Offshore Holland

01 Dutch contractors invest en masse Modern customers want full-service provision New semi-submersible Type O Super Vessel Building excellence for complex projects

www.heerema.com

F3-FA platform is a unique construction

Turning concepts into reality!

2011

At Heerema Fabrication Group we are turning concepts into commercial reality: from conceptual design to final fabrication and delivery.

nr. 1

At our fabrication location Heerema Zwijndrecht we completed the largest offshore deck ever built in the Netherlands. The picture shows the 11,000 tons Integrated Production & Hotel Facility topsides for the BP Valhall Re-Development project during the load-out operation on a seagoing barge. Heerema’s Zwijndrecht facility has a capacity which ranks amongst the largest indoor facilities in Europe.

Heerema Fabrication Group Noordweg 8 3336 LH Zwijndrecht The Netherlands Tel: +31 [0]78 - 625 04 25 E-mail: info@hfg-heerema.com

offshore holland

Successful engineering and fabrication of large and complex structures for the offshore oil and gas industry demands not only fabrication and facility operating expertise, but also a fabrication-driven engineering focus to ensure on-time delivery within budget.

Check our track record at www.heerema.com

A HEEREMA COMPANY

Dutch knowledge is called in when the going gets tough

Offshore and EPC Contractors

Solutions for tomorrow’s world

OFFSHORE ACCOMMODATION & SUPPORT

Van Oord Offshore is an Offshore and EPC Contractor that offers high precision subsea rock installation, trenching & backfilling, landfall installation, pipe pulling and SPM & GBS installation works.

With an extensive global track record in the offshore construction industry, Van Oord Offshore has proven its expertise to provide clients with a safe and solid solution for their offshore structures.

, x o f k r o W me in any www.vanoord.com SPM installation

Subsea rock installation

Trenching and backfilling

Landfall construction

at ho ! y g r e n e of d kin

GBS installation

Planetenweg 5, 2132 NH Hoofddorp, The Netherlands info@workfox.com www.workfox.com

May | 2011

4 | F3-FA platform Offshore Holland is a high-quality magazine with the objective to promote the interests and export opportunities of the Dutch supply and

A reusable platform supported on the bed of the North Sea with four large suction piles, on which the complete topsides is suspended from superbolts.

service companies in the upstream oil and gas industry. Moreover technological developments will be highlighted in order to contribute to a positive representation and positioning of the Netherlands as innovative and ingenious partner country.

Initiators

16 | Dutch contractors invest en masse Dutch contractors are one again willing to invest in new shipping stock. There is confidence in the future of the international oil and gas industry.

22 | Full-service provision Supported by

Offshore Holland spoke with Director Joep Athmer of Van Oord Offshore about recent activities, investment in new equipment and the establishment of a traineeship programme for the next generation of offshore workers.

54 | Building excellence

Advertising

Backed by an ideal location, excellent facilities, a highly-skilled and dedicated workforce, Netherlands-based Keppel Verolme offers innovative and cost-effective solutions.

Navingo BV Westerlaan 1 3016 CK Rotterdam The Netherlands Contact: Jeroen Tresfon T: +31 10 209 2600. E: jt@navingo.com

Retra PublicitietisService Contact: Vera Dijks T +31 23 571 8480 E: vera@retra.nl

Editorial Han Heilig and Paul Schaap T: +31 2555 530577 E: han@practica.nl

Production Practica Productions: Peter Ruiter and Corine van Luijken ŠAll copyrights reserved by Offshore Holland

10 | First depwater pipelay system 12 | Natural gas production 20 | World’s deepest TLP 30 | Type O Super Vessel 36 | A world first from CMF 40 | Strength in creativity and innovation 48 | Foresight is the essence of government 58 | Specialist in specialities

2011

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wind FaRm theatRe NOMINATEd fOr bEsT suppOrTINg AcTOr “

The Damen Sea Axe offers your crew and personnel a swift and safe trip offshore. It combines the comfort of a limousine with superb handling characteristics in all weather conditions.

