This could result in total deepwater capital expenditures/year growing from the current $5 billion to more than $10 billion in 2005, said the report entitled "The World Deepwater Report 2001-2005." The report projects a total of $38 billion in capital expenditures for deepwater from 2001-2005. In the past 5 years, deepwater reserves totaling 5.4 billion boe were brought on stream by 13 companies.

Douglas-Westwood Director John Westwood said, "Production from the shallow water regions of the world is now in serious decline. But below 500 m water depth, it is set to increase dramatically as the oil majors target more than 20 billion boe of reserves slated for development in 114 fields in Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, and West Africa.

In addition to large reserves, another factor driving activity is the high productivities of the deepwater prospects. Infield Systems Data Manager Roger Knight said, "Down to 100 m water depth, the average field is expected to produce some 16,000 boe/d -- in 1,000-1,500 m, it is 62,000 boe/d."

In the past 5 years, Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Royal Dutch/Shell Group have bought more than 1 billion boe of deepwater reserves on stream. Within 5 years, Petrobras has 3.3 billion boe of prospects, BP PLC 2.5 billion boe, ExxonMobil Corp. 2.4 billion boe, Royal Dutch/Shell 2.3 billion boe and the pending combination of Chevron Corp. and Texaco Inc. 1.5 billion boe. TotalFinaElf will be a newcomer to the billion-barrel deepwater club as the Girasol development comes on stream off Angola.

"This activity will result in a major growth in demand for the services of the offshore contractors," said analyst Dominic Harbinson, author of the report. By 2005, he projects the deepwater sector will require 51 platforms, 719 production and injection wells, 5,961 km of flowlines, 2,598 km of control lines and 140 templates and manifolds.

"In fact the upside could be higher than we forecast. Our modeling adopts a very conservative stance as we are concerned that the deepwater sector may be limited by a lack of human resources and specialized vessels," Harbinson said.

To download the leaflet of "The World Deepwater Report 2001-2005, Markets & Technologies", click here...  Douglas-Westwood Associates (DWA) is a partnership specialising in both business and market strategy development, working on a confidential basis for commercial, industrial and government organisations. The geographic scope of our work is worldwide and we have associates established in many of the relevant countries. In the past 10 years, they have been responsible for over 170 business and market & strategic studies of the OIL & GAS and MARINE industries, where they have carried out study work associated with virtually every significant country. Douglas-Westwood Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of DWA. It is a business information company that publishes market research studies for the oil and marine industries.   For the complete report, click here...

With MacArtney's unique spread of Sales Offices and Service centers throughout Europe they will be able to provide a continuity of service and support to customers through locally trained representation.

The Product range includes the full range of ROS professional underwater cameras, rotators, pan & tilts, lights and integrated systems along with the Bowtech's low cost camera range, diver video inspection system, surface controllers and Xenon strobes. The products represent one of the largest and comprehensive ranges of professional Subsea video inspection and observations systems available in the world.

For the complete press release and a complete list of comanies representing Bowtech & ROS, e-mail Jane Taylor, Sales Administrator, Bowtech Products or visit their web site at http://www.bowtech.co.uk

Nauticos Corporation announced that they have recently taken delivery of the long-awaited, 10,000 meter, fiber optic cable that will help the deep sea explorers on their mission to find and recover Amelia Earhart's plane. The cable was delivered to the Ship Point Operations Facility of Nauticos located in Lusby, Maryland. The cable, built by The Rochester Corporation of Culpeper, Virginia, measures .68 of an inch in diameter and is greater than 6 miles in length. It weighs approximately 750 pounds every 1,000 feet and has a working strength of 19,500 pounds. With a 46,000 pound breaking strength, this type of cable has been quite successful in various missions all over the world-from the TITANIC expedition to raising the Liberty Bell-and will also allow Nauticos to operate their search systems to their rated depth of 20,000 feet on their Amelia adventure.

The Rochester Corporation, a unit of Tyco Electronics Corporation, manufactures electrical and fiber optic cables and steel wire for a variety of applications worldwide.

Nauticos provides operations and navigation expertise that specializes in deep-ocean search and underwater problem solving. Its deep-sea exploration experts off extensive experience and unique technologies that significantly reduce the search time and lower the cost of at-sea operations. These core capabilities enable Nauticos to find any object on the ocean floor to the deepest depths. For more information, e-mail Amy M. Heck or visit their web site at http://www.nauticos.com

This may be one of the largest ships of her kind to enter Shoreham. The ship has also just been re-named by her new owners from MV MINTROP back to her launch name of BREMEN and a major launch and naming party is took place on board on Tuesday 5th June headed up by the Right Honourable Ivor Caplin MP.

Maritime Atlantic Limited are also the owners of Maritime House, the 15,000 sqft serviced office center in Portslade, Hove opened by Mr Caplin three years ago. The ship will lie alongside near the office center just along from Hove Lagoon during a short refit. She is expected to depart on worldwide survey operations within the next four weeks.

The Managing director, Paul Crowther, said " we are very proud to become the owners of one of the largest survey vessels operating globally and we are also pleased that we can bring back some of the strong historical Maritime & business Heritage to the sleepy port of Shoreham which has been in decline until recently. Although we welcome some of the new plans for re-development at Shoreham Port, we believe this shows that the Commercial Maritime traditions should not be ignored but are well worth promoting in the area."

