Frontier Energy, Summer 2018

OIL, GAS & SHIPPING IN THE ARCTIC AND ICE-AFFECTED REGIONS www.frontierenergy.info SUMMER 2018

Safety & Survival

Preparation for mental and physical health

POLAR CODE Marking the report card

Oil Spill Response

ARCTIC SHIPPING Cruising and science

OCEAN PLASTIC

Companies tackling key issues

Fears for Arctic seas + SAFETY • SHIPPING • TECHNOLOGY

• INSURANCE

T N E GS V E TIN S LI

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CONTENTS

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14 Summer 2018 OIL, GAS & SHIPPING IN THE ARCTIC AND ICE-AFFECTED REGIONS www.frontierenergy.info SUMMER 2018

IN THIS ISSUE

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Features FE 06 Safety & Survival

Preparation for mental and physical hearth

POLAR CODE Oil Spill Response

Cruising and science

Companies tackling key issues

OCEAN PLASTIC Fears for Arctic seas + SAFETY • SHIPPING • TECHNOLOGY

• INSURANCE

T EN GS EV TIN LIS

FE On the cover

NORWAY The Barents Sea and the Norwegian Arctic waters have seen some of the most advanced and successful developments in harsh environments with fields such as Johan Castberg, Polarled, Aasta Hansteen, Snefrid Nord and Askeladd as they are now commonly known. So how are the exploration campaigns in the region affecting supply, the operators and their suppliers?

Marking the report card

ARCTIC SHIPPING

Regulars

FE 08

ICEBERG MANAGEMENT The Canada-based C-Core company focuses on ice engineering, geotechnical engineering and remote sensing, and is actively investigating profiling icebergs in a bid to manage their routes to avoid collisions with rigs and vessels or even blocking port access

FE 10

ARCTIC PREPAREDNESS When Netherlands-based Red Box Energy Services

Officers and crew from Team Red Box sailing the Audax and Pugnax heavy lift vessels were highly trained

was planning the heavy lift contract for the vast LNG development at Sabetta on the Yamal Peninsula in northern Russia for its ice-class Audax and Pugnax vessels, it also needed to prepare the crews for working in the harsh conditions, including weeks of darkness

in working in Arctic conditions. © Red Box Energy Services

FE 12

ARCTIC SHIPPING A major milestone in the build of the UK’s state-of-the-art polar research ship has been achieved with the launching of the 129 m long, 10,000-tonne hull of the RRS Sir David Attenborough

13 ARCTIC SHIPPING Global insurance company Allianz looks at how commercial shipping will be affected as it is now possible to transit the Northern Sea Route without icebreaker cover in summer months

14 ARCTIC SHIPPING French cruise line Ponant has ordered a luxury icebreaker as part its campaign to bring adventurous tourists to the far north. The ice class-Ponant Icebreaker will not require icebreaker coverage, a major change

20 REGULATIONS How has the introduction of IMO’s Polar Code impacted on the shipping sector working in the Arctic waters? Samantha Fisk asks the industry how the regulations have affected their operations

04 NEWS Liquefied natural gas (LNG) production at Arctic LNG 2 is set to be launched in 2023, according to one of the project’s key partners, French company Total; a study by GlobalData says the spotlight is shining on poor infrastructure capacity and development across Alaska’s North Slope; One of Russia’s leading natural gas producer Novatek has successfully delivered its LNG cargo to China via the Northern Sea Route; A new web portal has been launched by The Arctic Council’s ‘Arctic Shipping Best Practice Information Forum’; ConocoPhillips takes a bullish view over Alaska production 26 PLASTIC OCEANS The number of books published about life, policies, engineering and science is increasing steadily. Here we profile two of the latest editions including a travelogue describing travelling on an icebreaker, and understanding Britain’s role in the region and its complex political and policy future 28 EVENTS Frontier Energy’s comprehensive listing

www.frontierenergy.info SUMMER 2018 1

RED BOX ENERGY SERVICES The World Leader in Arctic Transport RED BOX ENERGY SERVICES pioneered the opening of the Northern Sea Route for year-round transportation of energy infrastructure modules.

For the Yamal LNG Project, RED BOX safely executed 25 voyages above the Arctic Circle from September 2015 until November 2017, transporting 99 modules with a total weight of 290,000 tonnes over 60 percent of the total modules fabricated in ten different construction yards across Asia.

As a result of this new milestone in Arctic navigation, the Yamal LNG Project remained on schedule, successfully achieving its target of ‘first gas’ in December 2017.

AUDAX and PUGNAX are the largest polar ice breaking ships in the world. They performed safely and reliably during the Arctic Winter in minus 50°C temperatures; sailing through two metres of ice.

The RED BOX Team on board trained for many months on Russian nuclear icebreakers to prepare themselves for the challenges of operating in some of the most extreme marine conditions in the world.

The AUDAX and PUGNAX and the highly skilled professionals that sail and support them allow Team RED BOX to uniquely serve our clients that are seeking safe and reliable marine heavy transportation services above the Arctic Circle.

Anticipate • Communicate • Cooperate • Lead www.redboxgroup.com info@redboxgroup.com

EDITOR’S LETTER

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FRAM* Power broking in the Arctic

“These are interesting times for the Arctic with huge opportunities opening up for development and trade”

www.frontierenergy.info Editor Bruce McMichael editor@frontierenergy.info Canadian Correspondent Andrew Safer Publisher Stephen Habermel publisher@frontierenergy.info Design & Layout Nick Blaxill © 2018 All material strictly copyright, all rights to editorial content are reserved. Reproduction without permission from the publisher is prohibited. The views expressed in Frontier Energy do not always represent those of the publishers. Every care is taken in compiling the contents, but the publishers assume no responsibility for any damage, loss. The publisher, Renaissance Media, assumes no responsibility, or liability for unsolicited material, nor responsibility for the content of any advertisement, particularly infringements of copyrights, trademarks, intellectual property rights and patents, nor liability for misrepresentations, false or misleading statements and illustrations. These are the sole responsibility of the advertiser.

Printed in the UK. ISSN 2047-3702 Published by Renaissance Media Ltd, c/o Maynard Heady LLP, Matrix House, 12-16 Lionel Road, Canvey Island, Essex SS8 9DE. Registered in England & Wales.

Company number 5850675.

*

Governments with borders that touch the Arctic regions are increasingly, and warily, looking to their neighbours trying to understand where the power and influence will lie in the future. Political heavyweights such as China, India, Canada and Japan are working on increasing their reach into the region. Meanwhile the US appears slow to fully engage with the changing political landscape across the area, as illustrated early this year by the US National Defense Strategy document published by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis which failed to mention the Arctic.

“Our rivals are paying close attention to the changing Arctic, even if we are not,” says David Titley, a professor of meteorology and international affairs at Pennsylvania State University.

“The Russians are actively monetising their northern sea route and rebuilding their Arctic military capabilities,” Titley told the US Congress in Washington DC, while “China declares itself to be a nearArctic state and intends to jointly build a Polar Silk Road as a northern flank in its Belt and Road Initiative.”

Jørn Dohrmann, a European Parliament group shadow rapporteur on an integrated European Union policy for the Arctic, says the region is a melting pot of power brokering. It is becoming harder to identify where countries’ sympathies lie and it therefore seems natural for the EU to move towards shaping a policy for the Arctic.

In Southeast Asia, another global power is making its move into the Arctic with India seeking a more active role. In mid-2018, the country took delivery of an LNG shipment marking the beginning of a 20year deal for Gazprom to supply India with an estimated $25 billion-worth of LNG from the Yamal project.

India’s emergence as a major customer for Arctic energy follows a decade of growing interest and activity in the region. India, which has investing in $12 million in Arctic science to supplement its long held presence in Antarctica, embarked upon its first Arctic science programme in 2007 as part of the International Polar Year, said one UK-based market observer. That led to the establishment of a $3 million permanent Arctic science station (‘Himadri’) in Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, alongside those of 10 other nations, including the UK. Meanwhile, commenting on protecting the Arctic’s fragile environment, Finland’s Sirpa Pietikäinen, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on an integrated European Union policy for the Arctic, says: “The unique characteristics and the value of the Arctic require a specific environmental impact assessment.”

This is not a new idea; Finland has been promoting it for over 20 years. Parliament supports the idea, and the EU should now take the lead. The Arctic Council is also working on it, although its iteration would only be voluntary. “The Arctic environmental impact assessment should take into account the specific features of Arctic nature: longer recovery times, greater interdependence of ecosystems and particular vulnerability,” he says.

The EU needs to take on a bigger role in the Arctic, with a high-profile policy, since some of its members – Denmark, Finland and Sweden – are Arctic states. While there are international agreements on the region, national engagement varies, which limits their influence. Pietikäinen argues that “many EU policies already touch on the Arctic, for example fishing quotas and space policy”. As well as the three Arctic states, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Poland also have their own Arctic strategies.

The European Commission last presented its ideas on an Arctic policy in the spring of 2016. It is divided into a number of policy fields, including foreign affairs. “One element that really stood out was the approach of taking a neutral stance,” says Pietikäinen, allowing the EU to become a trusted confidante for the Arctic nations.

These are interesting times for the Arctic with huge opportunities opening up for development and trade, while ensuring environmental protection is of the highest standard.

Fram is not only the Norwegian word for ‘Forward’, it is also the name of the one of the first ice-strengthened and most famous polar exploration vessels of the late 1800s and early twentieth century. It was captained by Norwegian explorer, Fridtjof Nansen, a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Sharing his polar travel experiences with fellow adventurers and scientists, his technology innovations in equipment and clothing influenced a generation of subsequent Arctic and Antarctic expeditions. The word encapsulates what we aim to bring you with the magazine – a forward looking guide to the future of oil, gas and shipping activities in the Arctic and other ice-affected regions while keeping environmental protection and safety at the heart of operations.

Get connected!

Follow us at www.twitter.com/frontierenergy for the latest news and comment

www.frontierenergy.info SUMMER 2018 3

NEWS

IN NUMBERS

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6,000 Length in kilometres of the Northern Sea Route Russian president Vladimir Putin says must brace for a predicted 80 million tonnes of annual traffic by 2025.

Phase 1 of Arctic LNG 2 set for launch in 2023 Liquefied natural gas (LNG) production at Arctic LNG 2 may be launched in 2023, according to a statement from the French company Total.

Fellow project partner and Russia-based Novatek ceo Leonid Mikhelson said that French oil major Total signed an agreement with Novatek to acquire a 10% stake in the Arctic LNG 2 project, with the possibility of increasing the share to 15%. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2019, with a 2023 launch date planned.’.

In the agreement, the companies valued the total cost of the project at $25.5 billion. Novatek is now Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer, and hopes to boost production to 60 million tonnes by 2030. LNG production volumes will include output from the Yamal LNG project in the Arctic, which started exporting in December, the planned Arctic LNG 2 project and other projects currently being developed.

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Poor infrastructure delays output from North Slope

Since 2015, a few major oil discoveries have been announced on the North Slope Alaska basin that together could add at their peak approximately 450,000 barrels per day (mbd) to the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), says GlobalData, a data and analytics company. These include Smith Bay, Horseshoe, Pikka, Willow and Liberty oil discoveries.

In the short term, boosting the volume of oil transported through the TAPS depends greatly on the fields located within the National Petroleum ReserveAlaska (NPR-A). Currently, around 544,000 barrels of oil flows daily through the TAPS. However, the coming online of these discoveries is contingent to the construction of infrastructure such as roads, drilling pads, gathering pipelines and processing plants. Gregory Bosunga, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, said: “Though Pikka and Willow discoveries are economically viable, with access to roads that could reduce development costs, their true oil potential will not be known without further appraisal drilling.”

4 SUMMER 2018 www.frontierenergy.info

22,000 Weight in tonnes of the topside for the drilling platform lifted into position in one single lift on the Johan Sverdrup field in June, 2018. Equinor and the Johan Sverdrup partners are the first users in the world of this ground-breaking technology.

Yamal LNG tankers make China deliveries Russian natural gas producer Novatek has delivered first ever liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo to China via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) alongside the Arctic coast, which drastically cuts delivery time to Asian consumers.

The shipments of LNG from Yamal LNG project via the NSR to China cuts transportation time and costs in comparison to other routes such as Suez Canal.

