Prospector News

Esgian reports on new contracts for Borr Drilling and Shelf Drilling (North Sea) jackups in its Week 15 Rig Analytics Market Roundup. Additionally, Energean has selected a drillship for its upcoming drilling campaign offshore Morocco. South America remains vital to the floating rig market, with ExxonMobil moving ahead on a sixth development on the prolific Stabroek block offshore Guyana and Petrobras reporting a new discovery in Brazil's Potiguar Basin.Report Outline:ContractsBorr Drilling has announced new contract commitments for three of its premium jackup rigs…

Vroon Offshore Services (VOS) Aberdeen has secured contracts with Total E&P UK Ltd. for three emergency response and rescue vessels (ERRV) in the U.K. North Sea.The vessels VOS Enterprise, VOS Prospector, and VOS Vigilant will support Total’s North Sea operations in the Dunbar, Culzean, and Elgin/Franklin fields, respectively."The contracts, which will commence in June and July, are for an initial period of three years," Vroon said Friday, July 17, meaning that some of these contracts have already started.

Norwegian offshore supply vessel (OSV) operator DOF has won work for two anchor-handling tug supply (AHTS) contracts to support OMV's drilling operations in New Zealand.Two  AHTS vessels, Skandi Emerald and Skandi Atlantic, have been contracted to support drilling rig COSL Prospector for two wells firm plus two options for additional wells.Both vessels are currently supporting the same rig with another Operator in New Zealand, and commencement with OMV will be on completion of this campaign during Q4 2019.Mons S. Aase, CEO DOF ASA comments "I'm very happy with this new award in New Zealand, securing good backlog for these units into 2020".The DOF Group owns and operates Anchor Handling Tug Supply vessels around the world.

For experts in the field of ocean mapping it is no small irony that we know more about the surfaces of the Moon and Mars than we do about our planet's sea floor."Can you imagine operating on the land without a map, or doing anything without a map?" asked Larry Mayer, director of the U.S.-based Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, a research body that trains hydrographers and develops tools for mapping."We depend on having that knowledge of what's around us - and the same is true for the ocean…

Dutch deep-sea prospector Fugro has reported a 29.1 percent rise in third-quarter revenue on a comparable basis, driven by the expansion of offshore wind developments and a recovery in the global oil and gas market.Rising oil prices have helped Fugro by making it more economic to prospect for the hard-to-reach subsea deposits in which it specializes."In our early cyclical marine site characterisation activities we are experiencing sharp growth and improving prices, resulting in strongly improved profitability…

Dutch deep-sea prospector Fugro on Wednesday surprised the market with a first-half profit, driven by strong growth in offshore wind projects, sending its shares sharply higher.The company, hit by a downturn in the oil sector in recent years, reported first-half earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), excluding exceptional items, of 4.0 million euros ($4.7 million) compared with a year-earlier loss of 25.3 million euros.Analysts in a poll conducted for the company had on average expected an EBIT loss ex-items of 1.9 million euros.Fugro shares traded in Amsterdam were up nearly 7 percent at 13

Using data collected from underwater drones, merchant ships, fishing boats and even explorers, a new scientific project aims to map the ocean floor by 2030 and solve one of the world’s enduring mysteries.With 190 million square km (73 million square miles) of water - or about 93 percent of the world's oceans with a depth of over 200 meters (650 feet) - yet to be charted, the initiative is ambitious.Satinder Bindra, director of the Seabed 2030 project, said the work can be completed within the period and will shed light on everything from tsunami wave patterns to pollution…

Shares in Dutch deep-sea prospector Fugro fell 4.5 percent on Monday after larger rival Boskalis announced that it had trimmed its holding in the company. A statement from dredging and marine engineering company Boskalis said that its holding in Fugro now stands at 24.9 percent. Boskalis had built a stake of as much as 28.6 percent at the end of 2015 in what was widely seen as a first step towards buying Fugro. Boskalis also took Fugro to court in an attempt to strip away some of the company's poison pill defenses but lost its case in May.

Paragon Offshore plc, a global provider of offshore drilling rigs, reported that a wholly-owned subsidiary has signed an agreement with Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., LTD., to extend the delivery date of the high specification Friede and Goldman JU-2000E jackup Prospector 7 to a date 12 months after the subsidiary has technically accepted the unit from the shipyard. The company anticipates that technical acceptance of the unit will occur on or before December 31, 2015. Under the terms of the agreement, no payments are due to the shipyard until the delivery date and upon completion of the delivery protocol. Randall D. Stilley,…

COSLProspector, the fourth deep-water semi-submersible drilling rig built by CIMC Raffles for China Oilfield Services Limited (COSL), has been delivered in Yantai, Shandong Province. It represents another milestone for China’s deep-water drilling rig going into the global mainstream market. The COSLProspector is a DP3 vessel with a length of 104.5 m, a width of 70.5 m, a height of 37.55 m, and an operating water depth of 1,500 m. It is able to drill 7,600m deep and has a designed operating temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius.

