Keppel delivers final Scorpion jackup

USA: Keppel AmFELS has delivered the jackup drilling rig, ‘Offshore Intrepid’, to Scorpion Intrepid.

With this delivery, Keppel AmFELS has completed the series of five LeTourneau Super 116 jackup rigs commissioned by Scorpion in 2005. ‘Offshore Intrepid’ was named by Mrs Drucie Cole, wife of Jon Cole, Scorpion’s President & CEO, at the Keppel AmFELS yard on January 24. This rig has been chartered by Odfjell Drilling Services to operate in the Arabian Gulf for 41 months, beginning in the second quarter of this year. The first two jackup drilling rig units, ‘Offshore Courageous’ and ‘Offshore Defender’, were delivered in 2007 while the third and fourth, ‘Offshore Resolute’ and ‘Offshore Vigilant’, were delivered in 2008. Identical to her sister rigs, ‘Offshore Intrepid’ incorporates a 21-metre cantilever, the maximum reach currently available for all but a few harsh environment units. This rig is capable of working in 105 metres of water as outfitted or in water of depths up to 120 metres through the installation of additional leg sections.

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World's First Drilling FPSO Leaves Singapore Shipyard

The world's first (FDPSO), which is owned by Prosafe Production, has left Keppel Shipyard in Singapore on January 24, 2009.

After a short stay at anchorage, it will head for the Republic of Congo where it will be deployed at Murphy West Africa Ltd's (a subsidiary of Murphy Oil Corporation) deepwater Azurite development in the Mer Profonde Sud Block. Named the Azurite, this first of its kind FPSO with drilling capabilities incorporates a design that is cost efficient and effective for drilling and producing deepwater fields. The vessel is equipped with a modular drilling package that can be removed and reused elsewhere when the production wells have been drilled. The Azurite has a storage capacity of 1.4 million barrels of oil and a process capacity of 60,000 bfpd/40,000 bopd and will be spread-moored at a water depth of 1,400 meters. Prosafe Production has been responsible for the FPSO conversion, while Murphy West Africa Ltd (Murphy) has been responsible for the drilling scope.

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Piracy latest: German gas tanker hijacked

Nairobi: Somali pirates this morning successfully hijacked the 3,415gt LPG tanker, MV Longchamp, in the gulf of Aden.

The Bahamas-flagged vessel was being managed by Hamburg-based Bernard Schulte Ship management and had a crew of 13 seafarers onboard at the time of the attack. "There was a heavy exchange of gunfire (but) the crew is believed to be safe," Andrew Mwangura who runs the Kenya chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Programme is quoted as saying. It remains unclear if the foreign navies patrolling the Gulf of Aden attempted to prevent the attack or were responsible for the gunfire. The vessel is expected to be moored off the Somalian coast while the pirates negotiate the terms of its release.

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World's rig industry reeling from cancellations and global slow down

A weaker global demand for energy has forced cancellations that are hitting the world’s profitable oil rig industry.

Production is now slowing and exploration budgets have been cut back in recent weeks as the economy worsens and builders have reported a slow uptake on new orders coupled with cancellations and the renegotiation of contracts. "We are forecasting a slowdown in the new rig-building orders in 2009 followed by a recovery in 2010 as sector fundamentals reassert themselves," Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse said. It also stated that Macquarie Research said some oil drillers were deferring new orders in anticipation that prices of oil rigs would drop even lower as the demand for raw materials used in making structures tapered off.

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Paradox Marine Receives Coast Guard Medal

Wireless boat security systems supplier Paradox Marine has received a medal from the US Coast Guard in recognition of its product, the Nav-Tracker 2.0 GPS Tracking System.

The system helped the Coast Guard recover a stolen boat in the Bahamas last September 17. A 34 ft Contender equipped with the Paradox Marine Nav-Tracker 2.0 GPS tracking system, stolen from Marsh Harbor in the Bahamas, was located by the system and recovered in the vicinity by the US Coast Guard about 12 hours later.

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