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23 Feb 2024

Three Questions: Matt Tremblay, VP, Global Offshore Markets, ABS

Matt Tremblay, ABS’ Vice President of Global Offshore Markets. Image courtesy ABS

The American Bureau of Shipping dominates the global market in the classification of Floating Production. Offshore Engineer recently sat with Matt Tremblay, ABS’ Vice President of Global Offshore Markets, at American Bureau of Shipping HQ in Houston for his insights on market drivers and technical trends in this dynamic market.Matt, big picture, how do you see the Floating Production market developing in the coming years?At a macro level, I think we're going to be supply limited over the next five years.

23 Feb 2024

The APAC Offshore Market: Riding the Wave of Success into 2024 and Beyond

Copyright Peter Hermes Furian/AdobeStock

2023 was the first year of real recovery for owners in the offshore supply market and yet we have barely skimmed the surface of what’s to come.The market is still on an upward trajectory with charter rates accelerating month-by-month, availability changing day-by-day, leading to earnings doubling and, in some segments, tripling since the lows of 2020. Current rates will remind many of the glory days of pre-2014 with the demand for OSVs projected to remain elevated for years to come.In general…

20 Dec 2023

US Gulf of Mexico oil Auction is Largest Since 2015

© arsenypopel / Adobe Stock

A Biden administration auction of Gulf of Mexico drilling rights raised $382 million on Wednesday as oil companies claimed offshore acreage for what is set to be the last time until 2025.The auction total was the highest of any federal offshore oil and gas lease sale since 2015, according to a Reuters tally.Shell, Hess, Anadarko, BP, Chevron, Repsol and Equinor were among the 26 companies that participated in the sale.Anadarko had the auction's highest bid of more than $25 million for a block in the deepwater Mississippi Canyon area, according to an online broadcast of the sale by the U.S.

17 Dec 2023

C-NLOPB Updates Hebron Field Volume Estimate

Source: Hebron Project

The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) has approved the Development Plan Amendment (DPA) for the Hebron Field.The Hebron oil field is located offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin 340 kilometers southeast of St. John's. The field was first discovered in 1980, and is estimated to produce more than 700 million barrels of recoverable resources. The water depth at the Hebron field is 93 meters.The approval enables ExxonMobil and…

07 Dec 2023

PTTEP’s New Discoveries in Malaysia Support Cluster Development

Source: PTTEP

PTTEP has made three consecutive oil and gas discoveries offshore Malaysia and says it is strategically poised to expedite the development of these discoveries through a cluster development approach.Montri Rawanchaikul, CEO of PTTEP, disclosed that PTTEP’s subsidiary, PTTEP HK Offshore Limited and PTTEP Sarawak Oil Limited have made new oil and gas discoveries in three fields offshore Sarawak, Malaysia, including Chenda-1 exploration well in the block SK405B, Bangsawan-1 and Babadon…

27 Nov 2023

Environmentalists Ask Court to Block Development of Three North Sea Fields

© Igor Hotinsky / Adobe Stock

Environmental groups on Tuesday will ask a Norwegian court to block the development of three North Sea oil and gas fields, citing insufficient assessment of global climate impact from future petroleum use.The lawsuit filed by Greenpeace and its partner Nature and Youth concerns the Equinor-operated Breidablikk and Aker BP's Yggdrasil and Tyrving fields, which hold combined reserves of some 875 million barrels of oil equivalent.The two NGOs in 2020 lost a case against Arctic drilling at Norway's top court…

16 Feb 2023

Guyana's Shore Base Project Could Cut Shipping Costs by About 12%

(File photo: ExxonMobil)

Companies working on a $300 million logistics facility in Guyana that will support offshore oil operations said on Wednesday the shore base will help reduce shipping costs for supplies by as much as 12% by allowing larger supply vessels to dock.A consortium consisting of U.S. companies Exxon Mobil Corp and Hess Corp and China's CNOOC began production in Guyana in 2019 and has ramped up output since, aiming at 1.2 million barrels per day of crude and gas capacity by 2027.But onshore…

31 Jan 2023

Exxon Banks Record $56B Profit in '22

Copyright Askar/AdobeStock

Exxon Mobil Corp posted a $56 billion net profit for 2022, the company said on Tuesday, taking home about $6.3 million per hour last year, and setting not only a company record but a historic high for the Western oil industry. Oil majors are expected to break their own annual records on high prices and soaring demand, pushing their combined take to near $200 billion. The scale has renewed criticism of the oil industry and sparked calls for more countries to levy windfall profit taxes on the companies.Exxon's results far exceeded the then-record $45.2 billion net profit it reported in 2008…

