:: News from Offshore ::

:: NORTH SEA UPDATE

:: Final testing under way for Ormen Lange equipment
Norsk Hydro reports that testing of subsea production equipment for the Ormen Lange field in the Norwegian Sea will be finished by the end of May. According to the company, the Grenland Group engineering firm is conducting the tests at its yard in Tønsberg, Norway.

:: Shell, Statoil to use CO₂ for enhanced oil recovery
Statoil and Shell have announced the world's first project to use sequestered carbon dioxide from a power plant to boost oil recovery offshore.

Statoil will build an 860-MW gas-fired power plant as part of the $1.4 billion project. CO₂ from the power plant's exhaust gases will be sent via pipeline to Shell's Draugen and Heidrun offshore oil fields.

:: Zero discharge at Oseberg with new injection well
Discharge of produced water and chemicals is now a thing of the past at Norsk Hydro's Oseberg field center in the North Sea.

Discharge is injected and stored in the Utsira sandstone formation, 1,000 m beneath the sea bed, which represents an investment of $42.2 million by the company and its partners.

:: SPECIAL REPORTS

:: ROV launched to meet challenging seafloor terrain
Nexans developed Spider, a new steep terrain dredger/subsea intervention vehicle, to meet the challenge of the demanding seafloor terrain of the Storegga slide area in the Ormen Lange gas field pipe/umbilical corridors on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

:: Subsea compression opens options for stranded deepwater gas
FMC Kongsberg Subsea (FMC) and Siemens Power Generation PG have entered into an agreement to develop subsea gas compression technology. They believe the technology offers attractive benefits and that potential users are ‘just around the corner’. Potential users include Norsk Hydro and Statoil, which are both involved in projects to qualify the technology on the Norwegian shelf.

:: Alistar AUV on track for inspection in the GoM
Each year, ROVs are employed to inspect thousands of kilometers of pipelines and numerous underwater structures. Carrying out these tasks usually involves contracting an expensive DP vessel fitted with a heavy equipment and many personnel.

Automated underwater vehicles (AUVs) conducting the same tasks will reduce these inconveniences. But devolving these tasks to an AUV will also entail some specific features and developments.

:: EQUIPMENT & INNOVATION

:: Aker Yards to build ROV support vessel
Aker Yards has entered into a contract with GEO ASA for the building of an ROV support vessel. The value of the contract is approximately $60.4 million.

:: Acergy expands ROV fleet
Acergy has purchased two ultraheavy-duty hydraulic ROVs from Schilling Robotics. The 150-shp, 3000-m ROV systems are based on Schilling's UHD ROV and will, according to Schilling, add power, flexibility, and enhanced vehicle control and intervention capability to Acergy's remote intervention fleet.

:: OceanWorks announces Venus project update
OceanWorks International has announced that Phase I of project Venus (Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea) recently went online, becoming what the company claims to be Canada's, and perhaps the world's, most advanced interactive seafloor observatory.

:: CONTRACTS & AWARDS

:: Fugro wins Brazilian ROV contract
Fugro Oceansatpeg has been awarded a 2 1/2-year ROV rig support contract with Petrobras in Brazil. Under the $4.0 million contract, Fugro will supply and operate a Sea lion 125-HP DW, 3000-m work class ROV and tooling on board the Noble Paul Wolf.

:: Dolphin and NaftoGaz work together on EPIC contracts
Dolphin Offshore Enterprises (India) Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding with NaftoGaz to work together on engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning contracts related to offshore platforms, pipelines, and single point mooring.

:: Perma-Pipe wins $21 million orders for subsea lines
MFRI Inc., a manufacturer of custom-designed industrial filtration products and specialty piping systems, says its Perma-Pipe Inc. subsidiary has received more than $21.5 million in recent orders from major and independent oil and gas companies to pre-insulate subsea oil and gas flow lines.

:: HIGHLIGHT: PORT FOURCHON

:: Port Fourchon positions for future GoM E&P
Port Fourchon’s 1,300 acres are strategically situated at the mouth of Bayou Lafourche (“the fork”) in Lafourche Parish, serving as Louisiana’s only port located literally on the GoM.

:: LA 1 Coalition established to improve highway transport to Port Fourchon
As the only land route linking Port Fourchon in southern Louisiana with the rest of the state, Louisiana Highway 1 (LA 1) performs a number of vital functions. The two-lane highway is a primary transportation route for domestic oil and gas support services and supplies, as well as for imported oil offloaded from ships in the GoM.

:: LOOP designed to offload world’s largest tankers
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) is America’s first and only deepwater oil port.

The port facility is located in the GoM at the base of Port Fourchon, 18 mi south of Grand Isle, La., in 110 ft of water. LOOP is the only port in the US capable of offloading deep-draft tankers known as ultra large crude carriers (ULCC) and very large crude carriers (VLCC), some requiring 85 ft of draft clearance.

:: MAPS & POSTERS

:: Offshore Maps & Posters

:: OFFSHORE SPONSORED EVENTS

Offshore Middle East Conference & Exhibition
October 12 – 14, 2010
Doha, Qatar

http://www.offshoremiddleeast.com/index.html

Click here for a full calendar of industry events.