BMT ARGOSS (BMT), a subsidiary of BMT Group Ltd, has secured a long-term contract to provide an oil major with weather forecasting services for all its North Caspian Sea operations, both offshore and onshore. The scope of BMT’s work includes provision of all forecasting services including Metocean and aviation as well as all operational support, including maintenance of meteorological equipment on all of the installations.
BMT’s working relationship with this oil major extends back to 2009, providing elements of the forecasting services package. However the new contract sees BMT as the sole provider of weather forecasting services.
BMT’s 13 strong team will provide a 24/7 service in extremely harsh weather conditions with temperatures as low as -30oc. Where necessary, BMT’s forecasters and Metocean service specialists will travel to offshore installations to provide bespoke ice and aviation forecasts to support operational requirements.
Jean-Paul Lindeboom, BMT ARGOSS Forecast Manager, comments: “BMT’s local forecasting team based in Atyrau, Kazakhstan has already demonstrated the quality of its work against a third party benchmark. We’re delighted that our client has recognised this in awarding BMT all its North Caspian Sea forecasting work against some stiff competition.”
He continues: “Because the continental climate prevalent in the North Caspian Sea causes extremes of temperature in both summer and winter, accurate, real-time forecasting is a prerequisite to planning and carrying out day to day operations. BMT helps utilise the full potential of available weather windows, allowing the client to reduce operational risk and save time.”
.Delivering 1 high-tech PSV only 22-month after shipbuilding contract signed
On April 16 in Aberdeen UK, a seaport city on the North Sea, SINOPACIFIC & Deep Sea Supply together held a grand naming ceremony and gala dinner for the first PX105 platform supply vessel (PSV) among 12 ones contracted between the above shipbuilder & ship owner.
Sea Falcon features steel structure, single deck, engine room arranged below the main deck on the stem, bullet-like dimension and wide deck provided at midship stern.
Madame Dana House named this vessel as “SEA FALCON”. With Champagne drawing elegant arc lines onto the broadside accompanied with fireworks blooming and whistle blowing, atmosphere at ceremony site reached its climax. About 80 delegates from offshore oil and gas manufacturers, OSV ship-owners, operators and designers, marine equipment suppliers, classification society, news media, legal and financial services institutions witnessed this wonderful moment.
The high-tech PSV PX105 built by SINOPACIFIC, is one of the most complicated PSVs in the world. Designed by Ulstein Design & Solutions, PX105 is 88.8m in length overall, 82.0m in length between perpendiculars, 19.0m in breadth, 8.0m in depth moulded, 4543T in maximum deadweight and 15.7 knots in service speed (at 5.0m draft). PX105’s hull line adopts X-BOW design which Ulstein takes pride in to minimize violent impact from rough sea and ensure safety and stability for the vessel in adverse marine environment. Meanwhile, it is quite outstanding from environmental protection consideration: Generator exhaust emission meets European Automobile Emission Standard and the entire vessel meets Class 3 standard in noise, vibration, temperature, humidity and comfort; fully prepared upon hardware and software for the functional upgrading demands on floating oil recovery and fire control.
It is amazing that only 22-month after signing the contract, SINOPACIFIC delivered such a high-tech PSV to Deep Sea Supply. This marked another important milestone in SINOPACIFIC’s history of building high value-added OSV. “We cannot make this successful delivery without the close coordination from the ship-owner.” SINOPACIFIC Co-CEO Qiang Jiang indicated that he highly appreciated the practical attitude of Deep Sea Supply. He added: “In order to achieve flawless implementation of the system design, sufficient communication between us has started from the engineering stage; in addition, all key modification items were confirmed before the building started. And by doing so, it not only facilitated the manufacturing process, but also benefited an effective control on cost, quality and progress.”
As a prestigious investor in the international shipping industry, Deep Sea Supply has kept leveraging its strategic thinking from the perspective of an investor and managed to achieve dynamic balance between market supply and demand. The “SEA FALCON” PSV is the first vessel among 12 vessels that Deep Sea Supply has purchased from SINOPACIFIC.
SINOPACIFIC Chairman and CEO Simon Liang said frankly: “Without extensive experience accumulated in the past years, it would be impossible for us to complete this high-tech vessel. At the very beginning of building OSV, we have been encountering with challenges when cooperating with the leading suppliers from North Europe. It’s lucky that both parties make every effort to push forward the cooperation out of open minds and everything gets well later. Nowadays, our project management team can make skillful use of scientific management method and precise production process control in each process from OSV design to purchase and manufacture.” He also pointed out that the current success should thanks to what they had learnt from building PX105 series vessels for Bourbon and thanks to the close cooperation with Ulstein and DNV during past years.
