“Asian customer” signs up for PNG gas

Sydney: The Exxon Mobil-led PNG LNG liquefied natural gas joint venture in Papua New Guinea has reached agreement on the key terms of an agreement with an unnamed Asian customer, project participant Oil Search told Dow Jones Tuesday.

Oil Search, which also reported an expected fall in first quarter production and revenue on a lower oil price, said the "major Asian customer" has agreed to buy two million tons of LNG each year from the project.The agreement is awaiting government regulatory approval, Oil Search said.Significant progress has been made with other customers and it's expected that additional heads of agreement will be signed "in the near term", Oil Search said in a statement.Oil Search produced 1.9 barrels of oil equivalent in the three months to March 31, down from 2.2 million on-year. It stuck to its annual guidance of producing 8.0-8.3 million BOE in 2009.
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Deep Sea Supply takes delivery of Sea Eagle 1

SINGAPORE: Offshore supply company Deep Sea Supply has taken delivery of Sea Eagle 1, a 12,000 BHP anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessel from Jaya Shipbuilding & Engineering in Singapore.

Deep Sea Supply has a 15-month firm bareboat charter agreement with vessel owners Java Marine Lines and has secured a purchase option at the end of the 15-month charter.Sea Eagle 1 and AHTS Sea Ocelot, also built by Jaya Shipbuilding, will begin a six to eight month contract on May 8 with Gazflot for operations off.

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Bluestone bags Indonesian gig with Total

Singapore-based Bluestone Offshore is primed to start a geotechnical investigation contract.

Singapore-based Bluestone Offshore is primed to start a geotechnical investigation contract off Indonesia for French giant Total with its vessel Bluestone Topaz. The deal entails soil profile analysis at intended jack-up sites for the Kahaman field off Kalimantan, Indonesia.

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Multraship and Mammoet, Croatian Clean Up

Netherlands-based salvage specialists Multraship Salvage and Mammoet Salvage have successfully completed the removal of the wreck of a floating dock which sank in June 2007 at the Viktor Lenac shipyard, Rijeka, Croatia.

The 541 ft Floating Dry Dock No. 7 weighed 7,000 tonnes and sank in 72 ft of water after an electrical power supply failure. Two previous refloating attempts had failed and after a thorough survey and testing of tanks it was decided that refloating of the dock was not feasible. As the sunken dock was impeding access to the yard's other dock, the yard placed a wreck removal contract with Multraship and Mammoet. They worked together to cut the wreck into twenty-four main pieces, each weighing up to 440 tonnes. Multraship's floating sheerlegs Cormorant was used to lift the sections out. In all divers performed over five km of underwater cutting.

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Shanghai starts building international shipping service centre

Construction has begun on the 550,000-square metre Shanghai International Shipping Service Centre, located on the north bank of the Huangpu River, China.

The centre will link international passenger facilities soon to be completed at the port of Shanghai, and then connect the north bank service area, which also calls for the construction of a two million-square meter upscale office complex.The centre is a joint investment between the Shanghai International Port Group and the Sinochem Corporation. Each holds a 50 percent stake.

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‘Unistar 24278’ completes yard trials

China’s Guangzhou Panyu Lingshan Shipyard completed yard trials of the newbuild, ‘Unistar 24278’, on April 14.

This vessel is the second of four 40-metre vessels being built. The keel-laying for Hull Number LS167 was held on July 1, 2008. Following this, the vessel was launched earlier this year on January 10. Yard trails were completed on April 14, ahead of sea trials, which begin on April 20. The vessel will be delivered to her new owner by the end of this month.

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Korean Register opens Mumbai branch

Mumbai: The Korean Register of Shipping (KR), a classification society and IACS member, announced the opening of its first branch in India at a glittering function in Mumbai on Thursday, April 16, 2009.

Addressing a gathering from the Indian maritime community Mr Oh Kong-gyun, Chairman and CEO of KR pointed out that in the twelve years since KR has been a member of IACS, the society had advanced to possess technological competence shoulder to shoulder with other IACS members. Working closely in Korea with shipbuilders, KR had acquired Technical and Surveying skills and looked forward to sharing these experiences with Indian shipping and shipbuilding industry Referring to the current global recession, Mr Oh said that on the back of strong domestic demand, industry and infrastructure development India would be one of the first to emerge and KR hoped to be a part of this exciting market. Mr Oh acknowledged the support from Indian maritime community and would be happy to offer assistance to promote safety on the seas and environment protection.
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