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following the ditching of a Super Puma type AS332 L2 off Shetland. This had a marked impact on dayrates.
The Offshore Europe conference has also been taking place in Aberdeen and the con-ference has been the platform for a series of high profile announcements from some of the biggest North Sea companies. Statoil took the opportunity to update the market on its forthcoming UK Mariner flagship pro-
ject, Shell recommitted itself to the long-term future of the North Sea and Dana announced the commencement of its GBP 1.6bn Western Isles project two-months ahead of schedule.
Offshore Africa, AHTS vessels have been secured to carry out work off-shore Morocco and Equatorial Guinea. Also Chariot Oil has recently upgraded the poten-tial reserves for its assets off Namibia.
News from the Sale and Purchase market
show that Seabird Exploration has purchased the Seismic Vessel the Hawk Explorer. In ad-dition the Mermaid Performer has recently been sold to Prospect Marine in a deal un-derstood to be worth USD 670,000. Two newbuild standby vessels have been con-tracted by Shell, the Ocean Osprey and her
sister vessel, which are both yet to be delivered.
Finally in Corporate news, Adriatic Oil has made a deal with Elixir Petroleum to take on the majority stake of North Sea production licences, reprocess the seismic data and take up the drill or drop requirement. Lloyds Register also announced the planned acquisition of Senergy. The companies will combine over the next three years with the plan to provide life of field services from in-ception through to decommissioning.
O ver the past few weeks there has been a flurry of global activity in the Offshore Support Vessel mar-kets. Looking at the USA and South
America, plans to reform Mexico’s oil industry by the Mexican president continue to progress as new contracts are being awarded offshore Mexico where Cal Dive has secured an addi-tional contract with Pemex worth USD 250 million.
Brazil is seeing more activity offshore with Ultrapetrol chartering two more vessels to Petrobras making a total of nine out of the ten PSV vessels that they own contracted to the Brazilian state oil company. TGS is carrying out seismic duties offshore Alaska with the vessel Go Arctic in the Chukchi Sea for preparation of the lease rounds happening early 2016.
Meanwhile, in Asia & Australia this month Far-stad has secured a series of fixtures to ENI Australia. The naming ceremony for the new-
build Go Phoenix has taken place in Southeast Asia as well as two new PSV orders for Vroon.
The North Sea activity has been high with many PSVs and a number of AHTS vessels that had been doing passenger transfer work dur-ing the temporary grounding of helicopters
“Shell Recommitted
Itself to the Long-Term
Future of the North
Sea.”
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has proposed re-forms to the Mexican oil industry that could see it opened up to private investment. The plans have held back from going as far as privatisation as no oil concessions will be sold off although there has been opposition over the move from opposition political parties. According to Mexican Government figures Mexico face becoming a net oil import-er as early as 2018 if major new oil projects are not devel-oped.
Premier Oil has revealed it is working on participating in a forthcoming multi-operator exploration campaign off the Falkland Islands. The programme, which will include drilling to confirm the presence of a gas cap on the Sea Lion oil field, is planned for the second half of 2014 or 2015. In addition, at least two other wells are planned for multiple stacked targets.
Cal Dive has been awarded an additional contract with Pemex to procurement, installation and commissioning of 3.5 km of 20-inch subsea pipeline. The offshore construction phase is expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2013 with the remainder of the work expected to roll over into the first quarter of 2014. This work comes on top of three existing contracts the company already has with Pemex that are worth approximately USD 250 million.
TGS has utilised the Geo Arctic to collect data in the Chukchi sea off the Northwest coast of Alaska. The col-lected 2D data will be for the Bureau of Ocean energy Management Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) lease rounds happening early 2016. The data will be available to clients around the second quarter of 2014. The Geo Arctic is a seismic vessel built in 1988 with a 10,600m streamer cable.
Ultrapetrol now has nine out of its ten operated PSVs working for Petrobras in Brazil. Most recently the compa-ny has fixed two vessels to Brazilian state oil company, the UP Pearl and the UP Amber. Both vessels were char-tered for four years at USD 32,950. In addition, Ultrapet-rol has renewed the charters of four PSVs to Petrobras. The latest newbuild in India UP Onyx is due to be deliv-ered in India in the first half of 2014.
Hornbeck Offshore has announced an agreement to sell its tug and barge fleet to Genesis Marine LLC for USD 230 million. The deal includes Hornbeck’s active fleet of nine ocean-going tugs and nine double-hulled tank barges. Talking about the transaction CEO Todd Hornbeck said “We believe that the timing is right to divest of our non-core Downstream segment in order to strategically focus our energies on our Upstream core business.
