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Wärtsilä’s control system for Harvey Gulf LNG fueling facility
The contract for the control system for a shore-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling facility in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, USA, has been awarded to Wärtsilä.
The facility is owned by Harvey Gulf International Marine, a major owner-operator of offshore supply and specialty vessels headquartered in New Orleans. It will be used to supply fuel to Harvey Gulf’s fleet of LNG powered platform supply vessels (PSV), and will be the first source of LNG fuel in the Gulf of Mexico. The order was placed in July, 2014.
The Wärtsilä scope of supply comprises the control cabinets, the PLCs, computers, software programming and service commissioning. It is designed to enable the entire fuelling process to be fully controlled from the control room onboard the HARVEY ENERGY class platform supply vessels, thus making the fuelling far more efficient and safer than would be otherwise possible. Delivery is scheduled for November, 2014.
“The Harvey Gulf PSVs are to be fitted with the Wärtsilä LNGPac gas control system, so it was natural that the same basic technology should also be used for the shore fuelling facility. There is a growing need for an LNG fuelling infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico, so this represents an important step forward. Both Harvey Gulf and Wärtsilä are fully committed to promoting environmentally sustainable operations, and by facilitating the use of LNG as a marine fuel, this philosophy is clearly enhanced,” says Joe Amyot, Sales Director, Wärtsilä Ship Power.
The new fuelling facility will enable the refuelling of offshore supply vessels powered by LNG. It will also have the capability to provide a fuel source for LNG fuelled cargo ships operating in the Houston – New Orleans region.
Harvey Gulf currently has six LNG fuelled PSVs under construction, all of which will be powered by Wärtsilä 34DF dual-fuel engines. The vessels will also have various other Wärtsilä equipment onboard, including the Wärtsilä LNGPac gas storage and supply system. The company, additionally, has two diesel-electric construction vessels in production equipped with Wärtsilä 32 engines and other Wärtsilä solutions.
Claxton: SABRE Subsea Abrasive Cutting System (VIDEO)
Claxton, an Acteon company, which specializes in engineering and services for jack up environments, has presented its SABRE subsea abrasive cutting system.
The Claxton SABRE abrasive cutting system is capable of simultaneously severing all the casings in a well, regardless of casing loading, eccentricity or contents.
SABRE has proven an invaluable tool and has seen successful use on some of the most significant abandonment campaigns. SABRE’s abrasive jet exits the tool at transonic speeds – making light work of even composite materials such as cemented casings.
Using a jet of naturally occurring cutting components (garnet, water and air), SABRE has a low environmental impact. The system can be deployed from a vessel or platform, allowing simultaneous abrasive cutting of multiple well casings without impacting adjacent infrastructure.
Sonardyne Supplies BOP Control System to Noble’s Drillship (USA)
Sonardyne International Ltd. has been awarded a contract by Noble Corporation to supply a Wireless Acoustic Emergency BOP Control System for its new deepwater drillship. The Noble Globetrotter II is the fifth Noble new-build vessel, along with other existing rigs, to be equipped with Sonardyne’s safety critical acoustic technology, providing reliable through-water wireless communications, positioning and BOP control in an emergency situation.
The Noble Globetrotter II is of similar design to its sister vessel, the Noble Globetrotter I. The vessel is due to begin work in the Gulf of Mexico in the second half of 2013.
Noble Corporation is one of the largest offshore drilling contractors in the world and operates a worldwide fleet of 79 rigs and drillships. The Noble Globetrotter II is currently en route to the Netherlands for tower and drilling system installation and once complete, will be capable of drilling in water depths up to 10,000ft. The vessel is due to begin work in the Gulf of Mexico in the second half of 2013 on long-term contract to Shell.
In the event of loss of normal communications with a BOP stack, Sonardyne’s self-contained, high security acoustic command and control backup system is used to execute emergency shutdown and riser disconnect procedures. The digital wideband acoustic signal technology incorporated into the supplied system has been proven to offer reliable performance in a well blow-out scenario despite intense noise pollution from a ruptured wellhead that would have severely limited the performance of an analogue acoustic BOP system.