The LNG tankers Vladimir Rusanov and Eduard Toll, with cargo capacity over 170,000 cu m each, made the delivery to the Chinese port of Jiangsu Rudong.

“Utilising the Northern Sea Route as a viable transportation route contributes to the development of the northern regions and is very important for our country’s economic development,” said Novatek’s head Leonid Mikhelson.

China’s National Energy Administration said China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) will start lifting at least 3 million tonnes of LNG from Yamal, starting in 2019.

The passageway is important for Yamal because it cuts shipping times to its main customers in Asia by nearly half – to 15 days – thus saving time and Suez Canal fees incurred on the westward route.

Arctic Shipping launches portal The Arctic Council’s Arctic Shipping Best Practice Information Forum has launched a public Web Portal to enhance implementation of the International Maritime Organization’s Polar Code.

The Web Portal provides links to authoritative information essential to implementation of and compliance with the Polar Code. For example, links are available on hydrographic, meteorological, and ice data information needed to plan for safe

and environmentally sound navigation in the Arctic.

Information for the Web Portal was contributed by many stakeholders, including Arctic states, intergovernmental organizations, classification societies, the shipping industry, marine insurers, and nongovernmental organizations. The portal will be updated regularly as new information becomes available.

www.arcticshippingforum.is

22220

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Russia’s United Shipbuilding Company (USC) is planning to build two further Project 22220 icebreakers by 2019, said the company’s chief executive Alexei Rakhmanov. Currently three such vessels are under construction. The Arktika and Sibir have been floated out, while the Ural is still being constructed. Arktika is to enter into service in the middle of 2019, Sibir in November 2020 and Ural in November 2021.

Percentage stake that French energy major Total will buy in Novatek-led Arctic LNG2, the Russian Arctic gas project. Novatek was also in talks with Saudi Arabia about a possible participation in the project, which would produce up to 20 million tonnes of the frozen gas in 2022-2023.

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Days the Canadianflagged Amundsen icebreaker will conduct scientific research in the eastern Arctic in 2018

The depth in metres of a gas condensate column discovered by AkerBP with its Svanefjell well, drilled 230 km north of Hammerfest, in the Barents Sea. The find is considered non-commercial.

1.5 million The acreage US president Donald Trump has opened to oil exploration in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

ConocoPhillips bullish for Alaska production ConocoPhillips, the US-oil group and one of the few majors investing in Alaskan production, is overhauling its operations in the US state boosted by a more competitive fiscal framework, cost reduction programmes, technological advancements and an exploration renaissance.

The company’s legacy asset base consists of a non-operated interest in the

Prudhoe Bay Field, an operated interest in the Kuparuk Field and an operated interest in the Alpine Field/Western North Slope assets. This year the company acquired additional interest in the Alpine Field/Western North Slope assets and will acquire additional interest in the Kuparuk field. Production expectations for 2018 are pegged at 225,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

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Aker to work with ICEYE Aker Arctic Technology is to work with satellite experts at ICEYE to develop and offer ice information and associated services for the clients that are operating in the Arctic and other icy regions.

Aker Arctic Technology, the Finland-based ice class vessel developer, and ICEYE, the leader in synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) technology for microsatellites, have announced an agreement to develop and provide ice information and related services for customers operating in icy conditions.

Combining new SAR data from ICEYE’s microsatellites with data from maritime environments provides opportunity for new and cost-efficient services to marine users. During a one-year pilot phase, Aker Arctic aims to develop and test these services with its partners. In addition to this, ICEYE is launching two more SAR satellites to continue to increase data availability. l Aker Arctic Technology has also successfully tested an autonomous ship model in ice-free waters at its ice model test laboratory in the Finnish capital Helsinki.

The model ship, equipped with on-board sensors, manoeuvred around the obstacles without operator guidance and moored itself at the target pier.

Featuring battery-powered propulsion units and data transfer devices to connect to the shore facility, the model tested an autonomous navigation system to guide it around obstacles. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Final Greenland licence round Greenland’s existing Oil and Mineral Strategy, which concludes at the end of 2018, is expected to see a final licence round published by the end of this year, despite the lack of interest following the closing of the December 2017 Baffin Bay licensing round.

The absence of interest was expected due to the global recession in the exploration industry. It must be noted that the present oil price is noticeably lower than just a few years ago.

www.frontierenergy.info SUMMER 2018 5

Sources: Canadian Coast Guard; Equinor; Bellona; Total; USC

NEWS

NORWAY & BARENTS SEA

Equinor getting active across

BARENTS SEA ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Johan Castberg, Polarled, Aasta Hansteen, Snefrid Nord, Askeladd and the exploration campaign in the Barents Sea; multi-billion investments are being lined up by Equinor, the Norwegian oil company previously known as Statoil. Following its contract for ten Johan Castberg subsea templates, Norway’s Aker Solutions Sandnessjøen will increase its workforce from 20 to 50 over the next two years to deliver the contract. It’s all part of the evolving Barents Sea story

T

here were celebrations at Sandnessjøen when the news broke that Aker Solutions’ northernmost plant will deliver the ten subsea templates for the Johan Castberg field. They will connect a total of 30 wells on the oil field in the Barents Sea. Six of the subsea templates will be delivered in 2019, and four in 2020.

Site manager Annbjørg Skjerve at Aker Solutions in Sandnessjøen says: “The assignment allows us to develop our own skills and knowledge, while boosting the development of the local supply industry. The contract will thus have ripple effects both locally and regionally.”

Two years ago, the yard at Strendene was on the brink of closing down due to low activity. However, with contracts from Aker BP and the Skarv field it could keep going with just six employees.

Aker Solutions Sandnessjøen then won the contract for building the subsea template and suction anchor for Snefrid Nord, a gas discovery 12 km from the Aasta Hansteen field in the north of the Norwegian Sea, which is scheduled to come on stream in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Annbjørg Skjerve and installation manager Gisle Larsen sought out specialist skills and expertise both locally and regionally, and are also considering the possibility of subcontracting to other companies in the region.

Months later it became clear that the factory, a sub-supplier of Kværner, will deliver a 300-tonne flare boom and topside modules totalling 170 tonnes for the Johan Castberg floating production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO).

Following the awarding of the contracts for the ten Johan Castberg subsea templates, Skjerve increased the staff from 20 to 50 permanent employees and contractors and hopes to employ a new generation 6 SUMMER 2018 www.frontierenergy.info

of apprentices.

“This is very positive. We will be looking for the right technical skills and expertise both locally and regionally, and are also considering the possibility of sub-contracting parts of the work to other companies in the region,” Skjerve says.

Spin-off milestone Kjell Giæver, managing director of the supplier network for petroleum activities in the North, Petro Arctic, describes the contract awarded to Aker Solutions Sandnessjøen as one of the biggest industrial contracts to northern Norway from the oil industry ever.

He thinks it represents a spin-off milestone.

“This will generate employment and add value at Helgeland for many years to come,” he says.

After annual growth of between 10 and 20% in the period 2010 to 2015, suppliers in the North were hit by the oil price decline and empty orderbooks in 2016 and 2017.

According to Giæver, sales dropped from slightly less than NOK6 billion per year in the peak period, to around NOK3.5 billion.

At the same time, 2,000 to 3,000 full-time jobs disappeared.

Belief in golden age Giæver, however, has great faith in the future. According to Petro Arctics’ forecasts, activity will now return to the pre-price drop level. The goal, however, is further growth and a turnover of NOK10 billion per year from 2025.

“The last contract awards support this scenario,” says Giæver.

To put this goal into perspective, in the period 2010 to 2016 the supply industry in northern Norway delivered NOK29.8 billion worth of goods and services to the oil and gas industry, according to a report published by

Kunnskapsparken Bodø (Body Science Park).

“Apart from the Snøhvit development, suppliers in northern Norway have seen few industrial spin-offs from the development phase in the North until Aasta Hansteen. The contract strategy chosen by Equinor here, however, represents a break-through which is now progressed for Johan Castberg,” Giæver says.

He is optimistic that Equinor chose to run the field in the North from northern Norway.

This creates lasting spin-offs, he maintains.

“Equinor has always been good at this. The decision to operate Johan Castberg from the North has great, noticeable effects,” Giæver says.

Equinor submitted the plan for the development and operation of the Johan Castberg field on behalf of the partners in December 2017. Located some 100 km north of the Snøhvit field in the Barents Sea, the Johan Castberg field will be a backbone for the further development of the oil and gas industry in northern Norway.

With capital expenditure estimated at some NOK1.15 billion per year, the operations will be run from Hammerfest supply and helicopter base and the Harstad operations organisation. Nationally this represents 1,700 man-years, 500 of which will be located in northern Norway. This includes both direct and indirect effects.

In April, the spar platform Aasta Hansteen completed the last leg of the journey towards the Norwegian Sea, where it will be moored on the field – 300 km west of Bodø. Here it opens a new gas province. The gas will be delivered to Nyhamna and from there to

NORWAY & BARENTS SEA

Increased production

Artist’s impression of the Johan Castberg ďŹ eld

Europe through the 480 km Polarled pipeline.

A report issued by Kunnskapsparken Bodø, Nord Universitet and Petro Arctic estimates the total spin-offs of the Aasta Hansteen and

Polarled construction in Nordland and SørTroms counties at almost NOK1.3 billion in the period 2013 to 2018.

Almost NOK1 billion of these spin-off effects will directly beneďŹ t Helgeland.

Last year Equinor drilled ďŹ ve exploration wells in the Barents Sea. This year up to ďŹ ve more wells are planned. Both exploration and production drilling generates considerable activity at the supply bases.

One of Birkeland’s main tasks is driving supplier development, ensuring maximum spin-offs from the activity in northern Norway, of course based on competitiveness and quality.

Equinor is involved in efforts to qualify northern Norway industry as suppliers, either directly towards the company, or as subsuppliers of some of the big contractor companies.

Since the start-up in 2008, some 300 companies have completed all or parts of the Supplier Development programme in Northern Norway, organised by Equinor together with Innovasjon Norge.

Equinor has also worked to simplify the contract structure, enabling smaller companies to submit bids.

The company will have industrial coordinators as contacts to the local industry and earlier this year appointed a co-ordinator in Harstad, and more recently an industrial coordinator was appointed in Hammerfest. “Equinor aims to involve good suppliers in the North, thus increasing the local ripple effects,� says Birkeland. FE

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www.frontierenergy.info SUMMER 2018 7

ICEBERG MANAGEMENT

Ice-conditioned PROFILING

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Data is at the core of applied R&D. Each year C-CORE, the Canada-based company focused on ice engineering, geotechnical engineering and remote sensing, conducts field programmes to collect real-world data on icebergs and ice conditions offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, and other parts of the cryosphere. Its 2018 field programme in support of the Smart Ice Management System (SIMS) project (initiated in 2015) is already well under way, with the first of two planned iceberg-profiling programmes already completed.

P

ristine and perfect mountains of millennia-old glacial ice, icebergs are the signature image of Newfoundland and Labrador’s natural beauty and a key tourism attraction, but they can also present hazards for offshore operations. The company’s 2017 field programme focused on collecting ice data to better understand factors influencing iceberg drift and deterioration, and to predict if and when they might come into contact with offshore structures, shipping lanes or other areas that could cause problems such as blocking port access.

Identifying a potentially threatening iceberg is just the first challenge; what to do about it is the next. Iceberg shapes are random and often very unstable, and an attempted tow can cause a sudden tip or roll. The 2018 field programme focuses principally on collecting data on iceberg shapes and integrating that data into C-CORE’s ice-management decision support software.

Profiling programme In April 2018 the company completed a near-shore iceberg profiling programme off Newfoundland to test its Rapid Iceberg Profiling system. Departing from Musgrave Harbour on the northeast coast of Newfoundland in a 9 m double-hulled catamaran supplied by Maritime Survey Services, with hull-mounted LIDAR and SONAR sensors, the team identified and profiled eight icebergs over the course of two days.

Specifically, the team had to identify an appropriate iceberg in a safe location –

Successful iceprofiling will ease traffic through ice and iceberg infested waters

beyond the sea ice but within 25 nautical miles of the shore. After identifying an iceberg, the vessel would circle it three times at a wide distance, allowing the SONAR to capture the shape of the iceberg above the water while the LiDAR gathered information on the underwater portion.

