UK-headquartered ROV services provider M2 Subsea reports it has secured its first contract award valued in excess of £1 million. The project will see the company supplying the Go Electra vessel, ROVs and personnel to support survey work on the world’s longest subsea pipeline system.

The firm, which has bases in Aberdeen, UK, and Houston, USA, has been subcontracted by Next Geosolutions, the Italy-based geoscience and engineering service provider, to deliver the campaign in the Baltic Sea for the Nord Stream 2 project.

Next Geosolutions was app-ointed to carry out unexploded ordnance identification surveys on the two new pipelines.

The campaign for Nord Stream 2, an extension of the world’s longest pipeline, will be undertaken in an area noted for munitions discoveries following the end of World War II.

To support the 90-day project on the Nord Stream 2, M2 Subsea has signed its first charter agreement for the multipurpose support vessel Go Electra, which recently successfully completed its first five-year class inspection.

The scope of work will be project managed from Aberdeen and will see the Go Electra deployed from Hanko in Finland and supported by 15 of M2 Subsea’s personnel who will carry out the UXO identification work utilising a Triton XLX 2 work-class ROV and a Mohican 5 observation-/inspection-class ROV from the firm’s fleet of 28 assets.

M2 Subsea chief executive officer Mike Arnold said: “This contract award from Next Geosolutions is great for the business and a significant scope of work for us to win. It highlights both our personnel and asset capabilities to negotiate what is a very challenging subsea environment.

“Safety is a key factor on every project and in particular where it involves surveying the seabed to identify undiscovered explosive devices for removal. We are very pleased to have chartered the Go Electra which is a highly specialised vessel for subsea inspection, repair and maintenance work and ideal for supporting the conditions the team and ROVs face in the Baltic.”

He added: “To be chosen to deliver this geophysical survey also highlights the industry’s increasing appetite for engaging with companies of all sizes if their focus is on delivering the best value via a well thought out strategy which involves the most experienced people as well as the most well-suited vessel and assets for the job in hand.”

Giovanni Ranieri, Next Geosolutions’ CEO, said: “This is an exciting project for Next Geosolutions and we’re delighted to have the opportunity to work with M2 Subsea. The workscope allows us to further cement our position in the geoscience market and it reinforces our key objective – to fully appreciate our clients’ requirements and provide them with high quality solutions.”

The Nord Stream twin offshore pipeline system runs from Russia to Germany and measures 1244 kilometres in length.

Fugro, the Netherlands, has been awarded a joint contract with Boskalis, the Netherlands, for survey and identification of unexploded ordnance in the North Sea at the Borssele Wind Farm Zone.

The multimillion-euro contract, for Dutch transmission systems operator TenneT, includes specialised survey and identification work in relation to cable routes for the planned grid connection between TenneT’s two offshore platforms and its high-voltage substation onshore.

“Our project team will deliver a strong and reliable turnkey UXO identification solution,” said Gertjan Paff, Fugro’s regional project director for Europe. “By integrating vessels and innovative systems developed in-house, we have successfully executed similar marine site characterisation projects in recent years.”

The new award follows a number of contracts undertaken by Fugro at the Borssele offshore wind farm site since early 2015, where workscopes have included geophysical surveys, geotechnical site investigations, integrated geological modelling and measuring meteorological and oceanographic conditions. The new UXO survey contract commences this summer and continues for a duration of approximately two years.

DeepOcean of the Netherlands has been awarded an EPCI contract for performing the remote hyperbaric tie-in of the oil export pipeline on the Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea.

The award covers project management, engineering, procurement and installation of the 36-inch (91-centimetre) oil export spool and remote hyperbaric tie-in of the oil export pipeline to the Johan Sverdrup riser platform with Norway-headquartered Statoil’s remote welding spread from the pipeline repair system (PRS) base on Killingøy, Haugesund, Norway. The award is part of Statoil’s Marine Wave #2 tender programme.

The onshore project team will work out of DeepOcean’s offices in Haugesund. Offshore execution will be performed with DeepOcean’s construction vessel Edda Freya and is scheduled for 2018 or 2019.

Rolf Ivar Sørdal, DeepOcean’s commercial director for subsea services, said: “We are extremely pleased to receive this award and perform the world’s first planned subsea remote welding tie-in with our state-of-the-art SURF construction vessel Edda Freya, and we are looking forward to co-operating with Statoil and the PRS pool contractors on this interesting and ground breaking project.”

Norwegian ROV specialist Kystdesign has announced it has been awarded a contract to build another Surveyor Interceptor high-speed survey ROV for a joint venture between MMT, Sweden, and Reach Subsea, Norway.

The Surveyor Interceptor is designed to carry survey instrumentation to perform pipeline inspection, route surveys, subsea installation surveys and environmental surveys down to 2000 metres water depth.

Norwegian subsea services provider DOF Subsea has been awarded a new contract in the Mediterranean with Transmediterranean Pipeline Company (TMPC), Italy, to undertake the inspection on TMPC’s pipeline system.

The scope involves inspection of five submarine pipelines between Sicily and Tunisia and during the scope, DOF Subsea will survey more than 750 kilometres of pipeline.

DOF Subsea said it will deploy the high-specification survey vessel Geosund to complete the inspection workscope and pipeline intervention.

The company successfully completed a similar scope for TMPC in 2014.

Managing director Robert Gillespie said: “We are delighted to win this work with TMPC. We have a good relationship with the company, having successfully completed this inspection scope for them in the past, and we are looking forward to delivering on this scope again later this year.”

