Floating Production Facility News

Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrobras has bought its first cargo of Guyanese crude for refining domestically, the company told Reuters, as South America's newest producer expands its market reach.With the start of a second floating production facility in February, Guyana now sells two light and sweet oil grades with plans to pump up to 360,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year. The sales are helping the tiny nation rapidly boost its revenue."Petrobras constantly monitors the international oil market looking for different suppliers and new production worldwide," a company spokesperson said in a statement.The 1-million-barrel cargo of crude loaded last week from the Liza Destiny and departed on Monday onboard the Bahamas-flagged tanker Cascade Spirit.

BP’s latest floating production facility, ARGOS, has been successfully moored in the US Gulf of Mexico. The mooring tensioning system includes Bardex Corporation Chain Jacks used to haul in and tighten 12 lines of 171mm R4S top chain. Bardex mooring chain jacks were the first to be used for deep water floating production units since the early 1990s.

Singapore's Sembcorp Marine said Thursday it had completed the construction of the Vito floating production facility, bound for deployment in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico for Shell.The integration of Vito’s topside structure with its hull was executed by a pair of goliath cranes with 30,000-tonne combined lifting capacity and 100-meter hook height in Tuas Boulevard Yard in Singapore. "The yard’s ability to perform this type of mega-block lifting enabled the Vito topsides and living quarters to be fabricated and assembled at ground level to minimize work-at-height risks…

Northern Offshore announces it has sold its semisubmersible Energy Driller to an unnamed party for conversion to alternative use. The unit had previously been cold stacked at a shipyard in Bahrain following completion of a term drilling contract in India. Northern Offshore previously sold the drillship Energy Searcher in late 2016. Chairman and (Interim) CEO Dr. Northern Offshore is a global offshore drilling company historically operating in the North Sea, West Africa, South Asia, Near East and Southeast Asia. The company's fleet consists of one floating production facility, one new high specification jackup rig and five high specification jackup rigs under construction.

The Buchan Alpha oil production vessel has arrived safely in Lerwick, Shetland for disposal. A semi-submersible moored floating production vessel, weighing 12,000 tonnes, Buchan Alpha was built in 1973 as a drilling rig and converted for production purposes in Stornoway between 1978-80. The vessel commenced production in 1981 from the Buchan field, located in blocks 21/1A and 20/5A, and has subsequently also produced the nearby Hannay field. Production ceased, as planned, on 12 May 2017 having produced around 148mm barrels of oil. The contract for disposal was internationally tendered and awarded to Veolia working with their strategic partner in decommissioning, Peterson, who have a proven safety and environmental track record in the decommissioning of oil and gas assets.

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s ocean class tugboats and 455-series high-deck strength barges recently played an integral role in the tow-out and installation of Hess’ Stampede tension-leg platform (TLP) in the deep waters of the U.S. Gulf. Demonstrating both nearshore and offshore capabilities, six Crowley vessels worked together alongside other third-party assets to deliver the oversized, overweight platform, tendons and other equipment from the Kiewit facility in Ingleside, Texas, to the site of the Stampede floating production facility, about 150 miles offshore in 3,400 feet of water.

BHP Billiton has announced that the Board has approved expenditure of US$2.2 billion for its share of the development of the Mad Dog Phase 2 project in the Gulf of Mexico. BHP Billiton holds a 23.9 per cent participating interest in the Mad Dog field. BP, the operator, holds a 60.5 per cent participating interest, and Union Oil Company of California, an affiliate of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., holds the remaining 15.6 per cent participating interest. During the fourth quarter of 2016, BP sanctioned the Mad Dog Phase 2 project. Mad Dog Phase 2, located in the Green Canyon area in the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico, is a southern and southwestern extension of the existing Mad Dog field.

Ithaca Energy Inc. reports that the "FPF-1" floating production facility has completed the required inclination test as planned and departed the Remontowa shipyard in Gdansk, Poland. The vessel has been moved to a deep water location offshore Gdansk to undertake final marine system trials over the course of next week. Upon completion of these trials, the FPF-1 will commence the tow to the Stella field. A further update will be provided once towing operations have commenced.

Providing an update on the status of the on-going Greater Stella Area (“GSA”) development programme Ithaca Energy informed that the floating production facility (FPF-1) modifications programme undertaken by Petrofac in the Remontowa shipyard in Poland is in the final stages of completion, with only a limited number of commissioning activities requiring close out prior to sail-away. Commissioning operations on the FPF-1 have continued to progress well over recent weeks and are now materially complete. The operations team have been living on the vessel since May, the marine works have been finished and the engineering teams are in the process of closing out handover of the various processing and utilities systems to the operations team.

The need for mooring integrity monitoring has of late come back under the spotlight, not least because the use of floating production systems in the offshore oil and gas industry has been predicted to grow at a significant rate between now and 2017 with a peak in the number of new builds expected to occur in 2016/2017. Recently, an updated industry guideline on mooring integrity has been issued by Oil & Gas UK with the support of operators, contractors and vendors. The guideline…

Chevron Corporation announced today that the Hess Corporation-operated Tubular Bells deepwater project, located in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, has started crude oil and natural gas production. The field is located 135 miles (217 km) southeast of New Orleans, in approximately 4,300 feet (1,310 m) of water in the Mississippi Canyon area. The discovery well was drilled in 2003, and project construction began in October 2011. Tubular Bells is expected to deliver total production of approximately 50,000 barrels of oil-equivalent per day producing from three wells. "The deepwater Gulf of Mexico plays a significant part in our earnings and production growth.

