ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
EDITOR Joe Forshaw joe@emea-energy.net
SALES MANAGER Hal Hutchison hal@emea-energy.net
SALES ADMINISTRATOR Emma Neethling sales@emea-energy.net
SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER Sam Hendricks sam@emea-energy.net
PROJECT MANAGER Shaun Cousins shaun@emea-energy.net
PROJECT MANAGER Shannon James shannon@emea-energy.net
PROJECT MANAGER Aarron Chapman aarron@emea-energy.net
PROJECT MANAGER Emily Taylor emily@emea-energy.net
FINANCE MANAGER Emma Smith finance@emea-energy.net
SENIOR DESIGNER Harvey Tarlton harvey@emea-energy.net
CONTRIBUTOR Manelesi Dumasi
CONTRIBUTOR Karl Pietersen
CONTRIBUTOR David Napier
CONTRIBUTOR Timothy Reeder
CONTRIBUTOR Colin Chinery
CONTRIBUTOR Djamil Benmehidi
CONTRIBUTOR Jukka Lethinien
CONTRIBUTOR Rod Stone
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As the pace of change in the global energy industry increases, notable projects are being announced, completed and put into operation. Each day, it seems that more renewable energy is entering our grids, more innovations are coming to the fore, and the direction of the energy industry is constantly moving. Our friends in coal, oil and gas are also introducing a number of innovations to make the use of their products more efficient, effective and clean.
Statoil has confirmed it will build the world’s first floating wind farm in Scotland, it has awarded contracts for the production of the major Johan Castberg discovery, and it announced the completion of the Dudgeon Offshore Windfarm off the Eastern Coast of the UK.
The big-name fuel retailers have been vying for position, opening new locations and introducing new products to try and temp customers and win market share.
In upstream, Argentina and southern Africa remain targets for established European players, while the seas in south eastern Asia remain attractive.
In this December and January edition of Energy Focus, we look at the business of Lamprell. One of the world’s best-known rig makers, the Dubai-based company has enjoyed a productive 2017 delivering a number of important projects, while expecting a strong future pipeline.
We also look at UK-based Claxton Engineering which has been delivering innovative solutions to the offshore decommissioning market. The ideas developed by Claxton are now regarded as best-inclass and are being utilised around the world – quite the journey for what started as a small family business.
We also take a closer look at the infamous launch of the Semi by Tesla. The company claims its new electric truck can travel 500 miles without need for charging – potentially a game changer when it comes to taking emissions off the road.
As we move into 2018, the importance of innovative new energy solutions has never been clearer. Let us know what innovations you are working on and what you expect to be big news in the next 12-months.
@EmeaEnergy Joe Forshaw EDITORA round up of some of the latest news stories in the industry.
Our regular update to help you keep track of important events and exhibitions taking place across the industry.
8/
12/ CLAXTON ENGINEERING Innovation and Family Ethos Drives Claxton 16/ IHC IQIP Meeting the Challenges of a Rapidly Growing Industry 20/ DUDGEON OFFSHORE WIND FARM Dudgeon Wind Farm Completion 22/ TESLA SEMI The Tesla Semi aims to dramatically reduce emissions but can it break into the commercial market?
24/ SHELL Leading the Way with Alternative Refuelling
26/ SASOL Strong Foundations Pave the Way to Sustained Growth
32/ NAUTIC AFRICA Nautic to Provide Better, Stronger, Tougher Ocean Solutions
An inauguration ceremony marking the start of commercial operations at an acrylic acid and butyl acrylate production plant owned by Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat took place recently in Salavat, Republic of Bashkortostan.
With a design capacity of 80,000 tons of crude acrylic acid per year, the plant is the largest production facility of its kind in Russia. By converting the crude product into commercially marketable glacial acrylic acid, the Company paves the way for creating a facility to manufacture superabsorbents (materials that can absorb large quantities of liquid) in Russia.
Butyl acrylate produced at the plant of Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat (in the amount of 80,000 tons per year) will fully substitute for the imports of butyl acrylate and satisfy the potential demand for the substance in the Russian chemical sector.
Acrylic acid and butyl acrylate are used in the manufacturing of various household chemicals, including varnishes, paints, laundry detergents, and medical products.
The facility is environmentally friendly thanks to the use of cutting-edge technologies, as the system for the collection, purification and thermal treatment of industrial wastewater and heavy residue of acrylic acid and butyl acrylate prevents any and all harmful emissions from entering the atmosphere.
The project generated some 340 new jobs.
Statoil recently submitted the plan for development and operation for the Johan Castberg project on behalf of the partnership with Eni and Petoro. The company also announced that several major contracts will also be awarded to Norwegian industry.
“We have finally succeeded in realising the Johan Castberg development. The project is central part of the further development of the northern regions, and will create substantial value and spinoffs for Norway for 30 years,” says Margareth Øvrum, Statoil’s executive vice president for Technology, Projects and Drilling.
Capital expenditures for Johan Castberg are estimated at some NOK 49 billion. Recoverable resources are estimated at 450 –650 million barrels of oil equivalent. This makes the Johan Castberg project the biggest offshore oil and gas development to be given the go-ahead in 2017. First oil is scheduled for 2022.
“Johan Castberg has brought challenges. The project was not commercially viable due to high capital expenditures of more than NOK 100 billion and a break-even oil price of more than USD 80 per barrel. We have been working hard together with our suppliers and partners, changing the concept and finding new solutions in order to realise the development. Today we are delivering a solid PDO for a field with halved capital expenditures and which will be profitable at oil prices of less than USD 35 per barrel,” Øvrum says.
The Johan Castberg field will have a supply and helicopter base in Hammerfest and an operations organisation in Harstad. The costs of operating the field are estimated at some NOK 1.15 billion per year. This will represent about 1700 man-years nationwide, some 500 of which will be located in Northern Norway. This includes both direct and indirect effects.
“Johan Castberg will be producing for more than 30 years, and the greatest spinoffs will be generated in the long production phase. Castberg will create considerable activities for Norwegian supply companies and generate ripple effects in Northern Norway,” Nylund says.
Johan Castberg is a big subsea development, and this contract includes 30 wells, 10 subsea templates and two satellite structures.
“We are pleased to see that Norwegian suppliers again demonstrate their competitiveness and will play a key role in the development of Johan Castberg. The jobs generated nationwide during the development are estimated at almost 47 000 manyears,” Øvrum says.
The Johan Castberg partnership consists of Statoil (operator 50%), Eni (30%) and Petoro (20%).
Households and motorists in Britain have been warned to expect sharp increases in gas bills and petrol prices after a number of expected winter issues have all hit at once.
A shutdown at one of the North Sea’s most important oil and gas pipeline system and an explosion at a major processing facility in Austria, which is the main point of entry for Russian gas into Europe have all added to the problematic situation.
Following these two incidents specifically, wholesale gas prices hit their highest level for six years, rising by more than 50% in the space of 24 hours, raising fears that the increase will be passed on to customers.
With oil prices on the rise, the UK government has said it is against rises in prices for consumers.
Compounding the problems witnesses in Austria and the North Sea are other production and distribution setbacks.
Queen Elizabeth was recently at the Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy manufacturing facility in Hull. On November 16th, Her Majesty took stock of the full 75 metre turbine blade that featured as an art installation in the Queen Victoria Square, in Hull city centre, as part of the Hull City of Culture 2017 celebrations.
Her Majesty was driven in to the factory building, where the giant turbine blades are hand crafted. Presented to Her Majesty were leading figures in Siemens Gamesa, both from the UK and abroad, including Global CEO Markus Tacke, UK Managing Director, Clark MacFarlane and CEO of Siemens AG, Joe Kaeser and Siemens PLC, Juergen Maier.
Clark MacFarlane accompanied Her Majesty on a short tour of the factory, taking in a visit to the moulds where the mammoth 75 metre turbine blades are handmade as a single, unbroken section. Clark introduced The Queen to employees including apprentices working on the blades under construction and they explained their work.
