Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. (NYSE:HLX) has announced that the Q5000 commenced operations and is working on contracted rates after resolving the previously disclosed start-up issues related to certain subsea equipment.

Although commercial discussions regarding this matter are not concluded and therefore there is still uncertainty surrounding the full financial impact of the equipment start-up issues, the Company currently believes that the range of its previously issued guidance should accommodate this impact. The Company will update guidance at its next earnings release.

BP announced on Monday, May 16, that it has doubled its interest in the Culzean development in the UK Central North Sea, following its acquisition of an additional 16% interest from JX Nippon.

The acquisition increases BP’s interest in the development from 16% to 32%.

Image courtesy. Maersk

“We are pleased to have deepened our interest in Culzean and we look forward to helping Maersk make this important central North Sea development a success,” said Mark Thomas, BP Regional President North Sea Region. “This is a challenging time for the industry and we must continue to work together to ensure that when developments like Culzean, or other projects such as BP’s Quad 204 and Clair Ridge, come online they can be run as efficiently as possible.”

The Maersk-operated Culzean field development, which was sanctioned at the end of August last year, is expected to produce enough gas to meet 5% of total UK demand at peak production in 2020/21.

“BP has been focusing and refreshing its North Sea portfolio by bringing new fields into production, redeveloping and renewing existing producing facilities and divesting some of its more mature or less strategic assets,” Thomas added. “Our deepening in Culzean further demonstrates our commitment to supporting the development of another UK field for the future.”

Discovered in 2008, the gas condensate field has resources estimated at 250-300 million barrels of oil equivalent. Production is expected to start in 2019 and continue into the 2030s, with plateau production of 60,000-90,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Subsea IMR provider, N-Sea and Subsea Projects and Engineering provider, DOF Subsea have entered into a two-year cooperation agreement to provide an Integrated Saturation (SAT) Dive Service.

The Cooperation agreement reflects both companies’ strategic decision to increase their overall service offering through Saturation diving across Europe, Africa, and Mediterranean.

Skandi Achiever

The principles of the agreement are set out with DOF Subsea providing the Dive Support Vessel, Skandi Achiever, whilst N-Sea will provide saturation diving resources. Project Management, Engineering and Diving Manual/Procedures will be provided through an integrated team. N-Sea chief operating officer Roddy James said: “This Cooperation agreement with DOF Subsea reinforces N-Sea’s key objective; to fully appreciate our clients’ requirements and provide them with the safe, sound and swift service they have come to expect.

“The MOU allows both N-Sea and DOF Subsea to offer an integrated - and highly efficient - SAT diving service to our client; something we regard as particularly important in the context of current market conditions.”

Commenting on the agreement, Robert Gillespie, managing director of DOF Subsea UK Ltd Services said: “We are very excited to work with our partner N-Sea. Teaming up with N-Sea to provide an Integrated Diving Solution will enable us to provide yet another service offering from one of our high specification vessels, namely the Skandi Achiever.

“This Cooperation Agreement exemplifies both N-Sea and DOF Subsea commitment to the Subsea market and reflects our desire to collaborate with companies to the benefit of our respective organisations and clients.”

The Libra consortium has invited Airborne Oil & Gas to perform a failure mode, effect and criticality assessment (FMECA) for a TCP Riser that could be used at the giant Libra field offshore Brazil. The request followed a successful feasibility study (preliminary version) performed by Airborne Oil and Gas and Wood Group Kenny, that showed a 45% reduction in top tension in a cost effective riser solution, using a hybrid riser design comprising of the conventional flexible pipe (used for the top and bottom riser-sections) and the TCP section inserted at the mid-water depth.

Henk de Boer PhD, Engineering Manager Airborne Oil & Gas: "We are independent in our material choice and select the right material for every application. In this case, we assessed 3 different composite materials in the riser design and optimized it for installation, fatigue, top tension and pipe cost. Interestingly, the most cost effective riser solution turned out to be the technically best performing as well."

The TCP Riser solution (provided for the full riser length) could offer significant benefits in deep water riser applications: first, the lightweight TCP Riser reduces the top tensions up to 50% (as compared with the conventional flexible pipe), reducing the weight loading on the FPSO. Second, the TCP Riser itself is a simple monolithic wall pipe; while still flexible, it is inherently simple in its design leading to a very cost effective solution for deeper waters.