Petrobras has extended the charter of the subsea ves-sel Skandi Vitoria for an additional two years firm that will see it working offshore Brazil until September 2015. The 2010-built STX OSCV 06 designed vessel is equipped for specialist ROV construction support and subsea work. The Skandi Vitoria has an LOA of 142.2m and accommodation for 120 personnel.
Teras Offshore is understood to have fixed the two AHTS vessels Cecilie K and the Hawk K to carry out two barge tows between Singapore and Australia. The vessels are believed to have been fixed on three month charters which are due to conclude at around the end of October 2013. The Cecilie K is a 5,000 BHP AHTS vessel and the Hawk K is a 6,000 BHP AHTS. Both are RK Offshore ves-sels.
Farstad has announced a series of fixtures off offshore Australia. AHTS vessels Far Sky and Far Grip have been fixed to ENI Australia for 5 months firm plus 5 months of options to support the Ensco 104 at the Evans Shoal gas field. In addition the AHTS vessels Far Sword and Far Sound are set to support the Jack Bates semi-submersible rig for three wells firm. Furthermore the AHTS Far Sabre and Far Scimitar are working for woodside off North Western Australia.
Woodside has recommended the use of a floating LNG unit to develop and commercialise the three Browse gas fields offshore Australia. The decision follows the evalua-tion of alternative concepts after a plan for an onshore development at James Price Point was dropped earlier this year. This recommendation will use Shell’s FLNG tech-nology and Woodside’s offshore development expertise for the Browse LNG development.
Market reports indicate the Kan Tan IV rig is set to drill at least one exploration well offshore Taranaki, New Zealand next year. It is understood plans are being made to redrill near the Ruru-1 well which was suspended following bad weather during a campaign in 2011. Shell Exploration, which holds an 83.75% share of the licence is understood to also hold an option for at least one more well should the results for the first warrant it.
Vroon has ordered a further two platform supply vessels, which makes a total of ten under construction at the COSCO Guangdong Shipyard in China. Four PX-121 designed PSVs are being built at Guangdong, where as the remaining six KCM design will be built at Fujian Southeast Shipyard. All the ships are scheduled to be delivered during 2015.
Otto Marine recently held a naming ceremony for their newbuild Go Phoenix. The Go Phoenix is a VS-491 DP 2 design with a bollard pull of 260t. Otto Marine has scheduled to build four units of the VS-491 where the next two will be completed by 2014.
Market Reports indicate that Swire Pacific Offshore has contracted out the Pacific Peacock to CGG Veritas for seismic support in Southeast Asia. The Pacific Pea-cock is a 5150BHP anchor handler with a 62-68t bol-lard pull.
Cheoy Lee Shipyards has handed over the second AHTS in a series of five vessels for Teras Offshore in Singapore. The Teras Bethel has headed straight to Batam in Indonesia where it will commence work. The vessels will each have bollard pulls of 69t and accommodation for up to 24 per-sonnel. The principal dimensions of the vessels are LOA 50m, beam 12.60m and a draft of 4.5m.
The Highland Defender has been employed by Dana Petroleum to support the drilling campaign of Diamond Offshore’s Ocean Nomad Rig off the Western Isles. The large PSV has already started her two year fixture with two six month options. Gulf Offshore’s Highland Defender built this year is a MMC-887 design with a deck area of 1,000 square metres, integrated DP2 and accom-modation available for 40 people.
The large PSV Bourbon Topaz has been fixed by Cairn Energy to support the drilling campaign of the Cajun Express 5th generation deepwater semisubmersible drill-ing rig. The vessel has been chartered for four wells firm at a dayrate of around GBP 23,500 with options for up to an additional four wells. The Bourbon Topaz is a PX-105 designed vessel equipped with a deck area of around 995 square metres, DP2 and Oil Recovery.
Troms Offshore’s 2013-built PSV Troms Lyra has set out for pool support duties potentially with the West Navi-gator Drillship or the Transocean Barents rig for Norske Shell. The vessel is a PSV 08 CD design with a deck area of 860 square metres and accommodation for 24. The Troms Lyra will be performing the workscope for nine weeks firm with options covering up to a further five additional one week periods.
Wintershall Norway has awarded the large PSV Energy Swan a four year charter to perform operations in the North Sea. The ST-216L designed vessel, which is currently on charter with ConocoPhillips Norway doing pool support, will be working on the new contract until 2018. The Wintershall Norway workscope includes supporting installation work at the Brage platform. The firm contract is understood to be at a dayrate of around NOK 170,000 and there are also options for a further four one-year periods.
