Collected Oil News

The United States Naval Ship (USNS) Watson is one of the large, medium-speed, roll-on, roll-off (LMSR) ships that have significantly expanded the nation’s sealift capacity. The Watson has a considerable amount of machinery including main engines, generators and cranes that need oil tested on a regular basis to detect potential problems and eliminate the possibility of a catastrophic failure. The test kits used in the past were time-consuming and their accuracy was questionable. The (USNS) Watson is operated by Ocean Shipholdings, Inc. (OSI) under contract to Military Sealift Command.

Global marine supplier Alfa Laval now offers a set of sustainable solutions designed to help ship owners and operators comply with current and pending environmental regulations. Grouped under the conceptual name “Pure thinking”, the products will provide security as existing legislation is tightened, as well as compliance with new laws such as those that will regulate ballast water treatment. While most of the solutions can be retrofitted, incorporating them at the newbuilding stage will contribute to gaining DNV’s Clean Design class notation for the vessel under construction. “Long service at sea has given us a deep understanding of the marine environment and demands on the industry.

Enviro Voraxial Technology, Inc. has received a purchase order to deploy the underwater version of EVTN’s high volume Voraxial 4000 Separator. EVTN envisions its underwater design as the core technology for an advanced generation of skimmer vessels to facilitate the Gulf clean-up effort and to effectively protect the environment from future offshore oil spills. Other technologies that have been deployed in the Gulf followed a similar trial process. The new Underwater Voraxial oil recovery method allows the operator to separate oil from water in the ocean. By conducting the separation in the ocean, the vessels can skim oil for 10 times longer since the amount of water collected in the holding tanks is reduced by 90%.

According to a June 10 report from Reuters, BPwill begin burning up to 10,000 barrels a day of oil from its Gulf of Mexico leak possibly as early as Monday, June 14, a company executive said. The British energy giant is collecting oil spewing from its blown-out seabed well through a containment cap and plans to test a second system to capture more oil over the weekend, Kent Wells, BP's senior vice president of exploration and production, said in a telephone briefing. BP said the cap system atop the well collected 15,800 barrels (660,000 gallons/2.5 million liters) of oil on Wednesday, June 9, a small increase over the 15,010 barrels captured the day before. (Source: Reuters)