“We have previously installed Sonardyne BOP control systems on several other Noble rigs so we’re delighted to be able to continue providing them with the critical positioning and control solutions they need,” said Ted Kenny, Business Development Manager of Subsea Control Systems at Sonardyne. “As the only provider with acoustic systems that are field-proven in the immediate vicinity of a major subsea blowout, we have the technology and in-depth knowledge to support Noble as it continues with its deep water exploration activities. The redundancy of the equipment chosen for the Noble Globetrotter II means that they will be able to reliably communicate with the BOP from either the rig or remotely from a standby vessel if the need ever arises.”
Subsea World News – Sonardyne Supplies BOP Control System to Noble’s Drillship (USA).
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Pacific Drilling Orders Kongsberg IMS System for its Drillship
Kongsberg Maritime will deliver a sophisticated new Information Management System (IMS) as part of a ‘Full Picture’ Integrated Automation System (IAS) delivery to the Pacific Drilling owned Samsung 12000 design dynamically-positioned drillship, Pacific Santa Ana.
The IMS, which will be shown on the Kongsberg Maritime stand at ONS is a new development, which uniquely, facilitates consolidation of all control system data into a single, role-based secure web-portal. In practice, the IMS enables enhanced information sharing and better insight into operations for offshore and shore-based teams. This will result in improved decision support and safety of operations in addition to better troubleshooting of systems on board, maintenance planning and a reduced need for service personnel aboard service vessels.
Based on a suite of integrated applications offering improved information management and sharing possibilities, the new Kongsberg Maritime IMS is a modular system with a highly scalable infrastructure, enabling it to be deployed to very specific operational requirements. The Pacific Santa Ana delivery features a datalogger covering all datasources on board the drilling rig and replication of data to an onshore fleet database.
All data can be accessed in a role based web portal for offshore and onshore users. The core application is the user-defined dashboard in the web portal, which allows users in different roles to customise their views according to their specific needs and job roles. Uses for this application range include domain-specific information views and management fleet KPI views.
The new Kongsberg maritime IMS will join the already installed Kongsberg Maritime K-Pos Dynamic Positioning, K-Chief 700 automation, K-Safe safety system and K-Thrust thruster control already installed. The Pacific Santa Ana commenced drilling operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in Spring 2012 under a 5 year contract with a Chevron subsidiary. The IMS project started at the beginning of April 2012 with a Factory Acceptance Test at Kongsberg Maritime in June. The Customer Acceptance Test is at the end of August. The system is expected to be fully operational during September 2012.
Press Release, August 28, 2012
Pacific Drilling Orders Kongsberg IMS System for its Drillship| Offshore Energy Today.
- Two Unique Developments from Kongsberg Up for Prestigious Prize (Norway) (worldmaritimenews.com)
- Arctic Dynamic Positioning R&D Project Gets $3.2 Million Go Ahead (gcaptain.com)
- UK: Kongsberg Underwater Cameras for SMD Trencher (worldmaritimenews.com)
Norway: Expro’s AX-S System Installed on Havyard’s Havila Phoenix Vessel
There are great things happening aboard the vessel “Havila Phoenix” nowadays. During the last two years there have been installations and tests of a whole new system likely to revolutionise the offshore light well intervention market.
The vessel, a Havyard 858 design, is designed and constructed by the ship technology group, Havyard Group AS, and owned by Havila Shipping, both located in Fosnavåg at the west coast of Norway. The offshore construction vessel was delivered from Havyard Ship Technology in Leirvik, Norway in 2009.
The vessel has over the last year-and-a-half been working on a contract for Fugro-Salt Subsea, part of the massive Fugro group, which is a Dutch-based corporation with more than 14.000 employees spread across 60 countries. Fugro-Salt Subsea cooperates with Expro in terms of developing the new “AX-S”-system aboard Havila`s advanced construction vessel.
So far the development of this new system has been running for seven years and cost NOK 1.2 billion in research and investments in ground-breaking new technology. The breakthrough appeared around a month ago when tests in the Norwegian Onarheim fjord proved very successful.
“AX-S” is a brand new system for well intervention involving remote-controlled subsea tools. The new system is, according to both the Havila management and the management of Fugro-Salt Subsea, a revolutionary system using solutions so far never utilised in subsea operations from a construction vessel. This involves employing extremely advanced remote-controlled subsea tools during well intervention that can handle up to eight different tools within the same operation, as well as using a light fibre rope instead of heavy steel wires. These are the main elements of the recent innovation. Should the system also win approval in a business sense, it could have a major impact on the offshore light well intervention market.