These sensors work by taking thousands of data points that are used to very rapidly generate a 3D model of the iceberg in C-CORE’s Rapid Iceberg Profiling software.

This 3D model can be fed into its Towing Decision Support software, which provides guidance on the best direction for tow to avoid the iceberg rolling or the rope or net slipping off.

A second field team is preparing for the second phase of the SIMS (Smart Iceberg Management System) project – chartering a

Arctic Ground Station joins Global Network C-CORE, the St John’s-based R&D corporation that conducts applied research and technology development in challenging environments, has joined forces in a strategic partnership with RBC Signals, a multinational company that aims to simplify communication services for Low Earth Orbit satellite operators.This will allow RBC Signals to access an asset that can

8 SUMMER 2018 www.frontierenergy.info

communicate with a large number satellites in polar orbit up to 12 times per day.

The partnership will allow RBC Signals to access the unused capacity of C-CORE’s recently installed satellite ground station in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Cananda. The novel ground station is designed to downlink a variety of data and is optimised for Arctic deployment.

vessel to test this system in offshore waters.

The team will test SIMS on larger icebergs further offshore (in northern Newfoundland or southern Labrador), using the Atlantic Eagle, a vessel equipped for iceberg towing.

Iceberg identification The field team will identify appropriate icebergs via satellite data using C-CORE’s iceberg detection system, which is also used as part of the government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s IcebergFinder. The IcebergFinder website can be found at www.icebergfinder.com.

Results from field testing of the Rapid Iceberg Profiling and Towing Decision Support software, involving GPS drift trackers designed by C-Core to adhere to icebergs, will be used to to validate and improve the company’s iceberg drift tracking models. FE

At roughly one quarter the size of a conventional ground station, the company’s latest design provides a matching solution for the emerging generation of cubesats and nanosats.

The station will join RBC Signals’ network of more than 45 antennae which provide commercial operators communication with their satellites from the ground. By leveraging the unused capacity of the station, the partnership will render the station more productive and improve RBC Signals’ satellite coverage in the Arctic region.

ARCTIC PREPAREDNESS

MANAGING CREW’S safety, health and wellbeing After the signing of the Charter Agreements in May 2014 for the Module Transportation Scope servicing the Arctic’s largest onshore energy infrastructure projects to date on the Yamal Peninsula in northern Russia, engineers and planners from the Netherlands-based Red Box Energy Services company began training crew and staff to face the multiple challenges involved in working in Arctic conditions. Philip Adkins, Dirk Verhoeven, Chris Muilwijk and Rinse van Lievenoogen worked closely together as a management team to prepare Red Box for one of the most extreme working environments ever confronted by the Heavy Lift industry. The details of the training and preparation they arranged for their team are described in this article.

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ransporting the huge LNG plant modules to northern Russia for the Yamal LNG project involved Polar Class (PC3) the heavy transport vessels Audax and Pugnax. The ships had to be delivered on time, on spec and within budget by Guangzhou Shipyard International Company Limited (GSI) within 22 months from concept design to final delivery.

The Red Box team’s exceptional reputation for operational excellence as well as its strong credit rating, combined with many years’ experience in arranging complex ship finance structures, facilitated the award of more than $500 million time charter contracts with Yamgaz for the Yamal LNG project. These 10 SUMMER 2018 www.frontierenergy.info

valuable time charter contracts where the prerequisite for the successful delivery of the Audax and Pugnax in January and April 2016 respectively. The Red Box team has extensive shipbuilding experience having converted the Fjord and Fjell into semi-submersible vessels ten years ago and successfully executing the newbuild projects Forte and Finesse. Aker Arctic made a valuable contribution to Red Box by providing specialised knowledge of Arctic ship design.

With the execution of Gorgon LNG and Ichthys LNG, the officers and seafarers of Team Red Box became experts in safely serving complex modular transportation projects.

By the time vessel construction at the yard

was well under way, Red Box instigated an extensive Arctic Training Program to increase awareness for safe operations in extreme cold conditions and focus on the physical, technical and mental aspects to protect crew’s wellbeing.

Design spec Audax and Pugnax have been designed to transit the Northern Sea Route (NSR) 12 months per year. Temperatures can reach levels well below -50 centigrade. Ice fields may contain shields of old-ice up to 1.5 m in thickness.

Incapable crews or insufficient training could have led to severe or even lethal incidents.

Team Red Box was well aware of the importance of extensive training, enhancing consequential awareness by including real life experiences. Communication and anticipation have proven essential in getting both offshore and onshore teams cognisant and mindful of the risks and challenges for safely and responsibly transporting the modules to the northern destination.

The Project Specific Training Program covered: • Health and wellbeing – operate in extreme cold conditions and experience the impact of day-light restriction.

• Safety – life-saving equipment, emergency response preparedness and evacuation scenarios.

• Environmental restriction in the Arctic – waste management and spills.

• Safe navigation, communication and

© Red Box Energy Services

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ARCTIC PREPAREDNESS

Crew members had intensive training ahead of their Arctic deployment

cooperation – Rosatomflot ice breaker assistance and frequent communication with authorities (regulatory compliance).

• Ice management – Winterisation and antiicing, impact and prevention of ice accretion.

• Arctic redundancy – spare part management, maintenance, bunkers and consumables.

The following individual and group trainings were attended by Red Box crews: • Training stage on board NSR vessels of Murmansk Shipping Company (MSC) to increase experience working in low temperatures and test the most efficient and safe personal protective equipment (PPE) before final procurement.

• Training stage for Red Box masters and chief officers on board Rosatomflot ice breaker Taymyr to increase knowledge of ice breaker processes and familiarise with ice breaker procedures. Rosatomflot ice breaker assistance is essential for safe operations in the Arctic.

• Arctic survival course led by British Navy Seals in north Finland to learn survival techniques, evacuation scenarios and

Crews working in the Arctic need intense training and high quality, advanced clothing to work effectively in sub-zero temperature

Crews need to work with a variety of vessels, including ice class barges, pictured here manoeuvring the Pugnax in port in ice-rested waters

further adapt to safe methods for working in extreme cold conditions.

• Ice navigator course for deck officers; Red Box selected three institutes, namely the Makarov Institute St Petersburg, Novikontas Institute in Rig and the Willem Barentsz Institute at Terschelling. By attending courses at all three institutes, the team was able to assess and compare the quality of the courses. There was no formal accreditation in line with Polar Code at that time, as is the case now.

Further internal training focused on personal safety, health and wellbeing: • Appropriate use of cold weather PPE – Layer application and training drills.

• Special consideration for nutrition – Diet requirements, compliance to frequent adaptation of sufficient nutrition, high calorie requirement and hydration.

• Cold weather impact and mitigation measures – Strict outside exposure limitations based on outside temperature and wind chill factor. Full compliance to buddy set-up for outside duties.

Recognition and identification of cold weather injuries such as hypothermia,

frostnip, frostbite, snow blindness and ultra-violet sunburn. First aid treatment of cold weather injuries.

• Arctic Daylight Restrictions and impact on Wellbeing – Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), psychological stress or sleeping disturbances leading to fatigue safety risks and the essence of resting hours, team-activities and entertainment. The Red Box fleet was already equipped with special UV lights to decrease the impact of daylight restrictions.

Based on this Arctic Training Plan, Red Box seafarers have been optimally trained before the start of the project. Red Box conducted many of Arctic transits for the project. It has therefore been valuable to have all individual crew members evaluate each Arctic transit. These evaluations were assessed to apply lessons learned and secure continual improvement on safety, health and wellbeing on Arctic operations.

Health effects Although the perception and experience vary per person, the individual evaluations mainly confirmed that the anticipated hazards, extreme low temperatures and lack of daylight, influence the health effects on crews operating within the Arctic.

Acknowledging the impact that Arctic daylight restrictions could have on crews, especially when operating under these conditions for several months in a row, Red Box closely monitors the mental wellbeing and possible fatigue of polar crews and adjusts rotational schedules if required.

In addition, the polar winters have an impact on the humidity within the accommodation on board. Such low humidity levels may cause discomforting dry skin, which can effect the crew’s wellbeing.

Although the vessel design anticipated low humid environments, Red Box decided after the first Arctic voyage evaluations to add additional humidifiers to increase capacity. FE www.frontierenergy.info SUMMER 2018 11

ARCTIC SHIPPING

Polar research and science will leap forward when the RRS David Attenborough is fully commissioned in 2019 (Artist’s impression)

Step change for POLAR RESEARCH ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

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major milestone in the build of the UK’s state-of-the-art polar research ship has been achieved with the 129 m long, 10,000-tonne hull of the RRS Sir David Attenborough being launched into the River Mersey at Birkenhead, England. After the launch at Cammell Laird’s wet basin, hull (Yard Number) 1390 is now ready for the next stages of construction. The polar research ship is scheduled to come into operation in 2019.

Shipyard workers, engineers, scientists and maritime industry experts gathered with special guest speakers, including worldrenowned broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, to celebrate this remarkable engineering achievement.

Commissioned by NERC (the UK government’s National Environment Research Council), built by Cammell Laird and operated by the British Antarctic Survey, this is the largest civilian ship to be built in the UK for 30 years. The superstructure of the new polar research ship, the RRS Sir David Attenborough, is now on top of the hull.

Following the launch of the RRS Sir David Attenborough’s hull at Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead in July the 535-tonne superstructure known as Block 51 was moved out of the construction hall. Two 800-tonne capacity cranes lifted the 40 m long and 30 m wide block into position on top of the hull.

This block contained the final six decks of the ship and includes the bridge, helicopter hangar and accommodation for the crew, scientists and support staff.

The next step in the construction is to connect the superstructure to the hull. After this, the 50-tonne cargo crane will be installed and the ship will be moved to dry dock. There the outside of the ship will be blasted and painted, propellers installed, and the scientific transducers fitted to the bottom of the hull.

12 SUMMER 2018 www.frontierenergy.info

The new ship is a major UK government investment in frontier science. Commissioned

by NERC, and built by Cammell Laird Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Ltd to a RollsRoyce design, the RRS Sir David Attenborough will be operated by British Antarctic Survey when the ship enters service in 2019.

The new research ship is part of a government polar infrastructure investment programme designed to keep Britain at the forefront of world-leading research in Antarctica and the Arctic. Launched in the summer of the Year of Engineering, this commitment represents the UK government’s largest investment in polar science since the 1980s.

Work to be done The international community is poised to take advantage of new state-of-the-art polar research platforms such as the RRS Sir David Attenborough and the RV Kronprins Haakon, the Norwegian icebreaking polar research vessel jointly owned by the University of Tromsø (50%) and Norwegian Polar Institute (30%) to continue to drive forward science that is critical for understanding the big questions about our global environment. In a report published in mid-2018, scientists from leading UK and Norwegian research institutions highlighted the urgency to further investigate the least understood regions on Earth, particularly those surrounding the two poles.

Reporting in the ‘State of the Polar Oceans 2018’, published by the British Antarctic Survey, researchers explain how decades of multi-disciplinary studies have advanced scientific knowledge about climate warming, biodiversity and conservation of marine life in the Antarctic and the Arctic.

Professor Mike Meredith, who leads the British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) Polar Oceans

Iceye watching Finland’s Aker Arctic is to work with the satellite operating company ICEYE to develop and offer ice information and associated services for the clients that are operating in the Arctic and other icy regions.

Aker Arctic Technology Inc, the leading designer of the ice class vessels and ICEYE, the leader in synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) technology for microsatellites, today announced an agreement to develop and provide ice information and related services for customers operating in icy conditions.

Combining new SAR data from ICEYE’s microsatellites with data from maritime environments provides opportunity for new and cost-efficient services to marine users.

During a one-year pilot phase, Aker Arctic aims to develop and test these services with its partners. In addition to this, ICEYE is launching two more SAR satellites to continue to increase data availability.

Lider on track The advanced Russian nuclear icebreaker provisionally named Lider, or Leader in English, is expected to be built in Vladivostok, Russia’s Far Eastern port city.

