UK-based Bibby Offshore has announced its Houston, USA-based subsidiary Bibby Subsea, through its strategic alliance with Aqueos Corporation, USA, has secured a multi-million dollar decommissioning project in the Gulf of Mexico for an undisclosed oil company.

The work will be undertaken during the first half of 2016. The DSV Bibby Sapphire relocated to the Gulf of Mexico during December 2015 to work on the project.

Howard Woodcock, the chief executive of Bibby Offshore, said: “North America remains a focus for our international expansion. We have a clear commitment to this region and will continue to develop our strategic alliance with Aqueos Corporation. The contract win is a direct result of our strategic alliance with Aqueos, as well as Bibby Offshore’s successful and long standing track record with the leading international oil company.

“The broader market remains challenging, but this new project demonstrates and endorses our ability to secure contracts in a highly competitive market.”

Global Marine Systems, the UK-headquartered specialist in subsea cable route design, installation and maintenance, has secured a contract from Ocean Networks Canada to upgrade the fibre optic cables serving the NEPTUNE observatory off the west coast of Canada.

An initiative of the University of Victoria, Canada, Ocean Networks Canada operates extensive monitoring networks and undersea observatories for scientific research to help communities, government and industry make informed decisions about our future.

The subsea infrastructure of NEPTUNE comprises an 800-kilometre loop of fibre optic cable connected to various instrumented sites (nodes). The observatory enables scientists to study phenomena through continuous long-term, high temporal resolution observations not afforded by traditional ship-based ocean exploration. By co-locating instruments of different types, researchers can study interactions among geological, chemical, physical and biological processes that drive the dynamic earth-ocean system. The shore station at Port Alberni on Vancouver Island sends the collected data via fibre optic cable to the University of Victoria and out to the world via the internet.

The contract with Global Marine includes two parts. The first, which was completed in late 2015, was the recovery of failed cables from the NEPTUNE system. The second is the cable installation of new subsea cables, which is scheduled for May 2016.

The cable recovery work for the NEPTUNE observatory was performed by Global Marine’s vessel Wave Venture, a highly specified cable laying and multi-purpose offshore vessel capable of complex offshore construction projects. There were four sections of broken cable identified for recovery, measuring 4750, 7962, 3500 and 1560 metres in length, at water depths of between 2100 and 2400 metres.

“Although the recovery work proved relatively straightforward, the installation of new fibre optic cables is expected to provide a far greater engineering challenge,” said Global Marine. “The difficult task is in part down to the fact that the mechanical subsea structures, weighing around 1.8 tonnes each, will make storage and vessel loading far from simple.

“Four cables in total will each feature a mud-mat at each end that helps secure the cable in place. The subsequent task will be accurate deployment on the seabed, using an ROV to connect existing seabed cables to the structure. The expert teams of solution designers and project engineers at Global Marine, which is acquiring a rapidly growing reputation for handling complex projects involving subsea structures, have come up with a solution that means Wave Venture will only be required to take one passage to install four cables – thus creating further savings for the customer – at Clayoquot Slope and Endeavour.”

The company said this level of pre-project engineering capability and solution design is imparted to ensure successfully executed, high quality, yet cost effective project delivery. “It is a formula that has proved highly successful in Global Marine’s traditional core market of telecoms, and is today being transferred to a host of other markets that include deep-sea research, oil and gas and offshore renewables,” it said.

Fugro Subsea Services, UK, has been awarded a five-year contract for the provision of underwater services to Total E&P UK (TEP UK).

Under the contract, which includes extension options for a further two years, Fugro will provide a full range of ROV services to conduct inspection, repair and maintenance activities on TEP UK pipelines, subsea assets and jackets.

Norwegian subsea contractor Ocean Installer has been awarded an offshore wind contract in German waters with Norddeutsche Seekabelwerke (NSW), Germany.

“We are very pleased that we are able to secure a very interesting project within the offshore renewables wind market and demonstrate our capabilities on such a project,” said Steinar Riise, chief executive officer of Ocean Installer.

The scope of work, to take place in the southern sector of the North Sea, includes recovery of two pre-laid HVAC export power cables in the 500-metre zone of the Gode Wind 1 OSS (offshore substation), relay of the cable, installation of the centraliser cable protection system and pull-in to the transformer platform.

Ocean Installer will use its construction support vessel Normand Vision for the project. This is the vessel’s first project within the renewable energy sector after taking on several projects globally and on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, including work for Statoil and Norske Shell.

iSURVEY AS, Norway, reports it has been awarded a multi-year frame agreement with Nexans Norway to provide navigation, positioning and survey support for its cable lay operations on board the CS Nexans Skagerrak.

iSURVEY will provide services including positioning and monitoring during cable lay and trenching operations, together with as-trenched and as-laid reporting and charting. Subsea positioning is to be provided to integrate Norway-based IKM Subsea’s Merlin work-class ROV into installation operations.

“Securing this contract with Nexans is of strategic importance to iSURVEY, and enables us to further develop our capabilities within the subsea power cable lay market,” said Anja Bergstrøm Karthum, iSURVEY’s commercial director. “We have been supporting Nexans’ operations on board CS Nexans Skagerrak since 2007, and are pleased to have been selected to continue this cooperation in the coming years.”

Tritech, UK, reports it continues to grow within the renewables market with orders from Irish tidal turbine company OpenHydro Group. 

“Following evaluation of Tritech’s multibeam technology, OpenHydro has purchased a number of Gemini imaging sonars to monitor the installation and recovery of tidal turbines and subsea base units for its current and future projects,” said Tritech. “The company also purchased an additional Gemini sonar, which will be permanently installed on a tidal turbine to monitor the environment. This sonar was provided with the Tritech SeaTec software package which provides target tracking and probability classification functionality.” 

All Tritech Gemini sonars are provided with a software package which provides users with a real-time image and with basic target tracking capabilities. The SeaTec software upgrade is customised to meet the specific needs of the customer.

Gemini 720i operates at 720kHz to provide high-resolution sonar imagery at a 120-metre range and with a full 120-degree field of view.

Mark Cobbe, project engineer at OpenHydro, said: “The Tritech Gemini was selected because we achieved excellent clarity at both long and short range. After a brief hire period for projects in Canada, the Gemini sonar continued to prove itself as a robust and reliable system during operations in France. It was therefore the logical choice to continue using this trusted and easy-to-operate sonar as we expanded onto different projects.”

Perth, Western Australia-based Neptune Marine Services reports it has received a marine maintenance diving contract from Chevron Australia Pty Ltd under a new master services agreement.

The contract includes diving services for the facilities maintenance of various Chevron Australia natural gas assets offshore Western Australia.

Neptune will use its dive support vessel Issabelle.

The firm said it is entering its fifth year of supporting Chevron Australia’s Western Australian-based natural gas assets.