STABLE HAVYARD VESSEL
In the last year-and-a-half the 110 metre long vessel, a ship now docked in the port of Montrose between Dundee and Aberdeen, Scotland, has looked more like a research station than an offshore vessel. Havila Phoenix has been outfitted with a 35 metre tall tower and several modules on deck with a combined weight of over 500 tonnes. And there is no coincidence that the Scottish group has chosen a Havyard 858 design for this unique project.
– We needed a big, solid and modern vessel, and Havila Phoenix has lived up to all our expectations. If we fully succeed with this project we will likely be looking to acquire vessels of a similar design, but we will then need to be part of the planning straight from the start and get more of the system directly integrated below deck, says Operation Manager Darren Bown of AX-S.
The captain of Havila Phoenix, Leif Magne Lynge from Gursken, Norway, confirms that the vessel still remains impressively stable despite the enormous added weight.
– Yes, things have been working really well and the vessel also performs really well for its purpose. Facilities are also excellent, says Lynge who`s been captain aboard the vessel since the initial delivery. Captain and crew are definitely looking forward to heading out to the North Sea in order to start using this exciting new system.
UNIQUE REMOTE-CONTROLLED TOOLS
Michael Earlam of Fugro-Salt Subsea informs that there are several factors making the AX-S system a world sensation. In addition to the utilization of fibre ropes instead of wires for AX-S deployment, Earlam emphasizes the remote-controlled handling and deployment of the subsea packages with the ability to deploy 8 subsea tools is each time is unique.
– By using traditional well intervention equipment you can only perform one task at a time before the equipment needs to be raised to the surface in order to swap tools and then perform a subsequent operation. The equipment used in the AX-S system manages to handle eight various tools while on the seabed, without having to be raised to the surface to swap over any tools. This makes the operation much more effective and cost-efficient, Michael Earlam informs.
And after seven years of preparation the system is nearing its baptism of fire. In September, Havila Phoenix with 500 tonnes of “subsea factory” on deck will be heading out to work in the British sector of the North Sea.
– Yes, following the successful commissioning of the AX-S system on NUTEC’s “cold well” in Onharheimsfjord, south of Bergen, during April and May be performing operations in the North Sea, the Operations Manager for AX-S, Darren Bown of Expro, confirms.
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USA: ION Unveils Calypso Seabed Acquisition System
ION Geophysical Corporation today announced the launch of Calypso™, its next generation redeployable seabed acquisition system.
Leveraging ION’s industry-leading VectorSeis® digital sensors to deliver the same unrivaled broadband imaging, Calypso is designed to operate at twice the depth and to deliver twice the operational efficiency of its predecessor system, VectorSeis Ocean (VSO).
The seabed seismic market has grown over 250% in the last five years, with over $300 million in contracts awarded in the first quarter of 2012 alone. Prompting this tremendous growth is seabed seismic’s ability to deliver superior image quality and operate in areas of dense infrastructure. Yet, despite its increasing popularity, seabed seismic still represents a relatively small percentage of total marine seismic projects, largely due to historically high costs and long cycle times relative to towed streamer acquisition. ION’s new Calypso system has the potential to mitigate both barriers to wider adoption by doubling cable lengths and productivity while significantly expanding operating depths.
Since 2004, ION’s seabed acquisition systems have delivered the highest quality seismic data on numerous projects worldwide, including in the Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, Caspian Sea, Middle East, offshore Brazil and West Africa. ION’s next generation Calypso system leverages ION’s award-winning VectorSeis sensor to provide the same superior imaging as VSO, but with step-change improvements in efficiency, operating depths, and flexibility:
- Tilt-insensitive multicomponent (4C) VectorSeis sensors record broad bandwidth seismic data with superior vector fidelity, capturing richer frequency content at both the low- and high-frequency ends of the spectrum.
- Buoy-based recording eliminates the operational expense and complexity of dedicated recording vessel(s).
- An unlimited number of cables with twice the length (12-24 km) dramatically increases productivity and shortens cycle time.
- The newly designed rugged system excels in water depths from 5 to 2,000 meters, providing flexibility to work in the most challenging fields and conditions.
