Iona Energy has managed to lop another $23 million off capex on the subsea development of its small Orlando (SEN, 32/2) Field in the Northern North Sea by “taking advantage of the favourable contracting environment for 2016 oilfield services.”

The company had earlier trimmed capex to $215 million from $228 million but has now found even more cost savings.

The revised budget represents an overall savings of $36 million, or 16%, vs. the budget in place when the management team joined in late 2014.

The Orlando development remains on track for first production in fourth-quarter 2016. Most planned works relating to Orlando reception facilities on the Ninian (32/7) Central Platform were completed as planned during the summer shutdown period in June 2015 supporting the company’s objective of delivering first oil from Orlando in fourth-quarter 2016.

The integrated riser hang off structure was loaded onto a supply vessel in August with installation expected to be completed this month.

The company’s planned $40 million appraisal well on the nearby Ronan and Oran (32/2) discoveries is on hold while it seeks a partner to take part of its 100% stake and carry its interest.

Italy’s Rosetti Marino has taken its first step into the subsea manufacturing sphere.

It has landed a contract from OneSubsea for the engineering, procurement and construction of subsea production modules for a North African offshore gas project.

Earlier this year, OneSubsea scooped a subsea production systems contract worth more than $330 million for BP’s West Nile Delta (32/10) gas project offshore Egypt.

OneSubsea’s scope of supply for the 13-well development includes subsea production equipment, tooling and installation and commissioning services. Deliveries are expected to begin in third-quarter 2016.

The Rosetti Marino contract award represents the company’s first move into the subsea sector and is worth about $34 million.

Work is scheduled to start during this year and to be completed in early 2017.

Installation of Shell’s Malampaya Depletion Compression Platform (32/6) has been completed in the West Philippine Sea. The new platform will help ensure a steady supply of natural gas to the Philippines.

The completed facility supports the extension of the only indigenous producing natural gas source in the Philippines, which provides 40% to 50% of the power generation needs for the island of Luzon, the largest and most populous island of the Philippines.

Xodus Group has been awarded a contract with Nexen to provide FEED services for decommissioning of the Ettrick (32/1) and Blackbird (32/1) fields in the central North Sea.

The work scope will assess the best practice decommissioning methods for the main items of field architecture, including the structures, flowlines, umbilicals and risers.

The work involves developing the decommissioning methodology for the field taking account of current industry best practice to ensure a technically robust decommissioning solution is developed.

Andrew Wylie, Scotland subsea operations manager, said, “While offshore infrastructure is complex, a logical approach to decommissioning, which makes the most of operational data, lessons learned and latest technologies, can reduce costs at every stage of the process.”

Helix subsidiary Canyon Offshore has been picked by Shell, the operator of the BC-10 (32/7) Field off Brazil, to trench and bury more than 40 km of pipe in 1,675 m of water in the Campos Basin offshore Brazil.

The work will be carried out in fourth-quarter 2015 from the Grand Canyon I vessel utilising the T-1200 deepwater trenching system.

The job will be the deepest pipeline trenching project ever performed offshore Brazil.

McDermott International has landed a lump sum contract—its largest ever in the Middle East—from Saudi Aramco for brownfield work in various fields offshore Saudi Arabia through to second-quarter 2018.

A significant portion of the engineering and fabrication scope will be carried out by its engineering office in Al Khobar and fabrication facility in Dammam.

Procurement will be managed by McDermott’s global procurement office in Dubai and vessels from the McDermott global fleet, including specialised shallow-water installation vessels, are scheduled to undertake offshore installation.

Marine Planning Consultants has been awarded a contract by Oil and Gas UK and the Oil Spill Response Forum to examine the specific requirements for monitoring during a major oil spill event on the U.K. Continental Shelf.

The project also will assess capability within industry and the wider scientific community to carry out environmental monitoring in response to such an event.

Global deepwater buoyancy and polymer specialist Balmoral Offshore Engineering has been approved by Bureau Veritas in line with American Petroleum Institute’s specification for its Subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines-related bend stiffeners and restrictors.

The API 17L standards cover the minimum requirements for design, material selection, manufacture, documentation, testing, marking and packaging of equipment.

The steel jacket for the Statoil-operated U.K. North Sea Mariner (32-9) Field has been installed.

Following sailaway from the Dragados Offshore yard in Cadiz, Spain, on Aug. 10, the Mariner jacket spent a week in the sheltered Boknafjorden near Stavanger, while waiting for the heavy-lift vessel Saipem 7000 to arrive at the field.

During the early hours of Aug 31, the jacket was hooked up to the cranes, up-ended and placed on its permanent location.

A total of 24 piles will now be driven into the seabed to secure the platform jacket. Each pile is 65 m long with a weight of 250 tonnes to 300 tonnes.

The remaining installation activities are expected to continue for another 10 days to 14 days.

The Mariner substructure is the largest steel jacket ever built for a Statoil project (134 m high with a footprint of 88 m by 62 m). The weight at load-out was 22,400 mt including floatation tanks and rigging.

Offshore