A network for commercial divers about commercial diving.

Naval Sea Systems Command’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) embedded with Commander, Task Group 42.1 on board USNS Grasp (T-ARS 51) Jan. 18 to support port clearance and harbor re-opening in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The surveys are part of the U.S. Navy’s disaster response to the 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti Jan. 12. Cargo has begun flowing through Port-au-Prince’s south pier terminal. Assessments of the pier and fuel terminal structures and approaches are ongoing.

SUPSALV’s efforts, in conjunction with Mobile Diving Salvage Unit 2 and Underwater Construction Team 1, are designed to restore harbor operations as quickly as possible, enabling humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to be provided in support of Operation Unified Response.

SUPSALV is responsible for all aspects of ocean engineering, including salvage, diving, oil pollution response, underwater ship repair, towing and heavy lift.

From Naval Sea Systems Command Office of Corporate Communications

bymnews.com

In November Singapore’s ASL Shipyard completed work on the 90m diving support vessel Mermaid Asiana. Destined for service in Mermaid’s extensive Thai fleet, the DP2 classed vessel has redundancies well beyond the basics.

With three Kawasaki bow thrusters the vessel could maintain DP2 status even if one thruster was down. This is but one example of the importance placed on maintaining position, as the ship’s primary function is to support and maintain the safety of divers working at maximum depth.

Divers for saturation diving descend up to 300m in a 6.3m3 diving bell that is lowered through a mid-ship moonpool. After working a shift at depth they are brought up in the pressurized bell that is then attached via an air lock to one of two large accommodation pressure chambers. The chambers are equipped with bunks and other amenities to support up to 12 divers at pressure between dives. A third small decompression chamber is provided for bringing divers back to surface pressures when the job is completed.

With three bow thrusters, two Niigata azimuthing propulsion drives and massive electrical requirements for everything from cranes to accommodation, the need for flexibility and redundancy in the power supply is important.

To meet these requirements, the vessel has six 1,900kW Cummins QSK60-DM powered generators each capable of delivering 1,600kW into the main bus. In reality all electrical requirements can be met with only five generators so that one is always on standby. An additional Cummins KTA38-DM powered emergency genset is installed on a higher deck level.

In addition to the diving capabilities, the vessel is also fitted out and equipped for ROV support. On the aft deck there is a 100 tonne knuckleboom crane as well as a 10 tonne auxiliary and a 2 tonne stores crane. Accommodation for up to 100 workers and crew is provided in a range of one, two and four-berth cabins. A helipad is mounted forward rated for a Sikorsky S-61 N, Super Puma.

oilpubs.com

You read that headline correctly. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is financing oil exploration off Brazil.

The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil’s Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil’s planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a “preliminary commitment” letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount. Ex-Im Bank says it has not decided whether the money will come in the form of a direct loan or loan guarantees. Either way, this corporate foreign aid may strike some readers as odd, given that the U.S. Treasury seems desperate for cash and Petrobras is one of the largest corporations in the Americas.

But look on the bright side. If President Obama has embraced offshore drilling in Brazil, why not in the old U.S.A.? The land of the sorta free and the home of the heavily indebted has enormous offshore oil deposits, and last year ahead of the November elections, with gasoline at $4 a gallon, Congress let a ban on offshore drilling expire.

The Bush Administration’s five-year plan (2007-2012) to open the outer continental shelf to oil exploration included new lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. But in 2007 environmentalists went to court to block drilling in Alaska and in April a federal court ruled in their favor. In May, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said his department was unsure whether that ruling applied only to Alaska or all offshore drilling. So it asked an appeals court for clarification. Late last month the court said the earlier decision applied only to Alaska, opening the way for the sale of leases in the Gulf. Mr. Salazar now says the sales will go forward on August 19.

