Aker Solutions has been awarded a contract from Technip to deliver umbilicals for the Girassol Resources Initiative (GirRI) phase 2 development off the coast of Angola. Contract value is undisclosed.

Aker Solutions will deliver two dynamic power and control steel tube umbilicals, one dynamic power cable and ancillary equipment.
 
GirRI is located in Angola's Block 17, 210 kilometres west of Luanda. The development is 1,300 metres under sea level.

"Our advanced umbilical design provides both reliability and durability and we look forward to executing this project in close collaboration with Technip," says Tom Munkejord, head of Aker Solutions' umbilical business area.

The umbilicals will be manufactured at Aker Solutions' facility in Moss, Norway, with project management, design and engineering support from the company's office at Fornebu, Norway.

Subsea umbilicals are deployed on the seabed to supply necessary controls and chemicals to subsea oil and gas wells, subsea manifolds and any subsea systems requiring remote control.

The contract has been booked as order intake in the first quarter of 2013.

Noble Corporation (NYSE: NE) has announced that the Company has entered into two (2) three-year term drilling contracts with Plains Exploration & Production Company (NYSE: PXP) for the  Noble Sam Croft and the Noble Tom Madden, two of Noble's new ultra-deepwater drillships currently under construction at the Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (HHI) shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea. The drillships, which are being constructed on a fixed price basis, are expected to be utilized for operations primarily in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico under these contracts.

The  Noble Sam Croft (Image) is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2014, followed closely bythe Noble Tom Madden, which is expected to be delivered in second half of 2014. The contracts are expected to commence following mobilization to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and customer acceptance. Revenues to be generated over the three-year terms are expected to total approximately $693 million per rig, including mobilization fees, representing in excess of $1.3 billion in total potential backlog. With the award of contracts for these two units, all four ultra-deepwater drillships under construction for Noble at HHI are now under contract.

"With the addition of these units to our U.S. Gulf of Mexico fleet, Noble will have one of the most modern and capable fleets in the  region, a fact that demonstrates the fundamental change going on across the Company," noted David W. Williams , Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "At the same time, these contracts provide us with significant additional backlog, while expanding and diversifying our customer base as we grow our relationship with an important new customer."

The  Noble Sam Croft and the Noble Tom Madden are two of the four ultra-deepwater drillships being constructed for Noble by HHI. All four drillships are based on a Hyundai Gusto P10000 hull design, capable of operations in water depths of up to 12,000 feet and offering a variable deck load of 20,000 metric tons. The  Noble Sam Croft and Noble Tom Madden will be fully equipped to operate in up to 10,000 feet of water while offering DP-3 station keeping, two complete six-ram BOP systems, multiple parallel activity features that improve overall well construction efficiencies and accommodations for up to 210 personnel. Both rigs also will also be equipped with a 165-ton heave compensated construction cranes to facilitate deployment of subsea production equipment, providing another level of efficiency during field development programs.

PETRONAS will use Honeywell’s UOP Amine Guard™ FS process to remove contaminants on its Floating Liquefied Natural Gas facility in Malaysia

UOP LLC, a Honeywell (NYSE: HON) company, announces that it has been selected by Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) to provide technology for acid gas removal on the world’s first Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) project known as PETRONAS Floating LNG 1or PFLNG 1.

The PFLNG 1 facility, which is designed to extract natural gas from offshore wells and liquefy and store it for later transport, will use Honeywell’s UOP Amine Guard FS process to remove carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide from the liquefied natural gas (LNG) feed streams.

“We are pleased to continue to grow UOP's long-standing relationship with PETRONAS and for the opportunity to work with the company on its historic first floating LNG project,” said Rebecca Liebert, vice president and general manager for Honeywell’s UOP Gas Processing and Hydrogen business unit. “UOP offers a full suite of leading-edge, agile gas processing technologies, enabling us to design solutions for customers monetizing their gas resources. Together with PETRONAS, we are excited to bring continued improvements to meet the world’s growing demand for cleaner-burning and versatile natural gas energy in this new frontier of gas conditioning and treating.”

Scheduled for start-up by the end of 2015, the FLNG unit will be moored approximately 112 miles off the coast of Sarawak, Malaysia, and is designed to produce 1.2 million tons per year of LNG.

FLNG facilities such as PFLNG1 represent a step change in LNG production. Historically, the treatment of natural gas, liquefaction for transport by sea, and loading and offloading have only been possible at onshore plants. FLNG facilities allow these operations to be carried out far from land and closer to offshore gas sources. They will play a significant role in efforts to unlock gas reserves, particularly in remote and stranded fields previously deemed uneconomical to develop.

Honeywell’s UOP Amine Guard FS process was developed to reduce acid gas contaminants to very low levels prior to liquefaction. The technology is used to precondition the gas that results in 40 percent of the world’s LNG production from onshore base-load LNG plants.

UOP’s technology has been modified for use in a floating service environment to minimize plot size, weight and cost, while improving reliability, resistance to rocking motion and expanding the operating envelope. The acid gas removal system was designed in cooperation between PETRONAS and Honeywell’s UOP to obtain an optimized process capable of expansion and handling various feed stream contaminant concentrations.

