Oil Platform

Guarding Iraq’s Oil Platforms

A Ukrainian cargo ship that inadvertently sailed into protected waters around Iraqi oil platforms in the Persian Gulf ignited a rapid security crackdown Wednesday morning, displaying some of the measures coalition forces take to protect the platforms. Ships rushed to intercept the cargo vessel. A 14-sailor boarding team from the Royal Australian Navy frigate Toowoomba spent three hours searching the 100-meter cargo ship, ensuring the crew’s documents were accurate, and trying to figure out why the vessel didn’t heed warnings to stay out of the terminal’s protective circle. The Ukrainian crew told sailors they were unaware of the security restraints in that area. Wednesday’s incident is one of many scenarios coalition and Iraqi forces have encountered as they protect the two oil platforms about 60 miles from Iraq, said Navy Capt. Jeff Harbeson, commander of Destroyer Squadron 50 and the combined task group securing the platforms and training Iraqis to take over the duties. The efforts have dramatically improved security in the nearly three years that a translator, Ali, has been working in the gulf. The task is dubbed Maritime Security Operations, MSO for short, and entails quashing piracy, stopping the smuggling of people and weapons, protecting fishermen and protecting the platforms, which provide about 85 percent of Iraq’s revenue, at roughly $11,000 per second.

Norcontrol IT Wins Contract to Upgrade VTS for North Sea Draugen Platform

Norcontrol IT has won the contract to upgrade the Vessel Traffic Management and Information System (VTMIS) for the Draugen Offshore Oil Platform in the North Sea. The contract also includes a five-year Long Term System Support Program (LT-SSP). The Draugen Platform is owned and operated by A/S Norske Shell and currently uses a Norcontrol IT VOC 90 system. This system will be replaced with the latest VTMIS 5060, which can be upgraded to communicate with other VTS systems in the North Sea

SembCorp Brazil Wins $149M Offshore Contract

SembCorp Marine Ltd.'s Brazilian joint venture had secured its first contract, worth $149 million, for the fabrication of topside production modules in offshore Brazil. The firm said the contract for Maua Jurong SA, the Brazilian joint-ventue of Jurong Shipyard Pte Ltd, was to build topside fabrication modules for the Barracuda and Caratinga fields in offshore Brazil. It said the contract was awarded by Halliburton Productos Ltda, the Brazilian affiliate of Kellog Brown & Root Inc

Dockwise, Sealift to Merge

Heavy lift transporters Dockwise and Sealift announced that the two companies will merge, whereby the Sealift vessels will be integrated into the Dockwise fleet, and the company will trade under the Dockwise name. 3i, the largest shareholder in Dockwise, and Frontline, the largest shareholder in Sealift, have both approved the merger. Sealift was founded by Frontline to manage and operate six large Suezmax tankers, which are due to be converted into semi-submersible heavy transport vessels

Blue Giant Named in Ceremony

Blue Giant, a ship with participation of the Mexican shipping company, Blue Marine, is capable of providing different products and services specialized for the offshore industry. Built at the shipyards of Lloydwerft, with the investment of Harren & Partner and Combi Lift Shipping, in the , Blue Giant has a large free deck area that allows containing repair and maintenance workshops of equipment from oil platforms

PSV Charter Extension for Viking Supply Ships

Talisman Energy (UK) has extended an existing one-year contract for 'SBS Tempest' a platform supply vessel (PSV) by 6 months SBS Tempest, a platform supply vessel of the VS470 MkII Design, is owned by Viking Supply Ships. The primary function of the vessel is to transport supplies to and from offshore oil platforms. The new charter extension will mean that the vessel will continue to operate from
 Talisman's logistics base in Peterhead, Scotland.

Heavy Lift Vessel Enters Pearl Harbor with SBX

The heavy lift vessel MV Blue Marlin enters Pearl Harbor, Hawaii with the Sea Based X-Band Radar (SBX) aboard after completing a 15,000-mile journey from Corpus Christi, Texas. SBX is a combination of the world’s largest phased array X-band radar carried aboard a mobile, ocean-going semi-submersible oil platform. It will provide the nation with highly advanced ballistic missile detection and will be able to discriminate a hostile warhead from decoys and countermeasures

Arctic Greenpeace Activists Board Drilling Platform

Greenpeace personnel board Russia's Gazprom Prirazlomnaya platform in the Pechora Sea. The activists aim at disrupting the platform’s operation and bring focus on climate change in the Arctic. The activists set off in three inflatable speedboats from the Greenpeace ship "Arctic Sunrise" and scaled the platform via mooring lines. Six climbers have taken up positions on the structure and claim to have interrupted the platform's operations

Ultrapol Appoints New Director at AGM

Utrapol, active in the river, offshore supply & ocean transport business appoint Ojea Quintana to its Board of Directors. Eduardo Ojea Quintana is currently the President of the Board of Directors of Transportadora de Gas del Norte S.A. and a member of the board of directors of several other energy companies in South America. He has served as a member of the Argentine Chamber of Oil Companies, part of the Argentine Institute of Oil and Gas

British Private Navy Warship Held in Spain

An ex-Royal Navy officer’s converted warship has been seized by Spain amid fears he is a mercenary planning to fight pirates in Somalia. Former lieutenant Chris Enmarsh’s decommissioned gunboat Defender has been stopped from sailing since being forced to stop off in Tenerife for repairs. The Spanish authorities are understood to be concerned that Mr Enmarsh and his five-man crew intend to operate as so-called guns-for-hire protecting oil platforms off the coastline of East Africa