Keppel Verolme News

Dutch offshore self-elevating platform and services provider Jack-Up Barge BV believes innovative and cost-efficient solutions are needed now more than ever across the offshore oil and gas and renewables businesses.The current market faces challenges, from the COVID-19 pandemic and low oil prices to wind farms that have spiraled in size from 2-3 MW turbines to 12 MW turbines in just a few years. It’s a constantly changing landscape, and the risk is that if the industry keeps doing things the same way, it’ll get the same results, says Jack-Up Barge.

Damen Maaskant Shipyards Stellendam (DMSS) has announced the departure of Managing Director Frits van Dongen and the appointment of Eric Moerkerk in his place.During a party that was held at Damen Maaskant Shipyards Stellendam (DMSS) to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the yard, Frits van Dongen, who has worked at Damen for the past 40 years, with 25 of those as managing director of DMSS, handed over his responsibilities on the first of October to Eric Moerkerk.Eric was previously at Keppel Verolme, which became part of Damen in September 2016. At that point he moved to DMSS as project manager and ten months later was promoted to deputy director.“Frits has been an enthusiastic ambassador for the fishing industry…

Damen Shiprepair & Conversion (DSC), a part of Damen Shipyards Group, said it has finalized its acquisition of the Keppel Verolme shipyard from Keppel Offshore & Marine. DSC’s acquisition of the yard follows an initial agreement made between the two parties in April of this year. From July 1, the Keppel Verolme shipyard, including its 250 staff members, will continue operations under the Damen flag. The Verolme yard, located in Rotterdam’s Botlek harbor, with three dry docks – the largest of which measures 405 x 90 meters – and almost 2km of quay capacity, will expand DSC’s portfolio.

Damen Shipyards Group said it has entered into an agreement with Keppel Offshore & Marine to acquire the Keppel Verolme shipyard in the Rotterdam Botlek area, in a move that further increases its activities within the regional ship repair and conversion market. Damen said it intends to continue activities in the Botlek area of the Port of Rotterdam with the yard's current employees. The Verolme yard has been active in the Botlek area since 1957 with three graving docks, a quay capacity of over 1,800 meters and approximately 250 employees. With the largest dock measuring 90 x 405 meters, Damen will gain capacity to cater for the largest maritime objects. Currently, Damen’s biggest dock in the Netherlands is located at Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam and measures 46 x 307 meters.

Jack-Up Barge, the offshore self-elevating platform supplier, has pioneered a new cost-effective installation method that the company said will revolutionize offshore wind turbine construction. The Netherlands-based based company, a supplier to the offshore energy markets, successfully completed seatrials at the beginning of March, on a new, first-of-its-kind, portable DP2 system. The new system, integrated to one of Jack-Up Barge’s platforms, enables the vessel to operate between work sites offshore without recourse to a tug vessel.

Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd., through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Keppel FELS and Keppel Verolme, has secured upgrade and repair contracts totaling about S$100million from repeat customers. Keppel FELS in Singapore will be undertaking the upgrade and modification of a semisubmersible (semi) for Ensco while Keppel Verolme will be upgrading a jackup rig for Rowan and repairing a semi for Saipem. Chow Yew Yuen, Chief Operating Officer and CEO-Designate of Keppel O&M said, “Besides newbuidling projects, our yards are constantly kept busy with repairs and upgrades as well.

The offshore market remains buoyant, with exploration and production driving new fleet investment, design innovation in vessel efficiency and reduced environmental impact. Operations in more challenging offshore environments are also demanding enhanced vessel maneuverability, station-keeping and overall safety, in line with tightening regulations. The sector’s opportunities and its cutting edge technology will be on show at Europort 2013, the maritime exhibition taking place at Ahoy Rotterdam November 5-8, 2013, said Raymond Silliakus, Europort Exhibition Manager.

Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd's (Keppel O&M) subsidiaries, Keppel Subic Shipyard, Inc. (Keppel Subic Shipyard) in the Philippines and Keppel Verolme BV (Keppel Verolme) in the Netherlands, have secured contracts totalling S$160 million. Keppel Subic Shipyard has been awarded a contract from Shell Philippines Exploration BV (SPEX) to build a Depletion Compression Platform (DCP) to support the recovery of natural gas from the Malampaya gas field near Palawan Island, in the Philippines. When completed, the DCP will be deployed next to an existing shallow water production platform. The DCP is designed to maintain the current availability and deliverability of natural gas from the Malampaya field through regulating the gas export pressure and flow rates.

