Shell Stops Work on GOM Gas Project
Royal Dutch Shell plc announced that the company will not move forward with the proposed 140,000 bpd Gulf Coast gas-to-liquids (GTL) project in Louisiana. Shell is a leader in GTL technology, and the company said it has evaluated a number of development options for GTL on the US Gulf Coast, using natural gas feedstocks. Despite the ample supplies of natural gas in the area,
SeaExplorer Underwater Glider Concludes Record Mission
ACSA announced that the SeaExplorer glider, developed by ACSA in partnership with ACRI, CNRS and IFREMER, successfully completed a two-month record mission in collaboration with the Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche (LOV) of National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC). “The mission objective was to evaluate
Idle Floating Production Units at All-time High
EMA/IMA has just completed an in-depth analysis of the floating production sector. Highlighted below are some key findings in Floating Production Systems: assessment of the outlook for FPSOs, Semis, TLPs, Spars, FLNGs, FSRUs and FSOs. Inventory of floating production systems now at 277 units –FPSOs account for 62% of the existing systems. The balance is comprised of production semis,
Blogs
Abrolhos Islands - Reefs, Humpback Whales and Oil
Portuguese explorers were the first to arrive at the Abrolhos National Marine Park., having named the islands and sailed along the Caravelas Rivers since 1503. The name Abrolhos is short for open your eyes in Portuguese, and is an indication of the dangers to navigation in the area, which has numerous reef and rock formations just shy of the surface of the sea or even awash, and is dotted with shipwrecks.
Offshore Energy
Kvaerner Divests North American Construction Business
Kvaerner sells its onshore construction business in North America to Matrix Service Company for an enterprise value of $80.3 million. The divestment enables Kvaerner to focus its efforts on further developing its upstream oil and gas business. "This transaction is an important step in our strategy to focus our operations. All of Kvaerner's operations will now be focused on delivering offshore installations and onshore plants to our upstream oil and gas customers.
Subsea Defense
Australia Navy Stage Submarine Escape Exercise
An intensive three week submarine escape and rescue exercise has drawn to a close off the east coast of Australia. During Exercise BLACK CARILLON 2013, members of Navy's Submarine Force simulated being evacuated from HMAS Farncomb, which was bottomed in 112 metres of water, in the James Fisher Rescue Service LR5 submersible. The 21.5 tonne submersible was then lifted onto the deck of a rescue vessel,
Unmanned Vehicles
Bibby Remote Intervention Adds to ROV Fleet
Bibby Remote Intervention Limited (BRIL) has secured a multimillion pound contract with Olympic Shipping to install two 150 horsepower deep water Quasar ROVs onboard the construction support vessel (CSV), Olympic Ares. The two ROVs will be installed in the purpose built ROV hangers onboard the vessel by BRIL for ROV and survey services. This follows the signing
Innovation
GAC Launches Eco-friendly Hull Cleaning Solution
GAC EnvironHull, part of global shipping, logistics and marine services provider GAC Group, has launched HullWiper, its new offering diver-free, cost effective and eco-friendly underwater hull cleaning. Despite its compact size of 3 x 1.5 x 0.80 m, the high-speed, remotely-operated vessel cleaning vehicle is capable of cleaning up to 2,000 m² of hull per hour without causing any damage to antifouling surfaces.
People
Jee Appoints Additional Business Development Manager
Jee Ltd., an independent multidiscipline subsea engineering and training company, has appointed Michael Green as a new Business Development Manager to join the growing business development team. Mr. Green is based at the company’s head office in Tonbridge, Kent, and will be seeking new business opportunities to support long-term growth plans as well as being responsible for facilitating proposals and tenders with UK and international oil companies as well as global vessel operators.
