An ambition to provide even better service to MacArtney’s customers in the Asian Pacific market has resulted in a relocation of MacArtney Singapore to bigger and more spacious environments and in the set-up of a new local office in China.

Following a successful presence during the past couple of years in the maritime Southeast Asia, MacArtney Singapore have via their new premises put themselves in a more favourable position to deal with more jobs at a time and to carry out higher-quality service to their customers in the Asian Pacific markets.

New premises MacArtney Singapore, Asia Pacific Operations

Office, workshop and warehouse facilities

The new premises of MacArtney Singapore include in addition to their dedicated sales office various warehouse and workshop facilities, viz. a fibre optic workshop as well as a dedicated slip-ring repair workshop and a moulding workshop.

As part of the MacArtney Underwater Technology Group, MacArtney Singapore provides direct local access to the entire MacArtney portfolio of products and system solutions - backed by global service, support and know-how for any underwater technology requirement from individual connectors to complete launch and recovery systems. This resulting in efficient service and prompt delivery to underwater technology customers in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines and China.

Local office in China

More and more countries in Asia are investigating into ocean science, especially China. With more research vessels being built, there is an increased demand in oceanographic equipment and launch and recovery systems.

Provision of superior service to MacArtney’s customers in the Chinese market is the paramount incentive behind setting up a new MacArtney office conveniently located in ZhuHai and allowing for easy access to most customers in Guangzhou, the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in South China.

We see a need for MacArtney to be physically present in such a competitive region. Our presence in China will enable us to be closer to our customers, and we will be able to support both customers and distributors, says Steen Frejo, Managing Director of MacArtney’s Asia Pacific Operations.

In consequence of having established a branch office in Zhuhai, MacArtney Singapore have engaged a new System Sales Manager, Mr. Steven Yang, who has many years of experience in the ocean science industry. Mr. Yang’s primary job is to attend to the comprehensive task of servicing the Chinese market.

Xodus Group’s Intelligent Monitoring service is being used by Australian oil and gas company Woodside to create surveillance tools for its North West Shelf assets.

Accurate monitoring of oil and gas production is an increasingly valuable tool for operators and surveillance engineers but, until now, visibility of data has been almost exclusively available to on-site operators. For those involved in remote surveillance and decision support, the ability to visualize data and interpret an asset’s performance in real-time has been a significant hurdle.

The Woodside–operated North Rankin Complex, W.A. Image credit: Woodside Energy Ltd.

Xodus is forging a path in Intelligent Monitoring which makes information from the asset’s data historian available to engineering and management teams by creating interactive visualization tools. Information from the asset is not only displayed in real-time, it can also be used to calculate new data not recorded in the historian.

This can then be visualized even where no physical instrumentation exists, for instance via the creation of virtual meters for a process stream without instrumentation, or where a meter already exists but requires a metric for drift in calibration.

Michael Putrino, Intelligent Monitoring Lead at Xodus in Perth, explains: " Woodside’s North West Shelf offshore assets, the North Rankin Complex and Goodwyn Alpha, now employ a start-up sequence visualization tool created by our team of experts. It monitors systems coming online during a restart and displays key start-up status indicators from around the process and utilities systems. Crucially, it allows the surveillance team to monitor the asset start-up sequences proactively. Information can also be calculated from the monitoring sequence that determines how much downtime is associated with a particular activity, enabling it to be logged for further investigation."

Xodus has also created powerful compressor and other process parameter monitoring dashboards for Woodside’s North Rankin Complex. The customized dashboards consolidate average operating values across a 24 and 48 hour period to indicate how the asset’s equipment has been operating relative to the integrity envelope. This provides surveillance engineers with a means to assess any excursions towards alarm limits and take preventative action for future excursions. With access to the asset's data historian and the facility's production and design documentation, Xodus creates a raft of intelligent calculations to monitor critical equipment. This includes: triethylene glycol (TEG) column performance, pump performance, operating and integrity envelopes, alarm and trip history, and heat exchanger performance and fouling.

Xodus’ engineering expertise is the result of extensive design and operations support in the oil and gas industry. This in-depth experience has enabled the company to extend its know-how into intelligent solutions for monitoring facility performance.

