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Lancaster News

05 Jun 2023

Iranian Boats 'Harass' Merchant Ship in the Strait of Hormuz

A screenshot of surveillance footage from a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft showing three Iranian fast-attack craft approaching an internationally flagged merchant vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz, June 4, 2023. (Photo: U.S. Navy)

U.S. and British naval forces on Sunday came to the aid of a commercial ship that was "harassed" by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy in the the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. Navy said.Civilian crew aboard the merchant vessel reported three Iranian fast-attack craft with armed personnel approached and followed their vessel at close distance while it transited the narrow strait. The radio distress call was made at 4:56 p.m. local time.U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul (DDG 74) and U.K.

05 Mar 2023

British Navy Seizes Smuggled Iranian Weapons in Gulf

(Photo: Royal Navy)

Britain's Royal Navy said on Thursday it had seized Iranian weapons, including anti-tank guided missiles, last month from a smugglers vessel in international waters in the Gulf of Oman.Britain said the vessel was detected travelling south from Iran at high speed during the hours of darkness by an unmanned U.S.

28 Feb 2023

Russia’s Inability to Dominate the Sea has Changed the Course of the War in Ukraine

(Image: Ukrposhta)

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, most of the fighting has been on land. However, there has also been a less visible – but nonetheless crucial – maritime dimension to the war across the full spectrum of tactical, strategic, economic and diplomatic considerations.After land troops crossed the Ukraine border on February 24 2022, the Russian navy quickly secured control of the northwestern Black Sea. This meant it could contribute to the air campaign against Ukraine by launching cruise missiles from the sea.

17 Nov 2022

US Says Iran Responsible for Drone Attack on Tanker

An attack on a tanker off the coast of Oman on Tuesday was carried out by an Iranian-made drone, U.S. Central Command said in a statement, adding that a multilateral maritime operation led by a British Royal Navy frigate had responded to the area.An Israeli official had blamed Iran for the strike on the Pacific Zircon tanker managed by Israeli-controlled Eastern Pacific Shipping. The company said there was minor damage to the hull but no injuries or spillage of the gas oil cargo.A White House official earlier said the United States was "confident that Iran likely conducted" the hit using an unmanned aerial vehicle. Iran's Nournews, which is affiliated with the country's top security body, blamed Israel for the attack.U.S.

09 May 2022

Lloyd’s Register Foundation Names Boumphrey CEO

Dr. Ruth Boumphrey (Photo: Lloyd’s Register Foundation)

Lloyd’s Register Foundation announced the appointment of a new CEO to take the charity into its second decade.Dr. Ruth Boumphrey will take over from outgoing CEO Professor Richard Clegg following his retirement June 30, 2022. Professor Clegg was the charity’s first CEO and led the organization for 10 years.Dr. Boumphrey is currently Director of Research and Strategic Programs at Lloyd’s Register Foundation, the owner of Lloyd’s Register Group, where she leads its work on some…

03 Mar 2022

Ukraine Invasion: What Can Be Done at Sea?

© muhor / Adobe Stock

The closure of the Turkish straits to all warships has drawn attention to the maritime dimension of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.From a tactical and operational perspective, Russian naval forces have already contributed, albeit in a limited way, to the current invasion of Ukraine, notably with missile strikes and amphibious assaults. But from a strategic and political perspective, there are other important maritime elements to the conflict, for both Russia and Nato.Russia is not…

04 Jun 2021

UK Royal Navy Tests AI at Sea to Counter Missile Threats

HMS Lancaster (background), HMS Dragon (middle) and HMS Argyll (foreground) partaking in Exercise Formidable Shield 2021 (Photo: Royal Navy)

The U.K. Royal Navy recently trialed the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies at sea to counter supersonic missile threats.The operational experiment was carried out on the Type 45 Destroyer (HMS Dragon) and Type 23 Frigate (HMS Lancaster), using the AI applications Startle and Sycoiea as part of Exercise Formidable Shield, which wrapped up on Thursday off the coast of Scotland.As part of the Above Water Systems program, led by Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) scientists…

04 Feb 2021

Bluewater Taps Royston for FPSO Engine Overhaul

Aoka Mizu FPSO - Credit: Royston

FPSO operator Bluewater Services signed a framework agreement with marine engineering and maintenance firm Royston for engine overhaul, repair, and associated services on two of its FPSOs.Under the agreement, Royston will carry out planned engine maintenance and emergency repairs on the Haewene Brim and Aoka Mizu FPSOs operating in the North Sea. The framework includes main engine work on both vessels as well as on generator sets and fire pumps.The Samsung built 103,000 DWT, Hæwene Brim…

