Page 52: of Marine Technology Magazine (June 2011)

52 MTR June 2011

C-Innovation Expands ROV Fleet

Schilling Robotics announced that

C-Innovation has placed a contract for multiple ROV systems in support of their expanding international operations. This contract includes the supply of both HD and UHD work class ROV systems that will be deployed globally, including Brazil and Singapore. This continued expansion of C-Innovation’s ROV fleet with a mix of the HD and UHD systems will broaden their regional capabilities and target markets, espe- cially with the addition of the mid- size HD system that complements C-

Innovation’s existing fleet of over 25

UHDs.

Acteon Group Acquires

NCS Survey

Subsea services group Acteon acquired Aberdeen-based NCS

Survey Limited. The acquisition adds to Acteon’s capability in the rig-posi- tioning market and provides an addi- tional suite of survey services to clients that operate rigs and vessels.

NCS Survey provides high-precision rig-positioning, construction-support and subsea-visualization services to the global offshore market. NCS

Survey has performed over 600 proj- ects in 35 countries since it was founded in 2005. The company will retain its existing personnel and man- agement team, headed up by current managing director, Andy Gray. The transaction, the terms of which are not being disclosed, was completed on May 25, 2011. Acteon enjoys the financial backing of First Reserve

Corporation, a leading private equity company in the energy sector.

Corporate finance advice to Acteon was provided by KPMG Corporate

Finance, Aberdeen, UK. Legal advice was provided by Birketts LLP,

Norwich, UK. NCS Survey’s vendors were advised by Simmons &

Company International and Paull &

Williamsons LLP, Aberdeen, UK.

FairfieldNodal Helps

Apache Tame Alaskan

Challenge

FairfieldNodal successfully employed of ZLand and Z700 cable- free equipment on an Apache

Corporation seismic test survey in the challenging onshore and shallow- water region of Cook Inlet, Alaska.

Due to restrictive state and federal permits, the test took place on a con- densed timeline from mid March to early April of this year. Unpredictable ice and ground conditions in the area put additional demands on the oper- ations.

Apache contracted NES, LLC to organize and test a variety of seismic recording and source systems to determine optimum equipment and acquisition parameters for potential future exploration over their lease holdings in the area. FairfieldNodal contributed to the test by organizing and assembling its own true cable- free ZLand and Z700 recording sys- tems, and installing a Z700 deploy- ment/retrieval system on a local ves- sel. For the limited test,

FairfieldNodal supplied 725 ZLand nodes and 200 Z700 nodes, plus sup- port and operations personnel.

Operationally, FairfieldNodal com- ponents and support performed near- ly flawlessly, a tribute to the team’s efficient organization as well as the suitability of both ZLand and Z700 equipment for work in harsh envi- ronments; in this case, one of the world’s most challenging regions for seismic operations.

OceanTools Expands

OceanTools, which designs and manufac- tures products for the subsea

ROV and robot- ics industry, has made a $1.5m investment in new build headquarters in Aberdeen.

The custom built offices, situated within the Aberdeen Science and

Technology Park, are almost four times as large as the company’s previ- ous office space, giving 500 sq. m. of offices, development laboratory and electronics workshop space.

OceanTools plans significant expan- sion in the coming two years and the increased space and enhanced facili- ties will allow the company to double its staff by 2013. “Building our new headquarters is a key step in the OceanTools expan- sion strategy,” said managing director

Kevin Parker. “We now have the space for an additional twelve devel- opment and production engineers as well as increased administration posi- tions. These new posts will enable our further expansion into key market areas including extension of our

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