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54 st / October 2015 www.sea-technology.com Oceaneering to Supply Umbilicals for Shell Oceaneering International, Inc. secured a contract from Shell Off- shore Inc. to supply umbilicals for the deepwater Appomattox development in the Mississippi Canyon area of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The order is for electrohydraulic steel tube control umbilicals, totaling approximately 60 km long. Product manufacturing will be at Oceaneering's umbilical facility in Panama City, Florida, and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2017. New Report on Top Drive Systems Market The report "Top Drive Systems Market by Type (Electric & Hydraulic), Application (Onshore & Offshore), Vessel Type (Jackup, Drillship, Semi- Submersible), & by Region (North & South Americas, Europe, APAC, Mid- dle East & Africa) - Global Trends & Forecasts to 2020" reveals that the top drive systems market is project- ed to grow from $1,270.2 million in 2014 to $1,541.6 million by 2020, at a CAGR of 5.7 percent from 2015 to 2020. The electric top drive system ac- counted for the major market share of 88 percent, followed by hydraulic top drives, which held a share of 12 per- cent in 2014. Growth in drilling and exploration activities and increasing need for en- ergy from emerging economies are expected to be the major drivers in in- creasing usage of top drives globally. With the current oil price scenario, the growth would be limited this year, but is expected to regain in the com- ing years once the crude price is sta- bilized. Growing offshore oil and gas re- serves provide huge growth opportu- nities to the top drive market. Bibby Performs UK Decommissioning Bibby Offshore has delivered two multimillion-pound decommission- ing contracts to the U.K. Continental Shelf. Endeavour Energy appointed Bibby Offshore to perform operations in the Renee and Rubie felds located in blocks 15/27 and 15/28 of the Central North Sea. The 60-day agreement was completed in the third quarter of this year. Bibby Offshore also successfully completed work for Tullow Oil SK in April and May 2015, performing de- commissioning operations at the Or- well and Wissey subsea installations, including the tie-ins at the Thames and Horne and Wren platforms, in block 49/28 of the southern North Sea. Survey on Oil And Gas Careers Most oil and gas professionals would still recommend a career in the industry to the next generation, de- spite recent market challenges associ- ated with low oil prices, according to a new, industry-wide poll by Rigzone. Almost 1,000 skilled professionals from across 74 countries participated in the survey. Eighty-four percent said they would recommend the oil and gas industry as a career choice to stu- dents due to wide career prospects, a long-term future and competitive salaries. Asked to rank areas of investment in a downturn in order of priority, oil and gas industry professionals ranked health and safety frst, followed by workforce development, then gradu- ate/apprenticeship programs. SMD Part of Offshore Wind Research Project SMD will contribute to a major offshore wind research project led by The University of Dundee. The project will determine whether cheaper, more environmentally friendly and more ef- fective foundations can be developed for the offshore renewables industry. The project, funded by a £1million grant from the Engineering and Physi- cal Sciences Research Council, will look at the use of screw piles for off- shore installations. Currently, the main foundation so- lutions being considered for offshore wind installations are driven piles, large monopiles or concrete gravity- based structures (GBS). Driving of piles in large numbers offshore causes concerns over plant availability and impact on marine mammals. There are also concerns over the limit of practical monopile development and the high material demands of GBS. Screw piles have the potential to overcome these issues and are scal- able for future development from cur- rent onshore systems. Exclusive TDBV Installed in North Sea 3sun Group's subsea division has installed its frst Time Delay Block Valve (TDBV) for use on hydrocarbon- producing wells. The exclusive valve was designed and manufactured by Bifold Group, in accordance with a Qualifca- tion Specifcation approved by 3sun Group. The prototype TDBV was installed in June 2015 on a North Sea Platform and has since been operating at excel- lent capacity, 3sun said. Schlumberger to Merge With Cameron Schlumberger Ltd. and Cameron announced a defnitive merger agree- ment in which the companies will combine in a stock and cash transac- tion. This will combine two comple- mentary technology portfolios into a "pore-to-pipeline" products and ser- vices offering to the global oil and gas industry. The closing of the transaction is ex- pected to occur in the frst quarter of 2016. Grouting for Tidal Gauge off England FoundOcean successfully complet- ed the grouting operations that formed part of the installation of a tidal gauge in the Wash, south of Skegness, Eng- land. The grout, a custom design, was mixed and pumped using Found- Ocean's Recirculating Jet Mixer to form a secure connection between the gauge's monopile foundation and transition piece. The tidal gauge will provide ac- curate tidal information used for tidal analysis and prediction, oceano- graphic research, coastal defense and storm surge warning systems. FoundOcean used skills transferred from the offshore energy construction industry, including the parbuckling of the Costa Concordia in 2014. ST offshore oil & ocean engineering