UTEC Survey Adds Two Additional Gavia Offshore Surveyors

Teledyne Gavia reported the sale of two additional 1,000m depth rated Gavia Offshore Surveyor Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) to UTEC Survey Inc., (Houston, Texas). UTEC purchased its first Gavia AUV in August 2011 then took delivery of a second vehicle in April 2012. After honing their AUV operations over the past two survey seasons, the company decided to increase the fleet with the purchase of two further vehicles…

SBM Offshore Looks Back Comfortably on 2013

“From a difficult start, 2013 has been a year of achievements. As we close, we are updating the market on further steps that mark SBM Offshore’s progress and our determination to manage our business rigorously and efficiently. We are pleased to announce that the Deep Panuke facility has received Production Acceptance Notice and is formally on hire. This has been a tough project, but its delivery reflects the advances we have made.

Lockheed Martin’s Revolutionary AUV

During the OTC Brasil 2013, one of the standout presentations was on the Lockheed Martin Marlin AUV. At first glance it resembles what you’d expect from any top of the line AUV. Yet on closer examination it offers capabilities that may be real game-changers for the industry. After the presentation MTR’s Correspondent in Brazil, Claudio Paschoa spoke to Dan McLeod, Senior Program Manager at Lockheed Martin.

Johan Sverdrup Field Concept Selected

Statoil and the partners in the Johan Sverdrup field have decided on a concept for the first development phase. The partners have agreed on a field center consisting of four installations and power from shore. The partners have decided on power from shore for the Johan Sverdrup field in the first phase, which will reduce total CO2 emissions from the Utsira High area by 60-70%. “This is historic. We have not made a concept selection for a field this size since the 1980s…

HUGIN AUV Chosen for Polish Navy Countermeasures

Remontowa Shipbuilding in Gdansk, Poland, has selected Kongsberg Maritime to supply a HUGIN 1000 MR Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and associated underwater communications and positioning equipment for mine countermeasures (MCM) applications, as part of a minehunter class vessel delivery for the Polish Navy. The HUGIN 1000 MR AUV has been selected as it is specifically designed for MCM operations and can detect, classify and identify mines in a single mission.

iXBlue and Septentrio Create ATLANS-C

iXBlue, a leading provider of navigation, positioning, and mapping solutions, today launched its new ATLANS-C position and orientation system, developed in close cooperation with Septentrio Satellite Navigation. The system is designed to provide continuous and accurate positioning in urban environments, where global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals are obscured, intermittent, or possibly distorted by reflective surfaces.

Kongsberg Technology for Pioneering Spirit

Following its inauguration ceremony in Rotterdam on February 27, 2015, Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit will start its first job offshore Norway this summer with an integrated Dynamic Positioning (DP) and manoeuvring system based on state-of-the art Kongsberg Maritime technology. The Kongsberg Maritime delivery includes forward and aft bridge systems in addition to an extensive automation network and the HiPAP subsea position reference system.

Halter Marine Wins Deal to Build US Navy Oceanographic Survey Ship

Pascagoula, Miss. shipbuilder Halter Marine announced on Thursday it has been awarded a $149 million contract for the detail design and construction of an oceanographic survey ship (T-AGS 67) for the U.S. Navy.“This contract continues the momentum and growth of Halter Marine by adding a third government program to its shipyard along with the Polar Security Cutter and Auxiliary Personnel Lighter-Small programs.

OceanServer Wins US Navy Subsea Deal

OceanServer Technology, Inc. has recently been awarded a contract for one Iver3 AUV by the US Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in Newport, RI. This system will include several Iver3 options just released including the Rowe Technologies, Inc. (RTI) SeaPILOT 600 kHz Doppler Velocity Log with ADCP. The RTI’s SeaPILOT family of Doppler Velocity Logs (DVLs) represents some of the industry’s acoustic Doppler technology.

