'There was a great buzz throughout the project, a real sense of achievement all the way through.' Jim Thompson, Aker SolutionsA novel approach to installation of a new flare line, flare access stairway and flare tips was adopted on Fairfield Energy's Dunlin Alpha platform last summer…
Aquaterra Energy opened an office in Aberdeen last month. The company’s team there, working on drilling riser systems, offshore platforms, subsea templates and the like, is headed by GM Eric Doyle who commented: ‘We are developing the expertise…
Brazil’s oil & gas potential continues to grab the industry headlines, with Petrobras confirming more than a score of offshore discoveries, most of them deepwater, in the last 18 months alone. Newcomer OGX confirmed a number of discoveries too…
Leicester-based materials specialist Nylacast, which prides itself on being able to provide a full engineering polymer solution, with full traceability from raw chemistry through to end components in any quantity, was among the UK companies…
A flurry of early contracts marked August's official sanction of the £1.4 billion development of Cygnus, the largest southern North Sea gas discovery in the last 25 years. Meg Chesshyre reports.GDF Suez, which will operate Cygnus on behalf of partners Centrica and Bayerngas…
Seeking to bolster its engineering support capability for a growing DP3 hybrid vessel fleet, the Sea Trucks Group occupied smart new premises in Rotterdam earlier this year. For founder and chief executive Jacques Roomans the move might suggest a return to his roots but…
A new method of installing wind turbine generators in a single lift is being promoted among potential clients and turbine manufacturers by Seaway Heavy Lifting. The contractor is hoping to conduct a full-scale test next season using its new DP monohull…
The extreme shortage of skilled personnel in the oil & gas industry is arguably the industry's biggest challenge today. Technical solutions may have changed but new challenges remain, particularly in the specialist area of subsea engineering…
Purpose-built to match the evolving needs of deepwater subsea developments, the Seven Borealis promises to set a new benchmark in the subsea world. Terry Knott was invited to visit the vessel as it neared completion in the Netherlands.When Subsea…
The North Sea platform reuse opportunity was exemplified by Perencos removal of the UK southern North Sea Welland 53/4a platform and the reappearance of its refurbished topsides earlier this year on another of the operators structures, Sanaga 01…
The Canadian government, through the Atlantic Innovation Fund, kicked in C$3.2 million to help fund an $8.5 million oil & gas industry research project to improve DP operations in ice. Led by the Centre for Marine Simulation (CMS), the five…
EnerMech has opened an office in Mumbai, India, and will follow up later in the year with a workshop and storage facility in Kakinada, Andra Pradesh, to serve its process, pipeline and umbilicals, cranes and lifting, engineering and valves divisions.
Offshore contractors have taken delivery of some pretty big pieces of floating hardware lately but the daddy of them all Allseas ultra-versatile platform installation/decommissioning and pipelay vessel Pieter Schelte won't be making its giant presence felt until early 2014…
Pieter Schelte will be capable of single-lifting topsides up to 48,000te and jackets up to 25,000te. Topsides will be lifted from a 122m long, 52m wide slot at the bow using eight sets of horizontal lifting beams, four on each side of the slot…
An impressive example of lean design and fast-track construction of a major offshore structure is now standing in 133m of water in the Norwegian North Sea. Adrian Cottrill looks at the technology-stretching jacket at the heart of Statoil's NKr20…