LAGOS — Nigeria’s armed forces claimed Monday to have uncovered a plot to target a Chevron Corp. (CVX) oil facility and its pipelines in the Niger Delta.
“The Joint Task Force, Operation Restore Hope, has uncovered a plan by some suspected illegal oil bunkerers from the Benkrukru community in Delta State to attack Chevron’s Abiteye flow station and blow up pipelines,” it said.
NEW YORK — As oil companies cut costs amid slumping energy prices, they are determined not to repeat the mistakes of the 1980s oil bust, when mass layoffs left the industry ill-prepared for the eventual rebound.
The lack of a clear consensus on how long the slump will last has presented the industry with a difficult choice. Companies can lay off workers and risk being understaffed if prices recover quickly, or bear the cost of employing more workers than needed during what could be a prolonged period of slow activity and lower revenues. A few of the largest oil companies, such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., have large cash reserves after years of high oil prices, but most smaller companies spent heavily during the boom years and are now scrambling to cut back.
The Oil & Gas UK has welcomed the Employment Appeal Tribunal’s (EAT) confirmation that the time off work enjoyed by UK offshore oil and gas workers, typically over 26 weeks in a year, more than meets the minimum legal amount of annual leave that employers must provide their employees.
Oil & Gas UK’s chief executive, Malcolm Webb, said: “We welcome the decision by the Employment Appeal Tribunal which at last establishes a binding interpretation of the law on this issue and in the way we have always maintained it should be interpreted.
Revenue Watch Institute congratulates the Government of Ghana on its decision to publicly disclose all present and future contracts with oil companies. While citizen groups and international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the International Finance Corporation have called upon countries to disclose these contracts, very few countries actually do.
“Ghana stands poised to become an important player in Africa’s oil industry,” said Karin Lissakers, executive director of the Revenue Watch Institute. “This plan for increased transparency helps secure Ghana’s stability amid the current financial crisis. We applaud the government for its leadership and its commitment to strengthening public oversight.”
RIYADH — State oil giant Saudi Aramco said on Saturday it had awarded a contract for the Karan gas field to J.Ray McDermott, which is wholly-owned by U.S. engineering and construction firm McDermott International Inc .
The turnkey contract provides for the manufacture and installation of four platforms and the construction of a 110-km-long (68 miles) undersea pipeline to carry the gas from the Karan field, Aramco said in a statement.
FMC Technologies received orders from BP for the manufacture and supply of additional subsea systems for their projects in the Gulf of Mexico. The awards, valued at approximately $82m in revenue, are call-offs from a frame agreement that was signed in November 2006.
Under these call-offs, FMC’s scope of supply will consist of nine subsea trees including controls, an installation and workover control system and other related equipment. All equipment will be designed and manufactured at FMC’s Houston facility. Deliveries will commence in mid-2009 and will continue through 2011. “We are pleased to be a part of BP’s notable deepwater projects,” said John Gremp, Executive Vice President of FMC Technologies. “Today’s announcement complements our recent awards from BP for the development of subsea systems for deepwater West Africa.”
www.seadiscovery.com
Tropical Cyclone Hamish is continuing to generate powerful ocean swells and fierce winds along the southern Queensland coast.
The category 3 storm is about 275 kilometres east of Sandy Cape, near Hervey Bay.
It maintained its intensity overnight but is expected to weaken and move away from the coast today.
Mermaid Maritime Public Company Limited announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Mermaid Offshore Services Ltd., one of the region’s leading provider of subsea engineering services to the offshore oil and gas industry, has secured a contract with the National Petroleum Construction Company in Abu Dhabi to provide subsea construction support with air and saturation diving services and remotely operated vehicles in the Persian Gulf from the DP2 Dive Support Vessel ‘Team Siam’. The contract was won through its strong alliance with local Qatari based Subtech Qatar Diving and Marine Services LLC.
This latest project, which has already commenced, will be for 90 days and has a contract value of approximately US$10 million. It is also Mermaid’s first subsea project in the Middle East, and adds to Mermaid’s geographical expansion of its subsea services beyond South East Asia. In 2008, Mermaid expanded its subsea services to include India, China and Sakhlin.
BRISBANE — Tropical cyclone Hamish is continuing to weaken off the central Queensland coast, but damaging winds associated with the storm cell have hampered the rescue effort for three trawlermen missing in waters off Rockhampton.
Bureau of Meteorology Cyclone Warning Centre forecaster Andrea Peace said Hamish could be downgraded from a category four cyclone to a category three this morning, as fierce winds continue to tear apart the super cell.
GALVESTON — Norwegian oil tanker SKS Satilla was damaged after striking the sunken hull of Ensco International jackup ENSCO 74 on Mar. 6, 65 miles (104 km) south of Galveston. The jackup was submerged in 115 feet (35 m) of water.
The 900-foot tanker was damaged along the port side of its hull below the water line, taking in water in its ballast tanks. The tanker, which has around 39.9 million gallons of crude oil on board, has been stabilized, and the U.S. Coast Guard has begun lightening operations. The Coast Guard expect the oil to be offloaded by Tuesday. No injuries or oil spills were recorded.