The icebreaker is a sleek, imposing nuclearpowered vessel that looks more like a high-end superyacht. The end result will be the production of three behemoth Lider-class icebreakers, measuring 205 m long, of 55,000 dwt and cutting 50 m wde swathes through the thickest arctic ice while riding new-model RITM-400 reactors that kick out 120 MW of power. The delivery date is set for 2027.

team, says: “The polar oceans have long been amongst the least explored and least understood regions on Earth, yet they exert a profound influence over all of the planet.

What happens in these oceans directly affect the lives of its inhabitants. Recent advances in measurement techniques and our ability to create computer simulations of ocean processes give us new insight into how they are changing”. FE

ARCTIC SHIPPING

ARCTIC CIRCLE WATERS: CAUSES OF CAUSALTIES (SHIPPING INCIDENTS) 2008-2017 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 TOTAL 13 20 27 46 32 46 239 8 10 14 6 11 9 101 6 5 5 6 4 6 43 4 2 0 3 2 4 34 1 4 2 4 1 3 30 3 6 4 5 1 1 28 1 2 1 1 2 2 20 1 1 2 0 1 0 11 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 37 50 55 71 55 71 507 Data Analysis: Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty Total

2008 2009 2010 2011 Machinery damage/ failure 13 14 16 12 Wrecked/stranded 11 14 9 9 Misc 1 4 4 2 Collision 1 4 10 4 Fire/explosion 1 2 6 6 Contact (e.g. harbour wall) 1 2 4 1 Hull damage 1 6 2 2 Foundered 1 2 0 3 Labour dispute 0 0 0 0 TOTAL 30 48 51 39 Including 16 losses Source: Lloyd’s List Intelligence Casualty Statistics.

Background picture: the LNG Carrier Christophe de Margerie

Transit routes BREAK FREE ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Another milestone for Arctic shipping was reached in early 2018 when a specially designed LNG tanker became the first commercial ship to travel the Northern Sea Route in winter and without the assistance of an ice breaker. Insurance company Allianz discusses how this will affect future route choices

I

n early 2018, the Eduard Toll successfully journeyed from South Korea to Montoir, France, via northern Russia, shaving around 3,000 nautical miles off the traditional transit via the Suez Canal.

It followed the August 2017 journey of another specially designed tanker, the Christophe de Margerie, which became the first merchant ship to sail across the Arctic Ocean without the aid of an icebreaker. It took just 19 days to reach South Korea from Norway, almost a week faster than going via the Mediterranean.

Arctic ice has been thinning and retreating over the past 40 years, bringing new opportunities for shipping, but also serious environmental concerns. Research shows the mean centre of shipping activity moved 300 km north and east – closer to the North Pole – over a seven-year span.

Growing Arctic traffic As a result, a growing number of vessels are sailing in Arctic waters. For example, cargo volumes on the Northern Sea Route (NSR) increased by nearly 40% to 9.7 million tonnes in 2017, the biggest annual volume ever, according to the Russian Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport. This is expected to rise to 40 million tonnes by 2022, reflecting the development of oil and gas fields, and 70 to 80 million tonnes by 2030.

“Climate change could open up new shipping routes in the Arctic, such as the North West Passage, and routes across Russia and Canada. These routes will have advantages as well as disadvantages. For example, a collision in a remote hostile environment like the Arctic could prove challenging, and would be a long

way away from salvage teams,” says Volker Dierks, head of marine hull underwriting, Central & Eastern Europe at Allianz.

In February this year, China announced plans for an ‘Arctic Silk Road’ by developing shipping lanes opened up by global warming.

China said it would encourage infrastructure development and conduct commercial trial voyages in Arctic waters, with plans to build its first Polar expedition cruise ship by 2019.

At the beginning of 2017, the International Code of Safety for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code) came into force. The code introduces mandatory requirements for shipping in Polar regions, principally relating to ice navigation, manning and ship design.

“The Polar Code continues to be refined,” says Captain Andrew Kinsey, senior marine risk consultant at Allianz. “Arctic conditions are fast-changing and the normal International Maritime Organization review updates are too slow. For these new shipping routes, we need

Insurance requirements In an earlier report entitled Arctic Shipping: Navigating the Risks and Opportunities, published by insurance giant Marsh Inc, analysts said that considering the provision of marine hull and protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance, insurers and P&I clubs require more detailed information about vessel capabilities and available salvage services, with wreck removal, pollution risks and crew health and

to find faster ways to disseminate information and the lessons of successful transits.”

Ships operating in Arctic waters are bound by the Polar Code, but ice is also posing a significant hazard for shipping elsewhere.

Outside the Arctic and Antarctic, a number of so-called conditional areas also carry a higher risk of ice, including the Gulf of St Lawrence, Alaska, Sakhalin, Russia, and the Baltic Sea. Trading in these areas has also been increasing with global warming.

There is also a threat of ice hazards in more southerly shipping routes from icebergs. At the end of 2017, the US Coast Guard’s International Ice Patrol warned shipping companies that an unusual number of icebergs were drifting into shipping lanes. It found that over 1,000 icebergs had drifted into North Atlantic shipping lanes in 2017, making it the fourth consecutive season where the danger has been classified as “extreme”.

“Such extraordinary conditions require complementary training for crew, as well as additional routing support,” says Paris-based Arnaud Gibrais, a senior marine risk consultant at Allianz. “A melting Arctic could lead to an increase in icebergs affecting trade routes, although this has not yet been a problem for the major north, south, east or west shipping lanes. But this might become more of an issue in the future,” adds Dierks. FE

safety of major concern to underwriters.

Steve Harris, a senior vice president in Marsh’s Global Marine Practice, says: “The majority of transits that have already taken place in the Arctic were one-off voyages that have been permitted as extraordinary ventures, and were usually government-backed or sponsored.

“Risk presentation is critical. Only if shipping firms can present insurers with the information they require, and all parties concerned take a collaborative approach to calculating these risks, will insurance capacity be readily available to support the growth in Arctic navigation.”

www.frontierenergy.info SUMMER 2018 13

ARCTIC SHIPPING

PONANT takes to the ice

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With delivery scheduled for 2021, the new luxury cruise liner Ponant Icebreaker will be the first electric hybrid cruise icebreaker to be powered by LNG propulsion. It’s at the vanguard of a new wave of luxury expedition cruise ships heading for the polar regions

14 SUMMER 2018 www.frontierenergy.info

PONANT ICEBREAKER Concept and Basic Design 2018: Cruise ship Owner’s name: Ponant MAIN DIMENSIONS: Length 140 m Breadth 28 m Power plant LNG and hybrid electric Propulsion 2 × 17 MW Ice class Polar Class 2 Passenger cabins 135 (270 pax) Crew 180 pax Zodiac boats 16 Helicopters 2 Built by VARD, delivery 2021.

VARD. Construction will begin later this year at the Norwegian shipyard VARD, which has previously built icebreaking vessels based on Aker Arctic designs. This will be the first Polar Class (PC) 2 icebreaking cruise ship.

Data analysis Before starting to design the vessel Aker Arctic gathered and analysed ice data over a period of ten years to establish how harsh and demanding the circumstances for the cruise ship would be. “The cruises will go to the Arctic region in the summer, when the ice is least thick and at its softest, and to Antarctica when the southern hemisphere has its summer.

Nevertheless, these are not easy regions for any vessel,” Vocke said.

The vessel is designed to take passengers to polar destinations such as the true geographic North Pole (90 degrees North Latitude) and to destinations such as the Weddell Sea, Ross Sea and Peter I Island in the Antarctic. “There are not many icebreakers in the world that can manage the same,” says Vocke.

French engineering group GTT is to work as an engineering procurement and

construction (EPC) contractor for the first time taking responsibility to supply Norwegian shipyard Vard with LNG tanks for the Ponant Icebreaker. The Polar Class 2 will be the first electric hybrid cruise icebreaker with dual fuel propulsion, featuring high-capacity batteries and LNG storage on board.

Specially designed for use with LNG as fuel, these tanks will be equipped with GTT’s industry-proven Mark III membrane technology. The company will construct the tanks, select and co-ordinate subcontractors through offering a turnkey solution to its partners Vard and Ponant.

The Ponant Icebreaker is intended for polar expeditions lasting from two weeks to one month. Thus, the two tanks have a total capacity of 4,500 cu m, allowing the ship to complete its entire route using LNG. GTT says this “performance is made possible by the compactness of [the] membrane containment system which optimises the payload in very restrained spaces, thereby increasing the autonomy of the ship”.

“The Ponant Icebreaker is a real world-first.

It is the first luxury ship with Ice Class PC2 certification ever designed, with electrichybrid engine and propelled by LNG, it is a pioneer in terms of sustainable cruising and environment protection,” says Ponant ceo Jean Emmanuel Sauvée.

The vessel will be approximately 30,000 gross tonnes, about 150 m long, 28 m wide and will have a cruise speed of 15 knots in open water. The vessel can accommodate 270 passengers in 135 staterooms, in addition to a crew of 180 persons.

When Ponant confirmed the order with Vard it was looking to the future as well as to the past as the yard had previously built icebreaking vessels based on Aker Arctic

Images courtesy of Ponant & Stirling Design International

S

cheduled to launch in 2021, the Ponant Icebreaker is a luxury cruise vessel built to navigate polar regions without icebreaker support in ice-affected waters, with a designed hull capable of cutting through 8 ft thick ice floes.

The vessel will use liquefied natural gas (LNG) propulsion and is being developed by four international marine companies including Vard Holdings, Stirling Design International, Aker Arctic and the wholly-owned French cruise company Ponant. Ponant was launched in 1988 by Jean Emmanuel Sauvée and a dozen officers from the French Merchant Navy.

The company already operates several expedition cruise vessels, but none of them will be capable of being self-supporting in ice conditions. “A cruise vessel like this one has never been built before,” says Maximilian Vocke, who is chief designer and project manager at Aker Arctic.

“Technically the hull is optimised for both icebreaking and open water. All the machinery and equipment chosen is highly advanced and environmentally friendly. At the same time, the vessel will be thoroughly luxurious,” Vocke says.

Constructed by Italy’s Fincantieri shipyard’s Norwegian subsidiary Vard, the vessel will include a helipad, an upper glassed arch located on upper deck viewing area and storage for Zodiacs. The vessel “will provide a luxury cruising experience with rugged, goanywhere capabilities and will have 135 staterooms,” says Ponant.

Vard Holdings, a designer and builder of specialised vessels, won the contract to design and build the luxury polar expedition cruise vessel for French cruise company Ponant with a contract valued at NOK2.7 billion ($320 million). The design chosen is an electric hybrid cruise icebreaker with LNG propulsion, developed by Ponant, Stirling Design International, Aker Arctic and polar-specialist

The Ponant Icebreaker is due for delivery in 2021

ARCTIC SHIPPING

designs. “We are looking for a continued cooperation in the building phase of the project,” says Aker Arctic CEO Reko-Antti Suojanen. Aker Arctic drew upon its longterm experience as an icebreaker designer in developing the world’s first luxury icebreaker cruise vessel with PC 2 ice class.

During the concept development phase, Aker Arctic was responsible for everything from the main deck downwards, as well as the machinery and design of the steel hull. Stirling Design International was responsible for the upper decks and interior design, while Ponant provided the guidelines for the development and ensured that the overall concept met the company’s requirements. The steel hull will be constructed at Vard’s yard in Romania and then towed to Norway for finalising work, interiors and finishing.

“Vard will undertake basic design and manage ice-related engineering issues such as the hull form, steel classification drawings, model tests and propulsion design,” Vocke adds.

“For us, of course, developing icebreakers capable of reaching the North Pole is nothing new. But the combination of an extremely heavy icebreaker and a cruise vessel is a new one,” says Suojanen.

The hull will be built in Romania at the Vard Tulcea yard with final delivery scheduled from Vard Søviknes in Norway during the first half of 2021. It will be the first hybrid cruise ship powered by LNG and electric batteries in addition to oil fuel. The advantage of LNG is that the emissions are considerably lower than for oil fuel, an issue that is becoming increasingly important in the Arctic environment. LNG-fuel produces no sulphur oxide (SO), very low nitrogen oxide (NO) and carbon dioxide (CO) emissions.

The cruise ship complies with future International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Emission Control Areas (ECA) regulations and fulfils the so-called ‘Clean Ship’ requirements with advanced wastewater treatment, energy optimisation, a heat recovery system and zero emissions in its electric hybrid mode.