Paragon Offshore plc reported that it has acquired 52,749,014 shares of Prospector Offshore Drilling S.A., a publicly traded offshore drilling company listed on Oslo Axess. Paragon acquired the shares at a price of 14.50 Norwegian kroner (NOK) per share, or $2.13 per share based on the exchange rate of one United States dollar to 6.80 NOK. Following this transaction, Paragon owns a total of 52,749,014 shares of Prospector, equal to 55.8 percent of the outstanding shares of Prospector.

A joint industry project on jacking system maintenance and inspection has resulted in a new DNV GL Recommended Practice. This provides guidance to ensure the correct and safe functioning of rack and pinion style jacking systems. The objective is to reduce the risk of gear failure, resulting in lower costs and higher availability throughout the asset’s life time. The consequences of jacking gear failure can be severe and, while the problem is acknowledged by the industry, the correct maintenance and inspection of the jacking systems have proven to be challenging due to the high turnover of people with specific knowledge on board, the evolving nature of the systems and the intermittent use of the systems.

Successful retrofit to first newbuilding sees Aberdeen-based owner specify further Low Expansion Foam system for second China-built jack-up. Wilhelmsen Technical Solutions (WTS) has received a repeat order to install its Unitor Low Expansion Foam fire extinguishing system on a second jack-up newbuilding for Prospector Offshore Drilling. The specialized firefighting systems will provide fire protection for the shale shakers and mud pits on Prospector  1 and Prospector 5 during their charters to Total E&P UK Ltd.

The U.S. Coast Guard, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will hold nationwide public discussions on navigational aid technology and how it will affect the future of America's waterways. The Future of Navigation-21st Century Waterways public listening sessions will be held in several locations across the country and will provide venues for open communications between various federal agencies and U.S. Maritime Transportation System stakeholders to discuss the joint federal agency initiative to use modern technology to support a safer, more efficient, more secure and environmentally-sound Marine Transportation System.

Seadrill Limited has entered into an agreement to acquire the company that owns the yard construction contract of the newbuild high specification jack-up rig 'Prospector 3' from Prospector Offshore for a total purchase price of US$235 million. In addition, Seadrill will provide drilling and handling tools, spares and operations preparations resulting in a total cost for this rig, ready to drill, of approximately US$250 million. The Prospector 3 is scheduled to be delivered from Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Offshore Co., Ltd. (DSIC Offshore) in China during the first quarter of 2014. The new unit is based on the F&G JU2000E design, with water depth capacity of 400ft and drilling depth of 35,000ft.

Prospector Offshore Drilling agrees with two Chinese shipyards to extend options on 6 rig construction agreements. An agreement with Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Offshore Co. extends the expiry dates on three of its rig construction option agreements with DSIC Offshore that were previously due to expire on 31 December 2012 have been extended until 31, March 2013. Another agreement with Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co. extends he expiry dates on three of its rig construction option agreements with SWS that were previously due to expire on 31 December 2012, until 30, June 2013. Prospector Offshore Drilling (PROS) currently has contracts in place for the design, construction and delivery of four F&G JU2000E high specification, harsh environment (HS/HE) jack-up drilling rigs.

Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Offshore has been notified by Friede & Goldman Marketing BV (F&G) to temporarily suspend construction of its rig jacking systems. Arising from the recent accident during the construction of a similar rig at the Jurong Shipyard in Singapore, Prospector Offshore Drilling S.A. which has four jack-up rigs  under construction in Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Offshore Co. Ltd. (DSIC-Offshore), has been informed that DSIC-Offshore has been notified by Friede & Goldman Marketing BV (F&G) to temporarily suspend work on the rigs’ jacking systems, pending testing. F&G is the engineering firm that has designed the jack-up and which has supplied the entire jacking system through their own sub-suppliers.

Three recent deliveries highlight the series of offshore support vessels designed by the Offshore Ship Designers group. The VOS Pathfinder completes a series of five basic IMT955 Standby vessels built at Astilleros Zamakona, Spain, for Vroon Offshore Services. The 180 ft loa VOS Pathfinder was contracted in October to HRL Centrica for a five-year period working in the Morecambe Bay gas field. Also recently delivered are the VOS Pioneer and VOS Prospector, the first two of ten IMT 955-L Field Support Vessels building at Astilleros Zamakona, Spain for Vroon Offshore.

The Canadian Transportation Safety Board (TSB) issued its report of the investigation into the collision between the bulk carrier CANADIAN PROSPECTOR and the heavy lift ship STELLANOVA in the St. Lawrence Seaway on 12 October 2002. As the two ships approached each other in the narrow seaway, the STELLANOVA began to experience bank effect. In an attempt to avoid being sucked into the bank, the pitch of the controllable pitch propeller was first decreased and then increased. The result was that the ship lost maneuverability and swung into the passing CANADIAN PROSPECTOR. The TSB determined that the primary cause of the collision was the failure of the pilot and master of the STELLANOVA to exercise proper bridge resource management principles. Report Number M02C0064 (HK Law).