Photographs are also available on the website at http://www.atlantic-marine.co.uk or you may also contact Paul Crowther at paul@atlantic-marine.co.uk

This is the last of a two-part series on how Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data are being used to revise all Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) in the state of North Carolina. Part I (May 2001) addressed the need for revised digital FIRMs (DFIRMs) in North Carolina, how high-accuracy digital elevation data are used for hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, and potential advantages and disadvantages of LIDAR compared with photogrammetry. Part II addresses details of how the LIDAR data are acquired, post-processed and assessed for quality control. Dewberry & Davis LLC, Fairfax, Va., serves as Map Coordination Contractor (MCC) for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). North Carolina agreed to serve as FEMA’s Cooperating Technical State for this initiative and provided the majority of the funding. The North Carolina Geodetic Survey (NCGS) serves as the state’s technical lead for the surveying and mapping phases of this initiative. The prime contractors for the remapping project are Watershed Concepts, Greensboro, N.C., and Greenhorne & O’Mara, Raleigh, N.C. Earth Data International, High Point, N.C., and 3Di EagleScan, Wilmington, N.C., serve as their LIDAR subcontractors.

Great article By Gary W. Thompson, PLS, Director, North Carolina Geodetic Survey and David F. Maune, Ph.D., Dewberry & Davis LLC. Their full story can be found on the POB Online by clicking here...

The US rig count for May 2001 was 1,234 up 28 from the 1,206 counted in April 2001 and up 389 from the 845 counted in May 2000. The Canadian rig count for May 2001 was 238 up 21 from the 217 counted in April 2001 and up 49 from the 189 counted in May 2000.

The worldwide rig count for May 2001 was 2,224 up 59 from the 2,165 counted in April 2001 and up 563 from the 1,661 counted in May 2000. For more information click here...

Anders Bjerrum, Maridan's Technology Director said: "With the completion of the Eurodocker project, AUV docking technology has matured significantly. Besides developing the dock itself, the project has resulted in successful development of advanced algorithms to take into account the effect of waves and currents. Advanced VRML 3D graphics were developed to enable computer models to simulate docking procedures to a degree where they can be used for operator training. All of these sub-projects complemented each other and have made the project a total success"

The main objective of the Eurodocker project was to develop and demonstrate the technology necessary to accomplish the highly complex task of automatically docking an AUV for data transfer and power connections to a docking station that is either lowered from a surface ship or mounted to an unmanned underwater platform on the sea-bed. The Eurodocker Docking-Down-Loading-Recharging (DDLR) system consists of a Mechatronic Docking Device mounted to a support platform and its counterpart onboard the AUV, the Mechanical Docking Device.

The partners in the Eurodocker project, which was funded under the EU MAST III program, were University of Hanover, Studio 3 Engineering / SATE, Orca Instrumentation and Maridan A/S. The trials of the docking system were performed at various AUV depth intervals in the harbor ranging from surface level to full submergence. The docking station and the underlying concept has been developed as a fully working model concept, and is now ready for exploitation as a commercial offshore solution.

Jens Pind, Maridan's Managing Director said: "Eurodocker has been an exciting project for Maridan because it has proven that Maridan is both commercially oriented and innovative at the same time. The project's successful conclusion shows that when industry is ready to think 'Complete autonomy' Maridan is ready to meet their requirements." For the complete press release, click here...

GI, based in Bergen, Norway, focuses on the development and implementation of four-component seismic acquisition technology, especially for ocean-bottom and down-hole applications. Coincident with the acquisition, Bjarte Fageraas, President and founder of GI, will become Vice President - Technology for Input/Output. Previously, Mr. Fageraas served as Vice President of Research and Development for Aker Maritime and Technical Manager for PGS Reservoir. He started his career as a development engineer with Getech, a subsidiary of Geco Prakla. Mr. Fageraas holds a M.S. in Physics and Mathematics from the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim. (Click here for photo).

According to Tim Probert, President and CEO of Input/Output, "Bjarte is a welcome addition to our management team. He will play a critical role in the development and execution of our technology and product development strategies, which are key to our future growth."

Input/Output, Inc. is an industry leader in seismic acquisition imaging technology for land, marine, transition zone exploration, production and reservoir monitoring. The Company specializes in technology that creates value for the energy industry in the areas of 2D, 3D, 4D and multi-component seismic data. Additional information on Input/Output, Inc. is available on the Internet at http://www.i-o.com or contact them at ir@i-o.com. For photos and the complete press release from PRNEWSWIRE, click here... or visit the Input/Output, Inc. web site at http://www.i-o.com

Their HYPACK mini-camps provide their users with a low-cost opportunity to train their survey staff in all the phases of the HYPACK hydrographic survey software: survey preparation, geodesy, data collection, editing, sounding selections, surface modeling, import/export to CAD. It will also cover the changes in their new version HYPACK MAX including their new MultiBeam MAX module, ADCP module, and new HYPLOT program.

Coastal Oceanographics also have plans for future Mini-Camps on the West Coast and in Canada. For more information contact Lourdes Ramos or Pat Sanders by phone at (860)349-3800 or by e-mail at lourdes@coastalo.com

The site includes frequently asked questions together with information on RDI's capabilities in providing Acoustic Navigation Solutions for a variety of underwater platforms, diver systems and surface vessels. For more information, visit the new web site at http://www.dvlnav.com or e-mail Graham Lester, RD I's Navigation Sales Manager at glester@rdinstruments.com