DOF Subsea has been awarded several IMR and subsea installation contracts the past months, with a total contract value in excess of NOK 500 million. The contracts will secure utilization of the subsea project fleet in the regions.

In the Asia Pacific region DOF Subsea has been awarded an LOI from a key client for a EPCI project with the offshore phase during first half 2017. The scope of work includes supply chain management services for the fabrication and supply of mooring chains, replacement of eight mooring legs and PM&E.

Image credit: DOF Subsea

In the Atlantic region, DOF Subsea has been awarded several contracts the past months. A highlight was the award of an FPSO mooring installation and hook-up contract by Yinson Production offshore Ghana, on the Eni operated OCTP field. The contract will secure utilization of the Atlantic organization and regional subsea vessels in Q4 2016 and Q1 2017, and the project will increase DOF Subsea's presence in West Africa. Other highlights were the award of a 5-year pipeline inspection frame agreement for Maersk, and survey work for Nexans relating to the NordLink cable, connecting the Norwegian and German electricity markets. DOF Subsea also won repeat subsea work for Statoil, Maersk and other clients in the region.

In the North America region, DOF Subsea has been awarded several contracts with key clients in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Canada. The scope of work includes survey, IMR and light construction. To service the contracts offshore Canada, DOF Subsea will charter the DOF-vessel Skandi Chieftain for a 100-day job, in addition to increasing the number of ROV systems deployed in the region.

Mons S. Aase, CEO, stated, "I am pleased with the contract awards, securing utilization of people and assets. The FPSO mooring award offshore Ghana, as well as allocating an additional vessel to the Canadian market, increases the Group's global presence and improves our market access. This in combination with securing repeat business for our key clients will be important going forward."

Fast Supply Vessels (FSV) are tasked with delivering cargo and crew to oil and gas platforms, and other offshore operations with speeds unheard of in a crew boat 20 years ago. SEACOR Marine's newest FSV, the Alya McCall, relies on five high-performance Twin Disc MGX-61500SC QuickShift® transmissions. They provide the crucial links between the ship's powerful Cummins engines and Hamilton Waterjets.

The first in a new class of FSV from SEACOR Marine—Express Plus—the 206' x 32' US-flagged Alya McCall will accommodate 16 crew, 100 passengers and 300 LT of deck cargo. The aluminum FiFi-I class vessel has dual FFS pumps and remote-controlled monitors. Her five Cummins QSK60 Tier 3 engines each deliver 2,680 bhp. Paired with Twin Disc transmissions and Hamilton HT-810 Waterjets, the combination achieves a top speed of 38 kts. She is currently in service in the Persian Gulf.

Provided by Twin Disc distributor Sewart Supply of Morgan City, Louisiana, the MGX-61500SC transmissions feature industry-leading QuickShift technology. They instantly deliver smooth, seamless torque to the waterjets, from neutral to full ahead. And while waterjets rely on deflectors for reverse thrust, the shaft rotation can be reversed to backflush an intake screen if debris blocks its flow.

Damen Shipyards Group has announced the opening of a new branch office in Houston, Texas. This expansion, under the name of Damen North America, meets the increasing demand for Damen’s unique shipbuilding concepts and repair and conversion services.

The branch office – representing the Damen Shipyards Newbuild, and Damen Shiprepair & Conversion businesses across North America and Canada – has decided to open offices in the heart of the Energy Corridor of Houston, to ensure it can accommodate customers in the best possible way.

Arnout Damen, Chief Commercial Officer, said: “In this difficult economical climate, we are of the opinion that it is important to support the oil and gas market and are thrilled to expand our business to customers across North America and Canada. I am therefore pleased that we are expanding office locations to North America and improving service and product offerings to these markets.

“We seek to provide our customers the best quality, proven designs, short delivery times, low maintenance and excellent resale value and trustworthy repair & conversion solutions, combined with our commitment that we will deliver an unrivaled service to the highest safety and reliability standards.”

“Establishing an office out of Houston demonstrates the power of the Damen global presence for mutually beneficial and cost effective solutions,” said Jan van Hogerwou, Manager USA & Canada for New Buildings. “I look forward to working closely together with both ship operators as well as shipyards to maximize the value of having a local presence with the use of proven designs, high quality craftsmanship and low Total Cost of Ownership.

