Industry doyen Sir Ian Wood has kicked-off a new campaign ahead of SPE Offshore Europe 2017 to encourage previous and future visitors, exhibitors and speakers to share their experiences of the event and what they are looking forward to seeing at September’s conference and exhibition. OE & Me is a new online hub which invites people to send their stories of SPE Offshore Europe and organisers are looking for contributions from both within and outside the oil and gas industry. Short-style video footage from phones or tablets is the recommended format to upload to the hub. Full details are available at: http://www.offshore-europe.co.uk/en/OE--Me/

Solstad Offshore in Singapore has recently awarded IKM Subsea Singapore a service contract to provide ROV services onboard on the DLB “Norce Endeavour” for construction support projects offshore in Thailand (hat-trick award from 2015). The barge will be mobilized in Singapore and will be working in the Gulf of Thailand for various clients. IKM Subsea will provide the Merlin WR 200 Work class ROV together with the required tooling’s to execute the project which consist of numerous platform and Pipelines installation coupled with dive support for Subsea tie-in and commissioning.

A leading manufacturer of sensors to measure maritime distances at sea has received a prestigious national award for their innovative targetless sensor. Launched last year, RangeGuard is the first sensor from Guidance Marine not to use physical targets. The innovative system was deemed worthy of the prestigious Dynamic Positioning 2017 Award, which can only be given to the developer of an innovative DP product or system, or contractor responsible for an especially innovative application of DP on a project.

Delegates at this week’s ITF Technology Showcase will be given an insight into how a novel snake-arm robot could take offshore inspection to a new level ahead of its first trial with Chevron. Technology developer, OC Robotics has proven the capability of the P100 snake-arm robotic inspection system onshore and is now exploring the feasibility of robotic inspection of offshore oil and gas pressure vessels. Snake-arm robots are driven by wire ropes and controlled by OC Robotics’ proprietary software. Snake-arm robots are especially suited to working in confined and hazardous spaces as they can navigate and traverse cluttered environments. Only the arm itself is deployed into the workspace as the main drive motors, electronics and control systems are located away from the inspection area. The project is being funded by Innovate UK’s ‘Energy Game Changer’ programme. OC Robotics & Chevron are exhibiting on Innovate UK’s stand along with a number of companies that secured funding through the competition last year. Innovate is the UK’s innovation agency which aims to drive science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy - delivering productivity, new jobs and exports.

BP group chief executive Bob Dudley will underline the value of the North Sea in the oil major’s global portfolio when he leads the opening plenary session at SPE Offshore Europe 2017 being held in Aberdeen from 5-8 September 2017. Dudley, who calls BP’s UK North Sea business one of its “crown jewels”, will address the hundreds of delegates expected to attend the opening plenary session at Europe’s foremost exploration and production (E&P) technical conference and exhibition. Other senior level plenary speakers will be announced in due course.

Oilfield Helping Hands (OHH), a nonprofit charitable organization comprised of volunteers devoted to providing financial assistance to oilfield workers in financial crisis, has been named the 2017 beneficiary of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Distinguished Achievement Awards Luncheon. OTC will host the Distinguished Achievement Awards Luncheon on Tuesday, 2 May 2017 at NRG Center in Houston. The event recognizes industry achievements, raises funds for a worthy cause and provides an excellent opportunity for industry leaders to network with colleagues from around the world.

Siem Offshore Contractors (SOC) is pleased to announce that all 73 inner array grid cables of the Veja Mate Offshore Wind Farm have been installed and trenched 10 weeks ahead of schedule. The submarine composite cables were successfully installed since 01-Oct-2016 using the “Siem Duo” consisting of the Cable Lay Vessel Siem Aimery and the Installation Support Vessel Siem Moxie. The Siem Duo demonstrated its advanced weather operability during the harsh winter season, whereby both the operations of the gangway on the Siem Moxie as well as post-lay trenching by the Siem Aimery were undertaken in significant wave heights of up to 3 m. The Siem Aimery loaded in excess of 95 km of copper core submarine composite cables directly into its two turntables in addition to the cable protection systems, which were loaded into a dedicated under-deck storage compartment. While the Siem Moxie assisted with the cable pull-in, termination and testing activities deploying SOC’s dedicated offshore support units (OSU) equipped with generators, pull-in winches, tools and equipment for personnel life support at the individual offshore work sites.

