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Energy Operations News

08 Feb 2024

DNV Updates ‘Go-To Standard’ for Offshore Energy Operations

© Zacharias / Adobe Stock

DNV has published a substantial revision to the ‘go-to standard’, DNV-ST-N001, for the design and planning of marine operations for the transport, installation and removal of offshore wind farms, subsea cables and oil and gas assets.The new major changes reflect the changing nature of the offshore industry in line with its support of the energy transition, ensuring that the standard remains relevant and supports the development of cost-effective marine operations during a fast-evolving energy transition.DNV…

23 Oct 2023

US Gulf Coast Oil Patch Gets Lucky, So Far, in Busy Hurricane Season

© Michael Rolands / Adobe Stock

A very active Atlantic hurricane season so far this year has not sent storms across U.S. oil and natural gas fields in the northern Gulf of Mexico, sparing energy companies billions of dollars of losses and consumers higher fuel costs.The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season has been another in a string with above average activity producing three major hurricanes with winds above 111 mph (179 kph) out of six hurricanes among 20 named tropical storms.So far this year, only one storm, Tropical Storm Harold, on Aug.

10 Oct 2022

MMA Offshore to Support Beach Energy Operations in Bass Strait, Australia

Australian offshore vessel owner MMA Offshore has secured a vessel contract with the oil and gas company Beach Energy.The MMA Coral will provide vessel support to Beach Energy’s two production platforms located in the Bass Strait, offshore Australia. The vessel will also provide subsea inspection and survey services and will support planned drilling operations.Starting in late November 2022, the contract is for a firm period of one year with an additional one-year option. The vessel will also be marketed to the broader region for ad hoc work scopes in addition to Beach Energy’s operations…

15 Sep 2022

Inland Waterways Report: Columbia-Snake River System

(Photo: Tidewater Transportation and Terminals)

It’s amazing to consider that a commercial vessel in the Pacific Ocean, approaching the mouth of the Columbia River, can continue its eastward journey to finally tie up at the Port of Lewiston, in Lewiston, Idaho, America’s most inland West Coast port, 465 miles from the Pacific Ocean.The Columbia and Snake Rivers form that critical east-west waterway, an economic powerhouse regionally, nationally and internationally. According to the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (PNWA)…

25 Jan 2022

Removing Idle Emissions: Maersk Launches Offshore Vessel-charging Firm Stillstrom

Credit:Maersk Supply Service

Maersk Supply Service, an offshore supply vessel branch of A.P. Moller-Maersk, is launching its offshore vessel-charging venture, Stillstrom, to support the decarbonization of the maritime industry by eliminating idle emissions.Together with the offshore wind giant Ørsted, Stillstrom plans to demonstrate the world’s first full-scale offshore charging station for vessels at an offshore wind farm, scheduled for installation later this year. "Maersk Supply Service’s pioneering new company will deliver offshore electric charging solutions to vessels at ports…

13 Jan 2022

Partners Group to Buy UK-based Offshore Vessel Firm North Star

Credit: North Star Renewables

Partners Group, a global private markets firm, has agreed, on behalf of its clients, to buy North Star, a UK-based operator of emergency response and rescue vessels, which has recently also dived into the offshore wind sector with several orders made for essential offshore wind maintenance services vessels, from Basalt Infrastructure Partners for an undisclosed price.Aberdeen-based North Star has a fleet of 48 Emergency Response and Rescue Vessels (ERRVs) and Service Operation Vessels (SOVs) and around 1,400 employees.

15 Dec 2021

Catastrophic Engine Damage Led to OSV Fire -NTSB

Ocean Intervention underway before the accident (Photo: Oceaneering International / NTSB)

Catastrophic engine damage led to the fire aboard the U.S. -flagged offshore supply vessel Ocean Intervention near Honolulu, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said.No pollution or injuries to the 16 crewmembers were reported in connection with the mechanical failure, which resulted in a fire in the engine room on December 19, 2020. The crew isolated the fire before it could spread throughout the vessel.The Ocean Intervention, a 243-foot-long, steel-hulled vessel, was built in 1998 and operated by Oceaneering International, Inc.

31 Mar 2021

US Jobs from US Offshore Energy: A Goal 44 Years in the Making

© flyingrussian / Adobe Stock

I have a good friend named John Guste. He and his wife grew up in the same neighborhood as my wife, they all went to college together, and now our kids are friends. As a doctor, I’m sure he has little concern with the messy, yet mundane, intricacies of offshore energy and maritime policy. You can imagine my surprise then when one night while I was reading the Congressional Record from 1977—I’m a blast at parties—to see John’s grandfather testifying before the U.S. House of Representative’s Ad Hoc Select Committee on Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) issues.Mr.