“We expect a lot from our new License to Build program in which we offer our ship designs and our construction expertise to any shipyard in the US. Our standardized shipbuilding approach, known as The Damen Standard, has become one of our fundamental core values. It gives us the ability to offer our customers well-proven, innovative vessels and/or designs for competitive prices.”

“We’re incredibly excited about the potential of this new office,” said Ruud Haneveer, Market Development Executive for Damen Shiprepair & Conversion. “We are proud to work for Damen, to operate as one family and teamwork is key to our success.

“The new office demonstrates our ever-expanding focus on customers’ needs. Through this local office, we are closer to our customers in the region. We value our customers’ feedback and the contribution it makes to advancing our ambition to improve our performance continuously and to set new standards in the repair and conversion of ships. The repair & conversion services represented by us are related to the group’s Shiprepair and Conversion shipyards located outside the United States of America.”

Wood Group has recently won four subsea contracts with Statoil on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). The latest award is a study to deliver subsea field concept engineering for the Snorre expansion project.

This project will focus on cost efficient enhanced recovery from the Snorre reservoir, with tieback to the existing Snorre A tension leg platform and gas import from Gullfaks A. There are also options for front end engineering design (FEED), detailed design and fabrication on this contract award.

On the Oseberg field development Wood Group Kenny has been awarded detailed design for two pipelines with corresponding spools and an umbilical, which will form part of the tieback from the future unmanned wellhead (UWP) platform to the Oseberg field centre.

Wood Group Kenny also provided FEED support on the Utgard field development to support engineering on the pipeline system that will tieback the planned subsea template to the Sleipner T platform and performed lifetime extension studies to the pipeline system in the Gullfaks field.

Bob MacDonald, CEO of Wood Group Kenny said: “Norway remains a key market for Wood Group Kenny and winning this work with Statoil underlines our position there. Our independent solutions strengthen the appeal of Wood Group Kenny to clients in this challenging environment and we are focused on improved efficiency. The four latest contracts awards cover the whole project lifecycle in pipeline engineering from concept, FEED, detailed design and life time extension, utilizing our broad expertise in this area.”

Trond Grytten, operations director of Wood Group Kenny in Norway added: “Winning these four Statoil contracts is testament to our hard work and adaptability; underlining Wood Group Kenny’s capacity and capability to take on larger subsea projects in the Norwegian Continental Shelf. We look forward to continuing our good relationship with Statoil and working with them to bring the cost down for these important projects.”

Subsea 7 S.A. (Oslo Børs: SUBC, ADR: SUBCY) has announced the award of a sizeable(1) engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning (EPIC) contract by Apache North Sea, as part of the Callater field development, located 335km north east of Aberdeen.

The contract work scope covers the project management, engineering, procurement, construction and installation of a 4km, 45" Pipeline Bundle system consisting of production lines, and power and supply services. It also includes the installation of a 13km electro-control umbilical, associated structures, field testing and pre-commissioning works.

Project management and engineering work will commence immediately from Subsea 7's offices in Aberdeen, with offshore activities planned for the first quarter 2017.

Phil Simons, Subsea 7 Vice President UK and Canada, said: "This award demonstrates our ability to collaborate with our clients to produce cost-effective technical solutions. It further recognizes the 35-year proven track record of our Pipeline Bundle technology for extending subsea infrastructure lifespans, whilst offering clients considerable cost savings from having all service lines integrated in a single product."

(1) Contract term: Subsea 7 defines a sizeable contract as being between USD 50 million and USD 150 million.

Bristow Group has announced the strengthening of its operational structure by centralizing, simplifying and standardizing its business operations to improve safety performance, effectiveness and efficiency for clients. This new structure will enable the company to continue to reduce costs, while improving its leading competitive position. As part of these operational changes, Bristow will also continue to pursue its diversification strategy into new business growth areas, similar to the UK SAR contract.

As part of this new organizational structure, Chet Akiri has been named acting senior vice president operations and chief commercial officer reporting to Bristow Group President and Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Baliff. Jeremy Akel, who previously served as Bristow’s senior vice president and chief operating officer, has departed the company, and Bristow is eliminating the chief operating officer position. Also departing the organization is Mike Imlach, Bristow’s vice president of global operations and Mike Sim, vice president of business development.