The ageing Morecambe field is supplying at only around two million cubic metres (mcm) per day, less than half its usual rate of 5 mcm.
BBL, a Dutch company that operates the gas pipeline between the Netherlands and the UK, had to restrict supply temporarily across the Channel because of problems with a compression station.
And Norway’s energy giant, Statoil said that it reduced output from its platform in Troll, Europe’s biggest offshore gas field, because of a power outage.
Demand for gas in the UK has been driven steadily higher in recent years by the shutdown of coal plants and with the winter cold setting in, now is the time when it is needed most.
Lamprell is an industry leading provider of fabrication, engineering and contracting services to the offshore and onshore oil, gas and renewable energy industries. It has an international reputation for building complex offshore and onshore process modules, and holds leading market positions in the delivery of EPC projects such as jackup drilling rigs and multi-purpose liftboats.
//Lamprell’s international reputation, for offshore and onshore process modules, the delivery of EPC projects and a proven track record for a variety of oil and gas contracting services, has been carefully constructed over the course of 40 years of business, and today the depth of its experience reflects the maturity of the business. Lamprell is based in the United Arab Emirates and holds primary fabrication yards located in Hamriyah, Sharjah and Jebel Ali, all of which are in the UAE, as well as facilities in Saudi Arabia through a joint venture, MIS Arabia. As such, Lamprell is perfectly located to serve an international clientele.
The Group boasts excellent facilities which include fabrication space and deep-water quayside berths, allowing the efficient load out of its projects and the servicing of clients across the globe. Lamprell employs more than 5000 people in a highly skilled workforce across multiple facilities, forming project focused and experienced execution teams,
supplemented by multi-disciplinary engineers and a specialist commissioning department. Combined, the Group’s facilities cover over 800,000 m2 and almost two kilometres of quayside.
A combination of the wealth of expertise at its disposal and the scope of the facilities that it enjoys has enabled Lamprell to successfully deliver 28 of its trademark jackup rigs since its listing in 2006. This year has been no different, and over the course of the past twelve months two of Lamprell’s most significant deliveries have been made to Abu Dhabi’s National Drilling Company (NDC), whose mission, as the largest drilling contractor in the Middle East, is to provide its clients with quality drilling, work-over and well maintenance services. With the first of this year’s successful completed projects Lamprell notched up its 26th new build jackup rig, the ‘Al Hudairiyat’, which made its way to NDC in February, within budget and as scheduled having been agreed in November 2014.
PRODUCTION: Timothy Reeder
With the rig having been completed to the highest standards of quality and using the latest in drilling system technology, its completion and delivery was marked at an inauguration ceremony as it set out for its drilling location in Abu Dhabi. Commenting on the delivery, Christopher McDonald, Chief Executive Officer of Lamprell, remarked: “I am pleased to announce the on-time delivery of this eighth jackup rig to NDC, our largest client, and this helps to cement our deep relationship with this key customer. We have been able to prove once again our ability to complete a major project to the necessary high standards and we are proud to construct this latest project in the UAE, where we have such strong ties.”
The Al Hudairiyat represents the eighth in a series of nine rigs to be built and provided by Lamprell to NDC, whose Chief Executive Officer, Abdalla Saeed Al
Suwaidi, commented: “The mega project of building and acquiring a series of nine world-class jackup rigs has produced success after success, not only for the partners involved, but for the UAE. in general. All nine rigs were built here in the UAE to the highest quality and international standards.
“The achievement demonstrates world-standard capability and represents a great source of pride. NDC’s partnership with Lamprell to manufacture offshore jack-up rigs in the UAE has made the country the first and only country in the region capable of building such critically engineered, high-tech oil and gas rigs.”
Construction of the final rig in this nine-strong NDC order was completed in April in the form of ‘Al Lulu’, whose order in 2015 was one of only three contracts awarded that year. Abdalla Saeed Al Suwaidi described how closely
his company’s desire to always be at the cutting-edge mirrors Lamprell’s own approach: “NDC continuously upgrades its capabilities to deliver top tier, diversified, and sustainable drilling services, at competitive cost to our clients across the ADNOC Group of Companies,” he explained, neatly surmising the excellent fit of the two companies involved. He refers latterly to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), a diversified and integrated group of energy companies.
“These rigs are equipped with innovative technology including joy stick operated cyber chairs with integrated equipment consoles for the rig operators and are designed to suit the specific needs of Abu Dhabi. Their flexibility caters to the wide-range of drilling operation requirements of our clients, which enables greater efficiency and helps further improve profitability,” Al Suwaidi said of the finished article.
KRATHONG
Orbit International Survey Services LLC (Orbit ISS) is an industrial asset integrity engineering management firm based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates since 2006. We are an ISO 9001:2015 approved company by TÜV SÜD/DAC.
During this time, we are actively involved in various critical quality inspections, surveys, industrial consultancy, trainings and testing services for the oil, gas and energy sectors, and have provided asset integrity solutions to high-profile clients all over the Middle East & Asia.
Headquartered in Sharjah, U.A.E and with a subsidiary office, Epic Consultancy, located in India, we have staffed personnel of varying engineering disciplines and are able to provide multi-skilled solutions to suit our client’s requirements.
+971-6-5757499
customer@orbitiss.com
www.orbitiss.com
For Shelf Drilling Ltd, meanwhile, the sole focus is on jackup operations, and Lamprell’s flawless rig work for NDC was only punctuated this year by a further delivery to the world’s largest contractor of jackup rigs. Specialising in shallow water drilling services, Shelf Drilling is able to leverage decades of industry experience and an outstanding track record to provide best-in-class drilling operations for its customers. The Shelf Drilling Krathong rig, destined for deployment at offshore Thailand, has been designed and constructed to the same high-quality specifications as its sister rig, the ‘Shelf Drilling Chaopraya’, which was delivered to Shelf Drilling in September 2016.
The LeTourneau Super 116E (Enhanced) Class rig features high specification offshore drilling technology, as well as accommodation for up to 160 people. Commenting on the delivery, Christopher McDonald said: “I am delighted to report the successful delivery of the second rig to our major client, Shelf Drilling. With this delivery, Lamprell has reaffirmed our reputation as a leading with a strong record of delivering premium quality products at world-class safety standards.
“We have a strong relationship with Shelf Drilling and we look forward to working with them on future projects.”
In large part thanks to its ability to continually deliver such complex, largescale projects in seemingly effortless fashion, Lamprell was able to report in September a robust balance sheet in the midst of a challenging market. Among the financial highlights was a revenue of USD $159.2 million, giving rise to profits of USD $1.1 million, fully in line with Group expectations. The successful close-out of Lamprell’s three remaining jackup rig projects was integral in assuring a gross margin of 13%, bolstered by the company’s work on HMC Kaombo, Total’s
“Accurately Precise”
ambitious ultra-deep water offshore project in Angola, which looks to secure an oil production capacity of 230,000 barrels per day.
The three key jackup rig deliveries aside, there was much to celebrate for Lamprell across the breadth of its operations. Its buoyancy tanks will form a key part of HMC Kaombo, while the final modules for the UZ750 project were also promptly delivered; Upper Zakum Oilfield, located approximately 84km offshore to the north-west of Abu Dhabi islands, is the second largest offshore oilfield and
fourth largest oilfield in the world, owned by Zakum Development Company (ZADCO). The field has an estimated 50 billion barrels of oil reserves and currently produces 640,000 barrels of oil a day, set to increase to 750,000 bpd following the completion of the UZ750 Project currently underway.
This year also saw the commencement of the construction phase on the East Anglia ONE offshore windfarm project, Lamprell’s work for which consists of 60 foundations. Scottish Power Renewables is constructing the East Anglia ONE Offshore Windfarm, investing £2.5 billion in the project, with the area off East Anglia offering excellent conditions for offshore wind, due to its shallow water depths, favourable seabed conditions, proximity to shore and high wind speeds.
