Square Km News

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday said the deployment of a British warship to waters off the coast of Guyana breaches the "spirit" of an agreement reached between Venezuelan and Guyanese authorities.Guyana and Venezuela agreed earlier this month to avoid the use of force and avoid increasing tensions in the long border dispute over the oil-rich Essequibo territory.The 160,000-square-km (62,000-square-mile) Essequibo region is generally recognized as part of Guyana…

Britain will deploy a naval ship off Guyana later this month, its ministry of defense said on Sunday, as the South American nation faces a border dispute with neighbor Venezuela over the oil-rich Essequibo region.The deployment follows a visit by a British junior foreign minister to Guyana earlier this month, intended to offer the UK's support for the country, an ally and former British colony.Guyana and Venezuela agreed earlier this month to avoid any use of force and not to escalate tensions in the long-running dispute.Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said in a social media post

China's "aggressive behaviour" in the South China Sea, including the use of water canon by its coast guard against a Philippine vessel, must be challenged and checked, the commander of the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet said on Sunday.Vice Admiral Karl Thomas assured the Philippines of U.S. backing in the face of "shared challenges" in the region, saying: "My forces are out here for a reason."The largest of the U.S. Navy's forward-deployed fleets, the Seventh Fleet, headquartered in Japan…

Rescuers searching for a missing submersible near the wreck of the Titanic on Wednesday concentrated their efforts on a remote area of the North Atlantic where a series of undersea noises have been detected, though officials cautioned the sounds may not have originated from the vessel.With estimates suggesting the air supply on board the submersible could run out by Thursday morning, an international coalition of rescue teams has swept a vast expanse of the ocean for signs of the Titan…

Lebanon said on Monday it would invite a U.S. mediator to Beirut to continue negotiations over a disputed maritime boundary with Israel to prevent any escalation after accusing Israel of encroaching on contested waters.The issue flared up on Sunday when a vessel operated by London-based Energean arrived off the coast to develop a gas field which Israel says is part of its exclusive economic zone but which Lebanon says falls within the contested waters.In Israel's first response to the Lebanese accusation…

An oil production and storage vessel exploded off the coast of Nigeria early on Wednesday with 10 crew members on board though it was not yet clear if there were any casualties or how much crude might have spilled into the sea.Nigeria's Shebah Exploration & Production Company Ltd (SEPCOL) said on Thursday that flames had engulfed the Trinity Spirit floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel following the blast a day earlier."At this time there are no reported fatalities…

Exxon Mobil is in discussions with Dutch contractor SBM Offshore NV to build a fourth multibillion-dollar production unit to develop its Guyana oil discoveries, two people close to the negotiations said.The talks include the potential for some future platform assembly in Guyana, the people said. Guyana hopes to develop an oil industry infrastructure to boost the economy and job growth. Officials are under pressure to show the potential oil bonanza will be shared with its citizens.The South American country is home to the world's biggest offshore discoveries in years…

Israel is ready to renew efforts to solve its dispute with Lebanon over the delineation of their territorial waters in the Mediterranean, but it will not accept that Beirut dictates the terms of the negotiation, its energy minister said on Tuesday.The talks mediated by the United States were launched a year ago to try to resolve the dispute, which has held up exploration in the potentially gas-rich area. The talks stalled in May.U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein is due in both…

More oil from a massive offshore spill landed on the southern California shore on Monday, with beaches closed and dead fish and birds washing up on shore as officials investigated whether a ship anchor striking a pipeline could have triggered the leak.Crews dressed in white coveralls and helmets raced against an approaching storm as they cleaned damage from 3,000 barrels (126,000 gallons) of oil that spilled into the Pacific Ocean in recent days from a pipeline connected to an…

State-backed holding company ADQ said on Tuesday it plans to list Abu Dhabi Ports Co on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) before the end of the year.The proposed listing of a portion of existing shares is expected before the end of 2021, it said in a statement, subject to market conditions and obtaining regulatory approval.Established in 2006, Abu Dhabi Ports has 11 ports and terminals, and more than 550 square km ($334 miles) of industrial zones within Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD) and Higher Corporation for Specialized Economic Zones.For the year ended December 31, 2020, Ab

China's eastern port city Qingdao is experiencing the worst ever algae infestation in the region, with more than 1,700 square km of coastal area blanketed by harmful green seaweed, also known as "green tide." Qingdao has suffered from algae for 15 years. It normally appears from late spring and lasts for three to four months, damaging the local marine ecosystem as algae take oxygen from other organisms and churn out toxic odors while decaying. More than 1 million tonnes of algae are expected to be removed from coastal waters…

Spain has detained a tanker ship for illegally dumping fuel in waters off the Canary Islands and creating a 55-square km (21 square miles) oil spill, the Transport Ministry said.Spanish maritime authorities ordered the Liberia-flagged Aldan to dock in the southern port of Almeria last Sunday after the European Union's Maritime Safety Agency detected the spill through satellite imagery.Refinitiv shipping data showed the Aldan, which had been heading eastwards through the Mediterranean to Greece, diverted to Almeria on Sunday. As of Thursday evening it was still there.The ship's manager must pay a 600,000 euro ($713,640) fine to release the vessel…

Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Tuesday there should be no preconditions for talks with Israel over their Mediterranean border dispute, key to Lebanon's hopes to find gas reserves amid its worst economic crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war.Negotiations between the old foes were launched in October to try to resolve the dispute, which has held up exploration in the potentially gas-rich area, yet the talks have since stalled.A statement by the Lebanese presidency issued after the resumption of talks on Tuesday said the U.S.

