Aruba News

Esgian reports various drilling contractors disclosing details of discussions with Saudi Aramco regarding jackup contract suspensions in its Week 14 Rig Analytics Market Roundup. These contractors include Shelf Drilling, ADES, Borr Drilling, Arabian Drilling, COSL, and ARO Drilling.Meanwhile, Transocean, Noble, and COSL rigs have firmed up new work in the US Gulf of Mexico, Suriname, and the North Sea, respectively.Report overview:ContractsShelf Drilling has received a notice of suspension of operations on four jackup rigs from a customer in the Middle East.

A bottleneck of vessels waiting to load crude and fuel in Venezuela has increased in recent weeks as state-run oil firm PDVSA struggles to deliver cargoes on time, according to people familiar with the matter, documents and shipping data.PDVSA has sought to ramp up shipments this month, the documents and data showed, following setbacks in January as outages at Venezuela's main port hit its exports. But the increase has been insufficient to ease the congestion.As of Monday, at least 19 supertankers were waiting to load near Venezuela's Jose and Amuay ports…

Trinidad and Tobago has hired two remediation and salvage firms to help clean up an ongoing oil spill off Tobago and salvage the leaking barge, the country's Ministry of Energy said on Tuesday.It has been almost two weeks since the oil spill was first discovered off Tobago's Atlantic coast after a barge ran aground on a reef. The spill has entered the Caribbean Sea, threatening nearby Venezuela and Grenada."An international partnership comprised of T&T Salvage LLC and QT Environmental Inc…

An oil spill that has stained Tobago's coastline in the Caribbean is entering into Grenada's waters and could impact neighboring Venezuela, Tobago's Chief Secretary Farley Augustine told Reuters on Thursday.Eight days after Trinidad and Tobago's Coast Guard first spotted the oil from a capsized vessel whose owner and origin have not been confirmed, portions of the stain have moved about 144 km (89 miles) into the Caribbean Sea at a rate of 14 km per hour, Augustine said."It has now entered Grenada's territorial waters…

At least 18 oil tankers are expected to load oil for export from Venezuela in the coming weeks, according to tracking data and internal documents from state-run PDVSA, in a sign the sanctioned OPEC nation's crude exports may rebound this month.Venezuela's oil exports fell to their lowest levels since the 1940s in October, as some of Petroleos de Venezuela's last remaining clients halted trade with the company ahead of a deadline imposed by the United States.Washington sanctioned PDVSA and its partners last year to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down.But Maduro remains in power, and the potential rebound in oil shipments comes as PDVSA is adapting to a tightening of U.S.

Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA is informing customers about a new hub for doing ship-to-ship transfers for exports in a location away from shore, a shift that could mean higher costs and less supervision, according to three sources.More than two-thirds of Venezuela's oil exports leave from the Jose terminal on the country's eastern coast, a large and heavily supervised facility with two monobuoys for exports and connected through pipelines to several crude upgraders.But with U.S.

U.S. refiner Citgo said the Gerd Knutsen oil tanker, which had been carrying crude claimed by both the company and Venezuelan parent PDVSA, departed Venezuela's Jose Terminal on Thursday and entered international waters on Friday morning.The tanker over the past week discharged its 1 million barrel cargo, worth some $57 million, in Venezuela after being stranded for over a year off the South American country's coast amid fallout over U.S. sanctions on PDVSA, designed to force out socialist President Nicolas Maduro.The tanker discharged after Citgo, now controlled by the Venezuelan opposition, sought an order from a U.S. court seeking to block the tanker from returning its cargo to PDVSA.