Amongst this sea of financial and operational highlights, there was also noteworthy news on the strategic and corporate side of the business as Lamprell looks to further consolidate its position during turbulent times for the industry.
Following the planned retirement of John Kennedy from the Board, Lamprell announced the appointment of John Malcolm in the role of Non-Executive Chairman for the Company with effect from 20 September 2017. Of the appointment, Kennedy commented; “John takes over the role at an important time for the company as it navigates through the continuing industry downturn.
“We are pleased to have someone with the right skills, industry knowledge and deep understanding of the company from within the Board to assume the crucial role of Chairman.”
By 2020 Lamprell aims to be a leading global fabrication and EPC service provider to the energy industry, consistently delivering safe, high quality, competitive, on time solutions to our customers. Having been an independent non-executive Director since May 2013, the Board determined that Malcolm’s strong industry experience and deep knowledge of the company made him
the ideal candidate for the Chairman role among the existing Board members, to guide the Group to fulfilling these ambitious aims. Malcolm himself concluded thusly of his new role: “I look forward to assuming the role of Chairman and I am proud to have the opportunity to help take Lamprell to the next stage in its development.
“Despite the current challenging market environment, I am confident that Lamprell has the potential and is wellpositioned to deliver sustainable growth in the long term.”
LAMPRELL
+9716 5285345
lamprell@lamprell.com
www.lamprell.com
LAMPRELL HAS THE POTENTIAL AND IS WELL-POSITIONED TO DELIVER SUSTAINABLE GROWTH IN THE LONG TERM.
Claxton Engineering has grown from a small company founded by Bob Claxton in 1985 to a major global player in the offshore oil and gas industry run by Bob’s daughter Laura Claxton. Now part of the Acteon Group, Claxton is looking to bolster its presence in the decommissioning industry, a sector set to grow significantly in the near future.
Located on the far eastern coast of the UK, the town of Great Yarmouth has grown to become a hub for oil and gas industry expertise. Thanks to its location, suitable for easy access to the Southern North Sea and other hubs in Scandinavia and the Netherlands, Great Yarmouth is the ideal base for all types of service provider. Since the discovery of oil and gas in the North Sea in the 1960s, Yarmouth has become recognised as one of the most concentrated bases for oil and gas expertise anywhere in the country.
Some of the world’s largest oil and gas names have set up shop in Yarmouth with vast reserves estimated to have life until 2035, and fields and facilities that are all crying out for modernisation and refurbishment. In particular, Great Yarmouth has become an industry leader in shallow water engineering, mature asset management and normally unmanned installations among many other areas. But one
big area of growth that is helping to boost Great Yarmouth’s industry players in these times of uncertainty is decommissioning. Major investments received recently have provided a lift for the decommissioning sector and this is an area in which Yarmouth is keen to position itself as a centre of excellence.
One of the area’s leading organisations active in decommissioning and a range of other related activities is Claxton Engineering. Founded in 1985 by Bob Claxton, the business’s original focus was offshore engineering services for upstream clients from around the world, specifically wellhead installation and servicing. Over the past 32 years, the company has achieved a number of significant milestones, introducing new services and opening up new offices in far flung regions including Aberdeen, Dubai, Norway and Singapore. It has been the recipient of the Queen’s Award for International Trade and, in
1999, the business was acquired by what would later become the Acteon Group of Companies.
Major success was realised in 1996 when the company introduced its SWAT™ (suspended well abandonment tool) innovation. The SWAT™, delivered in conjunction with sister company InterMoor, is deployed through a moonpool, landed on the wellhead and then used to carry out casing perforation and placement of the required cement barriers in the well. This in turn opens up the option for the deployment of more Claxton services including wellhead severance using the SABRE™ cutting tool, and recovery using the subsea wellhead recovery tool.
The SWAT™ system has been used on more than 100 well abandonment projects worldwide and is widely regarded as an industry leading innovation.
Today, the company is run by Bob’s daughter, Managing Director, Laura Claxton who says: “Our promise
to you is that Claxton will make it happen for your project. From the rental of a simple adaptor, to a full riser system or well abandonment project, you’ll get the same level of service and dedication from our team. And in the event you have a problem on a project, just pick up the phone – there will be no ‘hard sell’ and the Claxton team will do everything we can to ensure your project is both successful and safe.”
In November, Claxton won a contract in the North Sea for the supply of an all-new 34” subsea overshot, which utilises hydraulic inflatable seal technology. This highly technical project will see Claxton enable tieback to the subsea well’s low-pressure (LP) housing without having to directly interface with the wellhead manufacturer’s proprietary connector.
“The Claxton overshot swallows over the LP housing and utilises inflatable seals to provide pressure
integrity around the housing’s outer body. With the overshot attached to the base of a 30” environmental riser, the solution allows a hydrostatic fluid column to be held within the riser. The riser analysis stipulated no requirement to mechanically lock the overshot to the LP housing,” the company says.
The company will also be supplying service personnel to ensure installation runs smoothly.
The innovative design of the overshot includes a quick-connector to the 30” riser, eliminating costly offshore handling time.
In October, Claxton was awarded two contracts to provide conductor guide centralisation on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). The operator allowed Claxton to be involved in the project from the early stages and this aided both parties as design was specific and the entire process simplified.
Both of these projects are highly technical and high-value but typical of
the type of work that Claxton is used to in the North Sea and around the world, sticking to its mantra – Make It Happen.
In June, Claxton was awarded a significant contract for casing, cutting and recovery in the North Sea. Working across two different sites for the same operator, Claxton will ensure the removal of Christmas trees and other activities as part of a decommissioning programme.
“Our global experience allows us to provide the most comprehensive decommissioning package for all of our clients, but always having an eye on providing the most cost-effective solution for abrasive severance, cut verification and recovery,” said Laura Claxton.
“We will be using a 150te hydraulic proving jack package, Claxton Double Drilling Units (DDUs) for drilling and pinning and rapid cut band saws for cutting the combined multi strings. Marine growth stripping and removal using
our purpose designed tooling will also be delivered, along with multi-string severance using our proprietary abrasive water jet cutting system SABRETM,” she added.
“As part of the provided solution our equipment is unique and can again offer the operator real savings. Our bottom hole anchor and catch tool system for example, allows recovery of the conductor stump and conductor during the surface recovery stage reducing this to a single operation and removing the need for fishing tools.
“We have also provided an engineered and aligned solution to reduce the number of slewing operations required by the JULB crane with a revision to our existing tubing laydown frame by incorporating a travelling bogie system. The frame and bogie eliminates the need for the crane to slew from the well centre while still allowing tubing to be laid
out on deck. This saves valuable time on a project.”
Earlier this year, in July, Claxton celebrated five injury free years, with no time lost to injuries since 2012. Claxton’s QHSSE Director, Peter Carrier said of the milestone: “For a fifth consecutive year Claxton’s global workforce has managed all activity risks to ensure they have maintained their record of no lost time injuries. A feat in its self, but combined with the varied industrial locations, the complex activities and universal interfaces that require to be mastered, a prodigious event. Our playing field, and client’s requirements are, ever changing, and such a record displays that, Claxton is ever adaptable, risk focused and determined to maintain the old oil and gas mantra ‘there is nothing so important’.
“An effective health and safety management system requires the
contribution of every staff member and importantly, the support and recognition of your senior management team. This event has not just realised itself, it has taken time, effort, and masses of deliberation and sometimes a self-acknowledgement that perhaps we could have done it better, but that’s the learning and the companies attitude to QHSE continuous improvement.”
The company has also obtained an OHSAS 18001 certification, demonstrating safety excellence. Alongside this, Claxton is also the proud holder of ISO 14001 certification for environmental management and ISO 9001 – 2008 certification for quality management.
“Our dedicated in-house quality team has recently been expanded to help us continue to raise the quality bar as the business grows – they keep our equipment certified and ready to mobilise on a moment’s notice, and just as importantly, communicate quality
issues across the entire business,” the company says.
