Recent Offshore Technology News

C-Job Naval Architects will expand its business to the United States by opening a dedicated branch office in Houston, Texas this summer.Basjan Faber, CEO at C-Job, an independent ship design and engineering company in the Netherlands, said “At C-Job we believe clients should be closely involved in the entire ship design process as it benefits the design which is why we work in close cooperation with ship owners and shipyards.“Opening an office in Houston, Texas allows us to be…

Brazil’s Petrobras has been one of the leading players in deepwater, subsea development projects since the turn of the century. These projects include pre-salt and post-salt plays, which require extensive and complex subsea engineering and construction efforts. It would be impossible for Petrobras to develop all of its projects alone, therefore much is done by specialized companies, mostly of foreign origin. “We could not have advanced in this project (pre-salt) conventionally, developing the production individually. We needed a global vision of the projects, starting from a high level plan,” said José Formigli, Petrobras’ Executive Director of E&P, speaking of the primary plan for the development of the pre-salt at the Santos Basin, the Plansal, which was created in 2008.

Petrobras plans to build the center, which is intended to help shipbuilders meet the company's pre-salt oil & gas exploration needs. The plans to build a center of excellence for the shipbuilding industry in Brazil were highlighted in the presentation made by Paulo Sergio Rodrigues Alonso, Petrobras Local Content Advisor to the President and the Executive Coordinator of Prominp, during an event sponsored by the Brazil-Texas Chamber of Commerce (Bratecc), in Houston, an event occurring in parallel with the recent Offshore Technology Conference (OTC). Paulo Alonso stressed that the biggest challenge today is to push the pre-salt forward in the shipbuilding industry and the shipyards. "NASA's slogan is well-fitting in this situation 'Failure is not an option'.

The value of this contract is approximately US$ 1.1 billion  and the rigs will be delivered in the middle of 2015. After delivery, these rigs will be chartered by Statoil, the Norwegian state oil company for eight years, and they will provide services to the Norwegian Coast, the North Sea, and Polar Regions. Statoil is operating a ‘Category-D’ oil well exploitation project on the Norwegian continental shelf and it will be possible for these rigs to drill up to a maximum depth of 8,500m in 100~500m of water. These semi-submersible rigs will be 116m long, 97m wide, and fitted with the Dynamic Positioning System which includes a GPS system.

Todd Hornbeck, who has quickly yet judiciously built a sizeable marine company at Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. in just five years, shares with MarineNews the secrets of his success. Upon meeting with Todd Hornbeck, President and CEO of Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. at the literal epicenter of big oil dollars - the recent Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston - one is continuously struck with the contrasts of the man and mission. "Cutting edge, but very conservative and practical in our approach to business" is his description of the company. The son of a successful entrepreneur who survived the devastating oil downturn of the early to mid 1980s…