The two companies have largely agreed on the terms of the joint venture, which has recently won approval from CNOOC OCEC’s parent CNOOC. They are now finalising details of the joint venture contract, which is expected to be signed in a matter of months, sources said. China-based sources said Xenel’s interest in CNOOC OCEC relates to the latter’s low labour cost. The joint venture will largely target providing services to state-owned giant Saudi Aramco, sources added. Tianjin-based CNOOC OCEC provides integral services of offshore engineering design, construction and commissioning, but it is more specialised in providing services in offshore field maintenance and repair. It has subsidiary companies or offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang and Ningbo cities. The tie-up with Xenel will be the first such joint venture for CNOOC OCEC. The Chinese company previously focused almost entirely on providing services to Chinese offshore fields owned by CNOOC.
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Friday, March 20, 2009
OCEC and Xenel in JV talks
CNOOC Energy Technology & Services offshoot CNOOC Oilfield Construction & Engineering Company, (CNOOC OCEC) is involved in advanced talks with Saudi Arabia’s Xenel Industries to set up a joint venture for providing services to companies operating in the Middle East.
Silversea seeks price cut on cruise option at Fincantieri
Monaco-based luxury liner company Silversea is still keen on exercising its option for a second 36,000GT vessel, however it is seeking a substantial price cut from Italian builder Fincantieri.
Chief Executive Amerigo Perasso told Asiasis that the company was still interested in building a new cruise ship after the initial order for one vessel with an option for a second was placed two years ago. The first ship, ‘Silver Spirit’ will be delivered in December this year. “I don’t anticipate us taking delivery of a second ship until a couple of years after the delivery of the ‘Silver Spirit’,” Mr Perasso was quoted as saying by Asiasis.Read More
Chief Executive Amerigo Perasso told Asiasis that the company was still interested in building a new cruise ship after the initial order for one vessel with an option for a second was placed two years ago. The first ship, ‘Silver Spirit’ will be delivered in December this year. “I don’t anticipate us taking delivery of a second ship until a couple of years after the delivery of the ‘Silver Spirit’,” Mr Perasso was quoted as saying by Asiasis.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
China postpones shipbuilding development
The Chinese government has announced that the construction of new docks and the expansion of slipways would be suspended for three years.
China is hoping to facilitate the restructuring of the industry while coping with economic slowdown. Other steps that have been adopted include financial aid for shipyards when exporting vessels, and extending tax break deadlines for builders selling ships to Chinese shipping companies until 2012. The total volume of shipbuilding in China saw a massive increase of 52.2 percent to 28.81 million tonnes from 2007 to 2008 while building costs were lowered by nearly ten times compared with 2000. Orders received in 2008 however fell by 41 percent to 58.18 million tonnes compared with 2007.Read More
China is hoping to facilitate the restructuring of the industry while coping with economic slowdown. Other steps that have been adopted include financial aid for shipyards when exporting vessels, and extending tax break deadlines for builders selling ships to Chinese shipping companies until 2012. The total volume of shipbuilding in China saw a massive increase of 52.2 percent to 28.81 million tonnes from 2007 to 2008 while building costs were lowered by nearly ten times compared with 2000. Orders received in 2008 however fell by 41 percent to 58.18 million tonnes compared with 2007.
Essar Oilfield to add to jack-up rig fleet
Mumbai: Essar Group subsidiary, Essar Oilfield Services (EOSL) has revealed plans to procure two jack-up rigs.
"We are in the process of procuring two jack-up rigs at a cost of $440 million. These rigs are expected to join our fleet within the next 24 months," Essar Shipping Ports and Logistics, Director and CFO, V Ashok told at its KG Basin facility. The company was also looking at procuring other assets including offshore drilling assets, which would be in synergy with its expansion plans, Ashok said. EOSL, which is in the process of being brought under the fold of Essar Shipping Ports and Logistics, was planning to expand its fleet to cater to the ever-growing oil exploration and production market, he said. "As the company acquires new assets, it plans to tap the offshore and onshore drilling markets outside India. It is currently looking at various opportunities in the onshore and offshore drilling space in several regions including the Norwegian region, Latin America, West Asia, Africa and Asia," Ashok said. Presently, EOSL has a fleet of 13 land rigs and one semi-submersible rig.
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BP quits off Vietnam
BP has decided to withdraw from two operated exploration blocks offshore Vietnam that contain the Hai Thach and Moc Tinh gas and condensate fields.
