McDermott concludes final offshore campaign for Ichthys LNG

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April 30, 2019

McDermott International Inc. has completed the final offshore campaign for the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG project offshore Western Australia.

This was the second of two remaining work packages left under McDermott’s contract, which was the largest subsea contract ever awarded at the time. Most of the EPCI for the SURF contract awarded in January 2012 was completed by the end of 2017.

The final offshore campaign involved subsea tiebacks to new drill centers and was executed by the company’s Lay Vessel 108 (LV 108). The vessel has recorded 813,694 hours without any lost time incidents since its first campaign in 2015, McDermott said.

McDermott recorded more than 500,000 engineering workhours from offices across the world, including a Perth-led project management team that was in place from 2012 and consisted of 160 personnel at its peak in 2017; procured more than $600 million in-field equipment; built 48 subsea structures weighing a total of approximately 28,660 tons (26,000 metric tons) that included one of the largest riser support structures in the world at the time; and used three of the company’s deepwater installation vessels (DLV 2000, LV 108, and Intermac 650) and other contracted vessels to execute the project.

The company has a small fabrication scope remaining to be completed at its fabrication yard in Batam, Indonesia, which will conclude its work packages for the Ichthys LNG project in its entirety in 2019.

Source:offshore-mag

Exmar orders LPG-fuelled VLGC pair for Equinor contract

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April 30, 2019

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Belgian shipowner Exmar has ordered a pair of LPG-fuelled 86,000 cu m LPG carriers from China’s Jiangnan Shipyard.

The vessels are scheduled for delivery within the second and third quarters of 2021.

Exmar says the vessels will be used to serve the company’s long-term commitments with Equinor, a deal it announced in December 2017.

At the time, Exmar ordered two 79,500 cu m gas carriers at Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction-Philippines to support the contract The yard went into rehabilitation in January, and is in the process of being sold.

Source:splash247

Pacific Drilling to digitally transform its rig fleet

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April 30, 2019

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Oceaneering International and Pacific Drilling signed a five-year Digital Services Package agreement to provide Pacific’s customers with improved throughput enabling streaming video and real-time data. This will provide emerging services like remote ROV piloting, surveying, and automation aboard Pacific Drilling’s high-specification drillship fleet.

The collaboration between Oceaneering and Pacific Drilling aspires to make the “Rig of the Future” a reality. With better connectivity onboard Pacific Drilling’s vessels, data can be used to make better decisions.

Commenting on the agreement, Kelly McDowell, Oceaneering’s Global Data Solutions Director, said that this agreement will increase transparency as well as worker safety by maximizing efficiency.

Corey Thompson, CIO for Pacific Drilling, stated:"Applying best-in-class IT technologies and services to Pacific Drilling’s deepwater fleet helps ensure we continually deliver timely solutions to our customers’ toughest challenges … This strategic investment quadruples our bandwidth conduit, lowers latency in decision-making, and accelerates our technology road map"…Oceaneering will assume 100% accountability for network uptime and remote operations offshore.

The digital transformation will also allow Oceaneering to provide remote piloting and automated control technology through dedicated, onshore mission support centers currently in Stavanger and Houston, and future centers.

Source:safety4sea

Teekay sells Teekay Offshore stake to Brookfield

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April 30, 2019

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Teekay Corporation has entered into an agreement to sell all of its remaining interests in Teekay Offshore Partners (TOP), including 49% general partner interest, common units, warrants, and an outstanding $25m loan from the company to TOP, to Brookfield Business Partners and its institutional partners for $100m in total.

The transaction is expected to be completed in May.

Brookfield Business Partners increased its shareholding in Teekay Offshore to 51% last year, and the acquisition will see the company take full control.

“The divestment of our remaining interests in Teekay Offshore is aligned with Teekay’s current strategy to simplify and focus on our core gas and tanker businesses,” commented Kenneth Hvid, Teekay’s president and chief executive officer.

“The proceeds from this transaction allow us to further strengthen Teekay Corporation’s balance sheet and credit profile, while significantly enhancing our near-term financial flexibility and range of options to address our near-term bond maturity,” Hvid added.

J Mintzmyer, lead researcher at Value Investor’s Edge, reckoned the deal is a clear case of a win-win arrangement.

“Teekay gets $100m in cash in exchange for disposing their weakest asset. Meanwhile, Brookfield solidifies control,” Mintzmyer said.

