Auger News

A U.S. Coast Guard investigation into a fatal lifeboat drill accident has resulted in 10 safety and eight administrative recommendations, the agency announced.In July 2019, two people were killed and another was injured while testing lifeboats at Shell's Auger tension leg platform (TLP) in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico, about 210 miles southwest of New Orleans. The incident occurred during a routine abandon ship drill and involved the inadvertent release of the lifeboat as…

Plans to convert the nearly 100-year-old Port of Fort Pierce into a full-service repair and refit facility for the global fleet of megayachts cleared a significant hurdle, Derecktor Shipyards announced.After 11 months of review, the engineering and plans for Derecktor Ft. Pierce’s new haul-out basin have been officially approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, paving way for construction to commence once the City of Fort Pierce Building Department gives its final approval.“Securing a permit from the U.S.

Rear Adm. John Nadeau, who recently took command of the Eighth Coast Guard District in New Orleans, convened a formal investigation last week for the incident that occurred onboard the offshore production facility Auger, June 30, 2019.Crewmembers aboard the Auger were testing the facility’s lifeboat recovery system when a malfunction occurred resulting in the loss of two lives. The Auger is located 210 miles southwest of New Orleans and is responsible for the production of oil.“The Coast Guard is committed to finding the facts that led to this tragedy,” said Nadeau.

The ideal solution for the tightening regulatory noose also brings a different (and welcome) shade of ‘green’ for workboat operators.As the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA ramps up enforcement of regulations that mandate that all vessels over 24 meters (78 feet) operating in US waters must switch over to EALs in all oil-to-sea interfaces before their next drydocking, it is an arguably good time to be in the lubricants business. At the same time, Thordon Bearings, a manufacturer of seawater lubricated bearings for the marine industry has its own thoughts on that very topic. Specifically, Craig Carter, Thordon Bearings’ Director of Marketing and Customer Service, asks, “What is the point in shipowners investing in costly bio-lubricants when seawater is widely available and 100% free?

Three offshore oil workers filed a lawsuit against units of Royal Dutch Shell and Enbridge, seeking $1 million in damages for injuries they allegedly received during a Nov. 8 fire on a U.S. Gulf of Mexico production platform. The suit, filed in Galveston County court in Texas on Dec. 5, claims safety lapses on Shell's Enchilada platform caused severe injuries to the three. The complaint seeks more than $1 million in damages from Shell International Exploration and Production, Shell Offshore…

Heerema Marine Contractors said its semi-submersible crane vessel Hermod will retire at the end of this year after nearly 40 years of operational performance. Designed and constructed in the 1970s, Hermod and sister vessel Balder were the first semi-submersible crane vessels of their kind in the offshore construction industry. The semi-submersible concept was developed with the aim to extend the operability in the harsh North Sea environment and furthermore to deliver superior lifting capacity.

Ellicott Dredge Technologies (EDT) has introduced its new Mud Cat MC-275D as the flagship auger dredge to lead its Mud Cat product line. The modernized Mud Cat MC-275D is a modular system that offers unique cutting, pumping, and propulsion features at an affordable price, the manufacturer said. “We designed a dredge system that can work in both hard and soft materials, dredge abrasive material and harvest vegetation, operate at 25 ft. (7.6 m) depth with positive down force, work…

Ellicott Dredge Technologies (EDT) informed that the City of Boise, Idaho chose it to design a Mud Cat 40E Custom (MC-40EC) dredge for the city's innovative Dixie Drain Phosphorous Offset Project. Boise will use the MC-40EC dredge to remove phosphorous from the Boise Watershed. Boise selected the MC-40EC due to Mud Cat’s global reputation for quality and their proven ability to deliver custom features. The custom features include the overall length of the dredge, the slurry pump flow and pressure, a fully protected auger system, and an auger calibrated to specific digging depths for the project. In addition to its custom features, the MC-40EC boasts several other unique systems.

