Offshore Energy Projects News

When asked about the top issues facing shipbuilders, executives at the Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA) listed a number of topics and concerns. SCA is the only national trade association representing U.S. shipyards engaged in the building and repairing of military and other government and commercial vessels, and companies providing goods and services to the shipbuilding industry.Shutdowns have consequencesMatthew Paxton and Paula Zorensky are, respectively, SCA President and Vice President. Their top federal concern at the end of September? A U.S.

Belgian offshore installation firm Deme Offshore and Dutch company Barge Master, which specializes in offshore motion compensation systems, have partnered up to further develop a U.S. Jones Act-compliant feeder solution for the upcoming offshore wind projects in the U.S.Last year, DEME Offshore was selected by wind farm developer Vineyard Vind to provide the offshore transport and installation of 62 GE Haliade offshore wind turbines for the Vineyard Wind 1 project, the first large-scale offshore wind installation in the United States.

An American offshore services trade group is accusing Swiss-headquartered Geoquip Marine of violating the Jones Act, a U.S. law requiring seaborne cargo shipped between two U.S. points to be carried by American-built, -crewed and -owned vessels.A report published by the Offshore Marine Service Association (OMSA) alleges that Geoquip Marine's Geoquip Saentis—a Chinese-built, foreign-crewed and Bahamian-flagged vessel—transported subsoil samples from points on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to U.S. ports for testing in support of an offshore wind project."U.S. wind power should mean U.S.

Dutch marine services company Boskalis said it has acquired the Southern Ocean, a large DP2 construction support vessel (CSV) capable of executing a wide range of offshore operations.The 134-meter vessel, which was previously jointly owned by Oceanteam and Bourbon, was recently hired by Boskalis for a two month job in Asia starting in February.It will now be renamed Boka Ocean and deployed on various types of offshore energy projects, such as the installation of array and export cables…

What are the implications of the conflict in Cabo Delgado for maritime security in East Africa and the Mozambique Channel?Following the recent attacks on the coastal town of Palma in March-April by Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jamamah (ASWJ) insurgents in Mozambique’s troubled Cabo Delgado region, it is pertinent to assess the future trajectory of the conflict in the commercial maritime domain and the challenges it may pose to trade within the region. During the battle for Mocimboa da Praia…

In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare coined the phrase “salad days” to mean a youthful time filled with unbridled enthusiasm and idealism. Indeed, youth, much like salad, is often raw, flavorful and most of all… green. Therefore, it is fitting to think of our present time as the salad days of offshore energy in the United States. Let’s dig in.Executive Order appetizersOn January 27, President Biden took early steps to implement his campaign promise to transition the United States away from fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy…

Dublin-based Irish Commercial Charter Boats (ICCB) has ordered a bespoke 12-meter landing craft to support a wave of offshore energy projects on the horizon. The Chartwell Marine-designed vessel will be built at the Arklow Marine shipyard starting this month for schedule delivery in summer 2021.With a number of large-scale energy projects coming to Irish waters, the aluminum vessel has been developed to meet ICCB’s expanding operational requirements, including surveying, assisting with cable landing and transporting supplies and personnel to near-shore offshore installations.

In today’s energy industry, things are moving fast. The upheaval brought about by COVID-19 and exacerbated by the Russia-Saudi Arabia oil price war has been so profound that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has described the situation as “a once in a century event for energy demand”. This is supported by current IEA predictions which suggest a 6% drop in global energy demand in 2020 – seven times worse than the plunge in demand that followed the 2008 recession.Amid what the IEA has dubbed a “dismal” year for fossil fuels…

US authorities have abandoned plans to tighten Jones Act coastal shipping rules – and it’s all thanks to the coordinated efforts of international government administrations, US energy firms and shipping bodies, in which the UK Chamber played its part. A statement from UK Chamber of Shipping said that America’s Customs and Border Protection (US CBP) on January 18 announced a plan to revoke past US CBP rulings that allow non-US flagged offshore vessels to carry out specialised services in specific circumstances for US offshore energy projects. Under the Jones Act, vessels carrying cargo between American ports must be US-built, owned by US citizens and crewed by US seafarers.

PAO Sovcomflot, Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. (ABB) Company and the Admiral Nevelskoy Maritime State University (MSU) have signed an agreement for research, technological and educational partnership. The document provides for the establishment of the Marine Propulsion Simulation Centre at MSU in Vladivostok. The operations of this centre which will be focused on preparing staff for work on vessels equipped with Azipod propulsion units. The agreement was signed by Sergey Frank, President and CEO of Sovcomflot, Sergey Ogay, Rector of MSU, and Anatoly Popov, Managing Director of ABB in Russia. As part of this agreement, ABB will provide MSU with the equipment designed to simulate the operation of Azipod vessel electric power and propulsion units and provide further assistance with its installation…

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) is being rocked by estimated trillions of won (billions of U.S. dollars) of accounting fraud amid the ongoing restructuring process for Daewoo as well as other two shipbuilders, says a report in Xinhua. The former CEO of DSME Koh Jae-ho (61), who headed the troubled company from 2012 to 2015, has been grilled by prosecutors on suspicions of a massive accounting fraud. The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s special investigation team interrogated Ko Jae-ho for around 20 hours until 5 a.m. Tuesday over allegations that he ordered a window dressing settlement worth some five-point-four trillion won, or about four-point-seven billion U.S. dollars. Koh has been accused of ordering a 5.4 trillion-won (4.7 billion U.S.