In May, Claxton announced that it had deployed its WellRaizerTM modular conductor recovery system for the first time. This innovative system was used for well-recovery work on the NCS.
The WellRaizerTM allows for the collection of oil and gas conductor pipe without the need to deploy a jack-up rig or drilling platform.
“With the launch of WellRaizerTM Claxton is now able to bring severance and recovery all under one roof. We believe this capability is a first of its kind for the industry and means we can offer a full solution rather than just a one-off service to our customers,” said Claxton R&D Manager, Matt Marcantonio.
“The WellRaizerTM recovery system comprises of both a static and travelling elevator which grip the tubular sections via two powered slip packages. The unit also incorporates material handling cranes to remove reliance on the main crane for smaller operations and has been developed to meet design codes for this campaign and safety standards for work on the Norwegian Continental Shelf including: NORSOK Z-015, NORSOK R-002, API 4F, API 8C, DNV 2-7.1, and DNV 2-7.3,” he added.
“Through its maiden voyage, we looked at maximising time savings at every stage, whether prior to mobilisation onshore, achieving a safer operation whilst mitigating risks offshore, or providing the multi-skilled staff who now run more efficiently both WellRaizerTM and the subsea abrasive cutting system SABRETM,” he said.
Just one of many strings to the Claxton bow, the WellRaizerTM system provides cost savings and project efficiencies the likes of which are not offered elsewhere in the industry.
Importantly, the facts across the oil and gas industry show that the major oil fields around world are declining in their production numbers and this is expected to continue in
the near-term and long-term future. According to Oil and Gas Authority Aberdeen, Scotland, a total of 1,832 wells are forecast to be plugged and abandoned in the North Sea and Norwegian Continental Shelves region between 2017 and 2023. Globally, the offshore decommissioning market is predicted to grow at approximately 6.93% by 2023, and Claxton, one of Great Yarmouth’s success stories, is set to be positioned at the forefront of the industry. Its ability to deliver first-class expertise and equipment on time, on
budget, anywhere in the world while maintaining the family business ethos that has seen it grow tremendously is what will help Claxton continue in this ever-changing market sector.
As today’s markets and industries continue to develop at a rapid pace, we are seeing projects taking place in ever deeper waters, in more remote areas and within increasingly challenging environments. This has sparked a growing demand for integrated and reliable solutions which in turn inspired the formation of IHC IQIP, now poised to provide a complete range of equipment, solutions and advice from a single source.
//As the complexity of projects and operations grows exponentially, the bid to continuously lower costs and maximise efficiencies becomes ever greater, in order to ensure that these activities remain profitable. IHC IQIP’s customers across its four primary markets - offshore oil and gas, offshore wind and renewables, coastal and civil, and decommissioning - now deal with a single partner, which in turn means fewer interfaces and suppliers throughout the process. Everything IHC IQIP does and offers revolves around building: from delivering and operating equipment to offering advice and a comprehensive service to its customers.
IHC IQIP is able to draw on a long
history of designing, constructing, delivering and maintaining a range of offshore technology for various applications in the oil and gas market. For installation contractors in the oil and gas industry, the primary focus is often on reducing costs and risk on a project, while creating a safe working environment. In addition, contractors are looking to shift their expenditure from CAPEX to OPEX, in order to lower the required investment and associated risk.
IHC IQIP is ideally positioned to ensure that customers are successful in this aim, providing as it does a complete package of rental equipment and services for any type of offshore installation, from
subsea infrastructure in ultra-deep waters, mooring of FPSOs to jackets in shallow water. This means reliable solutions are available for upstream oil and gas projects, both surface and subsea, in all water depths, particularly crucial as the future of the oil and gas industry moves from shallow to deeper – and even ultra-deep – waters.
In the offshore wind market, the mutual aim across the board is to reduce the total cost of energy to continue making this emerging sector a highly competitive one, while increasing the level of security of supply. As such, everyone involved in a wind farm project is covered, whether this means developers, design
PRODUCTION: Timothy Reeder
agencies, contractors or financers. To set about achieving these cost reductions, all while mitigating risk, offshore wind contractors must look to minimise the number of interfaces and suppliers to increase efficiency and flexibility. IHC IQIP contributes to this goal by providing a complete range of equipment and services on a project-by-project basis.
With a portfolio extending from the smallest hammers to the largest rigs in the world, IHC IQIP’s third primary area of expertise sees it provide a range of piling and drilling tools for the coastal and civil market, producing cost-effective and sustainable solutions for the construction of jetties, harbours and bridges. In the competitive coastal and civil market, foundation contractors have to work efficiently and minimise risk in order to deliver profitable projects. The uncertainty of soil conditions and other circumstances when driving or drilling foundation piles can create significant challenges, and in some cases lead to project delays or the incurrence of other unforeseen costs.
To maximise profitability, contractors therefore need the support of reliable partners. IHC IQIP has a long history in
piling and drilling for coastal and civil works, as well as for offshore foundations, experience it can apply to on- and nearshore construction, and offer highquality equipment to withstand even the harshest soil environments. By transferring its offshore capabilities, IHC IQIP can drive
possible, a great deal of engineering and calculation must be carried out in advance. Since 2004, IHC IQIP has developed an impressive track record with its standard tools, but has also successfully designed and built tailor-made decommissioning solutions for specific projects.
the piles necessary to support even the largest bridges, while the same applies for harbours and jetties, which require steel piles to be driven into the ground to withstand the horizontal loads from LNG carriers and other vessels. The unique qualities of the IHC IQIP’s very own Hydrohammer, a hydraulic impact hammer for use above and under water, enable these piles to be efficiently driven without any loss of energy.
When it comes to the fourth arm of the business, decommissioning, IHC IQIP steps forward to offer specialist solutions for safe, efficient and cost-effective removal. Removal projects, by nature, entail much uncertainty regarding structural integrity, and so to reduce risk as far as
IHC IQIP has extensive in-house expertise for the engineering and manufacturing of innovative equipment designed for decommissioning activities, these removal tools having been extensively tested in the oil and gas, and offshore wind markets. Whether it is the removal of structures, jackets, subsea templates or pipelines, the company’s specialised equipment can be customised to perform any task.
The offshore wind market continues to grow at a rapid pace, and wind farms of significant proportions will be created at an increasing rate over the coming decades. IHC IQIP supports the growth of these customers through the delivery
of innovative equipment, consultation and additional service, during the installation and decommissioning of wind farms, substations and met masts, in its continuing bid to make this emergent sector the most profitable possible. Exemplifying this is Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm, a phenomenal £1.5 billion project to harness offshore wind set to power more than 410,000 UK homes.
This 402MW offshore wind farm will be located 20 miles off the coast of the seaside town of Cromer in North Norfolk, UK, and features 67 turbines. IHC IQIP was selected to provide piling and handling equipment for Seaway Heavy Lifting (SHL) for the project, and had already delivered the first 10 monopiles and a 1,400-tonnes upending tool on board the multipurpose vessel Oleg Strashnov in April last year. In total, SHL was responsible for the transportation and installation of
67 monopiles, transition pieces, and jacket and topside for an offshore substation at the site. Just weeks ago it was announced that all 67 turbines at the 402MW Dudgeon offshore wind farm were now delivering electricity to the UK grid, providing renewable energy to around 410,000 homes.
“Dudgeon represents an important contribution to realising the UK’s renewable energy strategy. The UK has already achieved impressive reductions in CO2-emissions with clear policies to phase out coal, and last year achieved the lowest CO2 emissions since before year 1900,” said Statoil’s CEO Eldar Sætre.
