Gulf Of Mexico News

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. has secured multiple heavy marine transport services contracts with a combined value of about $120 million.The execution of the majority of projects is scheduled to take place in 2021 and 2022.Following last year’s transportation of a sizable box-shaped FPSO, Boskalis secured a contract to transport a similar FPSO from China to Brazil.With a weight exceeding 91,000 tons this marks another record-breaking transport for the BOKA Vanguard, which is…

Global giants of the oil and gas industry – the so-called supermajors – are looking to sell assets that could fetch a total of $27.5 billion, according to Rystad Energy’s latest assessment.These companies are actively shedding mature assets on a massive scale in a bid to finance higher-yielding investments elsewhere, with the added benefit of pleasing shareholders who are calling for stricter capital discipline.“The expected transactions mean some of the majors are poised to exit certain regions…

Mexican crane and heavy haulage contractor ESEASA used its Liebherr LR 13000 crawler crane for the first time to load oil platforms onto barges at the port city of Tampico.Tampico is on the Gulf of Mexico and is a major industrial center with its own port. A large number of industrial companies have made their homes on the banks of the Rio Pánuco, to enable them to ship their freight down the river to the sea.ESEASA also has a company site directly on the banks of the waterway. The company is currently manufacturing seven oil platforms there for state oil group PEMEX.

Pirates attacked an Italy-flagged offshore supply vessel in the southern Gulf of Mexico, injuring two crew members, the Mexican Navy said on Tuesday, in the latest outbreak of robbery and piracy to hit oil platforms and infrastructure in the area.One of the crew members of the vessel, Remas, received a bullet wound, and the other suffered a concussion, and both were transferred to a nearby hospital, the Navy said in a statement.Owned by Italian offshore contractor Micoperi, Remas…

German utility RWE has delivered its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo to Great Britain.The cargo, comprised of approximately 150 000 m3 of LNG, was regasified through a Milford Haven LNG Terminal, located close to RWE’s 2000 MW Pembroke B gas-fired combined cycle gas power plant (CCGT).The cargo has been sourced from the portfolio of RWE Supply & Trading, the subsidiary of RWE which is responsible for gas and LNG trading.The cargo was loaded from Sabine Pass Liquefaction Terminal in the Gulf of Mexico…

The Panama Canal is a strategic crossroads for maritime traffic, and is arguably one of the most important maritime developments in the past century. Here we take a deeper dive into the history behind that famous strip of waterway.The present canal, which saw its first vessel transits in 1914, along with possible alternatives through Nicaragua and Mexico, had actually been on the minds of merchants, explorers and military/political strategists since the Age of Exploration in early 1500’s.

The future USS Kansas City (LCS 22) successfully completed acceptance trials in the Gulf of Mexico. LCS 22 is the 11th Independence-variant littoral combat ship (LCS), built by Austal USA in Mobile, to reach this milestone.Acceptance trials involve the execution of intense comprehensive tests by the Austal USA-led industry team while underway, which demonstrate to the Navy the successful operation of the ship’s major systems and equipment. This the last significant milestone before delivery of the ship.

Born at the University of Michigan in the early 1990s, Bristol Harbor Group (BHG) has grown into a diverse and widely respected naval architecture and marine engineering firm. Cory Wood, Vice President and one of the four co-founders of BHG, discusses the companies past and design drivers to power its future.The University of Michigan runs one of the most prestigious naval architecture and marine engineering programs in the country, but when Cory Wood entered U of M, he did so with the intent of becoming an aerospace engineer.

Sembcorp Marine Rigs & Floaters Pte. Ltd. has won a contract from Shell Offshore Inc. to build and integrate the topside and hull of a Floating Production Unit (FPU) for the Whale field in the Gulf of Mexico.The agreement precedes a final investment decision (FID) for the full Whale project, expected to be made next year by Shell. It paves the way for the Whale FPU to move ahead and take advantage of synergies from the ongoing Shell Vito FPU, currently under construction at Sembcorp Marine’s Tuas Boulevard Yard, the builder said.

America’s largest military shipbuilding company Huntington Ingalls Industries (HHI) said that it has successfully completed acceptance trials aboard the amphibious assault ship Tripoli (LHA 7).The second ship in the America class spent three days at sea in the Gulf of Mexico with the U.S. Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV), performing vital test procedures that included a full power run of the main propulsion system.“The success of these trials is the culmination of the hard work and determination from our shipbuilders and leadership team.

Set to Soar, Taking Offshore Support Industry With it.Offshore energy development is opening a new front in the United States -- the Atlantic seaboard, with strong winds, a shallow continental shelf and a proximity to dense population centers is driving strong interest in offshore wind development. The offshore oil and gas supply chain stands to benefit in a big way from billions in coming investment. In fact, it is already playing a role. Companies in the Gulf of Mexico, which traditionally support the offshore oil and gas sector…

The U.S.

USDA Study Underscores Value of Inland Waterways to U.S. Agriculture.On August 28, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Assistant Secretary of the Army (ASA) for Civil Works R.D. James toured Mel Price Locks and Dam in Alton, Illinois, and held a Town Hall Meeting to discuss the importance of the waterways,  agriculture and the U.S. economy. At the event, Secretary Perdue briefed agricultural and waterways stakeholders on a newly released study – Importance of Inland Waterways to U.S. Agriculture – from the U.S.

