BP makes new oil discovery off Shetland

BP and its partner, Marathon Petroleum West of Shetlands Ltd, have made a new oil discovery in Block 204/23, following drilling on the South-West Foinaven prospect, some 190 kilometres west of the Shetland Islands.

The exploration well 204/23-2 was drilled using Transocean semi Paul B Loyd, Jr. Located 11 kilometres (six miles) southwest of the Foinaven floating, production, storage & offloading (FPSO) vessel, the well reached a total depth of 2,528 metres (8,293 ft) below sea level. BP, together with its partner, is now evaluating the discovery and the potential for a two well subsea development, tied back to the Foinaven FPSO. Dave Blackwood, head of BP's North Sea business, said, "Discoveries like this are key to the future of the North Sea and, combined with continuing investment in brownfield development, will make best use of the existing offshore infrastructure. "BP is always looking for new opportunities to invest, particularly around our existing acreage to extend the life of the North Sea." Licence P1263, comprising parts of blocks 204/ 23 and 204/24 was awarded to BP for operatorship with 72 percent equity and Marathon Oil with 28 percent in 2005 following the successful award in the 23rd Offshore Licensing Round.
Read More

Newest Vietnamese yard complex moves ahead

Heavy earth-moving plant has just arrived at Vietnam’s latest shipyard construction complex in the Yen Hung district of Quang Ning, a province in the north-east of the country.

Pha Rung Shipyard, a Vinashin subsidiary, is constructing a newbuilding yard, repair complex and marine engine-building plant at the site, due for completion in 2012 and costing more than $280m. The company plans to be able to build between 10-15 Panamax-sized vessels a year although further expansion could facilitate the construction of 150,000dwt ships in due course. The new repair facility, which is due to open for business by the end of 2009, is being built to accommodate 20-40 cargo ships of up to 50,000 dwt each year. Output at the $95m engine-building plant, likely to assemble engines under license for MAN Diesel, Sulzer and Wärtsilä, could reach 40 units annually when production begins also at the end of 2009. Vietnam’s dramatic expansion in the marine construction market caught the attention of leading investment bank Credit Suisse which has been working to arrange funding for both Vinashin and Vinalines of more than $1bn.
Read More

Greek ferries stirring the waters

Sea Star Capital, a Cyprus-listed shipping vehicle associated with ANEK Lines managing director Ioannis Vardinoyannis, has banked more than EUR50 million after swapping a recently acquired stake in Cretan ferry company Minoan Lines for Grimaldi Group's shareholding in ANEK, based in Crete.

Sea Star has agreed to sell a 27 percent chunk of Minoan for EUR100 million (US$147 million) to Grimaldi affiliate Atlantica di Navagazione, while Sea Star increases its stake in ANEK to 33 percent after buying Atlantica's 16.8 percent holding for EUR48 mllion (US$71 million). The agreement, the latest of several recent moves that have sent ripples through the Greek ferry sector, will put Mr Vardinoyannis firmly in the driving seat at Anek, while it appears to end speculation of a merger with Minoan that flared in the few weeks while Sea Star was a key shareholder at both firms. Of at least equal significance is the involvement of Grimaldi with Minoan, an unprecedented stake in one of the top Greek ferry lines for a non-Greek shipping firm. Minoan's chief executive Antonis Maniadakis called the development 'extremely exciting'. It was only last month that Sea Capital stunned the market by spending some EUR250m on its investment in Minoan and a 34.7 percent chunk of coastal ferry giant Hellenic Seaways.
Read More

Maersk introduces new intra-Asia service

Maersk Line has announced the introduction of a new Intra-Asia service, IA-3.

This service will connect the ports of Kaohsiung, Xiamen, and Hong Kong with Maersk Line's Southeast Asian hub port of Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia and Singapore. Maersk will deploy two 4,000 TEU vessels in the new Intra-Asia
service, thereby providing customers with a fast pre-carriage service to hub ports and direct access to its global network. The first sailing on the IA-3 service will be Maersk Brooklyn departing Hong Kong on 4 March 2008. Transit time in both directions will be seven days and the rotations are as follows: (northbound) Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, and Xiamen; (southbound) Kaohsiung, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Tanjung Pelepas and Singapore. Maersk Line's Intra-Asia services also include the IA-2 service with three 2,900 TEU vessels, offering rapid connection between Thailand and various ports in Japan.
Read More