Friday, April 28
2000
Crewboat
"Charles F McCall" joins sister "Sara"
The 170-foot Seacor/McCall crew boat "Charles F McCall"
will be commissioned in June. Joining its sister the "Sara
F McCall, delivered in November 1999, the Charles will in turn
be joined by a third boat to the same design in November 2000.
All three boats are built at Neuville Boat Works, Inc. in Loreauville
Louisiana.
 Already on charter
in Mexico, the "Sara" is meeting a demand for big fast
crewboats with five Cummins KTA38M2 diesel engines each rated
at 1,350 hp with Twin Disc MG6650 2.47:1 gears driving through
4.5-inch by 27-foot shafts to five 46/42-inch Nibral propellers
for a light condition speed of 25 knots.
The "Charles" will have the same
power package but with more pitch in the props at 46x45-inches
anticipated to achieve speeds of 26 knots. To minimize drag the
big boats have only two faired 27x42-inch stainless steel rudders.
The boats are maneuvered and hold position under the oil rigs
through dextrous working of the multiple props and with the aid
of a 300 hp Cummins C-series engined hydraulic-driven Thrustmaster
250 hp 36-inch azimuthing bow thruster that can be raised back
into the hull when not in use. A segment of the hull is mounted
to the bottom of the thruster nozzle in such a manner that the
hull is entirely fair when the thruster is retracted.
On the aft deck, two Fritz Culver stern
line quick release units, that double as aft stern bitts, have
been installed.
The vessel will be classed as ABS A-1,
HSC and dual certification by the USCG as a "T" and
"L" vessel. As a "T" boat, the vessel will
be able to carry 78 passengers, 42 in special custom automotive
type seats each with personal entertainment console. The remaining
36 will be in lounge type seating with adjoining tables. As an
"L" boat, the vessel is designated to carry, on the
aft main deck, two 1,000 cubic foot bulk mud tanks or, alternatively,
one 1,200 cu.ft and one 1,000 cu.ft tank with the Cummins 855-powered
compressor located below deck in the aft machinery space. Additionally,
in either "T" or "L"
configuration, the 6,750 hp vessel can carry 26,400 gallons of
diesel in addition to 52,800 gallons of rig water or a maximum
of 363 long tons of deck cargo. Along with the main deck passenger
area, the vessel has sleeping and messing accommodations for
eight crew members below deck.
Sun Microsystems chosen
for key Gold Team DD-21 element
Raytheon Company has selected Sun Microsystems Inc. to participate
in the engineering effort to design, build and support the total
ship computing architecture (TSCA) for the U.S. Navy's 21st Century
Land Attack Destroyer -- the DD-21
The DD 21 TSCA is the ship-wide, all-source
information processing and management system supporting all operational
functions of the ship. It is also the key contributor to network
centric warfare, assuring knowledge superiority and the execution
of accurate measured force response. In addition, TSCA will contribute
to reducing the crew's workload.
Raytheon, Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding,
and Boeing are the principal members of the DD-21 Gold Team,
which is now under contract to develop and deliver a preliminary
system design to the Navy. The team is competing to be selected
to be the full service contractor to build the lead ship of this
new class of vessels for the Navy.
"Our priority is to enable the sailor
to manage the ship and fight to win, and use TSCA to enhance
the quality of life for personnel while they are on board,"
said Jack Cronin, vice president of Raytheon's DD-21 campaign.
"We're confident that we will design a system which meets
the vision for the future, with the lowest life cycle cost, by
using an evolutionary migration of legacy systems and open-systems
computing."
While the TSCA will be based on open-systems
software architecture, the development process, integration,
testing, certification and delivery will exploit use of commercial
items and reuse of legacy software where appropriate. An effective
system of metrics also will be used to assess the maturity of
software development.
Design of the DD-21 TSCA will benefit from
Sun Microsystems' expertise in a variety of information technologies,
including processors, operating environments, servers, and displays.
The core architectural elements in the TSCA will provide an infrastructure
that will allow self-healing and adaptability, with high availability
of computer resources throughout the network. In addition, Sun
Professional Services will participate in the development of
a prototype of the TSCA infrastructure software to validate key
aspects of the DD-21 design.
Phase I of the DD-21 program -- development
of competing concept designs by separate Blue and Gold teams
-- began in 1998. Phase II follows with a system concept design
competition, which will culminate in Blue and Gold team proposals
being submitted in December, 2000. This will be followed by a
down-select in mid 2001 to one full service contractor team to
perform final system/subsystem design. The lead ship is scheduled
to be delivered in FY 2008.
PGS revenues increase
Petroleum Geo-Services ASA reports
improved 2000 first quarter earnings, reflecting higher revenue
from multi-client sales and the production
services group as compared to the same period of 1999.
The company's 2000 first quarter revenue
of $212.7 million represents a 43% increase over the same period
of the previous year. First quarter operating profit was $27.1
million, representing a 13% operating profit margin. Net income for the first quarter of 2000 was $6.7
million, an increase of $5.2 million over net income (before
unusual items and accounting change) for the 1999 first quarter.
