Deep Water Site News

C & C Technologies Inc. is pleased to announce that Jill Rivette has joined the Geotechnical Division in Houston TX as a Senior Geotechnical Engineer. Jill is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Texas and brings with her many years of experience in geotechnical engineering. The C & C geotechnical laboratory has been quite active in 2014 performing standard and advanced soil tests on core samples obtained from offshore East Africa, along with several extensive lab testing programs on projects in the Gulf of Mexico. The lab has purchased three new Direct Simple Shear devices to satisfy this increasing demand, which brings its total number of Direct Simple Shear devices to nine.

Hyundai Heavy Industries (Hyundai) has awarded Kvaerner a sub-contract to provide services for inshore and offshore hook-up and commissioning assistance for the topsides for the Aasta Hansteen spar project. The inshore-work will be carried out at Stord and the offshore scope will be done at the field in the Norwegian Sea 300 km west of Bodø. Kvaerner explain that the inshore work will be carried out during the first half of 2016 while the platform is moored at Kvaerner's deep water site in Digernessundet, close to Kvaerner's offshore yard at Stord.

Norway's Kværner ASA say that Technip Norge AS has awarded them a sub-contract for the Fjord Base and Support Services up-ending and preparation for mating operations of the sub-structure for the Aasta Hansteen Spar platform. With a total length of 198 meters, Aasta Hansteen will be the world's largest spar platform, claims Kværner,  and the first of its kind on the Norwegian continental shelf. Statoil has contracted Technip and Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in a consortium to engineer, procure and construct (EPC) the Aasta Hansteen spar substructure.

Designed to Fugro specifications and fitted with the latest survey equipment all three are among the most advanced vessels of their type. The new vessel will have permanently mobilised geophysical and hydrographic survey spreads, and will be able to carry out the full range of site and route survey tasks to obtain the high resolution data necessary for safe, efficient and cost-effective planning, design and engineering activities for offshore projects. When needed, an AUV for deep water site investigations can quickly be mobilised. Fugro Equator is part of the Netherlands' company Fugro global vessel replacement schedule with the objective of removing older tonnage from the fleet and meeting stringent industry safety standards.

Divers from the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources and the U.S. Navy have been working cooperatively over the course of this week to assess the extent of the grounding scar from USS Port Royal (CG 73) and to undertake emergency restoration activities on the impacted reef. Meanwhile, the guided-missile cruiser entered drydock at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Feb. 18 to repair damage sustained when it ran aground the night of Feb. 5 a half-mile off Honolulu Airport's Reef Runway. After three unsuccessful attempts, the Pearl Harbor ship was refloated early Feb.

The Venice Port Complex. The offshore oil and gas industry is no stranger to the southernmost point of Louisiana. For more than a half-century, offshore personnel drove to the community of Venice to board offshore supply vessels or helicopters to make the trip to their jobs atop drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, officials hope to redefine the area’s role in the offshore industry and capitalize on a planned boon in oil and gas drilling and production in the eastern Gulf. The effort consists of a re-branding of the facility and a healthy influx of investment capital for improved infrastructure. Welcome to the Venice Port Complex, much better sounding then the Louisiana Fruit Company site, its previous name relating to the facility’s development and proprietary company.