The numerous technical and operational breakdowns that contributed to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and spill from the Macondo well in the Gulf suggest the lack of a suitable approach for
Norway’s Farstad Shipping ASA has placed an order for the first OSV to be built to a new wave piercing design by Rolls-Royce. The vessel is one of four platform supply vessels
Two offshore drillers are showing enough faith in prospects for jack-ups to take out their check books. Seadrill is following up its recent drillship splurge at Samsung by ordering two newbuild two
Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) is using a powerful senatorial weapon to hasten an actual end to the offshore drilling moratorium put in place after the Deepwater Horizon incident. On September 23 Senator
Petrobras and its partners have signed contracts worth $3.46 billion with Brazil’s Engevix Engenharia S.A. They cover the construction of eight FPSO hulls at the Rio Grande Naval Hub, which is based
The first two drillships are firm orders with deliveries from the South Korean shipbuilder set for the first and second quarter 2013.
Seadrill says the total project price per rig is estimated to be less than $600 million, which includes a turnkey contract with the yard, project management, drilling and handling tools, spares, capitalized interest and operations preparations.
In a regulatory filing, Samsung valued the contract for the first two ships at $1.08 billion.
The contract further includes a fixed price option, to be declared during the first quarter 2011, for further two drillships
The dual derrick drillships are of an improved design compared to the three previous drillships Seadrill has taken delivery of from Samsung, with further enhanced capacity related to water depth, technical capabilities as well as increased accommodation capacity.
The new dynamically positioned drillships will be capable of operations in water depths up to 12,000 feet with a hook load capability of 1,250 tons, suiting them for operations in challenging areas such as the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil and West Africa.
The drillships will be the first newbuilds to be outfitted with seven ram configuration of the BOP (Blow Out Preventer) stack.
Seadrill says its decision to add another two ultra-deepwater newbuilds to the existing fleet is based on the continued strength of the offshore drilling market, the return that these investments are expected to deliver and the financial flexibility generated by the company’s contract backlog.
Ordering new drillships is considered financial superior to other alternative investments.
Alf C Thorkildsen, Chief Executive Officer of Seadrill Management AS, says: “Our commitment to establish Seadrill as a leading drilling contractor through investing in new high specification offshore drilling units built by quality yards has been well received by our customers and investors. With the most modern drilling fleet in the world and a total contract backlog of $11.5 billion, we have created a solid platform for further growth and a continued high return to our shareholders. These orders confirm our positive view on the market outlook as well as our good experience with this design and the Samsung shipyard.”
Ms. Browner is Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change. A Department of the Interior Inspector General’s report says changes to the executive summary of a “30 Day Report” that followed the Deepwater Horizon incident made it appear that a group of industry experts had “peer reviewed” and approved a recommendation that a drilling moratorium be imposed.The version of the report made available to the public says an unnamed member of Ms. Browner’s staff made the misleading changes.
Eight experts made it very public, and very clear that they did not support the moratorium. A number of Senators and House members asked the IG report.
You can read the IG report HERE
November 10, 2010
Paris-headquartered Bourbon reported today that third quarter revenues came to EUR 222.2 million, up 6.4 percent compared with the same period in 2009 (two percent at constant exchange rates).
Although bickering between Brazilian bureaucrats delayed import of some vessels for a Petrobras contract, activity in the Americas is expanding, accounting for 11 percent of revenues in the first nine months of the year, compared with 6.4 percent in the same period last year.
“In a market environment that continues to be difficult, Bourbon can today report third-quarter 2010 revenue growth of 6.4 percent,” said Chairman & CEO de Chateauvieux. “This confirms the upturn in our offshore activity, announced previously and already in evidence in the second quarter. It also confirms our strategic choices and reflects our unique positioning on the market. Our clients are enthusiastic about the new Bourbon vessels which are proving to be more innovative, safer and capable of keeping their operating costs down.”
“Bourbon predicted a gradual recovery in the oil companies’ activity in the second half of 2010 and more substantial growth in 2011,” he contnued. “The activity of the third quarter confirms this trend.”
