Oil Base News

Norway's Kongsberg Maritime on Tuesday showcased a new line of offshore ship designs in its UT Design portfolio. The new anchor handler (AHT) and platform supply vessels (PSV) have the option to include alternative energy sources and fuels, such as methanol, ammonia, and hybrid-battery power.The AHT and PSV designs have received Approval in Principle from class society DNV to operate with ammonia-fuelled engines and they can incorporate an offshore charging capable plug-in hybrid option…

Shell Marine has introduced a new two-stroke engine cylinder oil specifically for use with engines running on 0.5% sulphur content very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) ahead of the IMO sulphur cap 2020.With a Base Number of 40, Shell Alexia 40 has been developed to optimise equipment performance and condition as ship owners and charterers prepare for the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) 0.50% global sulphur limit for marine fuels in 2020.Shell Marine expects most of the world’s shipping fleet will aim to comply with IMO 2020 by switching to fuels with a sulphur content of 0.5% and below.“Shell Marine can help ship owners and charterers be prepared as the world moves to a low emissions future.

Schlumberger today launched the Quanta Geo* photorealistic reservoir geology service at the Offshore Northern Seas Annual Conference and Exhibition. The new service includes the industry’s first microresistivity imager that produces oriented, photorealistic, core-like images of the formation in wells drilled with oil-base mud (OBM). Interpretation of the images identifies geological features and predicts reservoir trends in 3D with a high degree of certainty. “Geological imaging in wells drilled with OBM has long been recognized by operators as a major technical challenge, particularly in deepwater,” said Hinda Gharbi, president, Wireline, Schlumberger.

The platform supply vessel World Diamond was delivered by Damen Shipyards, Galati, on June 28, 2013, to World Wide Supply. The PSV was built to a completely new and distinctive design from Damen, and World Diamond is the first of six PSVs for the Norwegian owner. The vessel is capable of worldwide operations and its construction involved close cooperation with Damen Shipyards Gorinchem, The Netherlands, which provided engineering and main equipment. The PSV 3300 represents a new era in Damen’s offshore supply vessel story…

Barents Oberver reports that the recently discovered oil spill now threatens marine life and sea birds in the White Sea, the unique Arctic waters in Russia’s northwest. The magnitude of the spill remains unknown, but environmentalists fear for the worst. Last year’s spill, which took place at the same time of year, polluted more than 210,000 square meters of waters and 400 square meters of the coastline. While the Belomorsk Oil Base in 2011 put out oil booms, it is not able to do so this year because the bay is not yet ice-free,say WWF Russia. According to Aleksey Smirnov, chairman of the Murmansk regional Committee on Environment and Nature Management, the oil leakages to the sea come from the numerous of spill which over the years have run into the adjacent land.