Oilrig News

When power protection is evaluated the need to consider arc fault events is often neglected. However, the risk is at a high price when it takes so little to be safe. Most people tend to think that their switchboard will be sufficiently protected by e.g. overcurrent and a short-circuit relay. While this may be true for low voltage switchboard with small current, traditional circuit protection will not be sufficient for medium and high voltage switchboards, which harness larger amounts of energy. The same applies to transformer stations, wind turbines, and diesel electric propulsion systems.

Jimmie Martin of Galliano, La. said his firm is still working on three platforms that were damaged by Katrina in 2005. Martins firm, B&J Martin Inc., operates crew and supply boats in the Gulf of Mexico, but their signature work is their site clearance operation. The US Mineral Management Services (MMS) mandated in 1990 that all abandoned well sites and platforms had to be cleaned in such a way that a commercial shrimp trawler could work the bottom without damaging their nets.

Tidewater began with the 1955 launch of the Ebb Tide, the first purpose-built boats to serve the Gulf of Mexico offshore oil industry. With over 400 vessels currently serving the oil industry worldwide the company is now the largest offshore support vessel operator in the world. The fleet has been built by acquiring competitors but also by an extensive and systematic new construction program. Currently the latest generation of platform supply vessels have completed the design phase.

The Industrial Canal in New Orleans is aptly named. Connecting a tributary of Mississippi River with Lake Pontchartrain, it is much like a boulevard of broken dreams. Remnants of old shipyards, coffee-roasting facilities operating at half capacity and areas where the oil boom flourished and died dot the banks of the canal. Trinity Yachts, that has suddenly become the 800 lb. Gorilla of the megayacht business. Trinity Yachts was once a part Friede Goldman Halter Company, that corporate experiment that proved you couldn't put an oilrig builder and a boat builder together and get a company that meshes together. Trinity Yachts and was one of the first pieces of the company to be sold off.

A.P. Moller has placed an order for four product tankers with Guongzhou Shipyard International in Hong Kong. Including options, the contract brings the number of new product tankers ordered by A.P. Moeller up to 16. Three vessels in this series had already been delivered and put into traffic. The four new 34,999 dwt product tankers to be built by Guongzhou will have a capacity volume of 39,900 cu. m each and are to be delivered in 2001. A.P. Moller also confirmed an earlier reported order for a new jack-up oilrig. The rig, to be built by South Korean Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, would be the biggest of its kind in the world. The 25,700-ton oilrig with capacity to drill in water depths of up to 150 m will be delivered in summer 2002. The order was reported to be worth $300 million.

South Korean shipbuilders are profiting more than ever from selling high-value units such as offshore plants and liquid gas carriers, according to a Korea Times report. Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering has already won a record-high $7 billion in building orders this year. Such high performance was largely affected by the sales of four offshore oilrig units, which amounted to $1.9 billion in total. The company also has recorded steady sales of LNG carriers, capped with a $430-million order for a pair of LNG carriers from a Norwegian company last month. The LNG ship has become a lucrative business for shipbuilders, as a 145,000-cubic-meter carrier is now being sold for around $270 million, according to the report.

According to reports, South Korean shipbuilders are profiting more from selling high-value units such as offshore plants and liquid gas carriers than ever. Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, already has won a record-high $7 billion in building orders this year, which exceeds last year's record of $6.6 billion. Such high performance was largely affected by the sales of four offshore oilrig units, which amounted to $1.9 billion in total. The company also has recorded steady sales of LNG carriers, capped with a $430-million order for a pair of LNG carriers from a Norwegian company last month. Hyundai Heavy Industry is benefiting from oil prices and an increase in the demand for gas energy.