Lebanon and Israel resumed U.S.-mediated talks on Tuesday over a dispute about their Mediterranean Sea border that has held up hydrocarbon exploration in the potentially gas-rich area, an official Lebanese source said.The longtime foes held several rounds of talks in October - a culmination of three years of diplomacy by the United States - hosted by the United Nations at a peacekeeper base in southern Lebanon.But negotiations stalled after each presented contrasting maps outlining proposed borders that actually increased the size of the disputed area.On Tuesday, the talks resumed at the same

Norwegian offshore vessel operator Rem Offshore has said its platform supply vessel Rem Trader has been awarded a contract in the offshore wind sector.Rem Offshore said in a social media post on Friday that the vessel - delivered in 2012, and formerly known as Brage Trader- had won a campaign contract for 2021 and 2022 with the Dutch offshore services company Van Oord. Under the contract, the platform supplier, which has for years worked in the oil and gas industry, will be deployed at the French offshore wind farm project Saint Brieuc, operated by Iberdrola's subsidiary Ailes Marines.The Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm will be equipped with 62 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines, each with an 8 MW capacity, installed in a 75-square-km area.

Brazil’s waterways have enormous potential for commercial transport, but are still underused and inefficient in the country’s 12 river basins, according to Brazil’s National Transport Confederation (CNT). Of the 63,000 kilometers (km) that could potentially be used for inland navigation, only 19,500 km (30.9%) of the existing network is currently used commercially for cargo and passenger transport, leaving more than two-thirds unused.However, despite wasted opportunities, Brazilian rivers have registered an increase in transported volume in recent years…

GE Renewable Energy Offshore Wind (GE) has ordered two crew transfer vessels destined to serve the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm in France.GE has ordered the vessels from Louis Dreyfus Armateurs and Tidal Transit. The two crew transfer vessels will be designed by naval architect Mauric and built by French shipyard Ocea. LD Tide, a joint venture between Louis Dreyfus Armateurs and Tidal Transit will operate the two CTVs for the transfer of maintenance technicians to the Saint-Nazaire wind farm.

The Amazon river dolphin is an intelligent and friendly mammal that appears to grin and flush like a human blushing when it gets excited.But some are concerned about the world's largest freshwater dolphin coming under threat again in Brazil, where fishermen hunt and kill it illegally to make bait for a catfish called piracatinga.A legal moratorium on fishing the piracatinga ended last month, prompting calls for its renewal from environmentalists and researchers such as biologist Vera da Silva…

Indian Navy has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Geological Survey of India (GSI) for ‘sharing of seabed sediments data, products and expertise for Naval application in meteorology and oceanography’.The MoU was signed on 21 January 2020 between Commodore AA Abhyankar, who heads Indian Navy’s Oceanology and Meteorology Directorate and Shri N Maran, Deputy Director General of GSI.GSI’s Marine and Coastal survey Division based at Mangaluru has mapped most of India’s 2.1 Million square km  Exclusive Economic Zone and has a vast repository of offshore data.This data collected using GSI’s state-of-the-art oceanic research vessels Samudra Manthan…

The search for victims of a ferry that sank in the lake of an ancient supervolcano crater in Indonesia will resume on Wednesday with divers and an underwater drone to scour the depths for at least 128 missing passengers.The wooden tourist ferry sank in rough weather on Lake Toba on Sumatra island on Monday. Eighteen survivors were found that evening, but only one body was recovered, and a day long search on Tuesday was suspended having failed to account for any more.One survivor, Widya, said her family died when the boat was hit by strong waves."There were at least five couples with two children each. I wish I had died with my family…

Japan expanded its search for a missing F-35 stealth fighter on  with a maritime survey vessel joining a navy ship and a U.S. Navy salvage team is expected in the area in coming days, a Japanese air force spokesman said.Only small pieces of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force aircraft's tail have been found since the advanced jet disappeared from radar screens during an exercise with three other F-35s over the Pacific, near northwest Japan, on April 9."The plane and the pilot are still missing," the air force spokesman said.

Italian oil and gas major Eni has signed in Maputo the contract for the exclusive exploration and development rights of the offshore block A5-A, in the deep waters of the Northern Zambezi Basin, approximately 1,500 km to the north east of the capital Maputo.With this acquisition, Eni further strengthens its presence in Mozambique, a country that has a strategic relevance for the company, said a press release from the company.The block was awarded to Eni as a result of the participation to the 5th competitive Licensing Round launched by the Republic of Mozambique. It extends over an area of 5,133 square km, at water depths between 300 and 1…

Five commercial fishermen were believed to have died after their crabbing vessel sank on New Year’s Eve in the Gulf of Alaska, the U.S. Coast Guard said after ending a search and rescue operation amid high winds and heavy seas.There were two survivors: crewmen who took refuge in a lifeboat and were rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. The two were taken to a hospital in Kodiak and were reported to be in stable condition, the Coast Guard said.But after scouring a 1,400 square-mile (3,600 square km) area for 20 hours with helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft in the air and a cutter at sea, the Coast Guard called off its search for five missing crew on Wednesday night.The wreck appeared to be the worst Alaska commercial fishing accident in nearly three years.