Out at sea, look! It’s a ship! It’s a floating rig! It’s SuperFLNG! While not “faster than a speeding bullet,” Shell’s shipzilla Prelude is certainly more powerful than a speeding locomotive, and will be able to leapfrog in size, many of the world’s tallest buildings. By any definition, the super-size Prelude floating liquid natural gas (FLNG) vessel is gargantuan. And yet it is designed to cram everything you’ll find in a full-size, shore-based processing plant into roughly a quarter of the space.

Crowley Maritime Corp. inform that its ocean class tugs have successfully delivered oversized, overweight equipment – comprised of topsides, tendons, piles and more – that are now part of a massive semi-submersible floating production facility located in the U.S. Gulf, approximately 280 miles south of New Orleans, La. Working alongside the tugs were Crowley’s 455 series high-deck-strength barges, which carried much of the equipment as it was towed offshore. Utilizing the Crowley tugs’ dynamic positioning capabilities, the facility, known as Jack/St.

Northern Offshore subsidiary, Northern Offshore International Drilling Company says it has executed a long-term drilling contract with an affiliate of CAMAC Energy Inc. for its drillship 'Energy Searcher'. The contract commits to an initial period of one year, with an option to extend the contact for an additional one-year term. Commencement of drilling activities on the Oyo Field offshore Nigeria is expected during the first half of 2014. The contract value for the first one-year term is just under US$100 million, plus mobilization fees.

ABB recently entered a partnership with international energy company Statoil to develop power solutions for subsea oil and gas production. A key challenge they identify is to develop reliable long-distance power transmission technology and to build components that can function for several decades at depths of up to 3,000 meters. The subsea industry has gained worldwide importance as oil companies strive for increased recovery and venture towards remote and deep waters in the hunt for new oil and gas fields.

On the heels of the recent delivery of Olympus, the largest tension-leg platform ever to be developed for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Crowley has once again shown support for the domestic petroleum industry by providing ocean towing and positioning support services for the Lucius spar in the Gulf of Mexico for Anadarko Petroleum. Three of Crowley’s ocean class tugs, Ocean Wind, Ocean Wave and Ocean Sun, towed the 605-foot long, 110-foot wide spar from Corpus Christi, Texas, through the Ingleside Channel and out to Keathley Canyon Block 875 some 300 miles offshore.

Northern Offshore, Ltd. subsidiaries have executed contracts for the construction of two LeTourneau Super 116E Class jackup drilling rigs, with a priced option for the construction of two additional rigs of the same design. Northern Offshore say that the yard contract price is less than US$180 million, with favorable tail-end-heavy payment terms. Delivery of the rigs is expected during the first and third quarters of 2016, respectively. Construction will be carried out by an experienced and well qualified [un-named] Chinese shipyard. Gary W. Casswell, president and chief executive officer of Northern Offshore said, "This is a turning point for our company…

2H Offshore Inc., an Acteon company, awarded a Steel Catenary Riser (SCR) detailed design project with LLOG Exploration Company. The scope of work includes the provision of detailed design of the production and export SCRs tied back to the Exmar OPTI-11000 semi-submersible for the Delta House field development. LLOG is currently developing the Marmalard and SOB2 fields in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico which will both be tied back to the Delta House Floating Production Facility located in MC Block 254 in approximately 4,500 feet of water.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar visited three offshore drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico July 28, where he received updates on the improved inspection process and additional safety requirements for blowout preventers and well construction. “We are quickly and thoughtfully implementing safety reforms for offshore energy operations to ensure workers, communities, and the environment are protected as the nation develops its energy supplies,” said Salazar. “Today, we saw production activities and shallow water drilling operations that are implementing the new standards as they continue their operations. The Secretary was accompanied by Deputy Secretary David Hayes, Director of Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) Michael R.

Technip was awarded a lump sum contract by Anadarko Petroleum Corporation for the engineering, construction and transport of a 23,000 ton truss Spar hull for their Lucius project in approximately 7,100 feet (2,165 meters) of water depth in the US Gulf of Mexico, with first oil being scheduled in 2014. Lucius will be the seventh Spar Technip has delivered to Anadarko.The Lucius truss Spar floating production facility will have a nameplate capacity of 80,000 barrels of  oil per day and 450 million cu. ft. of natural gas per day. Technip’s operating center in Houston, Texas, will provide the overall project management. The detailed hull design and fabrication will be carried out by Technip’s yard in Pori, Finland.

Statoil’s operations in North America got another boost when operator Anadarko Petroleum and co-owners Shell and Chevron today announced the beginning of first oil production from the Caesar Tonga deep-water project in the Gulf of Mexico. Caesar Tonga, in which Statoil Gulf of Mexico LLC has a 23.55 percent  working interest, began flowing high-quality oil on March 7. Production from the project’s first three wells is expected to ramp up to approximately 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day.

Northern Offshore, Ltd. semi-submersibles Energy Driller and drillship Energy Searcher have commenced operations off Vietnam coast. The Energy Searcher went on dayrate under the contract with the Joint Operating Company Vietgazprom, a joint venture between Petrovietnam and Gazprom, ("VGP") for their drilling program offshore Vietnam on April 6, 2012. The duration is for a four-well program expected to last approximately 100 days per well. The estimated contract value is approximately US$72 million.

Norway's Northern Offshore, Ltd announce that the last two wells of a 4-well program will not be drilled at the present time. The Joint Operating Company Vietgazprom, a joint venture between Petrovietnam and Gazprom, ("VGP") has given notice that the last two wells will not be drilled at present. The second and final well under the current contract is expected to be completed by late September 2012. However, the Company and VGP are currently in discussion to formally suspend the contract to allow for the drilling of the two remaining wells during 2013…