Marine BizTV

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Petrobras taps Technip for subsea work off Brazil

Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) has awarded three contracts totaling $270 million to France's Technip for pipeline work in deepwater developments off Brazil.

The first contract covers engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning of a rigid flowline that will connect Canapu oil and gas field to the Ciadade de Victoria floating production, storage, and offloading vessel anchored in 1,400 m of water. This 21-km flowline will be the first application of pipe-in-pipe (PIP) technology for subsea gas transportation in Brazil. Technip's Deep Blue deepwater pipelay vessel will install the flowline during fourth quarter 2008.

Technip's operations and engineering center in Rio de Janeiro will execute these contracts. The flexible pipes will be manufactured by Flexibras, one of the Group's flexible pipe plants in Vitoria, Brazil.

Engineers begin expansion of Panama Canal

A crowd, totaling an estimated 30,000, included world leaders in business and government, joined employees of the Panamanian government and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a ceremony and groundbreaking to celebrate the beginning of the first-ever expansion of the nearly 100-year-old waterway.

An explosive ceremony marked the start of a 3.8 billion euro project, which will allow the world's increasingly huge cargo ships to take the short cut between the Atlantic and the Pacific. They are also putting in a couple of bigger locks, doubling the number of ships which will be able to pass through the 80 km canal at any one time. Former US President Jimmy Carter was there to see the work get underway, along with Panama's president Martin Torrijos.

The new work is planned to be ready by 2014, the hundredth anniversary of the canal's opening. The Panama Canal was a marvel of its time when it opened to shipping.

Hutchison Port Holdings opens two terminals in Egypt

Hutchison Port Holdings and Alexandria International Container Terminals (AICT) have celebrated the official opening of their two new container terminals at Egypt's Alexandria and El Dekheila ports.

The two terminals have been converted from general cargo facilities into container terminals with a depth alongside of 12 metres and quay lengths of 380 metres and 510 metres in Alexandra and El Dekheila ports respectively, an HPH statement said. The terminal located at the Alexandria commenced operations in March this year. AICT is a member of the Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) Group, a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL).

Hyundai Mipo wins 873mln orders

Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co., a unit of Heavy Industries Co. the world's largest shipbuilder, said it has clinched deals valued at a combined US$ 873 million to build 17 ships, including container vessels.

The contract from an European shipping company calls on Hyundai Heavy to deliver eight container ships by December 2010, the company said in a regulatory filing.

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Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Turkmenistan-China gas line project commences

Construction has started on a 7,000-km pipeline that will deliver 30 billion cu m/year of gas from Turkmenistan to China starting in 2009.

In a ceremony that marked the beginning of construction work, Turkmen President made a symbolic weld on the pipeline, which will cross Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. About 188 km of the pipeline will be laid in Turkmenistan, 530 km in Uzbekistan, 1,300 km in Kazakhstan, and over 4,500 km in China. China plans to import 30 billion cu m/year of Turkmen gas for 30 years through the pipeline but has not given the value of the deal.

China National Petroleum Corp. has received exploration rights for Bagtiyarlik territory. This will be the first time Turkmenistan is granting a foreign country the right to produce gas on the mainland for the first time.

Titan buys US$170m shipyard in Quanzhou

Titan Petrochemicals Group, which operates crude-oil tankers and fuel storage facilities, said it will buy a shipyard in Quanzhou in southeastern Fujian province for a consideration of US$170 million to expand its logistics business.

In a statement, Titan Petrochemicals said it will pay US$56.9 million cash for Titan Quanzhou Shipyard, and the remainder by issuing ordinary and preferred shares. Titan Petrochemicals said the yard has ship repair, ship building and offshore engineering operations, and received orders of 22 vessels, amounting to US$210 million. The shipyard was completed in September last year and shipbuilding operations will be fully functional by the end of 2009.

Marintec China 2007 to have record participation

Asia’s definitive maritime conference and exhibition – Marintec China 2007 - will be held from 27-30 November 2007 in the Shanghai New International Exhibition Centre (SNIEC) in Pudong.

Record sales for this event have resulted in a “full house” in three halls of SNIEC, with 60 more companies on waiting list. The demand for exhibition area has resulted in the addition of a tented area outside the Chinese Pavilion. This has boosted the total floor area for the event to more than 34,500 square metres, which is a new record and bringing the 14^th anniversary of Marintec China to the international spotlight.

Running concurrently with Marintec China will be the Senior Maritime Forum, which is to be staged under the theme ‘China’s Economy and the Global Maritime Industry’, and takes place on 27 and 28 November.