Offshore Installation Services (OIS), an Acteon company, has successfully completed its sixteenth rigless suspended well abandonment campaign involving multiple operators in the Southern North Sea. The multi-operator model for programs of this kind can deliver significant customer benefits in terms of cost-effectiveness. A total of nine mudline wells in categories 1, 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 were abandoned during the operation including four on behalf of GDF SUEZ E&P UK Ltd. and two for RWE Dea.

The scope of work for OIS, part of Acteon’s activity and resource management business, included the initial approval processes; formulating the contracting strategy; developing detailed procedures; procurement; appointing specialist service providers; overall logistics; and recycling and disposing of the recovered wellheads.

OIS conducted the two-phase abandonment operation from a chartered DP2-class anchor-handling tug supply vessel (AHTS). During phase one, a proprietary twin low-pressure packer tool from Acteon sister company Claxton Engineering Services Ltd. was deployed through the vessel’s moon pool to set cement plugs across all the casing annuli. The second phase involved abrasive severance of the wells using Claxton Engineering’s SABRE cutting tool.

“We have a strong track record in providing commercially efficient decommissioning solutions which are particularly important for non-revenue-generating assets,” said OIS vice president of commercial and business development Tom Selwood. “Multi-operator campaigns such as this, enable operators to share the associated costs which, when combined with the rigless nature of our offering, makes this the most cost-effective way to comply with UK oil and gas decommissioning legislation.”

Max Proctor, GDF SUEZ E&P UK drilling manager, added, “We are committed to fulfilling our responsibility to the environment as an operator and are leading the way in the North Sea with the decommissioning of redundant wells. We started this campaign immediately after the request came from DECC for operators to fully abandon suspended wells by reviewing the history of the wells and confirming the status of each with an independent well examiner. OIS is a valued partner of GDF SUEZ and the success of this project is testament to the team’s strong technical skills and experience.”

Since 1996, the OIS team has successfully completed more than 100 well decommissioning projects without a single lost-time incident.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has released a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for proposed oil and gas Lease Sales 233 and 231, the third and fourth sales scheduled in the current 2012-2017 Five Year Program.

As part of the Obama Administration's all-of-the-above energy strategy, domestic oil and gas production has grown each year the President has been in office, with domestic oil production currently higher than any time in two decades and natural gas production at its highest level ever. Renewable electricity generation from wind, solar, and geothermal sources has doubled and foreign oil imports now account for less than 40 percent of the oil consumed in America - the lowest level since 1988.

Western Planning Area Lease Sale 233 is tentatively scheduled to be held in 2013, and Central Planning Area Lease Sale 231 is tentatively scheduled to be held in 2014. A Federal Register notice announcing the availability of the Final SEIS will be published on April 12, 2013.

The SEIS updates several previously published environmental reviews covering the Gulf of Mexico and incorporates the latest available information following the Deepwater Horizon explosion, oil spill, and cleanup. The bureau will continue to conduct and assess additional scientific research and studies, and use this information to inform future offshore leasing and energy development decisions.

The Final SEIS Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2013-2014 (OCS EIS/EA BOEM 2013-0118) is available to view online: http://boem.gov/Environmental-Stewardship/Environmental-Assessment/NEPA/nepaprocess.aspx. It is also available through the BOEM Gulf of Mexico Region's Public Information Office, and can be requested at 800-200-GULF (4853).

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) promotes energy independence, environmental protection and economic development through responsible, science-based management of offshore conventional and renewable energy.

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC) announces the discovery of a new natural gas accumulation fully contained within the Offshore Area 1 of the Rovuma Basin of Mozambique. The Orca-1 discovery well encountered approximately 190 net feet (58 meters) of natural gas pay in a Paleocene fan system.

"Discovering another large, distinct and separate natural gas accumulation in the Offshore Area 1 continues our outstanding exploration success offshore Mozambique," said Sr. Vice President, Worldwide Exploration Bob Daniels. "We are designing an initial two-well appraisal program to define the areal extent of the Orca field, which will commence immediately after drilling our Linguado and Espadarte exploration wells. Orca is a single large Paleocene column, and its proximity to shore provides additional options and flexibility for potential future development."

The Orca-1 exploration well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 16,391 feet (4,996 meters), in water depths of approximately 3,481 feet (1,061 meters).

Anadarko is the operator in the Offshore Area 1 with a 36.5-percent working interest. Co-owners include Mitsui E&P Mozambique Area 1, Limited (20 percent), BPRL Ventures Mozambique B.V. (10 percent), Videocon Mozambique Rovuma 1 Limited (10 percent) and PTT Exploration & Production Plc (8.5 percent). Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos, ep's 15-percent interest is carried through the exploration phase.

Anadarko also completed drilling its Kubwa well in the L-07 Block offshore Kenya, which encountered non-commercial oil shows in reservoir-quality sands.

"We are very encouraged with our first test of Kenya's previously unexplored deepwater basin, in which mudlog and well-site evaluation of core data indicates the presence of a working petroleum system with reservoir-quality sands," Daniels said. "The Kubwa well tested multiple play concepts and provided useful data regarding the prospectivity of our six-million-acre position offshore Kenya. The rig will now mobilize south to drill the Kiboko well."