Market heating up

The hull is a modern PC 2 icebreaking hull design, allowing smooth icebreaking ahead in up to 2.5 m thick multi-year ice, and astern in severe ice conditions using a double-acting ship principle (Aker Arctic DAS) and a twin azimuthing propulsion arrangement. The vessel’s performance is comparable to existing

The competition is continuing to grow for the polar expedition cruise segment with Seabourn Cruise Line the latest to enter the market. More than 30 new cruise ships are currently on order for expedition cruising, including the first entry into the segment from several large cruise brands and the first ultraluxury expedition ships.

Seabourn has signed a letter of intent for the construction of two new ultra-luxury expedition ships to be built by a new partnership between shipbuilders T. Mariotti and Damen Shipyard Group. This partnership will operate under a new common brand, Mariotti Damen Cruise.

The planned 23,000 gross ton ships, each measuring 170 m (558 ft) with 132 suites accommodating up to 264 passengers, will meet PC6 Polar Class standards. Among the amenities planned for the ships will be two submarines along with kayaks and Zodiac inflatable boats. FE

its Explorer Series that are already in various stages of construction and will be delivered

between 2019 and 2020. Le Champlain is undergoing its final construction phase in Norway and is expected to embark on her inaugural cruise from Honfleur, France, in October 2018.

Meanwhile, Le Bougainville and Le Dumont d’ Urville are being built at Vard’s shipyard in Tulcea, Romania, and are due for delivery in 2019. The shipyard also cut the steel for Le Bellot and Le Surville in April 2018, with the expectation that they will be delivered on schedule in 2020.

Cruising hull design

Cruise ship delivery In early July, French cruise line operator Ponant’s latest vessel, Le Lapérouse, was christened, the first of six in its series of its Explorers-class series. Le Lapérouse was designed by Norwegian-yard Vard and built by the Italian yard Fincantieri.

Le Lapérouse left the shipyard in Ålesund, Norway, on 16 June heading to Reykjavik, Iceland, for the start of its maiden cruise. The vessel is the first of six new 180-guest ships in

polar icebreakers but with lower ice resistance ensuring better fuel economy. This concept is the first commercial application of its kind for both efficient icebreaking and open water operation in high arctic conditions.

The Polar Code has many requirements regarding passenger and environmental safety.

One of the rule requirements for passenger vessels is that a vessel must be able to return safely on its own even when damaged. For the defined operational areas of the Ponant Icebreaker, this was discussed at an early stage of the concept development with both the selected classification society and the flag administration.

Passenger safety has been one of the crucial points in the design of this vessel. “The choice of a high ice class, taking all the requirements of the Polar Code into account, the ‘safe return to port’-concept and winterization aspects – how all the machines and equipment can function in a cold climate – are all important with passenger safety in mind,” Aker Arctic’s Vocke says. A vessel must also carry equipment for five days of evacuation off the vessel – ie tents, warm clothes and food.

www.frontierenergy.info SUMMER 2018 15

PROPELLERS

PROPELLING

technology forward //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

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he fragile subsea environment of the polar seas supports a huge variety of mammals and marine life, many vulnerable to external disturbance such as a ship’s propeller. Reducing the number and impact of such noise is part of the shipping and offshore sector’s role in operating in such environments and is important to ship designers and operators.

Narwhals (Monodon monoceros), for example, a whale species best known for its long spiralling tusk, are most vulnerable to such disturbances, according to scientists at environmental charity WWF-Canada.

Andrew Dumbrille, manager of national oceans governance at the charity, says switching to lighter diesel fuel and quieter propellers would be a starting point in minimising impacts. Such measures would not only benefit the Arctic marine environment but also reduce costs for shipping companies, he suggests.

Fixed-pitch on ice Fixed-pitch propellers have been traditionally used on icebreaking ships.

However controllable-pitch propellers have also been used on a wide range of icebreakers and icebreaking cargoships. Stainless steel and nickel-aluminium bronze are commonly used materials for the propeller blades of ice-class ships. Systems that use a non-reversing type of prime mover, such as medium-speed diesel engines or gas turbines, will tend to use controllable-pitch propellers to obtain astern thrust. Electric drive systems and slow-speed diesel engines generally use fixed-pitch propellers, achieving reverse thrust by reversing the shaft rotation.

Propeller nozzles offer increased propulsion thrust and protection and may reduce the strength requirements for propeller blades.

However, shallow draught ships that operate 16 SUMMER 2018 www.frontierenergy.info

Miami-based SunStone Ships laid the keel for its Polar class expedition vessel the Greg Mortimer for delivery in late 2019.

in the Beaufort Sea have experienced clogging of the nozzles when in thick ice or in deformed ice conditions (such as rafted or ridged ice). Much time can be lost while backwashing brash ice out of clogged nozzles and serious cavitation can result from impeded water flow through a clogged nozzle.

Corrosion resistance Marine propellers are often manufactured from corrosion resistant materials as they are made operational directly in seawater, which is a corrosion accelerator. The materials used for making marine propellers are alloys of aluminium and stainless steel. Other popular materials used are alloys of nickel, aluminium and bronze that are 10-15% lighter than other materials and have higher strength.

The propeller construction process includes attaching a number of blades to the hub or boss by welding or forging in one piece.

Forged blades are highly reliable and have greater strength, but are expensive compared to welded ones.

Finnish engineering company Tevo Oy bought marine-focused Finnscrew in 2005, along with its factory which is located in Turenki. The company is now developing propellers fashioned from bronze and suitable for Arctic conditions and capable of withstanding heavy strain in extreme Arctic and icy conditions. Their corrosion tolerance is also high in open waters, says the company.

Two full-scale ice trials were recently carried out between Oulu and Kemi in the Bay of Bothnia – the northernmost part of the Baltic Sea – where ice conditions are extremely hard during cold winters. The first trial was to perform ice trials for the Finnish Border Guard’s offshore patrol vessel Turva.

The second was to test the newly developed bronze propeller in heavy ice.

Aker Arctic Technology has developed the

bronze propeller for ice in co-operation with Finland’s Tevo and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Although not as strong a material as stainless steel, bronze has some advantages over a stainless steel propeller. It offers better corrosion resistance, is easier to manufacture and maintain, and is cheaper.

Bronze is a widely used marine propeller material in open water and Tevo wanted to find out if it would be feasible to use it in icegoing vessels, too.

The bronze propeller was fitted on the Finnish Navy’s multipurpose vessel Louhi.

The vessel was designed as an oil and chemical spill response vessel and is owned by the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), but is manned by the Finnish Navy.

Louhi is equipped with two azimuthing thrusters with stainless steel propellers, but for the trial one propeller was replaced with a bronze propeller. The tests were performed in both ahead and astern directions in 60 cm and 85 cm thick level ice, 6 m thick ice ridges, and ice channels.

“The conditions for extreme ice conditions were excellent,” says Kari Laukia, Aker Arctic head of ship design and engineering. “We wanted to test the propellers in conditions that were as heavy as possible. We succeeded in finding different conditions that were suitable.

“In addition to strength measurements, we took underwater videos in order to see how the ice and propeller interaction took place.

After the testing, Louhi returned to drydock and the test propeller was remounted and sent to TEVO for inspection.”

The conclusions based on the test results are that the bronze propeller can be suitable for vessels in 1A Super ice conditions. The testing conditions gave reliable results and input for the propeller design for 1A and 1A Super ice class vessels. FE

Artist’s rendition © SunStone

Propeller design for polar class vessels is advancing with the focus on minimising their environmental impact and maximising fuel efficiency in complex, demanding and harsh polar conditions

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LOGY t TRAINING

YAMAL LNG

Russian peninsula

GAS FLOWS

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Russian natural gas producer Novatek has successfully exported the first ever liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo to China via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) along the Arctic coast, significantly cutting delivery time to Asian consumers.

LNG shipments from Yamal via the NSR to China substantially reduce transportation time and costs in comparison to other routes such as Suez Canal.

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n Russia’s far northern Yamal peninsula, billions of dollars are being invested in megaprojects, unparalleled in terms of complexity of geology, infrastructure development and exceedingly harsh climatic conditions. The region is characterised by permafrost, long winters, and low mean temperatures (up to minus 50 degrees Celsius).

In summer months, 80% of Yamal’s territory is covered by lakes, swamps and rivers, which considerably limits the possibilities for industrial and logistics construction. However, projects developed and led by Russian companies Novatek and Gazprom have been constructed and are beginning to export LNG through specially designed ice breaking tankers and pipelines.

Indeed, in May 2018, Novatek announced that the company decided to create its own shipping company, Maritime Arctic Transport.

Gazprom in Yamal Russia’s largest gas company Gazprom is also developing a new gas production centre on the Yamal Peninsula. The company expects the projects will eventually become a major contributor to the Russian gas industry development producing up to 360 billion cu m of gas per year from a staggering 32 different fields.

Gazprom itself estimates its Yamal fields contain 26.5 trillion cu m of gas, 1.6 billion tons of gas

18 SUMMER 2018 www.frontierenergy.info

New class of vessel

In mid-2018, the first cargo was delivered from the second recently commissioned Novatek/Yamal LNG 5.5 million tpy train at the Yamal LNG plant. This second train in the company’s flagship project started producing product on July 21, six months ahead of the initial schedule. The second train quickly reached full capacity, putting Novatek’s total LNG production at 11 million tpy.

Together, the two trains account for 3.5% of global LNG production, Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson says, adding the company’s strategic goal is to produce 55-60 million

Shipping LNG in such extreme conditions required the partners to design a new class of vessel: the LNG ice-breaker tanker. This innovative solution allows LNG to be transported all year long without the assistance of ice breakers. Measuring 300 m with a capacity of 172,600 cu m, the ship can sail in ice of up to 2.1 m thick. In all, 15 LNG ice-breakers will be gradually commissioned between now and 2019, the first of which is Christophe de Margerie (pictured). The LNG loading/unloading tankers will have a deadweight ranging between 183,000 and 208,000 tonnes. They will be of ice-class and be able to operate in the harsh climatic conditions of the Yamal peninsula.

As many as 15 tankers are expected to be operating on the project. The tankers will assist in the transportation of the LNG to markets in the European, North American and Asia-Pacific regions.

Russian companies are arguably leading the way in developing onshore hydrocarbon production facilities and in the race to develop Arctic resources, and this successful export is a signal that intent from the partners and of Russia’s regional energy aspirations. FE

condensate, and 300 million tonnes of oil. In 2017, the development produced 82.8 billion cu m of gas with full capacity predicted to reach up to 360 billion cu mof gas per year.

Gas from Yamal is injected into Russia’s Unified Gas Supply System via next-generation gas pipelines operating at a pressure of 11.8 m tpy (120 atm). The 1,420 mm pipes with internal flow coating were made by Russian manufacturers from grade K65 (X80) steel.

Product is exported via the Arctic Gate

offshore oil-loading terminal, which is located in Ob Bay and designed to operate under extreme conditions, as temperatures in the region can drop below minus 50 degrees Celsius and ice can grow over 2 m thick. The terminal has a twotier protection system and complies with the most stringent requirements for industrial safety and environmental protection. The zero discharge technology prevents foreign substances from getting into Ob Bay, which is of great importance to preserving the Arctic’s environment.

In doing so, Novatek’s long-term strategy is to “optimise transport cost and ensure a wellbalanced, centralised management structure to improve the competitiveness of Novatek’s Arctic projects’, said a company spokesman.

First cargo

© Total

Christophe de Margerie LNG carrier at the dock at Yamal LNG

tonnes per year by 2030.

Novatek launched its first Yamal LNG train in December and to date (3Q 18) has produced 3.5m tonnes of product.

The company plans to launch its third train with capacity of 5.5 million tpy in early 2019, says Mikhelson, adding it is possible the plant will produce 16.5 million tpy of LNG in 2019.

A fourth train of 900,000-940,000 tpy capacity is expected to follow in late-2019, although operating capacity is likely to be higher due to the extreme low temperatures.

Launched in late 2013, Yamal LNG is one of the largest and most complex LNG projects in the world, and also one of the most competitive. Located in the harsh, ice-affected Yamal Peninsula in the far north of as it leverages the immense onshore gas resources found there. The partners Novatek, CNPC, and the Silk Road Fund and French supermajor Total are developing the enormous South Tambey gas and condensate field.