Jonathan Baliff commented: “The current downturn in our industry is likely to further impact our clients’ capital spending in fiscal 2017. As a result, in order to improve our safety performance, maintain our leadership position and sustain our long-term success, we have actively taken the additional and necessary steps to strengthen the business during these challenging times. These changes flatten our corporate leadership team structure, provide me with closer oversight of the operations and help us drive further revenue enhancements and cost reductions that are required. I would like to thank Jeremy, Mike and Mike for their years of service and contributions to Bristow and wish them much success in their future endeavors.”

In his new role, Akiri will merge corporate strategy and diversification with the other commercial areas of the company, including oil and gas business development, that further benefit Bristow’s customers and increase its competitiveness. Akiri will oversee operations on an interim basis while a search is underway for a new senior vice president of global operations.

Akiri joined Bristow in 2014 as Bristow’s senior vice president and chief corporate development, new ventures and strategy officer. Prior to joining Bristow, Akiri built high performance teams and successfully led strategic, commercial and operations planning and implementation in senior management positions at General Electric (GE). He served as chief operating officer for Global Nuclear Fuels America, and vice president and general manager of GE Hitachi Parts Services, where he had full profit and loss responsibility and was accountable for sales and margin growth, product development, operations, manufacturing, supply chain and regulatory compliance. He also served as a global sourcing leader for the Consumer & Appliances and Industrial Systems businesses, and was a merger and acquisition executive at GE’s corporate headquarters and aviation units.

Decom North Sea (DNS), the representative body for the offshore decommissioning industry, which promotes and facilitates collaboration and cost reduction, has today announced the appointment of a new chief executive.

Roger Esson brings over 20 years’ highly relevant experience as DNS continues to play a critical part in the development of the UK decommissioning sector. Having held a variety of leadership positions within companies ranging from SMEs to tier 1 contactors, his previous roles have included time with Stork Technical Services and Amec Foster Wheeler’s decommissioning division.

Roger Esson, chief executive, Decom North Sea

He has played an active role in the execution of several of the UK’s most significant decommissioning projects - including the MCP01, North West Hutton and Brent Delta installations - and is widely recognised for his stewardship of the oil and gas sector, not least through his participation on a number of industry boards and forums.

Commenting on the appointment, DNS chairman Callum Falconer said: “We are exceptionally pleased to welcome Roger to this position. Decom North Sea has no doubt that his combination of knowledge and experience will prove invaluable in addressing the challenges inherent in this fledgling industry - ensuring that our members, as well as those in the wider oil and gas industry and beyond, have the ability to grasp the opportunities within decommissioning.

“On behalf of Decom North Sea, sincere thanks go to interim chief executive, Karen Seath, and the wider operational team for the work they have undertaken during the past six months. They have successfully built upon our key objective to deliver value to our members, whilst working collaboratively with our strategic partners to ensure that an effective and sustainable supply chain addresses the requirements of this emerging sector.”

Roger Esson added: “I am delighted to join Decom North Sea and look forward to applying my knowledge and experience to the role. This is a challenging time for the North Sea industry and it is vital that we focus upon helping our members understand and prepare for the opportunities that are available.

“For example, DNS has long recognised the critical effect late life asset management has upon the success of the decommissioning process - as well as the vast number of opportunities it presents. With our members’ requirements firmly at the forefront of our minds, DNS has created the Late Life Planning Portal (L2P2), a trailblazing toolkit designed to encourage the all-important sharing of knowledge and the opportunities available within this phase.”

DeepOcean AS, a subsidiary of DeepOcean Group Holding BV (DeepOcean), has announced that the company has been awarded a contract for provision of Engineering, Procurement, Removal and Disposal (EPRD) of Varg Subsea facilities by Repsol Norge AS.

The scope of work cover subsea pre-decom survey, recovery of FPSO mooring lines, anchor piles, risers, midwater-arch buoy and subsea structures as well as onshore disposal and recycling of the recovered items.

The Edda Freya 304OCV offshore construction vessel with a length of 149.8m and beam of 27m is due to join the DeepOcean fleet early in 2016.With 2 off 220HP Constructor WROV’s moon pool handling, L&R 7m Hs and accommodation for 140 people. Credit: DeepOcean

“In the current market, with tough competition for every job I am pleased that DeepOcean has been selected by Repsol for this project. DeepOcean already has an in-depth knowledge of Repsol’s assets in the North Sea, through our long term relationship on maintaining the integrity of their assets. Coupled with our significant experience for similar operations it is great to learn that our project team has been able to take advantage of this and develop a cost efficient solution for Repsol.