12 Oct 2020

FPSOs: Hybrid Digital Twins Could Boost Safety and Cut Inspection Costs

FPSO specialist Bluewater and classification company DNV GL have teamed up in a pilot project aimed at testing how hybrid digital twin technology can predict and analyze fatigue in the hull of an FPSO in the North Sea, increase safety, and reduce operational costs and time by optimizing inspections.The project aims to validate and quantify the benefits of creating a virtual replica of the FPSO to optimize the structural safety of the vessel and enhance risk-based inspection (RBI)…

28 Jul 2020

LR Names Marine & Offshore President for SAMEA

Mike Holliday - LR's Marine & Offshore president for South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa (SAMEA) - Credit: LR

LR has appointed Mike Holliday as Marine & Offshore president for South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa (SAMEA).In his new role, Holliday will lead LR’s Marine and Offshore operations across SAMEA, primarily based in Singapore, and be responsible for developing the business in current and emerging markets as well as identifying growth opportunities in the region including key gas, naval and offshore projects.Holliday’s remit will also include LR’s traditional portfolio such as classification…

06 Jan 2020

Royston Overhauls Aoka Mizu FPSO Power Systems

(Photo: Royston)

Royston said it has completed the overhaul of a critical power system on board the Bluewater Services operated floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel Aoka Mizu.The diesel power specialist said its team of engineers undertook the 6,000-hour service on the MAN 32/40 STX diesel generator B on board the 88,000 dwt floater as part of a planned refurbishment and refit of essential power systems.Work on the vessel, which is currently on contract to Hurricane Energy for the early production system (EPS) on the Lancaster field…

10 Dec 2019

Ørsted Announces STEM Skills Fund

Denmark's offshore wind giant Ørsted A/S has unveiled more than £50k for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) skills across Lancashire and Cumbria.The renewable energy developer says the wave of new finance will be sourced from the Walney Extension Skills Fund.An award of nearly £40,000 goes to STEM Learning Ltd to develop two ENTHUSE Partnership projects in Cumbria and Lancaster. Each Partnership project will bring together eight schools and colleges from within the eligible funding area, to develop a two-year intensive improvement program to raise achievement and aspiration in STEM subjects.Fran Dainty, Head of STEM Expertise…

19 Sep 2019

First Subsea to Cover Formosa 1

UK-based offshore technology services provider First Subsea has delivered beach landing cable protection for three export cables on the 120MW Formosa 1 Phase 2 offshore wind farm in Taiwan.According to the Lancaster-based company, the contract was awarded by  Jan De Nul Group, EPCI contractor for delivery and installation of the project’s cables and foundations.Three systems, each 250m in length were contracted in Feb 2019 and delivered on time at the end of March 2019. The protection system is designed for an export cable diameter of 158mm with a bending radius of 2.37m.First Subsea project manager, Ross Carrington, said, “The delivery…

02 Aug 2019

Canada to Save Rapidly-Melting Arctic Ice

Canada’s Arctic warming at three times the global rate, permafrost melting 70 years ahead of predictions, the worst polar wildfire season on record.To counter bad news on northern climate-change,  plans have now moved forward to protect Tuvaijuittuq. Meaning “the ice never melts” in Inuktitut, it’s a globally important area in the Canadian High Arctic almost the size of Germany.The Qikiqtani Inuit Association, working with the governments of Canada and Nunavut, has led the charge to make Tuvaijuittuq a 322,000 sq. km interim Marine Protected Area with an impact benefit agreement that delivers on their promise of a conservation economy…

25 Apr 2019

Reid Gantry to Install Floating Solar System

Photo: Reid Lifting

Northern Pontoon used a 3,000 kg working load limit (WLL) lightweight gantry crane from Reid Lifting to anchor a solar system on the Langthwaite Reservoir in Lancashire, UK recently.The floating array features approximately 3,700 pontoon modules and 3,520 solar panels. The 7,200 sq. m. system will provide a MW of power, equivalent to the needs of 200 homes. Integral to successful installation was a Porta-Gantry crane from Reid, which was onsite for three weeks at varying intervals during the eight-week project.Northern Pontoon sourced the gantry…

13 Nov 2018

Aoka Mizu FPSO Needs Extra Repairs

Aoka Mizu FPSO (Photo: Bluewater)

The floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit Aoka Mizu's planned stop in Algeciras, Spain will be extended for additional repair work, said U.K. based Hurricane Energy.The FPSO, which will be used at Hurricane's Early Production System development of the Lancaster field west of Shetland, is in Algeciras for planned personnel changes, bunkering and other commissioning activities. The stopover will be extended to repair an auxiliary system associated with power generation…

