BW Offshore Cuts Dividend
BW Offshore cut its dividend on Monday, blaming lower spending by customers due to a fall in crude prices as well as a deadly accident in Brazil last week. The company, which also met fourth-quarter earnings forecasts, said it planned a dividend of 2 U.S. cents a share for October-December, one cent less than in recent quarters and below expectations for 3 cents in a Reuters poll of analysts. On Feb 11, an explosion on one of BW's oil production vessels offshore Brazil killed five employees, while four are still missing. "The cut in dividend is because of the drop in oil price, increased uncertainty and on the backdrop of recent events," Chief Financial Officer Knut Saethre said during the company's earnings presentation in Oslo.
Northwind Marine Boats in S/E Asia Offshore
A pair of Northwind Marine’s rough-water diesel-powered A/RIB vessels are operating in the tumultuous seas off the and , servicing floating oil production vessels as far as 60 miles from any beach. They are naval architect designed 36-foot Tow Master Vessel Support Boats—aluminum/rigid-hull, inflatable work boats featuring air-foam collars. Singapore-based Rubicon Offshore International, Ltd took delivery of the two 36-foot, diesel-powered A/RIBS this summer and put them into use in Southeast Asian oil fields. The boats feature increased buoyancy to operate in rough seas offshore.
DNV Joins Forces With IFS Norway
IFS Norway and Det Norske Veritas (DNV) have agreed to combine their maritime know how and technology to develop an IT solution for the international maritime market. The solution will become the first of its kind on the global market and is initially focues on ensuring stable and safe operations of oil production vessels offshore- Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSOs). DNV Software and Industrial & Financial Systems Norway ASA (IFS) will present a prototype at a conference in Spain in one month. The software solution combines DNV’s solutions for design and strength assessment of FPSOs with the ERP business applications suite, IFS Applications. The solution will cover all phases in the life cycle of a floating oil production vessel, i.e.
