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TALKING GREEN: With Castrol’s Environmental Specialist Susannah Linington ML: Part of your job as an Environmental Specialist for the Marine and Energy Lubricants unit of BP Castrol is to keep your finger
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SCANNED AS BUILT: Specialized five-story oil vessel surveyed using conventional techniques and high-definition laser scanning BY BILLY ALAN CHAVERS, RLS, OWNER, DALE STOCKSTILL & ASSOCIATES With the help of laser scanning, Dale
Panel finds flaws in management of deepwater drilling risks
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
Farstad orders platform supply vessels at STX OSV
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
Ezra Holdings buys Houston fabrication facility
Singapore’s Ezra Holdings is expanding its capabilities in the Gulf of Mexico. It has just announced the purchase of a fabrication yard in Houston. Ezra says the move complements its proposed $250
Seadrill and Transocean order jack-up rigs
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
ABS fleet sails past 170 million gt mark
The latest statistics show it totaling 11,055 vessels aggregating 170.29 million gt, an increase of more than 9 million gross tons thus far this year.
That makes ABS the the third largest classification society in terms of aggregate gross tonnage. But it believes it continues to be the largest society in terms of the number of vessels and offshore units in its class.
ABS has also held its position as the most favored classification society for new construction, a standing it has held for most of the last three years. The current order book is comprises 2,384 vessels aggregating 50.95 million gt.
“The continued strength of the newbuilding market, given the current global economic uncertainty, is surprising,” says ABS Chairman and CEO Robert D. Somerville. “New orders to ABS class continue to offset the uncommonly high level of deliveries providing a consistently high demand for our engineering and survey services and giving us the youngest fleet profile in our history.” More than 67 percent of the in-service ABS-classed fleet is now ten years of age or less.
Mr. Somerville says he believes that “superior service will remain the principle differentiator between the leading class societies, with ABS setting the standard.”
The latest fleet statistics show that ABS continues to hold the leading market share for newbuildings on order in both Korea and China, the world’s top two shipbuilding nations. The society is equally successful with shipowners with its 30 percent share of all Greek controlled tonnage on order clearly demonstrating its success in this most demanding market.
The recent establishment of a fifth operating division for Greater China, responsible for administering the society’s activities in the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan is the latest demonstration of the ABS commitment to superior service according to Mr. Somerville.
November 8,2010
Harris swoops on Schlumberger Satcom business
Harris (NYSE:HRS) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Global Connectivity Services (GCS) business from Schlumberger Information Solutions, an operating unit of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB).
The acquisition will significantly extend Harris’ capabilities as a global provider of managed satellite communications services for customers that include the offshore energy and maritime industries. Schlumberger GCS will be combined with recently acquired CapRock Communications to form Harris CapRock Communications.
Both Schlumberger GCS and Caprock are important players in the VSAT market – an increasingly popular communications option with many shipowners.
Schlumberger GCS provides global communication services for a wide range of customers primarily in the oil and gas industries, including Schlumberger. Its main operations are in the United Kingdom, Norway, Singapore and the U.S., and include 12 globally deployed teleports, a 24×7 Network Operations Center (NOC), worldwide terrestrial infrastructure, and VSAT manufacturing capabilities in the U.K. and Singapore.
The agreement to acquire Schlumberger GCS follows the Harris acquisition of CapRock Communications on July 30. CapRock has four self-owned and operated teleports and 11 regional support centers across North America, Central and South America, Europe, West Africa and Asia Pacific.
“Combining Schlumberger GCS with CapRock Communications will create an organization with unsurpassed global satellite network capabilities, broad service offerings, and a large experienced service team to provide customers with superior remote and in-the-field support,” said Howard L. Lance, chairman, president and CEO of Harris. “Harris CapRock Communications will be able to use its capabilities and expertise to offer customers the most secure, reliable and efficient solutions in the industry.”
“Schlumberger has successfully developed its Global Connectivity Services business over the past 10 years to reach an extensive global products and services offering. This acquisition by Harris will ensure continued growth and new technology deployment in a focused communications organization,” said Tony Bowman, president of Schlumberger Information Solutions. “Schlumberger will continue to take advantage of these capabilities once the transaction is concluded through a long-term contract with Harris CapRock Communications.”
November 8, 2010
$2.1 million penalties in Gould pollution case
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
$2.1 million penalties in Gould pollution case
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