Hallin Marine has teamed with GeoLab to win the vessel and ROV contract for the Pearl GTL project under development by Shell and Qatar petroleum.
Geolab has received a letter of intent from main contractor J. Ray McDermott Eastern Hemisphere Limited ‘JRMEHL’ in connection with the contract.
A total of 85 jobs are to be axed across the UK operations of engineering and construction company Subsea 7, which employs around 1,000 people at Westhill, near Aberdeen.
A spokesman was unable to give a breakdown of the job cuts yesterday, saying the firm was just starting a 30-day staff consultation.
LONDON – 13 May, 2009 – The ability of offshore wind to significantly contribute to the renewable energy targets of 2020 in Europe is spurring governments to support and encourage the sector. As the onshore market continues to grow in certain regions and move slowly towards saturation in others, offshore wind is expected to form a greater part of the pie from the meagre 2% that it is now. Onshore wind will always occupy a major share of the wind energy market. However, Frost & Sullivan expects offshore wind to grow from an insignificant part of the pie to a more substantial contributor of electricity generated from wind by 2020. According to Frost & Sullivan estimates, installed capacity of offshore wind is expected to grow from 1,276 MW in 2008 to 18,769 MW by 2015.
The UK government has been blamed for its renewable energy policies not having enough teeth to encourage companies to invest in the UK whether it be onshore or offshore or project development or manufacturing. However, with the increase in the number of Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) from 1.5 ROCs/Wh to 2 ROCs/MWh outlined in the budget in April the UK government gave a huge boost to the offshore wind energy industry.
The green light for the 1GW offshore wind farm in the UK, the world’s biggest wind farm project, is the beginning of new and important developments of projects in this market. Frost & Sullivan’s Industry Analyst Gouri Kumar believes that “after a string of bad news in the industry, this is a significant change that will provide a stimulus to investors in the UK as well as in the rest of Europe. And this is especially important in consideration of the current economic climate”.
The investors of the biggest proposed offshore wind farm in the world, the 1GW London Array, yesterday decided to go ahead with the project after a roller coaster ride of events. The wind farm, owned by Danish wind project developer Dong Energy (50%), German utility E.ON (30%) and Masdar (20%), a government of Abu Dhabi controlled investment fund, had put the project on hold citing drying up of capital due to the economic recession as well as the rise of turbine prices due to the fall in the British Pound when compared with the Euro. The project was on the verge of being derailed when in May 2008 Shell withdrew from the project citing dramatic increase in costs, concentration on the wind business in the US as well as the hurdles in planning processes in the UK.
“The offshore wind industry has a lot of potential. However, the technology is very nascent. This is one of the reasons why investment costs are very high” – says Gouri Kumar –. “High costs are either deterring a lot of project developers from investing or making previously interested investors leave the sector. The investment costs for offshore wind energy projects are almost double that of onshore projects. They have also risen substantially over the past 2-3 years due to increase in raw material costs and demand-supply situation for turbines and some components. The economic crisis is expected to slow the progress of projects for the next few years, but as the decision to go ahead with the London Array project shows that governments are doing everything in their power to make sure the policies in place will spur the industry on.”
Although there are a number of problems that plague the offshore wind energy market, an important way of cutting costs is to invest into R&D of technology, installation and O&M. Countries like the UK and Germany (governments and market participants) amongst others are already focusing on programmes to reduce costs. This is related to technology of turbines and various components as well as easier installation methods and better accessibility.
Industry Analyst Gouri Kumar has just completed a study on the Offshore Wind Energy Market. To learn more about this market and for a complimentary brochure please email Chiara Carella at chiara.carella@frost.com with the following information: your full name, company name, title, telephone number, e-mail, address, city, and country.
GIL 2009: Europe
Frost & Sullivan has expanded its flagship Global Congress on Corporate Growth – GIL Global – into several major cities around the world including London. For the first time ever in Europe, Frost & Sullivan will be hosting the Growth, Innovation and Leadership Congress ‘GIL 2009: Europe’ on 19-20 May, at the Sofitel St James in London. GIL Global is the industry’s only event designed to support senior executives in their efforts to achieve sustainable, top-line growth. To register, obtain a programme agenda, explore sponsorship opportunities, or attend as a member of the media for ‘GIL 2009: Europe’, please contact Chiara Carella, Head of Corporate Communications for Frost & Sullivan in Europe, at chiara.carella@frost.com. One-on-One interviews with Frost & Sullivan senior growth consultants are also being scheduled. For more information you can also visit www.frost.com/giluk
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company’s Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO’s Growth Team with disciplined research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 35 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com.
