Energy Consumers News

Shipowner Naftomar Shipping announced an order for four very large ammonia carriers, to be built by South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean (formerly known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering) for scheduled delivery from 2026. With a capacity of 93,000 m3, the ships are among the world’s largest ammonia carriers ordered to date.The Bureau Veritas (BV) classed ships will be fitted with a ME-LGIP LPG dual-fuel engine, ready to be converted to use ammonia as fuel when the MAN ES ammonia engine retrofit kit is made available.

Garry Noonan, Director, Innovation, Ardmore Shipping is candid in discussing emerging technologies and their impact on ship fuel and emissions reductions. With a fleet of product and chemical tankers under his guise, Noonan gives insights on technologies that he has seen work, as well as his thoughts on the fuel transition, which he believes won’t become mainstream until we’re well into the 2030s.While Cork, Ireland-based Ardmore Shipping, founded in 2010, is relatively new in shipping circles…

It is clear only a few weeks into 2022 that this year can be a watershed moment for American offshore wind. The Department of the Interior has positioned 2022 to be a record year in terms of offshore wind lease offerings and project greenlights.At the end of 2021, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the regulatory agency responsible for offshore wind lease sales, released the document, Offshore Wind Leasing Path Forward 2021–2025. The document maps out potential new wind lease sales.

After what has seemed like the longest year ever, the offshore energy sector is emerging from a position of strength, from the standpoint of both economics and sustainability. Between the lockdowns implemented to reduce COVID-19, which reduced energy demand, to the oil price war between state-backed producers, 2020 was an unprecedented storm that hit the American offshore energy market. Now, there are unmistakable signs of a recovery, and policy makers in Washington, D.C. should embrace the opportunity before us to for sustained economic…

The American Gulf of Mexico is home to impressive industry and even more incredible beauty. Every day, fishermen, conservationists, tour guides, canal and port dredgers, offshore oil and gas workers and countless others go to work in and around the Gulf of Mexico. What links them together is a passion to safely do their jobs in a way that strengthens the Gulf Coast’s natural resources.When candidates and elected officials advocate for “no more drilling, including offshore,” they…

Energy regulator Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) has been "unable to approve" plans for two huge subsea cables to take energy from the Scottish islands to the mainland.The transmission links from Shetland and the Western Isles were proposed by Scottish and Southern Energy Networks (SSEN) to connect planned new wind farms on the islands to the national grid.In March 2019 Ofgem said it was minded to approve the estimated £709 million link.The proposal from SSEN for a 600MW transmission link was based on the largest planned project, Viking Energy Wind Farm, securing subsidies through the UK Government’s Autumn Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction.The award of these subsidies would have provided confidence that the wind farm is likely to progress…

China's targeting of U.S. liquefied natural gas and crude oil exports opens a new front in the trade war between the two countries, at a time when the White House is trumpeting growing U.S. energy export prowess.China included LNG for the first time in its list of proposed tariffs on Friday, the same day that its biggest U.S. crude oil buyer, Sinopec, suspended U.S. crude oil imports due to the dispute, according to three sources familiar with the situation.On Friday, China announced retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S.

Sempra Energy announced that its Mexican subsidiary, Infraestructura Energética Nova (IEnova), has been awarded a 20-year contract by the Topolobampo Port Administration in Mexico to build and operate a receipt, storage and send-out liquid fuels marine terminal in the state of Sinaloa. With a projected investment of approximately $150 million, the first phase of the new liquid fuels terminal will have a storage capacity of 1 million barrels of fuel, including gasoline and diesel. Operations are expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2020. "The Topolobampo project will facilitate access to additional international fuel supplies and help meet growing demand in Mexico," said Joseph A. Householder, president and chief operating officer of Sempra Energy.

After a few years of relative calm, the 2017 hurricane season wreaked havoc in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, causing widespread damage and human suffering, and exposing the vulnerabilities and strengths of American energy security. As the flood waters from Hurricane Harvey receded and Gulf coast residents embarked on the arduous road to recovery, the offshore energy industry took stock and counted its losses and blessings. Offshore energy facilities faired remarkably well compared to onshore energy facilities, many of which suffered catastrophic damage from flood waters.

India plans to form an alliance with Japan and South Korea to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) at "reasonable prices", the country's oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. India may soon rope China into the alliance as well, he said. A Reuter report quoted Dharmendra as saying: "For the next two to three decades, gas is going to be a major part of the energy basket for Asian energy consumers. State-owned GAIL Ltd is spearheading the talks, which follow a similar attempt in 2013, on India's behalf. Natural gas currently accounts for about 8 percent of India's overall energy mix. In the last decade, while India's domestic natural gas production has grown by 10 percent, imports of LNG have risen by 335 percent.

