North Sea News

Two weeks after the successful load out, the steel topside for the Hollandse Kust (west Beta) substation platform is ready to leave the port of Hoboken near Antwerp in the Netherlands for its final North Sea destination.The topside is schedule to leave the Dutch port on May 17, on a floating pontoon via the Scheldt and the Western Scheldt towards the North Sea.As soon as Heerema Marine Contractors’ installation vessel Sleipnir has completed its current job in British waters, it…

Glomar Offshore’s offshore supply vessel (OSV) Glomar Venture has reportedly hit the foundation of an offshore wind turbine in the Dutch North Sea, leaving two crew members injured in the accident.The Royal Dutch Sea Rescue Society (KNRM)  received a distress call for medical evacuation from Glomar Offshore around 7.00 am local time on April 20, which reported that two of the crewmen aboard Glomar Venture OSV have been injured.KNRM deployed its lifeboat Irene & Henk for the assistance…

Stena Bulk, the owner of the Stena Immaculate oil tanker, said it is working closely with the manager of the vessel Crowley and U.K. agencies following the last week’s allision with incident the container ship Solong.Salvage experts from SMIT Salvage are continuing with their detailed onboard assessments of Stena Immaculate.As of March 16, the third-party salvage team has confirmed that damage resulting from the containership Solong striking the Stena Immaculate was limited to one cargo tank containing Jet A-1 fuel and one ballast tank containing sea water.At the time of the allision…

Fears of an environmental disaster eased on Wednesday, two days after a container ship ploughed into a stationary U.S. fuel tanker off northeast England, as the vessel's owner said the detained captain was a Russian national.The Portuguese-flagged Solong had crashed with no obvious explanation into the larger Stena Immaculate, a tanker carrying jet fuel for the U.S. military.Huge fires and explosions charred the Solong and left the Immaculate with a gaping hole, but owner Stena…

A fire onboard the Stena Immaculate oil tanker has greatly diminished with no visible flames, as initial salvage activities begin in the North Sea, the manager of the vessel Crowley reported.Crowley said it is working closely with U.K. agencies to support the incident response, salvage and environmental impact mitigation operations resulting from container ship Solong striking the tanker Stena Immaculate while at anchor on Monday, March 10.Worth noting, Solong’s owner has characterized…

Dutch marine provider Boskalis will salvage the U.S.-flagged tanker Stena Immaculate, which was struck by a container ship off northeast England on Monday, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, confirming earlier Dutch media reports.He could not give a time frame for the salvaging but added that four ships carrying foam and extinguishing agents were already en route to put out the fire caused by the collision.Another company would salvage Solong, the other container ship involved in the collision, Boskalis' spokesperson said without specifying which company.The Stena Immaculate was anchored when it

Crowley, the manager of oil tanker Stena Immaculate that was struck on its port side by the container ship Solong, causing a blaze, has reported that all 23 members of the ship’s crew are safe and without reported injuries, as it launches spill containment response efforts.On March 10, 2025, while stationary and anchored off the North Sea coast near Hull in the United Kingdom, the Crowley-managed tanker Stena Immaculate was struck on its port side by the container ship Solong.Crowley…

A tanker carrying jet fuel for the U.S. military was hit by a container ship off northeast England on Monday, with the collision igniting a blaze on both vessels, causing multiple explosions and forcing both crews to abandon ship.The tanker, which can carry tens of thousands of tons of jet fuel, was at anchor when the smaller container ship struck it, rupturing its cargo tank and releasing fuel into the sea, its operator said. Its owner Stena Bulk gave the same details.Two maritime…

Stena Immaculate and the Portuguese-flagged container ship Solong Tanker, cargo ship collide off UK coast causing blaze and casualties.A chemical tanker and container ship collided off the northeastern coast of England on Monday causing a huge fire on at least one of the vessels and leading to numerous casualties.Authorities mounted an emergency response, and the coastguard agency said a helicopter, fixed-wing aircraft, lifeboats and nearby vessels with fire-fighting capability…

An oil tanker and a cargo ship a collided off the northeastern coast of England on Monday causing a huge fire, with authorities mounting an emergency response involving aircraft and lifeboats.Shipping industry sources told Reuters the two vessels involved were the chemical tanker Stena Immaculate and container ship Solong.Television images from the BBC showed at least one vessel ablaze with clouds of black smoke billowing into the air.The coastguard agency said a helicopter, fixed-wing aircraft, lifeboats and nearby vessels with fire-fighting capability were called to the incident.The Royal Na

With the British government's announced plan to increase the windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas producers to 38% from 35% and extend the levy by one year, a move to fund renewable energy projects, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social to implore the UK to "open up" the British North Sea and get rid of windmills."The U.K. is making a very big mistake. Open up the North Sea. Get rid of Windmills!" Trump's post said.As Monday, January 20, 2025 grows closer -- inauguration day for the incoming U.S.

The Netherlands plans to temporarily enlist additional personnel and equipment from private companies to strengthen security in its part of the North Sea, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday, confirming media reports.The decision follows reports last year from Dutch military intelligence agency MIVD that Dutch North Sea infrastructure, such as gas pipes and windmills, is the target of Russian sabotage activities.