09 Feb 2021

Crowley, Watco Team Up to Support Growing U.S. Offshore Wind Industry

Credit: Crowley

Two U.S.-based maritime & offshore services and logistics companies Crowley and Watco, are teaming up in the space of the emerging offshore wind industry in the country.In a statement on Tuesday, the two firms said they'd create a single-source terminal and supply chain management solution to support the emerging offshore wind industry."With the growing number of wind projects planned for U.S. waters, the partnership brings together industry-leading project management and logistics experts who can provide a “one-stop-shop” for owners…

06 Oct 2020

Port Everglades Appoints Charlton as Operations Director

Ricardo Charlton (Photo: Port Everglades)

Broward County’s Port Everglades has appointed Ricardo D. Charlton, BSME, FSO, as its new Director of Operations.Port Everglades is a self-supporting enterprise fund of Broward County, Fla., generating more than $170 million in revenues in fiscal year 2019 (October 1, 2018 – September 1, 2019) and is ranked among the nation’s leading container ports and a world leader in the cruise industry.As Director of Operations, Charlton will oversee a workforce of 95 encompassing the Division’s Harbormaster Office…

11 Oct 2018

Hurricane Michael Races Northeast, Leaving Devastation in Florida

The latest storm track for Michael. (CREDIT NHC)

Hurricane Michael, the third most powerful storm ever to strike the U.S. mainland, headed northeast on Thursday, weakened but still set to soak Georgia and the Carolinas after devastating the Florida Panhandle.By 6 AM on Thursday, heavy rain and wind had reached as far north as Charlotte, North Carolina and the Western North Carolina mountains. The center of the storm was located over Augusta, Georgia, moving north rapidly at more than 20 MPH in a north / northeast heading. Charlotte…

05 Apr 2018

Damen Shipping Multiple Pontoons to Rotterdam

Photo: Damen Shipping

The SAL Heavy Lift vessel MV Lone loaded onboard a newly built batch of eleven Damen flat top Pontoons in Shanghai. MV Lone is bringing the pontoons to the Netherlands. The majority of the pontoons will be available quickly to Damen’s clients from stock. Two of the pontoons have been sold already to a client in the Netherlands. The pontoons have diverse applications in civil construction projects, fish farms, heavy lift, dredging and renewable energy operations amongst other things.

13 Mar 2018

BSEE Launches Risk-Based Inspection Program

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) this week announced the implementation of a new Risk-Based Inspection Program that employs a systematic framework to identify facilities and operations that exhibit a high-risk profile. The risk-based inspections supplement BSEE’s existing National Safety Inspection Program. The OCS Lands Act authorizes BSEE to conduct annual scheduled inspections and periodic unannounced inspections of all oil and gas operations. The new risk-based inspection protocol looks beyond compliance and assesses the integrity of critical safety systems on facilities and operations, those that have had multiple incidents of noncompliance or events and may need more attention.

22 Jan 2018

Group Ocean Orders Two Damen Workboats

Multi Cat 1205 (Image: Damen)

Dutch based Damen Shipyards Group said it has signed a contract with Canada’s Group Ocean for the delivery of two new workboats that will provide dredging support services at an oil sands project in northern Canada. The new vessels, both Modular Multi Cats 1205, are made of standard, container-sized units that enable easy transport. The versatile Multi Cat workboat used in many sectors for operations such as towing and anchor-handling, dive support, marine engineering, offshore energy operations and for dredging and dredging support.

10 Oct 2017

Corpus Christi: Energy Port of the Americas

(Image Courtesy Port of Corpus Christi)

The Port of Corpus Christi lives up to its moniker ‘Energy Port of the Americas,’ as the movement of energy in and out dominates the port’s history and future. John P. LaRue, Executive Director, Port Corpus Christi recently visited Maritime Reporter’s headquarters in New York to discuss the nearly $50 billion in investment projects driving the port forward. “Let’s just start with what we are and what we are not,” said LaRue. “We are not a container port. Up until a few years ago we were an oil import port (serving) three refineries: Citgo, Valero and Flint Hills Resources.

