Evergreen buys container ships from CSBC Co

The Evergreen Group has placed an order with CSBC Corp, Taiwan (CSBC) to build 10 container vessels for US$1.03 billion with delivery set to start in the fall of 2013 or earlier, both firms said in separate statements yesterday.
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Source: TAIPEI TIMES

Posted on 5/22/2011 / 0 comments / Read More

Slow steaming to contribute to peak season container shortage

CONTAINER shortage is to continue into 2011 and will affect peak season with three million TEU fewer in 2011 compared to historical industry-standard level, said the World Shipping Council (WSC) in its latest Container Supply Review.
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Source: Seanews

Posted on 5/22/2011 / 0 comments / Read More

Reduce piracy off the coast of Somalia

In the last few years, Somali pirates have evolved from a small group of bandits into a network increasingly functioning like a sophisticated global organisation with hijackers, investors, guards, professional negotiators and money laundering agents working in tandem. This efficiency has made it very difficult to counter the threat of piracy but targeting financers and negotiators is part of a more proactive strategy being adopted by the US.
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Source: The citizen

Posted on 5/22/2011 / 1 comments / Read More

Hamworthy lands 11-vessel China order

Hamworthy has won a contract to supply pump room systems for 11 vessels to be delivered to the China Shipping Group (CSG).The first three systems are destined for installation on three CSG 112,000 dwt aframax newbuildings, to be constructed at Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC). The remaining eight systems are to be supplied to product carriers being built at Guangzhou Shipyard International, (GSI).

All 11 systems include three cargo pumps and two ballast pumps, which have been cast at Hamworthy’s manufacturing plant in Singapore in superior Ni-Al-Bronze material.

Terje Bjørnemo, Hamworthy global sales director for pump room systems said: “We previously delivered pump room systems for seventeen 42,000 dwt tankers built for CSG at GSI in 2002.

“CSG then continued with a series of four 52,000 dwt oil tankers in 2003, each featuring our pump room systems, and have now started work on a new series of 48,000 dwt vessels.

“The latest contract with CSG is the result of many years of active marketing to both shipyards and owners through Hua Hai Equipment & Engineering Co Ltd, our distributor in China,” he added.

A significant factor in the decision to specify a Hamworthy system was the group’s global support network, Mr Bjørnemo said, where service for all components within the systems is provided at short notice wherever the ships are in operation.
Source: Hamworthy Plc.

Posted on 5/22/2011 / 0 comments / Read More

Evergreen Marine, other shippers accused of cartel conduct

The EU Commission said Friday it suspects that Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine Corp. and several other shippers have been engaged in cartel activities in violation of EU antitrust regulations.
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Source: Focus Taiwan

Posted on 5/22/2011 / 0 comments / Read More

China offers ASEAN joint effort to counter piracy

China has offered to hold joint patrols with ASEAN countries to escort vessels from the region crossing the Gulf of Aden in the wake of rampant Somali piracy.
“China offered [ASEAN countries] a coordinated convoy to escort merchant vessels crossing the Gulf of Aden for their safety. If any ASEAN countries are willing to be part of that convoy headed by China‘s Navy, they should let China know,” Malaysian Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told a press conference in Jakarta on Friday on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting.
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Source: The Jakarta Post

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Tanker market short-term outlook looks uncertain

With the tanker market picking up some moderate speed this week, analysts have begun to wonder about the short-term prospects of the market, as we head towards June loadings. According to a report from CRWeber, uncertainty abounds as to the near term prospects for the tanker markets; indeed for every positive assessment there is a countering negative assessment. “Whilst we reiterate our view that a true, sustained recovery for larger tanker classes is unlikely until at least mid-2013, there is some reason to believe that these classes are poised to experience a mini-rally from late-May/early-June” said the analysis.
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Source: Hellenic Shipping News

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Aibel: Mayor cut first steel in Haugesund

With a traditional ceremony Thursday afternoon, Aibel marked the start up of the fabrication of the Gudrun topside.

‘This is the first time Haugesund’s mayor chain has been worn over an overall,’ said mayor of Haugesund, Petter Steen.

‘It is a gesture to symbolise how important Aibel is to the local community and the whole region. It is very nice that Aibel won this large contract that gives work to so many people in this town.’

Aibel's Erling Matland, county mayor Tom Tvedt and the mayor of HaugesundPetter Steen were all present during the ceremony at the yard today.

‘We have great expectations'

After his speech, the mayor pressed the button to start cutting the first steel plate for Gudrun at the yard in Haugesund. Afterwards champagne and cake were served.

Representatives from Statoil were also present.

‘We have great expectations. This is the biggest project under construction in Statoil at the moment, and you have the biggest and most important contract,’ said Statoil’s leader for offshore projects, Bård Heimset.

‘We wish you the best of luck, and are pleased to see increased activity once again at this great yard,’ he concluded.