Anadarko operates the L-07 Block with a 50-percent working interest. Co-venturers in the L-07 Block include Total E&P Kenya B.V. (40 percent) and PTT Exploration & Production Plc (10 percent).

The investigation conducted by the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) into the Floatel Superior stability incident on 7 November 2012 has yielded new knowledge about securing anchors and transport at transit draft. It has also exposed challenges related to regulations, classification and design assumptions.

An unsecured anchor caused the hull of the Floatel Superior accommodation rig to be punctured in eight places on the night of 6-7 November 2012, leading to water intrusion in two tanks and a list of about 5.8 degrees.

The PSA has investigated this incident. See notification of orders after investigation of stability incident on Floatel Superior, 7 November 2012

Information has emerged in connection with the investigation which could be important for other players on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS).

Securing anchors

One of the anchor bolsters on Floatel Superior lost three braces on the incident night as a result of damage which had arisen and developed over time.

Following these fractures, the remaining parts of the bolster were unable to prevent the anchor hitting the hull directly. The anchor hung free, and wave action caused to strike the hull repeatedly and cause seven holes.

A number of incidents have been reported which relate to anchors stowed in bolsters, both while the facility was in transit and during long-term stowage because of dynamic positioning (DP) operations and the like.

Keeping anchors in the bolsters over a long period, at or near the waterline, increases the risk of damage.

It is difficult to achieve a sufficiently stiff system for securing the anchors, particularly when using wire rope rather than chain. Wire rope is not an optimum choice for holding an anchor in place.

If anchors are to be stowed in bolsters during a storm, the investigation shows that careful calculations must be made of the loads which anchors and bolsters could experience during transport or operation.

Robustness

If the hull is to withstand direct blows from anchors, its dimensions might need to be considerable. Simply using a more robust bolster structure is not enough, but could be a way of protecting against anchor damage.

A number of bolsters on other facilities have an extra horizontal brace between the wear surface and the hull. This could delay the anchor striking the hull, but an unsecured anchor might also “sail” over it. The effect of the additional brace is then lost.

Another key element is the tension to be used in keeping the anchors in place. Industry practice has been to use 40-50 tonnes of winch tension on the anchor stowed in the bolsters. Even then, movement with consequent damage has been reported.

Additional measures are accordingly necessary. It has not been normal practice to secure or lash anchors on semi-submersibles, since the area between fairlead, anchor and bolster is hard to access.

To prevent similar incidents when the decision has been taken to stow anchors in the bolsters during transport and operation, great attention must be paid to winch tension.

This must be viewed in conjunction with the position of the anchor in relation to:

• relevant drafts of the facility

• the attachment of the anchor to the bolster

• relevant sea states

• design of the bolster

It is important that owners ensure that their facilities do not suffer damage if anchors have been stowed in the bolsters over a long period. Ensuring that new damage does not occur is also important.

Transport at transit draft

The PSA takes the view that Floatel Superior had suffered damage before it was taken into use on the NCS because it had been transported in higher waves than permitted by its operations manual and analyses. This damage had probably worsened in bad weather up to the incident night.

Semi-submersibles are normally transported at transit draft because they then experience minimum resistance and can be moved swiftly.

The hull designer applies assumptions concerning the weather and specifies limits for the conditions in which the facility can operate.

It is important that owners ensure that their facilities are and have been used in accordance with the weather assumptions at transit draft.

Should there be nonconformities, furthermore, possible effects on the hull of operating beyond the design assumptions should be analysed or inspected in order to establish the consequences of such operation for continued use of the facility.

Regulations, classification and design assumptions

The PSA’s investigation has shown that the combination of DP and classic mooring calls for adjustments to standards and classification rules to take account of a number of systems in a coherent manner. The PSA will follow this up with the classification societies.

Damage development on Floatel Superior can be traced throughout its operational history. The design and operating assumptions have been inadequately communicated and documented to take account of the reciprocal effects.

The investigation has demonstrated that earlier and more detailed follow-up of questions and observations from people involved could have halted or reduced development of the damage.

It is a general observation that clearer communication and better mutual understanding between those involved are important for reducing risk in complex systems.

Leading international oilfield services company Expro has been awarded a contract to provide equipment and services in support of a client’s offshore project in Latin America.

Located in the Santos Basin, in Brazil, the BS-4 block encompasses two post-salt wells and one pre salt well. Expro has been contracted to provide heavy oil well testing to post-salt wells and data management services through partner company Baker Hughes, in a contract valued at more than $10mn.

Expro will provide Queiroz Galvão Exploração e Produção SA (QGEP) with subsea equipment, Drill Stem Testing (DST), data acquisition, surface well testing, fluids services and wireline intervention services.

Expro has been providing extended well testing services internationally since 1983 and is recognised as a global leader in the delivery of fast track production facilities.

Jean Moritz, Expro’s Latin America region director, said: “We were invited to tender for this project because we offer high-quality integrated service packages. We have a good relationship with both Baker Hughes and QG and this is a great opportunity for Expro to introduce a full package well testing job in to Brazil.”