Another collaboration between SHL and IHC IQIP continues the theme of significant progress in the wind energy sector, this time at the 588MW Beatrice offshore wind farm off the coast of
Scotland. Here, IHC IQIP will provide 336 jacket pile grippers and the Hydrohammer S-2500, which has two specially-designed hammer sleeves and an internal lifting tool. The jacket pile grippers will be welded to the 84 jacket foundations, with work on the grippers underway and the last delivery scheduled for early 2018, according to IHC IQIP. Beatrice offshore wind farm represents one of the largest ever private investments in Scottish infrastructure and will be Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm when fully operational, currently set for 2019.
Zadelmakerstraat 76, 1991 JE Velserbroek, The Netherlands
Tel: +31-23-5352424
Email: info@snelstaal.nl Web: www.snelstaal.nl
Snel Staal B.V. has the possibility to deliver the above mentioned products in almost all kinds of steel qualities. (For example in stainless steel, heat resistant steel, construction steel, low alloy steel, high alloy steel, nickel alloy, titanium, aluminium)
INDUSTRY FOCUS: WIND
PRODUCTION: Emily White
//The pioneering installation of 67 Siemens 6MW wind turbines at the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm has excelled in efficiency by completing on time and well-under the projected £1.5 million budget agreed when the lucrative investment decision was made in 2014.
be providing electricity to 410,000 homes across England.
The project was aided to completion by the Sea Challenger, a Danish crew vessel from A2SEA on behalf of joint owners Statoil, Masdar and Statkraft.
“We would like to send a special thanks and congratulations to the entire team behind the operation for a smooth project execution as well as an outstanding safety performance,” said Michael Glavind, CEO at A2SEA.
Despite the scale of the project, substantial investment has been made to mitigate the impact of the construction on the surrounding community. The Dudgeon Community Fund was established to support a wide range of local charities and voluntary schemes that have been directly affected by the offshore construction. Necton Parish Council and Necton First Responders are among those to receive sizeable donations. The project has also invested £2.5 million in local schools, launching a new educational initiative for secondary school pupils across Great Yarmouth, North Norfolk and Breckland.
The construction and completion of the wind farm is set to be a vital boost for the local economy, securing trade for the next 25 years as ships come and go into the port of Yarmouth to service the farm. Graham Plant, leader of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, said: “For us that means employment in Great Yarmouth. It means a supply chain is going to be needed to help keep that
business alive and keep going.”
There is a growing interest in the sector as leaders in the gas and oil industry seek to expand into the renewable market. Advances in technology, increasing deployment and modulating costs are key incentives to make wind an alternative power source and could potential ‘outcompete’ traditional energy suppliers. Technological advances in the sector are certainly proving wind to be a viable alternative; it is estimated that moving forward to 2030, the installed capacity of offshore wind in Europe will increase from 12GW to 70GW.
Statoil, one of the three companies behind the Dudgeon project, are already making waves in
the sector, bolstering an impressive renewable portfolio. Alongside the Dudgeon site, further wind farms at Sheringham Shaol, Arkona in Germany and Hywind Scotland have either reached completion or are in the final stages of production, with the potential to supply more than one million homes with power.
+44 (0) 1493 841700
dudgeonoffshorewind.co.uk
//On the evening of November 16th, Elon Musk revealed the latest Tesla passion project to the world; an all electric semi truck that boasts some pretty impressive performance stats.
As Musk emerged onto the stage to a euphoric audience, it became
clear that this unveiling in Hawthorne, California was more about fuelling the excitement and hype of the project rather than providing us with any substantial details. Without a doubt, the truck is capturing the attention of the freight industry, and is certainly creating much furore among Tesla enthusiasts.
But what do we really know about the Semi so far, and how big will the impact be on emissions? The Tesla semi is a fully electric Class 8 truck that the company states is capable of going from 0-60 in five seconds when unloaded and 20 seconds with a full 80,000-pound load. That’s ten
seconds faster than the average diesel truck. The Semi also claims to have a 500 mile range at maximum weight which sounds impressive when you consider that the majority of freight trucks rarely move more than 250 miles. Performance features include enhanced autopilot, lane-keeping technology and a design that is said to make jack-knifing impossible.
In terms of cost, Musk has set a wholesale price of seven cents per kilowatt hour, which has already prompted some questioning from electricity experts. This means that on a 100 mile route, the Semi will average at $1.26 per mile compared to the $1.51 average for diesel trucks.
Production will begin in 2019 and if you want to get your hands on one, the reservation price is $5000. So what about emissions?
Globally, freight vehicles account for 7% of all greenhouse gas emissions and make up 32% of total transport related energy demand with that figure increasing every year according to the International Energy Agency.
As the Semi’s only fuel source
is electricity, it would produce zero emissions, which if embraced by the freight industry, would have a significant impact on the amount of greenhouse gases produced every year worldwide. However, selling to the commercial market may prove to be a challenge as there have been a number of concerns raised about the overall cost of the Semi. Research from the Carnegie Melon University has found that batterypowered semis only work at the 300 mile mark; anything more would be too costly and limit cargo capacity due to the weight and volume of the battery.
UPS have already demonstrated that it is more-than possible to reduce emissions in diesel vehicles effectively and cheaply, simply by optimising its routes so drivers very rarely have to turn left. This saves the company 10 million gallons in fuel and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 22,000 tons each year.
Overall, Tesla has been encouraged by trucking leaders into the market, as there has been acknowledgment that the industry is certainly moving towards some kind of electrification. However,
alternative technologies have already been embraced with vehicles being produced that can run on propane and hydrogen fuel cells. Battery power, at present, still carries hang-ups around battery weight and availability of charging stations.
Low petrol and diesel prices mean there’s little incentive for truck operators to make the switch and pay the bulk cost of more expensive alternative fuel freights.
The Muskian vision of the Semi is ambitious and his plans for battery powered vehicles carry all the hallmarks of Silicon Valley optimism. If Musk can truly deliver on his vision, it will be a landmark development in the world of freight and a step closer to reducing greenhouse emissions for a sustainable future.
There can be no denying that the future of travel lies in the fast developing realm of alternativefuelled vehicles. While petrol and diesel-powered cars currently dominate the motoring landscape, the increasing environmental pressure on fossil-fuelled cars is paving the way for electric and hy-drogen cars to provide the ideal futureproof solution.
Also known as fuel-cell cars, the latter are powered by just about the most plentiful substance in the universe, and emit only water from the tailpipe. They can travel as far as a petrol or diesel car, and they’re almost silent. Shell has fully capitalised on the potential of such technology and an-nounced in February the launch of its first hydrogen refuelling station in the UK at its Cobham services. The first fully branded and public hydrogen refuelling site in the UK, it is one of three hydro-gen stations Shell plans to open in the UK in 2017.
As Matthew Tipper, Vice President, Future Fuels at Shell, explains: “Hydrogen has the potential to become a clean and versatile transport fuel for the future, and the Cobham hydrogen site is one of the ways Shell is encouraging the use of alternative fuels to contribute to the energy transition. This will provide customers with hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles the ability to refuel simply and quickly, at one of the largest petrol stations in the UK.”
The opening of Shell’s first UK hydrogen site follows the success of its sites in California, as well as in Germany where, as part of a joint venture, Shell aims to open a network of up to 400 hydro-gen sites by 2023. According to Sinead Lynch, Shell’s UK Country Chair: “We believe the journey to a low-carbon economy requires a coordinated and collaborative approach among organisations in the transport sector, including providers of energy and transport vehicles, users of transport ve-hicles, local authorities as well as government.”
“The Cobham retail site is a small but significant first step toward developing infrastructure needed for increased usage of hydrogen vehicles.”
Shell further underlined its commitment to a low carbon world through its first foray into the UK electric car sector. Battery-powered cars now number more than 115,000, a rise from practically zero over just the last decade. In October it announced the opening of Shell Recharge, a new on-forecourt Electric Vehicle (EV) rapid charging service, at Shell Holloway (London), Shell Whyteleafe (Surrey) and Shell Derby, and to be joined at a further seven locations within Greater Lon-don and Reading by the end of the year.