Contact:
Chiara Carella
Head of Corporate Communications
P: 0044 (0) 207 3438314
E: chiara.carella@frost.com
http://www.frost.com
The Coast Guard updated anti-piracy guidelines Tuesday for commercial vessels to deter attacks in dangerous waters, including having a mandatory lookout for pirates.
All U.S.-flagged vessels must submit plans for combating terrorism and piracy that incorporate the guidelines by May 25.
Most vessels that move through high-risk areas such as the Gulf of Aden have had some type of plan, but the measures now must be approved by the Coast Guard, said Rear Adm. Brian Salerno, assistant commandant for marine safety, security and stewardship.
The directive requires that ship owners “assess and plan for their vulnerabilities,” he said. “If they haven’t taken adequate measures, then we can suggest they take more stringent ones.”
Coast Guard officials had been working on a revised Maritime Security Directive when pirates boarded the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama on April 8 and took the captain hostage for five days. A day after he was rescued, pirates launched an unsuccessful attack on the cargo vessel Liberty Sun.
The incidents sped up the release of the directive and influenced its final wording.
“There is some real value in what they’ve learned that can be shared,” said Salerno, who declined to discuss specifics for security reasons. “I think that the Maersk Alabama and the Liberty Sun were game changers.”
The last update was issued in April 2008. Since then, pirates have changed their tactics, operating farther from shore and launching boats from mother ships, Salerno said.
“This won’t be the final word, either,” he said of the update.
One significant change in the update requires every vessel to have a lookout for pirates, Salerno said.
Some of the more general recommendations to ships include using established transit lanes, erratic ship maneuvering, increased speed and cooperation with military forces patrolling the area.
The onus still is on commercial vessels “to maintain a vigilant anti-piracy watch and ensure all shipboard anti-piracy precautions are in force,” according to a statement from the Coast Guard.
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Article courtesy of: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/05/coastguard_piracy_051209w/
The FBI is investigating allegations that former Senator Norm Coleman had clothing and other items purchased on his behalf by a longtime friend and businessman Nasser Kazeminy, according to a source in Minnesota who was interviewed recently by federal agents.
E.K. Wilson, a spokesman for the Minneapolis FBI, would neither confirm nor deny the report. The source provided details of the interview to the Huffington Post, in addition to copies of business cards left by the agents.
The FBI has also been conducting interviews in Texas, according to media reports, in regards to different allegations that Kazeminy tried to steer $75,000 to Coleman through his wife’s employer. Up to this point, there have not been reports of any FBI work taking place in Coleman’s home state.
The Minnesota source said the FBI questioning focused on whether Kazeminy had purchased clothing on Coleman’s behalf, reports of which surfaced in October. At the time, Coleman vehemently denied the allegations. “Nobody but me and my wife buy my suits,” he said.
The source, who requested to speak anonymously to discuss the matter more frankly, said that payments made to the company that employed the former senator’s wife, Laurie Coleman, were also addressed.
In April, Norm Coleman requested permission from the Federal Election Commission to use his remaining Senate campaign funds to pay legal fees resulting from the lawsuit filed against Kazeminy.
A request for comment from Coleman’s office went unreturned. The receptionist, upon hearing the topic of inquiry, called the matter “old news.” In the past, both Coleman, who is engaged in the final stages of a lengthy election recount battle, and Kazeminy, a longtime benefactor of the Minnesota Republican, have denied any wrongdoing.
The possibility exists that the sole target of the FBI’s work is Kazeminy and not Coleman. The prominent businessman stands accused of fraud for his handling of the company Deep Marine Technology. As part of that suit, former Deep Marine CEO Paul McKim alleged that he was forced to overlook $75,000 in payments to Hays Company, the employer of Coleman’s wife.
Separately, it has been reported that Kazeminy made purchases on behalf of Coleman himself. Ken Silverstein of Harper’s magazine was the first to report that suits had been bought on the then-Senator’s behalf. A the time, Coleman’s chief of staff would only rebut the charge by saying that he “has reported every gift he has ever received.”
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Article courtesy of: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/13/fbi-investigating-coleman_n_203204.html
PORT ISABEL – Three oil companies are considering plans to launch offshore oil drilling operations from the Port Isabel-San Benito Navigation District, Port Director Bob Cornelison said Wednesday.