The ouster of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has further weakened a Japanese bid for one of the world's most lucrative defence contracts, a A$50 billion ($36 billion) programme to build stealth submarines for Australia, sources say. Australia got its fifth prime minister in as many years on Monday after the ruling Liberal Party voted to replace Abbott with former investment banker Malcolm Turnbull, following months of infighting and crumbling voter support. Abbott and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who ended a decades-old ban on weapons exports last year, enjoyed a close relationship that saw Japan emerge as the early front runner to replace Australia's aging Collins class subs.

1806  - Spring pole cable drilling developed in US. 1844  - Fluid circulating rotary well drilling patented in England. 1845  - Circulated fluid used to remove drill cuttings for first time. 1860  - Fluid circulation rotary diamond coring drill developed in France. 1869 – T homas Fitch Rowland  patents  a “submarine drilling apparatus,” a fixed, working platform for drilling offshore to a depth of almost 50 feet. The anchored tower had telescoping legs, similar to modern offshore platforms. 1878  - First bulk oil tanker begins operation in the Caspian Sea. 1891  - First ocean-going tanker launched. 1897  - Wells drilled off piers in Summerland, Calif. 1905 – Oil discovered in the Caddo Pine Island field in Lousiana. 1911  -  Gulf Refining Co.

Ellicott Dredge Enterprises announced two personnel changes to its senior management team. Gert de Vries has joined as Senior Director of Engineering, in which capacity he will be supporting the engineering departments of all of Ellicott's brands, principally Ellicott and Rohr-Idreco. He will also be mentoring the company’s engineering teams. Additionally, Rob Schettle has been promoted to General Manager at Ellicott's subsidiary Liquid Waste Technology. He will now be responsible for running Ellicott’s plant in New Richmond, Wisconsin.

After two years of development, Ellicott Dredges announced the startup of two new dredging simulators, one for cutter dredges and one for auger dredges. Both are available for immediate use. These simulators are the most modern dredge simulator systems in North America, and will be used in conjunction with Ellicott's existing dredge training program. Auger dredge training is available at Ellicott’s Wisconsin, U.S. factory. The simulators are equipped with three large panoramic screens to replicate the actual view from the operator’s control room…

InterMoor, an Acteon company, has won a contract for design, fabrication and installation of 12 suction pile anchors, preset installation of 12 chain/polyester/chain mooring lines and hook-up of the LLOG Delta House production semi-submersible (the Floating Production System “FPS”). The work will be conducted in the Mississippi Canyon 254 block of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The project will involve suction pile design, fabrication and installation, followed by preset mooring installation and pre-set mooring hook-up of the FPS. The 12 piles will be 85 ft. long and 16 ft.

Asia/Med peak season started badly as cargo growth from Asia to the Mediterranean was poor in June, which is an ominous sign for the rest of this year’s peak season. Containerized exports from Asia to the Mediterranean rose by only 1% between May and June, up to 415,000,000 teu, which does not auger well for the rest of the peak season. As the market is partly driven by tourism, much has to be in place before the end of August. The Eastern and Western Mediterranean regions were as poor as each other.

Nearly two decades after setting a world water-depth record for drilling and production, Shell’s Auger tension-leg platform is still playing a central and innovative role in the company’s deep water Gulf of Mexico portfolio – currently producing some 55,000 barrels oil equivalent (boe) per day (Shell share ~30,000 boe per day), and acting in the future as the host platform for the Cardamom subsea development. The Cardamom discovery well also set records three years ago, for subsurface length and depth. With the latest seismic and drilling technologies, the Cardamom development is expected to deliver new production from the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico to existing infrastructure.

Technip wins a lump sum contract for development of subsea infrastructure for the Cardamom field located in the Gulf of Mexico, Garden Banks block 427. The field is at a water depth of approximately 830 meters, and the project consists of a subsea tie-back to the Auger tension leg platform, wholly owned by Shell Offshore Inc. The contract covers the project management, engineering, fabrication and installation of the East and West Loop 12.8 kilometer pipe-in-pipe flowlines with associated PLETs and steel catenary risers. Technip's operating center in Houston, Texas will perform the overall project management. The flowlines and risers will be welded at Technip’s spoolbase in Mobile, Alabama.