It could be argued that running an efficient, safe and profitable ship repair yard is one of the most difficult of all maritime jobs. First and foremost, unpredictability – in terms of planned and actual workload, as well as the very nature of the job themselves – is a recurring theme. Maintaining experienced staff in times good and bad; keeping ahead of evolving regulations, as they pertain to the local environment and the global ship market; and weathering the inevitable influx of cut-rate competition from emerging nations are but a sampling of the issues ship repair managers face every day.

Fairmount Marine’s tug Fairmount Expedition has delivered the semi- submersible drilling rig Scarabeo 6 safely in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for her dry-dock period at shipyard Keppel-Verolme. The 27 year old Scarabeo 6, owned by Italian offshore company Saipem, was towed from offshore Abu Qir, Egypt, towards Rotterdam over a distance of 3,290 miles. The tow was executed by Fairmount Expedition together with tug Normand Neptun at an average speed of 5.7 knots. A bunker stop was made in Algaciras, Spain. For this job Fairmount Expedition was contracted by EDT Offshore Egypt.

Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M) through its subsidiaries, Keppel Singmarine Pte Ltd (Keppel Singmarine) and Keppel Verolme BV (Keppel Verolme), has secured contracts totaling S$150 million from international customers. Keppel Singmarine, the specialised shipbuilding division of Keppel O&M, has entered into contracts for the building of a 91-metre container vessel and three 4000 DWT (deadweight tonnage) bulk ore/fuel carriers for Papua New Guinea customer Ok Tedi Mining Limited (Ok Tedi Mining), while Keppel Verolme, Keppel O&M's comprehensive yard in the Netherlands, is undertaking upgrading activities of a semisubmersible drilling rig, Scarabeo 6, for Italian customer Saipem Misr for Petroleu Services S.A.E. (Saipem).

Keppel FELS Limited (Keppel FELS) is on track to deliver Scarabeo 9, a 6th generation ultra-deepwater semisubmersible drilling rig, to Saipem S.p.A (Saipem) on time and with no lost time incidents. A significant part of Keppel FELS' workscope on Scarabeo 9 involved the completion and commissioning of marine and drilling systems onboard. The rig was named by Lady Sponsor, Mrs Anna Tatka, spouse of Mr Pietro Franco Tali, CEO of Saipem. Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Tali said, "With Keppel's proven track record, we were confident of receiving a rig of the highest quality delivered on time and in a safe manner. The Frigstad D90 semisubmersible rig is equipped with a Dynamic Positioning 3 system and will be capable of operating in water depths of up to 3,600 meters.

On Tuesday 8 March 2011, Huisman, the Dutch-based specialist in lifting, drilling and subsea solutions, successfully completed the load testing of the new build 600mt Pedestal Crane onboard Wind Turbine Installation Vessel “MPI Resolution”. The load test was the final step before the crane was handed over to the clients Centrica Renewable Energy Ltd and MPI Offshore Limited. The crane was constructed, installed, commissioned and tested at the Huisman facility in Schiedam, The Netherlands with the final load test taking place at the Keppel Verolme yard in Rozenburg, The Netherlands.

Keppel Verolme BV (Keppel Verolme) and consortium partner AREVA Energietechnik GmbH, a German subsidiary of French energy company AREVA, have secured an $82.5m contract from Wetfeet Offshore Windenergy GmbH (Wetfeet Offshore) to build a Mobile Offshore Application Barge (MOAB) for a new offshore wind farm in the German Exclusive Economic Zone in the North Sea. This self-erecting floating platform will be deployed at the Global Tech I Wind Farm that is being built and operated by Wetfeet Offshore.

Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), through Keppel Shipyard Limited (Keppel Shipyard) and Keppel Verolme BV (Keppel Verolme), has secured two contracts worth a total of about $165m. The first project, secured by Keppel Shipyard from repeat customer Petrobras Netherlands B.V (PNBV), is for the pre-conversion of P-58, a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel for the Campos Basin. The second project involves the repair and modification of the semisubmersible pipelay vessel, Castoro Sei for Saipem S.p.A (Saipem) by Keppel Verolme.