The Viking Prince LNG supply vessel is fixed to support a well campaign of 12 wells with an option to drill eight more. The contract is between Eidesvik Offshore and AGR Petroleum Services, which will begin on October 1st and continue for approximately two years. The Viking Prince is a VS-489 designed PSV built in 2012 with 1,021 square metres of deck area.
The newbuild large PSV Island Duchess will be joining the North Sea spot market in early October. The UT-717 CD designed vessel is Island Offshore’s fourth of this design built in 2013. The Island Duchess is equipped with DP2, a deck area of 800 square metres and accommodation for 26. The vessel is set to arrive in Stavanger by around the 10th of October and is currently charter free.
Maersk Supply Service has two AHTS vessels doing pas-senger transfer service for Total UK. The Maersk Logger has recently been extended 7 days on top of a previous charter and the Maersk Lifter is fixed for all duties includ-ing passenger transfer service for 18 days with one week and seven day by day options. The Maersk Logger and the Maersk Lifter are both DP2 L-Type vessels. The vessels have a bollard pull of 250t with deck areas of 720 square metres and can accommodate up to 70 personnel.
The Bourbon Rainbow is currently undertaking work with Dong to support the Maersk Resolve jackup rig. The 2013-built PSV is working on the contract and is expected to be replaced later on by the Bourbon Sapphire. The Bourbon Rainbow will then commence a one well charter with MLS supporting the Maersk Giant rig. The Bourbon Rainbow is a PX-105 designed vessel equipped with a deck area of around 1017 square metres.
Chariot Oil has updated its potential resources offshore Namibia following an independent audit by Netherlands Sewell and Associates. The collected information, taken from a 3D seismic data source as well as 2D seismic data and nearby drilling activity, indicates an unrisked gross mean prospective oil resource of 469mmbbl. The data has given Chariot oil a reason to start a farm-out process to find partners that can join them in this campaign.
Capricorn has fixed the AHTS Siem Aquamarine for a project offshore Morocco. The contract is for the drilling of four wells with the option of a further four wells. In addition, the PSV Sophie Siem has been char-tered by Hess Equatorial off Equatorial Guinea. The length of this charter is for 18 months with two three-month op-tions. Both contracts have started and have a gross value of USD 23 million.
The AHTS Maersk Transporter was recently in West Africa offshore Equatorial Guinea where it had been working since 2009. The VS-472 designed DP2 vessel has currently secured work in the North Sea with Ecosse, which will begin by the middle of September. The Maersk Transporter has a bollard pull of 165-181t and a 15,300BHP.
Bourbon Tampen has left the North Sea for work in West Africa. The UT-745 E designed PSV is working for Shell Ni-geria and is expected to be in the region for at least the next 16 months before potentially returning to the North Sea in early 2015. The Bourbon Tampen is a 2002-built large DP2 PSV with a deck area of around 990 square me-tres.
The newly renamed FS Pisces has been chartered for its first job after being bought by new owner Fletcher Ship-ping. The UT-705 designed vessel, which was formerly the Highland Pride, is currently fixed with Taqa until around the end of the first week of September. The FS Pisces is 1992-built, equipped with a deck area of around 868 square me-tres and has 6,600 BHP.
Pacific Radiance has ordered two platform supply ves-sels from Ulstein, both of which are PX-121 designed vessels. The construction of these vessels is happening in a Chinese shipyard and they are estimated to be de-livered by Q3 2015. The contract also has the option of two more of the 840 square metre decked area vessels that can accommodate thirty crew members.
Axis Offshore has ordered a second semi-submersible flotel, called the Axis Vega. The delivery of the new vessel is excepted by the end of 2015 from the Cosco shipyard, where the sister vessel Axis Nova is also due to be completed by early 2015. The flotels are of GM-500A design with DP3 capabilities, the vessels are targeted to be able to operate in the harsh environ-ment of the North Sea.
Damen Shipyard’s has been contracted by Van Oord to build their new cable-laying vessel. Once the DP2 vessel is completed by the end of 2014, the ship will be used for construction on the Gemini wind farm which will be 60 kilometres to the North of Schiermonnikoog, one of the Dutch Wadden. The cable-laying vessel will have a beam of 28 metres and be equipped with a cable carousel with a capacity of more than 5,000t.
Market Reports suggest that J.P Knight has sold the AHT Anglian Monarch to Resolve Salvage. The vessel has been renamed the Resolve Monarch and set off on her deliv-ery voyage on 19th August from Invergordon. It is under-stood the vessel is heading to Panama to pick up her tow and will be registered in Vanuatu.
