Europe

UK-based Subsea 7 has won a contract worth $185 million from Elf Exploration UK on the West Franklin Field in the Central Graben area of the North Sea.

The scope of the subsea, umbilicals, risers and flowlines (SURF) contract includes engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation and commissioning of the Sealine Package associated with the West Franklin Phase 2 Development.

Irish industrial services group DCC has agreed to acquire the Swedish fuel distributor Swea Energi for €22.7 million.

Swea is the leading distributor of heating oils and transport fuels to domestic, commercial and industrial customers in Sweden. Headquartered in Kungsbacka, near Gothenburg, Swea sells approximately 500 million litres of oil per annum to customers throughout Sweden. The company employs a total of 54 staff across a network of seven sales offices with transport outsourced to a number of regional hauliers.

A Balfour Beatty joint venture has been awarded a £414 million contract by Bord Gais Networks in the Republic of Ireland.

The infrastructure group, along with CLG Developments Ltd, was awarded the nine-year contract for the installation and maintenance of vital gas transmission and distribution networks across Ireland, including the delivery of new construction, emergency response and planned maintenance services.

Work will begin early in the New Year, Balfour Beatty said.

AHEB Investment Group and Quicksilver Project Management have formed a joint venture to create the largest biomass-to-energy installation in the world as part of a new UK eco-park.

The Centre of Excellence Eco-Park, based on a sustainable ecological design, will be spread across 300 acres of land and boast a large waste-to-energy facility in addition to the world's largest aquaponics installation.

UK manufacturer Avingtrans has been awarded a £3 million, three-year contract to supply rigid pipe assemblies to a market leader in the provision of flight controls.

Sigma Precision Components, a unit within Avingtrans' Aerospace division, has won the contract to deliver rigid pipe assemblies to a customer supplying clients across the aerospace and defence sectors, including Boeing.

Avingtrans manufactures components and provides associated services to the medical, energy, industrial and global aerospace sectors.

Rockhopper Exploration has announced the discovery of more oil and gas in the North Falklands Basin.

The oil and gas exploration company drilled in multiple reservoir targets: Beverley, Casper South, Casper and Sea Lion Main Complex.

The positive drilling update is expected to raise estimated reserves of hydrocarbons across the four fields.

The Sea Lion discovery was the first oil to flow to surface in Falkland Islands waters, having been successfully tested during September 2010 and June 2011.

Norwegian oil company Det norske has awarded Denmark-based Maersk Drilling with a three-year contract at its Draupne project.

Maersk Drilling is to supply the CJ-70 ultra harsh environment jack-up rig, XL Enhanced 2, presently under construction in Singapore, for development drilling on the Draupne field in the Norwegian North Sea.

The contract, awarded by Det norske on behalf of the Draupne licence, is for three years with options to extend up to seven years.

The total contract value for the three-year period is approximately $413 million.

Tel Aviv is not only Israel’s second city by population and its business capital, it is also globally recognized as one of the world’s most innovative startup hubs. In addition, according to one 2018 report, more than 300 large multinational firms have set up research and development centers in Israel – mostly in Tel Aviv – to take advantage of its young, tech-savvy population.

French water utility Veolia Environnement has announced plans to divest several of its UK assets as part of its restructuring programme.

The €5 billion of assets it will sell include three UK-regulated water companies and its 50 per cent stake in public transport company Transdev.

The three companies are Veolia Water Central, Southeast and East—known until 2009 as Three Valleys Water, Tendring Hundred and Folkestone & Dover. Together, the companies have a combined turnover of £269 million and serve more than three million customers.

French power utility EDF has announced plans to construct a 900 MW supercritical coal-fired power plant on the Rybnik site in Poland.

The project, worth around €1.8 billion, will involve the replacement of the four oldest units at the Rybnik plant with a single, more efficient one.

EDF said the advantage of the supercritical technology is its capacity to achieve the highest net efficiency in the market—equivalent to 45 per cent.