18 Jan 2017

Maersk CEO: Listing of Energy Unit Most Likely

A. P. Moller-Maersk's Chief Executive Soren Skou sees a listing of the company's energy unit as the more likely option, he said in an interview with Bloomberg.   He said that the company was still working on finding solutions for the energy unit and is looking at all options but that a stock exchange listing of the unit is probably "the more likely option".   Skou replied "yes" when asked if a stock market listing looked as if it would make the most sense at the moment.   Maersk, the world's biggest container shipper, said in September it would give itself two years to consider options for its energy operations in the form of "joint ventures, mergers or listing".   Reporting by Teis Jensen

13 Dec 2016

Maersk: Hamburg Süd Deal Will Compensate Energy Spin-Off Effects

Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk expects the revenue generated through the recently acquired container carrier Hamburg Süd to compensate for around 60% of revenue loss after the spin-off of the company’s Energy division is completed, Sorens Skou, CEO of Maersk, was quoted by Reuters as saying. Maersk announced a major restructuring in September in which the family-owned group plans to focus on transport and logistics and separate its energy operations. The energy division, which includes exploration and production, tankers and drilling, made up a quarter of Maersk's revenue last year, around $9.8 billion. In comparison, Hamburg Süd had revenue of around $6 billion, Maersk said in a presentation at its capital markets day on Tuesday.

28 Sep 2016

Container Shippers Raided in S.Africa over Suspected Collusion

File photo: Maersk Line

Six of the world's biggest container shipping companies were raided by South African authorities on Wednesday on suspicion of colluding to inflate rates between Asia and South Africa, the country's Competition Commission said. The development comes as global container lines struggle in the worst-ever market conditions, caused by a glut of ships and slowing global trade, which has battered earnings and forced at least one out of business. The six companies raided comprise local subsidiaries of Denmark's Maersk…

24 Feb 2016

Caterpillar: Further Division Consolidation

Tom Frake, vice president with responsibility for the Marine & Petroleum Power Division, will soon lead the Electric Power, Marine and O&G Division. (Photo: Caterpillar)

Caterpillar Inc. will combine two divisions dealing with power and energy, adding more detail to a restructuring announced last year, and plans to complete this by June 2016, the company said on Wednesday. Caterpillar announced a number of personnel and consolidations, as the company plows forward in an increasingly challenging energy market. Steve Niehaus, currently vice president with responsibility for the Electric Power Division (EPD), is retiring, and in the wake of Niehaus’ retirement…

09 Jul 2015

US Forecaster sees El Nino Likely into N. Hemisphere Spring

A U.S. government weather forecaster on Thursday warned that much-watched El Nino conditions are likely to last another nine months, potentially roiling global crops and commodities prices. The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center projected a more than 90 percent chance that El Nino would continue through this winter and an 80 percent likelihood it would last into the Northern Hemisphere's early spring. Global forecasters have been heightening calls for a stronger and longer El Nino. Last month, the CPC extended its forecast, saying El Nino was likely to last through the winter. Across the contiguous United States, the effects of El Nino are likely to remain minimal through the summer and increase into the late fall and winter, the CPC said on Thursday.

26 May 2015

Harnessing Offshore Wind Peaks in U.S.

For the US energy industry, 2014 will be remembered as the year when crude oil prices fell below 50$/bbl, resulting in significant realignments in the sector. Aside from the oil price collapse and the historic high of domestic natural gas production, several other energy records were set last year. Both solar and wind energy production reached an all-time high in the US, contributing to a record 9.8% of total primary energy supply. The US is ranked the second largest producer of wind energy. With more than 65 GW installed capacity in 39 states, wind energy represented over 4% of national power generation in 2014. Annual installations peaked in 2012 when some 13 GW of new capacity came online.

17 Jun 2014

Ithaca Energy Operations Update Ahead of Shareholders Meet

Ithaca Energy Provided its operations update ahead of today’s Shareholders Meeting. The details are as follows. The third development well on the Stella field, well 30/06a-B1X (“B1”), has been successfully drilled to a total measured depth subsea of 16,185 feet. A 2,147 foot gross horizontal reservoir section was drilled in the Palaeocene Andrew sandstone reservoir, within the targeted oil rim. The well intersected high quality sands across a net reservoir interval of 2,034 feet, equating to 95% net pay. This compares to 1,312 feet and 2,514 feet in Stella wells A1 and A2, respectively. Operations are currently on-going to run the well completion assembly, following which a clean-up flow test will be performed.

19 Feb 2014

New Baton Rouge Deepwater Dock: Genesis to Invest US$150-Million

Image courtesy of Port BR

Genesis Energy, L.P. announce plans to invest approximately US$150-million to construct a new crude oil, intermediates and refined products import / export terminal in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (the Baton Rouge Terminal). The Baton Rouge Terminal will be located on approximately 90 acres of land near the Port of Greater Baton Rouge (the Port) and will be connected to the Port’s existing deepwater docks on the Mississippi River. The docks are capable of berthing vessels ranging from barges to Aframax class vessels.