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Offshore Development News

19 Feb 2024

Jumbo Offshore Appoints Middle East Partner as it Eyes Regional Expansion

Dutch heavy lift shipping and offshore transport and installation contractor Jumbo Offshore has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sea Horizon Offshore Marine Services, which will act as its representative in the Middle East region.Sea Horizon Offshore, with its broad network of local partners, will represent Jumbo Offshore to potential clients in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.Its scope will also include commercial representation, supporting…

29 Nov 2023

Gazelle Wind Power Appoints U.S. Wind Finance Pioneer as CFO

Source: Gazelle Wind Power

Floating platform developer Gazelle Wind Power has appointed clean energy finance industry expert Álvaro Ortega as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).Ortega is the former Vice President of Finance at Avangrid Inc., a publicly traded company on the NY Stock Exchange and the U.S. subsidiary of global energy leader Iberdrola.“Finding someone with a track record like Álvaro’s is rare. Due to his financial expertise and passion for renewable energy, his joining the team is a home run for Gazelle as we enter an exciting phase in our company’s development,” said Gazelle CEO and Founder Jon Salazar.

27 Nov 2023

UK Offshore Wind and CCS Colocation Projects Underway

Source: Offshore Colocation Forum

The UK Offshore Wind and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Colocation Forum, set up to provide strategic coordination of colocation research and activity on the nation’s seabed, has commissioned two research projects. The projects are designed to inform the best approach to test and demonstrate the colocation of offshore wind and CCS activities in the future.To achieve the UK’s net zero targets, the UK Government is targeting the delivery of 50 gigawatts of offshore wind energy and the capture of 20-30 million tons of CO2 per year by 2030.

16 Oct 2023

Massachusetts Offshore Wind Farm Dodges Lawsuits over Environmental, Fishing Concerns

Credit: Avangrid

A U.S. judge has rejected challenges to federal environmental permits and construction approvals for a $4 billion offshore wind farm near Massachusetts, which commercial fishing groups have claimed will harm whales and impair their businesses.U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston last Thursday tossed the final two federal district court lawsuits directly challenging the Vineyard Wind project roughly 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, which would be the first commercial…

10 Jul 2023

Former BOEM Head Amanda Lefton Joins RWE

Amanda Lefton (Photo: BOEM)

German energy company RWE announced it has hired Amanda Lefton as Vice President of Offshore Development, U.S. East.Lefton was previously Director of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) during a period of sigificant growth for the U.S. offshore wind industry under direction from the Biden Administration. Lefton resigned from here position at BOEM effective January 19, 2023.RWE is one of the world's largest producers of offshore wind energy, with projects in Asia, Europe and the United States.

24 Feb 2023

U.S. Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale Set for March

©Lukasz Z/AdobeStock

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said Friday that it would hold an oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico in March 2023.The Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale 259 will offer approximately 13,600 blocks on 73.3 million acres in the Western, Central, and Eastern Planning Areas on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. Lease Sale 259 was one of three offshore lease sales initially cancelled by the Biden Administration in May 2022. The subsequent Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) mandated that BOEM hold Lease Sale 259 no later than March 31…

17 Feb 2023

Japan: MOL, MOLMEC to Launch More Offshore Wind Training Courses as ClassNK Approval Granted

Credit: MOL

Japanese firms Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and MOL Marine & Engineering Co (MOLMEC) have been granted basic approval from ClassNK for two new training courses related to offshore wind power generation. The courses, for power cable laying and anchor handling training, use Dynamic Positioning (DP) simulator, which is owned by MOL and MOLMEC,They are currently being prepared for launch - expected by June 2023, and will be the first such courses offered in Japan.MOL and MOLMEC installed the DP simulator on the lobby floor of MOL's Head Office in June 2022…

22 Dec 2022

Report: Output from Shell's Prelude FLNG Shut Again

Shell has stopped production at its Prelude floating LNG plant off Western Australia after a fire.A Shell spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday that the fire at the giant FLNG unit "was rapidly extinguished."The 488-meter-long, Shell-operated, Prelude FLNG unit forms part of an offshore development that produces natural gas from the remote namesake field, located approximately 475 km north-northeast of Broome in Western Australia. The Prelude is the world's largest FLNG unit.The first LNG shipment from the project - originally sanctioned in 2011 - was shipped back in June 2019, via the Valencia Knutsen LNG tanker to customers in Asia.

