshire.

Seatronics, an Acteon company, has signed a new partnership agreement with Force Technology, an international technological consultancy company.

The new agreement will provide Seatronics’ global customer base with access to Force Technology’s Field Gradient Sensor (FiGS) system.