Subsea World News has put together a recap of the most interesting articles from the previous week (November 12 – November 19).

GE has said it is evaluating exit options on Baker Hughes just four months after the merger of its oil and gas business with the Houston-based oilfield services company.

The merger of GE Oil & Gas with Baker Hughes (BHGE) became effective on July 3 this year with aim to be the first and only company to bring together industry-leading equipment, services and digital solutions across the entire spectrum of oil and gas development.

The newly named MV Kobi Ruegg has joined Fugro’s vessel fleet and is set to begin its first project in the Egyptian sector of the Mediterranean Sea.

Working on behalf of Saipem, Fugro will deploy its large diameter piston core system to collect soil samples in the Zohr gas field, and geophysical surveys for Pico and Shell will follow. The vessel replaces the Fugro Navigator which has been permanently retired.

Aker Solutions has won a contract to provide umbilicals for the Statoil-operated Johan Sverdrup, Utgard and Bauge developments, offshore Norway.

The order entails delivery of more than 40 kilometers in total of subsea umbilicals.

Manufacturing will take place at Aker Solutions’ umbilicals plant in Moss, Norway.

German operator Wintershall has been granted a consent from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) to start-up production from the Maria field in the Norwegian Sea, ahead of schedule.

Production start-up is planned for December 2017, about 10 months ahead of the original plan, which was for start-up in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The development will also cost less than anticipated.

DOF Subsea, a subsidiary of DOF Group, reported profit in the third-quarter 2017 of NOK 138 million (close to $17 million), compared with profit of NOK 170 million ($20.8 million) in the corresponding period in 2016.

Sequentially, profit was increased from NOK 88 million or $10.8 million.

In the third quarter ended September 30, 2017, the company had operating income of NOK 899 million versus NOK 1.13 billion same time last year.