State Corporation News

Much has been written recently about the challenges facing U.S. offshore wind projects, resulting in requests to terminate or renegotiate contracts to sell power to states. Examples of these challenges can be found from Massachusetts to Virginia. Coming on top of last week’s somewhat disappointing events of the Gulf of Mexico lease auction, speculation has mounted around the longer-term prospects for U.S. wind. But how serious is this problem, and what does it mean to the longer-term goals of the federal administration to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind by 203 and 110 GW by 2050?Below…

Sweden-based Skanska, one of the country's largest construction firms, has signed a contract with the Virginia Port Authority to rebuild 72 acres of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal in Portsmouth, Virginia, USA. The project will redevelop approximately 72 acres of the 287-acre Portsmouth Marine Terminal for use as an offshore wind staging port which will improve 1,500 feet of an existing 3,540-foot wharf.Skanska will include the contract worth $223 million, about SEK 2.3 billion…

Offshore wind installation services company Seajacks UK, as of recently a subsidiary of Eneti, has established an operational base in the City of Virginia Beach, Va.Seajacks has been providing Blue Ocean Energy Marine, a Dominion Energy-owned company, with support services relating to the construction and operation of the first Jones Act compliant offshore wind turbine installation vessel, Charybdis, seen as a key vessel for the development of the U.S. offshore wind industry.The…

U.S. company Dominion Energy expects to file plans later on Friday with the Virginia State Corporation Commission for approval to construct the 2.6-gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) commercial project, which will generate enough clean energy to power up to 660,000 homes."The filing keeps the project on schedule and builds on recent economic development announcements, such as the Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy turbine blade factory at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal and Dominion Energy's investment in the only U.S.

The U.S. is going to need a fleet of Jones Act-compliant vessels to support its budding offshore wind industry. The good news is that several of these vessels are currently operating or on order. Even better, there are plenty more in the pipeline.In 2016, Rhode Island-based Atlantic Wind Transfers (AWT) put into service the U.S.’ first-ever vessel purpose-built for offshore wind services. The 21-meter crew transfer vessel (CTV) Atlantic Pioneer was constructed by Blount Boats to serve America’s first commercial offshore wind project…

Shipbuilder Keppel AmFELS has laid the keel for the first ever Jones Act compliant offshore wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) at its shipyard in Brownsville, Texas, marking a key milestone for the development of the U.S. offshore wind industry.With several gigawatts of offshore wind capacity to be installed along the U.S. East Coast in the next decade, access to Jones Act compliant WTIVs is of strategic importance to the U.S. offshore wind market. Currently no such vessel exists. Dominion Energy contracted with Keppel AmFELS, a wholly-owned U.S.

Dominion Energy and Ørsted have said that the turbine components and monopiles for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot project have started their journey to North America. The foundations, consisting of the turbines' monopiles, transition pieces and anode cages fabricated by EEW SPC, have been loaded onto the Bigroll Beaufort cargo ship in Rostock, Germany. The components for the two, 6-megawatt Siemens Gamesa turbines were loaded in Esbjerg, Denmark, before the vessel embarked in mid-April on the approximately two-week transatlantic journey to Halifax…

The Russian natural-gas company Novatek and Atomenergomash, a mechanical engineering division of the Rosatom State Corporation, have signed a memorandum on strategic partnership and localizing the fabrication of critical equipment for liquefied natural gas (LNG) production.Novatek said that under the memorandum, the two companies will cooperate in the long term to localize the fabrication of pumps, heat exchangers and other equipment for Novatek's LNG projects at Atomenergomash's facilities.The Memorandum notes the results already achieved on the fabrication of coil-wound heat exchangers and medium-tonnage cryogenic pumps, and establishes the obligations of the Parties on design…

Now that the United States finally can envision steady winds blowing from the Atlantic Seaboard due to a pipeline of offshore wind farms on the horizon, the maritime industry can finally step up and earn some of the benefits. This includes shipbuilding, port construction, and worker training. This article reviews the key developments and forecasts the growth in maritime jobs.The federal and state governments share responsibility for developing offshore wind farms and bringing the wind into the power grid and…

The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) demonstration project has entered the construction phase as the American power and energy company Dominion Energy has formally begun construction.Gov. Ralph Northam announced the start of construction of the CVOW demonstration project, consisting of two six-megawatt wind turbines located approximately 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach."This activity marks the first work at the project site to facilitate interconnection of the two 6-megawatt wind turbines which will power 3,000 homes at peak. Wind is part of a broader effort to deliver renewable energy, including solar, as we honor our commitment to reduce carbon emissions…

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping during a meeting held in St.Petersburg, the Russian Federation.The MOU reconfirms and further develops the cooperation between the two organizations related to the training of seafarers especially in the field of Northern Sea Route operations.MOL has been operating icebreaking LNG carriers for the Yamal LNG project that navigate in the Northern Sea Route, and MOL crews have had special training such as polar water training courses for navigation officers and cold climate survival training course at the Makarov Training Centre…

Russia’s natural gas producer and the operator of the giant Yamal LNG export project Novatek, has signed an agreement of intent with Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom to establish a joint venture (JV).The JV plans to establish a long-term partnership to jointly develop, finance and implement a project to create a liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fuelled icebreaker fleet.

Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) said it has been chosen by the government of Sudan to handle the operations and management of the South Port Container Terminal (SPCT). In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, ICTSI said the state-run Sea Ports Corp. of Sudan (SPC) has confirmed it as the preferred bidder to operate and manage the SPCT under a 20-year concession. ICTSI, controlled by gaming and ports tycoon Enrique Razon Jr., said that SPC is the independent state corporation of the Republic of the Sudan that governs, constructs and maintains the country’s ports, harbors and lighthouses.

