Oil And Gas Infrastructure News

Mexico's state energy company Pemex said on Saturday that a fire broke out at one of its platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, adding that it had activated emergency protocols and contained it but that nine workers were injured in the accident.Pemex said in a statement that two of the workers were its own employees and seven were from other companies, adding that none were severely injured.The fire broke out late afternoon in a part of the Akal B platform where gas pipelines are located.Videos…

Shell is suing Greenpeace for $2.1 million in damages after the environmental group's activists boarded the company's oil production vessel in transit at sea this year, according to Greenpeace and a document seen by Reuters.The British oil and gas major filed the claim in London's High Court. Greenpeace activists boarded the vessel in January near the Canary Islands off the Atlantic coast of northern Africa to protest oil drilling and traveled on it as far as Norway.In an email to Reuters…

Independent finance and capital structuring partner RCP Finance has successfully secured a $15 million credit facility from a leading Asian lender for The Hawks Pvt Ltd., a distributor of high-quality fuel in the Maldives.The Hawks caters to a range of local businesses including resort hotels, super yachts and navy vessels, with a total portfolio of more than 452 clients.Part of the credit facility has been used to facilitate the acquisition of the Bro Developer, a 2007 oil and chemical tanker with a carrying capacity of 15,000dwt.

The 2023 Maritime Risk Symposium (MRS) will be held Nov. 14-16, 2023, as an in-person event, hosted by Maritime College, State University of New York (SUNY) at the Maritime Academic Center. The theme of the 14th annual event is “Managing Impacts of Supply Chain Disruptors, Renewable Energy, Emerging Technology on the Maritime Transportation System (MTS)” with a focus on offshore infrastructure risk and disruptors. Founded in 1874, Maritime College is the oldest maritime college in the United States, providing mariner training for 150 years.

The heads of NATO and the European Commission flew on Friday to a North Sea platform bigger than the Eiffel Tower in a visit underlining Norway's importance for gas supplies since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.The Troll A platform extracts gas from Norway's biggest gas field. After a drop in Russian flows, the Nordic country last year became the largest gas supplier to the EU.NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will discuss the protection of infrastructure and gas supplies to Europe with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere…

Norwegian police on Thursday responded to a threat made by telephone against the Nyhamna gas processing plant, one of Europe's largest energy export facilities, and later said the incident had been resolved. The threat came amid heightened concerns about the security of oil and gas infrastructure following suspected sabotage of Russia's Nord Stream gas pipelines to Europe, though plant operator Gassco and offshore producers Shell and Equinor said output had not been interrupted.

Norway has deployed a specialist vessel to inspect a subsea gas pipeline to Germany because of safety concerns after suspected sabotage last month on two Nord Stream pipelines between Russia and Germany, according to sources and data.Norway, Europe's largest gas supplier, last week put its energy sector on high alert, deploying its navy and air force to patrol offshore facilities and placing soldiers at onshore gas processing plants after the Sept. 26 Nord Stream blasts.The Havila Subsea, an oil service vessel equipped with remotely operated subsea vehicles, was deployed on Oct. 5 to survey the Europipe II pipeline that runs from the Kaarstoe gas plant in Norway to Dornum in Germany, Refinitiv vessel-tracking data shows.

Norway's military said on Monday it had posted soldiers to help guard major onshore oil and gas processing plants, part of a wider effort to boost security amid suspicion that sabotage caused leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipelines last week.Russia's Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines burst on Sept. 26, draining gas into the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark and Sweden. Seismologists registered explosions in the area, and police in several countries have launched investigations.Norway…

Italy's Saipem on Wednesday confirmed its 2022 guidance and the targets in its business plan after the energy services group reported a first-half adjusted core profit of 321 million euros ($325 million).Investors this month agreed to fund only 1.4 billion euros of a life-saving 2 billion euro cash call, leaving the underwriting banks to mop up the remaining new shares.

The Biden administration on Wednesday said it had identified 700,000 acres for possible offshore wind energy development in the Gulf of Mexico, seeking to expand a growing clean energy industry to a major U.S. oil and gas hub.It also said President Joe Biden would direct his Interior Department to move ahead with offshore wind development in areas of the Atlantic coast where former President Donald Trump banned oil and gas development."Today we open up yet another coast and frontier in expanding offshore wind…

After being very much on the margins of the offshore wind industry, floating offshore wind now appears to be ready to hit the mainstream. With gigawatt scale developments already on the horizon, what will the infrastructure needed to build and support them look like? Over the past 12 months, the floating offshore wind sector appears to have had a major dose of adrenaline. While the largest development, to date, is the relatively small-scale 50MW Kincardine project off northeast Scotland (which will be outdone by the 88MW Tampen project in Norway later next year [2022])…

The Biden administration on Tuesday said it will explore the potential of offshore wind energy development in the Gulf of Mexico, part of its goal to supercharge growth in clean energy over the next decade."This is an important first step to see what role the Gulf may play in this exciting frontier,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.While the Gulf of Mexico is a major hub for offshore oil and gas production, it has had little renewable energy development. President Joe Biden has made the expansion of clean energy…