Cornelison said Hess, Shell and Statoil Hydro need trained workers to launch oil exploration operations from the port.
“They’ve approached the port to provide services to offshore drilling,” he said.
The companies need highly skilled workers to launch drilling, construction and production operations, he said.
“If we can provide the job training, they’ll come,” he said.
“Over time, we hope our training facilities here will respond to their needs and do the training required, because those are not the typical Valley jobs.”
Officials at the University of Texas at Brownsville want to train students for such jobs, Cornelison said.
“They’re very interested in the program,” he said.
University officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
“We expect, over time, that we’ll play a role” in the offshore oil industry, Cornelison said.
Officials expect a $30 million international pipe assembly plant will open the region to the offshore oil industry, he said.
Subsea 7, a underwater engineering and construction company, is expected to attract companies that supply the offshore oil industry after it opens on a 58-acre site early this summer, Cornelison said.
“It’s a diversification of the local economy,” he said.
Subsea 7 will hire as many as 90 employees when it opens at the port’s turning basin, Greg Donnelly, the company’s operations manager, said in a written statement.
The plant will weld pipe into 4,000-foot sections to supply offshore oilrigs, he said.
“Many of these jobs are skilled professionals with special expertise in their fields,” Donnelly said.
The company will help revive the local economy after the collapse of the local shrimping industry, Mayor Joe Vega said.
“It’s going to bring in good-paying jobs to the area,” Vega said.
“It’s the first time in a long time that we have an industrial company like this come to the area.”
In addition to UTB, the company is working with Texas State Technical College in Harlingen to get skilled workers, Cornelison said.
“They’re very happy with the people who they’ve found in the Valley,” he said.
“They found some people who are very trainable.”
Last month, the company interviewed about 25 welding students at a TSTC job fair, Kenny Moore, a welding instructor at the college, said.
“To date, these discussions have focused primarily on welding students and suggest that a promising stream of graduates will continue,” Donnelly said.
The company opens a new market for local welding students, Moore said “It’s a great opportunity,” Moore said.
“They’re looking for welders who can do advanced welding techniques. We have a good pool of talent to pick from. The Valley needs more companies like that coming in.”
The company is hauling 20 truckloads of pipe a day onto the site, where it plans to begin welding in late June or early July, Donnelly said.
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Article courtesy of: http://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/company-52133-offshore-oil.html
We have also recently been informed that certain emails received by members of the public, and advertisements posted on some job web-sites, have promised job-seekers positions in the Sub-sea Dredging. These emails and web-sites promise that upon payment of a fee and the receipt of the recipients’ curriculum vitae, the recipients are assured jobs within the Sub-sea Dredging. The contact addresses and phone numbers contained in such emails and posted on such web-sites are usually of a foreign country and such mail originate from a free mail domain such as yahoo and hotmail.
Sub-sea Dredging Limited shall not be responsible for any losses incurred by any person (s) as a result of such mails / publications
In the event that you receive any of the emails described above, we advise that you
contact the following for confirmation:
HOUSTON — Seattle Diving Company, a domestic labor supplier for ADCI diving contractors, has closed its Lafayette office this week.
Citing a soft labor market, weak oil prices, and hesitancy from the oil companies to pull the trigger on dive projects, SDC decided to complete current deployments with crews in the Gulf of Mexico, then concentrate on managing operations from its head office in Seattle, Washington.
CARLISLE, UK — CTC Marine Projects, a member of the Trico Marine Group, has been awarded its first contract in the offshore wind farm industry by E.ON Climate and Renewables UK. The contract is for the lay, installation and burial of 17 subsea power cable arrays linking wind turbine foundations at the Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm in the Solway Firth.
The Robin Rigg development consists of 60 wind turbines supplying power via two export cables. The CTC work scope will involve around 90 days of operation in shallow water depths of up to nine meters (29 ft). CTC will initially mobilize the aquatic reel drive system and tensioner spread on board vessel M/V Union Beaver for an anticipated 65 days duration. Once in the field they will perform the lay and installation of 98-mm (3.8-inch) and 113-mm (4.4-inch) diameter array cables followed by post installation inspection and testing.
CARACAS, VENEZUELA — Venezuela’s state oil company said Tuesday that it has taken control of 90 percent of oil contractors on western Lake Maracaibo as it aims to reduce costs due to falling crude prices.
President Hugo Chavez announced last week that Venezuela is nationalizing 60 oil contractors as his government moves to assert control over the industry under a new law approved by the pro-Chavez National Assembly.