Further to the announcement on 1 July 2008, Keppel Verolme BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore and Marine Limited, has decided, after evaluating all possible options, to terminate the MPU Heavy Lifter project and commence the scrapping process of the concrete hull. Keppel Verolme has secured the necessary rights and endorsements from third parties to dismantle and dispose of the concrete hull which has no commercial value. This will release the drydock and other valuable resources for Keppel Verolme. Dismantling works on the unit is expected to commence in January 2009 and will be completed in about three months. The matter…

Keppel Offshore & Marine has secured $222.5m dollars worth of contracts through its subsidiaries for the conversion of a floating storage and offloading vessel (FSO), the construction of an internal turret, the refurbishment and outfitting of a semi-submersible multi-service vessel as well as the fabrication, installation and integration of topside process modules for a Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO). The first contract is for the conversion of a FSO by Keppel Shipyard for M3nergy JDA Sdn Bhd.

The original contract signed on February 26, 2004 with Blackford Dolphin Pte Ltd (Owner), a subsidiary of Fred Olsen Energy ASA, for work to be carried on the Blackford Dolphin was $177m. The expected delivery date was in June 2007. On July 20, 2007, an addendum was agreed upon, which took into account changes up to that point in time by the Owner. The contract value was increased to $239.5m with the delivery date revised to February 2008. Since the addendum, there have been further revisions, including changes to the design of the rig, by the Owner. This has resulted in variation orders and a delay in the completion of the rig. While some variation orders were agreed upon and paid for by the Owner, outstanding and unresolved variation orders remain.

Keppel Verolme BV has secured two contracts totaling $109m on the back of an upsurge of offshore activities in the North Sea. Of the two new contracts, one is a repeat order for the outfitting of a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility, Sevan Voyageur, for Sevan Production AS. Work is expected to be completed in the summer of 2008. This is the third cylindrical FPSO facility that Keppel Verolme is carrying for the same owner. The vessel has an oil storage capacity of 300,000 bbls, with an oil process capacity of 30,000 barrels/day and a water injection capacity of 20,000 barrels/day. The world’s first cylindrical FPSO facility, Sevan Piranema, was completed in Keppel Verolme in January 2007.

If the world’s LNG trades evolve in the future as many expect, there will be significantly more work for ship repairers in the Atlantic Basin. There are, for the moment, only a few yards with such experience, including Izar (Spain), Sobrena (France), Keppel Verolme (Rotterdam), Blohm & Voss (Hamburg) and Grand Bahama Shipyard. However, there are reports that studies are under consideration to examine the feasibility of new drydocks and possibly expansion at existing repair facilities to cope with this new business. Recent developments with respect to energy prices are likely to hasten such studies. With crude oil prices rising by nearly 15% over the last month alone…

Royal Caribbean International Ltd. and Kvaerner Masa-Yards Inc. have agreed on a revitalization project, including a midbody lengthening, for the luxury cruise ship M/S Enchantment of the Seas. The project has been developed by Kvaerner Masa-Yards Inc.'s Customer Service Division. The midbody will be built at Kvaerner Masa-Yards in Turku and the lengthening will take place between mid-May and early July 2005 while the cruise ship is being drydocked at the Keppel Verolme Shipyard in Rotterdam. The contract value for Kvaerner Masa-Yards is some €40-45 million.

Keppel Verolme BV, a member of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd. of Singapore has secured an agreement with Solitaire Marine Contractors S.A., a subsidiary of Allseas Group S.A. of Switzerland, for the $26 million conversion of the pipelay vessel (PLV), Solitaire. This contract entrenches Keppel Verolme’s position as the provider of choice for the North Sea and West African markets. Said Mr Tong Chong Heong, Managing Director/COO of Keppel Offshore & Marine, "The North Sea holds Europe's largest oil and natural gas reserves and is one of the world's key non-OPEC producing regions. "This contract for the conversion of Solitaire is testament to Keppel Verolme's position as one of the leading yards for the conversion and upgrade of offshore vessels in the North Sea.

FPSO Umuroa has been delivered to Prosafe Production. Keppel Shipyard Ltd (Keppel Shipyard), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited (Keppel O&M), has been awarded two conversion contracts, worth a total of S$100 million, one by Prosafe Production Pte Ltd, and the other by Shipping Logistics Incorporated for a long term charter to Perenco S.A. The first contract awarded by Prosafe is for the conversion of a 101,832 dwt double-sided tanker, MT Kudam, into a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility. Subic Shipyard & Engineering Inc (SSEI), an associate of Keppel Shipyard, will carry out the first phase of this FPSO conversion.