Hess finds natural gas at Glencoe well

Hess Corporation has discovered natural gas at the Glencoe-1 exploration well on Australia's Northwest Shelf.

The well encountered 92 feet (28 m) of net gas pay in Upper Jurassic sandstones, in line with pre-drill estimates and nearby discoveries. Glencoe-1 is the first of four exploration wells being drilled on the WA-390-P Permit by Hess. Glencoe-1 was drilled in 3,678 feet (1,121 m) of water by Transocean semisubmersible Jack Bates. Following completion of the well, Jack Bates will move 8.6 miles (14 km) east to drill the Briseis prospect. The Briseis-1 well will test a separate structure in the same permit. Hess holds a 100 percent interest in the WA-390-P Permit.
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MacGregor Supplies New Valve Controls for FPSO Conversion

MacGregor is supplying a range of controls for Ballast and Cargo system on the Ningaloo Vision conversion project.

The Group's Service division, part of Cargotec Corporation, will deliver its equipment toward the end of this year, and the FPSO is due for delivery around year-end. Conversion work onboard the 102,000 dwt double-skinned Aframax tanker Kudam began in 2007. Following its delivery the vessel will be re-named Ningaloo Vision and start working in Apache Northwest's (Apache). Van Gogh oil field – which lies at a depth of about 350m, located off the northwest coast of Australia. Ningaloo Vision will have a process facility of 150,000 barrels of fluid per day, a crude oil production of 63,000 barrels of oil per day and an oil storage capacity of 620,000 barrels. MacGREGOR's scope of supply on board the vessel includes, two new valve racks and electrical junction boxes, including the disconnection and reconnection of the hydraulic terminations, three deck enclosures and electrical junction boxes, complete modification of the existing cargo control consoles to incorporate the new valve control system, including disconnection and reconnection of all units, flushing and purging of all hydraulic tubes linked to the control of the hydraulic actuators, commissioning of the valve system and ensuring classification compliance of the system.
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ABG Shipyard posts strong growth

ABG Shipyard Ltd, the flagship company of ABG group, has posted a 39.6% increase in net profit at Rs 460m ($10.7m) for the quarter ended March 2008 as compared to Rs 329m in the corresponding quarter last year.

The company, which as two operational yards in Surat and Dahej (Gujarat) and plans to open a third in the near future, saw a total income of Rs 2.7bn during the period.

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Synergas continues LPG fleet expansion

The recent launching of the 4,000 cu.m liquefied gas tanker ‘Syn Zube' at the Cantiere Navale di Pesaro (CNP) shipyard in Italy marked another step in the fleet expansion program of Italian LPG operator, Synergas.

The ‘Syn Zube' is of semi-refrigerated type, fitted with two separate self-supporting cylinder cargo tanks, and will be able to carry 4,000 cu.m of LPG at a maximum pressure of 8 bar, at a temperature of - 48 degrees Celsius. "We have entered the niche market of gas carriage as key players with a highly competitive fleet, both for its size and for its operational characteristics," said Mario Mattioli, Chairman of Synergas. ‘Syn Zube', and her sister ship ‘Syn Zania', recently delivered to Synergas, are cutting-edge ships in the sector of LPG carriage. They feature some innovative technical characteristics, which include a high degree of automation and hull design solutions which enable the assignment by the class society RINA of the environmental notation CLEAN-SEA. The CNP shipyard has also contracted the building, in co-operation with Gdansk shipyard in Poland, of three 9,000 cu.m ethylene tankers for Italian company FVH, to be delivered from 2009 to 2010. Two of them will be managed under a bareboat charter by Synergas, while the third one will be purchased by Synergas. The expansion program of Synergas foresees the delivery from 2009 to 2010 of two more 4,500 cu.m ethylene carriers, commissioned from Vinashin shipyards in Vietnam.

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Seismic vessel 'WG Columbus' launched at H J Barreras

Shipyard Hijos de J. Barreras has launched the ‘WG Columbus', a seismic vessel built for the UK-based WesternGeco Company in Spain.

The newly launched vessel is the first of a series of four. WesternGeco is the world's largest geophysical services company. Services range from 3D and time-lapse (4D) seismic surveys to multicomponent surveys for delineating prospects and reservoir management. The new vessel, along with three vessels to be built, is designed to prospect oilfields in any place in the world. ‘WG Columbus' has a length of 88.8 metres with a 19-metre beam. The outer look of the new vessel has an innovative design to its bow, called an inverted bow: the stem is developed opposite to conventional vessels. The control equipment of the seismic vessel contains state-of-the-art equipment, and the vessel has advanced dynamic positioning equipment. The diesel/electric propelling plant has been specially designed to make the fast-response compatible with smooth movements of the vessel. It has six main generator sets of 1,710kW each consisting of a 1000rpm, 1,800kW diesel engine. ‘WG Columbus' has a heliport and accommodation space for 69 people. The vessel was built in compliance with the regulations and under special monitoring by DNV, in order to achieve level + 1A1 SF, EO, DYNPOS-AUTR, CLEAN DESING, COMF-V839, ICE-C, NAUT-AW, and HELDK.
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