Tim Rigsby, Vice President of Seabed at ION, commented, “ION has been committed to expanding the adoption of full-wave seabed imaging since introducing our first ocean bottom cable system, VSO, in 2004. Our goal has been to provide our clients with the superior imaging benefits of ocean bottom cable systems, at a price point closer to that of towed streamer acquisition. Calypso is a step-change in that direction.”
To learn more about Calypso, and to view an interactive multimedia presentation on the new system, visit Interact with the Calypso System
ION Geophysical Corporation is a leading provider of geophysical technology, services, and solutions for the global oil & gas industry. ION’s offerings are designed to allow E&P operators to obtain higher resolution images of the subsurface to reduce the risk of exploration and reservoir development, and to enable seismic contractors to acquire geophysical data safely and efficiently.
The information included herein contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may vary fundamentally from those described in these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements reflect numerous assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include risk factors that are disclosed by ION from time to time in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Gulf Keystone Silences Twitter Fantasist Behind Share Collapse
LONDON – U.K.-listed oil explorer Gulf Keystone Petroleum PLC obtained assurances Thursday that an individual who spread damaging rumors about the company on message-distribution system Twitter, which were later admitted to be fantasies, would cease to comment publicly on the company’s activities.
According to court documents, 28-year-old Spencer Freeman posted numerous messages on Twitter about Gulf Keystone between June 2011 and May 2012, culminating in a claim May 9 that the company was preparing to raise cash by issuing shares at a price of 160 pence, a 22% discount to its closing share price the previous day.
Shares in Gulf Keystone plunged by as much as 9% that day and remained down until the company refuted the claims in a regulatory filing May 10.
Gulf Keystone was seeking to prevent Freeman “posting untrue and damaging allegations” that prompted a collapse in its share price and took up substantial management time “dealing with disgruntled investors and press inquiries,” according to court documents.
Freeman will voluntarily abide by Gulf Keystone’s demands, in an agreement that will have the same legal force as a court injunction, said Justice David Bean, the presiding judge in the case. Gulf Keystone will take no further proceedings against Freeman, but he could face contempt of court charges if he breaches his undertakings, said Bean.
Freeman and a spokeswoman for Gulf Keystone declined to comment on the hearing.
Gulf Keystone’s main assets are large oil discoveries in the Kurdish region of Iraq. Its shares have been highly volatile, rising and falling almost twofold as unfounded rumors swirled that it would be subject to a takeover bid from U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp.
Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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UK: Nautronix to Supply Acoustic Positioning System for Noble’s New Drillship
Nautronix have secured another order for the supply of their NASDrill RS925 deepwater acoustic positioning system for Noble Corporation’s fourth new ultra-deepwater drillship. In 2011, Nautronix was awarded the contracts for supplying their NASDrill RS925 system for Noble’s first three new drill ships.
All new vessels will be constructed at Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in Ulsan, Korea and will be based on a Hyundai Gusto P10000 design. The rigs will have DP-3 station keeping abilities and the capacity to handle two complete BOP systems allowing for operation in water depths of up to 12,000 feet.
Mark Patterson, Nautronix CEO, commented “This order further strengthens our relationship with Noble Corporation and I believe that it demonstrates their confidence in our NASDrill RS925 system”.
NASDrill RS925 has been designed specifically to meet the requirements for a reliable, stable DP and position reference system for demanding offshore operations, in particular deepwater drilling vessels.
The system combines the two most accurate deepwater acoustic positioning technologies – Short Baseline (SBL) and Long Baseline (LBL) – to calculate multiple independent position solutions providing reliable, repeatable input to the vessel DP system; with SBL mode providing accuracies of 0.15% slant range and LBL mode providing accuracies up to 1m RMS independent of water depth.
The NASDrill RS925 system is supplied with all external interfacing to the Dynamic Positioning System for automatic station keeping and can be used as part of an integrated acoustically-aided INS positioning solution.
The system is also fully upgradable to use NASeBOP and NASNet® (Nautronix unique underwater GPS).
As with all Nautronix leading commercial acoustic systems, NASDrill RS925 utilises Nautronix proprietary ADS² (Acoustic Digital Spread Spectrum) broadband signalling technology which has been proven, with over ten years of successful subsea operations, to provide superior accuracy, repeatability and reliability for dynamic positioning of vessels during deepwater drilling operations.
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