Pioneering Spirit, one of the world's largest vessels, reached Lerwick Harbour on Friday, August 28, carrying aboard the 14,200 tonne Ninian Northern Platform topside.Prior to the arrival in Lerwick, the giant catamaran had removed the Ninian Northern topsides in a single-lift from a jacket standing in 140 m water depth, at the Ninian oilfield around 100 miles (88 nautical miles) north-east of Shetland.Delivery of the Ninian Northern platform topside marked the inauguration of a new…

A group comprising five offshore energy industry associations has called for the UK Government to exempt all offshore energy sector workers from the 14-day quarantine restrictions introduced on June 8.The group that calls itself the global Offshore Industry Group, comprises  International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC), International Association of Geophysical Contractors (IAGC), International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA), International Association of Oil…

Increased integration between offshore wind and other marine renewables and offshore oil and gas production can help deliver the UK’s net zero target through technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), said a study.According to a new report from the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), titled ‘UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) Energy Integration: Interim Findings’, innovative partnering between oil and gas, renewables, hydrogen and carbon capture can accelerate energy transition.The report discusses the first phase of the UKCS Energy Integration project which is led by the OGA, working with BEIS, The Crown Estate and Ofgem, considering options to help feed into a new strategic vision of the UKCS as an integrated energy basin.

Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft said that its subsidiary Gazpromneft-Badra has now produced 13.5 million tonnes — or 100 million barrels — of oil in Iraqi oil field.Cumulative production at the Badra field in the five years since this asset went into commercial operation has reached 100 million barrels — the first shipment of liquid hydrocarbons having taken place in 2014. Oil production at the field stands at more than 1.8 million tonnes (13.5 million barrels) since the start of 2019.Twenty-two operating wells, each running to an average depth of 4,500 meters, have been drilled by Gazpromneft-Badra since discovering this asset. The…

Data sharing and better understanding of how marine life interacts with manmade structures is the target for the next phase of the Insite program.What to do with offshore structures is a sticky problem for oil companies, regulators and policy makers alike, as many structures are starting to cease production in the North Sea, where some fields have been producing oil and gas since the early 1970s.Regulations, which include the OSPAR (Oslo Paris convention) state that a clear seabed should be left behind, once production has ceased, with some exceptions (platforms over a certain age and weight).

The rating company Moody's Japan K.K. has downgraded  Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd.'s (MOL) corporate family rating to Ba2 from Ba1. The rating outlook is stable."We expect MOL's debt will not decline materially over the next few years and its leverage will likely remain above our downgrade guidance of 7.0x for a Ba1 rating," says Motoki Yanase, a Moody's Vice President and Senior Credit Officer.Moody's sees only a limited possibility for MOL to materially reduce its debt during the next several years, given the expectation that the company will continue to borrow to invest in its growth segments, such as offshore oil and gas infrastructure and LNG carriers.Moody's expects a marginal improvement in profitability measured by EBIT margin over the next few years…

A new global oil and gas decommissioning consortium launched today sets out to bring a collaborative supply chain approach, offering an end-to-end solution to reduce the decommissioning burden, risk and cost for operators.The consortium, which includes Lloyd’s Register (LR), WorleyParsons and Ardent, brings together 350 years of collective experience to reduce the interfaces, costs and risks of decommissioning for the oil and gas industry.The consortium includes experts to cover all aspects of decommissioning…

BMT has announced that the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Australia’s national transport safety investigator, has purchased a licence for its industry leading navigation and maneuvring simulator, REMBRANDT. This follows on from other recent adopters including the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch and the Dutch Safety Board. Phil Thompson, Managing Director at BMT comments: “We are seeing growing momentum and awareness within statutory bodies worldwide in the value of digital evidence generation.

Bulk of attacks occurred off Nigeria. Armed attacks on ships in West African waters nearly doubled in 2016, with pirates increasingly focused on kidnapping their crew for ransom off Nigeria's coast, a report said on Tuesday. A recent spate of attacks off Somalia, meanwhile, may also indicate a resurgence of piracy in East Africa as a result of less vigilance, the Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP) project said. OBP, a project of the privately funded One Earth Future Foundation that encourages cooperation across the international maritime community to tackle piracy, recorded 95 attacks in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea in 2016, up from 54 the previous year.

BMT Ship & Coastal Dynamics (BMT)  announced a new contract with the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB). BMT has installed its marine navigation and maneuvering simulator, Rembrandt and will provide ongoing specialized training, to allow MAIB personnel to benefit from its unique attributes. Richard North, Technical Manager at MAIB said “Rembrandt is a well-regarded and trusted solution, widely used by a broad spectrum of stakeholders including pilot organizations…

Wintershall has taken over the operatorship of the subsea oil and gas field Vega from Statoil, Wintershall announced today. Vega is the BASF subsidiary’s first operated subsea tie-in field in Norway. With this transfer, Germany-based Wintershall now operates two production fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, Brage and Vega. The takeover of the Vega operatorship is part of a transaction with Statoil that was completed in December 2014. Winteshall is currently producing more than 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in Norway.