“Shell Recharge provides Electric Vehicle drivers with a convenient way to charge their cars on-the-go. We’re pleased to offer rapid electric charging on the
forecourt, allowing us to broaden the range of fuel choices we deliver,” clarifies Jane Lindsay-Green, Shell UK Future Fuels Manager.
“Shell Recharge will soon be available at ten sites in the UK and will offer EV drivers in these areas a reliable, convenient and subscription-free charging service where they can charge their vehicle and take a break from their journey.”
The news came just days after Shell had signed an agreement to buy NewMotion, one of Europe’s largest electric vehicle charging providers which operates more than 30,000 private electric charge points for homes and businesses in the Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK, and provides access to a network of more than 50,000 public charge points across 25 European countries. “This announcement is an early step towards ensuring customers can access a range of refuelling choices over the coming decades, as new technologies evolve to co-exist with traditional transport fuels,” Matthew Tipper concluded.
have included its listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 2003, that same year that brought construction of a pioneering and environmentallyfriendly gas-to-liquids (GTL) venture outside South Africa at Ras Laffan, Qatar. The following year was marked by the arrival of the first natural gas from Mozambique in Secunda, a town built amidst the coalfields of the Mpumalanga province of South Africa, through the cross border pipeline, as well as a merger with Exel Petroleum and subsequent entry into the South African retail fuel market. Its Secunda factory truly marked Sasol
as no stranger to large and complex projects, being as it is the world’s largest petrochemical complex built at one time on a single site.
In 2012, meanwhile, Sasol New Energy constructed a 140 MW electricity generation plant in Sasolburg, a large industrial town within the Metsimaholo Local Municipality, and commenced the front-end engineering and design phase for an integrated gas-to-liquids facility in United States. In short, Sasol has, since the mid-1980s, been increasingly successful in improving its cost base by creating ever more value, through its huge reactors, from the gas it produces from coal; value that has lain in a growing variety of industrial chemicals now numbering more than 200.
It falls to FCB Cape Town’s managing director, Eric d’Oliveira, to
SCOPE OF BUSINESS
sum up Sasol succinctly: “The Sasol story is an inspirational one firing the imagination of South Africa’s scientists, engineers and forward-thinkers since 1950. We look forward to working again with this world-class, truly South African brand and helping to power it to new heights as one of the country’s favourite brands,” he said, as the advertising agency FCB Africa was appointed to fulfil the above-the-line marketing communication for Sasol.
After all, the main preoccupation underpinning Sasol’s work is the recognition of the growing need on the part of an increasing number of countries to secure their supply of energy and chemicals. For many countries, especially those with abundant hydrocarbons, in-country conversion of these resources into
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liquid fuels and chemicals can be a significant factor in boosting national economies. Sasol has a focused and strong project pipeline, which means that it is actively capitalising on those growth opportunities that play to its strengths in Southern Africa and North America, always focusing on creating value sustainably.
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Its core operations are divided into two principal operating business units. Sasol Mining oversees six coal mines that supply feedstock for the Secunda (Sasol Synfuels) and Sasolburg (Sasolburg Operations) complexes in South Africa. The coal supplied to Sasol Synfuels is mainly used as gasification feedstock, while some is used to generate electricity, while at Sasolburg Operations it is used to generate electricity and steam. Coal is also exported from the Twistdraai Export Plant to international power generation customers. Partnership with surrounding communities forms an
integral part of the division, through the promotion of social and economic development in South Africa by implementing Social Labour Plans (SLPs) and Local Economic Development Projects (LEDs); Sasol Mining is not just about mining coal, but more widely about unearthing opportunities.
Sasol Exploration and Production International (SEPI), on the other hand, develops and manages the
group’s upstream interests in oil and gas exploration and production in Mozambique, South Africa, Canada, Gabon and Australia. SEPI is driving the development of Sasol’s upstream business to allow the group to meet its strategic objective of accelerating the growth of its proprietary GTL technology. In recent years a number of steps have been taken to expand its global upstream portfolio, encouraged by the global abundance of natural gas and the rapid development of the shale gas industry, as well as the lower carbon intensity of natural gas. Much investment has been made in ventures ranging from onshore and offshore conventional and unconventional shale and tight gas.
Sasol’s current work is also attracting positive attention. A survey carried out earlier this year revealed the company to be the purveyors of the most popular petrol stations in South Africa, attracting the most clients per site. The data comes from a joint
venture between researcher Lightstone Explore and Tracker, in which Lightstone analyses around 2.5 million vehicle trips per day, then uses this information to develop a demographic profile of the vehicle owners and their preferences. “We are, for example, able to determine whether an ATM or a coffee shop or a Woolworths will attract more customers to a service station. We can see which chains are not fully represented in the market and determine which areas are suitable for a new service station,” says Lightstone Explore CEO Trevor Holmes.
Good location is one of the main reasons why Sasol has the highest visit ratio – 4,221 visits to each of its 294 sites over last three months – according to the research. Shell is second with 3,505 visits at 528 service stations.
To profit from such good news, Sasol could acquire as many as 200 outlets to add to its network of 400 stations, according to co-CEOs Steve Cornell and Bongani Nqwababa. It could also provide branding to
// THE SASOL STORY IS AN INSPIRATIONAL ONE FIRING THE IMAGINATION OF SOUTH AFRICA’S SCIENTISTS, ENGINEERS AND FORWARD-THINKERS SINCE 1950 //
For over 20 years, Phakisa has offered customised service excellence to all industries in South Africa, striving to be strategic business partners offering a workforce grounded in stability, maximum productivity and minimum expenditure. Thus, Phakisa ‘s expertise, and experience in the industry environment, guarantees that all clients are positioned with a competitive advantage.
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other gas stations, they said. “We feel like we’re giving away margin, not matching our retail capacity closer to our actual production capacity,” Cornell said in an interview at the company’s headquarters in Johannesburg. While the world’s largest maker of fuel from coal produces about 30% of South Africa’s supply, only about a third of that is sold through Sasol retail stations, according to Nqwababa.
In November Sasol unveiled its refined corporate strategy, in which it set out a clear path for sustainable growth and accelerated shareholder returns. Cornell stated: “In developing our strategy, we considered both the opportunities and risks we face, informed by developments in the external environment. It is clear that megatrends influential to our business
will result in greater demand for chemicals and energy products in key markets we serve.” Among those megatrends and assumptions central to Sasol’s strategic choices are global population growth and further urbanisation and sustained volatility in both oil prices and exchange rates.
“Against this backdrop, our value-based growth strategy is premised on further enhancing our foundation businesses, leveraging our core strengths in specialty chemicals, exploration and production (E&P) and retail fuels, underpinned by increased discipline in capital allocation,” said Cornell. Sasol’s foundation businesses provide a robust platform for longterm growth and delivery of ongoing value to shareholders. Nqwababa concluded with an insight into the
value of Sasol’s foundations to its continued prosperity. “Our delivery track record – evidenced in recent years by significant volume improvements at key facilities, our competitive cost position and global portfolio of highly cashgenerative, diversified assets – places us in a strong position to realise greater value from our foundation businesses.
“Here, operational excellence, continuous improvement and digitalisation programmes, as well as rigorous asset reviews, will enable us to become a more resilient, efficient and effective organisation.”
+27 10 344 5000
@SasolSA
www.sasol.com
// OUR DELIVERY TRACK RECORD PLACES US IN A STRONG POSITION TO REALISE GREATER VALUE FROM OUR FOUNDATION BUSINESSES //
Energy Focus talks to Nautic Africa CEO, Greg Wessels, about how this Cape Town-based shipyard is positioning itself at the peak of the African shipbuilding industry through constant innovation which earns it the reputation as the leader in its craft.
