The demise of REEF SUBSEA (SEN, 31/22) has hit hard. Members of the current and former management team have taken personal financial hits, but a big loser is Norwegian shipowner GC Rieber.

Rieber which was mistakenly referred to as German in the last issue never actually got its money when it sold its stake in Reef to one of HiTec Vision’s investment companies. Who was its financial adviser?

Chinese transport company CSR Times Electric has acquired Tyneside ROV and trencher builder SMD in a deal valued at just over £100mn. CSR reportedly was looking to get into the offshore market.

JFD, the merged entity created by James Fisher Defence and Divex, has acquired the NATIONAL HYPERBARIC CENTRE in Aberdeen. No figure was put on the deal. NHC has had a string of owners since first established in 1987.

From Houston (BN): The 10% headcount reduction at FMC TECHNOLOGIES will spare subsea manufacturing and be felt most strongly in providing equipment for North American onshore shale projects, chairman- CEO John Gremp made clear to investors in a recent earnings call.

The reason: The company is busy filling a ‘very secure’ $6bn backlog in equipment orders for subsea developments and expects any slowdown due to the collapse in world oil prices to develop much more slowly in deepwater offshore.

Still, Gremp said FMC does not expect 2015 subsea orders to be as strong as 2014.

‘Although subsea projects are proceeding, including awards we received in the fourth quarter, most operators are reassessing their project portfolios, looking for ways to achieve significant cost reductions,’ he said.

FMC is helping companies re-evaluate projects, proposing alternative approaches, early acceptance of new technologies and different business models that reduce the cost of development, Gremp told investors.

He also reiterated a theme from previous comments - the need for standardisation of equipment, collaboration among operators and earlier involvement of equipment manufacturers in planning as rising project capital expenditure was an issue before the oil price fall.

‘There's a recognition that something has to change. This can't be incremental. We can't just roll up our sleeves and work harder and shave things around the edge. We've got to do something substantially different if we're going to expect a significant change in the development cost,’ Gremp said.

While on layoffs, SEN heard that 120-130 bodies are to go from the subsea processing team at ONESUBSEA’s Bergen centre, although a few folk have gone from elsewhere and there is due to be a redeployment with some people in Houston being sent back to the base in Norway.

Despite being hit by a $1.64bn loss in 2014 on the back of lower oil prices and exploration writeoffs of $1.7bn, TULLOW OIL CEO Aidan Heavey is looking on the bright side.

‘The TEN project in Ghana, which remains on track, will increase our net West Africa oil production to over 100,000boe/d by the end of 2016 generating substantial cash flows and placing Tullow in a strong position when the sector recovers,’ he said.

TEN Tullow’s second major project offshore Ghana following Jubilee, is now over 50% complete and remains within budget and on track to deliver first oil in mid-2016.

The $4.9bn development includes the drilling and completion of up to 24 development wells which will be connected to an FPSO.

Development drilling began in 2014 and all 10 of the wells expected to be on stream at start-up have now been drilled with completion operations to start in Q1 2015.

The conversion of the Centennial Jewel tanker into the TEN production ship is on schedule at the Jurong Shipyard in Singapore.

Tullow’s 2015 capex is forecast at $1.9bn, including a reduced exploration and appraisal budget of $200mn. The company expects to pump 63,000-68,000b/d from its West African operations in 2015. Jubilee gross production is forecast to average 100,000b/d in 2015.

More Results: It seems as if AKER SOLUTIONS managed to keep its head well above water in 2014 ahead of what looks likely to be a dim 2015. Revenue was up 21% and its backlog is up 17% to NOK48.3bn.

TECHNIP can boast an order book of nearly Ⓤ21bn based on new order intake of Ⓤ15bn in 2014. Its margin for subsea projects was 13% from revenue of Ⓤ1.29bn, up 34% from the same period last year.

It as another good year for OCEANEERING with revenue up nearly 10% to $3.66bn, although activity slowed in Q4 compared with the same period in 2013.

It was a tough Q4 for HELIX ENERGY SOLUTIONS as income sank 36% to $207mn compared with Q3 and net income plummeted nearly 90% to just under $8mn, even though for the year revenue was up 26% to $1.1bn.

There were problems with well intervention vessels and contracts in the quarter, even though the company reported record annual income in both well intervention and robotics.

The European Commission is taking a closer look at Siemens’ proposed takeover of DRESSER-RAND (31/13).

Chemicals giant BASF and grouting specialist FOUNDOCEAN are to offer a new supply and service operation based on the former’s new high strength grout.

Offshore