Further, the new construction vessel Edda Freya, arriving in our fleet in 2Q16 has been specially designed for multiple types of subsea operations, and hence prove very cost efficient for subject scope”, says Rolf Ivar Sørdal, DeepOcean’s Commercial Director for Subsea Services in the Greater North Sea.

Crowley Maritime Corp. has taken delivery of Louisiana, the third of four new, Jones Act product tankers being built for the company by Philly Shipyard, Inc. (PSI), the sole operating subsidiary of Philly Shipyard ASA. The delivery marks another highpoint for Crowley’s petroleum services group as its tankers are at the forefront of the industry for their potential future conversion to LNG propulsion.

Louisiana, which is 50,000 dead-weight-tons (dwt) and capable of carrying 330,000-barrels of product, is scheduled to be christened in New Orleans on May 5. Crowley’s fourth product tanker is under construction at PSI, and delivery is planned for third quarter 2016.

Credit: Crowley Maritime Corp.

Louisiana joins sister ships Ohio and Texas, which were received by Crowley in 2015 as the first-ever tankers to receive the American Bureau of Shipping’s (ABS) LNG-Ready Level 1 approval. The approval allows Crowley to convert the tanker to liquefied natural gas (LNG) propulsion in the future.

“The Louisiana’s delivery continues to enhance the services we are able to provide to our petroleum customers,” said Crowley’s Rob Grune, senior vice president and general manager, petroleum services. “We celebrate new tonnage and the advanced technology, but most important to us and to our customers are the highly trained men and women of Crowley who are committed to transporting their fuel in the safest, most reliable way possible.”

“Milestones like today show we can deliver solutions that reinforce the value of the Jones Act vessels and American-built and American-crewed trade,” Grune said.

The new 50,000-dwt product tankers are based on a proven Hyundai Mipo Dockyards (HMD) design that incorporates numerous fuel efficiency features, flexible cargo capability and the latest regulatory requirements. The vessel is 600 feet long and is capable of carrying crude oil or refined petroleum products, as well as various chemical cargoes.

“We are proud to deliver another Philly-born tanker, the shipyard’s fifth tanker for Crowley and 23^rd vessel in total,” remarked Philly Shipyard’s President and CEO Steinar Nerbovik. “On behalf of the men and women who built her, we are honored knowing that the Louisiana will be another safe and quality addition to Crowley’s fleet that will serve its mariners and our nation’s waterways for decades to follow.”

Crowley’s marine solutions group is providing construction management services for the product tankers. The company has an on-site office and personnel at the Philadelphia shipyard to ensure strong working relationships with shipyard staff and a seamless construction and delivery program. Crowley routinely provides shipyard construction management services for third-party clients as well.

As offshore topsides become heavier and more oil reserves are identified in harder to reach locations, innovative solutions are key to effective oil & gas extraction. As a result, floatover installations are experiencing an upturn, rather than traditional heavy crane lifting. JP Chia, Engineering Manager and floatover specialist for Trelleborg’s engineered products operation, will be on stand at OTC Houston to discuss this trend, share market insights and answer any questions.

An active, global industry expert since the technology was introduced in the early 2000s, Chia has compiled his first hand experiences in a new whitepaper, The Floatover Forecast. He recounts lessons learned, changes in technologies and materials, as well as trials and errors that have contributed to developments in the field.

JP Chia, says: “Supported by statistics from a current research paper, our whitepaper details just how far the offshore industry has come in three decades of floatover developments, and how much further they can advance as oil companies utilize the technology in far-off locations. Visitors can get their copy of the whitepaper from our stand, number 5541 (hall A).”

As oil and gas exploration continues to develop year-on-year, and technology becomes more sophisticated, the effectiveness of extraction will improve. However, as floatover installations become more popular, it is vital that the industry applies the right thinking to ensure that projects are implemented safely and efficiently from beginning to end.

Chia continues: “Our whitepaper will help owners, operators, EPC contractors and consultants to confidently keep up to speed with the world of floatover installations.”