The company said in a SEC filing that Block 5-2 (BP owns 55.9%) and Block 5-3 (BP has 75%) "do not fit" within BP's current portfolio and that it "has decided to withdraw from them". BP is currently in discussions with PetroVietnam, the Vietnamese government and joint venture partners to progress its withdrawal, and said it has taken an impairment loss of $210 million related to exploration costs on the two blocks. Co-venturers in the two permits are BP, ConocoPhillips and PetroVietnam. Three wells were drilled on Hai Thach between 1995 and 2002, and BP called the find potentially the largest single gas accumulation in the Nam Con Son basin with estimated gas volumes of 1.8 trillion cubic feet and about 90 million barrels of associated liquids. Moc Tinh was found in 1994 and has not been fully evaluated but contains about 0.5 Tcf of recoverable gas and 10 million barrels of liquids. BP's efforts to develop the fields have been hampered in recent times by a maritime boundary dispute between Vietnam and China, while low gas prices in Vietnam are an issue too.Read More
The company said in a SEC filing that Block 5-2 (BP owns 55.9%) and Block 5-3 (BP has 75%) "do not fit" within BP's current portfolio and that it "has decided to withdraw from them". BP is currently in discussions with PetroVietnam, the Vietnamese government and joint venture partners to progress its withdrawal, and said it has taken an impairment loss of $210 million related to exploration costs on the two blocks. Co-venturers in the two permits are BP, ConocoPhillips and PetroVietnam. Three wells were drilled on Hai Thach between 1995 and 2002, and BP called the find potentially the largest single gas accumulation in the Nam Con Son basin with estimated gas volumes of 1.8 trillion cubic feet and about 90 million barrels of associated liquids. Moc Tinh was found in 1994 and has not been fully evaluated but contains about 0.5 Tcf of recoverable gas and 10 million barrels of liquids. BP's efforts to develop the fields have been hampered in recent times by a maritime boundary dispute between Vietnam and China, while low gas prices in Vietnam are an issue too.
Cruise liner calls at Kochi port, India
Queen Mary 2, considered the most prestigious cruise liner in the world, called at the Kochi port on Wednesday with around 2,500 international tourists and 1,300 crew members on board from Singapore for a 12-hour stay in God’s Own Country.
The arrival of the prestigious vessel caps a great tourist season for Kochi, which has beaten the world-wide economic recession to emerge as one of the hottest cruise destinations in the world, said a senior official of the Cochin Port Trust. Queen Mary 2, an imposing cruise liner with 17 decks that make it tower 200 feet above the water line, has added glamour to Kochi, which has carved a niche for itself in hospitality. Among the other facilities, Queen Mary 2 boasts the only planetarium on the sea with a variety constellation shows and other presentations. For the Kochi port, March has proved a profitable one with 11 vessels scheduled to call at the port. This includes Queen Mary 2’s sister vessel Queen Victoria.Read More
The arrival of the prestigious vessel caps a great tourist season for Kochi, which has beaten the world-wide economic recession to emerge as one of the hottest cruise destinations in the world, said a senior official of the Cochin Port Trust. Queen Mary 2, an imposing cruise liner with 17 decks that make it tower 200 feet above the water line, has added glamour to Kochi, which has carved a niche for itself in hospitality. Among the other facilities, Queen Mary 2 boasts the only planetarium on the sea with a variety constellation shows and other presentations. For the Kochi port, March has proved a profitable one with 11 vessels scheduled to call at the port. This includes Queen Mary 2’s sister vessel Queen Victoria.
Singapore firm aims to make vessel emissions ship-shape
When it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, the shipping industry is neither lean nor green.
Ships carry about 90 percent of global trade, and until recently, such has been the demand for coal, cars and electronics, that there has been little concerted effort to rein in the growth of polluting emissions from ships. But pressure is growing in the United Nations and from the European Union to make ships more efficient and their smokestacks more climate friendly. Just a few kilometres from one of the busiest ports in the world, a Singapore firm says it has the answer that can help the shipping industry clean up its act. Ecospec says it has invented and tested a patented method that removes planet-warming carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, which causes acid rain, and soot from ship exhausts. The process, which uses very alkaline sea water sprayed into the exhaust funnel to scrub out the gases and soot, has already been tested on a tanker and earned the backing of the American Bureau of Shipping. Inventor Chew Hwee Hong said his firm had already developed non-chemical methods of water treatment and in 2008 was given a challenge by a large Middle Eastern tanker firm to find a way to scrub out CO2 emissions. The trick was to find a method that didn't cause secondary environmental damage and cleaned up the other polluting gases in the exhaust as well, he said.
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Ships carry about 90 percent of global trade, and until recently, such has been the demand for coal, cars and electronics, that there has been little concerted effort to rein in the growth of polluting emissions from ships. But pressure is growing in the United Nations and from the European Union to make ships more efficient and their smokestacks more climate friendly. Just a few kilometres from one of the busiest ports in the world, a Singapore firm says it has the answer that can help the shipping industry clean up its act. Ecospec says it has invented and tested a patented method that removes planet-warming carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, which causes acid rain, and soot from ship exhausts. The process, which uses very alkaline sea water sprayed into the exhaust funnel to scrub out the gases and soot, has already been tested on a tanker and earned the backing of the American Bureau of Shipping. Inventor Chew Hwee Hong said his firm had already developed non-chemical methods of water treatment and in 2008 was given a challenge by a large Middle Eastern tanker firm to find a way to scrub out CO2 emissions. The trick was to find a method that didn't cause secondary environmental damage and cleaned up the other polluting gases in the exhaust as well, he said.
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