Airborne Oil & Gas is the world's first manufacturer of Thermoplastic Composite Pipe (TCP) to have qualified its design, production and materials in compliance with the new DNV Recommended Practice for Thermoplastic Composite Pipe, DNVGL RP F119. The FMECA will be conducted in accordance to this recommended practice.

Neptune announces it has been awarded a contract for the provision of 350 concrete mattresses by McDermott Australia Pty Ltd (McDermott International (NYSE: MDR)).

The mattresses, which will be utilized for flowlines walking mitigation on the INPEX operated Ichthys LNG project, will be manufactured at Neptune’s yard in Batam utilizing heavy density concrete and will weigh approximately 60 ton each in the air. Works commenced in April 2016 under an accelerated production schedule.

Neptune Chief Executive Officer, Robin King, said “the award of this contract follows the successful completion of other related scopes of work for McDermott on the Ichthys project by our stabilization service line. Additionally, Neptune has also performed survey and ROV campaigns on this project in recent years and we are pleased to provide ongoing support to McDermott on this milestone development.”

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is continuing its investigation of the oil release from Shell Offshore Inc.’s Glider Field on May 12. The Glider Field, located approximately 97 miles south of Port Fourchon, LA, includes subsea wells and the field’s production flows to the Brutus Platform.

BSEE Gulf of Mexico Regional Director Lars Herbst formally established an Investigative Panel May 16. The seven-member panel is comprised of BSEE engineers, inspectors, and investigators. The panel will conduct a thorough investigation of the incident in order to identify the causes and any contributing issues that led to the release. The panel will make recommendations in its final report on how to strengthen existing safety and environmental management systems, and identify any reforms to existing regulations that may be needed. The focus of these recommendations is to prevent a similar incident from occurring.

BSEE approved Shell’s plan for recovery of the damaged flowline segment. A BSEE inspector is on board the recovery vessel to observe the recovery operations. All repair plans for the subsea flow lines and production systems will be submitted to BSEE for review.

Production remains shut-in from the two subsea fields that flow to the Brutus platform. BSEE will not approve production restart of these subsea fields until all safety concerns and applicable regulations have been met.

Amec Foster Wheeler announces the award of a project management consultancy contract by consultancy company NIRAS to support the next stages in the development of a Kenya Ports Authority project for the offshore relocation and expansion of the Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT) in Mombasa, Kenya.

Amec Foster Wheeler’s scope of work is to provide technical support and expertise to NIRAS for the development of an engineering, procurement and construction tender package and the evaluation of tenders. Amec Foster Wheeler previously supported NIRAS with the preliminary design stage for KOT.

Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT) in Mombasa, Kenya, will be relocated to a site adjacent to Mombasa port berth 16 and 17 and overlooking the naval base in Mtongwe.

KOT presently handles more than 90% of the country’s imports as well as transit products for Uganda, northern Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Eastern DRC and South Sudan.

Refined petroleum products are offloaded at KOT and transferred to the Kipevu Oil Storage Facility in the coastal town.

Hili Company, the logistics division of Hili Ventures, has entered into a joint venture agreement with leading international energy logistics company Peterson, to provide oil and gas logistics services across the Mediterranean and North Africa.

Due to growing customer demand from the region, Peterson (Malta) Ltd will provide supply base services, warehousing and logistics management, procurement and recruitment, for oil and gas clients in the Mediterranean and North Africa. The company currently has more than 2,000 square meters of freetrade zone warehousing space in Malta, with access to a further 4,000 square meters of yard space for logistics supply base services.

Peterson offers a comprehensive range of safe, reliable and value added logistics solutions to the global energy industry from locations including the Netherlands, North America and the northeast of Scotland. Established in 1920, the organisation has expanded throughout the UK with facilities at several prominent ports, including an integrated asset base in Aberdeen.

The joint venture marries Peterson’s expertise in global oil and gas support with the wide-ranging capabilities of Hili Company, an internationally-focused group incorporating key capabilities in logistics, including global air, road and sea freight, ship agency and tramper services, clearances and deliveries, warehousing, courier solutions, ship-to-ship operations, and project cargo.