Ocean Installer has recently completed the very first permanent subsea installation at the Johan Sverdrup field, marking the kick-off of the Johan Sverdrup offshore work. The offshore campaign took place late January in line with project plans and schedule and involved the installation of a subsea template for water injection. The template weighed 290 ton and was installed making use of the CSV Normand Vision.

Leading offshore geoscience and geotechnical engineering consultancy, Cathie Associates, have formed a US entity: Cathie Associates Inc in Boston, Massachusetts. The move is part of the company’s plans for international expansion and will enable them to serve offshore wind development in the USA.

ACE Winches, a leading global deck machinery specialist, is marking a year of project successes in Asia-Pacific at the Offshore South East Asia Conference and Exhibition, OSEA, taking place from 29 November – 2 December in Singapore. These projects are varied in scope and requirements, and include the mobilisation from the UK of a 200te and 400te Reel Drive System (RDS) package with operators and technicians. The RDS was used as part of a mooring line deployment on the Malikai Development, a deep-water project located in Malaysia. The company also supplied a 50te SWL 4-Track Tensioner to support operations on the Ichthys Gas Field Development. This field is located in Browse Basin, 220 kilometres offshore Western Australia and is the largest discovery of hydrocarbon liquids in Australia for 40 years.

Fletcher is well known as a platform supply vessel operator, having worked in the North Sea for over 20 years. But with experience carrying out ROV operations and boulder clearance for the renewables industry, Keith Fletcher saw an opportunity for expansion.

Delegates at an industry conference in Moscow, Russia this month will hear how Xodus Group’s integrated approach to oil and gas projects in the Arctic can ensure environmental safety while also minimising costs. The ‘Russian Offshore Oil and Gas Development: Arctic and Far East’ (ROOGD-2016) taking place on October 26, aims to share industry practices in the development of offshore fields and resources of the Arctic shelf.

RentAir Offshore and ATR Power Solutions have effectively merged to become one company, offering a broader service to the global energy industry. This follows the successful merger of their parent companies, Centurion Group and ATR Group, earlier this year. The new combined business, which will trade under the Rentair Offshore brand, brings together the complementary expertise, products and services of both companies in the rental of specialist air compression, steam and power generation equipment to support oil & gas production, well testing, fabric maintenance and renewables.

Meet Helix Canyon Offshore at WindEnergy Hamburg'16

Quest Offshore Consulting inks venture with Calash Ltd. to assist the expansion of its services to the USA, with the opening of offices in both Houston and New York City. A Calash/Quest Consulting combination will offer enhanced services to US based private equity, debt, and wider investment community, with a focus on strategic due diligence across the energy sector, targeted at the US onshore and offshore oilfield service and E&P markets. The Houston and New York offices build upon Calash's current locations in Aberdeen, London, and Sydney.

Wallsend, UK: Shanghai Salvage Company (also known as China Offshore Engineering Shanghai, Co), a state owned entity who have a long history in diving and salvage have signed an order with SMD for a Quasar MKII 6000m remotely operated vehicle (ROV). Scheduled for delivery in the first half of 2017, the system will include a full suite of equipment suitable for both deep sea salvage and oil and gas operations.

Quest Offshore Resources, Inc. ("Quest Offshore") announces the sale of its data and subscriptions business to Verisk Analytics, Inc. (Nasdaq:VRSK), a leading data analytics provider.

A sixteen-strong executive committee of industry experts has been appointed for SPE Offshore Europe 2017 and is working on the theme and topics for the event which will take place in Aberdeen from 5-8 September 2017 when the industry will have faced the longest and most severe downturn in decades.