This is progress, however slow. But it still doesn’t allow the U.S. to explore in Alaska or along the East and West Coasts, which could be our equivalent of the Tupi oil fields, which are set to make Brazil a leading oil exporter. Americans are right to wonder why Mr. Obama is underwriting in Brazil what he won’t allow at home.

online.wsj.com

City commissioners Thursday night discussed for the second time their position on offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a proposal opposed last year by nearly every coastal city across Tampa Bay.

Yet Dunedin City Hall still has adopted no official stance on drilling, partly due to a draft resolution written by City Attorney John Hubbard that commissioners saw as weak, vague and outdated by months.

Commissioners agreed with the draft’s main premises: that the city’s economy relies heavily on tourism revenues tied to the beaches, especially the centerpieces of Honeymoon and Caladesi islands, and that oil wells within 3 miles of the coastline could risk Dunedin’s “largest industry and quality of life.”

Yet problems arose in the resolution’s calls to action. In the first, Hubbard wrote that the city wanted to ask Gov. Charlie Crist to not call a special legislative session to “rush through” a drilling proposal.

Yet the session in question already happened last year. Drilling was not part of the agenda.

The second section said only “that before additional expansion of drilling areas in the Gulf of Mexico be considered, that the significant expansion recently allowed be explored.”

That call wasn’t strong enough for commissioners.

“When it comes to the title, ‘opposing the expansion of offshore drilling,’ it’s curious to read that nowhere in the resolution does the word ‘oppose’ ever occur,” said Commissioner Ron Barnette.

“Why isn’t there a stronger language akin to some of the other (cities)?” he said. “Quite frankly, Section 2 is the only thing that comes close to saying we oppose it, and that could be supported by one who supports it.”

St. Petersburg, Tampa, Clearwater, Largo, Safety Harbor and a council of 11 Pinellas coastal cities (the “BIG-C”) opposed offshore drilling late last year, many of them decrying strongly the potentially “catastrophic damage” of an oil spill or the more passive obtrusions into beach life.

“Drilling rigs of any size would be seen on the horizon in the daytime, during the sunset and especially at night,” said Dunedin Chamber of Commerce Chairman Jack Norton, quoting the BIG-C’s September resolution, “and pose threats to our way of life here that we are unwilling to accept.”

Commissioners, who postponed the discussion in December for more information, asked that Hubbard resubmit a stronger draft using the BIG-C’s longer resolution as a base by February’s meeting.

One visitor to City Hall, however, expressed support for more domestic oil drilling and questioned the value of the city’s decision.

“I want you guys to take care of my garbage, to take care of my water,” said resident John Espey. “But a resolution about drilling in the gulf — I don’t see that as what we ought to be doing.”

rigzone.com

Drilled by the ENSCO 8500 semisub, the Lucius sidetrack appraisal well, located in Keathley Canyon block 875 in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, encountered almost 600 net feet of high-quality oil pay with additional gas-condensate pay in thick subsalt Pliocene and Miocene sands.

“The successful Lucius appraisal well confirms this is a major discovery with substantial resource potential,” said Bob Daniels, Anadarko Sr. Vice President, Worldwide Exploration. “We were very encouraged by what we saw in the discovery well, and the results from this appraisal further heighten our enthusiasm. The reservoirs are characterized by excellent porosity and permeability and contain high-quality oil. We anticipate additional appraisal activity in 2010 as we continue to evaluate development options for this very large accumulation.”

The Lucius appraisal well was drilled as an up-dip sidetrack, approximately 3,200 feet due south of the discovery well. It was drilled to a total depth of approximately 20,600 feet in approximately 7,100 feet of water. The Lucius discovery well, announced last month, was drilled to a total depth of about 20,000 feet and encountered more than 200 net feet of pay.

Anadarko operates the Lucius well with a 50-percent working interest. Co-owners in the discovery include Plains Exploration & Production Company with a 33.33-percent working interest and Mariner Energy, Inc. with 16.67-percent working interest.