Its portfolio includes Mediterranean shipping and logistics firm Carmelo Caruana Company Ltd, logistics firms Baltic Freight Services, operating from Vilnius, and Prime Logistics based in Minsk, and a joint venture with leading shipping line CMA CGM.

Hili Company chief executive officer Davide Biron said: “We were attracted to Peterson because of its innovative approach to the oil and gas industry, with a strong focus on technology and collaboration. The joint venture will combine our broad range of capabilities with decades of oil and gas logistics experience from Peterson. Peterson is able to partner customers for a wide spectrum of operations and projects, including the decommissioning of oil rigs and repairs.”

Peterson director Jim McSporran said: “Our agreement with Hili Company provides us with additional strength to better serve our clients in this important region. As a result, we look forward to providing customers in the Mediterranean and North Africa with even greater cost-effective and innovative supply chain solutions.

“Our continuing investment in technology allows us to offer customers industry- leading solutions through our suite of digital applications which includes eCargo, the first system to digitise quayside operations, making them more transparent and efficient, including the handling of transport requests, container management and cost allocation for supply vessel pools.”

JDR, a leading UK based supplier of subsea umbilicals and power cables to the offshore energy industry, has been awarded a contract by GE Oil & Gas, on behalf of operator ONGC, for the Vashishta & S1 project.

The Vashishta & S1 fields are located in the KG Basin, 30 – 35 kilometers off the east coast of India, at water depths of 250 to 700 metres. JDR’s scope of supply includes the engineering, design and manufacture of 12 steel tube flying leads and associated hardware. JDR’s technical services team will also provide design analysis for the project including flow and structural analyses and free spanning vortex induced vibration (VIV) analysis.

JDR CEO, David Currie, said: “This contract highlights our world-leading expertise in the supply of specialist umbilicals and cables to the offshore energy industry. We are delighted to support GE and ONGC by providing the critical links to their subsea control system. This contract award is testament to our expert teams who are leading the charge in developing advanced and innovative technologies for the offshore energy sector.”

Flying leads are used to connect subsea trees to umbilical termination arrangements, manifolds and subsea distribution units. They will be manufactured at JDR’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Hartlepool, UK, where the company is currently undertaking a major site expansion, including the commissioning of a world-leading helical assembly machine and additional covered large capacity carousels.

Forum Energy Technologies Inc. has successfully delivered a number of its largest subsea Pig Launchers and Receivers (PLRs) and laydown heads to a project in North Africa.

The nine PLRs have been deployed as part of a development of nine subsea wells, which vary from four to 24 inches in size, with water depths ranging from 300 to 800 meters.

Manufactured at Forum’s Moffat subsea engineering business in Northumberland, UK, the custom-designed units will be used in the completion of flooding, cleaning, gauging, strength test, intelligent pigging and dewatering activities.

Forum Energy Technologies has delivered several of its largest PLRs and laydown heads to a North African project. Photo courtesy: Forum Energy Technologies

John Thompson, operations director at Moffat, said: “Despite the market conditions, there has been a strong and continued demand for the capabilities and expertise held in our Moffat facility. We are engineering innovative products that are benefitting clients around the globe, and this latest contract is testimony to that.

“The scope of work for the project, which included the full design, manufacture and testing of the PLRs, underlines the fully integrated system we can offer from concept through to delivery.”

In addition to their size and weight, Forum’s PLRs have other additional capabilities compared with conventional systems because they are also equipped with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) readable subsea flow meter, a ROV operable choke valve for discharge throttling to control the pigging velocity. Forum also developed and manufactured a landing interface from the PLR’s to the pipeline end terminator (PLET) with a horizontal driverless connection system.

Sparrows Group has been awarded a 20-month inspection services contract to cover Stena Drilling’s global fleet of drilling vessels.

The agreement will see Sparrows Group deliver LOLER lifting gear surveys, potential dropped objects surveys, cargo carrying unit (CCU) and non-destructive testing (NDT) inspections as well as rig specific maintenance.

Sparrows Group had previously held a similar contract with Stena for an eight-year period.