Van Oord has installed over a quarter of the foundations which will support Sofia offshore wind farm’s 100 wind turbines in the North Sea since the start of operations in May.The Dutch contractor Van Oord is using the Port of Tyne’s Clean Energy Park as a storage and marshalling base, benefitting from direct access to its deep-water quay and connection to the North Sea.The port has been welcoming the tallest offshore installation vessel in its history, the Aeolus. Purpose-built to construct offshore wind farms…

Van Oord’s offshore installation vessel Aeolus has installed the first monopile foundation at RWE’s Sofia Offshore Wind Farm, located on Dogger Bank in the central North Sea.With a capacity of 1.4 GW, Sofia is RWE’s largest offshore wind farm to date. After its expected commissioning in 2026, the project will be capable of generating enough electricity to power the equivalent of 1.2 million typical UK homes.Following the installation of the essential subsea cable infrastructure…

Norwegian offshore vessel operator DOF Group has secured a ‘substantial’ subsea engineering procurement removal and disposal (EPRD) contract from Norske Shell in the Atlantic region.The contract outlines 100 combined days of utilization of DOF’s vessels Skandi Hera and Maersk Installer.DOF will deliver an integrated solution of project management, engineering, design, analysis and survey.Described as ‘substantial’ by DOF, this means that the contract is valued between $23.8 million and $47.8 million (NOK 250 million to NOK 500 million).The scope includes recovery and recycling of umbilicals…

Norwegian vessel owner Golden Energy Offshore Services (GEOS) has entered into contracts for two of its platform supply vessels (PSVs) – Energy Passion and Energy Paradise.The contract is with ‘Tier 1 international oil major’ whose name was not disclosed, with the operations planned to take place in the North Sea.The contract for the 2016-built Energy Passion PSV is for one-year firm, with one-year option.The Energy Paradise PSV, built in 2015, has been hired for six months firm and six months option.The gross contract value for the firm period is $14 million…

INEOS Forties Pipeline System (FPS) has selected Liebherr for the supply of a new Ram Luffing (RL) series offshore crane for its Unity Platform in the UK North Sea.After more than 30 years of service, the currently installed RL crane on the Unity Platform has run its course, and will be replaced by Liebherr’s RL 650 technology.The RL 650 crane, said to be particularly suitable for a Not Permanently Attended Installation (NPAI), will fulfil all material handling for the offshore platform…

Subsea solutions provider N-Sea Group has entered into an agreement with Rederij Groen for long-term charter of the vessel Aquarius-G, an offshore support vessel (OSV) built in 2016.With the length of 68.04 meters, 14.95 meters beam and a draught of 5 meters, Aquarius-G is said to be a well-suited vessel to execute inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM), survey, UXO, and cable operations in the North Sea.With the long-term charter of the 4-WINDS in November 2023 and now the Aquarius-G…

Norwegian offshore vessel operator DOF Group has secured two new projects – one in the North Sea and the other in Asia Pacific region – whose combined revenue is expected to bring in $30 million to the company. The first contract for DOF covers engineering, procurement, removal and disposal (EPRD) for a North Sea operator, including the project management, engineering, logistics and execution of an FPSO cessation project. According to DOF, it will disconnect, transport and pre-moor the floating unit, and retrieve and recycle the mooring system.

As Europe turns to renewable sources to diversify energy supplies away from Russian oil and gas, a peaceful marine scene conceals a billion-dollar security headache.Rising above the Baltic Sea less than 10 km (6 miles) off the coast of Denmark, 161 wind turbines spin slowly. They supply around 4% of the country's power, sent to shore through two cable connections.The turbines have no barriers or surveillance."Our technicians are only here until five o'clock in the afternoon, then they go home…

One body has been recovered and two people have been rescued in a search and rescue mission after two freighters collided in the North Sea off the coast of Germany, the maritime emergency authority said on Tuesday. The Verity, which the Central Command for Maritime Emergencies said had sunk, had been on its way from Bremen to the English town of Immingham. The Polesie was sailing from Hamburg to La Coruna in Spain. It was not immediately clear what the vessels were carrying, if anything.

Britain's Princess Anne will on Friday officially open Port of Aberdeen’s £420 million South Harbor expansion project on Friday. The project is expected to catalyze a multi-billion-pound economic and job boost for Scotland.According to a press release issued by the port, independent analysis forecast that when the expanded Port of Aberdeen reaches its full potential the port’s Gross Value Added contribution will jump 60% to £2.4 billion and increase the number of jobs supported by 45% to 17…

Norwegian Offshore Wind has signed an MoU with The Polish Investment and Trade Agency, aiming to boost offshore wind collaboration between the two countries.“These two markets have different strengths within offshore wind, and we therefore have a lot to gain on establishing strong connections between both supply chain companies and developers,” says Arvid Nesse, manager of Norwegian Offshore Wind, an organisation with 380 members.Nesse points out that Poland has experience within construction…