Briefing · Energy

First Marine Solutions brings offshore mooring expertise to Gastech

Susanne Clark and Dave McGinlay are at Gastech in Bangkok today as First Marine Solutions brings its offshore mooring, marine operations and floating-wind experience into the energy conversation.

By The Stratawire
1 source (document)
PhotoSusanne Clark of First Marine Solutions
Photo: First Marine Solutions · Credit shown on the legacy page: “Susanne Clark, Head of Project Strategy at First Marine Solutions, is attending Gastech 2026 in Bangkok. Photo: First Marine Solutions” · Source/licence
How this story was made · 1 source

Evidence

  • Documents · 1
Sources1
Original photos1
AI images0

The offshore energy industry depends on things staying exactly where engineers intended them to be. Rigs, floating infrastructure and increasingly floating wind installations all rely on mooring systems that have to work in environments where failure is expensive and the forces involved are unforgiving.

That is the engineering territory First Marine Solutions brings to Gastech in Bangkok today. Head of Project Strategy Susanne Clark and Business Development Director Dave McGinlay are attending the exhibition for the Aberdeen-based offshore mooring and marine-services specialist.

First Marine Solutions describes its offer as an integrated service spanning mooring engineering, equipment provision, installation, survey and positioning. The company says it has delivered more than 150 projects globally, giving it a base of conventional offshore experience that it is now also applying to the emerging floating-wind market.

From offshore operations to floating wind

Floating offshore wind changes the scale of the mooring question. Commercial projects may require large numbers of floating structures, each needing anchors, lines, installation planning, inspection and long-term integrity management. Techniques developed around oil and gas operations therefore become relevant to a new generation of energy infrastructure.

First Marine Solutions says it has been applying its mooring expertise to floating wind since 2020. That crossover is significant: the energy transition is creating new markets, but many of the physical challenges — offshore installation, station keeping, subsea inspection and marine logistics — are familiar ones.

unknown node

Autonomy below the waterline

Another part of the FMS story is the changing way offshore assets are surveyed. Conventional subsea inspection can require vessels, crews and remotely operated vehicles. Autonomous underwater vehicles offer a different model: smaller platforms can gather survey data without keeping a large vessel continuously over the worksite.

In a published case study, First Marine Solutions says an AUV-based rig-entry debris survey achieved a cost reduction of up to 92% compared with the conventional approach considered for the operation. The wider significance is not simply the headline saving. Reducing vessel time can also change the emissions, logistics and personnel exposure associated with offshore inspection.

The hardware still matters

Digitalisation and autonomy attract attention, but offshore infrastructure still ends in steel meeting the seabed. First Marine Solutions has also expanded its anchor technology, including its TITAN and TERRA drag-embedment anchor systems. Anchoring technology is becoming particularly important as developers consider how floating wind can move from individual projects to arrays containing many floating units.

For Clark, whose role centres on project strategy, and McGinlay, who leads business development, Gastech provides a meeting point between those established offshore capabilities and a broader energy market looking for lower-cost, scalable ways to build and maintain infrastructure at sea.

The company therefore arrives in Bangkok with a story that crosses the traditional boundaries of the exhibition: oil and gas experience, marine engineering, autonomous inspection and renewable infrastructure are increasingly parts of the same offshore supply chain.

The Stratawire is reporting from Gastech 2026 in Bangkok.

Source record

This story is backed by 1 recorded source in The Stratawire newsroom.

  • Official document

After this story

The Stratawire Briefing

Get the briefing

Field reporting from the shows we cover: daily during major shows, weekly otherwise.

We store your email address (and your interest choices, if you make any) only to send the Briefing. Every email carries an unsubscribe link; to be removed entirely, email williamgray@thestratawire.com.

Licensing

License or republish this story

Republish this reporting in your own publication or briefing, credited and with its source record.

Ask to license this story

On the ground

Follow the shows

See where the desk is reporting next and the stories from each show.

Follow the shows

More from this show

Related

Europe's winter gas bill comes due: prices at a four-year high, storage at a record low — and €7.9bn still paid for Russian gas

Europe's benchmark gas price this week reached its highest level since December 2022, before a one-day Norwegian supply scare unwound. Underground storage is at its lowest for the time of year since records began in 2011, the EU has paid €7.88bn for Russian Arctic LNG in nine months this year, and the EU ban on the remaining long-term-contract trade arrives on 1 January. The numbers, the region's voices, and what moves next.

Australia breaks its renewable investment record with a quarter to spare — while the grid learns to swallow the sun

Final investment decisions on large-scale renewables reached 5 GW by the end of September, past the previous best of 4.9 GW, as home battery approvals tripled and renewables out-generated fossil fuels in the national grid for the month. The same fortnight delivered record curtailment, negative midday prices and a near-cap A$23,107/MWh spike in New South Wales: abundance at noon, scarcity in the afternoon.

Escondida supervisors avert copper strike with three-year deal as supply risks persist

Supervisors at Escondida voted 64% to 35% on 14 October to accept BHP's improved offer, hours after their strike was to begin and a day before its extended deadline. The deal pulls a supply threat out of a copper market trading near records — but settles only one of the disruptions running through Chile's copper belt. The numbers, the voices and what it means for energy buyers.

October heat triggers federal emergency powers for PJM as forecast reserves tighten

The grid serving 67 million people across 13 US states and Washington, DC was forecast to come within 900 megawatts of its reserve margin this week — roughly one large power plant — as an October heatwave collided with the maintenance season. The government's emergency order lets PJM run plants past their pollution limits and call on data centres' own backup generators. Reporting on 14 October said no rolling blackouts had been announced, and PJM said it anticipated no customer impacts; the forces behind the squeeze have not gone away.

India's worst power squeeze in three years puts coal back at the centre of its planning

September brought India's worst power shortages since August 2023, and on 13 October the head of its electricity planner said the coal capacity now needed could reach "105 GW or even 150 GW" against the 97 GW in last year's plan. The coal ministry says supplies are strengthening and stocks have held above 18 million tonnes; steel mills and farmers say the cuts are biting anyway. The numbers, the regional voices, and what it means for anyone exposed to India's grid.