Stena Forth. Photo courtesy: Stena Drilling

Stewart Mitchell, chief executive officer of Sparrows Group, said: “Over the years we have developed a strong relationship with Stena and we are delighted to now be working with them again. It is encouraging to see that they are committed to ensuring safety and integrity across their global fleet.

“Our experienced inspection team has a reputation for delivering quality, cost effective services to our customers. I have no doubt their professionalism and track record for reliability has contributed to us regaining this contract. In today’s low oil price environment it is more important than ever to ensure inspection and maintenance is carried out effectively to avoid costly emergency repairs.”

This latest contract with Stena Drilling comes shortly after Sparrows Group announced it had secured a five-year contract in the North Sea with Statoil. In March, the firm revealed it was to deliver cranes and maintenance services at the prestigious Mariner development.

Established originally in 1946, the Sparrows Group moved into the oil and gas market in 1975 and has more than 40 years’ experience working offshore. They are one of the most well-known and trusted names in the oil and gas industry. The company provides engineered products and services, primarily to the offshore sector, specializing in lifting and handling, cable and pipe lay, and fluid power solutions.

Since 2014 Bibby Offshore has invested heavily on its commitment to the workforce of tomorrow by their ongoing support and training of six young ROV apprentices. The apprentices have experienced a variance of training, internally at Bibby Offshore`s workshop facility and externally through the vast network of suppliers and customers. This has allowed the apprentices to gain a great overall insight into the range of offshore services that Bibby Offshore provide. Aleron Subsea has recognised these efforts and is now engaged in supporting Bibby Offshore with their ongoing training.

Managing Director Mike Bisset said: “We understand the need for high quality training of younger staff members and wanted to assist Bibby offshore where we could. We take the apprentices on a rotation in pairs where they spend time working on our ROV’s and ROV Tooling under the direction of our senior technician’s. We have also set up hour long structured lunch and learn sessions each day with Dan Fjellroth who was the senior ROV trainer at Technip Offshore, previously involved in setting up Technip's ROV technicians competence scheme and source in conjunction with the ROV Resource manager complementary courses suitable for ROV Personnel's professional development.

The training partnership has been ongoing successfully since Q4 2015 as is due to continue throughout 2016.

Dynamic Industries International LLC. (Dynamic), a full service brownfield construction, fabricator, hook-up and commissioning contractor to the global offshore oil and gas industries, has announced that their Angolan affiliate, Dynamic Angola Contractors (DAC) based in Luanda, Angola has been awarded a contract to provide general construction and fabrication services in support of ongoing operations for a major oil and gas operator. The contract is expected to kickoff 4Q16 and last four (4) years.

Pierre Allard, Country Manager for DAC said, “This award is a great win for DAC and will provide another platform for DAC’s continued development and growth of our skilled Angolan workforce and investment for additional local infrastructure to support this activity”.

McDermott International, Inc. (NYSE:MDR) has joined with 14 other leading offshore companies in signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish engineering industry standards.

Known as the Standardization Unified Joint Industry Project (JIP), the one-year agreement sets out the terms and conditions upon which the signing parties shall establish industry standards for offshore engineering. The objective is to reduce cost and increase predictability without compromising safety in international offshore oil and gas engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) topside projects by using standardized bulk materials and equipment, construction and qualification procedures, and documentation requirements.

Vaseem Khan, Professional Engineer and McDermott Vice President, Global Engineering, signs the Joint Offshore Engineering Standardization Agreement

As part of the agreement, all parties also agreed to comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations in the performance of the MOU and in particular with all applicable anti-trust, anti-competition and anti-bribery laws.

Joining McDermott for the signing ceremony at Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, Texas were officials from offshore engineering companies Wood Group Mustang, DNV Korea Limited, Technip, Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (SHI), Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME), Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI), Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and MODEC International. Classification societies signing the agreement were American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), Bureau Vitas (BV), Korea Offshore & Shipbuilding Association (KOSHIPA), Korea Marine Equipment Research Institute (KOMERI) and Lloyd’s Register.

Vaseem Khan, Vice President, Engineering for McDermott, said that McDermott welcomes the opportunity to partner with stakeholders, customers and industry peers ”to craft standards that deliver sustainable cost reductions without compromise to safety or operability.”