ROHR, an Ellicott Dredge Enterprises, LLC Unit, Acquires IDRECO Sand and Gravel Dredge Design & Manufacturing Operation. Ellicott Dredge Enterprises (EDE) is pleased to announce that its subsidiary Rohr International Dredge Holdings, Inc. acquired the principle business assets of IDRECO GmbH , including its current backlog, inventory and all associated intellectual property (IPR), on June 29, 2012. IDRECO, which is based in Heerenberg, the Netherlands, approximately 100 km from Amsterdam…

Shell announced a multi-billion dollar investment to develop its major Cardamom oil and gas field in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). The Cardamom project is expected to produce 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) a day at peak production and more than 140 million boe over its lifetime.“Technological advances in seismic imaging and drilling have allowed us to both discover and access this new field,” said Marvin Odum, Shell Upstream Americas Director. “This is another sizeable deep-water investment by Shell that strengthens energy supplies to the USA. "Our exploration plan for Cardamom (Shell interest 100%) was the first to receive approval since the lifting of the US government moratorium on drilling in the GoM.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) Director Michael R. Bromwich announced that the bureau has approved an Exploration Plan, submitted by Shell Offshore Inc., following the completion of a site-specific Environmental Assessment (SEA) for deepwater oil and gas exploration. This is the first new deepwater exploration plan approved since the Deepwater Horizon explosion and resulting oil spill. An exploration plan describes all exploration activities planned by the operator for a specific lease or leases, including the timing of these activities, information concerning drilling vessels, the location of each planned well, and other relevant information that needs to meet important safety standards.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) announced that public comment is invited with respect to the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the first Exploration Plan (EP) for deepwater activity in the Gulf of Mexico completed in accordance with new safety and environmental standards implemented since the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. The plan, a Supplemental EP submitted by Shell Offshore Inc., includes three proposed exploratory wells in approximately 2,950 feet water depth, 130 miles offshore Louisiana. Consistent with federal regulations, an EP is deemed “submitted” once all supporting materials and documentation has been provided. Once a plan is deemed submitted, BOEMRE has 30 calendar days to analyze and evaluate it.

Changes in the management of ABS activities in Asia and the Middle East have been announced by the class society. Veteran Middle East District Manager Joseph Brincat has been promoted to Vice President for the entire Middle East region, including Egypt and Libya, and Pakistan. Brincat replaces Stephen Auger who has been transferred to Busan, Korea as Vice President for the North Pacific region within the Pacific Division of ABS that includes Korea, Japan and the Philippines. Concurrently, the ABS Middle East regional administrative office will relocate from Doha, Qatar to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Responsibility for the society’s activities in Qatar will be handled by Martin Hruska who has been promoted to the position of Country Manager, stationed in Doha effective 1 September.

Effective 1 July, ABS will introduce new senior management in its Europe and Pacific divisions. At that time, William J. Sember, currently President and COO, ABS Europe Ltd, based in London, will return to Houston as Vice President Global Marketing, responsible for further developing client relations in all sectors. Todd Grove, President and COO of the Pacific Division of ABS will move from Singapore to London, assuming the position of President and COO, ABS Europe Ltd. “Europe remains the center of our shipowner client activity,” said ABS Chairman and CEO Robert D. Somerville. Grove has previously served as President of the Americas Division of ABS and, prior to that, as Vice President Western Europe, based in London.

In 2008 Ellicott Dredge Enterprises and its product units Ellicott Dredges, Mud Cat, IMS dredges, and Liquid Waste Technology (LWT) sold close to 100 dredges in over 20 countries. The company introduced new dredge products with more underway. The company's new plant in Wisconsin near Minneapolis is in full production. Egypt: Sale via a Bechtel affiliate of two LWT remote-controlled dredges to maintain power plant intake cooling water access channels at two power plants, Nubaria and El Tebbin. The Nubaria sale is itself a follow-on order.