Floating Production News

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, a Danish firm eager to invest in Italian offshore wind farms, is getting impatient.Two years after the country's 2024 law offered incentives to would-be developers to provide offshore wind capacity, the government has yet to announce a calendar for auctions it said it would hold by 2028.The inertia reflects a reluctance to embrace the transition from fossil fuels as a complex and polarised international debate pits clean energy campaigners against some governments and companies. U.S.

The UAE's new crude pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz is about 50% complete, the head of ADNOC said on Wednesday, adding that global oil flows may take at least four months to recover to 80% of pre-conflict levels after the Iran war ends.Tehran has largely kept the waterway critical for global oil and gas supplies shut to all ships other than its own since U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28, sending energy prices and inflation surging and fanning fears of an economic downturn.The Abu Dhabi Media Office revealed the existence of the new West-East Pipeline project last week…

PALFINGER has secured a contract to supply davit cranes for five offshore converter platforms in the North Sea, expanding its presence in the offshore wind market as Europe accelerates grid infrastructure development tied to renewable energy projects.The Austrian company said it would deliver seven PF200-7m davit cranes to Spanish engineering contractor Dragados Offshore for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter platforms linked to projects for German transmission system operators Amprion and TenneT Germany.Under the agreement…

Glenfarne Alaska LNG and ConocoPhillips Alaska have signed a gas sales precedent agreement to supply natural gas from Alaska’s North Slope for Phase One of the Alaska LNG project.The 30-year agreement will secure sufficient natural gas volumes to support a final investment decision for Phase One and meet Alaska’s domestic energy needs, according to Glenfarne.Glenfarne is developing the Alaska LNG project in two financially independent phases. Phase One includes a 739-mile, 42-inch pipeline designed to transport natural gas to Alaska consumers…

The substructures for fixed offshore wind turbines weigh thousands of tonnes. Only about five vessels in the world can lift that much weight. So now researchers are testing an alternative: an unusually wide barge.Using experience gained from the oil and gas industry, Aker Solutions, the Belgian contractor Sarens, and the maritime group BOA recently spent time at SINTEF’s Ocean Basin in Trondheim. There they used models to test the feasibility of employing an extra-wide barge to transport several substructures simultaneously.

Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) has demonstrated autonomous docking, charging and redeployment capabilities for its WAM-V autonomous surface vehicle as part of efforts to support longer-duration offshore operations.The company said the system enables the maritime drone to approach a dock, secure itself, recharge and return to operation without human intervention.OPT is preparing the technology for integration with its PowerBuoy platform to create offshore charging points capable…

The Chouest Group announced it has completed the acquisition of the Alliance business from Helix Energy Solutions Group. Alliance will be integrated into Champagne Energy Solutions (CES), expanding the Group’s offshore decommissioning and plug & abandonment (P&A) platform.The transaction builds on the recent formation of CES and advances the Chouest Group’s strategy to deliver fully integrated, end-to-end offshore solutions focused on late-life asset management and decommissioning.The combined platform will provide services including P&A…

The changing global bottom-fixed offshore wind turbine and foundation installation marketThe last two or three years have seen a change in the underlying stakeholder support for the energy transition, resulting in the energy trilemma being focused more on energy security and affordability than transition, which means a pivot away from renewables to increased support for oil & gas. At the same time, inflation and interest rates have impacted project economics. Needless to say,…

President Donald Trump's administration said on Monday that it had reached a deal to end two more U.S. offshore wind leases in exchange for $885 million in pledged investments in domestic fossil fuels.The projects, one in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific, are managed by Ocean Winds, a joint venture between France's ENGIE and Portugal's EDP Renewables.The announcement comes a month after French energy giant TotalEnergies reached a similar agreement with the Interior Department to redirect $1 billion from offshore wind leases to U.S. oil and gas production.

Exmar said it has launched conversion works for a new floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to support the expansion of the EemsEnergyTerminal in the Netherlands.The move follows the signing of a conditional charter agreement covering both the extension of the existing Eemshaven LNG FSRU and a newly converted unit, with EemsEnergyTerminal expected to take a conditional final investment decision in the first half of 2026.Exmar said it has secured a dual-fuel diesel electric membrane LNG carrier for the conversion and has begun engineering activities…

CoreMarine & Jumbo Offshore have announced the award of a significant contract to perform the transport and installation of the soft-yoke (SSY) mooring systems, and hook-up of both the Hilli Episeyo FLNG and MKII FLNG vessels, in Argentina’s Golfo San Matías. The award represents a milestone for both companies as well as a breakthrough project for Argentina’s gas sector as it ramps up in export capabilities.The contract has been awarded by Southern Energy S.A. (SESA), supported by an international consortium comprising Pan American Energy, YPF, Pampa Energía, Harbour Energy, and Golar LNG.

