| Press Releases - January 2005
January 26, 2005- SapuraCrest acquires 80% in Total Marine Tech
January 24, 2005- Oceaneering Acquires SpiderBOT ROVs
January 19, 2005- Researchers studying effects of carbon dioxide on ocean using ROV
January 18, 2005- Deep-Sea HD TV: United States Converting Navy Ship to Science Vessel
January 11, 2005- Saab Wins Underwater System Order Worth SEK 70 Million
January 4, 2005- UF Researchers Find New Reef with ROV
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Date: January 26, 2005
Organization: SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd / Total Marine Technology Pty Ltd
SapuraCrest acquires 80% in Total Marine Tech
By Yap Lih Huey, www.theedgedaily.com -- SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd is aquiring an 80% stake in Australia's Total Marine Technology Pty Ltd (TMT) for AU$9.6 million (RM27.65 million) to bolster its regional expansion and technology enhancement plans. SapuraCrest said on Jan 26 the acquisition would be funded partly by the proceeds from its US$80 million (RM304 million) 2.5% guaranteed convertible bonds launched on Dec 9, 2004.
The largest maiden acquisition to date by SapuraCrest would enhance the group's portfolio of services in the area of deepwater works, precision works as well as heavy construction works underwater.
TMT specialises in the design, manufacturing and operations of remote-operated vehicles (ROVs) or robots especially suited for harsh underwater conditions. It is one of only half a dozen around the world with the ability to design and manufacture ROVs.
TMT has worked with Shell and Exxon Mobil around the Asia-Pacific region and currently owns and operates nine ROVs valued at AU$10 million.
According to industry estimates by the World Autonomous Underwater Vehicle and ROV Report 2004-2008 from energy and marine analyst, Douglas-Westwood, the 2004 world market for ROV operations was valued at US$600 million with a foreseeable increase to US$750 million in 2008.
SapuraCrest said the demand was likely to be reflected locally given that Malaysian oil and gas players continued to explore and develop recent deepwater finds off the coast of Sabah and Sarawak.
Date: January 24, 2005
Organization: Oceaneering International, Inc.
Oceaneering Acquires SpiderBOT ROVs
Houston, TX - Oceaneering International, Inc. announced the acquisition of SpiderBOT Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) technology and assets from Dark Matter, L.L.C. The technology enables completion of unique subsea missions using these small ROVs, which achieved notoriety for conducting highly successful interior surveys and high-resolution film documentation of the Titanic and Bismarck shipwrecks in water depths of nearly three miles. Advanced onboard systems enable complex operations in water depths to 20,000 feet. Unlike most ROVs, power is provided onboard using a high energy density battery system. A small diameter, expendable fiber-optic tether deployed from a SpiderBOT ROV provides command and control while supplying feedback to the operator of real time high-resolution video images and status of onboard system health. These ROVs have demonstrated an unequalled ability to penetrate confined spaces because of their small size and proprietary maneuvering systems.
Duncan McLean, Vice President and General Manager of Oceaneering Technologies, said, "We are particularly enthusiastic about the capabilities offered by this new technology. It will compliment Oceaneering?s larger work class ROVs and minimize their exposure to damage during difficult subsea operations. We expect to provide expanded ROV services with the SpiderBOT ROVs to both our oilfield and government Customers, such as close-in inspection of subsea equipment, improved search and recovery operations, documentation of shipwrecks, and security inspections of vessels and piers."
Oceaneering is an advanced applied technology company that provides engineered services and hardware to Customers who operate in marine, space, and other harsh environments. Oceaneering?s services and products are marketed worldwide to oil and gas companies, government agencies, and firms in the telecommunications, aerospace, and marine engineering and construction industries.
For further information, please contact Don Welch, Vice President Business Development, 501 Prince Georges Boulevard, Upper Marlboro, MD 20774 or Jack Jurkoshek, Manager Investor Relations, Oceaneering International, Inc., 11911 FM 529, Houston, Texas 77041; Telephone 713-329-4670; Fax 713-329-4653; www.oceaneering.com; E-Mail investorrelations@oceaneering.com.
Date: January 19, 2005
Organization: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)
Researchers studying effects of carbon dioxide on ocean using ROV
By Tonya Clayton, Monterey County Herald Correspondent- Even the deep sea is not off-limits to atmospheric carbon dioxide. As levels of the greenhouse gas soar, some is making its way into the upper ocean. Now, the deep sea is being looked at as a possible storage site for carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning fossil fuels. On Tuesday, a team of researchers set sail from Moss Landing to learn more about what that might mean for deep-sea animals.
In December they assembled an unusual laboratory two miles below the ocean's surface to study carbon dioxide in the cold, dark waters. Now they'll dismantle the temporary lab and check on the latest results.
"We're very interested in what the effects of higher CO2 will be on organisms in deeper water," said Jim Barry, an ecologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. "There's a lot we don't know about the sensitivity of these organisms."
In December researchers from around the country traveled about 85 miles offshore to set up experiments, Barry said. Their expedition workhorse is the ROV Tiburon -- a unique "remotely operated vehicle" equipped with bright lights, underwater cameras and mechanical arms.
For one experiment, pilots in the research ship's high-tech control room guided Tiburon's "slurp gun" to gently vacuum up isopods, shrimplike animals with long antennae. They deposited the animals in small cages, then encircled them with a ring of open-top containers filled with liquid carbon dioxide.
Tiburon also collected mud samples for scientists. "Most of the animals we're studying live in the sediments," Barry said.
To see what happens as carbon dioxide drifts out of the containers and over the animals, scientists left a time-lapse camera, a fish trap and an array of underwater sensors on the sea bottom. The purpose of this week's visit, Barry said, is to collect that gear and see how the animals fared.
