Offshore Oil Field News

Altera Infrastructure has been awarded contracts for the redeployment of the FPSO Voyageur Spirit and the shuttle tanker Nordic Brasilia for the Baleine Phase 2 project, located offshore Ivory Coast.The vessels are set for deployment on the Baleine field with a 15-year firm contract. The development of the project will be on a fast-track schedule, with a planned start-up date for Phase 2 in the fourth quarter of 2024. The vessels, Voyageur Spirit and Nordic Brasilia, are currently undergoing life extension work and field-specific modifications at Drydocks World in Dubai. Voyageur Spirit is a cylindrical-shaped FPSO, that previously operated on the Huntington field in the North Sea until 2020.

Australian oil and gas company Pilot Energy and Norway's Knutsen NYK Carbon Carriers (KNCC) have entered into a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on offering an integrated solution for marine transportation and offshore injection of CO2 at the Cliff Head CCS Project, offshore the coast of Perth, Australia.Pilot and KNCC plan to develop solutions that will enable large-scale industrial emitters to transport via ship, ambient temperature LCO2 and to inject and permanently…

Oil and gas company Valeura Energy said Monday that modifications to the MT Jaka Tarub crude oil storage vessel were complete, making the vessel compatible with infrastructure at its Wassana oil field, offshore Thailand.According to Valeura Energy, the vessel is capable of tandem crude oil loading/offloading. "Subject to favorable metocean conditions, the vessel will arrive at the Wassana field in the coming days, after which Valeura intends to resume oil production operations, targeting initial rates of up to 3,000 bbls/d, net to the 89% working interest share held by its subsidiary company Valeura Energy Asia Pte. Ltd." the company said.As reported by Offshore Engineer in December 2022…

As we enter the final month of 2022, a review of the floating production system (FPS) market revealed that some E&Ps have been bold with investments in the development of their oil and gas (O&G) reserves, with a total of 1.9 mmboepd (1.3 mmbpd of oil and 3.8 bcfd of gas) of FPS throughput capacity sanctioned year to date (YTD). This represents a 7% increase on 2021, with Westwood anticipating an additional 180 kboepd of FPS throughput capacity to be sanctioned before the end of the year.

Brazilian oil company Petrobras said Monday it had ordered an FPSO from Keppel Shipyard, for deployment at the Búzios offshore oil field in Brazil.The FPSO, named P-80 will be the ninth unit to be installed in the field, and, according to Petrobras "one of the largest to operate in Brazil and one of the largest in the global oil and gas industry."The P-80, which will cost $2.9 billion, will have capacity to produce up to 225 thousand barrels of oil per day, process up to 12 million m3/day of gas, and store more than 1.6 million barrels.

U.S. based offshore well services company Helix Energy Solutions Group has finalized the previously announced acquisition of the Alliance group of companies, bolstering its decommissioning footprint in the Gulf of Mexico.Alliance is a Louisiana-based privately held company that provides services supporting the upstream and midstream ‎industries in the Gulf of Mexico shelf, including offshore oil field decommissioning and ‎reclamation, project management, engineered solutions, intervention…

Teekay's Sevan Hummingbird FPSO is set to leave Spirit Energy's Chestnut oil field in the North Sea after 13 years of oil production at the site.According to notice to mariners issued by Teekay on Thursday, the FPSO is currently being disconnected from its moorings.The 2007-built vessel, which was also known as Hummingbird Spirit, or just Hummingbird, has the capacity to produce around 25,000 barrels of oil per day, and a storage capacity of 270,000. It is operated by Altera on behalf of Teekay. The cylindrical FPSO, with hull diameter of 60 meters, has been producing oil from the Chestnut field since 2008. Spirit Energy, the operator of the offshore oil field, in August 2021 said it would file a decommissioning program for the Chestnut field.