01 Sep 2022

Navigating a Minefield: Why UXO Could Hamper the UK’s Offshore Wind Ambitions

Copyright burnstuff2003/AdobeStock

The UK’s plans to significantly increase offshore wind capacity to 50GW by 2030 risks being hindered by an array of undiscovered unexploded ordnance (UXO) in our coastal waters. It is estimated that up to 500,000 legacy items/targets of UXO could still be present in UK waters. These require safe removal or disposal to clear the way for accelerated offshore wind development. The current practice of High-Order UXO detonation (often resulting in a huge explosion) generates loud underwater (subsea) explosions which can disrupt navigation…

30 Jun 2022

Biden Drilling Plan May Exclude All Waters Beyond Gulf of Mexico

© Scott Bufkin / Adobe Stock

The U.S. Interior Department has recommended to the White House that all federal offshore oil and gas drilling auctions over the next five years be located in the Gulf of Mexico, where the drilling industry has already been focused for decades, according to two sources familiar with the matter.The recommendation to exclude all other waters from offshore oil and gas development comes as U.S. President Joe Biden seeks to balance his goal to transition the country away from fossil fuels against a Congressional requirement to hold regular drilling auctions…

11 May 2022

HYON, Mitsui Enter Hydrogen Bunkering Collaboration

Credit: HYON

Oslo-based hydrogen bunkering company HYON has entered a collaboration agreement with Japanese trading and investment company Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Mitsui). The two companies said they were looking into business opportunities related to creating hydrogen fueling infrastructure in Europe, Asia anywhere else where there is a possibility for hydrogen demand. Mitsui, which has a diversified portfolio of business in various sectors, including shipping, offshore development, mobility, infrastructure, chemicals and energy, will make a financial and strategic investment in HYON as part of the deal.

11 Apr 2022

Yesterday’s or Tomorrow’s Offshore Energy: Which to Pick?

Copyright Inna/AdobeStock

Looking back, it is easy to wonder if one could have done better by taking the other fork in the road. I grew up in Holland in a maritime family and am pretty sure I would have stuck with maritime there. In 1968, when I was 8 years old, my father left Holland America Line and joined the United States Salvage Association. At the same time, their main customer, the U.S. marine insurance industry, became heavily involved in the development of North Sea offshore oil and gas, and it resulted in an economic boom that made USSA’s Rotterdam office wildly profitable.

09 Feb 2022

Prelude FLNG to Stay Shut in 1Q 2022

The Prelude FLNG facility, with the Valencia Knutsen berthed side-by-side (File Photo: Shell)

Oil major Shell expects its Prelude FLNG unit in Australia, the world's largest unit of the type, will remain shut for most of the first quarter of 2022.The world's largest FLNG facility had in January 2021 resumed LNG cargo shipments, almost one year after a shutdown caused by an electrical trip, only to be shut down again in December 2021 after a sudden loss of power, and subsequent failed attempts to re-establish reliable power aboard.At a Q&A Thursday, as part of Shell's results presentation…

24 Dec 2021

Regulator Orders Shell to Keep Prelude FLNG Output Shut Until it Can Prove It Is Safe

The Prelude FLNG facility, with the Valencia Knutsen berthed side-by-side (File Photo: Shell)

Australian oil and gas industry safety regulator NOPSEMA has ordered Shell to keep the giant Prelude FLNG facility off W. Australia shut until it can convince the regulator that it can keep the facility properly powered and that the safety systems are operational.The order comes after production from the floating facility was shut earlier this month after a sudden loss of power, and subsequent failed attempts to re-establish reliable power aboard.In its report on Thursday, NOPSEMA said: "At around 22:40 on 2 December 2021…

08 Dec 2021

Offshore Renewable Energy: A Port Puzzle for Floating Offshore Wind

The (current) world’s largest floating offshore wind farm; Kincardine. Sitting off north east Scotland, it has 9.5MW turbines on semisubmersible type foundations moored to the seabed. Photo from Cobra Group.

After being very much on the margins of the offshore wind industry, floating offshore wind now appears to be ready to hit the mainstream. With gigawatt scale developments already on the horizon, what will the infrastructure needed to build and support them look like? Over the past 12 months, the floating offshore wind sector appears to have had a major dose of adrenaline. While the largest development, to date, is the relatively small-scale 50MW Kincardine project off northeast Scotland (which will be outdone by the 88MW Tampen project in Norway later next year [2022])…

12 Dec 2021

Nippon Foundation, DeepStar Launch Joint Decarbonization R&D Program

From left: Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman, The Nippon Foundation; Mitsuyuki Unno, Executive Director, The Nippon Foundation; Shakir Shamshy, Director, DeepStar; and Pat Toomey, Manager, DeepStar. Image courtesy The Nippon Foundation

The Nippon Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the offshore technology development consortium DeepStar to establish a joint research and development program focused on decarbonization in offshore oil and gas, with a focus on renewable energy and the environment.The initial program budget is up to $10 million through 2026, and the overall plan is to develop technologies for commercialization.“I am very pleased that we have been able to conclude this new memorandum of understanding,” said Mr. Sasakawa.