23 Oct 2018

Drydocks World Completes FPSO Upgrade, Turret Mooring Project

Photo: Drydocks World

Drydocks World has recently completed two projects for Bluewater Energy Services B.V. and end client Hurricane Energy plc.The projects included the refurbishment, life extension and upgrade of the FPSO Aoka Mizu vessel, and the construction of a Turret Buoy weighing over 1,000T. In addition to the complex buoy construction project, Drydocks World teams fabricated and installed over 1,000T of structural steel, 1,800 pipe spools (including Duplex), and 55km of cables on the FPSO.The FPSO Aoka Mizu will be deployed on the Lancaster field…

15 Oct 2018

Hurricane FPSO Leaves Dubai After Upgrade, Shetlands First Oil Seen in H1

(Photo: Hurricane Energy)

The Aoka Mizu floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel ordered by Hurricane Energy has left Dubai following a series of upgrades, the company said, another milestone for the group as it seeks to extract so-called fractured basement oil in Britain.Hurricane specializes in recovering oil from fractures in hard and brittle rock known as fractured basement reservoirs, which some see as a risky way to obtain crude.It expects first oil from its Greater Lancaster Area (GLA) project, west of Scotland's Shetland Islands, in the first half of 2019.

03 Sep 2018

Spirit Energy Invests in West of Shetland

Spirit Energy will invest in exploration and appraisal West of Shetland for the first time early next year after farming into 50% of Hurricane Energy’s Greater Warwick Area.Spirit Energy will fund a $180 million (£139 million) campaign to drill three wells 100km West of Shetland, to further prove up the potential of an area which holds an estimated 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in prospective and contingent resources.The three wells will be drilled in licences operated by Hurricane Energy (“Hurricane”). They will target the Lincoln discovery and the Warwick exploration prospect, which are estimated to hold 604 million boe…

08 Aug 2018

SBM Offshore Signs up with SolstadFarstad for Normand Installer

Norwegian offshore shipping company Solstad Farstad has renewed its frame agreement with SBM Offshore for the charter of the construction support vessel (CSV) Normand Installer for 2019 and 2020.As per the agreement, the 2006-built construction vessel will work for at least 114 days in 2019 and 105 days by 2020.The shipbuilder Ulstein Verft built 123.6 m long Normand Installer is owned by Normand Installer SA (NISA), which is 50/50 owned by SBM Offshore and Solstad Farstad.The Normand Installer is a deepwater construction vessel and has been on a similar contracts with SBM.Lately, Hurricane Energy used the Normand Installer to install the turret mooring system, including the newly-constructed buoy for the Aoka Mizu FPSO, at the Lancaster field offshore the UK.

27 Mar 2018

Production Floaters Orders Are on the Rebound

© sadagus/Adobe Stock

Fifteen production floaters were contracted in 2017 – 11 FPSOs, two production semis, a wellhead TLP and an FLNG – and the number of deep water projects in the near-term planning queue indicates production floater orders are set to accelerate. This is a big change from 2016 when orders for new units totally dried up and the deepwater future looked pretty bleak. Here’s a round-up of contracts awarded last year and in January 2018. Tempera FPSO - Keppel in January 2017 received a contract from Dixstone Holdings…

04 Oct 2017

Drydocks World Takes on FPSO Aoka Mizu Projects

His Excellency Abdulrahman Al Saleh Chairman of Drydocks World and Mr. Hugo Heerema, President & CEO of Bluewater (Photo: Bluewater Energy Services)

Drydocks World, a marine, onshore and offshore service provider to the oil, gas and renewable energy sectors, has signed an agreement for two new projects with Bluewater Energy Services B.V. and end client Hurricane Energy plc. Building on Drydocks World’s track record of 32 conversions and six turrets, the yard will now undertake a repair, life extension and upgrade project on Floating Production Storage & Offloading (FPSO) vessel Aoka Mizu, which will be deployed in the Lancaster Field West of the Shetlands after completion.

20 Sep 2017

New Electrical Steam Boiler Module for Aoka Mizu FPSO

The Steam Boiler module will be installed on the Aoka Mizu FPSO. (Photo: Bluewater)

Parat Halvorsen AS said it recently secured a contract to design and fabricate a complete, turnkey steam boiler module for the Floating Production & Storage Offshore (FPSO) vessel Aoka Mizu owned by Bluewater Energy Services BV. The FPSO is being decommissioned for the Lancaster project which is owned and operated by Hurricane Energy UK. The module will include 2 x 3200kW electric steam boilers based on the PARAT MEL design and will provide an additional 9,600kg/hr of saturated steam for the FPSO marine and process systems.