“Teekay is currently pricing $300m of secured debt. This transaction likely improves their hand and likely eliminates any fear of equity dilution. On one hand it’s unfortunate for Teekay to exit near the bottom of Teekay Offshore Partners equity pricing, but this has always been a troubled venture and they can now focus on crown jewel Teekay LNG,” added Mintzmyer.

Brookfield Business Partners is part of Brookfield Asset Management, which last month took a 62% stake in Oaktree Capital Management in a deal worth approximately $4.8bn.

Source:splash247

Global subsea work keeps CSV in demand

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April 29, 2019

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Following its current charter to US-based McDermott, the construction support vessel Southern Ocean will be mobilised in mid-May under a contract with Dutch geophysical survey company Fugro for inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) work offshore Australia.

Jointly owned by Bourbon Offshore Norway and Norway’s Oceanteam, the construction support vessel (CSV) Southern Ocean is currently conducting subsea work in India for McDermott. Southern Ocean is a dynamic positioning class 2 vessel with a 250-tonne capacity active heave compensated crane, a 100-tonne active heave compensated crane and 2,400 m² of deck space.

Southern Ocean can be used for field support, construction, installation and IMR and can carry a 7,000-tonne load on deck. Combined with inhouse carousel, reel and engineering capabilities, the vessel can be utilised for flex lay projects in the oil and gas, power and offshore renewables markets.

Bourbon and Oceanteam also jointly own the dynamic positioning class 2 capable CSV Bourbon Oceanteam 101, and Oceanteam owns two fast supply vessels operating in Mexico.

Source:osjonline

Van Oord completed the installation of Belgium’s largest offshore wind farm

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April 29, 2019

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Van Oord says it has successfully installed the last of the in total 44 wind turbines of the Norther offshore wind farm. Achieving this milestone and already delivering renewable energy makes an important contribution to the energy transition.

Van Oord was contracted as main contractor. The entire scope, from cable installation and burial, installation of the Offshore High Voltage Station (OHVS) to turbine installation, was completed ahead of schedule and in less than 9 months. Van Oord deployed a wide range of equipment at the project, amongst others offshore installation vessel Aeolus, the newest trencher Dig-It and cable-laying vessel Nexus.

Floren Verweij, Project Manager Van Oord comments: "The achievement of completing such a complex scope of work in this time frame, is something that all involved on this project can be proud of".

The 370 megawatt offshore wind farm supplies almost 400,000 households with renewable energy. The Norther offshore wind farm will contribute significantly to Belgium meeting its target of generating 13% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020.

Van Oord (Dredging and Marine Contractors) is a Dutch company founded in 1868, which specializes in dredging and land reclamation. The company operates across its 25 branches with the staff of over 4200 employees. It has a fleet of 97 vessels, including trailing suction hopper dredgers, cutter suction dredgers, etc. Van Oord has undertaken many projects throughout the world, including land reclamation, dredging and beach nourishment.

Source:portnews

NOVATEK and CNODC sign entrance agreement to Arctic LNG 2

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April 29, 2019

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PAO NOVATEK announced at the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Company Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, has signed a binding agreement to enter the Arctic LNG 2 project.

The binding agreement, signed in the presence of Leonid Mikhelson, Chairman of the Management Board of NOVATEK, and Wang Yilin, Chairman of CNPC, provides for the acquisition by CNODC of a 10% participation interest in Arctic LNG 2.

“The agreement is an important milestone in our Arctic LNG 2 project implementation as well as a continuation of our successful cooperation with CNPC,” noted Leonid Mikhelson, NOVATEK’s Chairman of the Management Board. “We successfully launched the Yamal LNG project on budget and ahead of initial schedule as partners, which is a unique achievement in the global gas industry. The accumulated experience of working together is a solid basis for the successful implementation of our new LNG project”.

The Arctic LNG 2 project envisages constructing three LNG trains at 6.6 million tons per annum each, using gravity-based structure (GBS) platforms. The Project is based on the hydrocarbon resources of the Utrenneye field. As of 31 December 2018, the Utrenneye field’s 2P reserves under PRMS totaled 1,138 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 57 million tons of liquids. Under the Russian classification reserves totaled 1,978 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 105 million tons of liquids. OOO Arctic LNG 2 owns an LNG export license.

Crown refines 7GW Round 4

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April 29, 2019

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The Crown Estate has refined plans for its up to 7GW Round 4 offshore wind leasing scheme for the UK with the launch not taking place until after the summer this year.

A new tender requirement will be introduced to ensure that projects are awarded across a minimum of three seabed regions in order to help facilitate greater geographic diversity, the Crown said.