Actually, before establishing its branch company in Norway, SINOPACIFIC had already determined to develop into a shipbuilder who can make good use of advanced design and high-end equipment from North Europe. “We feel pleased we have accomplished this target!” emphasized Simon Liang. With the SINOPACIFIC Norway serving as a bridge, SINOPACIFIC can smoothly communicate with their counterparts in North Europe and now have won vigorous support from those prestigious global suppliers. Meanwhile, professional technicians based in SINOPACIFIC Norway have been supporting the shipyard to further optimize its project management process.
As a technical-driven enterprise, SINOPACIFIC has participated in the design and building of 21 types of OSVs and mastered the full cycle of ship design and onsite technical support capabilities ranging from conceptual design, basic design, detailed design and production design for ships. Currently, SINOPACIFIC has about 10 OSV products of proprietary design, which covers both standard design and customized design. More than 130 OSVs that have been delivered to ship-owners are now in stable and reliable operation. It’s proved that they outperform similar products in charterparty and utilization rate as well as customer satisfaction.
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CGG and Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Group (LDA) announces the creation of a ship management joint venture, GeofieLD Ship Management Services. Co-owned 50 % by CGG and 50 % by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Group, the new joint venture will provide maritime ship management services for five of CGG’s high-capacity 3D seismic vessels.
This equal ownership reflects the common vision of CGG and Louis Dreyfus Armateurs to combine their seismic and maritime expertise and experience in order to align QHSE systems, streamline communication and define the JV’s strategy. This move also underlines the commitment shared by both parties to establishing a reliable maritime platform and maximizing the overall seismic performance of the five vessels managed by the joint venture.
The joint venture will be based in Suresnes, France. Alain Coatanhay from Louis Dreyfus Armateurs will be the Chairman of this new joint venture and David Rapidel from CGG has been appointed as Managing Director.
Jean-Georges Malcor, CEO of CGG, said: "This second joint venture marks another milestone in our performance action plan. It reinforces our strategy to streamline the number of our maritime partners, following our first ship management joint venture with Norwegian shipowner, Eidesvik Offshore, in May 2011. We are confident that by pooling our expertise, culture and history with Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Group, a leader in marine activities and our long-term partner since 1990, within this new joint venture, we will provide first-class ship management services to meet the expectations of our clients.”
Philippe Louis-Dreyfus, President of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Group, declared: "This joint venture further strengthens our ties with CGG, which started in 1990. This move comes as recognition of the skills and commitment of our teams. The sea offers great opportunities and I am proud of this new step forward in our strategy of partnerships with large industrial groups, such as CGG, a worldwide leader in geoscience.”
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Leading Norwegian exploration seismic contractor Dolphin Geophysical of Bergen has awarded Veripos a new three-year contract for provision of satellite positioning services aboard its fleet of specialist high-capacity vessels, Artemis Arctic, Artemis Atlantic, Polar Duke and Polar Duchess; the services will also be extended to include Sanco Swift, a new 96-meter vessel due to be commissioned later this year.
All five vessels will use Veripos’s latest Apex2 and Ultra2 dual beam Precise Point Positioning (PPP) services employing both GPS and Glonass constellations supported by an NTrip internet-based correction service. Associated onboard hardware for each vessel comprises triple Veripos LD6/LD2 modular receivers together with Verify QC processing software for real-time monitoring and control.
Commenting on the contract award, Angus Scott, Veripos Vice-President for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, said that it marked a further important stage in the company’s continuing support of Dolphin Geophysical’s worldwide operations following earlier supply of GNSS positioning services which began in 2011.
.Press Conference at OTC 2013
Date: Wednesday, 8th May
Time: 1500-1550hrs
Venue: Press Room 108D, First Floor, Reliant Centre
Title: The Arctic Oblique Oil Spill Recovery Icebreaker
With the awarding of drilling permits in the Arctic subject to increasing scrutiny, Aker Arctic Technology is introducing the ‘Heavy Duty’ Oblique Icebreaker Project for Arctic Application (Aker ARC 100 HD).
The ARC 100 HD is a new advance on what is already recognised as a true design innovation to allow ice-going vessel operations in the harshest of environments. It is distinguished by its inclusion of new technical solutions covering oil spill response.
Formal launch coincides with the start of hull assembly work on the first vessel to be built to the ARC 100 concept for delivery to the Russian Ministry of Transport by early 2014. Those attending this event will gain an overview of the project’s objectives and the research behind it, an update on construction work at Kaliningrad’s OJSC Yantar and Helsinki’s Archtech yards, and insight into the concept’s unique manoeuvring, ice management and oil recovery capabilities.
Presented by Mikko Niini, President, Aker Arctic Technology Inc
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