Available to view on stand, Trelleborg’s leg mating units consist of steel structures incorporating engineered elastomeric pads. They make a floatover transition possible by damping the forces created as the topside’s load is transferred to the jacket. The elastomeric pads are designed to take up the static and dynamic forces of the topside structure, as well as the horizontal forces due to open sea motions during the float-over mating operation. The assembled LMU can be installed either on the topsides or jacket.

Pick up your copy of ‘The Floatover Forecast’ from stand 5541 (hall A) at OTC Houston. For additional information about Trelleborg’s engineered products operation, click here.

On April 18, 2016, Goliat was the first oil field to come on stream in the Barents Sea. The field applies several ground-breaking technologies, which will also benefit the industry in future developments. The Goliat project development execution has contributed to substantial ripple effects, positively impacting the supplier industry in all of Norway, and Northern Norway in particular. Goliat operations will deliver considerable income both to the state and the partnership in the years to come.

Photo credit: © Eni Norge

“This is a proud moment for everyone in Eni Norge. It is the culmination of years of hard work by many dedicated people. We are now entering into a new phase as operator on the Norwegian continental shelf. The start-up of production from Goliat is an important milestone in Eni’s growth strategy”, says Andreas Wulff, External Communication Manager.

Production at Goliat started safely in the evening of March 12, 2016, and was followed by a rapid production ramp-up of all wells. Full re-injection of associated gas into the reservoir has started and re-injection of produced water in order to minimize environmental impact will soon commence.

Eni, operating through its subsidiary Eni Norge AS, has been present in Norway since 1965. The company has interests in exploration licenses and producing fields such as Ekofisk, Norne, Åsgard, Heidrun, Kristin, Mikkel and Urd, with a total production in 2015 of 106,000 boed. With Goliat, eni Norge production will grow above 160,000 boed net to Eni.

Eni Goliat illustration overview. Credit: © Eni Norge.

The platform has a production capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil per day and storage capacity of 950.000 barrels. Its estimated recoverable reserves are ca 180 million barrels of oil. Field life is currently estimated to 20 years, with significant upside already identified.

Subsea IMR provider, N-Sea, has been awarded a new contract with Galloper Offshore Wind Farm Ltd (GWFL).

The contract for pre-construction unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance works commenced in April 2016 and includes UXO risk management, target investigations and clearance on the Galloper Wind Farm, off the coast of Suffolk.

Expected to run for between 3-6 months, the project sees the Siem N-Sea multi-support vessel utilize a WROV to investigate potential UXO targets within the array areas and export cable corridor. N-Sea’s dive support vessel, Neptunus, will also undertake similar tasks in shallow water areas.

Dive Support Vessel, Neptunus. Image credit: N-Sea

To complete the clearance works, N-Sea has sub-contracted Ordtek Ltd (provider of unexploded ordnance risk management for land and marine developments), Modus Seabed Intervention (work class ROV and crew hire) and Ramora UK (Explosive Ordnance Disposal services).

Chief operating officer at N-Sea, Roddy James, said: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to the development of the Galloper project, which is a key part of the UK’s renewable energy portfolio.

“N-Sea has an impressive track record of unexploded ordnance campaigns in harsh conditions, which was key to our success in securing this contract. Our personnel and equipment resources are at the leading edge of UXO services, and our efficient, robust systems ensure we complete every project safely, on-time and within budget. This is a clear reflection of our ability to always provide safe, sound and swift solutions for our clients.”

N-Sea is known for its innovative work as an independent offshore subsea contractor, specializing in IMR services for the oil and gas, renewable and telecom/utility industries, as well as for civil contracting communities. N-Sea provides near shore, offshore and survey services to major operators and service companies alike.

Ordtek Ltd recently launched a Mine Map sharing information regarding UXO around the UK coastline. The map illustrates that the Galloper area, was heavily mined in the First and Second World Wars, and has been an active British military training area.

Ordtek director Lee Gooderham: “We are delighted to be working on this important renewable energy project off our local Suffolk shoreline. This is significant and complex project for us, with considerable ordnance has previously been found at the neighbouring Greater Gabbard site.”