Jaap GellinG DamEn ProDuct DirEctor HigH SPEED VESSElS

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2011

”

Dutch oil and gas suppliers demonstrate innovative and resourceful character IRO – The Association of Dutch Suppliers in the Oil and Gas Industry, is proud to present you the first edition of the new magazine Offshore Holland! The first magazine that will inform the international oil and gas industry on the expertise and service of Dutch companies that are related to the offshore industry. High profile technological developments will be presented to you and will demonstrate the innovative, creative and resourceful character of the Netherlands.

IRO will celebrate its 40th Anniversary by the end of 2011. 40 years of experience, expertise and knowledge has brought us to the point where we are now. The main minerals of the Netherlands are natural gas and petroleum. Annual production in 2009 was 74 billion m3 of natural gas and 1.6 million m3 of oil. In the Netherlands and the Dutch sector of the continental shelf a total of 20 mining companies are operating at about 800 locations on land and around 150 at sea.

Since the discovery in the sixties of the large gas field in Groningen, the Netherlands is one of the largest gas producers in the world and gives the Netherlands a leading position in Europe. Many new techniques have been developed since then.

Also the Dutch oil industry has experienced major developments. The reopening of the Schoonebeek oilfield in the beginning of this year due to new techniques, is a great example of that.

The oilfield will produce 125 million barrels of oil in the coming 25 years, which brings new perspectives.

The need for oil and gas will only grow, due to fast growing welfare societies. Not only in Europe and the United States, but also in upcoming industrialized countries like China, India, Brazil and other countries in Latin America. To this growing demand for oil and gas, companies react with investments in new projects, tech-

niques and material. So do the Dutch suppliers and services companies.

A survey held by Ernst & Young in December 2010 among Dutch oil and gas supply and service companies, learned that the Dutch Oil & Gas services industry has a strong position, which is expected to hold for the next coming years. Compared to the situation in 2009, one is more positive on market developments, individual position and potential for growth.

For many Dutch supply and services companies the recent worldwide recession has not been a major crisis.

The majority sees recovery and expects an upturn within a year.

The local market for suppliers is expected to develop for the better over the next 5 years and international market conditions for both service and other contractors are clearly expected to strengthen over the coming years. Concerns about bringing in enough orders have been replaced by that of the shortage of technically trained people.

3000 meters below sea level. This is just another example of developments in the industry.

Another important market for the Dutch supply industry will be the decommissioning of abandoned oil and gas platforms at sea. Many companies have started preparations for this gigantic yet to come, the only uncertainty is when.

Thanks to their high standards in innovation and technology the Dutch suppliers are capable of meeting any challenge now and in the future.

Read all about their expertise and knowledge in Offshore Holland!

Sincerely, Hans P. de Boer Managing Director IRO

A major challenge for the Dutch offshore industry is working in very deep water and arctic areas. Since the first drilling in 1947 (5,5 meters waterdepth) in the Gulf of Mexico, one worked at a water depth of 300 meters until around 1980. But now, thanks to ROV’s (Remotely Operated Vehicles), it is possible to work at 2011

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Project involving major technical challenges

F3-FA platform is a unique construction A reusable platform supported on the bed of the North Sea with four large suction piles, on which the complete topsides is suspended from superbolts. This is the best description of the new F3-FA gas production platform operated by Centrica Energy.

However, what at first glance appeared to be a simple upscaling of a previously employed self-installing offshore platform in fact turned into a true R&D project that really pushed the boundaries of what is today possible in terms of steel technology and mathematical computing. The relief when the platform was finally firmly anchored on the seabed of the F3 block at the start of September 2010 was correspondingly great. Nonetheless, this successful conclusion was preceded by a considerable volume of preparatory work.