International Maritime Organization (IMO) has signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Republic of Chile, to extend Chile's technical assistance to countries in the Caribbean region, in addition to Latin America.According to the UN body, the MoU on Technical Cooperation, signed by the Directorate General of Maritime Territory and Merchant Marine (DIRECTEMAR) of the Republic of Chile, replaces earlier MoUs (signed in 2002 and 2005) and strengthens the collaboration between IMO and DIRECTEMAR for the provision of technical assistance in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region."This will particularly support the provision of experts (including Spanish-speaking experts) to deliver training in Latin America and the Caribbean…

International Maritime Organization (IMO) has conducted a Level 2 Training Course on OPRC (Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation) in St Kitts and Nevis  for oil spill response managers in the wider Caribbean region.Participants from 15 countries attended the IMO-funded event, which is focused on tactical aspects of spill preparedness and response, and applying incident management systems to assist effective coordination of spill response.The countries were Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis…

Venezuelan authorities have closed the maritime border with the Dutch Antilles, a regional navy chief told Reuters on Tuesday, preventing boats and aircraft from arriving from the islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire.Vice Admiral Quintero Martinez did not give a reason for the closure, though Venezuela's opposition have said they plan to bring humanitarian aid into the country from Curacao on Saturday, which President Nicolas Maduro's government has pledged to block.Reporting by Mircely Guanipa

Four new high speed patrol boats manufactured by shipbuilder Metal Shark have entered service with the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard (DCCG) on the island of Aruba.The vessels were commissioned into service with a ceremony on January 23rd at DCCG’s Station Aruba in the district of Savaneta on Aruba’s southeast coast. Among those present were officials from the Aruban government, Dutch Ministry of Defense, DCCG, and Metal Shark, as well as local and regional media outlets.The new…

MarineNews showcases the ten best of North America’s 2018 workboat deliveries. Domestic shipyard production is robust, innovative and getting greener. And, that translates into two kinds of ‘green.’As the domestic offshore energy support sector slowly awakens, other sectors have been happy to take the spotlight in its absence. As always, and if a hull was delivered in 2018, we took a look at it, with several areas as a focus for inclusion into this edition. For my part, I’m always excited when the U.S. boatbuilding sector can deliver for a foreign buyer. We’ve checked that box here. And, that’s because we can compete on price, quality and when we do…

Damen Shiprepair Curaçao (DSCu) commissioned its floating D-dock on November 22, making both of its floating docks operational."Following the mooring of D-dock to her moorings on Friday, November 16th, final tests were carried out and D-dock was submerged onto the equalised seabed, ready for the first visiting vessel the Jara," said a press release from the ship repair yard.It said that the vessel is a Damen ASD Tug 3110 (L 30.82m x W 9.40m x D 4.08m) owned by Citgo Aruba.The commissioning of the D-dock is another historic milestone for DSCu and one that the yard is extremely proud of. Only recently, on the 2nd of November, DSCu commissioned its Panamax C-dock…

Venezuela's crude exports to the United States declined to 494,400 barrels per day (bpd) in July after rising the prior three months, showing the impact of asset seizures against state-run oil firm PDVSA, according to Thomson Reuters data.July was the first month crude exports fell below 500,000 bpd since the months of January through March.U.S. oil producer ConocoPhillips in May began seizing PDVSA's overseas assets in an attempt to collect on a $2 billion arbitration award.

Louisiana-based Metal Shark powers into the second half of 2018 with a healthy backlog, multiple recent deliveries into foreign markets, and a portfolio of patrol craft that has attracted multiple clients – here and abroad. Key patrol boat contracts for this rapidly expanding builder include the U.S. Coast Guard Response Boat – Small (RB-S). Over 300 of these units are service since the award of the contract in 2012 and, says Metal Shark, new units are in production and shipping weekly. Separately, over 50 of the U.S. Navy Force Protection Boat – Medium (FPB-M) have already been delivered and are in service. That contract, too, is still active and boats are shipping regularly. Looking ahead, Metal Shark was awarded a contract in October 2017 to produce up to 50 of the U.S.

U.S. shipbuilder Metal Shark powers into the second half of 2018 with a healthy backlog, multiple recent deliveries into foreign markets, and a portfolio of patrol craft that has attracted multiple clients – here and abroad.At a time when more than a few workboat builders are feeling the pain of lingering offshore malaise and an oversupplied inland market that no longer needs large quantities of barges, Louisiana-based Metal Shark has found its groove in a suddenly active and highly competitive niche market. In fact, by the end of 2018, Metal Shark’s military vessels will be either in service or in production for nearly 50 countries across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Latin America.