“McDermott, with its unique and worldwide engineering-through-installation expertise is well placed to understand the challenges of standardization and has built its reputation for engineering excellence over the past 94 years,” Khan said. “As the industry moves to arrest and reverse the cost and schedule inflation of the past decade, a core element is offshore and subsea product standardization with a move to agnostic solutions which are industry specific but operator independent.”

Metocean Services International (MSI) has recently completed the first annual service of McDermott Australia Pty Ltd’s (MAPL) AXYS WatchMate™ current and wave buoy. The buoy was sold to MAPL in 2014 accompanied by an installation and service contract for an initial 3 years.

The buoy is installed in 270m of water in the ICHTHYS field. The INPEX operated ICHTHYS LNG Project in the Browse Basin offshore Western Australia is ranked amongst the most significant oil and gas projects in the world. In field, construction is well underway with the first production targeted at third quarter 2017.

Weight on deck: Photo courtesy: McDermott

Real-time meteorological, current and directional spectral wave data is telemetered back to MSI via Inmarsat satellite and posted onto a client specific website. Data is also posted to an FTP site to allow MAPL personnel to use it to support the ongoing infield construction where accurate, reliable and timely data is essential to ensure safe operations.

The WatchMate™ buoy is a solar powered precision instrument incorporating advanced technologies that make it an easy to use, reliable and rugged buoy for accurate measurement of directional waves. The wave sensor unit comprises three accelerometers, three rate gyros, a fluxgate compass, and the proprietary TRIAXYS™ Processor. Current data is provided via a fully integrated Nortek 600KHz profiler whilst meteorological data can be measured using a variety of sensors.

The WatchMate™ was specifically proposed to MAPL at the tendering stage due to the extreme local metocean conditions at site meaning a standard wave buoy was unlikely to survive. The WatchMate’s™ additional flotation combined with a site specific mooring designed by AXYS make it an ideal solution for these trying conditions proved by the exceptional data return provided over the last 12 months.

The project is expected to last 3 years before the buoy is recovered by MAPL following completion of their offshore work.

A spokesperson for MAPL commented “Reliable and accurate data from the WRB was essential for our offshore operations, as limiting sea states were critical for a number of the structure and spool installations. The WRB provided by Metocean Services International has been very reliable, provided the accurate data required, and the support provided from Metocean Services International for maintenance and any troubleshooting has been very professional and punctual.”

MSI owns and operates a number of similar systems so was confident in its recommendation of the Watchmate. Having been AXYS’s exclusive representative for marine environmental monitoring systems in Australia since 2009, MSI has extensive 'hands on' experience, as both an owner and user, with the AXYS product line and is therefore well qualified to fully support the end user. MSI systems are available on either a purchase or a rental basis and all measurement equipment can be deployed individually or integrated as part of a larger metocean system.

3sun Group, a specialist provider of products and services to the global energy industry, has opened a new base in Hull which aims to provide up to 50 jobs locally. The expansion strengthens the Group’s strategy to become a leading supplier of installation, inspection and maintenance services for the offshore wind industry in the UK and Europe.

3sun Group will support local energy firms such as Siemens who have recently invested in the region as part of their commitments following a number of the up and coming offshore wind contracts off the UK coast.

3sun Group Technician

Commenting on the evolution of 3sun Group, CEO Graham Hacon, said: “Our premises in Hull allows us to continue to advance our strategic growth plans in the UK. We’re looking forward to an exciting new chapter, strengthening our position as experts in the offshore wind industry. By providing a local base, we are ensuring that we continue to exceed our customers’ expectations and meet the demand for services in the region.”

Recruitment will begin this July, with the aim to provide positions for 50 local 3sun Group employees. The Group will provide specialist training to the new employees at their Hull base through in-house training provider 3sun Academy.

Graham added: “We are committed to employing and developing a local workforce and our core electrical/mechanical technician roles will require the expertise of those who live in close proximity to Hull.”

Since inception in 2007, 3sun Group has grown rapidly to now employ over 280 people across the group, and has earned a global reputation for resolving some of the key energy engineering challenges facing the energy sector. The opening of the Hull base coincides with the two-day offshore wind event, Offshore Wind Connections (OWC) 2016 held at the Bridlington Spa where 3sun Group is exhibiting.