Respiratory stress is one possible effect. "Think of it as running a marathon with one lung," Barry said.
Carbon dioxide also makes seawater more acidic, he said, which can be stressful for animals even when it's not deadly. And, Barry said, carbon dioxide can be a narcotic, reducing animals' activity levels.
"Deep-sea animals seem quite sensitive to high CO2 levels in general," Barry said, in summarizing their first few years' findings.
Why all this interest in carbon dioxide?
Thomas Boden, of the federal Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, said atmospheric levels are higher now than at any time in the past half-million years. As a greenhouse gas, he said, it has the potential to warm the climate. "We know the physics," he said.
Barry said there's a huge influx of the gas into upper ocean waters. "The ocean of our future is a high-CO2 ocean," Barry said. "And there's no question that will happen."
As global warming concerns escalate, attention is turning to the deep sea as a possible storage site for carbon dioxide.
"We're clearly in deep, deep trouble in global warming," said Kert Davies, Greenpeace research director. But injecting carbon dioxide into the oceans, he said, is not the answer.
"This is yet another bad idea on how to take care of our oceans," he said.
Everyone agrees difficult choices lie ahead.
Barry said he loathes the idea of deep-ocean injection. "But we come down to a societal choice," he said. "It's that balance between the lesser of several evils."
"The world is faced with a very severe problem," Barry said, "and carbon dioxide is the centerpiece of it."
Jim Barry, associate scientist and marine ecologist with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, looks over the remotely operated vehicle ROV Tiburon on the research vessel Western Flyer. (Photo: Vern Fisher/The Herald)
To follow the scientists' travels aboard the research vessel R/V Western Flyer, see: http://mbari.org/cruises/both.asp.
Date: January 18, 2005
Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Deep-Sea HD TV: United States Converting Navy Ship to Science Vessel
By Robert Roy Britt, Livescience.com - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is converting a 224-foot Navy ship into a science research vessel that will produce high-definition video from the bottom of the sea.
The USNS Capable will be the only ship with a dedicated science-class deep-ocean robot, or remotely-operated vehicle, or ROV, officials said this week.
In the image above, a similar ROV inspects the Titanic. (Photo: IFE/ URI /NOAA)
In the new setup, a tow sled will descend on 3.73 miles (6,000 meters) of cable. A hundred feet (30 meters) of separate cable will connect the tow sled to a mobile ROV that can take samples of the water, along with collecting other data and images. The cable will send data back and forth and provide power for bright lights.
Funds have been approved and the conversion is expected to be completed within 18 months.
Through high-speed Internet 2 connections, scientists onshore at special Science Command Centers will be able to exchange data and see deep-ocean images and specimens taken by ROVs at the same time as their counterparts on the ship.
"The ocean is so little understood that a good part of the ship's mission will be to just find out what's there," said Stephen Hammond, acting director of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration. "With 71 percent of the Earth covered by ocean, 'what's out there' is immense, and with 95 percent of that unexplored, unseen by human eyes, we have rich opportunities for exploration and research."
Date: January 11, 2005
Organization: Saab Underwater Systems
Saab Wins Underwater System Order Worth SEK 70 Million
LINKOPING, Sweden (PRIMEZONE) -- Saab Underwater Systems has received an order from FMV, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration for remotely operated underwater systems. They will be used by the Swedish Navy in minehunting and other operations. "It's very pleasing and important that we have received another order within the remotely operated underwater vehicles area from our Swedish customer," says Mikael Grodzinsky, President of Saab Underwater Systems.
The contracted systems will be used on board the Swedish Navy's Landsort class minehunters.
"We are world-leader in remotely operated underwater vehicles for minehunting, which entail localization, classification and destruction of naval mines. We have already delivered underwater vehicles to several navies and at present deliveries are ongoing to Sweden, France, the Netherlands and Belgium," says Grodzinsky.
Saab Underwater Systems is one of the world leaders in the area of underwater systems, with special focus on littoral, shallow and difficult underwater environments. The company focuses on sensor systems, precision engagement systems, remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicles, i.e. ROVs and AUVs. Saab Underwater Systems participates in several international co-operation programs.
Saab is one of the world's leading high-technology companies, with its main operations focusing on defence, aviation and space. The group covers a broad spectrum of competence and capabilities in systems integration.
For further information please contact: Mikael Grodzinsky, President, Saab Underwater Systems AB Tel: +46 (0)141-224 510, mobile: +46 (0)734-460 510.
www.saab.se
Date: January 4, 2005
Organization: University of South Florida
UF Researchers Find New Reef
(By First Coast News Staff) St. Petersburg, FL - A group of University of South Florida researchers have made a fascinating discovery in the Gulf of Mexico. It's the deepest coral reef ever found in the U.S. About 120 miles west-northwest of Key West past the Dry Tortugas lies Pulley Ridge and a thriving coral reef 260 feet down on the ocean floor.
In 1996, Bret Jarrett and several other St. Petersburg based marine researchers had just started investigating the area using SONAR.
Three years later the team identified the bump as an unusually healthy coral reef, but to confirm their theory more trips were needed. On board this research vessel is a piece of equipment that provided crucial answers. A remote operated vehicle called a ROV, which is equipped with camera and lights to allow scientists to gather this video.
Although coral reefs do form in the deepest part of the oceans, Pulley Ridge is the deepest reef that depends on light for energy. The Pulley Ridge reef runs 20 miles long and three miles wide. It's growing on what was a barrier island 13-thousand years ago.
Corals require light to grow and unlike shallow water reefs that grow vertically, the Pulley Ridge reef grows flat to adapt to the low light at 260 feet.
Scientists and other preservationists want to keep the reef in its pristine state. A group is asking the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council to restrict fishing or trawling in the area.
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