Once operations are complete at the Lucius appraisal well, Anadarko plans to move the rig to drill an appraisal of Anadarko’s subsalt Miocene Heidelberg discovery in the Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico, which was announced in early 2009. Anadarko operates Heidelberg with a 44.25-percent working interest.

rigzone.com

An 800-foot tanker collided with a towing vessel and released thousands of gallons of crude oil into a waterway at Port Arthur, Texas, causing the worst oil spill in more than 15 years.

AP reported that the collision left a 15-by-8-foot hole in the tanker and damaged one of its tanks resulting in the spill. No-one was harmed in the accident. The spill has been contained to a 2 mile radius along the Sabine Neches Waterway and no wildlife is believed to have been effected. A clean-up operation is now underway.

About 462,000 gallons of oil spilled when the tanker, headed for an Exxon Mobil Corp. refinery in Beaumont, collided Saturday with a vessel pushing two barges. As of Monday, roughly 220,000 gallons of oil had evaporated or dispersed, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

No injuries have been reported, but Port Arthur residents were evacuated after the spill while officials tested the air quality. So far only two oil-covered birds have been reported; one of them was captured and cleaned up, and the other flew away.

Saturday morning’s collision ripped a 15-by-8-foot hole in the hull of the Eagle Otome, which was loaded with Mexican crude oil intended for a Beaumont Exxon refinery. The crash dumped 462,000 gallons of oil into the intracoastal waterway in what Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said was the biggest Texas oil spill since 1994.

The slick spanned a stretch of seven or eight miles of waterway, threatening marshlands that serve as nurseries for juvenile shrimp and fish.
By this morning, officials said nearly half of the oil was out of the water. About 46,200 gallons have been recovered, and nearly 174,000 gallons is thought to have evaporated or dissipated.
More than 550 people were working on the spill this morning, with 15 skimmers and four barges available to store recovered oil. Crews are lightering the barges this morning, and workers were planning to start lightering the tanker itself later today.
The Sabine-Neches Waterway was closed to boat traffic from the Gulf of Mexico.
Officials warned that, aside from the cost of cleanup, keeping the channel closed would mean an economic impact of roughly $200 million per day beginning today. Crews worked around the clock to minimize the delay, and officials expected to allow essential traffic through the channel within several days.

worldoil.com

T&T BISSO, an industry leader in vessel emergency response, salvage and marine firefighting services, successfully refloated a bulk carrier that ran aground near Gwadar Port in Pakistan.

Led by Salvage Master V. Seva, T&T BISSO mobilized a salvage team that included a naval architect and dive team, along with a high-horsepower tug, to refloat the grounded vessel carrying 50,000 metric tons of urea fertilizer.

The crew safely refloated the 190-meter bulk carrier during high tide without having to lighter bunkers or cargo. The vessel and cargo were delivered to its owners with no damage to the environment.

“This operation is another example of how T&T BISSO continues to strengthen its position in the worldwide emergency response market,” said Managing Director Kevin Teichman.

Formed in 2005, T&T BISSO is a stand-alone response contractor servicing the maritime, shipping and offshore energy industries. T&T BISSO combines the resources and experience of T&T Marine Salvage, which was founded in 1957, and Bisso Marine Company, founded in 1890. T&T BISSO’s worldwide response network includes firefighting systems, inert gas generators, nitrogen generators, ship-to-ship pumping and lightering systems, pulling systems and diving systems. For more information, please visit www.ttbisso.com.

yourindustrynews.com

Subsea 7 Inc (OSE Symbol: SUB), one of the world’s leading subsea engineering and construction companies, announced today the successful completion of the Girassol Pipeline Repair Project for Total E&P Angola.

The project was an entirely diverless pipeline repair in 1350 meters water depth and was based on a technical design competition issued by Total which resulted in Subsea 7 being awarded the contract for the design, manufacture, testing and operation of a new deepwater pipeline repair system (PRS).  The system would then be used on the repair of a damaged 12-inch water injection pipeline in the Girassol field, offshore north-west Angola.  The PRS system comprises a set of permanent equipment such as the spool deployment frame, rigid spool piece, end connection skids and two mechanical pipeline connectors together with a suite of ROV deployed or operated tools for preparing and aligning the pipeline prior to the connector installation.  The PRS is the latest addition to Subsea 7’s extensive pipeline repair capabilities which include both grouted and hyperbaric welded solutions.