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REGULATIONS

CRACKING the Polar Code

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The Polar Code has now been in force for over 18 months and with it there are expected to be new opportunities for shipping along routes such as the NSR, writes Samantha Fisk

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he Polar Code came in to effect in January 2017, meaning that ships navigating through polar and Arctic waters will need to meet with specific requirements. One of the main areas affected by the Polar Code is that of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), which goes over the top of Russia and down in to the Asia and the Pacific Ocean. The code was created by the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency based in London.

Morten Mejlænder-Larsen, Arctic operation and technology safety, risk & reliability, at one of the world’s largest classification agencies, DNVGL, explains that it expects to see more owners going into polar regions this year, but “they will need to comply with the Polar Code and there are requirements that they will need to fulfil to achieve the Polar certificate”.

What has been seen recently is more activity from Russia with the Yamal development and the LNG carriers that service this area, and also a more prevalent icebreaking fleet that is ready to chart the frozen northern waters. “A lot of heavy-lift and cargoships are going in to this area to build modules,” explains Mejlænder-Larsen.

The attraction of the NSR for shipowners to take this route is that it is a shorter route, but ships that transit this area need to be iceclassed and have the correct competencies and certificates if they do so. Mejlænder-Larsen opines that owners looking at this route will need to see the benefits of transiting it, over other routes.

Shipowners’ perspective

Additional challenges Previously, any vessel could navigate polar waters without any extra safety measures.

However, with navigating Polar waters come additional challenges that need to be addressed, highlights Mejlænder-Larsen.

“The Polar Code is to provide safe ship operations and protect the environment by placing risks which are present in Polar waters that are not adequately mitigated by other instrumentation,” he says.

Opening up Polar waters will allow the shipping season to be longer, the ice will be thinner, and it will open up new areas for shipping, which will create an increase in shipping in these areas that in turn will attract new and less experienced operators. “It is now opening up to new operators and that we see as a risk,” adds Mejlænder-Larsen.

With the Polar Code comes hot discussion about the NSR and the opportunities that this route could open up to the shipping market.

Originally, thinking around this route looked at how it could potentially boost the oil and gas market.

“Eight-ten years ago it was being talked about as the new Suez Canal and that all ships will be going north,” says Mejlænder-Larsen.

20 SUMMER 2018 www.frontierenergy.info

ongoing now with different owners for new expedition cruise vessels,” notes MejlænderLarsen. He adds that there will be a further drive for newer and more technologically advanced vessels in this area that will come from the market itself, where people who have experienced cruises before will want the same level when it comes to Polar cruising.

James Bond, director at ABS Advisory Services

One challenge regarding the NSR is that there is currently a fee for navigating it, which is adjusted each year, making it difficult for shipowners to factor this cost. Along with this is the need for an agreement with an icebreaker to escort a vessel through the waters, which potentially means having to wait for that icebreaker. Further, the time it will take to transit the route is also an uncertain factor as the condition of the ice along the route is unknown.

Mejlænder-Larsen adds that this route is not attractive to the container vessel market, as the time factor is too unpredictable.

The icy waters of the north are, however, starting to attract a new market, the exploration cruise market, with more cruise vessels being constructed for this type of environment. “There are at least 10 projects

Germany-based BBC Chartering has had experience of the NSR and transiting Polar waters with its fleet of cargo carriers. The company notes that each voyage presents its characteristic challenges to the particular vessel. That is why the Polar Code requires a risk-based and both vessel and voyage-specific Polar Waters Operational Manual to be established for each trip.

Raymond Fisch, senior vice president strategic projects, BBC chartering, says: “The implementation of Polar Code by the flag states is still an ongoing process where we expect to see more detailed technical and operational requirements to be defined.”

With regards to newcomers in the market that are looking at trading in this area, Fisch notes that they face challenges. “For shipowners who are not experienced on Polar trading, complying with the Polar Code may represent quite a challenge; they will have to manage many more requirements, always adhering to the rules of their vessel’s respective flag state,” he says.

BBC Chartering says that it has developed crew training courses as required by the Polar Code for the core tonnage of its fleet. In addition to the required training of nautical officers and masters, training has also been extended to senior engineers bound for Polar

REGULATIONS

operations, defined as when the mean daily average air temperature dips below -10°C, can adversely affect equipment and human performance. The presence of ice in the water – or covering it – is a rapidly variable hazard.

Likewise, planning is required to mitigate the threat of ice accretion and the ramifications on intact stability, equipment operability and accessibility to safety systems.

Other risks that need to be considered include: operating communications equipment at high latitudes (most are designed for lower latitudes); human performance, which is affected by cold, periods of lengthy darkness or daylight; and ensuring that provisions and resources meet rescue-response times (especially in the NWP, where response can be measured in days, not hours).

ABS notes that shipowners need to establish the environmental boundaries for the operations in terms of air temperature (means and lows) and ice presence. Arctic environments are highly variable, so using historical data to establish ‘typical’ conditions should be recognised as a broad range. trips. “We think this is just another point to create further awareness of the challenges we have for these trips among key crew members,” he concludes.

Classing it US-headquartered ABS has also seen a shift in shipowners starting to assess Polar trading routes as an option. The class society says that owners and operators are busy weighing up the cost of preparing existing ships, or building ‘Polar-ready’ vessels, against the routes’ potential to reduce seasonal operating expenses.

James Bond, director at ABS Advisory Services, says: “As a result, we are already seeing small increases in commercial traffic through the NSR and the Northwest Passage (NWP), the two main routes. According to the NSR administration, 24 ships transited the route last year, up from 19 in 2016. The NWP saw nine transits in 2017, up from four in 2016.”

As regulations develop for this area of shipping, ABS highlights that further interest is also being taken up in the area. Now that the regulation has come in to play, vessels are

IMO and the Polar Code Ships operating in the Arctic and Antarctic environments are exposed to a number of unique risks including poor weather conditions, the relative lack of good charts and communication issues, while other navigational aids pose challenges for mariners. The remoteness of the areas makes rescue or clean-up operations difficult and costly. Cold temperatures may reduce the effectiveness of numerous

required to have a polar certificate after an existing ship’s first survey post-2017.

Bond adds: “The code itself is the foundational tool for polar vessel operators in that it offers safety and pollution-prevention benchmarks. Its goal-based approach to safety requires operators to work through intended operating scenarios as they consider how to meet the requirements. Further, it recognises and encourages the use of a single set of design standards (known as IACS PC1 through PC7) for building Polar Class ships.”

Planning activities and compliance have started to become more apparent as more specific locations in the Arctic (Red Dog, Yamal, Sabetta, Prudhoe Bay, Baffinland, etc) are starting to become more popular for the shipping industry.

“Planning for a range of environmental conditions in the region of operation at the anticipated time of year is a fundamental tenet of safety requirements incorporated in the Polar Code,” Bond adds.

Bond further explains the science behind the planning in that in cold temperature

IMO-mandated Operations Assessment uses the data that is collected about the route, which in turn is collected by qualified people, those preparing for the voyage(s) and endusers of the Polar Waters Operation Manual.

“The assessment is vital to understanding safe and practical boundaries. It can be applied to support decisions for building new ships, or for chartering,” Bond adds.

Bond also says that for existing ships, the assessment process will uncover the changes required to meet regulatory compliance and it may also highlight areas of investment that could reduce the operational limitations of specific assets, thereby extending their operating windows and/or reducing the associated risks.

Interesting times lie ahead for the shipping industry and these new frozen horizons yet to be explored. While the routes that are opening up may not have benefits for all, a more specialised niche market could be taking form that will charter these unknown waters. FE

components of the ship, ranging from deck machinery and emergency equipment to sea suctions. When ice is present, it can impose additional loads on the hull, propulsion system and appendages.

The International code of safety for ships operating in polar waters (Polar Code) covers the full range of design, construction, equipment, operational, training, search and rescue and environmental protection matters relevant to ships operating in the inhospitable waters surrounding the two poles. The move to develop

a mandatory code followed the adoption by the IMO Assembly, in 2009, of guidelines for ships operating in polar waters (Resolution A.1024(26)), which are intended to address those additional provisions deemed necessary for consideration beyond existing requirements of the SOLAS and MARPOL conventions, in order to take into account the climatic conditions of Polar waters and to meet appropriate standards of maritime safety and pollution prevention. The guidelines are recommendatory. www.imo.org

Operations Assessment

www.frontierenergy.info SUMMER 2018 21

OIL SPILL RESPONSE

Canada is investing in oil spill clean up technology with the city of St John’s a key area for the region’s oil and gas activity

INTEGRATION and RECOVERY

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With support from Natural Resources Canada’s Oil Spill Response Science (OSRS) and the government of Newfoundland & Labrador’s InnovateNL initiative, C-CORE has undertaken a project to increase oil spill preparedness and provide an effective, practical solution for spill clean-up in harsh, cold-ocean environments through developing an integrated mechanical recovery and oil spill response system

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he two-year C-CORE project, which draws on engineering expertise in modelling, simulation and large-scale physical tests, aims to improve existing oil recovery equipment, particularly in terms of how easy they are to deploy and operate in cold, icy ocean conditions and how effective they are for heavy oil such as Bunker C, the main fuel for marine transportation.

Funding The government of Canada provided C$991,500 ($758,000) and the government of Newfoundland and Labrador C$428,000 to fund the research, which will provide a basis for the next generation of high-performance oil separation technology. The resulting system is expected to be ready for large-scale tests within three to five years and be proven in real-life conditions within 10 years of project start-up. Providing flexible real time adjustments and quick response, it will ensure that the global marine transportation system has access to world-class safety equipment to protect the environment.

Canada is steward of a vast ocean estate and has the longest coastline of any nation.

Most of its offshore can be ice-prone and subject to challenging sea states and harsh weather.

Further, the Northwest Passage is gradually opening, offering reduced transit time between Europe and Asia – 40% shorter than 22 SUMMER 2018 www.frontierenergy.info

the Panama Canal route and 20% shorter than the Suez, saving time, fuel and CO2 emissions (by up to 1,300 tonnes per trip).

Increased traffic is inevitable.

The Oil Spill Response Science (OSRS) program supports Canada’s Oceans Protection Plan through R&D to improve recovery technologies and processes for oil spill clean-up. Current clean-up efficiency is particularly challenged by heavy oil, cold oceans, ice-prone water and high sea states that can trap oil below the surface in the water column.

Canada is steward of a vast ocean estate and has the longest coastline of any nation.

Existing collection systems are either efficient at collecting spilled oil but are not easily cleaned (fibre, ropes and brush skimmers), or not efficient at collecting oil but can be cleaned and used repeatedly (drums, disk and belt skimmers). Further, existing systems cannot capture oil below the ocean surface. This project aims to improve the efficiency of existing collection technologies, develop systems that can capture oil particles suspended in the water column and select suitable separator mechanisms to integrate

with a deployment system.

Various aspects of oil spill response will be assessed, including collection mechanisms such as booms, containment systems, storage and disposal, with a special focus on operability and logistics, particularly deployment. Physical tests, computer simulation and analytical modelling will be used to compare and benchmark performance of different separation technologies and optimise the system for a wide range of spill scenarios. As part of this development, an experimental apparatus will be designed, fabricated and benchmarked in C-CORE facilities in St John’s, Newfoundland. The project will also include safety, environment protection and pollution disposal planning.

The goal is to develop an integrated concept design suitable for future large-scale tests.

This project builds on the company’s previous work on oil spill response, including its scoping of the proposed Sedna Center for controlled technology testing and personnel training in realistic harsh cold-ocean conditions. Other research in this area includes reports on Oil Spill Detection and Modelling Solutions for Hudson and Davis Strait, and Enhanced Capacity for Oil Spill Situational Awareness and Response in Nunavut, as well as development of algorithms to improve tools in support of the emergency geomatics services and for semiautomated classification of oil slicks at sea using radar and optical imagery.