//In late September, a 35m sentinel patrol vessel, designed and built by Cape Town shipyard Nautic Africa, was working in Nigerian waters. The vessel’s captain noticed a small fast-approaching the vessel on radar, expecting pirates, he hastily made the move to top speed. Nigerian waters are regarded as some of the world’s most dangerous and Gulf of Guinea is seeing an increase in piracy, according to the International Maritime Bureau. In the first half of 2017 alone, there were 87 reported cases of piracy in the region according to the International Chambers of Commerce,
and many expect the real figure is much higher with many incidents going unreported. As the pirate vessel approached the patrol boat, heavily armed bandits instructed the Captain to slow or risk being fired upon. Confident in his vessel, he chose not to slow and the pirates stuck to their promise.
“This wasn’t a couple of guys taking a couple of pots shots. This was a situation where the ship was under sustained attack for over an hour,” explains Nautic Africa CEO, Greg Wessels.
“A fast skiff with outboards had crew with AK47s and a high-calibre
general-purpose machine gun. When the Captain didn’t stop, they targeted the bridge with a hail of bullets. Eventually, they began to retreat, perhaps due to a lack of ammunition or fuel, or possibly getting too close to other security vessels.”
Importantly, the crew were unharmed and the patrol vessel escaped largely unscathed, proving the design and capability of Nautic Africa in a live and very real environment.
“With all of these shots, there was no penetration,” says Wessels. “We took a lot of care during design of Nautic’s Patented SuperShield Ballistic Structure
glass and ceramics to ensure the vessel is ready to re-engage in security operations.”
Nautic Africa (a Paramount Group company) has grown to become one of the most trusted names in the African shipyard business.
“We have an international customer that spot hires our vessels and they’ve been very happy with the vessels service delivery but now that this incident has happened and
knowing that their staff and cargo will be safe no matter the situation,” says Wessels.
The economic impact of piracy in Africa is large, hampering growth of the maritime industry and increasing the cost of shipping and offshore oil and gas production. This is why patrol vessels and modern ships are required, and where Nautic Africa has managed to carve a niche in the market.
than 300 across three Cape Town harbour facilities. Today, the company is focussed on providing solutions for its clients.
“We started from very humble beginnings, where the company was renting a small office in Hout Bay. We then moved into the Simonstown naval dockyard where we grew a small but dedicated team, many of whom are still with us today,” explains Wessels.
“We forged ahead with our first vessel
great products. We were relatively young in our careers and not too stressed about sales, so with our positive mind-set we forged ahead with our innovation in design and mantra of building relationSHIPS build to last, we developed our reputation and gained contracts for new vessels for new clients.”
Nautic’s next move was not out of the traditional business growth playbook. The business decided to
move forward with a risky strategy of designing a vessel without a confirmed client. “We took the market knowledge we had and created something that we thought would fit the market, a 35m Sentinel. We gained a number of orders while the oil price was booming,” explains Wessels. “We then used our drive to constantly improve that product for the environment that it was operating in, and our customers really appreciated that approach. in 2012, Nautic Africa teamed up with Paramount Group, the African-based global defence company. This strategic partnership quickly went about securing more international and naval clients. “Locally, we’ve worked with Armscor and the SA Navy and we’re quite involved with future projects for the Navy, specifically with smaller vessels and electronics. There’s are a number of exciting opportunities that have transpired since Paramount’s involvement says Wessels.
We started to win more sophisticated customers but as the oil price crashed we had to move fast, so we developed products for the ferry market and diversified our capabilities by investing in Veecraft and Southern Power. These businesses increased our product offering and value proposition by leveraging off vertical integration. By striving for continuous improvement and a result focused approach, Nautic was awarded ISO 9001 2008 accreditation in 2014 and was one of the first shipyards worldwide to be accredited the ISO 9001 2015 standard.
ever completed as a flagship for the business: “Our first vessel is one that I’m very proud of because it’s still in operation now and our customer is ecstatic with it. I’ve got a soft spot for that vessel because I was intimately involved in design as a Project Manager and organising subcontractors that we still use today,” he says. “It’s been such a successful vessel in Nigeria which is a particularly tough market. Secondly, there’s the first sentinel that we launched that was a real milestone for us as it was fully designed in SA, it was the first of its class in that space, and we’ve gone on to build 10 of those vessels.”
Since inception, Nautic Africa has designed and developed vessels and technology that has gone on to set the standard in its international sector, and the 35m sentinel with SuperShield Ballistic protection is the perfect example.
Over the past 12-months, Nautic has realised significant success with a number of its different products. The company has delivered differing vessels to some big-name clients around Africa.
Just last month, Nautic Africa delivered four new passenger transfer ferries to MSC Cruises, one of the global leaders in the cruise liner industry. Nautic’s 15m passenger ferries are capable of carrying 87 passengers and two crew. The vessels will be used to carry passengers from cruise ships to beach locations including Pomene and Portuguese Island in Mozambique.
An engineer by training, Wessels has been with Nautic Africa since joining as a Project Manager in 2009. He still holds the first vessel
“MSC Cruises required a very specific design that’s economic to run and can carry a high volume of passengers safely,” explains Wessels. “MSC has two cruise liners in East Africa and they need to transfer passengers onshore from the main ship for various activities and back again – it’s essentially a water borne bus service. Four of our ferries take 87 passengers each from a boarding platform on the main ship to the beach. We worked
// NAUTIC’S NEW, MODERN VESSELS WILL BE A GAMECHANGER FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY. //
closely with MSC to develop this product. It was essential to understand the environment and operational requirements in order to deliver a successful solution. Our Nautic Marine Services team have further supported MSC operations with local skipper training and maintenance support.
“It has been an exciting project for us, our staff and suppliers are MSC Cruise customers and many of them have been on the Mozambique cruise holiday. Our people are proud when out there enjoying their vacation cruising to the beach on a product they have been part of creating. MSC have ordered ten vessels to date the final two are in production which will provide increase transfer capacity for the 2018 cruise season. The first four vessels, built three years ago, returned to the yard for refits
alongside its clients, into new geographic markets.
“We hope MSC’s operations in East Africa go from strength to strength” he says “and they are expanding into new regions such as the Caribbean so if they decide to roll out this concept in other regions it would be fantastic to continue to supply vessels. It’s important for us, with all our customers, to build relationships that last on a personal and commercial level.”
Earlier this year, Nautic was successful in supplying ferries to the Ivory Coast. In a R347 million deal with CITRANS, Nautic needed to deliver firstclass 27m composite catamaran ferries with large passenger capacity and robust Volvo Penta power solutions. The first of these ferries, bound for action in Abidjan, was launched in
year/early New Year so it’s a very active and exciting project. The old ferries are antiquated, slow and inefficient. Nautic’s new, modern equipment will be a game-changer for this beautiful city. This project is about social upliftment and that’s motivation for our team.
“We delivered six vessels earlier this year and they’re all in operation now. There are four more in production for delivery in the New Year. We’ve been working closely with the operator and we have our own team on the ground in Abidjan. Local content and knowledge transfer in Africa is vital and so we aim to support development of those local operations as much as we can in a collaborative way,” he says.
Right now, in Cape Town, Nautic Africa and its partners continue to move forward with the building of some of the most innovative ideas and exciting vessels, continuously striving to provide solutions to our client’s challenges.
“We have two 35m patrol vessels on the water now, fully commissioned, and we will deliver before the close of the year,” says Wessels of the company’s current focus. “. We are working on new projects with our sentinel range, that we’re very passionate about. We are developing new products with our in-house R&D department, using our proven Sentinel range we have implemented Hybrid propulsion systems. This will provide significant operational savings for our customers in furl and maintenance. With ease of product operation and efficient cost management Nautic has developed IntelliShip, an innovation in terms of remote monitoring of equipment for maintenance purposes through IT, on board Wi-Fi, satellite link and 3G networks when close to port, this will all be part of our new 38m defender range.”
The focus for Nautic will be an African one, ensuring that value and quality are top of the agenda resulting in long-lasting relationships with customers.