Make no mistake, the commercial maritime industry will always revolve around heavy duty machinery and mega-machines designed to weather some of the toughest operating conditions on earth. But in recent years a proliferation of Software Solutions has evolved to help the machines operate more efficiently and cost effectively. MR editors report on latest developments in maritime specific Software Solutions. Kværner Verdal AS selected AVEVA Bocad Steel and AVEVA Bocad Offshore for use at its design and fabrication yard in Verdal…

Eniram Ltd, a provider of energy management and fuel-saving technology and analytic services to the shipping industry, announced the release of three new products aiming to help save fuel and optimize energy usage on vessels. The company has launched the upgraded speed optimization solution Eniram Speed 3.0, Eniram Performance 3.0 data analytic software, as well as Eniram Fleet Route KPIs designed to support improved routing. Improving on past version Eniram Speed 2.0, the new Eniram Speed 3.0 takes into account factors such as the prevailing sea state, in computing and recommending best speed profile to consume least energy and thus save fuel.

ACO Marine launched a new water recovery system that is designed to give vessel owners greater capacity to reuse the treated effluent from wastewater treatment plants. The ACO Water Maker WM3 converts treated wastewater into pure distilled technical water for such applications as general surface cleaning, laundry, showering, toilet flushing, engine cooling, etc. According to ACO Marine, the unit has extremely low energy consumption and reduces a ship’s need to take on fresh water in port or to make its own water through reverse osmosis or flash evaporation – both high energy consumers. It is suitable for use onboard all vessel types and can be easily retrofitted to ACO Marine’s Maripur and Clarimar wastewater treatment solutions in addition to third party systems, the manufacturer said.

Wastewater treatment systems specialist ACO Marine has launched a new water recovery system that gives vessel owners greater capacity to reuse the treated effluent from wastewater treatment plants. The ACO Water Maker WM3 converts treated wastewater into pure distilled technical water for such applications as general surface cleaning, laundry, showering, toilet flushing, engine cooling, etc. According to ACO Marine, the unit has extremely low energy consumption and reduces a ship’s…

Eniram Limited, a provider of energy management technology and data analytic services to the shipping industry, announced an advanced fuel-saving product based on the Eniram vessel platform. •    Collection of the most critical data for LNG operators and owners such as boil-off and reliquification plant efficiency. •    Offers the possibility for onshore analyses of one vessel, as well as the possibility to compare the energy management performance on several vessels or on the entire fleet. •    Constant performance evaluation.

A new manual from classification society Germanischer Lloyd (GL), presented at Nor-Shipping 2013 shows how owners can make use of a suite of retrofitting solutions to ensure that existing vessels remain economic. Today's newbuildings now consume up to 20 to 30% less fuel than vessels built only three to five years ago, which is leaving owners searching for solutions to remain competitive in the market. "Retrofit technologies offer the comparatively young fleet of existing ships the chance to remain active and economically attractive to owners and operators," said Jan-Olaf Probst, GL's Global Ship Type Director. These eco-efficient technologies not only benefit the bottom line, but will have a positive impact on the ecological impact of the entire shipping industry".

National Ocean Industries Association President Randall Luthi encouraged by sales, urges further offshore developments. "This sale is on-par with expectations and shows that the offshore oil and natural gas industry is still committed to domestic exploration and production. The Federal government benefits from this sale through non-income tax revenue and the promise of future income through rents and potential royalties upon production. With enormous economic challenges facing the U.S., and the impending "fiscal-cliff" dominating the national conversation, it is gratifying to see the offshore industry stepping up to the plate and providing hundreds of millions of dollars to the U.S. treasury.

Green Technology by Imtech Marine nominated for Maritime Innovation Award 2012. The intelligent energy management system by Imtech Marine is one of the four nominees for the Dutch Maritime Innovation Award 2012. This system, developed by Imtech Marine, controls the allocation of hybrid energy sources and energy consumers by means of intelligent automation and continuously realises the optimal energy efficient, lowest emission and cost efficient sailing profile. This way the user will be able to completely focus on the sailing tasks, without worrying about the usage of the available energy sources and energy consumers. The deployment of the energy management system will lead to fuel savings from 20% to a maximum of 25% using the hybrid solution.

Alaris Companies last month announced it is working with the U.S. Coast Guard to help it decrease energy use and emissions via its fleet energy management program. Maritime Reporter recently visited with Alaris CEO, Bobbi Wolff, and Executive VP of Engineering, Michael Gaffney, to discuss the company, its system and the global trend to minimize maritime’s carbon footprint. Alaris recently won a contract to help the U.S. Coast Guard decrease energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Can you give us an overview of the vessels studied and the findings?

Norway's west coast maritime cluster has again demonstrated its technological skills and business verve through the delivery of a complex, diesel-electric offshore support vessel equipped to carry out deepwater subsea inspection and construction tasks. Ordered from Aukra Industrier by local operator District Offshore (DOF), the 275-ft. (84-m) Skandi Carla ranks among the world's most sophisticated ships designed for ROV(remote-operated vehicle) deployment. The powerful, dynamic-positioning vessel entered an immediate five-year charter assignment to Aberdeen-based survey specialist Fugro-UDI, to whose requirements she has been customized.