Collaboration is key to the project team’s approach. Partners include Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland (which operates an oil spill tank at its Offshore Safety and Survival Centre), Elastec (a global leader in oil spill and environmental equipment) and Eastern Canada Response Corporation Ltd. (which provides marine oil spill response services in Canada’s navigable waters east of the Rocky Mountains). FE

OIL SPILL RESPONSE

Ohmsett offers oil spill response training using a blend of classroom instruction and hands-on exercises recovering real oil

Ohmsett tests Arctic

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In this Q&A Paul Meyer, Ohmsett manager at the US Department of the Interior Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Oil Spill Preparedness Division (BSEE), explains developments, opportunities and what the future holds for Arctic research at the government’s National Oil Spill Response Research & Renewable Energy Test Facility in Leonardo, New Jersey FRONTIER ENERGY: What is the main area of research that Ohmsett is currently engaged with?

PAUL MEYER: Ohmsett’s principal focus is to support testing, training and research to improve oil spill response in the marine environment. The primary spill response strategies handled at the facility include mechanical recovery, such as booms and skimmers; chemical treating agents, such as dispersants and herders; and, remote sensing of spilled oil to aid responders’ recovery efforts.

Ohmsett also trains stakeholders in the oil spill response community on how to respond to an oil spill using a blend of classroom instruction and hands-on experience recovering real oil (not a surrogate) using full scale response equipment in a realistic environment – Ohmsett’s 200 m long outdoor saltwater wave tank. Anyone can lease the tank to conduct training or experiments.

FE: What kind of R&D projects is Ohmsett currently engaged with and where would you like to see the research grow?

PM: Ohmsett is managed by the US Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s (BSEE) Oil Spill Preparedness Division (OSPD). One of BSEE’s goals for Ohmsett is to proactively advance the state-of-the-art of oil spill response equipment. Oil spill response R&D projects conducted at Ohmsett are funded by the government, academia and private industry. These projects range from conducting proof-of-concept testing to performance testing of prototype and production equipment. Data obtained during

Testing oil spill response equipment in simulated Arctic conditions

these efforts supports a variety of objectives that include: enabling manufacturers to quantify improvements to their equipment; providing government regulators and oil spill response planners the data on how equipment may perform under certain environmental conditions; and providing potential equipment purchasers with non-biased test results to inform their decisions.

While much of the privately funded projects at Ohmsett are proprietary, recent OSPDfunded projects at Ohmsett include: developing acoustic methods to measure oil droplet size and slick thickness using remotely operated vehicles and autonomous underwater vehicles; performance testing of mechanical recovery devices in diminishing slick thicknesses; and, remote sensing of oil slicks using instruments mounted on drones, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. OSPD has also tested the effectiveness of different oil dispersant products under temperate and cold water temperatures in the tank.

FE: Is Ohmsett planning any capital expenditure on R&D facilities? If so, what is the main focus?

PM: BSEE is continuously investing in and expanding Ohmsett’s capabilities to develop and test state-of-the-art equipment. This includes capital investments to the infrastructure for a better and more repeatable test environment, such as upgrading the bridge drive and wave generation systems from manual control to computer controlled. We have also improved Ohmsett’s on-site oil/water lab for rapid analysis of test oil and recovered oil properties. This gives near-immediate feedback to researchers, who can then adjust their test parameters to optimise their time at Ohmsett. We have expanded our ability to quantify the oil intentionally spilled in the tank, both from above the surface as well as using instruments beneath the surface.

We are also in the initial design stage of fabricating a 20 m long indoor flume tank to complement the capabilities of Ohmsett’s 200 m long outdoor tank. A flume tank is shaped like an oval race-track and allows researchers to conduct smaller scale experiments. This may be necessary to finetune experimental methods for more expanded tests in the main Ohmsett tank, or to more closely constrain variables in a specific project.

FE: What planning tools is Ohmsett developing to deal with oil spills in the Arctic?

PM: Ohmsett has the capabilities to produce and add ice to the test tank to help simulate Arctic conditions. Periodically, Ohmsett will also host an ‘Ice Month’ during January and February to take advantage of the cold, outdoor temperatures in New Jersey to support cold water experiments.

FE: Anything else you would like to discuss?

PM: BSEE’s mission is to promote safety, protect the environment, and conserve resources offshore through vigorous regulatory oversight and enforcement. In fulfilling this mission, OSPD is responsible for the review and creation of policy, direction, and oversight of activities related to the industry’s oil spill preparedness for offshore waters of the United States. BSEE staff work closely with other Federal agencies such as the US Coast Guard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency to continually enhance response technologies and capabilities. BSEE supports enactment of these responsibilities through a robust research and development program and leverages Ohmsett to help achieve these objectives for the nation. FE OSPD funded projects are listed on the website, www.bsee.gov, along with the final reports as they become available. www.frontierenergy.info SUMMER 2018 23

OIL SPILL RESPONSE

Alaska spill PREPARATIONS //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

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t Cmdr Jereme Altendorf, the US Coast Guard Sector Anchorage contingency planner, said the 2018 seminar doubled as a hands-on equipment deployment event to make local governments and industry, as well as interested residents, aware of the federal and state governments’ response to oil and chemical spills in the area.

New thinking and tactics used were demonstrated when developing an oil spill response by experts from the Coast Guard and Alaska Chadux, an Alaska-based oil spill response company.

“The most important thing to do when discovering a spill is to contain it, stop the source of the spill if you can do so safely, and report it to the National Response Center,” said Altendorf. “Generally, it takes anywhere from 12 to 36 hours for resources to arrive on scene, location-dependent, so it is important to provide useful training on quick-response tactics that local government and industry personnel can take to prevent a spill from getting to navigable water or further contaminating the environment.”

Altendorf said Alaska presents a unique string of logistical difficulties. Sometimes it can take days, or even weeks, to physically get responders on scene to assess the situation and the extent of the spill to develop a plan to respond. Because of this, it is essential for local village and community residents to have the knowledge and resources to be able to selfrespond until the Coast Guard, ADEC, Chadux and Global personnel can be on scene.

“The average response time is 72 hours,” said Evan Kressly, an emergency management specialist for the Division of Homeland Security and emergency management for the state of Alaska. “In Alaska, it could take 24 SUMMER 2018 www.frontierenergy.info

Effective oil spill response is vital in Alaska for offshore and onshore operations such as BP’ Prudoe Bay operations

anywhere from five days to a week to get resources out.”

Kressly also said they do not always get the call immediately after a spill, which adds to the amount of time it takes to respond.

Respond & react Due to this remoteness, the ability of communities to respond and react quickly and make the initial call for help is critical.

Kressly said the hardest part when dealing with Alaskan oil spills is getting the knowledge out to the villages of what the Alaska Division of Homeland Security’s mission is, to let them know they have support, and to encourage them to call in the event of any type of emergency. Just getting that knowledge out there is pretty challenging, he said.

In efforts to increase knowledge on spill response tactics, the seminar started with a series of lectures presented by representatives from the Coast Guard, NOAA, ADEC, Chadux, Global Diving and Salvage, and various other state and federal entities on their individual roles during a spill.

From oiled wildlife protection and rehabilitation to dispersant use plans, to historic properties protection, alternative response technologies and booming tactics, even down to the science of oil spills and the incident command system structure that is used, the information presented kept the room locked in on the speakers as they rotated through their presentations – each discussing unique Alaskan issues that are often evident in spill response.

From there, the participants moved from a classroom setting to an open area in the National Guard hangar. Chadux personnel gave a presentation with boom equipment

and technologies that displayed their response capabilities for a spill.

An outdoor life Matt Melton, general manager at Chadux, said that in Bethel, as well as in a lot of other rural communities and villages in Alaska, subsistence fishing and hunting are a way of life. Spills can be detrimental not only to the wildlife, but ultimately to the native Alaskan way of life.

“The waterways, the lakes, the wetlands – they are not just for recreation, they are the livelihood of these people in their subsistence lifestyle,” said Melton. “Our goal, first and foremost, is to get out there and stop whatever contamination is happening, so we do not ruin their way of life. It has been a great opportunity for my guys to get up and present, and meet some of the folks in these communities.”

Whether it is a local resident responding or a government entity, every department assumes a differing role in the event of a response, and Jennifer Sonne, an ADEC environmental program specialist, said their primary role is to prepare for, and to try to prevent, spills from happening through planning for hydrocarbon and chemical-related spills.

“The number one difficulty in responding to spills in the state of Alaska is how large the area is, how much coastline we have, and just the remoteness of locations and the diversity really of what could be spilled,” said Sonne. “There are tanks, facilities, pipelines, vessels, etc.”

A major element of response is in the planning. Sonne added that large facilities will have contingency plans that have to get vetted through the state of Alaska so that they have measures in place to respond to spills and prevent them. FE

BP

As part of the USA’s Operation Arctic Guardian, staff from a range of organisations including the Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Alaska Chadux Corp, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and Global Diving and Salvage met in Bethel, Alaska to discuss the latest developments in oil spill recovery techniques

ICE NAVIGATION

The research icebreaker was called into service to release these two ferries, Edward Cornwallis and Bella Desgagnés from encroaching ice

SPRING HAZARD for North Atlantic

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More Arctic sea ice than before is entering the North Atlantic Ocean, making it increasingly dangerous for ships to navigate those waters in late spring, according to new research led by the University of Manitoba.

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ew research led by the University of Manitoba finds that ocean passages typically plugged with ice in the winter and spring are opening up. Sea ice normally locked in the Arctic can then flow freely through these passages southward to routes used by shipping, fishing and ferry boats.

The new study finds Arctic sea ice surged through these channels in 2017 and clogged normally open areas of ocean around Newfoundland in May and June. The ice cover trapped many unsuspecting ships and sunk some boats when the ice punctured their hulls.

The study authors conclude that warming temperatures due to climate change are melting more Arctic ice, increasing ice mobility and opening channels that are normally frozen shut. They predict last year’s events could occur more often in the future as Arctic temperatures continue to rise.

“It is counter-intuitive to most people, because it means you can have an increase in local ice hazards because of a changing climate in the high Arctic,” says David Barber, a distinguished professor in the University of Manitoba’s Clayton H Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources, and a Canada Research Chair in Arctic System Science. He is the lead author of the new study in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

“This is something we need to better

prepare for in the future, because we expect this phenomenon to go on for at least a couple more decades as we transition to an ice-free Arctic in the summer,” Barber says.

Research opportunity Winter sea ice is common in the North Atlantic Ocean, but ice typically melts by May each year. Shipping, fishing and ferrying industries pick up around this time, and vessels normally travel through coastal waters unimpeded.

But a large amount of sea ice lingered along Canada’s east coast into May and June of 2017. The unusually thick ice cover took ships by surprise. The ice was much thicker than usual – up to 8 m (26 ft) thick in some cases.

Off the Newfoundland coast, an unprecedented number of ships, fishing vessels and ferryboats became trapped in the ice.

In early June, the Canadian Coast Guard Scientists from the University take pack ice core samples

pulled the research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen off its University of Manitoba scientific expedition to escort ferries caught in the congested seas to open water, and conduct search and rescue operations for stranded passengers of ferry boats and ships trapped in the ice, as it was the only large icebreaker available at the time.

Between search and rescue missions, Barber and other scientists aboard the Amundsen used the ship’s research equipment to figure out where the sea ice had come from and why so much ice was there at all. They took samples of the ice and measured its thickness, temperature and salinity. They used drones to take aerial images of the ice cover, and satellite data from the Canadian Ice Service to track sea ice movements back in time.

Why was there so much ice?

Ice arches are natural dams that form in narrow Arctic channels like Lancaster Sound and the Nares Strait in the winter. The arches keep most sea ice from moving southward.

Previous research found ice arches failed to form in the Nares Strait in 2007 and a record amount of sea ice flowed south that year.

According to the new University of Manitoba study, something similar happened in 2017: the sea ice around Newfoundland had features of ice found only in the high Arctic. The ice likely formed in the Lincoln Sea just north of Greenland, more than 3,000 km (1,800 miles) north of Newfoundland, Barber says.

The sea ice the authors sampled would have had to travel freely through the Nares Strait to make it to Baffin Bay and eventually to Newfoundland, which could only have happened if ice arches had failed to form, according to the study.

The study authors conclude that warming temperatures due to climate change are making it more difficult for ice arches to form every winter, preventing them from blocking the southward flow of sea ice. Warming temperatures are also changing ocean and atmospheric circulation in the Arctic, making sea ice more mobile, Barber says.

