UW: What is the feeling within Subsea 7 after so long in the merger process? Did that drain the energy from the employee force, or is there a fresh feeling of enthusiasm?
DM: Now that we have become Subsea 7, there is definitely a feeling of new vitality within the company, especially as the new brand takes hold and our people feel that they are working for a new and independent entity. Naturally the complex merger process was frustrating at times but we are focused on looking forward rather than back.

UW: Can you explain the structure of the new company? Will Halliburton Subsea and DSND Subsea continue to operate separately, and also join in with this 50/50 venture on the side? Or has Subsea 7 effectively taken the place of both the merging entities?
DM: Subsea 7 has taken the place of both merging entities.

UW: With Halliburton Subsea a proven entity in the worldwide contracting industry, why merge into a new company with another contractor? And why choose DSND Subsea specifically for your new partner in Subsea 7?
DM: Despite being a proven contracting entity, Halliburton Subsea lacked capacity and asset base for the predicted growth in the subsea business. This merger brings that capacity and capability while helping to consolidate the business. The combined business now has a fleet of 117 remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), four pipeline construction yards, and 23 modern, high specification, dynamically positioned ships capable of deepwater reeled and flexible pipelay, deepwater subsea construction, and saturation diving and survey.

UW: Will you be using existing offices and facilities of the old companies, or build new facilities?
DM: The new company will have five major centers, which will operate largely autonomously from offices in Houston, Stavanger, Aberdeen, Singapore and Rio de Janeiro. We will have a minimal corporate team and for now they will be based in Aberdeen, where they have moved to purpose-built offices that housed the former DSND personnel. For the US Gulf Coast we will be based in Houston, where we will be working very closely with the subsea associated business units of Halliburton ESG and KBR, in particular the Halliburton ESG Deepwater Group. We see there is tremendous value that we can deliver to our clients by continuing to develop these synergies. The new company will also have the base in Belle Chase, Louisiana, where we maintain our fleet of ROVs and other equipment.

UW: What, specifically, will the merger allow the companies to do now that they could not have achieved before?
DM: The merger will allow Subsea 7 to deliver more value for our clients and our shareholders. We are going to do this through our larger and more diversified asset base that will improve our positioning for the strategically important deepwater markets of the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, and Brazil. We will also seek to find differentiation through technologies and the unrivalled portfolio of services that we can link into through our association with Halliburton. Above all, we believe we have the best project management teams in the business, with a focus on safety and quality of service - and it's people that really count at the end of the day.

UW: Will the new company build its own ROVs?
DM: We have one of the largest ROV fleets in the world - 117 vehicles, working down to 16,400 (5,000m). The new company has the ability to design and build its own ROVs. We see this as a differentiator, as we are one of the few that can take operational experience and feed it directly back into the design and build of these critical components in our execution process.

UW: What do you see as the next technological step in ROV development?
DM: Our ROV specialists are active in many areas of technology development and there are many exciting applications in the pipeline. The essential elements for successful ROV operations have always been, and will always be, reliability and skilled crews. We have both of these and I think that's what sets us apart from our competitors.

UW: Will the new company enter the growing AUV market?
DM: Subsea 7 is already in the AUV business. We are well advanced with our HS Autosub, which was built in the company's own workshops and is currently undergoing extensive trials in the North Sea. We expect it to be commercially operational this year.

UW: How has the emergence of commercially active AUVs in the oil and gas industry affected the ROV workload?
DM: We have not seen any significant change to date and we don't expect to for some time. The current technology lends itself best to passive missions where the AUV can be pre-progammed. This is an important and growing market, but we are applying our ROV technologies more and more on intervention tasks.

UW: How did the worldwide uncertainty in the offshore oil and gas market affect the decision to merge with another company?
DM: I think the worldwide oil and gas market has lived with uncertainty for some time and will continue to do so - that's the environment we all live in. The best companies will thrive on it and mergers such as this are a part of the picture.

UW: In light of the terrorist war surrounding the oil-producing nations in the Middle East, coupled with political limitations placed on oil exploration in the UK and US, what is your prediction for the offshore oil and gas industry in the near future?
DM: I think that the cycles that affect the market will become shorter and the environment that drives them will become ever more dynamic. Underlying that, there will always be a demand for hydrocarbons, at least for the foreseeable future. It's an exciting and challenging world to do business in and one in which we are well set up to be the best. UW