He added: “DOF Subsea has an extensive track record in survey and IMR; combined with our high-specification fleet of owned vessels and skilled ROV and survey teams, we are able to offer fully integrated solutions for our clients’ projects.”

Subsea technology from UK-headquartered Sonardyne International that tracks the position of divers and remotely operated vehicles as they carry out surveys and inspections has been selected by Thien Nam Positioning JSC of Vietnam to support its offshore activities in the region. 

The Mini-Ranger 2 ultra-short baseline (USBL) acoustic tracking system, the first to be delivered into Vietnam, was supplied through Sonardyne’s subsidiary in Singapore. It has the capability to simultaneously and precisely track up to 10 underwater mobile targets and benefits from the same Wideband acoustic signal technology found in Sonardyne’s deepwater USBL product family, but for significantly less cost.  

Thien Nam Positioning conducts a wide range of geophysical surveys, pipeline and flowline installations and maintenance operations in support of Vietnam’s offshore oil and gas industry. Its divers and ROVs often work from vessels-of-opportunity, so survey equipment needs to be easy to install and easy to move from between vessels without affecting performance.

 
Discussing the contract, Sonardyne sales manager Daniel Tan explained that this type of operational scenario is perfect for Mini-Ranger 2. “For example, the transceiver used to communicate with the acoustic beacons fitted to divers and ROVs is small and lightweight so can be mounted to a simple pole fitted to the side of a small survey vessel. At the same, it’s optimised to provide reliable tracking in shallow water, near the surface as well as in deeper waters,” he said.

He added: “Onboard wiring is simple, whilst built-in diagnostic tools allow operators to monitor and tune system performance in difficult conditions.” 

Vu Ba Dinh, managing director at Thien Nam Positioning, said: “We’ve been a user of Sonardyne’s deepwater system, Ranger 2 USBL, for some time now and have been pleased with the results it has delivered. Our decision to invest in Mini-Ranger 2 was made only after a detailed comparison of competing USBL technologies. This concluded that its attractive price and features will meet all of our needs.”

Denmark-based MacArtney reports its agent in Italy, Geomarine, has facilitated the supply of two MacArtney FOCUS 2 ROTVs to Next Geosolutions, Italy, for survey work on the world’s longest subsea interconnector.

MacArtney said the vehicles are to be used to deliver high-resolution data for cable route design and engineering, as well as subsea asset inspections, on the giant NSL (North Sea Link) interconnector project.
Due for completion in 2021, the NSL interconnector will consist of approximately 720 kilometres of subsea high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable and will link the power grids of the United Kingdom and Norway.

MacArtney said the scope of supply comprises two FOCUS 2 extended underwater vehicles, one MERMAC S20 winch with 2000 metres of double armoured, combined electrical and fibre optic tow cable, a FOCUS 2 topside control system, an EdgeTech (USA) 2200-MP sidescan sonar, an Ethernet-based camera system and an EdgeTech DW-216 sub-bottom profiler.

The Moroccan Royal Gendarmerie has selected a Saab Seaeye, UK, Falcon ROV for its search, rescue and recovery operations.

“They chose the Falcon as a small, yet powerful resource for rapid deployment from a small boat or RIB and which can accommodate an array of search and recovery systems,” said a Seaeye spokesman.
The Falcon will be deployed along Morocco’s 2000-kilometre coastline and in the country’s many inland lakes.

“The Gendarmerie liked that in strong currents the Falcon can manoeuvre with precision and remain steady on task, whilst also fitted with a variety of tooling, cameras and sonar equipment,” Seaeye’s spokesman said. “They particularly like that that it can work in confined spaces, in darkness and tirelessly for hours at a time.”

The equipment provided for the Falcon was arranged by Saab Seaeye’s Spanish distributor, Casco Antiguo, and includes: high-definition video camera, scanning sonar, MicronNav system for tracking in very shallow water, a sample scoop, five-function manipulator and rope cutter.

The Gendarmerie also appreciated that its Falcon can go places too hazardous for diving operations and where the depth of water and strength of current are too dangerous for divers to operate, according to the spokesman.

“But when divers are necessary,” he said, “hazardous searches can be avoided and dive time reduced by first sending down the Falcon with its camera and high intensity lights to pinpoint what the diver cannot see and direct them to the location of interest.

“Once the diver is at work, the Falcon can keep a watchful eye over them for added safety, along with saving dive time by transporting tools back and forth.”

Aberdeen, UK-headquartered Seatronics reports it has supported a global oilfield provider of engineered services and products with a key project in Brazil through the supply of state-of-the-art subsea equipment.

Seatronics said its range and expertise provided the company with a single source solution for all its equipment requirements for the project. This ease of service, combined with Seatronics ability to deliver the required range of equipment quickly, fully integrated ahead of delivery, has strengthened the long-standing relationship between Seatronics and its client, the firm said.

The equipment sale was completed by Houston, USA-based Seatronics, Inc. and included ROV survey sensors, which were interfaced to Seatronics’ exclusive RTS Gen5 MUX ROV multiplexer. All of the equipment was connected with Seatronics’ in-house manufactured neoprene cables and the engineered solution was mobilised, system tested and delivered within two weeks to fully comply with the project schedule.

Janelle Totah, vice president, Seatronics, Inc., said: “We are delighted to have been able to support our client with this order. The award demonstrates Seatronics’ continued commitment to supporting clients with their Brazilian operations while the supply of this considerable spread displays our ability to combine industry leading products, cables and engineering services to deliver top quality solutions for our clients, all from a single source.”