Reidar Michaelsen, chairman of the board
and CEO, said the first quarter results "reflect the slowly
improving climate for oilfield services and geophysical
services in particular. With North Sea Brent crude oil prices
settling into a range of $20 to $25 per barrel and based upon
customer inquiries, we expect to see renewed demand for seismic
data and a revived seismic contract market starting in the third
quarter of 2000. Our production services operations continue
to improve, particularly with the resolution of many of the operational
problems that effected the Ramform Banff FPSO during the 1999
fourth quarter and the early part of 2000. Additionally, the
completion of the Norwegian 16th licensing round, which covered
many blocks where we have multi-client seismic data, should result
in continued improvement in our geophysical results.''
Trico Marine reports more losses
Trico Marine Services, Inc. reports
a net loss for the quarter ended March 31, 2000, of $9.1 million
on revenues of $26.4 million, compared to a net loss of $7.3
million on revenues of $28.3 million for the first quarter of
1999.
The company says the decrease in revenues
for the first quarter of 2000 resulted principally from lower
average day rates for its Gulf of Mexico supply boats and North
Sea fleet, compared to the first quarter 1999. Supply boat day
rates in the Gulf of Mexico averaged $3,347 for the quarter,
compared to $3,662 for the first quarter 1999, but increased
from $3,250 for the fourth quarter 1999. Average day rates for
the North Sea fleet decreased to $8,650 for the most recent quarter,
compared to $11,451 for the first quarter 1999 and $8,761 for
the fourth quarter 1999.
The utilization rate for Gulf of Mexico
supply boats increased to 70% for the first quarter 2000, compared
to 56% for the year-ago period, and 67% for the fourth quarter
1999, due to improved market conditions in the Gulf and reduced
vessel downtime for dry-docking and vessel refurbishment. The
utilization rates for both periods include the impact of the
deactivation, or stacking, of 10 supply boats. Utilization of
the North Sea vessels decreased to 73% in the most recent quarter,
compared to 87% in the first quarter 1999 and 74% for the fourth
quarter 1999. During the 2000 first quarter, the Company dry-docked
five of its North Sea vessels. Two of those vessels were dry-docked
prior to being mobilized to other international areas.
"The biggest factor affecting our
first quarter results was the weakness in the North Sea in January
and February, which carried over from the fourth quarter,'' said
president and CEO Thomas E. Fairley, "While most of our
North Sea vessels are under long-term contracts, we experienced
low utilization and day rates for our
large anchor handling towing supply vessels working in the spot
market. Some of this softness was due to weather and seasonal
factors. We are encouraged, however, by the improvement in North
Sea day rates and utilization that we began to see in early March.''
Development of Norway's Kvitebjørn and Grane
fields
In an effort to boost employment,
the Norwegian Government proposes to develop the North Sea Kvitebjørn
and Grane fields.
"The development of these fields will
be important for the employment in the supply industry,"
says Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Olav Akselsen, "and
according to the companies [will] lead to employment of about
15,000 man-labor years. "
Kvitebjørn is a small field in the
northern part of the North Sea, containing gas and condensate.
The licensees are Statoil (operator), Hydro and Elf. The proven
reserves in the field include 47 bill scm dry gas, 17 mill scm
condensate and natural gasoline in addition to smaller quantities
of LPG.
The field will be developed with an integrated
production platform containing a drilling module, living quarters
and a processing module. The gas will be transported through
a new pipeline to the gas terminal at Kollsnes for further processing.
The condensate will be transported through a new pipeline (Kvitebjørn
Oil Pipe) which will be connected to the Troll Oil Pipe 2 for
further transport to Mongstad. Kvitebjørn will be given
responsibility for supply of gas under gas sales commitments
entered into by the GFU.
Production from Kvitebjørn is planned
to come on stream in 2004, and the production plateau level will
be 6 bill scm a year. Total investments related to the project
are estimated at 8.7 billion NOK
Grane is a large oil discovery, located
approximately 160 km west from Stavanger. The licensees are Hydro
(operator), Statoil and Esso. The field contains 112 mill scm
oil and will be developed with an integrated platform based on
the sea bed. The platform will contain a drilling module, living
quarters and processing module. The oil will be transported through
a new pipeline towards the terminal at Sture. Gas will be used
to increase the oil production. As the Grane field contains only
small quantities of gas, gas will be imported from other fields
through a new pipeline from the Heimdal field. The production
from Grane will ,according to plan, come on stream in 2003 and
will within 2005 reach a production level of more than 200,000
barrels a day.
Total investments related to Grane are
estimated at 15 billion NOK,.
NOL subsidiary orders VLCC's
Singapore's NOL Group today announced
that its wholly owned subsidiary, American Eagle Tankers Inc.
(AET), has contracted two double hulled 318,000 dwt very large
crude carriers (VLCCs) from South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries
of South Korea. Delivery is slated for 2002, when the new tankers
will join AET's current tanker fleet of 18 modern Aframax tankers.
The average age of the Group-owned Aframax
tanker fleet is about 4 years, much lower than the industry average
of 12 years.
The VLCCs will be LR classed, fly the Singapore
flag and will have an overall length of 333 m and a beam of 60
m.
Norway ups budget request for Bazan frigates
The Norwegian Government has presented
a proposal to Parliament that recommends an augmented allocation
for the New Frigates Project. The
increased allocation adds in project realization costs, increased
currency estimations and an upward adjustment due to the general
level of inflation since
February 1999.
The Government is asking for an increase
in the financial frame from 12,240 billion 1999 NOK to 14,066
billion 2000 NOK. Once Parliament has signed off on the proposal,
the Government will be in a position to sign a contract with
Spain's Empreza Nacional Bazan.
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