Events like the ice conditions Barber witnessed are difficult to forecast, so scientists and decision-makers need to be prepared for them, says Ronald Kwok, a climate researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who was not connected to the new study. Barber and other researchers have been monitoring the ice closely and do not expect as much ice to travel south this year. But just in case, they have informed the Canadian Coast Guard so more than one icebreaker can be available for search and rescue.

Research at the University of Manitoba is partially supported by funding from the Government of Canada Research Support Fund. FE www.umanitoba.ca www.frontierenergy.info SUMMER 2018 25

PLASTIC OCEANS

Plastic in the Polar Regions:

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Plastic waste is washing up in the world’s oceans and has now reached ice-affected areas including the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean. Plastic Oceans Foundation engages people of all ages, in all social situations, to understand the danger of continuing to perceive plastic to be disposable. Filmmaker and activist Jo Ruxton, co-founder of the Plastic Oceans, produced the documentary feature film A Plastic Ocean and was a key speaker at an event hosted by the UK government’s all-party parliamentary group on the Polar Regions, writes Duncan Depledge, Director, APPG for the Polar Regions Secretariat

O

ver the past year, plastic has commanded the attention of politicians, scientists, businesses, and the wider public like never before. The Plastic Oceans Foundation, with its film A Plastic Ocean (which has been shown in more than 60 countries), has been at the forefront of putting the issue on the public’s agenda over the past decade. A tipping point was reached in the UK following the success of the BBC’s Blue Planet II, which was one of the most watched television series in 2017.

People in the UK, for example, now want a new relationship with plastic. The government is committed to eliminating all avoidable plastic waste in the UK by 2042 as part of its 25-Year Environment Plan. Meanwhile, other governments and companies around the world are looking to the UK to show what can be done to address the problem of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.

The problem with plastic The first plastics emerged in the early 19th century, but industrial scale production did not begin until the 1930s. By the 1950s, ‘throwaway’ plastic was being lauded as a way to relieve people from domestic chores.

The genius of plastic is that it comes in many forms and so can be used in a variety of different ways. Global plastic production has rocketed from around 8 million tonnes in 1961, to 330 million tonnes in 2017.

The problem with plastic, though, is that the very quality that makes it so useful – its relative indestructability – is what makes it so hard to dispose of. No one really knows how long it takes for plastic to break down. The evidence we do have suggests that it just keeps breaking up into smaller and smaller pieces.

That is why the 8 million tonnes of plastic waste that ends up in the world’s oceans 26 SUMMER 2018 www.frontierenergy.info

(around 80% is from land-based sources) every year is proving hazardous. Seals, birds and other larger animals that feed in the oceans are either becoming entangled in waste plastic, or mistakenly ingesting it. Organisms at the bottom of the marine food chain, including zooplankton such as copepods, are consuming even smaller pieces of plastic known as micro-plastics (<5 mm) and nanoplastics (50 μm-5mm). This uptake of plastic could be cause of concern because of the potentially harmful effects of chemicals (such as plasticisers) that have been added to the plastic.

Worryingly, models suggest that it will not be long before an Arctic ‘garbage patch’ begins to form, most likely in the Barents Sea. However, there is a discrepancy between the amount of plastic waste that is thought to be going into the oceans and the amount that has been discovered (only around 1%). This has led some scientists to produce the wideranging estimate that there could be between 15 to 51 trillion particles of ‘small’ plastic floating on the ocean surface. The rest may have settled on the sea floor or already been taken-up by marine life. What is known though is that the great ocean gyres in the North and South Pacific, North and South Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean, which keep the oceans circulating, are gathering up some of the plastic waste into great ‘garbage patches’, while driving the remainder as far as the remotest waters of the planet.

Plastic pollution The scale of micro-plastic pollution in the Southern Ocean has only recently become apparent, with scientists finding that microplastic levels are five orders of magnitude higher than predicted.

Plastic pollution is also widespread in the Arctic. The Tara Oceans Expedition (20092014) and the Malaspina Expedition (2010) both reported floating plastic waste in the North Atlantic (originating mostly from northwest Europe and the east coast of north America) was being carried up to the Arctic, with the largest concentrations emerging in the waters east of Greenland and in the Barents Sea. These findings gave confidence to models developed by ocean physicists that project how plastic pollution is transported around the world’s oceans.

Worryingly, these same models suggest that it will not be long before an Arctic ‘garbage patch’ begins to form, most likely in the Barents Sea. Further evidence of plastic waste in the Arctic comes from ice cores taken from areas of seasonal ice melt (i.e. where the ice is only a year-old). Plastic has also been found during limited expeditions to the Arctic Ocean seafloor, where 60% of debris encountered was plastic.

Can anything be done?

The plastic pollution crisis is still unfolding and there is still much scientific work to be done to determine its scale, extent, and implications for both marine ecosystems and human health.

This will require increased monitoring of the polar oceans, as well as the standardisation of scientific protocols internationally. Likewise, it is not yet clear how the potential hazards posed by plastic

PLASTIC OCEANS

Assessment was world-leading), and more recently, its support for the Arctic Shipping Best Practices Information Forum. The Arctic Council’s Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment Working Group has recently embarked on project to assess issues relating to marine litter in the Arctic (including plastic and micro-plastic litter), which will hopefully raise further awareness of the extent of plastic pollution and its impacts in the Arctic Ocean.

Around 50% of all plastic waste comes in the form of packaging, most of which is mis-managed. It is also the most short-lived, sometimes only used for a matter of minutes before being thrown away. The problem of plastic waste was already on the agenda of UK retailers even before the explosion of interest that followed Blue Planet II. The need to address plastic waste poses a particular problem for businesses because it goes to the core of how they make, market and transport trillions of products. Packaging, in particular, is an essential part of how a business brands and differentiates itself from competitors and so new solutions are needed.

In the meantime, though, several actions have been suggested including reducing consumption, simplify the range of plastics used in packaging, consistency across waste management solutions, and more research and development into waste management and collection techniques.

Conclusion

waste in the oceans are likely to affect people.

Nevertheless, the insurance sector is already concerned that a crisis is in the making. As scientific understanding grows, so too does the exposure of companies that work with plastics, which may eventually become liable for the impacts of plastic pollution on human health (as has resulted from other human health crises relating to smoking and exposure to asbestos) Here, the insurance sector’s approach to developing and implementing regulations for polar shipping could provide a useful model. The Arctic Shipping Best Practices Information Forum, recently launched in London to help companies meet the requirements of the International

Maritime Organisation’s Polar Code, was built on three principles: ensure regulations are fit for purpose, promote awareness of risks and regulations, push industry to work collectively to develop and share best practice, as well as go beyond regulation where and if possible. The aim is to create the correct behavioural approach whereby businesses are rewarded rather than punished for following best practice.

Both for industry and more widely, the Arctic Council has the potential to play a key role in raising international awareness about the problems of plastic pollution. That much is evident from its past record on climate change (the 2004 Arctic Climate Impact

There is no easy answer to the problem of plastic pollution in the polar regions, or the world’s oceans more broadly. More research and monitoring is needed to understand the scale and the extent of the problem, as well as its impacts on marine ecosystems and human health.

Industry needs to work collectively to reduce and simplify plastic waste so that more of it remains within the economy. There is a commercial opportunity here too – if the UK can lead the way in developing a new plastic/circular economy, it will likely have tremendous export value around the world.

Governments working nationally and internationally have a role to play in collaborating with science and industry to develop legislation that can be implemented, to maintain a level playing field, to promote best practice, and generally raise global awareness of the issues surrounding plastic pollution. FE l Palace of Westminster, London 23 May 2018.

This feature summarises the discussion held during a meeting hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Polar Regions chaired by James Gray MP about the problem of plastic pollution in the polar regions, and what might be done about it. www.frontierenergy.info SUMMER 2018 27

EVENTS, CONFERENCES & EXHIBITIONS /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Arctic Technology Conference November 5 – 7 Hilton Americas, Houston, Texas, USA The Arctic Technology Conference is a highly focused international gathering of industry experts that addresses the cutting-edge technologies and innovative practices needed for exploration and production in the Arctic region. The event is built upon the long running and highly successful series of exhibitions and conferences held annually in Houston, Texas, the Offshore Technology Conference. ATC’s successful multidisciplinary approach, with a range of technical societies and organisations working together to deliver the world’s most comprehensive Arctic event, will be held in Houston this year with hundreds of delegates expected to attend.

ATC 2018 will offer visitors and delegates a highly specialised technical programme, including a conference with more than 130 technical papers, high quality speakers, networking events and a lively exhibition, where senior and technical experts will share their knowledge, vision and ideas on oil and gas exploration in the Arctic – the world’s harshest climate. The event is the perfect opportunity for industry executives and your company to collaborate with colleagues and vendors about challenges and solutions in the Arctic. Before and during the conference sessions a number of additional topical breakfasts and luncheons will offer additional insight into the Arctic.

Government officials, executives, managers, scientists, engineers and investors will all come together to share innovative solutions and emerging technologies for sustainable Arctic development.

Follow the Arctic Technology Conference on Twitter @ArcticTechConf Registration is now open. www.otcnet.org/arctic/welcome /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Arctic Oil & Gas Symposium March 20 – 21 Calgary, Canada This symposium is a great opportunity to hear the latest details on the hottest plays, explore recent regulatory changes that are affecting and influencing oil and gas developments in the far north.

The event is a place to learn more about the changing dynamics of oil and gas supply, and where the North fits into global markets.

This is your opportunity to communicate with government leaders, northern communities, and industry players, and get clarity on short and long-term prospects for resource development and prosperity. www.canadianinstitute.com

TO ADVERTISE your event in the magazine, website or eNewsletter, please contact publisher@frontierenregy.info

Northern Political Economy Symposium 2018 August 29 – 30 Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland There is a common way of describing the Arctic – the region, its people and resources – in terms of rapid change and constant transformation. Climate change, scramble for the world’s diminishing natural resources and the rather newly emerged concern for local cultures and knowledge, among others, have contributed to the repeated constructions of the Arctic as something that is constantly in flux. Undeniably, the Arctic and its people have witnessed radical changes, many of which will be discussed at this event. www.arcus.org/events/arcticcalendar/28122

UArctic September 3 – 6 The Universities of Oulu, Helsinki, Finland This event brings together key UArctic meetings and a science conference into one single gathering. The event is an integral part of Finland’s Arctic Council chairmanship programme, highlighting the themes and priorities of the Finnish chairmanship, including the goals of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, supporting gender equality, and the Paris Agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. http://congress.uarctic.org/

2018 Arctic Circle Assembly October 19 – 21 Harpa Conference Center and Concert Hall in Reykjavík, Iceland

The annual Arctic Circle Assembly is the largest annual international gathering on the Arctic, attended by more than 2,000 participants from more than 60 countries. It is attended by heads of states and governments, ministers, members of parliaments, officials, experts, scientists, entrepreneurs, business leaders, indigenous representatives, environmentalists, students, activists and others from the growing international community of partners and participants interested in the future of the Arctic. www.arcticcircle.org/assemblies/ future

‘Arctic Shipping Forum North America October 17 – 19 Delta St John's Conference Centre, Newfoundland A two-day conference dedicated to the latest regulatory and technological developments for the Arctic region. Topics include incorporating the Polar Code into Canada’s rules and the latest in ship and propulsion design for ice-going vessels. https://maritime.knect365.com/ arctic-shipping-north-america/

Shipping2030 North America November 14 – 15 Intercontinental Times Square New York City Shipping2030 North America 2018 will take place with Green Ship Technology conference, connecting 200+ senior level execs and tech innovators across the maritime industry. Delegates will gain insights into IoT, digital infrastructure, smart ports, 3D printing and much more. https://maritime.knect365.com/ship ping2030-northamerica/

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28 SUMMER 2018 www.frontierenergy.info

AN OTC EVENT

ARCTIC TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE 2018 REGISTER TODAY Visit go.spe.org/18ArcticRegister

5–7 November 2018 /// Houston, Texas, USA /// Hilton Americas

ANTICIPATED PROGRAM TOPICS INCLUDE:

• The Future of the Arctic: Explore the Opportunities and Challenges • Finland’s Past and Future Contributions to Arctic Technology and Operations • Recent and Planned Developments in the Norwegian Sector of the Barents Sea