The mayor had the honor of cutting the first steel.

The Gudrun topside

Statoil awarded Aibel the contract for engineering, procurement and construction of the deck for the Gudrun-platform.

The deck will be built with a process facility for partial treatment of oil and gas. The contract is worth about NOK 2,7 billion.

The fabrication of the topside is done in a cooperation between Aibel’s yards in Thailand and Haugesund.

In late april there was a first steel cut ceremony in Thailand, where four units are to be constructed. In August next year they will be transported to Haugesund to be assembled.

The Gudrun topside will be delivered to Statoil in March 2013.
Source: Aibel

Posted on 5/22/2011 / 0 comments / Read More

FOGL - Rig Contract Confirmed

FOGL, the oil and gas exploration company focused on its extensive licence areas to the South and East of the Falkland Islands, announces that it has signed an assignment agreement and associated documents (together the “Rig Contracts”) with Borders & Southern Petroleum plc.

(“B&S”) and Ocean Rig 1 Inc. to contract the Leiv Eiriksson for two firm drilling slots. The rig is currently expected to arrive in the Falkland Islands in the fourth quarter of 2011. FOGL expects to access the rig for the third and fourth slots in the combined B&S and FOGL programme and to commence drilling in the first quarter of 2012.

As announced on 19 April 2011 the Company is currently funded for a deep well on Loligo, a prospect within the Tertiary Channel play which has estimated Pmean reserves of 4,700 mmbbls. The well will have an estimated duration of 50 days. Based on its latest cost estimates and assumptions, the Company also has sufficient funds for a second well on either Loligo (as an appraisal well), or on one of the other high ranked prospects such as Nimrod, Vinson or Inflexible.

As an alternative, FOGL is also considering options to drill the second well on one of the deeper Mid Cretaceous prospects such as Scotia (Pmean reserves of 1,060 mmbbls). Such a well would involve additional cost due to its greater total depth and the Company continues to explore options to provide additional financial flexibility around its drilling options. In particular, the Company would look to fund this additional cost principally via a farmout and it is currently in discussion with several parties who have expressed an interest in participating in our exploration drilling programme.

Further to the announcement on 19 April 2011 and, as a result of the signing of the Rig Contracts, the Placing and the RAB Arrangements have become unconditional other than in respect of admission to trading on AIM. Application has been made for admission to trading on AIM of 45,714,281 Placing Shares and 15,103,978 RAB Shares (“Admission”). Admission of the Placing Shares and the RAB Shares is expected to become effective in on around 24 May 2011, following which the Company will have 207,235,325 Ordinary Shares in issue.

Tim Bushell, Chief Executive of FOGL, commented:

“We are delighted to have secured the Leiv Eiriksson which, together with the successful completion of the Placing, positions us to drill two wells commencing in Q1 2012.”

FOGL intends to utilise the Leiv Eiriksson to drill its first well on the Loligo complex. This is a prospect within the Tertiary Channel play which has estimated Pmean reserves of 4,700 mmbbls. The Loligo complex comprises multiple reservoir objectives which have previously been referred to as the Loligo prospect, together with a number of additional underlying reservoir targets. FOGL is planning to drill a well to approximately 4,000 metres below sea level which will be designed to penetrate five separate reservoir targets, lying between 3,000 and 4,000 metres below sea level. This includes, the T1 and T2 Loligo reservoirs, together with three deeper independent reservoir objectives named ‘Trigg’, ‘Trigg Deep’ and ‘Three Bears’. The well is expected to spud in Q1 2012 and take approximately 50 days to drill.

Source: FOGL

Posted on 5/22/2011 / 0 comments / Read More

Nexen to Upgrade Buzzard Cooling System; Yemen Fields Back

Nexen Inc. advises that it has finalized plans to upgrade the cooling system and return to full production at its Buzzard platform in the North Sea. The cooling medium is expected to be replaced by the end of May. During this period production will be limited to about 80,000 boe/d (gross). We expect to increase production beyond current levels through June and July and reach full capacity of over 200,000 boe/d towards the end of July as upgraded coolers are installed and commissioning of the fourth platform is completed. We expect brief periods of downtime, or reduced rates, to complete these activities.

To mitigate this production shortfall we are realigning the two week turnaround previously scheduled for September. We are planning to accelerate some of the work to the next two months and take advantage of a five-day outage in August that is required to support third-party work on the Forties Pipeline.

In West Africa, the Usan floating production and storage offloading vessel is now en route and is expected to be on site for installation this summer. Usan remains on track for first oil next year.

In Yemen, production returned to full rates on May 11 following a shutdown for two days due to a labour strike.