Bourbon says that in the first nine months of 2010, revenues for its offshore business segment totaled Euros 624.9 million euros, up 1.6 percent compared with the same period in the previous year. Revenues from Bourbon vessels were 8.4 percent higher thanks to the major expansion of the fleet in unfavorable market conditions. Revenues from chartered vessels were down by nearly 37 million euros. Activity on the American continent is expanding and Bourbon earned 11 percent of its revenues there in the first nine months of 2010, compared with 6.6 percent over the same period in 2009. As well as growth in activity in Mexico and Brazil, the buyout of 50 percent of Delba Maritima Navegacao at the end of 2009 also made a significant contribution.
Compared with the second quarter of 2010, revenues from Bourbon vessels increased by 4.1 percent despite a slight reduction in the fleet’s utilization rate, largely due to administrative difficulties encountered on importing the vessels to Brazil.
A delay in implementing the contracts for the eight Bourbon Liberty vessels and five crewboats chartered by Petrobras resulted from a disagreement between the Brazilian Ministries of Finance and Petroleum concerning exemptions from import duty for foreign vessels.
For the last seven quarters, Bourbon has been steadily reducing the number of vessels it charters in.
Compared with the third quarter of 2009, revenues from Subsea Services were up 13.1 percent totalling 45.4 million euros, largely due to better performance of owned vessels and the full effect of the IMR vessel commissioned at the beginning of 2010.
In the first nine months of 2010, revenues from Subsea Services were up 13.8 percent at 124.7 million euros compared with the same period of 2009, due to the Bourbon vessels’ improved performance (contract renewals at higher rates and a greater range of services) and the full effect of the IMR vessel that joined the fleet at the beginning of 2010.
Compared with the second quarter of 2010, revenues from Subsea Services were up 3.9 percent reflecting the significant improvement in Bourbon IMR vessels.
November 9, 2010
Galliano, La., headquartered Offshore Vessels LLC (OSV), formerly Edison Chouest Offshore Vessels LLC, was on Thursday sentenced in U.S. District Court in New Orleans to pay a criminal fine of $1,750,000 and remit a payment of $350,000 as community service to the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. The community service funds are to be used to study polar water pollution and protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems in the Antarctic region. OSV also will serve a period of probation for three years, during which it will be required to operate under an Environmental Compliance Plan.
OSV pleaded guilty on July 22, 2010, to knowingly discharging waste oil from one of its vessels, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS).
“The criminal fine in this case will serve as a strong deterrent to all vessel companies, American and foreign, against deliberately violating the laws enacted to protect oceans,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice. “The required payment will provide a means of studying polar water oil pollution and its impact on Antarctica’s fragile marine ecosystem.”
OSV owned and operated the R/V Laurence M. Gould (R/V Gould). The R/V Gould was a 2,966 gross ton American-flagged vessel that served as an ice-breaking research vessel for the National Science Foundation on research voyages to and from Antarctica. In its guilty plea earlier this year, OSV admitted that crew members knowingly discharged oily wastewater from the bilge tank of the R/V Gould overboard to the high seas, in violation of APPS. In doing so, they bypassed the ship’s oily-water separator, a pollution-control device. Regulations promulgated under APPS require that oily wastewater be discharged only after it has been sent through an oily water separator.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard Criminal Investigative Service. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Daniel Dooher of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dorothy Manning Taylor.
November 6, 2010
It is the second of two Service Jack units that the yard is building for Lysaker, Norway, headquartered Master Marine AS.
On completion next year, the vessel will commence a contract to install 88 wind turbines at the U.K.’s Shearingham Shoal field for Scira, a joint Statoil/Statkraft venture. The first vessel, Haven, was delivered from the Graha shipyard in June. It is now in southern Norway completing preparations for a three-year assignment as an accommodation unit at the Ekofisk field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
Designed by Global Maritime, and classified by ABS, Nora is DP2 equipped and can jack-up in 80 m water depth. It has an open deck area of 2,500 sq. m and has accommodations for up to 260 people. It will be equipped with two pedestal cranes, each of 750 t capacity.
The vessel has a hull length of 110 m and breadth of 50 m It has four 130 m long legs and the spud can area of each leg is 180 sq.m.
November 6, 2010