Sonangol and Stena Bulk Start Panamax Tanker Pool

Stena Bulk and Sonangol have expanded their shipping collaboration and are now operating a pool with Panamax tankers.

These vessels transport crude oil and petroleum products in Atlantic trade as well as sailing in a round-the-world service. Initially, the pool consists of five Panamax tankers but the aim is to expand it over the next few years to ten vessels by means of purchases or charters. "This new venture is a direct spinoff from the successful collaboration involving a Suezmax pool, which Stena Bulk and Sonangol have been operating for some years. The aim is the same - to enhance efficiency and thus increase revenue", says Ulf G. Ryder, President and CEO of Stena Bulk. "In addition, we will also continue to offer training and education for both Stena and Sonangol seagoing and shore-based personnel", continues Ulf G. Ryder. The Suezmax pool, which was started up in 2005, currently consists of 13 vessels, both owned and chartered. The new Panamax pool is a further development of the same concept but in another market segment. The head office for the pool is located in Stena Bulk's Houston, Texas, headquarters although the group's other offices all over the world are also involved.

Read More

Five missing as cargo ship sinks off Sorsogon

Search and rescue operations continued Friday for five crewmembers of a cargo ship which sank in the San Bernardino Strait off the coasts of Bulusan and Matnog, Sorsogon.

The missing persons were part of the 19-man crew of the LCT Don Wilfredo, which capsized and then sank after being battered by giant waves and strong winds on its way to Legazpi City, said Superintendent Edgardo Ardales, operations chief of the Sorsogon Police Provincial Office. He said the 996-gross-ton vessel, owned by the Candano Shipping Line based in Legazpi City, was loaded with 780 palettes of San Miguel Beer from Mandaue City. Ardales identified the missing as boat captain Nathaniel Latorena, Jose Ordaneta of Cotabato City, Rey Catubuan of Roxas City, Rommel Espinosa of Mindanao, and Jervy Palad of Pampanga. The other 15 crewmembers were rescued by local anglers and police personnel in the towns of Matnog, Bulusan and Barcelon, he said. The vessel left Samar at around noon of Wednesday but when it reached the San Bernardino Strait past noon Thursday, its port side started to list due to huge waves.
Read More

Remedial Offshore selects GE V228 diesel engines

Remedial Offshore announces the purchase of V228 medium-speed diesel engines from GE Marine, Erie, Pa.

The engines will be used to power the new Remedial Offshore Elevating Support Vessels. As the world's first self-propelled, 100-metre nominal water depth-rated jack-up well intervention vessel, Remedial Offhore's ESV design provides a hybrid between a jack-up drilling rig and a marine vessel. The new ESV concept offers tremendous versatility and operational functionality, ranging from an incorporated electric well work over package to a large open deck for offshore support functions. Each vessel is uniquely outfitted to provide a stable work environment for deploying today's most advanced well intervention or production enhancement technologies. ESV abilities include well workovers, sidetracking, well abandonment, facility upgrades, brownfield rejuvenation projects and small field developments, as well as providing complete services for well intervention. Each ESV will employ four GE diesels, one 8-cylinder V228 and three 16-cylinder engines. Two Remedial Offshore ESVs are under construction in China, one at the Yantai Raffles Shipyard. in Shandong, and the second at the COSCO Shipyard Group's facility in Nantong. GE has already delivered to the shipyards two 8V228 and six 16V228 engines.

Read More

IBIA campaigning produces results at IMO

The International Bunker Industry Association has reported a number of significant, positive developments for the bunker industry following the meeting in London of the IMO Bulk Liquids and Gases subcommittee.

Firstly, the subcommittee agreed to streamline proposals designed to reduce sulphur emissions from marine fuel oil. Three options now remain on the table, for discussion at MEPC 57 starting on March 31, 2008. These include a proposal lowering the global cap in two stages and removing the need for Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECAs), a lowering of sulphur limits in SECAs, and a lowering of the global sulphur limit alongside tighter SECA regimes and the possibility of even stricter so-called 'micro-emissions control areas' close to designated sensitive coastal areas. IBIA secretary-general Ian Adams says, 'IBIA took a full and active part in the BLG discussions. It remains committed to its position that all options, which have the potential to limit harmful emissions from shipping, must be examined and debated before a final decision is made. On another subject, the BLG meeting also agreed that bunker vessels should be excluded from the debate about whether or not to impose more stringent controls and reporting procedures on ship-to-ship transfers of oil. IBIA was one of four delegations asked to participate in discussions over the precision of testing methods used to determine sulphur content in marine fuel oils, and the so-called 'grey area' surrounding test results.

Read More

Kan Tan semi-sub on the move

The Kan Tan IV semi-submersible drilling rig is being towed to a new location off Trinidad.

Operators Canadian Superior Energy and Challenger Energy said the rig is being towed about 2.2 miles from the Victory well site to the Bounty well site at Intrepid block 5. The companies said the rig move had been delayed until today due to unusually high seas in the area with maximum wave heights in excess of 15 feet that made it impossible to move the rig until earlier today.

Read More

National Iranian Oil Hires Vessel to Ship Gasoil from Singapore

National Iranian Oil Co. hired a tanker to transport 80,000 metric tons of gasoil or diesel to the Middle East gulf from Singapore.

The state oil company's shipping unit National Iranian Tanker Co. chartered Champion Pride, owned by Nippon Yusen K.K. for a voyage starting on Feb. 22, for $550,000, Odin Marine (Singapore) Pte said today. The company last month hired Silvaplana, owned by Lukiardopulo & Co., to deliver a similar cargo from Singapore.
Iran, the second-largest oil producer in the Middle East, imports products such as gasoline and diesel as it does not have adequate refining capacity to meet rising demand. Iran imports around 100,000 barrels a day of gasoline, Energy Security Analysis Inc. said. A U.S. led push to isolate Iranian banks from the global financial system because of terrorist-related activities intensified since 2006, said the Wakefield, Massachusetts-based research firm. Iran has agreements to buy gasoline and diesel from the Kuwait-based Independent Petroleum Group and a Trafigura AG- linked company over the next six months.

Read More

Hercules buys three rigs from Transocean

Hercules Offshore and Transocean have entered into a definitive agreement whereby Hercules will purchase three of Transocean's Gulf of Mexico jackup drilling rigs and related equipment for US$320 million.

The sale of GSF Adriatic III, GSF High Island I and GSF High Island VIII mark Transocean's exit from operations in the shallow-water area of the Gulf of Mexico. The sales will be consummated at the conclusion of each rig's current contract commitments, subject to regulatory approval. Hercules Offshore is already negotiating international contracts for GSF High Island I and GSF High Island VIII, and plans to market GSF Adriatic III internationally in the future. The GSF Adriatic III is a Marathon LeTourneau 116C design jackup with a water depth capability of 350 feet (106.7 m). Its contract with El Paso expires Feb. 19. GSF High Island I and VIII were built in 1979 and 1981, respectively, and are Marathon LeTourneau 82-SDC design jackups with a water depth capability of up to 250 feet (76 m). GSF High Island VIII has a contract with BHP Billiton, which expires on April 30.

Read More