NSL, ASCO Group’s global lifting and rigging specialist, has been awarded a significant contract with Italian drilling and EPCI company Saipem S.p.A. The two-year agreement will deliver HSE competency assurance and lifting intervention of onshore and offshore lifting operations to Saipem personnel. The global scope of the Saipem agreement will see NSL extend their reach from 34 to 50 countries across the Middle East and Africa; the Americas and Australasia.

Jonathan Taylor, Group Director at ASCO said:

‘We are proud to be awarded this significant contract. It demonstrates NSL’s continued ability to deliver high value, comprehensive rigging and lifting training and competency programs to oil and gas personnel on a truly global scale.

‘We are delighted at the prospect of strengthening our relationship with Saipem and look forward to a safe and effective working partnership.’

In addition to the provision of training and competency services, NSL has over 25 years’ experience in supporting clients through lifting technical assurance; lifting intervention (including the supply of technical authorities and appointed persons); advice on lifting operations efficiency and productivity, maintenance and servicing regimes.

Saipem is one of the world leaders in drilling services, as well as in the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of pipelines and complex projects, onshore and offshore, in the oil & gas market. The company has distinctive competences in operations in harsh environments, remote areas and deepwater. Saipem provides a full range of services with “EPC” and “EPCI” contracts (on a “turn-key” basis) and has distinctive capabilities and unique assets with a high technological content.

Ballast water treatment (BWT) specialist Optimarin has cemented its place at the vanguard of the market, with the news that it has now sold over 400 of its environmentally friendly UV-based systems. The landmark has been surpassed on the back of a succession of major contracts, fuelled by the firm’s unique retrofit experience, proven technology and upcoming USCG certification.

2016 has been a boom year for a company that installed the first ever commercial BWT system back in 2000. Optimarin Ballast System (OBS) orders have been confirmed with Atlantis Tankers (10 units) and Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group (nine), while the firm also made its first foray into fishing, with a contract for the Fisherman’s Finest vessel America’s Finest. The latest win, with Carisbrooke from the UK, was the largest - a fleet agreement with the potential to encompass retrofits on 46 bulk and multipurpose vessels.

“We’ve been working with BWT technology since our formation in 1994,” comments Optimarin CEO Tore Andersen, “so we feel this surge in business reflects an appreciation of our established expertise, technology, and ability to satisfy all individual customer, and vessel, requirements.

“Now that the ratification of the IMO’s Ballast Water Management convention is finally imminent, we’re seeing more and more shipowners engaging us for fleet wide retrofit assignments. This is because they know they can trust us, our market proven system, and unparalleled retrofit experience.”

Together with its global engineering partners, Goltens and Zeppelin, Optimarin has now fitted over 70 units on existing vessels, alongside over 200 on newbuilds. Its flexible, modular system is perfect for making the most of limited vessel space, while its totally compliant technology ensures peace of mind.

This latter point has proven to be another of Optimarin’s strengths. The firm has invested millions of dollars in testing and certification, with certificates from DNV GL, Lloyd’s, Bureau Veritas, MLIT Japan, and American Bureau of Shipping, alongside full IMO approval. However, it’s the latest testing with USCG that appears to be elevating the business to a new commercial plane.

“USCG has the most stringent approval demands, thanks to its FDA/CMFDA test, which judges the life forms transported in ballast water as either living or dead,” Andersen explains. “The power of the 35kw UV lamps in the OBS ensures it has the power to instantly kill invasive organisms and that’s exactly what USCG wants to see.

“The system has now satisfied all marine water tests and is in its final testing stage, with full USCG approval expected later this year. For shipowners with large global fleets this gives them the flexibility to sail in and out of US waters, discharging ballast, as desired. For those with fleets based exclusively in North America this is a ticket to trade, full stop.

“USCG approval is becoming a benchmark standard for forward-thinking customers planning for guaranteed future regulatory compliance. This is proving to be a key business driver for Optimarin.”

Optimarin’s customers include names of the order of Saga Shipholding, MOL, Grieg Shipping Group, Gulf Offshore, Farstad Shipping, NYK, Nor Line, and Evergreen Marine Corp, amongst others. Its OBS system is easy to install, simple to maintain – with no moving parts – and does not use, or discharge, any chemicals.

“We believe we have an industry leading proposition,” Andersen concludes, “and it’s hugely satisfying to see the market respond to that at this key time for the BWT sector.”