It was already widely known that the lead-up to the F3-FA project had involved a FEED (Front-End Engineering Design) study in the period April through to August 2008. During this study, it was determined whether the gas field in question in the F3 block of the Dutch sector of the North Sea could be developed on the basis of a SIP-2 concept. SIP stands for Self-Installing Platform, in other words a platform that can be installed offshore without needing to call upon the services of a large crane vessel and heavy pile-driving equipment, but simply using a transport barge, a lifting system of strandjacks and suction piles. In this case, however, far larger versions of each of these systems had to be used than employed in the two previous occasions on which self-installing platforms were deployed, including the installation of the platform in the Calder field in the Irish Sea, in 2002. On that occasion, the platform, weighing 680 tonnes, had to be installed in just 29 metres of water. Its topsides measured 20 metres long by 16 metres wide, and it was equipped as a marginal gas production platform.

Shortly following completion of the FEED study, Centrica Energy decided that it would employ the SIP-2 concept. Against that background, an EPCI contract was signed in February 2009 with the Heerema Fabrication Group (HFG) as main contractor and fabricator, and with Iv-Oil & Gas and SPT Offshore as partners. Alongside the offshore installation using a transport barge, the platform had to fulfil one other key requirement: it had to be possible at a later stage to easily remove the platform from the field for subsequent redeployment in either the Dutch or the British sector of the Dutch Sea.

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2011

Specifications

The production time for the F3 gas field is estimated at eight years, but the platform itself must have a useful life of at least twenty years. The platform’s maximum production capacity is 3 million cubic metres of gas a day, 3,450 barrels of condensate and a maximum of 150 cubic metres of water. Two wells will be connected to the platform, with an option for a third. The gas will be discharged via a 10-inch diameter pipeline connected to the existing pipeline infrastructure in the F3 block. The extracted gas is brought ashore in the Netherlands, at Callantsoog. The platform offers accommodation on board, for a crew of 18. As well as local operation, the platform can also be controlled and monitored remotely, from Centrica Energy’s G6 production platform.

Compared with the previously mentioned Calder platform, the F3-FA platform has been designed far larger and heavier, is installed in deeper water and must handle far more difficult wind and sea conditions. The topsides is 50 metres long, 30 metres wide and 30 metres high, and weighs in at more than 4,000 tonnes. The footprint of the complete platform, with conventional and suction piles, measures 63 by 45 metres, and the structure reaches a total height of 133 metres.

Each of the four suction piles weighs 440 tonnes, is 13 metres high, and has a diameter of 15 metres. According to HFG’s project manager Frank Slangen, in total, the complete platform weighs 8,800 tonnes and the design and fabrication took in excess of 1 million man hours.

The F3-FA gas production platform installed offshore.

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Drawing of the new F3-FA reusable gas production platform operated

by Centrica Energy.

Headaches

Wim Bal, managing director of Iv-Oil & Gas explained: “During the design stage, it rapidly became clear that this was more than a relatively simple upscaling of the initial SIP concept. The process section was not the problem.

That was based on a concept tried and tested on numerous occasions on the North Sea. The real headaches were reserved for the strength management for the platform construction.” Normally speaking, the jacket of a platform consists of legs, strengthened by braces. The result is a relatively rigid structure. In the case of the F3-FA platform, the four legs without braces are subjected directly to the force of the waves, which in turn generate further forces on the topsides. “As a consequence, the normal methods for strength calculation were practically useless – a situation that was in fact not discovered until well into the process. We then decided to try out an FEM analysis on the basis of which the entire platform could be modelled.

As it turned out, in the deck alone there were just under one thousand connections, known as nodes. We then attempted to place these nodes into seven categories. After carrying out about 200 load cases on each of the points, a matrix emerged that had to be thoroughly calculated.” The initial problems the designers came up against involved the contradictions in static and dynamic loading. The static load problems could easily be solved by using more steel in the structure.

But in this case, the dynamic loads were so great that in fact less steel had to be used. While the calculations went on, work on fabrication was started at the HFG yard in Flushing.

Fabrication of the four 13 metrehigh suction piles, each weighing 440 tonnes.

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2011

“To solve the node problem, we chose to remove them entirely from the deck for the time being, and to reinstall them once the fabrication of the topsides was completed. The water depth restrictions meant that the clamping system for the deck had to be raised higher.”