Four new high-speed patrol boats commissioned on the island of Curacao are the first to be delivered to the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard (DCCG) under a 12-boat order announced last year.The welded aluminum 38 Defiant monohull patrol boats were designed and manufactured by Louisiana based shipbuilder Metal Shark as the result of a multi-year effort by the DCCG to procure a replacement for its fleet of open-cockpit rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RIB).The new enclosed-pilothouse vessels will serve as the DCCG’s main interceptors, patrolling the territorial waters of Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, St.

Venezuela's state-run PDVSA suspended oil storage and shipping from its Caribbean facilities following a move by ConocoPhillips to temporarily seize the firm's assets on four islands, according to a PDVSA source and Reuters data.PDVSA has begun concentrating most shipping in its main crude terminal of Jose on Venezuela's eastern coast and recalling tankers to Venezuelan waters to avoid seizures that would further cut its exports and worsen an economy on the verge of collapse.U.S.…

The news that Venezuela's PDVSA has diverted a crude tanker from Curacao after ConocoPhillips moves to satisfy a $2 billion arbitration award signals that worst may be yet to come. Reuters is reporting that Venezuela's state-run PDVSA ordered a tanker waiting to discharge at its Curacao terminal to divert to Venezuelan waters after ConocoPhillips introduced an order in a Caribbean court to seize its inventories and other assets in the island, according to a shipper and Reuters data on Tuesday. More than two days after at least two Caribbean courts ordered the temporary retention of inventories and facilities in Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba and St. Eustatius at U.S.

Venezuela's state-run PDVSA ordered a tanker carrying Russian oil that was waiting to discharge at its Curacao terminal to divert to Venezuelan waters after ConocoPhillips introduced an order in a Caribbean court to seize its inventories and other assets in the island, according to a shipper and Reuters data on Tuesday.The Aframax tanker British Cygnet loaded crude at Russia's Primorsk terminal in April. It arrived in Curacao's Bullenbay terminal, operated by PDVSA, on Sunday, two days after at least two Caribbean courts ordered the temporary retention of inventories and facilities in Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba and St. Eustatius at U.S. oil firm Conoco's request to satisfy a $2 billion arbitration award against PDVSA.Reporting by Marianna Parraga

U.S. oil firm ConocoPhillips has moved to take Caribbean assets of Venezuela's state-run PDVSA to enforce a $2 billion arbitration award over a decade-oil nationalization of its projects in the South American country, according to three sources familiar with its actions. The U.S. firm targeted facilities on the islands of Curacao, Bonaire and St. Eustatius that accounted for about a quarter of Venezuela's oil exports last year. The three play key roles in processing, storing and blending PDVSA's oil for export. The company received court attachments freezing assets at least two of the facilities, and could move to sell them, one of the sources said. Conoco's legal maneuvers could further impair PDVSA's declining oil revenue and the country's convulsing economy.

Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. has delivered the Twin Z-drive Reverse Tractor Tug JEFFREY McALLISTER to McAllister Towing and Transportation Co., Inc. on January 13, 2017. McAllister is honoring Captain Jeffrey McAllister as the vessels namesake. Capt. Jeffrey McAllister is a member of the fifth generation working at McAllister Towing. Jeff began his McAllister career in 1973 at the age of 18 when he worked as a deckhand on the fleet’s offshore crew boats. His rise at the company was attained the old-fashioned way by working his way up the hawse pipe. He worked on numerous McAllister tugs stationed everywhere from Aruba, Bonaire and eventually landing in the Port of New York. In 1977 he became a tug captain and in 1986 became a docking pilot.

Further to Hapag-Lloyd's information to their Customer circular issued in 4th March 2016 on the preventive actions of Zika virus for all cargoes entering China, the company has now provided an updated list of origin countries. All shipments from the following countries (indicated below) shall be subject to anti-mosquito treatment. Inbound shipments without proof of anti-mosquito treatment will be fumigated at the port of discharge in China by the authorities without prior notice. It is the Consignee’s responsibility to inform Shipper (at origin) to provide a certificate proof of treatment before loading. Please note that the Carrier is not involved in this procedure and all relevant costs as a result of required measures by the authorities shall be borne by the customer.