Upstream Energy News

North American energy infrastructure company energy infrastructure company AltaGas celebrated the grand opening of its Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal (RIPET), located in Prince Rupert, British Columbia – the first marine export facility for propane in Canada.The facility began introducing propane feedstock in mid-April, and the first shipment departed the terminal on May 23, 2019 bound for Asia."The completion of this game-changing project and the shipment of our first cargo are historic milestones for AltaGas, as well as for our project partners, customers, local Indigenous Peoples, surrounding communities, and western Canada's upstream energy sector…

Crowley Alaska Tankers, LLC, has completed its acquisition of three tankers from SeaRiver Maritime Inc. and is now chartering the vessels back to SeaRiver under varying multi-year terms.The tankers Liberty Bay and Eagle Bay, now under Crowley ownership and operation and renamed Washington and California respectively, each have a capacity of 760,000 barrels and transport crude from Alaska to West Coast refineries. The tanker SR American Progress, renamed Oregon, has a capacity of 342,000 barrels and transports refined petroleum between the U.S.

U.S. energy companies kept the oil rig count unchanged this week, General Electric Co's Baker Hughes energy services firm said on Friday, as some analysts expect a gradual decline in overall rigs in the fourth quarter and in 2018. The rig count, an early indicator of future output, held at 738 in the week to Nov. 17, still much higher than 471 rigs a year ago as energy companies boosted spending plans for 2017 as crude started recovering from a two-year price crash. The increase in drilling lasted 14 months before stalling in August…

Crowley Alaska Tankers, LLC, has signed an agreement to purchase three tankers from SeaRiver Maritime Inc., and charter them back to SeaRiver under varying multi-year terms. The deal is subject to regulatory approval. Included in the acquisition are the tankers Liberty Bay and Eagle Bay, each of which have a capacity of 800,000 barrels and transport crude from Alaska to West Coast refineries; and the tanker SR American Progress, which has a capacity of 342,000 barrels and transports refined petroleum between U.S. gulf and East Coast ports. Crowley said it will now work with regulators to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals to serve the Alaska and West Coast markets.

At annual IUMI (International Union of Marine Insurance) conference in Tokyo, James McDonald, chairman of IUMI’s Offshore Energy Committee warned that the sector was “sinking”. His warning was based on declining total premium income set alongside upstream energy large losses for 2015-16 of USD 4.8 billion. McDonald explained: “In recent years it would appear that claims have exceeded the global premium base and the last two underwriting years have seen significant losses. The impact of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey are unlikely to deliver the same magnitude of loss that resulted from Katrina and Rita in 2005 or Ike in 2008, but whilst Harvey and Irma appear not to have had much impact on the offshore sector the year’s hurricane season still has some distance to run”.

Tim Charters has joined the staff of the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) as Senior Director of Governmental and Political Affairs. Charters comes to NOIA from the National Stripper Well Association (NSWA) where he represented more than 18,000 small business men and women in America’s upstream energy industry as Vice President of Governmental and Regulatory Affairs. Charters brings nearly 20 years of Congressional experience to NOIA. From 2008-2015, he served as Staff Director of the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee under Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.). During his tenure…

Bureau Veritas announced today that it has acquired MatthewsDaniel Ltd, a global provider of loss adjusting and risk assessment services for the offshore industry. Created in Houston, Texas, in 1962, MatthewsDaniel is headquartered in London and has operations in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. The company employs more than 150 people and reported revenues of approximately EUR 34M in 2013. MatthewsDaniel primarily provides services for the insurance market. Their loss adjusting activities include incident investigations, root cause analysis, damage and reinstatement assessment and cost estimation. Their risk assessment portfolio focuses especially on Marine Warranty Surveying activities for both offshore projects and rigs.

Watkins Syndicate Singapore Pte. Ltd. has appointed two senior underwriters to bolster its expanding presence in the Asia Pacific region. Watkins Syndicate Singapore, which is part of the Lloyd’s Asia Platform and represents Watkins Syndicate 457 at Lloyd’s, has hired Colin Fordham as Liability Underwriter and Richard Dare as Energy Underwriter. Both underwriters join Watkins in Singapore with strong track records in the insurance industry. Colin Fordham joins from Seasia P&I Services Singapore where he was general manager.