NYK has jointly implemented a crew transfer vessel (CTV) newbuilding project that applies 3D technology as a core platform throughout the design and construction process.This project is being carried out in collaboration with Kosaba Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. and Smert Design Co., Ltd.CTVs transporting crews to offshore wind farms must meet high standards of safety, operability, and maintenance and inspection efficiency. Consequently, the design and construction phases now demand…

Technip Energies has received a substantial authorization to continue work on the Commonwealth LNG project in Louisiana, as the development moves toward a final investment decision.The authorization, awarded by Commonwealth LNG, allows the company to proceed with key engineering, procurement and construction activities under an existing EPC contract.Technip Energies said the award supports ongoing project execution and follows an earlier authorization covering long-lead equipment orders.The proposed facility…

Golden Pass LNG, a joint venture between QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil, has produced its first liquefied natural gas from the initial train of its export facility in Texas, marking a step toward full operations.The project, located in Sabine Pass, has a total capacity of 18 million tonnes per annum across three liquefaction trains. The start of production is expected to pave the way for the first LNG cargo, with exports targeted to begin in the second quarter of 2026.“First LNG is of a particular importance for one of the largest single investment decisions in U.S. LNG history.

A final investment decision is expected in the Delfin LNG project offshore Louisiana in the next few weeks, or at most months, according to Eduard Ruijs, head of investment for Vitol, a company that is investing in the project.The 13.2 million metric tons project would have received financial approval sooner had the pipeline to take gas to the proposed floating LNG plant not exploded, Ruijs told Reuters on Wednesday on the sidelines of the CERAWeek conference in Houston.The pipeline, which ruptured on February 3, has since been repaired and is awaiting regulatory approval to restart flows.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has issued a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for a proposed update to the Santa Clara Unit Development and Production Plan, which includes the use of hydraulic fracturing on 16 existing wells at Platform Gilda, located 8.8 miles offshore Ventura County, California.BOEM has deemed the plan complete and is launching an environmental review under the Department of the Interior’s “Alternative Arrangements for NEPA Compliance During a National Energy Emergency,” published on the April 23, 2025.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has authorized an immediate 13% increase in exports at Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG Terminal in Louisiana.The authorization allows additional exports of up to 0.45 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of U.S. natural gas as LNG to non-free trade agreement (FTA) countries from the Plaquemines LNG Terminal.Plaquemines LNG is now authorized to immediately export a total of 3.85 Bcf/d to both FTA and non-FTA countries.“At a time when Iran and its terrorist proxies attempt to disrupt the global energy supply…

Major industry announcements and new product launches continued to drive significant visitor numbers and plentiful business activity as Oceanology International 2026 (Oi26) surpassed expectations on the second day at Excel London.Among the companies taking center stage, expanding platform OceanSight used Oi to unveil its new collection of ocean technology brands built to advance marine sensing and subsea intelligence, celebrating an exciting new chapter focused on accelerating innovation and strategic growth.OceanSight…

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has released the 2026 National Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources, an estimate of the undiscovered, technically and economically recoverable oil and natural gas resources outside of known oil and gas fields on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).The National Assessment, published every five years, represents BOEM's current understanding of the distribution of undiscovered oil and gas resources on the OCS.Using a play-based assessment methodology…

After a softer 2025, floater backlog is strengthening for 2026 and beyond, driven by early contracting, strong South American demand, and a growing pipeline of 2027+ programs.By the close of 2025, total floating rig backlog days had fallen 25% compared with 2024. This was in large part due to few contract awards coming out of Brazil, the world’s biggest user of floating rigs. As of the end of January 2026 however, the number of rig days already booked for this year is up 4% from…

India began rationing natural gas on Tuesday while countries around Asia looked to the spot market to replace supplies, activated emergency plans and prepared to step up production, as the conflict in the Middle East curtailed shipping and halted Qatari output.Government officials and company executives in Japan, Taiwan, Bangladesh and Pakistan said they did not expect an immediate impact as some cargoes due this month had already arrived, but they would diversify their import…

Seadrill Limited, an offshore drilling contractor, Kongsberg Maritime AS, a global technology leader, and Hanwha Drilling, a provider of offshore drilling services, announced a strategic alliance to develop the next generation of remote Dynamic Positioning (DP) technology in offshore drilling.This collaboration represents a shared commitment to defining a global operating model for the future of DP operations for the industry. The initiative will develop the technical and regulatory…

2025 was a year of recalibration, continuing the softness experienced since the fourth quarter of 2024. Rather than a slowdown, this period can be better described as a collective deep breath as the industry prepares for the next upcycle in the Asian Pacific region.Compared to 2024, the composite dayrates, calculated as a weighted average across size categories, declined by approximately 16% for PSVs and 14% for AHTS vessels. In tandem, utilization also softened, with the number of working vessels down 19% and 8% respectively…