According to project engineer Fedor van Veen, the SACS programme was used for the static calculation, in combination with an ANSYS model.

The results were tested by a working group at the Delft University of Technology and by Lloyd’s as certifying body. “All in all we very much pushed at the boundaries of what is possible in terms of steel technology and mathematical computing.”

Superbolts

One unique element of the design is the way in which the entire topsides is attached to the four legs. Wim Bal

continued: “On top of the legs, we produced a massive construction. A sort of yoke, with bolt holes. In these, 6 metre-long bolts with a diameter of 240 millimetres are suspended, each weighing 2 tonnes. These are known as superbolts. There are four such bolts on each leg. Each bolt is pretensioned to 1200 tonnes. Even the nuts weigh 300 kg each. The entire topsides is therefore suspended on sixteen superbolts. Another unique element is the design of the clamp connections.

These are sort of half shells that were put in place after the platform had been installed offshore. These clamps, attached to the main deck, were filled with specially-manufactured rubber blocks. 20 blocks, each weighing 250 kg, were placed in every clamp. The use of these rubber blocks prevents the moment loads applied to the legs being transmitted into the deck. The rubber simply absorbs the peak loads.

The 6 metre-long superbolts from which the complete topsides is suspended.

The site move of the F3-FA deck at the HFG yard in Flushing.

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The load-out operation in Flushing.

Pancake method

As in numerous other construction projects, this topsides was also built using the pancake method – in other words, deck by deck. This work was undertaken by the HFG yard in Flushing. Overall project manager Frank Slangen explained: “The topsides was built in our construction hall. A start was made on the work in September 2009 and following the site move of the module on platform trailers to an outdoor location, the four 75 metre-long legs were installed, using a 1,300 tonne crane. At one point, we had ten cranes travelling around the yard to ensure that all the installation work was completed on time. The 4,000 tonne deck was subsequently lifted using strandjacks to install the grillage on the underside, necessary to ensure solid support for the topsides on the transport barge. The grillage was 6.7 metres high, and in total weighed 800 tonnes.” It is also worth recording that the risers for the production wells travel through one leg, while the gas transport pipeline passes through another. The leg even includes a second pipeline for an optional additional connection.

Frank Slangen went on: “Another unique feature was that the entire structure was first rolled over onto the H-541 barge operated by Heerema Marine Contractors, on platform trailers, and subsequently onto the Boa Barge 35. Measuring 31.5 metres wide, this transport and installation barge was of precisely the right width to allow the legs and suction piles with reinforcement frames to be suspended down both sides. This work involved the floating crane Matador 3.”

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2011

Sail-away of the fully-assembled platform on the Boa Barge 35.

Transport and installation

The partners also gave careful consideration to the transport operation.

According to managing director Mark Riemers of SPT Offshore, responsible for transport and installation, a MOSES model was used for calculating the transport forces. Model tests were also carried out in the towing tank at MARIN. For transport to the F3 field, considerable water depth was necessary because viewed from the top, the four 13 metre-high suction piles hung more than a metre down into the water. The operation therefore required a total draught of 14 metres and a total width of 63 metres. Including grillage and securing devices, the total transport weight was 10,150 tonnes. “To secure the legs, extendable beams weighing 2,100 tonnes were fitted to absorb the vertical forces, in combination with an 1,850 tonne fork construction to absorb the horizontal forces. On 18 August of this year, the transport barge headed out to sea. The Boa Barge 35 was towed by the Norwegian tugs BB Worker and BB Server. On the outward journey to Flushing, these tugs had already installed an anchor pattern in the F3 block, to allow the barge to be moored immediately upon arrival on site. The journey out to the F3 block took almost four days. Once on site, however, conditions proved too stormy, and the barge had to return to shore. Because of the draught, the initial plan was to use Rotterdam as safe haven. However, the authorities refused to allow the transport into the port. The storm strengthened to a force 9 gale, with waves of up to 6 metres in height.