Schlumberger Debuts StingBlade Bit

Smith Bits, a Schlumberger company, announced today the introduction of StingBlade* conical diamond element bit. StingBlade bits increase run length and rate of penetration (ROP) while delivering improved steering response in directional applications. “In the continuous drive for increasing efficiency and lowering costs while drilling, our customers expect that each section is drilled from shoe to total depth with one drill bit at a high rate of penetration…

Tiburon Subsea Takes Delivery of OceanServer AUV

Tiburon Subsea takes delivery of Ocean Server IVER3-580 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), the first of multiple vehicles being offered for rent to third party operators. Tiburon Subsea is implementing extensive vehicle specific AUV training programs and offering full operator support services with all their AUV rentals. “By certifying qualified operators from established companies we are enabling…

Seychelles Coast Guard Undergo Enhanced Training

Over the last eight weeks six Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG) divers have been undergoing training conducted by EUCAP Nestor’s experts to enhance their diving and operational capabilities. The course commenced on July 17th and concluded today in Victoria. A closing ceremony for the course was held at the Seychelles Coast Guard base. The focus of activity for this course was the enhancement of the Seychelles…

Scientists Find Micro Plastic in Arctic Ice

Tiny pieces of plastic have been found in ice cores drilled in the Arctic by a U.S.-led team of scientists, underscoring the threat the growing form of pollution poses to marine life in even the remotest waters on the planet.The researchers used a helicopter to land on ice floes and retrieve the samples during an 18-day icebreaker expedition through the Northwest Passage, the hazardous route linking…

Polar Onyx Readies for Brazilian Depths

The offshore construction vessel Polar Onyx was delivered on March 4, 2014 from Ulstein Verft to GC Rieber Shipping, as the latest addition to their growing investments into the subsea segment. The vessel’s first assignment will be to work for deepwater projects serving as pipelay support vessel for Petrobras offshore Brazil. The 130-meter long and 25-meter wide Polar Onyx is based on ULSTEIN’s SX121 design…

ABB Wins US$60-Million Statoil Offshore Contract

Power and automation technology group, ABB, informs it has won three orders worth $60 million for internal and external telecommunication systems for three Statoil projects on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The three contracts have been signed with leading shipyards in South Korea. ABB will be a system integrator of telecommunications on the offshore installations built for the Aasta Hansteen and…

ONR Researchers Explore a Changing Arctic

As sea ice continues to recede at a record pace in the Arctic, officials at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) on April 14 announced new efforts to determine the pace of change in what some are calling Earth's final frontier. Scientists sponsored by ONR have traveled to the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean, placing new sensors in the ice and in the frigid waters below, to better understand the processes…

MacArtney Upgrades MMT FOCUS-2 Systems

MacArtney has performed a major upgrade of two FOCUS-2 ROTV systems belonging to Swedish marine survey contractor and specialist, MMT. Both vehicles have been fitted with new state-of-the-art equipment to carry out geophysical survey missions for clients within oil, gas and renewable energy industries. Complementing the side scan sonar and sub bottom profiler already onboard, the MMT FOCUS-2 systems have been fully equipped with a multi beam echo sounder…

Ultra-High Accuracy G2+ Positioning Service

Fugro introduced another  advance in the field of GNSS augmentation with its high accuracy G2+ service, designed to benefit offshore operators around the globe who require positioning and measurement accuracy at centimeter level. G2+ is an enhancement of Fugro’s G2 service (based on GPS and GLONASS) and uses GNSS augmentation algorithms developed in-house. The code and carrier-phase signals transmitted…

Subsea Vehicles: A Journey to the Under – and Outer – Worlds

It’s often remarked upon that we know more about the surface of the moon than we do the depths of our ocean. Scientists are now shooting for both – and beyond. Work by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), developed for exploring Mars, is now being leveraged by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to help tap Earth’s deepest water secrets. In turn, WHOI’s work will help NASA explore oceans…

Shell, i-Tech 7 Team Up to Speed Up Subsea Digitalization

Subsea 7’s Life of Field business unit i-Tech 7 has partnered up with Shell in a technology agreement aimed at speed up subsea digitalization, initially for a period of five years from the fourth quarter of 2019.The agreement, i-Tech said Tuesday, will help fast-track innovation and streamline the adoption of applied technologies in areas such as marine robotics, advanced sensing, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems to address the industry’s challenges to improve safety…