Efficient Wave-Generated Power … Really!
Wave-generated power could be considered the Rodney Dangerfield of offshore renewable energy sources; it gets no respect. There have been a number of high-profile, expensive failures that have conspired to give the sector a poor reputation despite a number of engineering advances. A new entrant is SurfWEC offering a patented “surf-making” Wave Energy Converter which has been in development since 2007. Its developers promise it will stand out from the field and perform where others have failed. How?
SurfWEC to Tap Ocean Wave Power
New Jersey based marine engineering firm Martin & Ottaway together with industry partners, has formed a new company, SurfWEC LLC, that will develop Wave Energy Converters (WECs) using patented features that are expected to increase energy recovery rates by an order of magnitude over legacy WEC systems.The marine consultancy firm said in a press release that SurfWEC has broken through the barriers holding back wave energy recovery…
Total Determined to Drill Amazon Basin as Greenpeace Storms AGM
Total is determined to push ahead with its plans to drill for oil in the Amazon basin, it said on Friday as Greenpeace activists interrupted its annual general meeting in protest at the project.The French oil major wants to explore Brazil's Foz do Amazonas basin, but Brazil's environmental agency rejected its licence application on Tuesday for a fourth time.As the company's annual general meeting opened in Paris on Friday, four activists from Greenpeace descended by rope from the ceiling above the stage…
ScanReach's In: New Safety at Sea Tech
Norwegian start-up technology firm ScanReach is set to redefine safety standards at sea with In:Range, a unique system capable of locating anyone on a vessel or offshore installation in real time. The plug and play technology is simple, easy to install, low cost and, according to the team behind it, could save countless lives at sea. With In:Range ScanReach has solved a problem nobody else has. The firm has created a system and technology capable of sending and receiving data signals wirelessly through any structure…
Motive Offshore Invests $2.4 Mln in Specialist Fleet
A U.K. offshore services firm has invested £1.7 million ($2.4 million) in specialist equipment to meet demand from clients across the globe. Motive Offshore Group headquartered in Boyndie said it has added 22 items to its range of equipment during 2017. The investment included the biggest Spooler (350Te) built by the company to date, which is being sent to Brazil for a long-term project. Other key additions, which were built for specific client projects during 2017…
GustoMSC Evolves Chela the "Smart" Crane
Nearly two years ago GustoMSC introduced a smart crane for lifting and wireline operations under the drilling cantilever. Two years later, following industry feedback and further development, the equipment has evolved into Chela, named after the Greek word for a crab’s claw. Chela offers an extra hand in operations, and due to its crablike motion characteristics, it can reach below the cantilever as well as elevate towards the main deck, providing crane access to an area traditionally blocked by the cantilever when drilling.
Deep Sea Mooring Bags Quadrant Contract
Deep Sea Mooring (DSM), a Vryhof company, said it has secured a contract with Quadrant Energy to provide turnkey pre-lay mooring solutions to the Transocean GSF Development Driller 1 semisubmersible drilling rig offshore Australia. The deal – a continuation of previous work for Quadrant Energy – begins in March 2018. The agreement, with the project scope and engineering consultancy coordinated out of Perth, will enable Quadrant to have access to DSM and Vryhof Anchors’ portfolio of pre-lay mooring solutions that include chains…
DSM Begins Work for New Mooring Contract
Deep Sea Mooring (DSM), a Vryhof company, has commenced operations as part of a newly awarded contract to provide pre-lay mooring products and services to the Deepsea Bergen semisubmersible drilling rig on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Austrian oil & gas company OMV has deployed the semi-submersible rig to support drilling activities in the region. With operations coordinated out of DSM’s equipment base in Mongstad, Norway the pre-lay mooring Equipment and services provided will include chain…
Vestdavit mission accomplished on Ramform safety
Seatrials are underway in Japan involving Ramform Hyperion, the last of four ships built to the seismic sector’s all-time highest specifications, completing a project that shows the way distinctive design also demands innovation from the equipment keeping ships safely in service. Reckoned to be the widest monohulls at the waterline ever built, the Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) vessels need a unique Vestdavit dual point boat handling solution to lift and lower tender boats in wave heights up to sea state 6.
Statoil: High Activity in Deep Waters
This spring and summer saw buzzing activity at water depth of 1300 meters on the Aasta Hansteen field. Four vessels have carried out successful field operations for nearly 200 days. The waters on the Aasta Hansteen field are deep, very deep, as much as 1300 meters to be precise, but for the deep-sea fish there was much to watch on the field this year. Pipelines, risers and spoolers have been installed and hooked up to subsea templates and umbilicals that were installed last year.
