Tamaulipas News

A tropical depression over the Gulf of Mexico was expected to strengthen to a tropical storm before coming ashore in southeastern Mexico on Monday and bringing torrential rains that could cause life-threatening mudslides and flash floods. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said that at 8 p.m. EDT, (0000 GMT), Tropical Depression Four was 275 miles (285 km) east-southeast of Tuxpan, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph). The storm system will be named Danielle if it reaches sustained tropical storm-force winds of 39 mph (63 kph). It was moving at 8 mph (13 kph) and was due to reach the Mexican shore by 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) on Monday, just north of Veracruz, a city of more than 400,000 people.

NOAA's National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm warning in effect from Cabo Rojo to Barra El Mezquital, Mexico as Tropical Storm Dolly approaches the country’s eastern coast. Tropical storm conditions are expected within this area within the next 12 hours. Reports from an air force reconnaissance aircraft indicate that the center of Dolly is reforming south of the previous position. At 1 p.m. (CDT), the center of tropical storm dolly was estimated near latitude 22.0 north, longitude 96.5 west. Dolly is moving toward the west near 12 mph, and this general motion is expected over the next day or so. The storm’s center will be near the coast of Mexico by this evening and move inland overnight. Maximum sustained winds are near 50 mph, with higher gusts.

A blaze Friday at the coking plant of the refinery of Mexico's state Pemex in the northern state of Tamaulipas killed one worker and left another 11 wounded, said the oil. Pemex said the coking plant Madero refinery was in maintenance and operations of the refinery, the smallest of the six Pemex and processes an average of 130,000 barrels per day (bpd) were not affected. The company did not elaborate on the status of injured workers. Pemex processes an average 1.24 million bpd in its six refineries. (Reporting by Adriana Barrera)

Foster Wheeler AG (Nasdaq:FWLT) announced today that subsidiaries of its Global Engineering and Construction Group, together with a joint venture partner for the project, Altair Strickland LLC, have been awarded contracts by Pemex Refinación (“Pemex”) for the engineering, design, procurement, construction, commissioning, and start-up of  slide valve systems on the Foster Wheeler delayed coker units at two refineries in Mexico: the Hector R. Lara Sosa Refinery located in Cadereyta, Nueva Leon, and the Francisco I. Madero refinery in Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas. Both projects are scheduled to be completed during refinery turnarounds in 2015. The Foster Wheeler contract values were not disclosed and were included in the company’s fourth-quarter 2013 bookings.

McDermott International, Inc. (NYSE: MDR) said that one of its subsidiaries has been awarded contracts to refurbish and undertake rig repair work at the McDermott Altamira fabrication facility in Tamaulipas, Mexico. The two jack-up rigs are the Friede & Goldman L-780 Mod II design and will undergo significant improvement work to re-instate them to ABS classification. This will include steel hull, piping, machinery, and electrical renewal, as well as blasting, painting and commissioning support. Work is scheduled to begin in the last quarter of 2012. McDermott’s Altamira fabrication facility has an expansive 1,640-ft. quayside, water depth of 41 ft. and less than three nautical miles tow distance to the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

San Rafael, a 204 x 44 x 16 ft. OSV was recently launched by Eastern Shipbuilding Group. The vessel is being constructed for Naviera Tamaulipas, S.A. de C.V. of Tampico, Mexico, for operations in the Bahia de Campeche fields off Eastern Mexico. Capacities include 110,000 gallons of fuel, 211,000 gallons of drill water/ballast, 7,200 cu. ft. of bulk mud in six tanks, and 3,012 barrels of liquid mud. The propulsion plant consists of a pair of Caterpillar 3516B main engines rated at 2,000 hp each @ 1,600 rpm, complete with Caterpillar Engine Vision Alarm and Monitoring System, coupled to Reintjes WAF-862 gearboxes, with 96 in. diameter, four-blade stainless steel propellers.

Eastern Shipbuilding delivered OSV San Rafael to Naviera Tamaulipas of Tampico, Mexico for operations in the Bay of Campeche oil fields off Eastern Mexico. Measuring 204 x 44 ft. (62.1 x 13.4 m) with a 16 ft. (4.8 m) beam, the ABS-classed supply vessel houses the most recent propulsion innovations and control systems. Its plant is comprised of a pair of Caterpillar 3516B main engines rated at 2,000-hp each at 1,600 rpm. Also included are Caterpillar Engine Vision Alarm and Monitoring System, coupled to Reintjes WAF-862 gearboxes with 96-in. diameter four-blade stainless steel propellers. Specialized equipment includes a 1,000 hp Thrustmaster retractable tunnel/azimuthing bowthruster powered by a Caterpillar 3508B engine…

Rigzone has reported that J Ray McDermott has begun construction on the $20m first phase of a $220m construction yard in Mexico's Tamaulipas state to build deepwater oil platforms. McDermott is building the yard on land at Altamira port. Mexico's government awarded the company the yard space in a 30-year concession. The company plans to bid on platform contracts Mexico's state oil company Pemex will launch. Further, McDermott will seek to supply projects that oil firms such as BP , Shell and Petrobras are developing in the Gulf of Mexico, Pineda said. The yard also could supply rigs to projects in Africa. An additional $60m investment is planned for the yard project in 2007-08, he added. Source: Rigzone