Japan plans for new whale factory ship

Japan is planning to build a new, bigger factory ship to hunt whales in the Southern Ocean.

The news came amid unconfirmed reports that Japan would not be killing endangered humpback whales during in its current hunt, as it had earlier declared. The possibility was raised by the US ambassador to Japan, Thomas Schieffer, but the Japanese Foreign Ministry said that no agreement to abandon the humpback hunt exists. The stated Japanese plan this year is to hunt 900 minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpbacks. The possibility of Japan building a new whaling factory ship to replace the Nisshin Maru, which was damaged by fire earlier this year, was first raised in May in Suisan Keizai, a Japanese fishing industry publication. The Nisshin Maru needs to offload cargo to a companion ship during the annual hunt. Greenpeace quizzed 23 Japanese shipbuilding companies, and believes Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has been negotiating for the contract to build the new ship.
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Marine protection plan unveiled

Public consultation has begun on proposals to extend protection for marine life around Britain.

Seven areas, totaling 10,000sq km (4,000sq miles) of sea, have been earmarked as sites for the UK's first offshore Special Areas of Conservation. They include habitats of important sea life, such as sandbanks, sand volcanoes and cold-water coral reefs, found in the seas surrounding the UK. Currently, only coastal and inshore areas are protected. The government says areas rich in wildlife further out to sea face a different kind of threat. Jonathan Shaw, the minister for marine, landscape and rural affairs, said: "The UK has one of the richest marine environments in the world.
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Superferry back in service to Maui

The Hawaii Superferry has finally made it to Maui.

Storm damage to the ferry dock at Kahului Harbor had delayed the 'Alakai's' return to service between Oahu and Maui. The 'Alakai' had been docked since late August when a series of court rulings led to suspension of the service. About 100 protesters turned out at the harbor, some carrying signs and yelling at disembarking passengers and vehicles. The protests were peaceful and no arrests were made. The 'Alakai' headed back to Oahu with about 190 passengers on board and carried about 60 vehicles on its trip to Maui and 170 passengers and 50 cars on its return trip to Honolulu. Bad weather delayed the second attempt to return the vessel to Maui.
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Stranded tanker temporarily blocks Suez traffic

Traffic in Egypt's Suez Canal was temporarily disrupted after an oil tanker ran aground in the waterway.

The 150,000-tonne tanker, flying the Maltese flag and traveling from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, rammed the east bank of the canal after its navigation system broke down. No oil spillage was reported from the tanker, which has a double hull. After five hours, tugs managed to free the tanker and traffic was able to resume. The Suez Canal is Egypt's third-largest source of revenue after tourism and remittances from expatriate workers and currently about 7.5 percent of global trade passes through the waterway.
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Japanese floater specialist Modec said it hit full production at the Stybarrow floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) off Australia

Japanese floater specialist Modec said it hit full production at the Stybarrow floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) off Australia’s north-west coast.

The company had started production at Stybarrow, ramping up to full production on 1 December. The Stybarrow unit was built at the Jurong shipyard in Singapore. It was delivered to the field, on the Exmouth sub-basin about 65 kilometres off the Western Australian coast. The floater is capable of producing 80,000 barrels of crude and 45 million cubic feet of gas products per day. It has storage capacity of 900,000 barrels. The FPSO sits in 825 metres of water, linked to the wellhead by a disconnectable turret allowing the vessel to be moved out of the path of seasonal cyclones and storms.
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Japan to drop humpback whale hunt

Japan has suspended its first humpback whale hunt in seas off Antarctica since the 1960s, backing down in an escalating international battle over the expansion of its hunt.

Japan dropped the planned taking of 50 humpbacks, which have been off-limits to commercial hunting since 1966 at the behest of the United States, the chair of the International Whaling Commission, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura. The government has decided to suspend hunts of humpback whales while talks to normalize IWC are taking place. Japan dispatched its whaling fleet last month to the southern Pacific in the first major hunt of humpback whales since the 1960s, generating widespread criticism. Japanese whaling officials said Friday they had not harpooned any humpbacks yet.

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Shell to begin water injection at Ursa/Princess in 2008

Shell personnel have commenced the Ursa/Princess facilities commissioning process to prepare for the initiation of water injection, projected sometime next year.

The Ursa/Princess waterflood project, located in the Mars-Ursa Basin of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, will improve reservoir performance at the deepwater Ursa and Princess fields. The waterflood topsides injection system will inject filtered and treated water via two separate flowlines to three subsea sites. One will go to an existing well site northwest of Ursa, one to an existing well site southeast of Ursa and one to a new well site northeast of Ursa. Producing wells will include three Princess subsea wells and as many as six Ursa tension leg platform (TLP) wells. J. Ray McDermott's Amelia, La., fabrication yard cut first steel on the modules in October 2006. The modules were completed and ready for offshore installation one year later.
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