Oil tanker operator International Seaways has sold its 50% stake in two floating storage and offshore (FSO) vessels, the FSO Asia and FSO Africa, to its joint venture partner Euronav NV. The purchase price values the two FSO vessels at $300 million in total. Net of adjustments for working capital and expenses, International Seaways received approximately $140 million in cash from the sale.The transaction has been approved by North Oil Company (“NOC”), the operator of the Al Shaheen offshore oil field in Qatar, whose shareholders are Qatar Energy and Total E&P Golfe Limited.

U.S.-based offshore oil and gas services firm  Helix Energy Solutions Group is set to buy equity interests of Louisiana-baed Alliance group of companies for $120 million cash at closing, plus the potential for post-closing earnout consideration.Alliance is a Louisiana-based privately held company that provides services supporting the upstream and midstream ‎industries in the Gulf of Mexico shelf, including offshore oil field decommissioning and ‎reclamation, project management…

China's Cosco Shipping has earlier this month delivered the King’s Quay floating production unit to Ingleside, Texas, aboard its M/V Xiang An Kou semi-submersible heavy transportation vessel, after a long journey from South Korea.The 21,498mt platform, built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, will be used for Murphy Oil's offshore oil field developments around 175 miles south of New Orleans in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.The King’s Quay floating production unit is scheduled to go into service in 2022.

The Cambodian government is seeking the return of an oil tanker and its crew who have been detained in Indonesia, alleging that the ship had loaded oil illegally from an offshore oil field, a government official said on Thursday.The Bahamas-flagged tanker MT Strovolos and its crew were detained in waters near the Anambas islands of Indonesia on July 27, the Indonesian Navy said in a statement.The vessel is carrying Cambodia's first-ever oil production from an offshore oil field which began operation in December 2020. However, the cargo has been stuck onboard the tanker since May as the project developer KrisEnergy entered liquidation in June after being unable to pay debts."I am worried," Cambodia's Ministry of Mines and Energy spokesman Cheap Suor said.

The American Bureau of Shipping said Thursday that an FPSO duo being built for Brazil's Petrobras would be constructed to ABS Class.The sister FPSOs are currently named P-78 and P-79 and will be deployed at the giant Buzios pre-salt offshore oil field in Brazil's Santos Basin.ABS said that the fact the FPSO duo would be built to its Class demonstrated ABS’ continued leadership in the industry, with ABS Class accounting for 60% of all FPSOs in service. Around 70 percent of FPSOs in Brazil are ABS Class…

Venezuela's national oil company PDVSA is reportedly preparing to resume production from the Corocoro offshore oil field.Reuters said Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter, that PDVSA would use the Cororoco oil to feed its refineries.The Corocoro oil field, in which the Italian oil firm Eni is a partner as part of the Petrosucre consortium with PDVSA, is located in the Gulf of Paria.The offshore site caught media attention last year when the FSO (floating, storage, and offloading unit) Nabarima…

Dutch FPSO leasing specialist SBM Offshore has secured a firm deal with Petrobras to lease and operate a newbuild FPSO at its giant Buzios offshore oil field in Brazil.The firm contract, for the 26.25 years lease and operation of the FPSO to be named Almirante Tamandaré, follows the signing of the binding Letter of Intent announced back in February. SBM Offshore did not share the financial details.FPSO Almirante Tamandaré will be deployed at the Búzios field in the Santos Basin approximately 180 kilometers offshore Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

Brazilian oil company Enauta has brought online another oil well at its Atlanta field in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil, following a recent pumping system failure, and is now producing from two wells connected to the Petrojarl I FPSO.As previously reported, the company - formerly Queiroz Galvao - had earlier this month said that the field was producing via one well only due to a failure in the pumping system which had caused two wells to stop producing.The Atlanta field early production system has three wells…

A floating facility off the Venezuelan coast has finished offloading crude stored in it for the past two years due to U.S. sanctions, paving the way for output to resume in an oilfield, an official of the facility's operator said on Thursday.Operations to remove crude from the Nabarima floating storage and offloading facility (FSO), anchored in the eastern Gulf of Paria near the maritime border with Trinidad and Tobago, started in December. The crude had been stored there since…

