Newly formed Houston marine services company All Coast has completed the acquisition of Hercules Offshore's domestic liftboat fleet. The $57.5-million deal includes 29 active liftboats, ranging from class 105 to class 229, as well as 10 cold stacked units. All Coast Vice President and COO Byron Allemand said the company is retaining some 300 Hercules Offshore employees as well as the company's operations center in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Edison Chouest fleet set to grow
Edison Chouest Offshore announced plans to increase its fleet of offshore service vessels by more than 40, most of which will be built at the company's affiliated shipyards on the US Gulf Coast and Brazil. The newbuilds will include 17 diesel-electric platform supply vessels 312 ft (95 m) in length, two high ice class AHTS vessels for use in the Arctic, four subsea construction vessels for the Gulf of Mexico market, and 22 other vessels covering a range of offshore services. The company also said its C-Port 3 terminal in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, would be in operation by March 2014, and that a further expansion, C-Port 4, is in the design phase.
Seadrill, SapuraKencana ink contract with Petrobras
A joint venture of Seadrill and Malaysia's SapuraKencana Petroleum Berhad has been awarded a contract worth $2.7 billion with Petrobras for three pipe laying support vessels. The JV Sapura Navegação Marítima will operate the three newbuild vessels for Petrobras for a period of eight years, with an option to extend for another eight. Work is scheduled to begin offshore Brazil in 2Q 2016. The vessels will be built in the Netherlands at a cost of about $800 million.
Petrobras pads Subsea 7 order book
Subsea 7 won three contracts with Petrobras worth a combined $1.6 billion to construct and operate three newbuild flexible pipelay support vessels. The new vessels, to be delivered from the IHC Merwede shipyard in Holland in 3Q 2016, 4Q 2016, and 2Q 2017, are designed to operate in 3,000-m (9,843-ft) water depths. Construction and commissioning costs will run about $950 million; the contracts cover a service period of five years.
Petrobras also extended a contract with Subsea 7 for theNorman Seven pipelay support vessel. The five-year extension, beginning in 4Q 2013, is worth approximately $400 million.
Cat-B semi for NCS cancelled
Citing technological hurdles, Aker Solutions and Statoil have cancelled a $1.9-billion agreement announced in April, 2012, for a Category B semisub capable of performing year-round well intervention and drilling services offshore Norway. The technology development required to build the rig proved "considerably more demanding than initially anticipated," Aker Solutions said, leading to the mutual agreement to scuttle the project. "Unfortunately, the technological issues weren't solved in the initial system definition phase of the project," said Per Harald Kongelf, regional president for Norway at Aker Solutions. "We still believe in the concept of Cat B, but the technology needs more time to be developed." The proposed rig would have operated in shallower waters up to 500 m (1,640 ft), a requirement that "proved to be particularly challenging," Aker said.
Atwood orders fourth UDW drillship
Atwood Oceanics has exercised an option with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering for a fourth ultra-deepwater drillship, to be named theAtwood Archer. The new drillship, scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2015 at a cost of approximately $635 million, is a DP-3 dual-derrick rig capable of operating in 12,000-ft (3,658-m) water depths. The Houston-based driller has until March 31, 2014, to exercise an option with DSME for a fifth ultra-deepwater drillship.
PPL jackup backlog grows with Oro Negro order
Sembcorp Marine's PPL Shipyard has secured contracts worth a combined $417 million to build two jackup rigs for Mexico's Integradora de Servicios Petroleros Oro Negro. The rigs are scheduled for delivery in 2015 and will bring to six the number of Pacific Class 400 jackups under construction at for Oro Negro at PPL. The first two units are slated for delivery next year.