Craig Group has invested in six new vessels for their fleet at a value of GBP 70 million in Balenciaga Shipyard. The ships constructed are four D class IMT 950 ERRVs and two F class IMT 958 ERRVs which will be delivered by 2016. Both designs include a Daughter Craft and an FRC. The fleet at the moment includes 36 vessels with a mix of Platform Supply, Tanker Assist, ROV support and Rescue Vessels.
Siem Offshore has acquired 50 percent ownership of Secunda Canada at a value of CAD 16.25 million cash. This agreement will give Siem Offshore a strategic posi-tion in Canada's East Coast Offshore Sector, due to two decades of experience from working in Canada’s harsh weather conditions managing a fleet of offshore support vessels.
Seabird Exploration has announced an agreement has been made with the owners of the Hawk Explorer to pur-chase the vessel and related equipment for USD 6.5 mil-lion. The vessel is set to be delivered at the end of the lease term on 31 August 2014. The Hawk Explorer is a 2D seismic vessel built in 1984 and rebuilt in 2006, with a streamer length of 12,000m.
TAQA has circulated a tender for a vessel with a tanker as-sist capability to support the Harding field in the Northern North Sea for two years from January 2015. This field was previously operated by BP with ERRV support being provid-ed via Project Jigsaw. Nexen is expected to imminently an-nounce the winner of their tender for a vessel for 10-21 wells from December 2013 for support of the newbuild Jack-Up Ensco 120 which has been chartered for the Golden Eagle development.
The Class A newbuilding Ocean Osprey, equipped with twin daughter craft and a 65t bollard pull, was launched a few weeks ago at the Balenciaga shipyard in Spain. Upon delivery in January the vessel (Havyard 820 design) is committed to Shell UK for 5-10 years for support of the Anasuria FPSO / Gannet in the UK Central North Sea. A sister vessel is scheduled for delivery about 12 months later from the same shipyard and this unit is also com-mitted to Shell UK for 5-10 years.
ConocoPhillips has tendered for a range of ERRV / MRVs for 5-9 years from April 2014 for support of various installations / drilling programmes in the South North Sea / Central North Sea and West Coast including the J block / Loggs and Viking field installations. The requirements are effectively against the 1976 built Putford Viking / 1975 built Putford Apollo / 1970 built Putford Puffin / 2003 built Putford Saviour & the 1999 built VOS Provider. Meanwhile, Dana Petroleum has awarded Atlantic a 2-3 year contract for support of the Ocean Nomad in the Northern North Sea. The contract commenced in August and the Norwegian coded Ocean Produce, with MCA dispensation, is initially acting as the nominated vessel. In addition, the 1957 built Ocean Swift has been chartered by Teekay Petrojarl for 3 years + options from November / December for support of the Banff FPSO in the Central North Sea.
Atlantic Offshore Rescue has acquired and recently taken delivery of the 1992-built Norwegian standby vessel Bourbon Eko. The vessel will be converted into a Class A ERRV and an announcement of a long term contract award is expected imminently. The vessel is also set to be renamed as the Ocean Tay.
Fugro’s multipurpose geotechnical drilling and con-struction support vessel MV Markab is currently work-ing on the Rampion Offshore Windfarm. The vessel will be performing geotechnical operations for the remain-der of 2013 and into early 2014 with the exact finish date dependent on weather conditions and work pro-gress.
Adriatic Oil has struck a deal with Elixir Petroleum to take on a further 55% stake in the UK North Sea Seaward Pro-duction Licence P1921. Under the terms of the deal Adriatic will fully fund reprocessing of 3D seismic data and take over the requirement to drill or drop the licence before February 2014. Adriatic will become the operator of the licence with an 80% stake and Elixir will retain a 20% interest.
The wind turbine installation vessel Seajacks Leviathan will be working on the Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm until around early October. The vessel, which will be supported by the DP Galyna and the MCS Coromell, will be working on site for around 20 days in total. The Seajacks Leviathan has a main pedestal crane which can have a lift of between 200t and 300t.
Seajacks Leviathan at Greater Gabbard
MV Markab Working on Rampion
Adriatic Oil Strikes Deal with Elixir Petroleum
Senergy Acquired by Lloyds Register
RenewablesRenewablesRenewables
Lloyds Register has announced the planned acquisition of Senergy. The deal will see the two businesses combine over the next three years. The plan is to provide life of field ser-vices from inception to decommissioning. Aberdeen-based Senergy will continue to operate as a separate company for the next three years and will become a member of the Lloyds Register Group. Lloyds Register will also have representation on the board of Senergy.