Unfair though it may seem, it is conceivable that the Macondo incident will have at least as damaging and persistent an impact on the offshore industry as Chernobyl does on the nuclear power industry. Professor Andrew C Palmer explains why.On…
Having enjoyed the occasional taste of EPC responsibility in recent years, Van Oord Offshore is looking for much more of the same. Although perhaps best known for its rock installation muscle as a subcontractor to the likes of Saipem and Allseas…
Having repositioned itself during the 2009 downturn, Aberdeen-based consultancy Altra Energy recently joined forces with offshore contractor SLP North Sea to secure its first full-scope engineering assignment – for a new satellite production…
GDF Suez takes over as operator of Gjøa when the field comes onstream in October. The project comprises a semisubmersible platform with subsea tiebacks, and is also expected to be a hub in the future. Meg Chesshyre opens this month's Scandinavian…
The Danish Energy Agency recently awarded Dong Energy the concession to build an offshore wind farm in the Kattegat Bay at a cost of DKK10 billion. The wind farm's turbines, supplied by Siemens Wind Power, will have a capacity of 3.6MW each…
Continuous registration of vessel traffic above pipelines via the proposed Automatic Identification System (AIS) represents a significant improvement on pipeline operators' emergency response to possible mechanical damage, says Jens Erik Thygesen…
Five Ashtech ProFlex 500 GNSS receivers are helping guide the operations of the self-propelled offshore wind turbine installation vessel Bard Wind Lift I during construction of the first commercial wind farm in the German North Sea. The GNSS receivers are used for the jackup's every manoeuvre…
Following a recent flurry of new contracts, Marine Subsea UK is currently carrying out a multi-client well abandonment programme for a number of North Sea operators. Managing director Alasdair Cowie talks to Meg Chesshyre about how he sees the multiclient approach as the way forward…
Macondo mattersSir, OE's article by Ian Fitzsimmons on preventing future Macondo spills [‘Macondo and other titanic struggles', OE July] was excellent and I distributed a copy to my colleagues both in EIA and DOE. The recommendations made…
Newly merged contractors Royal Boskalis Westminster and Smit Internationale got a foretaste of the operational synergies expected to stem from this move when their activities coincided earlier this year in the Strait of Magellan at the remote southernmost tip of Argentina…
With the UK poised to introduce an offshore carbon storage licensing regime, a process and design optimisation specialist and an Aberdeen-headquartered engineering, construction, operations maintenance and project management group are planning…
Gas is part of the solution to the global energy challenge says Brian Bjordal, president and CEO of Gassco, whose throughput of gas has doubled in just ten years. Meg Chesshyre reports.On the positive side, notes Bjordal, there are significant…
Engineering and building production facilities in-house not only saves money but can also give offshore suppliers a sizeable market edge. That's been the case, and not for the first time, at Moerdijk-based offshore steel wire ropes, cable-laid…
BP has come under fierce criticism for its response to the Macondo blowout, a months-long saga of top hats, riser insertion tools and other containment efforts that only began collecting a significant portion of the oil spilling into the Gulf several weeks after the event…
The Macondo oil spill will have a lasting impact, but not the same repercussions on the petroleum industry that the Three Mile Island accident had on the nuclear industry. So said Douglas Becker, director oil services & equipment, global research for Bank of America…