After a 24-hour wait, we were eventually allowed to enter the port. Upon inspection, it fortunately emerged that the platform had suffered no damage whatsoever.”

Once the storm had died down, a second attempt was made. Because the two Norwegian tugs were assisted in this second operation by the far more powerful Bourbon Orca, the outward journey time was shortened by ten hours, representing a reduced weather risk. On 1 September, the transport arrived in the F3 block, for the second time. “Using the strandjacks, we lowered the legs in three hours and it took just another six hours to subsequently simultaneously fix all four suction piles in position. The topsides was then released from the Boa Barge 35, and lifted up into position. When the barge was pulled away, the most precarious part of the operation in terms of weather risk was concluded.

During the night of 2 to 3 September, at 1 a.m., precisely two days and four hours after arrival in the field, installation work was concluded.”

Following commissioning, the drilling rig Noble Scott Marks drilled the first production well, and just after New Year, the first gas was produced from the field. The first gas delivery represents the successful conclusion for HFG, SPT Offshore and Iv-Oil & Gas of a challenging project that imposed severe demands on the partners, but at the same time generated considerable knowledge for future projects.

2011

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IHC Engineering Business invested heavily in technology

First Deepwater Pipelay System Focussing on designing and delivering tailor-made engineering solutions to exacting offshore challenges has been very much the focus of IHC Engineering Business (IHC EB) since it was established in 1997. In recent years, the innovative company has undergone a significant step change in its engineering and project execution capabilities, positioning itself as one of a small number of companies around the world capable of delivering vessel systems of significant size and complexity. As part of the Dutch IHC Merwede Group since 2008, IHC EB has invested heavily in its technology and talented engineers and is now capable of delivering large-scale, tailor made pipelay systems. The first of these systems to be completed is a rigid pipe laying system for global contractor Saipem.

In June last year, following over two years of intensive design and manufacture, the J-Lay tower left its manufacturing location on Teesside, Northern England and transited to Samsung Heavy Industries’ (SHI) Geoje shipyard in South Korea.

Here it was successfully offloaded and installed onto the clients’ new build vessel, Saipem FDS2 (Field Development Ship).

Commissioning

The project team is currently commissioning and testing the 2,500 tonnes of equipment in Korea, prior to its first commercial operation in summer this year (2011). With a second delivery of supporting equipment having recently arrived requiring significant checks, the team is currently integrating and testing the system before its sea trials. IHC EB will provide support during these trials as well as during the first operations of Saipem FDS2 as she enters service.

First–of-a-kind

IHC EB was awarded the contract by Saipem in the third quarter of 2007 and has developed a pipelay tower that is specifically tailored to the clients’ project and requirements. This kind of complex engineering project requires a dedicated team and the ability to work closely, and in partnership, with Saipem throughout every stage. This has certainly strengthened IHC EB’s reputation as a leading supplier of pipelay systems and demonstrates its capability to deliver such large-scale engineering projects. “Designing and building this first–of-akind system has been a remarkable achievement of which we are justifiably very proud,” says Toby Bailey, sales and marketing director of IHC EB.

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2011

The J-Lay tower installed onto the clients’ new build vessel, Saipem FDS2 (Field Development Ship).

Payload

Delivery of this project has required growth in all areas of the business; technology, people, organisation and facilities. The company’s infrastructure has greatly strengthened throughout this process, including the development of a structural engineering function. Proof of their engineering and production skills is the fact that DNV has issued design approval for this innovative J-Lay tower, and IHC EB has successfully met the stringent weight targets set by the client, which allows Saipem to carry the maximum possible payload on the vessel.

Safety

The new system, one of the world’s largest and most versatile, is able to accommodate pipes from 4’’ to 36’’ and is rated at 2,000 tonne hang-off capacity. By adjusting the angle of the tower, from 45 to 96 degrees, the system is capable of laying pipe in shallow or deep water up to 3,000 metres. Key design drivers have been the optimisation of pipe handling operations to ensure low cycle time, highly constrained working envelopes, and ensuring safety in all aspects of operation.

