Canada Rigs/Vessels News

SeaBird Exploration Ltd. has signed a five-year bareboat charter with Økland Fiskebåtrederi AS for the Newfoundland Otter. The trawler will be converted into a Source/2D seismic vessel named Munin Explorer.

Canadian Imperial Venture Corp. says a request for a Significant Discovery license within offshore exploration license 1071 has been submitted to the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board. The request was made by CIVC subsidiary ENEGI Inc. on behalf of itself and PDI Production Inc., its partner in the Port au Port area.

Production has resumed at the Terra Nova FPSO vessel after an oil spill of some three or four bbl of oil caused a 10-day suspension.

Seismic signals probe a new frontier

Husky Energy has taken delivery of two shuttle tankers that will transport oil from the White Rose field off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Amsterdam-based BigLift Shipping operates a fleet of 14 multi-purpose, heavy lift vessels, all suited for off-shore operations.

In early 2004, Husky Energy named the FPSO that will produce the White Rose field in the Jeanne d'Arc basin off the coast of Newfoundland. ...

Last summer, Torch Offshore commissioned Huisman Special Lifting Equipment to design and build a new J-lay pipelay system for the Midnight Express.

In early May, Schlumberger Oilfield Services launched the DeepSTIM III, a fit-for-purpose stimulation vessel.

Offshore West Africa is a sea of opportu-nity for support vessel fleets. Unprece-dented development activity led to 30 boats being drafted to the region last year, swelling the overall pool of plat-form supply vessels (PSVs), tugs, anchor-hand-lers, and crew boats to 304.

One of the key advantages to oil as an energy source is its portability.

Keppel Shipyard, a subsidiary of Keppel Corp. Ltd., has completed the conversion of a 132,500-dwt tanker into an FPSO for Prosafe Production.

Shipboard and offshore platform fires are a major hazard for the marine industry. Machinery spaces, electrical control rooms, accommodations, and galleys are the areas that require fire detection and suppression equipment to ensure the safety and well being of crews and equipment.

GlobalSantaFe jackup Rig 136 arrived in the Keppel Fels yard in Singapore late in February for $30 million in upgrades.

Solutions for deepwater maintenance

Glory holes will protect the subsea wellhead and manifolds of the Terra Nova field. The trailer suction dredge is mounted on the 173-meter vessel The Queen of The Netherlands. [20,272 bytes] Photograph 2. [19,763 bytes] Photograph 3. [19,896 bytes] Photograph 4. [18,121 bytes] After falling behind in the excavation of the four glory holes required to protect the Terra Nova subsea wellheads from scouring icebergs, the Terra Nova alliance stepped back and re-evaluated its approach to this problem.

Freefall lifeboat arrangement for a NAM satellite platform. The fleet of floating production systems is steadily increasing worldwide, whether monohull or semisubmersible, in steel or concrete, newbuilds or conversions. In many instances, they have in fact become the first choice for field development. Developments in mooring and tethers and in turret and swivel technology have advanced so much that today, uptime of virtually 100% is being achieved on North Sea fields.

Escape systems from offshore installations can themselves be a liability to human health, if evacuees hit the water too fast or at the wrong angle. Several new initiatives are under way to tackle this problem in Europe and Canada. Lifeboats are normally mounted parallel to the sides of an installation and lowered by fall wires from a davit on the muster deck. There is the risk, though, of the lifeboats not clearing the installation and therefore suffering impact damage.

The development of the Russian Arctic offshore oil and gas reserves poses a wide range of engineering and economic challenges. It calls for close cooperation with western companies with both developed and developing technologies. Some of the areas of vital concern are types of structures, underwater pipelines, offloading terminals and tankers. All of which have to be constructed to withstand the effect of low temperatures, ice rubble, moving or mush ice, as well as the forces of ice impact,

Over the past year, a number of giant structures have been ferried around the world to major new field developments. Some of these projects required long-term planning and special ingenuity on the part of the transporters and installers .