USA: The John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) has developed an autonomous sailing vessel that can harvest energy.
The vessel, used for tactical ocean surveillance, is part of the Persistant Ocean Surveillance Program of the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Named the ‘Station-Keeping Buoy’, the vessel is capable of extracting wind, water turbine and solar energy from the local environment for long-term station keeping. The prototype testing of the ‘SKB’ was conducted on local rivers and in near-shore ocean environments. The systems and functionalities, which incorporated Iridium communications, solar energy harvesting, a wind-dumping sailing rig and an acoustic data processing and tone detection system all worked successfully, and the battery voltage was shown to increase over five hours, proving that it had successfully harvested solar energy.
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Saturday, December 20, 2008
PetroSA extends southern gas hunt
South African state-owned oil and gas company PetroSA will press ahead with appraisal and development work on the F-O field on offshore Block 9 as part of a 5 billion rand ($513,000) exploration programme seeking reserves for its gas-to-liquids at Mossel Bay.
The company said in its annual report that an appraisal well on F-O had been delayed due to other drilling and would now be drilled in mid-2009 as part of the Project Jabulani exploration initiative. The well would be designed to be re-entered as a development well if necessary, said Everton September, PetroSA’s vice president of upstream ventures, in the report. He said wells on the field, off the country’s southern coast, might require fracture stimulation to enhance flows. This would be the first use of hydraulic fracturing in South Africa and help potential to unlock other tight gas reserves off the country’s southern coast. September said first gas from F-O was expected in 2011. He said preliminary studies for the design and installation of subsea production systems and tie-backs to existing infrastructure were already underway. PetroSA’s Project Jabulani, announced in the past financial year, comprises an eight-well drilling programme aimed at extending the life of the Mossel Bay plant from 2010 to 2014.
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The company said in its annual report that an appraisal well on F-O had been delayed due to other drilling and would now be drilled in mid-2009 as part of the Project Jabulani exploration initiative. The well would be designed to be re-entered as a development well if necessary, said Everton September, PetroSA’s vice president of upstream ventures, in the report. He said wells on the field, off the country’s southern coast, might require fracture stimulation to enhance flows. This would be the first use of hydraulic fracturing in South Africa and help potential to unlock other tight gas reserves off the country’s southern coast. September said first gas from F-O was expected in 2011. He said preliminary studies for the design and installation of subsea production systems and tie-backs to existing infrastructure were already underway. PetroSA’s Project Jabulani, announced in the past financial year, comprises an eight-well drilling programme aimed at extending the life of the Mossel Bay plant from 2010 to 2014.
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France to build on maritime expertise by opening up ports
France, which has a long maritime tradition thanks to its extensive coastlines along the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Mediterranean, is now reforming its ports to improve its economic attractiveness and competitiveness.
With a combined volume of 384.7 million tons (101.6Mt for the ports of Le Havre and Rouen combined, and 100Mt for the port of Marseille), French ports have great development potential. They rank behind only the ports of Rotterdam in the Netherlands (430Mt), Antwerp in Belgium (200Mt), and Hamburg in Germany (140Mt) in terms of volume. Sea links, as well as recently established inter-European cabotage links, have contributed to French port development. Currently, 72% of France’s imports and exports are transported by sea. French shipping companies include Cetragpa, Marfret, Socatra, Bourbon, Louis Dreyfus, Geogas and Compagnie Maritime Nantaise. CMA CGM alone accounts for more than half of French tonnage. The ports of Le Havre (Port 2000 Le Havre) and Marseille (Fos 2 XL Marseille) have already made strategic investments in order to adapt to developments in maritime transport, i.e. the transport of bulk raw materials such as coal and iron ore, the widespread use of container transport, and the concentration of traffic within leading ports. These ports have become the main interface between maritime and terrestrial transport systems.
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With a combined volume of 384.7 million tons (101.6Mt for the ports of Le Havre and Rouen combined, and 100Mt for the port of Marseille), French ports have great development potential. They rank behind only the ports of Rotterdam in the Netherlands (430Mt), Antwerp in Belgium (200Mt), and Hamburg in Germany (140Mt) in terms of volume. Sea links, as well as recently established inter-European cabotage links, have contributed to French port development. Currently, 72% of France’s imports and exports are transported by sea. French shipping companies include Cetragpa, Marfret, Socatra, Bourbon, Louis Dreyfus, Geogas and Compagnie Maritime Nantaise. CMA CGM alone accounts for more than half of French tonnage. The ports of Le Havre (Port 2000 Le Havre) and Marseille (Fos 2 XL Marseille) have already made strategic investments in order to adapt to developments in maritime transport, i.e. the transport of bulk raw materials such as coal and iron ore, the widespread use of container transport, and the concentration of traffic within leading ports. These ports have become the main interface between maritime and terrestrial transport systems.
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'Hot' topics discussed at Seatrade Middle East Maritime 2008
Dubai: Piracy and the imprisonment of the 'Hebei Spirit Two' were the talking points that dominated conference sessions at the fourth edition of the Seatrade Middle East Maritime event which drew record attendance in Dubai this week.
More than 310 exhibiting companies, including eight national pavilions, took over 4,380 square metres of space at the accompanying exhibition, opened by Dubai World chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem (pictured), the largest maritime gathering in the Middle East. Addressing the Money & Ships Conference, Peter Swift, managing director of Intertanko; Guy Morel, general secretary of trade association Intermanager; and Malcolm Willingale, director of V.Group whose V.Ships arm manages the vessel, all spoke out against the injustice of the Appeal Court decision to imprison the master and chief officer of the tanker, which was at anchor when collided into by a Samsung crane barge, spilling oil as a result. All lamented the creeping trend towards criminalisation of seafarers and stressed that the priority was to get the men free. Otherwise shipowners were exercised by the escalating piracy crisis. Mohammad Souri, chairman and md of NITC, evealed that five of his company’s ships have been chased and threatened but had escaped by speeding up and outrunning the Somali pirates.
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More than 310 exhibiting companies, including eight national pavilions, took over 4,380 square metres of space at the accompanying exhibition, opened by Dubai World chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem (pictured), the largest maritime gathering in the Middle East. Addressing the Money & Ships Conference, Peter Swift, managing director of Intertanko; Guy Morel, general secretary of trade association Intermanager; and Malcolm Willingale, director of V.Group whose V.Ships arm manages the vessel, all spoke out against the injustice of the Appeal Court decision to imprison the master and chief officer of the tanker, which was at anchor when collided into by a Samsung crane barge, spilling oil as a result. All lamented the creeping trend towards criminalisation of seafarers and stressed that the priority was to get the men free. Otherwise shipowners were exercised by the escalating piracy crisis. Mohammad Souri, chairman and md of NITC, evealed that five of his company’s ships have been chased and threatened but had escaped by speeding up and outrunning the Somali pirates.
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