Hyundai Heavy Industries  has temporarily shut one of its two factories making offshore oil rigs -  Onsan plant in South Korea - due to downturn in the global oil and gas industry. The closure Onsan underscores the dire state of the country’s big shipbuilders as dearth of orders as the crude price rout forces international oil companies to cut spending. “Our ongoing projects will complete in March. From then we do not have a further order to work on, and the operation will stop until we get a new one,” a company spokesman told local media. But Korean Times quotes a HHI spokesman saying: "The plant will complete its last order in late March, and then it has no more orders to work on ... So, we decided to utilize the facility for other purposes.

Van Oord has signed a two year contract with Falck Safety Services for the provision of safety training.   Van Oord, a contractor for dredging, marine engineering and offshore energy projects, including oil, gas and wind, said it has invested in a trainee program for its employees for many years.   The new contract will see Falck provide Van Oord with the majority of necessary safety training. Alongside safety training for the offshore, maritime and wind industries, Falck also offers occupational health and safety training (Falck BHV) in the Netherlands.

Marlink has been selected to provide Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) services for the fleet of the international dredging and offshore contractor Van Oord. The contract is expected to include 30 vessels being supported by Marlink’s customized VSAT services by the end of 2015. Marlink’s VSAT services have provided voice and data connectivity services for three Van Oord vessels as from June 2013. The company is headquartered in Rotterdam and is a contractor for dredging, marine engineering and offshore energy projects.

Van Oord’s new DP2 cable-laying vessel, Nexus, was officially launched at Damen Shipyards Galati on June 30. The 123 m multipurpose vessel will be deployed installing electricity cables for offshore wind farms. The international contractor for dredging, marine engineering and offshore energy projects has made the investment in this vessel to pursue its strategy to offer Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts to offshore wind farm developers. With a beam of 28 m and a dynamic positioning system (DP2)…

OAO Sovcomflot opens its Saint-Petersburg captain & senior officer training & engineering centre (TEC) for Arctic offshore operations. The opening of the modern training centre in Russia’s maritime capital marks an important milestone in the implementation of the SCF development strategy which provides for an expansion of company participation in oil & gas projects in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. Sovcomflot vessels provide year-round support for large offshore energy projects, such as: Sakhalin-I, Sakhalin-II, Varandey, Tangguh, Escobar, and Peregrino.

GAC has marked ten years in Russia with an announcement of plans to develop enhanced marine services to support offshore energy projects in Russian waters. The company opened its first office in the key Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in 2001 to attend to tankers at the newly opened CPC-R terminal, later extending its ship agency services to Sheskharis oil terminal and the dry cargo port of Novorossiysk. Offices in Moscow, St Petersburg, Murmansk and Taman followed. Today, the company employs 35 personnel and has attended to more than 2000 port calls.

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) Director Michael R. Bromwich delivered remarks June 22 at the 5th annual World National Oil Companies Congress in London. The World National Oil Companies Congress brings together senior executives from national oil companies and government leaders from around the world to discuss global energy issues. Director Bromwich is attending this year's meeting to further the bureau’s efforts to expand bilateral and multilateral cooperation with regulatory counterparts around the globe, especially in light of the recommendations of the National Commission on the Deepwater…

While offshore drillers, service and product suppliers received a bit of good news when U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman's ruled yesterday to remove the Obama Administration’s six-month moratorium on offshore drilling, questions regarding how quickly operations will return to normal are still up in the air, as according to the Wall Street Journal the administration vows to fight the decision. "Judge Feldman recognized the potential for the ban to cause significant economic harm to our country and the Gulf Coast…

Offshore Marine Service Association (OMSA) President/CEO Ken Wells testified before the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on June 17, with regard to foreign vessels operating in the economic zone exclusive to American vessels. Testifying on the activities of  foreign vessels that carry cargo and do construction work at offshore energy projects in the Gulf of Mexico, “our government enforcement agencies lack the tools to adequately track them or even hold them to compliance,” Wells said. OMSA members operate U.S. flag vessels and have made a commitment to comply with the laws of the United States on safety, environmental protection and security, and to pay American-level wages and American taxes.

The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) strongly supports the responsible development of all offshore energy sources and applauds the announcement by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar of the establishment of both the Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium and the new Atlantic Offshore Renewable Energy Office in Virginia. “All forms of energy are important to our economic and energy security,” said NOIA President Randall Luthi. The NOIA membership includes Cape Wind, which on April 28, 2010 received the first ever DOI approval for an offshore wind farm. Other NOIA member companies include those who are positioned to provide essential services to future offshore energy projects.

PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd., Canada's No. 2 oil company, could soon be on track to develop an East Coast offshore gas project to rival the huge Sable Island project, its chief executive said. PanCanadian, the oil and gas arm of conglomerate Canadian Pacific Ltd., plans to drill two appraisal wells this year near its recent Deep Panuke gas discoveries, made at the site of the exhausted Copan oil project off Nova Scotia. The wells will give the company the geological data it needs to decide whether to pursue more drilling or full development, PanCanadian CEO David Tuer said. Two recent wells drilled into the gas formation beneath the old oil reservoir tested at more than 50 million cubic feet a day each.

Friede Goldman Halter Inc., which provides support for the offshore oil industry, announced it has agreed to sell its vessel repair unit to Bollinger Shipyards Inc. for $80 million. The all-cash deal with the Lockport, La.-based company, which is expected to be completed in July 2000, is structured as an asset sale and is subject to certain regulatory conditions. "We undertook to evaluate the strategic fit of each of our business lines," said J. L. Holloway, company chairman and CEO. "We determined that the vessel repair business did not fit our primary and long-term focus on large-scale offshore energy projects, highly complex commercial and government shipbuilding, and engineered products.