In the Gulf of Mexico, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement approved an exploration plan to drill up to eight wells on Mississippi Canyon blocks 348, 391 and 392 which contain the Appomattox discovery. Shell is the operator of this joint venture. We are currently waiting on a drilling permit to proceed on appraising Appomattox. Nexen estimates the recoverable contingent resource from the original Appomattox discovery exceeds 250 million boe (gross) with upside potential. Nexen has a 20% working interest at Appomattox.

The company also plans to drill two other exploration wells in the Gulf of Mexico this year. Applications to drill the operated Kakuna and Angel Fire deepwater prospects have been submitted and are proceeding through the approval process.

At Long Lake, Nexen successfully completed scheduled maintenance on a second hot lime softener and the first cogeneration unit in April. The final hot lime softener and the other cogeneration unit are scheduled to undergo maintenance in August. This maintenance temporarily impacts production and increases operating costs. Production at Long Lake is currently averaging 28,300 bbls/d (gross). Growth is expected from increased steam injection, well optimization and the ramp up of ten new wells at Pad 11. Six of the wells on the pad have completed initial steaming and are now ramping up. Further increases across the field will come as we continue to steam through high water saturation zones.

Other initiatives at Long Lake include the completion of the additional natural gas pipeline which is expected to be in service this summer. This pipeline enables more consistent steam generation independent of upgrader operations. Drilling has commenced on the first of two new pads (pads 12 and 13) which are located in high quality reservoir. Steaming and production from these new pads are expected to begin next year. Work also continues on the addition of more steam capacity and on a diluent recovery unit to allow for greater independence between the SAGD and upgrader processes.
Source: Nexen

Posted on 5/22/2011 / 0 comments / Read More

BP Announces Settlement with Moex/Mitsui of Claims

BP Announces Settlement with Moex/Mitsui of Claims Between the Companies Related to the Deepwater Horizon Accident

BP announced that it has reached agreement with MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC (“MOEX”) and its affiliates, Mitsui Oil Exploration Co., Ltd. and MOEX USA Corporation to settle all claims between the companies related to the Deepwater Horizon accident. MOEX – which had a ten per cent interest in the Macondo well – has joined BP in recognising and acknowledging the findings by the Presidential Commission that the accident was the result of a number of separate risk factors, oversights and outright mistakes by multiple parties and a number of causes. Like BP, MOEX Offshore has also recognised and acknowledged the conclusions of the United States Coast Guard that, among other things, the safety management systems of both Transocean and its Deepwater Horizon rig had significant deficiencies that rendered them ineffective in preventing the accident. MOEX has concluded that entering into a settlement with BP is in its best interest. The agreement is not an admission of liability by any party regarding the accident.

Under the settlement agreement, MOEX USA Corporation, the parent company of MOEX Offshore 2007, will pay BP $ 1.065 billion. BP will immediately apply the payment to the $20 billion trust it established to meet individual, business and government claims, as well as the cost of the Natural Resource Damages.

The parties have also agreed to mutual releases of claims against each other. BP has agreed to indemnify MOEX for compensatory claims arising from the accident. BP’s indemnity excludes civil, criminal or administrative fines and penalties, claims for punitive damages, and certain other claims.

“This settlement is an important step forward for BP and the Gulf communities,” said BP group chief executive Bob Dudley. “MOEX is the first company to join BP in helping to meet our shared responsibilities in the Gulf, and Mitsui, through MOEX USA Corporation, is showing great corporate citizenship in standing behind its affiliate and making a contribution to meet the costs of this tragic accident. We call on the other parties involved in the Macondo well to follow the lead of the MOEX and Mitsui parties.”

BP and the Mitsui group are committed to enhancing their business relationship globally now that the issues surrounding the Macondo well have been resolved between the two companies.

Today’s settlement is the most recent step BP has taken to raise funds to help BP meet its commitments in the Gulf of Mexico. BP has so far concluded agreements for asset divestments totalling approximately $25 billion, and has recently announced that it will also divest a number of operated oil and gas fields in the UK and two of its US refineries – Texas City and Carson – along with their associated marketing interests.

BP is also working to ensure that the other parties involved in the Macondo well – notably, Transocean, which owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon rig; Halliburton, which designed and pumped the unstable cement that the Presidential Commission found was a key cause of the accident; and Anadarko, which owned 25 per cent of the project – contribute appropriately. From the outset, BP has committed to paying all legitimate claims and fulfilling its obligations to the Gulf communities under the Oil Pollution Act. To date, BP has paid nearly $6 billion in claims.
Source: BP

Posted on 5/22/2011 / 0 comments / Read More

Shell CEO: Deep-water drilling set to continue

Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote) sees deep-water oil drilling continuing in the future and as of next year will produce more gas than oil, its chief executive was quoted as saying by a Swiss newspaper on Sunday.
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Source: Reuters

Posted on 5/22/2011 / 0 comments / Read More

SEVAN MARINE - Financial and Operational Update

FPSO operation and project

In Q1 2011, the FPSO Sevan Piranema had a commercial uptime of 88% due to continued problems with the gas cooling and booster compressor systems. The Company is evaluating the need for additional investments of up to USDm 25 in the process equipment on the FPSO to improve the commercial performance.