01 Jan 2023

Chevron Sending Two Oil Tankers to Venezuela Under US Approval

U.S. oil company Chevron Corp is sending two oil tankers to Venezuela, one of which will load the first cargo of crude destined for the United States in nearly four years, according to a person familiar with the matter and shipping data.On Friday, a Chevron-chartered vessel approached the South American country's waters to pick up a cargo of Venezuelan crude. A second tanker carrying a cargo of diluents to a Chevron oil joint venture is due to arrive in Venezuela early next month, the person said.The U.S. last month issued a six-month license to Chevron authorizing it to take an expanded role at four Venezuelan oil joint ventures that produce, process and export oil, and to bring their oil to the United States.The U.S. license will reopen oil flows that were shut by U.S.

05 Dec 2022

Russian Oil Sanctions Fuel Demand for Old Tankers

©Vladimir/AdobeStock

The market for old oil tankers is booming, and it's all down to efforts by Western nations to curb trade in Russian crude.As Western shipping and maritime services firms steer clear of Russian oil to avoid falling foul of sanctions or harming their reputations, new companies have leapt into the void, and they're snapping up old tankers that might normally be scrapped.The European Union banned all seaborne Russian crude imports from Dec. 5, with a fuel import ban to follow in February.

27 Oct 2022

Canada's New Oil Spill Response Barges Launched

(Photo: Robert Allan Ltd.)

Two new oil spill response barges were recently completed at ASL Shipyard in Singapore for Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC).The two 3,500 tonne barges, Sentinel 303 and Sentinel 304, will be delivered to WCMRC in October, with arrival in Canada by the end of 2022. The response barges will join WCMRC’s fleet of pollution response vessels stationed along the south coast of British Columbia.These new barges represent a significant enhancement to the pollution response capabilities already in place and will benefit the entire local maritime industry…

06 Oct 2022

Israel, Lebanon Closing in on Maritime Border Deal

Credit:timyee/AdobeStock

Lebanon and Israel are closer than ever to signing a deal demarcating their maritime border, opening the door to new oil and gas exploration, after years of U.S.-brokered negotiations.While limited in scope, the agreement is set to ease security and economic concerns in both countries, whose shared history is rife with hostility. The deal will only resolve a territorial dispute in the eastern tip of the Mediterranean sea and does not touch on their land borders, which are yet to be settled.Here are some details of the U.S.

18 Aug 2022

US Court Vacates Decision to Block Federal Oil, Gas Leasing Pause

Credit: Lukas Z/AdoheStock

A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday vacated a lower court's decision to block the Biden administration's pause on new oil and gas leasing on federal land and waters - a key piece of the president's climate change strategy - and sent the case back to that court for further proceedings.The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the Louisiana district court decision to block the Interior Department's leasing pause after Louisiana and a dozen states sued the administration established…

09 Aug 2022

Turkey Sends New Oil and Gas Drillship to the Mediterranean

Credit: Presidency of Turkey

Turkey sent its new hydrocarbons drilling ship to the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday but President Tayyip Erdogan said it would operate 55 kilometres (34.18 miles) off Turkey's coast, in an area outside waters also claimed by Cyprus.Speaking at the launch ceremony in the southern province of Mersin, Erdogan said the area of operation was within Turkey's sovereign territory and that there was "no need for permission from anyone" for it to drill there.(Reuters - Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen, Editing by Louise Heavens)

20 May 2022

U.S. Preparing New Five-year Plan for Offshore Oil and Gas Auctions

Credit: Stephanie/AdobeStock

The Biden administration will propose a new five-year plan for offshore oil and gas development by June 30, the date when the current plan expires, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said on Thursday.The announcement comes as the administration has faced pressure from Republican lawmakers to expand domestic drilling to address soaring fuel costs. President Joe Biden, however, wants to reform the federal government's oil and gas program to consider its impacts on climate change.Haaland testified before the Senate energy committee to answer questions on the administration's 2023 budget proposal…

06 May 2022

Guyana in 'No Rush' to Draft New Offshore Oil Production Sharing Agreement

An FPSO offshore Guyana - (File photo: Hess Corp.)

