Published: 28 May, 2025
Ocean services provider DeepOcean has announced it has acquired Shelf Subsea, an independent provider of subsea services with a strong position in the eastern hemisphere. Founded on a robust industrial fit, the acquisition creates a global subsea services player with an extensive portfolio of solutions, now also covering the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions.
“DeepOcean and Shelf Subsea offer similar services, but have distinct geographical strongholds that complement each other. When combined, we will provide customers worldwide with access to a comprehensive pool of expertise and capabilities. We look forward to combining our leading technology and innovative solutions with Shelf Subsea’s operations in the APAC region, as well as gaining valuable learnings from their leading project model. We are very impressed by the customer relations built up by the management of Shelf Subsea,” says Øyvind Mikaelsen, CEO of DeepOcean.
DeepOcean has acquired 100% of the shares in Shelf Subsea, expanding its footprint into Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Middle East. The combined group will have approximately 1,800 employees and generate more than USD 1 billion in revenue.
The transaction enables global expansion of DeepOcean’s operating model founded on engineering, project management, proprietary technology, subsea tool pool, ROV’s and access to a versatile subsea fleet. The subsea markets in APAC and the Middle East are characterised by attractive fundamentals with growing demand for subsea IMR (Inspection, maintenance and repair) and recycling services, and a growing offshore wind market.
Extensive APAC and Middle East position
Similar to DeepOcean, Shelf Subsea offers engineering and project management for subsea construction and installation, subsea survey and positioning services, subsea IMR services, as well as removal and recycling of subsea assets.
Shelf Subsea is headquartered in Australia, with further offices in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Saudi Arabia. The company has approximately 200 employees. It currently operates a fleet of three chartered multipurpose dive support vessels, multiple ROVs, various subsea installation equipment, plus a number of diving systems.
Strong industrial fit
“I believe the strong industrial and geographical alignment between Shelf Subsea and DeepOcean is clear. The combined group will be able to provide customers with a more flexible and integrated suite of services. In addition, we look forward to gaining access to DeepOcean’s autonomous technologies and remote operations solutions, which will undoubtedly add value to our customers in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions,” says Colin McGinnis, CEO of Shelf Subsea.
Shelf Subsea will be integrated into DeepOcean and will form the company’s business region, DeepOcean APAC.
“We will begin sharing competencies and assets to provide both current and prospective customers with access to the combined resource portfolio of DeepOcean and Shelf Subsea in the near future,” adds CEO Øyvind Mikaelsen.
The parties have agreed not to disclose the financial details of the transaction.
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