In Q1 2011, the FPSO Sevan Hummingbird had a commercial uptime of 105%, including bonus achieved for high production levels.

The FPSO Sevan Voyageur is currently undertaking an upgrade project to prepare for operation on the Huntington field under its five year fixed term contract with extension options with E.ON Ruhrgas. Following a review of the project, the expected total project cost has increased from USDm 90 to USDm 135, including contingencies and start-up costs. The cost increase is mainly due to additional steel and engineering requirements. The Board has initiated corrective measures to secure the project execution going forward. The delivery from the yard is scheduled for end of Q4 2011 and first oil in Q1 2012.

Financial update post IPO of Sevan Drilling ASA

Following the IPO of Sevan Drilling ASA and the resulting de-consolidation of the drilling segment from the Company’s consolidated financial statements an accounting loss has been estimated to approximately USDm 214 based on the pro forma balance sheet at March 31, 2011, and the issue price in the IPO. The write down is of non-cash nature and will be reflected in the Q2 2011 financial results.

The overviews below show the condensed preliminary balance sheet and profit and loss statement before tax for Q1 2011, condensed preliminary pro forma balance sheet and profit and loss statement before tax for Q1 2011 and condensed pro forma balance sheet as per January 1, 2011. The pro forma statements represent the consolidated financial statements of Sevan Marine ASA as if the IPO of Sevan Drilling had been effectuated prior to the applicable balance sheet dates.

	Preliminary P&L Q1 2011	Preliminary pro forma P&L Q1 2011
Unaudited figures in USDm
Operating revenue	51	53
EBITDA	19	21
Operating profit/(loss)	5	7
Net financial items	-43	-40
Profit/(loss) b/tax continued business	-38	-33
Profit/(loss) b/tax discontinued business	-10	0
Profit/(loss) b/tax	-48	-33

	Preliminary Balance Sheet Mar 31, 2011	Preliminary Pro forma Balance Sheet Mar 31, 2010	Pro forma Balance Sheet Jan 1, 2011
Unaudited figures in USDm
Total non-current assets	1 336	1 482	1 465
Total current assets	93	113	157
Assets of disposal group	1 298	0	0
Total assets	2 726	1 595	1 622
Total equity	769	551	594
Total non-current liabilities	864	864	855
Total current liabilities	180	180	173
Liabilities of disposal group	914	0	0
Total liabilities	1 958	1 044	1 028
Total equity and liabilities	2 726	1 595	1 622

IFRS 5 requires operations that form a major line of the business to be classified as discontinued when the assets are held for sale. Consolidated assets and liabilities of Sevan Drilling ASA are therefore presented separately in the preliminary balance sheet for Q1 2011 as ‘assets of disposal group’ and ‘liabilities of disposal group’, respectively. The estimated write-down of approximately USDm 214 is reflected in the pro forma statements, and Sevan Marine’s shareholding in Sevan Drilling is included under ‘total non-current assets’ with a value of USDm 147 in the pro forma balance sheets (reflecting a share price of NOK 8 per share).

‘Assets of disposal group’ includes USDm 192 retained on a restricted escrow account to settle the call of the NOKm 1,000 bond loan on May 11, 2011. The relevant lenders granted a waiver relating to the impact of the 30 banking days call period in relation to calculating the book equity ratio. Following the de-consolidation of Sevan Drilling, the book equity ratio has been estimated to approximately 35% after the write down described above and based on the pro forma balance as per March 31, 2011.

The preliminary balance sheet as of March 31, 2011 includes cash and cash equivalents classified as ‘current assets’ of USDm 29 and unrestricted cash and cash equivalents classified as ‘assets of disposal group’ of USDm 24. Total cash and cash equivalents at March 31, 2011 excluding the USDm 192 currently in restricted escrow account thus amounted to USDm 53. The preliminary balance sheet as of March 31, 2011, includes interest bearing debt classified as ‘total liabilities’ of USDm 950 and interest bearing debt classified as ‘liabilities of disposal group’ of USDm 833. USDm 52 of the bank financing facility to fund the upgrade of FPSO Sevan Voyageur remained undrawn and was not reflected on the balance sheet as of March 31, 2011.

The Board of Directors and management of Sevan Marine are currently evaluating alternatives for securing the Company’s financial position, including to raise equity capital. Sevan Marine has received an offer from DnB NOR Markets for a fully underwritten rights issue of approximately USDm 275, subject to due diligence, satisfactory shareholder support and other customary conditions. The Board’s ambition is to present a proposal to its shareholders by the middle of next week.

Source: Sevan Marine

Posted on 5/22/2011 / 0 comments / Read More