Blackhawk Acquires Surge Reduction Line from Allamon Tool
Blackhawk Specialty Tools, LLC, an industry leader in deepwater cementing innovations, has acquired the surge reduction business line of Allamon Tool Company and its related intellectual property. The surge reduction business line includes Allamon’s industry-leading diverter systems and ancillary cementing tools as well as a number of patents that will complement Blackhawk’s existing portfolio. This business line will be operated from Blackhawk’s operations headquarters in Houma, Louisiana and other select markets worldwide.
ROCOL, TTS Syncrolift Ink Lubricants Supply Deal
Global technology leader and lubricant manufacturer, ROCOL, has secured a key agreement with the world’s leading shiplift company. TTS Syncrolift, which manufactures 90% of all shiplifts worldwide, has appointed ROCOL as its recommended lubricant manufacturer. Norway-based TTS Syncrolift is part of TTS Group, a global organisation that designs, develops and supplies equipment solutions and services for the marine and offshore industries. ROCOL products will be applied to all new build shiplifts by TTS.
MacGregor Winches for Wave Energy Capture
MacGregor, part of Cargotec, has won an order to supply highly-specialised winches for a pilot project using an innovative system that generates electricity from waves. The system is called NEMOS and it is ideally suited to work in combination with offshore wind farms, where it can share electrical infrastructure, which lowers the levelised cost of energy (LCOE), and smooth fluctuations in power-generation, therefore supporting greater commercial viability of renewable energy capture.
Cyberhawk Uses UAV for Internal Power Station Boiler Inspection
Cyberhawk Innovations, the world leader in aerial inspection and survey using Remotely Operated Aerial Vehicles (ROAVs), has completed its first ever commercial internal steam boiler inspection, for one of the world’s leading power companies in Bulgaria. The project, which follows on from Cyberhawk’s world first internal tank inspection using ROAVs last year, was carried out at an operational thermal power plant (TPP) and included a visual inspect of all equipment for integrity and damage assessment.
Maintaining and Surveying Steel Wire Ropes
An incident investigated by the New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) has highlighted the importance of correctly maintaining and surveying steel wire ropes, and in particular the issues associated with encasing steel wire ropes in plastic sheathing on life-saving appliance (LSA) slings. SOLAS requires that falls used in launching are inspected periodically, and that launching appliances are properly maintained and subject to a thorough examination and operational test during the annual survey.
Lankhorst Ropes Awarded Shell Contract
Offshore rope manufacturer, Lankhorst Ropes, has been awarded a contract by Shell Offshore to supply the mooring lines for the Appomattox development to be located approximately 140 nautical miles Southeast of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico. The semi-submersible four-column production platform will be moored in approximately 7,200 feet (2,195 metres) of water using 16 mooring lines arranged in 4x4 clusters. Lankhorst Ropes is supplying 78 rope lengths totalling over 63…
DNV GL Issues RP on Offshore Fiber Ropes
The results of two DNV GL led joint industry projects (JIPs) and a JIP pre-study commissioned by Statoil are now captured in a new Recommended Practice (RP) on offshore fiber ropes. With a system perspective on mooring performance, DNVGL-RP-E305 provides new industry guidance for achieving cost reductions of overall mooring operations, by addressing the engineering, manufacture and integration of offshore fiber ropes. The offshore…
Gulf Navigation Maritime, Dana Gas Collaborate
Gulf Navigation Maritime, a part of Gulf Navigation Holding PJSC, the Dubai-based shipping company, has signed an agreement with private sector natural gas company Dana Gas to provide complete logistics, transportation, marine and passenger/crew handling services for the Zora Gas Field project. Dana Gas is currently engaged in the development of gas production in the Zora Gas Field located 30 km from Sharjah and the Ajman coastline at a depth of 82 feet.
Ex-BP Engineer Deserves New Gulf Spill Trial -US Appeals Court
A former BP Plc engineer deserves a new trial on an obstruction of justice charge related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans agreed with a lower court judge's decision last June to throw out the defendant Kurt Mix's December 2013 conviction. U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval acted after learning that the jury forewoman admitted to having heard in a courthouse elevator that other BP employees were being prosecuted over the spill…
Activists Block Shell's Arctic Drilling Quest
Greenpeace protestors dangling from a bridge on Thursday in Portland, Oregon, halted an icebreaker that Royal Dutch Shell needs in northern Alaska before it can start drilling into the region's oil zone. The 13 Greenpeace protestors, who rappelled down from the bridge over the Willamette River early on Wednesday, are hoping to shorten Shell's Arctic drilling season by stopping the Fennica icebreaker, which is carrying emergency equipment that would cap any blown-out well.
