BP makes new oil discovery off Shetland

BP and its partner, Marathon Petroleum West of Shetlands Ltd, have made a new oil discovery in Block 204/23, following drilling on the South-West Foinaven prospect, some 190 kilometres west of the Shetland Islands.

The exploration well 204/23-2 was drilled using Transocean semi Paul B Loyd, Jr. Located 11 kilometres (six miles) southwest of the Foinaven floating, production, storage & offloading (FPSO) vessel, the well reached a total depth of 2,528 metres (8,293 ft) below sea level. BP, together with its partner, is now evaluating the discovery and the potential for a two well subsea development, tied back to the Foinaven FPSO. Dave Blackwood, head of BP's North Sea business, said, "Discoveries like this are key to the future of the North Sea and, combined with continuing investment in brownfield development, will make best use of the existing offshore infrastructure. "BP is always looking for new opportunities to invest, particularly around our existing acreage to extend the life of the North Sea." Licence P1263, comprising parts of blocks 204/ 23 and 204/24 was awarded to BP for operatorship with 72 percent equity and Marathon Oil with 28 percent in 2005 following the successful award in the 23rd Offshore Licensing Round.
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Newest Vietnamese yard complex moves ahead

Heavy earth-moving plant has just arrived at Vietnam’s latest shipyard construction complex in the Yen Hung district of Quang Ning, a province in the north-east of the country.

Pha Rung Shipyard, a Vinashin subsidiary, is constructing a newbuilding yard, repair complex and marine engine-building plant at the site, due for completion in 2012 and costing more than $280m. The company plans to be able to build between 10-15 Panamax-sized vessels a year although further expansion could facilitate the construction of 150,000dwt ships in due course. The new repair facility, which is due to open for business by the end of 2009, is being built to accommodate 20-40 cargo ships of up to 50,000 dwt each year. Output at the $95m engine-building plant, likely to assemble engines under license for MAN Diesel, Sulzer and Wärtsilä, could reach 40 units annually when production begins also at the end of 2009. Vietnam’s dramatic expansion in the marine construction market caught the attention of leading investment bank Credit Suisse which has been working to arrange funding for both Vinashin and Vinalines of more than $1bn.
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Greek ferries stirring the waters

Sea Star Capital, a Cyprus-listed shipping vehicle associated with ANEK Lines managing director Ioannis Vardinoyannis, has banked more than EUR50 million after swapping a recently acquired stake in Cretan ferry company Minoan Lines for Grimaldi Group's shareholding in ANEK, based in Crete.

Sea Star has agreed to sell a 27 percent chunk of Minoan for EUR100 million (US$147 million) to Grimaldi affiliate Atlantica di Navagazione, while Sea Star increases its stake in ANEK to 33 percent after buying Atlantica's 16.8 percent holding for EUR48 mllion (US$71 million). The agreement, the latest of several recent moves that have sent ripples through the Greek ferry sector, will put Mr Vardinoyannis firmly in the driving seat at Anek, while it appears to end speculation of a merger with Minoan that flared in the few weeks while Sea Star was a key shareholder at both firms. Of at least equal significance is the involvement of Grimaldi with Minoan, an unprecedented stake in one of the top Greek ferry lines for a non-Greek shipping firm. Minoan's chief executive Antonis Maniadakis called the development 'extremely exciting'. It was only last month that Sea Capital stunned the market by spending some EUR250m on its investment in Minoan and a 34.7 percent chunk of coastal ferry giant Hellenic Seaways.
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Maersk introduces new intra-Asia service

Maersk Line has announced the introduction of a new Intra-Asia service, IA-3.

This service will connect the ports of Kaohsiung, Xiamen, and Hong Kong with Maersk Line's Southeast Asian hub port of Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia and Singapore. Maersk will deploy two 4,000 TEU vessels in the new Intra-Asia
service, thereby providing customers with a fast pre-carriage service to hub ports and direct access to its global network. The first sailing on the IA-3 service will be Maersk Brooklyn departing Hong Kong on 4 March 2008. Transit time in both directions will be seven days and the rotations are as follows: (northbound) Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, and Xiamen; (southbound) Kaohsiung, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Tanjung Pelepas and Singapore. Maersk Line's Intra-Asia services also include the IA-2 service with three 2,900 TEU vessels, offering rapid connection between Thailand and various ports in Japan.
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Internet provider in UAE confirms undersea cable cut

An undersea cable had been cut in the Persian Gulf, causing severe phone line disruptions and compounding an already existing Internet outage across large parts of the Middle East and Asia after two other undersea cables were damaged earlier this week north of Egypt.

Omar Sultan, chief executive of Dubai's IPS DU, said that the incident was very unusual.'' He said it was not known how the underwater FLAG FALCON cable, stretching between the United Arab Emirates and Oman, had been damaged. The situation is critical for us in terms of congestion'' on international lines, Sultan told The owner of the FALCON cable, U.K. FLAG Telecom said the cable was cut at 05:59 GMT Friday, 56 kilometers (34.8 miles) off the coast of Dubai and that a repair ship has been notified and expected to arrive at the site in the next few days.'' The U.K. company is also the owner of one of the undersea cables that were sliced Wednesday in the Mediterranean Sea. That damage triggered wide Internet outages, hampering businesses and private usage across the Mideast and Asia. As in the case of the Mediterranean damage, which Egyptian officials said was caused by a ship's anchor when a vessel couldn't dock in the port of Alexandria, there was also speculation that an anchor had sliced the Persian Gulf cable.
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Construction begins on Yen Hung shipyard

Vinashin breaks ground on the US$281 million Yen Hung Shipbuilding Complex in the north-eastern province of Quang Ninh.

Pha Rung Shipyard under the Viet Nam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) began construction of the Yen Hung Shipbuilding complex in Dong Bai Industrial Complex in the northeastern province of Quang Ninh. Covering 400h hectares, the VND4.5 trillion (US$281 million) project will feature a shipyard, an auxiliary and repair facility and a ship engine factory. The 214-hectare Yen Hung shipyard will cost VND1.46 trillion (US$91 million). It is expected to build between 10-16 vessels of 70,000 DWT a year once operational in 2012. After that, the shipyard may be expanded to build larger ships of up to 150,000DWT. The VND1.49 trillion (US$93 million) Yen Hung repair and auxiliary facility hopes to be operational by the end of next year. It is expected to repair between 20-40 vessels of 50,000 DWT a year. The Vinashin-Man-Pha Rung factory is also scheduled to be finished by late 2009. A large portion of its total investment capital of VND1.5 trillion (US$93.7 million) will be spent on modern technology. It is hoped that the factory will produce around 40 engines a year.
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Dubai ship sinks off Manama

A cargo vessel owned by a Dubai-based businessman carrying rice to war-torn Iraq sank 30 nautical miles off the coast of Bahraini capital of Manama early yesterday.

Strong winds that hit the Gulf were said to be the cause of the ship’s sinking. However, 17 Indian crew members were rescued by Bahrain Coast Guard while they were found floating with their life jackets on. Narendra Shial, who owned the ill-fated Indian-flagged vessel, Siddnath, said, “All the crew members are safe and recovering in the Coast Guard Hospital in Manama.” The vessel had left the Indian port of Mundra in Gujarat on January 22, carrying 1,000 tonnes of basmati rice chartered by an Iraqi businessman to distribute in the southern part of war-ravaged country. The vessel was heading for the Iraqi port of Khor Zubair.
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