DOF Subsea UK secures Tullow Oil contract

Aberdeen-based specialist subsea service company DOF Subsea UK has secured a contract with Tullow Oil to provide jumper/spool installation services from its new multipurpose support vesselSkandi Constructor offshore Ghana.

The scope of work includes jumper/spool design, engineering, fabrication, and installation. The project will last for approximately 20 days and is scheduled to start in September 2011. DOF Subsea UK says that the contract is worth approximately $4.3 million.

Statoil commits newbuild semis to Troll

Statoil has contracted Songa Offshore to build two new semisubmersibles for drilling operations offshore Norway. The $2.47-billion contract for the two category D rigs covers a fixed eight-year charter period. However, the value could increase following commencement of the drilling program due to escalation provisions taking effect from 2011.

The category D rig is designed to operate in 100-500 m (328-1,640 ft) of water and to drill wells to 8,500 m (27,887 ft). It will serve as a workhorse on Statoil’s mature fields, mainly drilling and completing production wells, allowing Statoil to produce more oil from the fields.

Various topside suppliers, yard, and rig owners helped develop the concept. DSME in South Korea will build the rigs, with Aker Solutions supplying the drilling equipment.

Mobilization to the North Sea will take around three months. The rig hand-overs are scheduled for 1Q and 3Q 2014. First field to be serviced by the new rigs will be Troll in the North Sea, which last year produced on average over 120,000 b/d of oil.

Although both rigs are under eight-year contracts, these are extendable with four three-year options, which could lead to a 20-year contract for each rig. Statoil says this long-term approach should ensure rig capacity for its growth needs, as well as providing predictability for the rig contractor.

Statoil is also considering adding two further category D rigs via an option with Songa Offshore, although it continued to evaluate offers from other bidders. Later this year Statoil will consider contractual options for construction of the extra semis, which could include taking an ownership position.

Jumbo expands heavy-lift fleet

Jumbo Shipping has commissioned the Brodosplit shipyard in Split, Croatia, to construct a new heavy-lift vessel. This will be 152.6 m (500 ft) long with a beam of 27.40 m (90 ft), and will be equipped with two 1,100-metric ton (1,212-ton) cranes providing 27.5 m (90.2 ft) outreach. In tandem the cranes will be able to lift up to 2,200 mt (2,425 t).

For offshore operations, the vessel will be prepared for DP-2 installations, and it will be built to ice class to allow it to work in Arctic regions. Jumbo expects to take delivery in March 2013, with the vessel being operational three months later. It has an option to build a second vessel at the Brodosplit yard. The investment will expand Jumbo’s fleet of heavy lift vessels to 13, with lifting capacity in the range of 500-2,200 tons.

Gulmar Condor heads for West Africa

Gulmar Offshore Ltd. says itsGulmar Condor DP-2 construction vessel is on its way from the Gulf of Mexico to Port Gentil, Gabon. The vessel will work for Vaalco under a charter with Dynamic Industries until December 2011, with the potential for extensions. The GulmarCondor has a 120-ton active heave compensated deepwater crane, 1,100 sq m (11,840 sq ft) of deck, and accommodates 128 personnel.

WGP to advise HHI on seismic equipment for vessel

WGP Ltd. has contracted to provide Hyundai Heavy Industries with engineering and consultancy on a multi-function vessel for the Geological Survey of India. HHI will build the vessel and WGP will advise on specification, layout, tendering, and installation of the seismic equipment for the oceanographic research vessel.

Equatorial Guinea FPSO nears completion

Keppel Shipyard is on schedule to complete conversion of the FPSOAseng, which has been chartered by Noble Energy. The vessel, which will serve on the Aseng field offshore Equatorial Guinea, will be operated by Aseng Production Co., a joint venture between SBM Offshore and state-owned Compania Nacional de Petroleo de Guinea Ecuatorial (GEPetrol).

FPSOAseng will be capable of processing 80,000 b/d of oil and storing roughly 1.7 MMbbl. Keppel’s work scope included refurbishment and life extension, upgrading the accommodation facilities, installing and integrating the topsides, and fabricating and integrating the internal turret.

Since 2000, Keppel and SBM have jointly delivered 13 FPSO/FSO conversion projects. This is their second FPSO assignment for Equatorial Guinea.

GAC broadens Caspian offshore support

Logistics group GAC plans to develop enhanced marine services to support offshore energy projects in Russian waters. The company opened its first office in the region in 2001 in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

Branches in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Murmansk, and Taman followed, offering customized combinations of services to the offshore oil and gas industry, including ship and hub agency, safety and security, weather routing and ship-to-ship transfer, support vessels, and crewing services. The latest addition to the company’s services is project cargo logistics for the energy sector on the Russia shelf areas of the Black Sea, Caspian Sea, and elsewhere.

Assignments have included transportation of gas turbines from Italy to Uzbekistan via Turkmenistan; pipes for offshore pipelines transported from Romania to Turkmenistan; and towage of foreign-flagged vessels and floating cargoes through Russian water ways such as the Volga Don Canal.

Last year, GAC Russia arranged the transit of GAC’sM/V GAC Pearl through Russia when the vessel was mobilized from Nigeria to Turkmenistan.

Keppel to deliver pipelay vessel to Global

Keppel Singmarine Pte Ltd. is on track to deliver a dynamically positioned S-lay vessel capable of 3,000-m (9,842-ft) water depth pipelay operations to Global Industries. TheGlobal1201 is the second such vessel built by Keppel Singmarine for Global Industries Ltd.