The state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corp. (AGDC), and ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. have executed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to form a joint venture company (JV) to market liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Alaska LNG project. AGDC said the joint venture would also focus on buying North Slope gas and pursue support of other major North Slope producers in the formation. The JV's ultimate goal is to bring global LNG buyers and North Slope wellhead sellers together. According to Alaska Dispatch News, the JV will also try to bring ExxonMobil and BP into the joint venture, according to a statement from the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., the state corporation that represents Alaska in the $55 billion Alaska LNG project.

Alaska Gasline Development Corp. President Keith Meyer says the Big 3 oil companies are cooperating with the state’s desire to take full ownership of the AK LNG Project. He laid out an ambitious list of “to-dos” the state needs to check off if it is going to lead the $55 billion Alaska LNG Project to fruition at a board of directors meeting. According to local media, ExxonMobil, BP and ConocoPhillips in recent months have signaled they may not all continue with the project amid the global slump in the price of oil and liquefied natural gas. Now, the state and the oil companies are working "cooperatively" on a plan to turn over leadership of the project to Alaska, said Keith Meyer, president of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp.

The recently introduced Wärtsilä 31 engine, which has been acknowledged by Guinness World Records as being the world's most efficient four-stroke diesel engine, has been selected to power a new generation icebreaker currently under construction at the PJSC Vyborg Shipyard. The ship is being built on behalf of FSUE Atomflot, the enterprise of ROSATOM, the State Corporation for Atomic Energy. The order was signed in September. When delivered, the icebreaker will serve the Yamal LNG project in Sabetta, located northeast of the Yamal peninsular in Russia. The project is one of the largest industrial undertakings in the Arctic. Fuel efficiency and reliability were the two major deciding factors behind the choice of the Wärtsilä 31 engine.

United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) has taken on 53.5122% of the voting shares of the long planned Far Eastern Plant Zvezda shipbuilding complex in Russia’s Far East. Zvezda (a company of the Far Eastern Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Center, or FESRC) is a leading shipyard providing services for repairs of submarines of the Russia’s Pacific Fleet and the only company in the Far East specializing in repairs, conversion and modernization of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. Frustrated with the lack of yard space to build new tankers and oil platforms as high-priority naval orders filled up shipyards, state oil major Rosneft in 2013 launched a 111 billion ruble ($2 billion) modernization project at Zvezda, formerly one of the Soviet Union’s largest military shipyards.

The world’s biggest nuclear-powered icebreaker keel laying ceremony took place of at the Baltic Shipyard on 26 May 2015. Heads of Atomfflot, the Baltic Shipyard and the RS Branch Office for Nuclear Vessels signed a Keel Laying Acceptance Report of the first serial nuclear-powered icebreaker, project 22220. Bookmark nuclear-powered icebreaker "Sibir" was timed to the anniversary of the Baltic plant, which on May 26 turned 159 years . In the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Director General of State Corporation "Rosatom" Sergei Kiriyenko, the president of USC Alexey Rakhmanov, the governor of the Murmansk region Marina Kovtun and other honorary guests of the event laid the first serial icebreaker project 22220, dubbed "Siberia".

Malta and Azerbaijan have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the development of a gas hub which would cater for local and international markets, reports the Times of Malta. The MOU targets strategic collaboration in the oil and gas sector as part of the government’s vision to transform energy and petroleum sectors into key value added economic activities. To this end, both sides identified a number of key areas. The European Union is also looking southwards to develop a “southern gas corridor” for natural gas from Azerbaijan to fuel the European mainland. A key policy that also ties in with the Maltese government’s prospective energy shift to gas…

Siemens will deliver the key components for a power station that is going to supply the future Yamal LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) production plant in Northern Russia with electricity and heat. The Siemens scope of supply comprises the design, manufacture, factory testing, delivery, installation and commissioning of eight SGT-800 industrial gas turbines as well as nine step-up transformers. Four of these turbines will additionally be equipped with waste heat recovery units. The power plant will have an electrical output of 376 megawatts (MWe). The order has been placed by the Russian engineering company Technopromexport (TPE), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rostec State Corporation.

Technip signs two agreements with State Corporation Russian Technologies (Rostec) for subsea equipment production. Technip and RT-Chemcomposite Holding Company, a Rostec subsidiary, signed a memorandum of understanding to express their intention to form a joint-venture (JV) company for subsea activities in Russia. Under the terms of this memorandum, the joint venture is a cooperation in the production of equipment for the oil and gas industry and in particular flexible composite pipes based on Technip’s technology. It allows to produce oil and gas at the depth of down to 3,000 meters and provides for speedy pipe laying operations. They will also intend to evaluate the possibility of establishing a research and development center.

On April 2, Alaska Ship & Drydock, Inc. and the Ketchikan Gateway Borough christened the MV Ken Eichner‐2 as the Borough’s second ferry providing service to the Greater Ketchikan International Airport and entering service as the sister ship to the MV Oral Freeman. Both ships were built by Alaska Ship & Drydock, Inc. (ASD) and are registered as Hull No’s 001 and 004 respectively for the Ketchikan based Shipbuilder. The project was funded through state legislative appropriations sponsored by Senator Bert Stedman and Representative Kyle Johansen.

Carnival Corp. filed suit against the Virginia Pilot Association this week, seeking to recoup about $350,000 in what it says are overcharges by the pilots, which steer ships between the Atlantic Ocean and docking points in the port of Hampton Roads, according to a report in The Virginia-Pilot. At issue is how to properly calculate the volumes of the Fun Ships that Carnival has sailed from Hampton Roads several times a year for the past decade. The Pilot Association uses those volumes - based on the ships' length, width and height - to assess the fees it charges for its services. When determining the heights of the cruise ships, the pilots have been measuring from the vessels' bottoms to one of the uppermost decks of the towering ships.