Guyana is in "no rush" to draft a new production sharing agreement (PSA) for offshore oil development, its Natural Resources minister told Reuters, reversing a year-long drive to devise new rules for future output.The government of South America's newest crude oil producer said in 2021 it was planning a new agreement to revamp terms and boost royalties for future oil and gas projects. The proposed document was expected to improve terms for Guyana of a 2016 contract with Exxon Mobil and its partners for the prolific Stabroek block.But the tiny nation…

07 Feb 2022

BSEE Inspects Murphy Oil’s New King’s Quay Platform Ahead of First Oil

(Photo: BSEE)

U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) inspectors and engineers last week carried out an offshore regulatory pre-production inspection of Murphy Oil’s King’s Quay floating production system (FPS) platform. The facility, a semi-submersible FPS, is now currently moored in Green Canyon Block 433 in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, about 175 miles south of New Orleans.“The first offshore follow-up inspection is a very crucial time in the installation of a new production platform in the Gulf,” said BSEE Houma District production supervisor Micah Charpentier.

05 Jan 2022

ExxonMobil Makes Two Oil Discoveries Offshore Guyana. Liza Unity FPSO on Track for First Oil in 1Q

Oil and gas major ExxonMobil on Wednesday announced two new oil discoveries offshore Guyana, at Fangtooth and Lau Lau wells, adding to previous recoverable resource estimate of 10 billion oil-equivalent barrels.The Fangtooth-1 well, drilled with the Stena DrillMAX drillship, encountered approximately 164 feet (50 meters) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. The well was drilled in 6,030 feet (1,838 meters) of water and is located approximately 11 miles (18 kilometers) northwest of the Liza field. The Lau Lau-1 well, drilled by the Noble Don Taylor drillship, hit around 315 feet (96 meters) of high-quality hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone reservoirs.

28 Dec 2021

Digitalization: Simulating Cleaner Shipping

Patrick Ryan is SVP – Engineering and Technology for ABS. He is responsible for global engineering, digital engineering, rules and software, R&D and the Global Ship Systems Group.

Technologies developed and deployed in pursuit of net zero bring environmental and societal benefits for shipping owners and operators to outweigh their own emissions.SIM is a technology with the potential to make a significant contribution to maritime decarbonization, writes Patrick Ryan, ABSOne of the biggest problems for shipowners seeking to understand how environmental regulation will impact the performance of their fleets in future is uncertainty. While the regulatory framework is in place…

29 Nov 2021

U.S. Oil Drilling Review Proposes Higher Fees, Development Curbs

Credit: otmman/AdobeStock

The Biden administration proposed a slew of changes on Friday to the nation's federal oil and gas leasing program, including hiking fees on drilling companies and limiting their access to sensitive wildlife and cultural zones.The recommendations followed a months-long review aimed at ensuring drilling on federal lands and waters benefits the public. But in a sign of the extreme controversy surrounding the issue, environmental groups slammed the proposals as too weak and the industry…

26 Nov 2021

U.S. Interior Department Set to Release Federal Oil Leasing Review

© Troy V Smith / Adobe Stock

The U.S. Interior Department will release a long-awaited report reviewing the environmental costs and economic benefits of the nation's federal oil and gas leasing program as early as Friday, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.President Joe Biden's administration launched the review earlier this year in what had been widely seen as a first step in delivering on a campaign promise to end new federal fossil fuel drilling to fight climate change.The report, however…

08 Nov 2021

ClassNK Grants First CybR-G Notation for Cyber Secure Ship Design

Classification society ClassNK said it has granted Cyber Resilience-Guideline (CybR-G) notation to Tateshina, a new oil tanker built by Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co., Ltd.(NACKS) for NYK Line. CybR-G notation represents that the ship design has incorporated cyber security measures in accordance with ClassNK’s “Guidelines for Designing Cyber Security Onboard Ships”, and that it is feasible for ship operation considering cyber security.ClassNK has released “Guidelines for Designing Cyber Security Onboard Ships” by compiling best practices for newbuilding designs of shipyards and shipowners, from the view of identifying computer systems to be protected from cyber attacks, and building a network to safeguard them.

07 Sep 2021

Canada's New Oil Spill Response Boats Powered by Scania

(Photo: Scania)

Engine manufacturer Scania said it has been selected by the Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC) to power four 52-foot oil spill response landing crafts.Currently in production by family-owned Burlington, Wash welded aluminum boat manufacturer the William E. Munson Company, the vessels are powered by twin keel-cooled 750 HP Scania DI13-liter 088M engines with Twin Disc 5095 marine gearboxes, supplied by distributor Cascade Engine Center. Propulsion is provided by Hamilton 403 waterjets. This combination offers a top speed of 35 knots at full power.

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