“We’re taking all the lessons we’ve learnt and all of the interactions we have with our customers on a daily
competitive the pricing is, is vastly different to what it was two years ago. The market is more buoyant now with the strengthening of the oil price but it’s a tough environment. We don’t feel too much of an impact from weakness in the local economy as not much of our business comes directly through South Africa but we do see a lot of our subcontractors struggling. The volatile Rand is challenging and a lot of other countries don’t have to deal with that – unfortunately that’s a risk we have to mitigate and discuss regularly.”
But, with a strong project pipeline and superior intellectual property, Nautic Africa has a competitive edge that it builds on. The company and everyone involved is instilled with a positive mind-set and optimistic culture, and this comes right from the top.
maritime activity and Nautic will be perfectly positioned to assist.
“There’s a big drive for it and the government is backing it. We want to drive innovation in the maritime space and we have a world class facility we’ve just put up and moved into this year. We are talking to potential partners to take up part of the surplus office space, our vision is to build a Cape Town maritime innovation hub - and that’s gaining momentum,” details Wessels.
basis and implementing them into the next generation of vessel which is fit for purpose in the African context. We want owners to feel they are getting the most cost-effective product that will provide an exceptional ROI,” Wessels adds.
An industry that requires significant capital investment for product development and expansion strategies, ship building, and many shipyards, are dependent on a buoyant economy to create a preferable trading environment. But in South Africa, economic stability has, in recent years, become more of a dream than a reality. International credit agency downgrades, constant currency price fluctuations, high unemployment, low GDP growth, and an uncertain political landscape can make future planning challenging. Combine this with the commodity price instability in African markets in 2014/15 and things become increasingly difficult. “It’s been tough,” admits Wessels.
“Customers struggle to raise cash when the oil price is depressed. The amount of deals closing now and how
“One of our real strengths as a team is the ability to maintain our optimism when things aren’t going swimmingly. You have to be positive around the opportunities you are active with – it’s a project based business and one project can make all the difference. We know there’s opportunity out there and we stay focussed on that,” enthuses Wessels.
He is confident that South Africa and South African businesses have much to offer. “The banks are keen to do deals,” he says. “Our Export Credit Insurance Corporation (ECIC) is very hungry to back SA export deals, so we are able to put great term sheets together for our customers; the desire is there, the opportunity is there but the financing is the constraint for many of these deals and we are able to facilitate the required financing solutions.”
A specific focus has been developed by the SA government – the Operation Phakisa Oceans Economy Initiative – aimed at growing and maximising potential from the country’s marine, maritime, offshore energy, fishing, tourism and related industries. The hope is that this will stimulate
Looking to the future, Greg Wessels is confident. Now approaching its 10-year anniversary, Nautic Africa has developed expertise across such a wide spread of products and services, it is undoubtedly recognised as an industry leader.
“We’re very broad with our focus. We’re doing composite work in the ferry space, we’re doing aluminium work in the patrol space, we’re doing steelwork in the workboat space. We have had to be quite diverse because there are so few shipyards around Africa. For me, becoming an internationally well-recognised aluminium shipyard with innovative design capability is at the heart of what we’re doing,” he says.
“We have some of the best welders, product leading designs and we’re just
// WE’RE TAKING ALL THE LESSONS WE’VE LEARNT AND ALL OF THE INTERACTIONS WE HAVE WITH OUR CUSTOMERS ON A DAILY BASIS AND IMPLEMENTING THEM INTO THE NEXT GENERATION OF VESSEL //
good at it. There’s a lot of excess steel capacity all over the world and in that space, we’re well-positioned so we will continue partnering with large steel yards to deliver larger, more complex vessels.”
Currently, the mission for Nautic
Africa is to ‘actively partner with customers by providing quality, customised and innovative maritime solutions’, but when questioned on whether this has already been achieved, Wessels says: “Instilled in the Nautic Leadership Principles of Trust, Empowerment, Extreme Ownership, Engagement, Innovation, Winning and Fun. Our people nurture trust by empowering their teams to achieve success through extreme ownership, by being engaged and actively seeking to build stronger relationships. Results matter, process and product innovation are part of our DNA, by doing so we stretch our limits to deliver superior results. We acknowledge these successes and celebrate them as a family.
“Vision-wise, we want to build a
sustainable business that positively touches the lives of our people by moving to the next tier of complexity on vessels. A large portion of our work has come from the 25-35m vessel space and the natural progression is to move into the installation of more sophisticated electronic and mission systems and building larger vessels which continue to exceed our customers’ expectations,” he concludes.
// BECOMING AN INTERNATIONALLY WELL-RECOGNISED ALUMINIUM SHIPYARD WITH INNOVATIVE DESIGN CAPABILITY IS AT THE HEART OF WHAT WE’RE DOING //
Our regular update to help you keep track of important events and exhibitions taking place across the energy industry.
//TABLE OF ALL EVENTS:
WIND TURBINE BLADE MANUFACTURE
DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY
DEC 12 – 14
NUCLEAR SECURITY LEADERSHIP AND PROFESSIONALISM
LONDON, UK
DEC 14
REA EVENT - SMART ENERGY SECTOR GROUP (ELECTRIC VEHICLES)
LONDON, UK
DEC 16
4TH CEE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY CONGRESS 2018
LONDON, UK
HYDROGEN & FUEL CELLS ENERGY SUMMIT
JAN 24 | BRUSSELS
ACI’s Hydrogen & Fuel Cells Energy Summit will be taking place in Brussels, on the 24th & 25th January 2018. The two-day event will bring together key industry stakeholders from all facets of the hydrogen industry to discuss the required economical and infrastructural innovations for a sustainable future energy carrier. The key discussions will involve monetisation, latest technologies implementations, material optimisation, production and transportation. The main objectives of the industry are to:
• Reduce the production cost of fuel cell systems
• Increase the electrical efficiency and the durability of the different fuel cells used
• Use H2 to support renewable energy source integration
The sector has involved already an important number of energy end-use agents, from electric vehicles to power plants.
4TH CEE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY CONGRESS 2018
DEC 18 | BUDAPEST
The only Conference Focusing on Latest Projects and Contract Opportunities in all CEE Hot Countries:
Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Finland, Lithuania, Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine. 2 Sub-Forums on Day Two to Cover the Whole Industry Chain Opportunities,
- New Build & Lifetime Extension
- Decommissioning & Waste Management
Learn Hot Topics such as Project Updates, Policy and Strategy Overview, Law and Regulatory Framework, Financing Challenges. Interactive in an Exclusive Panel Discussion on Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Options for Spent Fuel.
WAVE & TIDAL 2018
FEB 28 | GLASGOW
RenewableUK’s 14th annual Wave & Tidal Conference and Exhibition will take place in Glasgow on Wednesday 28 February 2018. The event will bring together leading developers, OEM’s, financial and innovation funding experts, technical and safety professionals, regulators and government stakeholders representing the range of interests across the UK, and wider international marine energy supply chain.
DEC 18 – 19
UTILITY WEEK ENERGY CUSTOMER CONFERENCE
BIRMINGHAM UK
JAN 18
HYDROGEN & FUEL CELLS ENERGY SUMMIT
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
JAN 24 - 25
WAVE & TIDAL 2018
GLASGOW, UK
FEB 28
A Deep Dive into Style
The Marine Star collection’s classic styling tows the line of sport, with bold accents, iconic dial patterns and innovative materials.
With the world’s leading satellite network from Panasonic, ITC Global delivers custom solutions for highly connected remote operations. Our unmatched capacity supports communications for the most extreme offshore projects, at any distance, on any scale. High-performance throughput and global coverage deliver seamless connections to people, places and projects that matter most – for smarter operations in the toughest environments.
With the world’s leading satellite network from Panasonic, ITC Global delivers custom solutions for highly connected remote operations. Our unmatched capacity supports communications for the most extreme offshore projects, at any distance, on any scale. High-performance throughput and global coverage deliver seamless connections to people, places and projects that matter most – for smarter operations in the toughest environments.
For more information, visit itcglobal.com.
For more information, visit itcglobal.com.
A Panasonic Company A Panasonic Company