The Project management and engineering was performed at Subsea 7’s office in Aberdeen, United Kingdom and the in-country works supported from Subsea 7’s facilities in Luanda, Angola.  The offshore phase comprised two separate phases.  In the first phase the permanent works equipment was installed on the seabed at the damage location.  In the second phase the ends of the damaged pipeline were lifted, prepared and aligned before the mechanical connectors were installed, set and tested with annulus tests onto the previously installed spool piece.  Final confirmation of the repair was achieved by a pipeline leak test from the Girassol FPSO which was completed in December 2009.

Graham Sharland, Subsea 7’s Chief Operating Officer – Africa Region stated, “We are delighted to have successfully completed this major pipeline repair project for Total.  The Girassol repair represents another milestone in deepwater intervention.  The solution, developed in-house by Subsea 7, has the potential to be used in a range of Life-of-field applications as the equipment and technology is fully transferable.  We look forward to many successful similar projects.”

The Girassol Field is located approximately 210 km north-west of Luanda, Angola in water depth of approximately 1350 metres.

Total E&P Angola stated:  “For Total E&P Angola it was essential to repair this damage which could have resulted in lower performance in drainage of the reservoir. The Branch contributed a lot for this project, in particular on the manufacture of the largest structures (e.g. SDF – Spool Deployment Frame).

Besides that, the Angolan branch followed closely every detail of management and monitoring of every phase, always in partnership with Subsea 7 and reporting frequently to the concessionaire Sonangol and associates of Block 17.

The project success reveals the technological advances implemented in the oil business but also the massive involvement of Angola and its staff in conducting research and development of high level studies required in this area.”

yourindustrynews.com

A Tornado hit Sunset Beach at 1.15pm today and went straight through our marina.
Liquid Coast Highway was spared as boats only 50′ away from our dock were sunk or had bimini’s and aerials ripped off. A 50′ catamaran across the channel was lifted into the air and dropped on top of another two vessels (see attached photo’s)

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We have cancelled tonight’s Local Lobster trip as another three storm cells are approaching, and the harbor is littered with debris making navigation dangerous. The warning leading up to this Tornado was no more than 25minutes, as I was watching the weather channel when it was first announced, and I would strongly advise staying off the water until the following storm cells have passed.

www.bloodydecks.com

KD Marine and Mermaid Offshore Services (MOS) have jointly entered into an Alliance Agreement which will enable KD Marine to provide fully integrated saturation, air diving, daughter craft and ROV services from the advanced DSV the ‘Mermaid Endurer’ in the European market. KD Marine will act as the lead contractor in the Alliance, providing the diving and project management services whilst MOS will provide the DSV, marine and ROV services.

The Mermaid Endurer is a 95 meter dynamically positioned DSV which is being built in the Bergen Group BMV shipyard in Bergen, Norway and which features an integrated 300 meter saturation diving system, integrated air dive and ROV systems, 100 ton crane and 1,000 square metre work deck space. It is scheduled to be delivered to MOS in the first half of the 2010 calendar year and, in addition, it is intended that KD Marine will install their purpose built daughter craft and launching system on the vessel. This system has been designed by KD Marine to enable simultaneous air diving and/or inspection ROV support activities to be carried out whilst similar operations are also being carried out from the principal support vessel, and the combination should provide meaningful productivity gains, especially on restricted work sites.

KD Marine commissioned the build of two such daughter craft units for delivery in 2009, complete with dedicated heavy weather launch & recovery systems. These daughter craft units, unlike conversions, have been specifically designed to provide a stable ancillary work platform to a DSV and they feature onboard gas storage, fully enclosed dive control, data recording areas, and inspection ROV handling.

www.oilandgasonline.com