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved the construction of Venture Global's proposed $8.5 billion Plaquemines liquefied natural gas export facility in Louisiana. Venture Global LNG to build an LNG Plaquemines export terminal and a gas pipeline between the terminal and the interstate gas network.PGNiG will receive liquefied natural gas from this terminal from 2023.“We congratulate our American partners from Venture Global LNG for obtaining the final FERC approval for the construction of the second natural gas liquefaction facility.

VT Halter Marine, Inc., a ST Engineering North America company, held a vessel naming ceremony for America’s first offshore Liquefied Natural Gas Articulated Tug and Barge (LNG ATB) unit.The Q-LNG 4000 (barge) and the Q-Ocean Services (tug) were officially named in a ceremony that included U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo, along with Shane Guidry, CEO of Q-LNG, and Tom Vecchiolla, President and CEO of ST Engineering North America.Over the last four years…

Philippine authorities have given Excelerate Energy LP permission to proceed on plans to develop a floating natural gas import terminal to supply existing and new power generation.Texas-headquartered player in floating LNG regasification solutions, received a notice to proceed (NTP) from the Philippine Department of Energy (DOE) to develop Luzon LNG, which would be a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) terminal in the Bay of Batangas.The project, Luzon LNG, will supply natural gas…

The U.S. Coast Guard closed the upper Houston Ship Channel on Thursday morning as 11 Greenpeace USA protesters blocked a portion of the country's largest oil port near Baytown, Texas, the agency said.The channel is closed from Light 102A to Light 104, the Coast Guard said in a notice.The closure of the Ship Channel at that location blocks tanker ship traffic to and from five major refineries in the Houston area, including Exxon Mobil Corp's 560,500-barrel-per-day refinery in Baytown, which is 26 miles (42 km) east of downtown Houston.One ship was waiting to enter the Ship Channel, which links the Gulf of Mexico and the Port of Houston…

Tropical Depression Seven has strengthened into Storm Fernand in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Tuesday.Fernand, the sixth named storm in the Atlantic, is located about 185 miles (295 kilometers) east north-east of Tampico, Mexico, packing maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour (65 km per hour)."A motion toward the west-northwest is forecast tonight and Wednesday. This motion could bring the center of Fernand near or over the coast of northeastern Mexico late Wednesday," the Miami-based weather forecaster said.Reporting by Sumita Layek

Mexican state-owned giant Pemex has chartered two jack-up rigs built and currently owned by Chinese yard CIMC Raffles.The two 400ft Jack-Up Drilling Rigs held a naming and departure ceremony at Longkou. The two rigs will soon sail to the gulf of Mexico to provide oil and gas drilling services to Pemex.Before that, CIMC Raffles and CMIC Ocean signed leasing contracts for the two rigs.The two rigs are named “Gulf Driller 6” and “Gulf Driller 8” respectively, are currently classified by ABS.

On August 20, 2019, Dutra’s new Jones Act built Hydraulic Dump Scow ES15 was successfully launched, christened, commissioned and will finish sea trials and additional testing this week. Next week the ES15 will head to Massachusetts to to work on the Boston Harbor Deepening Project.ES15 is a 6,000cy Hydraulic Dump Scow built in Corn Island Shipyard in Grandview, Indiana, located at 734 Mile Marker on the Ohio River. Departing from Corn Island, IN  on August 27, 2019, the vessel will head south on the Ohio River…

Finance — or at least project economics based on long-term commodity prices — appear to be factors limiting a surge in investments in floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) a new study by U.S.-based numbers cruncher, World Energy Reports, revealed Monday.Among a growing count of floating producers in the planning stage, some are destined to become FLNG, increasingly the go-to solution discussed for producing stranded or remote gas. WER’s report writers detail the status of known…

Gulf of Mexico (GoM) Lease Sale 253 in New Orleans generated over $159 million in high bids for 151 tracts covering 835,000 acres in federal waters.Twenty-seven companies participated in the lease sale, submitting approximately $175 million in bids, said Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).“We are excited about the results from today’s lease sale, which show a continued upward trend for the year. The total from today’s lease sale and the March sale is the highest since 2015 for high bids,” said Interior’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Andrea Travnicek.

Seabulk Tankers, a subsidiary of SEACOR Holdings, has announced the successful delivery of its first methanol parcel chemical shipment aboard the articulated tug-barge (“ATB”) Sea-Power/Sea-Chem I.The Sea-Power/Sea-Chem I loaded a 10,500 metric ton methanol parcel in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and discharged the parcel in Charleston, South Carolina and Chesapeake, Virginia. The vessel can load up to 30,000 metric tons of cargo into eleven segregations and is equipped with stainless steel cargo piping and MarineLINE 784 cargo tank coating. She is one of the most modern, fuel efficient, and capable chemical parcel vessels in the Jones Act fleet today.Methanol is a liquid chemical produced from conventional fossil sources as well as sustainable raw materials like biomass…