Oil Production Installations News

As part of the company's new vessel build program, Crowley Maritime Corp. christened the latest of its four tugboats in the ocean class series, Ocean Sun, today in Lake Charles. The ceremony served to formally welcome the fourth dynamic positioning 2 (DP2) tugboat to the company’s expanded ocean towing fleet, which has been involved in most of the major offshore oil production installations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico over the past 18 months. Todd Busch, senior vice president and general manager of Crowley’s solutions group, opened the ceremony to approximately 80 guests.

Crowley Maritime Corp. said that the third of four tugboats in the Ocean-class series, Ocean Sky, has been christened in Houston. The ceremony served to formally welcome the third dynamic positioning (DP) tugboat to the company’s expanded ocean towing fleet, which has been involved in most of the major offshore oil production installations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico over the past 16 months. Todd Busch, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crowley’s solutions group, opened the ceremony to approximately 140 guests. Following an introduction of the tug’s crew members and a blessing of the vessel by Father Sinclair Oubre, Jennifer Legg, Crowley’s assistant treasurer and vessel sponsor, broke the ceremonial bottle of champagne across the hull of the boat.

Offshore energy, whether oil, gas or wind, faces a tightening regime of restrictions. In Germany, for example, the German Federal Bureau of Maritime Traffic and Hydrography (BSH) recently updated its standards for offshore wind energy units, offshore converter and inverter stations, and subsea high-power transfer cables. But regardless of the unclear political environment, the offshore industry continues to expand, a fact reflected in the order books of shipyards. Some recent achievements include: The Norwegian Fjellstrand shipyard in Oma completed the construction of "Siem Moxie", a so-called "Infield Support Vessel". Maersk ordered a new cable-laying vessel from the Dutch Damen shipbuilding group. The ship will be a "Damen Offshore Carrier DOC 8500" type.

Gazprom Neft is preparing for the construction of another two ice-protected oil platforms designed for the icy waters of the Pechora Sea, placed only few kilometers from the now well-known rig “Prirazlomnaya”, reports Barents Observer. These oil production installations are intended for the Dolginskoye field in the Pechora Sea, which is located in 40 meter depths about 100 km north of the Nenets AO coast, with resources estimated to be up to 235 million tons, reports the Barents Observer, citing Aleksandr Korobkov, head of GazpromNeft-Sakhalin.

Havyard Ship Technology has been contracted to convert the offshore construction vessel (OCV) 'Havila Phoenix' for underwater cable laying and trenching operations. Havila Phoenix is a Havyard 858 design, delivered from Havyard’s shipyard in Leirvik as a construction vessel in 2009. Since then the vessel has had different charterers and executed several different operations in connection with subsea oil production installations. For a new charter, the vessel needs to be lengthened with 17,4 m to accommodate the new equipment, and close to 700 tons of new steel will be installed.