02 Aug 2021

China Starts Production at 100,000 DWT Deepwater Semi-sub FPSO

Photo courtesy China Classification Society

China Classification Society (CCS) is reporting the successful surveying of the world’s first 100,000 DWT deep-water semi-submersible floating production storage and offloading installation (FPSO).Dubbed Shen Hai Yi Hao, the platform is formally commencing production after being installed at the Lingshui (LS) 17-2 gas field in the South China Sea following an announcement by Wang Dongjin, the chairman of its operator China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) which is China's largest producer of offshore crude oil and natural gas.

30 Jul 2021

U.S. Looking at Ways to Compensate Fishing Industry for Offshore Wind Impacts

Credit: shaunwilkinson/AdobeStock

The Biden administration is considering ways to ensure the U.S. commercial fishing industry is paid for any losses it incurs from the planned expansion of offshore wind power in the Atlantic Ocean, according to state and federal officials involved in the matter, [Reuters reported in an exclusive on Thursday.]Discussions between state and federal officials, which participants described as being at a very early stage, are aimed at addressing the top threat to President Joe Biden's…

11 May 2021

US Greenlights Its First Major Offshore Wind Farm

© J_a_s / Adobe Stock

The Biden administration on Tuesday said it has approved the nation's first major offshore wind farm, billing it as the launch of a new domestic energy industry that will help eliminate emissions from the power sector.The move, however, was quickly condemned by fishing industry interests who said their concerns about the project's impact on things like fish stocks and vessel traffic had been "met with silence" by government officials.The Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts is intended to create enough electricity to power 400…

29 Mar 2021

U.S. Sets 30 GW Offshore Wind Target

Image by bhphoto/AdobeStock

The Biden administration on Monday unveiled a goal to expand the nation’s fledgling offshore wind energy industry in the coming decade by opening new areas to development, accelerating permits, and boosting public financing for projects.The plan is part of President Joe Biden’s broader effort to eliminate U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change, an agenda that Republicans argue could bring economic ruin but which Democrats say can create jobs while protecting the…

16 Mar 2021

VIDEO: Topsides Modules Lifted on Guyana-bound Liza Unity FPSO

 Guyana-bound: The Chinese-built Liza Unity FPSO last year arrived in Singapore for topsides integration. The FPSO is destined for the ExxonMobil-operated Liza field development in Guyana. (Photo: SBM Offshore)

SBM Offshore, the Dutch-based FPSO company, said Tuesday that the topsides lifting campaign for the Liza Unity FPSO was recently completed. The FPSO is being built for deployment at ExxonMobil's Stabroek offshore block in Guyana."Thanks to the efforts of the integrated team, over 26,000 tons of topsides were safely lifted in position at Keppel Shipyard in Singapore since the vessel came out of dry-dock in October of last year," SBM Offshore said.© SBM OffshoreSBM Offshore said…

17 Feb 2022

Shell's Prelude FLNG Restarts LNG Shipments

File Photo: Shell

Shell's Prelude LNG, the world's largest floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project, offshore Australia, has resumed LNG cargo shipments, almost one year after a shutdown caused by an electrical trip.In a brief statement sent to Offshore Engineer, a Shell spokesperson said Monday that the Prelude project had restarted LNG cargo shipping.The Shell spokesperson said: “LNG cargoes have resumed from Shell’s Prelude FLNG facility. Prelude is a multi-decade project, and our focus remains on delivering sustained performance over the long-term.”The 488 meters long…

14 Dec 2020

Modec Nets Sangomar FPSO Operations and Maintenance Deal

Rendering of the Sangomar Field Development FPSO (Image courtesy of SOFEC)

Japanese FPSO contractor Modec has won a contract with Woodside for the operations and maintenance of the Sangomar FPSO in Senegal.The deal follows a contract signed in January for Modec to deliver the FPSO for Sangomar field development  - Senegal's first offshore development.The operations and maintenance contract will cover all in-country installation and commissioning activities following which an initial 10-year operations and maintenance term will begin. Extension options…

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