Norwegian offshore vessel owner DOF has won a contract with the Petrobras-led Libra consortium to provide a multi-purpose support vessel for work at the Mero offshore oil field in Brazil.The Libra Consortium is led by Petrobras - with a 40% interest - in partnership with Shell Brasil (20%) ; Total (20%), CNODC (10%) and CNOOC Limited (10%). The contract for DOF is for three years, and DOF will deploy its Skandi Salvador vessel that will operate 2 x WROV for 24 hours providing inspection, maintenance, and subsea commissioning services in water depths of up to 2,500m, including shallow dive services with Oceânica. Since June 2020, DOF has been awarded contracts in Brazil worth USD 250 million…

Liza Unity, an under-construction FPSO that will be Guyana's second offshore facility in production, remains on schedule for first oil in 2022, Hess Corp. said Thursday.Guyana became an oil-producing nation in December 2019, when Exxon brought online the Liza Destiny FPSO.Hess, a partner in the ExxonMobil-operated Stabroek block the Liza Destiny is operating, said Thursday that Liza Destiny would reach full capacity of 120,000 gross bopd in June. Hess also said that Exxon has…

Production from the Hummingbird Spirit FPSO operating at the Chestnut field in the UK sector of the North Sea has been shut down after a coronavirus case has been confirmed aboard.It was initially understood that there has been one confirmed case, and one subsequent suspected case on the FPSO and that production has been temporarily shut-in. The Teekay-owned FPSO is located at Spirit Energy-operated Chestnut offshore oil field.A Spirit Energy spokesperson said the company was working…

Gulf Drilling International (GDI) has signed a three-year contract with North Oil Company (NOC) to provide drilling services through the drilling rig Dukhan for NOC’s extensive development programmes in Al Shaheen oil field.The Al Shaheen Oil Field is a production oil and gas field off the north east coast of Qatar in the Persian Gulf, 80 kilometres north of Doha.The subsidiary of Gulf International Services (GIS) said in a press release that the signing ceremony was attended by GDI’s Chief Executive officer William Ceppi and NOC’s Chief Executive Officer Jacques Azibert. Also in attendance were Mark Gibson, Chief Operation Officer, and Francis Bourcier Drilling Manager of NOC…

South Korean shipyard giant Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has won a 361.1 billion won ($314.4 million) deal to build three shuttle tankers in Asia.The shipbuilder disclosed in a regulatory filing that Suezmax shuttle tankers will be delivered to the unnamed Asian shipper by July 2022.A shuttle tanker is a ship designed to transport oil from an offshore oil field to a storage tank and is equipped with a variety of offloading equipment.Samsung Heavy said it is the leading player in the global shuttle tanker market, with a 45 percent share, having clinched orders for 64 out of 143 shuttle tankers placed to date."In order to solidify our market dominance…

Bollinger Shipyards was presented the 2017 “Award for Excellence in Safety” by the Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA) on May 17, 2018 during SCA’s Annual General Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C.SCA, the national association representing the U.S. shipyard industry, honors companies with annual safety awards for enhancement of operations and promotion of safety and accident prevention.Ben Bordelon, Bollinger President and CEO, noted Bollinger has earned the SCA Award for…

Shipping industry faces worse storm than after financial crisis. The  industry has been squeezed on both the supply and demand sides: too many vessels have been built and not enough scrapped, while global trade has slowed down. The Economist says that the industry leader A.P. Moller-Maersk is not exempt from the crisis. "Eyes are trained on changes at Maersk Group in particular, which has long set the course for the industry. The Danish line has probably lost only $11 per container moved this year, less than the $100 figure for companies like Hanjin, but that is still unacceptable to its bosses and to the family that owns it," says the report. Maersk Group is considering splitting up the conglomerate, and are due to announce details this month.