On the heels of the recent delivery of Olympus, the largest tension-leg platform ever to be developed for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Crowley has once again shown support for the domestic petroleum industry by providing ocean towing and positioning support services for the Lucius spar in the Gulf of Mexico for Anadarko Petroleum. Three of Crowley’s ocean class tugs, Ocean Wind, Ocean Wave and Ocean Sun, towed the 605-foot long, 110-foot wide spar from Corpus Christi, Texas, through the Ingleside Channel and out to Keathley Canyon Block 875 some 300 miles offshore.

Four of Crowley Maritime Corp’s ocean class tugboats , the 'Ocean Wind', 'Ocean Wave', 'Ocean Sky' and 'Ocean Sun', recently completed the successful delivery of the offshore oil production and drilling platform, Olympus, to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The project was significant because it provided the first opportunity for all four of the company's new high-bollard-pull, ocean class tugboats to work together on any single job. The rig, owned by Royal Dutch Shell, is also considered the largest tension-leg platform ever to be developed for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The companies were honored with two significant awards at the recent International Workboat Show (IWS) in New Orleans. Together Crowley Maritime Corp. and subsidiary Jensen Maritime , the company’s Seattle-based naval architecture and marine engineering firm, were honored with two of the top 10 Significant Boat awards during the seventh-annual International Workboat Show 2012. The first award was for the design of two Crowley-owned ocean class tugboats , the Ocean Wind and Ocean Wave. The second was for Jensen-designed Murden, a hopper dredge vessel developed for the U.S.

Business Unit to Now Offer Project Logistics and Global Freight Management Services to New Industries and more Geographic Locations. Crowley Maritime Corporation announced today that its recently acquired Houston-based, freight forwarding, export packing and logistics company, Jarvis International Freight, Inc., will transition into the company as a new branch of Crowley Logistics, offering project logistics and global freight management services to a wider array of industries and in more geographic locations.

Bollinger Marine Fabricators, L.L.C., Amelia, La., a Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. company, has delivered the Ocean Wave, the first of four “Ocean” class tugs, to Crowley Maritime Corporation. “We are extremely proud of our Ocean Class team and the delivery of the first in class tug, Ocean Wave, said Chris Bollinger, executive vice president of Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. The Ocean Wave is the first of the Ocean class tugs and is the first of two 10,880 BHP tugs that are featured with DP1 capabilities.

Bollinger Marine Fabricators, L.L.C., Amelia, La., a Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. company, has delivered the OCEAN WAVE, the first of four “Ocean” class tugs, to Crowley Maritime Corporation. “We are extremely proud of our Ocean Class team and the delivery of the first in class tug, OCEAN WAVE, said Chris Bollinger, executive vice president of Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. The OCEAN WAVE is the first of the Ocean class tugs and is the first of two 10,880 BHP tugs that are featured with DP1 capabilities.

Tactical Insurance Group has opened a new corporate office to facilitate the expansion of the company into its targeted industry sector –  Logistics Insurance. One of the South Central region's leading insurance brokers, Tactical Insurance Group, has moved into a newly expanded corporate office facility in Dallas as part of its strategy to grow its Logistics Insurance practice throughout Texas and surrounding states. "Located in Toll Hill West on Harvest Hill Road, near the major intersection of the Dallas North Tollway and LBJ Freeway, the larger corporate office will allow us to add to our professional staff, provide more service capabilities to our clients…

Crowley Maritime Corporation announced today the establishment of a new Project Solutions group that bundles company-wide capabilities and assets with world-class project management skills to provide complete turnkey marine solutions. This specialized team, which now has a Project Management Office (PMO) in Houston, Texas, allows Crowley to provide greater value to customers with multifaceted marine and offshore construction-related projects. Crowley's Project Solutions group…

A Topaz delegation consisting of Board Directors and Senior Management were in Azerbaijan in the Caspian region to hold discussions with State Oil Company Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR). The aim of the meeting was to explore areas of mutual interest and opportunities for investment in the Caspian region. To support the growing offshore oil & gas market Topaz plans significant investments in the building of new offshore support vessels in the Caspian region in the next few years, providing support services to the offshore upstream energy sector. In total Topaz will spend $100m over the next two years expanding its fleet. Currently it operates 70 vessels including offshore supply ships, work barges and ice-breakers.