A refinement has also been made to the number of project bids per bidder that will provide an option to bid for up to five variations of site boundaries, anchored at each of five locations, totalling a maximum of 25 possible site options.

The lease terms will also be increased to 60 years from 50 years, which is sufficient for two project cycles, the Crown said.

It is also exploring alternative options for the commercial assessment phase at invitation to tender in order to introduce greater transparency for bidders and help inform decisions on project location and option fee bid price.

The Crown said it will share a further market update once it has completed the work required to develop and stress test this new element of the tender design.

An update is planned before the summer break, it said.

Ongoing stakeholder engagement will also continue in parallel with this work as part of the plan-level Habitats Regulations Assessments on 2017 Extensions and 2018/19 marine aggregates licencing, the seabed landlord added.

The Crown Estate business development manager Jonny Boston said: “These latest refinements to Round 4 come as a direct result of listening closely to the hugely valuable feedback we’ve received, supporting our ongoing work to meet the needs of an ambitious wind energy market, while balancing a wide range of other interests in the marine environment."

“While the additional work we are committing to at this stage requires us to revise our timescales for the launch of Round 4, we are confident that developers and stakeholders will value the time we are investing now to address their feedback, ensuring our final designs offer a robust and attractive proposition, supporting the continued growth of the UK’s world leading offshore wind sector.”

The update was presented to stakeholders via a webinar, which will be available on The Crown Estate website soon.

The update also includes clarification pre-qualification requirements and project shape/ density requirements.

Source:renews

ZPMC inks $580m in port equipment contracts with PSA and TIL

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April 29, 2019

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Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC), China’s largest port equipment manufacturer, bagged orders from Singapore-based PSA and Terminal Investments Ltd Group.

The contracts were signed last week during the second Belt and Road Forum held in the Chinese capital Beijing.

The Chinese crane manufacturer inked a $500m contract with PSA that includes 28 quay cranes and 78 rubber-tyred gantry RTGs.

ZPMC is also setting up research branch in Singapore with PSA for a long-term globally cooperation between the two parties. The co-operation with PSA will not be limited to the regions of China and Singapore, we will explore cooperation opportunities in other countries, said Zhu Lianyu, chairman of ZPMC.

Meanwhile ZPMC also signed a contract with MSC port operating company TIL that covers eight quay cranes, worth $80m in total. It is the first deal between ZPMC and TIL for its port in Israel.

Source:seatrade-maritime

Wärtsilä provides Arctic-friendly fleet operations solution for Sovcomflot

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April 29, 2019

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Technology group Wärtsilä is implementing a fleet operations solution catered to the sensitive Arctic waters for the shuttle tankers of Russia’s shipping firm Sovcomflot.

Named Wärtsilä Fleet Operations, the solution aims to promote sustainable development, and to increase the safety and efficiency of operations in Arctic waters.

The solution, developed as a result of collaboration between Sovcomflot and Transas, a Wärtsilä company, provides a unique integrated infrastructure that combines the bridge systems, cloud data management, data services, decision support tools, and access to real-time information. In addition to the efficiency benefits, the solution also offers operational cost reduction advantages.

“The Fleet Operations solution is an important element within Wärtsilä’s Smart Marine Ecosystem approach, which employs high levels of onboard automation, integrity and computerised decision support for safer and efficient navigation,” said Vladimir Ponomarev, director, voyage solutions, Wärtsilä Marine.

“The solution is fleet-size. It enables smart situational awareness, automated voyage planning and optimization, digital (paperless) navigation, and remote technical support, all of which add considerable value to fleet operations,” he said.

Igor Tonkovidov, executive vice president and chief engineer at Sovcomflot, said all of the company’s latest newbuild Arctic tankers, LNG carriers and OSVs are equipped with integrated navigation systems from Transas.

“The Fleet Operations solution will support our strategy, which is aimed towards sustainable development of our Arctic operations,” Tonkovidov said.

Wärtsilä was contracted by Sovcomflot to execute the solution at the shipping firm’s fleet operation centre and upgrade of the navigation systems installed onboard Sovcomflot’s vessels operating in Arctic waters.

The upgraded onboard systems will ensure real-time ship-to-shore data exchange, thus connecting the onboard equipment with Sovcomflot’s operation centre to enable shared-decision making. The fleet operation centre, located in Sovcomflot’s St Petersburg headquarters, has already been commissioned.

The project is expected to be completed before the end of this year.

The Sovcomflot shuttle tankers are operating year-round in Russian Arctic waters.

Source:seatrade-maritime