Page 33: of Marine Technology Magazine (April 2006)

www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 33

The UHD ROV being readied for GeoConsult at the Schilling shop in Calilfornia. (Photo credit: Schilling Robotics)

Norway, U.K. and West Africa.

To provide an example of the magnitude of the under- water construction work that is available; Subsea7 announced that it was awarded a contract with a value of approximately $25 million from Talisman Expro Limited for a subsea installation contract in the North Sea. The contract is for the fabrication, installation and commis- sioning of 10-in. production pipeline tie-in spool pieces, eight-in. water injection pipeline tie-in spool pieces and four-in. gas lift pipeline tie-in spool pieces at both the Ula platform and the Blane drill center which are located in the Norwegian Continental Shelf and on the U.K.

Continental Shelf respectively. Operations will take place in water depths of between 70 and 75 m using both divers and ROVs.

A year ago, Subsea 7 was awarded a subsea installation contract for approximately $28 million from Chevron

North America Exploration and Production Company, a

Division of Chevron U.S.A. for work related to the Blind

Faith Project in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The contract is for the installation of the Blind Faith in-field flow lines including the associated pipeline end terminations and pre-laid steel risers.

In order for Subsea 7's Integrated Remote Technologies division to actually do the work they have been contract- ed for, they have to build, buy or acquire the tools. Last year, Subsea 7 contracted with Hydrovision to build 5

Hercules heavy construction ROVs capable of operating at 3,000 m. Around the same time, Subsea 7 was awarded four ROV contracts in West Africa. These include drill rig contracts for Peak Petroleum Industries Nigeria Ltd. and

Equator Energy offshore Nigeria, for Foxtrot

International for work offshore the Ivory Coast, and for

Devon Energy Corporation offshore Angola.

Additionally, Subsea 7 is to provide Amerada Hess with

ROV services offshore Equatorial Guinea over the next two to three years.

It appears that with the likes of Subsea 7, ROVTECH,

Schilling to name a tiny fragment of the major players in the offshore oil undersea construction support industry, all is in good and very strong hands (manipulators). There is a noted upswing in the use of ROVs now that most of they and their support vessels and personnel are still work- ing 24/7 in the Gulf of Mexico. There are some that say they have not yet completed the damage done by

Hurricane Ivan that ravaged the Gulf in the fall of 2004.

MTR#3 (17-32).qxd 4/7/2006 11:35 AM Page 33