Safety is a fundamental requirement in the oil and gas industry, and it is also a priority for IHC EB. With this in mind, the tower incorporates back up systems such as Safety PLCs for safety critical functions and is regulated to a

Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 3, demonstrating the level of risk-reduction that has been provided.

Statistics

IHC EB spent considerable time interfacing with other suppliers throughout the process to ensure that the system would function correctly as part of a larger equipment arrangement. With a significantly congested deck, there is minimal clearance between the tower and its Assembly Station (AST), which meant that optimisation of the deck layout and the system was vital.

There are a host of fascinating statistics surrounding the J-Lay system including the fact that at 65 metres tall and 14 metres wide it is taller than Newcastle’s Tyne Bridge (located some fifteen miles away from IHC EB’s headquarters). The total weight of the tower including all pipe handling

equipment is 2,500 tonne and the maximum weight of pipe that can be hung off the tower is equivalent to suspending 266 double-decker buses.

There are 25 kilometres of cable; 60,000 lines of software code; and over 5 kilometres of welding.

Not only does IHC EB complete such large-scale pipelay systems – two more are in development; but it also designs and manufactures trenching equipment, specialist handling systems and provides outstanding life cycle support. With an Offshore Support Base well positioned at the Port of Tyne, IHC EB can service its manufacturing activities, and also provide a wider range of services including commissioning, mobilisation and demobilisation, equipment load out, hydraulic, electrical and mechanical testing, dry dock storage and vessel crew changes.

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From small fields in the Netherlands

30 BCM natural gas produ

Dutch gas resources The current level of gas production in the Netherlands is around 75 to 80 BCM per year with small fields contributing 30 to 35 BCM. Small fields production is declining and according to the 2009 forecast by the ministry will reach some 10 BCM by 2030.

The Dutch gas reserves are some 250 BCM, excluding the Groningen field. Contingent resources are currently estimated at 200 BCM, build up from increased ultimate recovery and field life extension (100 BCM), stranded fields (50 BCM) and tight/shallow gas 50 BCM). The exploration potential for conventional gas is estimated at some 200 BCM as well. Contingent together with prospective resources are estimated at some 400 BCM, 1.6 times remaining small field reserves.

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ction in 2030 The ambition of 30 BCM in 2030 was for the first time stated some 3 years ago by Energie Beheer Nederland, the state owned company with 40% share in most of the gas producing joint ventures. Clearly the Dutch energy province is mature and production from the older fields is declining. Strong points are however its closeness to the NW European gas market, existing infrastructure (in particular offshore), its Small Fields Policy and still significant opportunities for exploration and production, albeit from smaller or more difficult fields.

In 2010 the Gas Hub Consultative Platform was initiated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation and the energy sector. One of the four working groups focused on all aspects related to the mining climate in the Netherlands and generated ideas on how to improve it. This year these ideas will be further jointly worked by the ministry, the E&P industry and knowledge institutes aiming at the realization of this ambition of 30 BCM in 2030. 30 BCM in 2030 excludes any production from the Groningen field. The Groningen field still contains just over 1000 BCM of gas, which will be produced over the coming decades.

Mining Climate

An important first step in improving the mining climate in the Netherlands was realized September last year when the offshore fallow acreage covenant and the financial measure for stimulating of marginal fields came into force. The purpose of the covenant is to stimulate activities in parts of existing production licenses where currently no activities take place and also no significant activities are planned by the current licensee. If a third party is interested in working in that area, it will be released to that party. The financial measure will improve the economics of marginal fields by allowing an additional depreciation of 25% of the investments costs (exploration and development for new prospects or developments costs only for stranded fields) from the State Profit Share.

Several applications were filed and the first ones are approved.

The first steps to improve the mining climate were taken but more needs to be done. That will be subject of the joint working group between the ministry and the E&P industry. Results are expected late this year.

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Implementation of new techniques has just started and further improvements are to be expected.

Technology and cost reductions

Reduction of exploration, development as well as operating costs are essential when current fields are nearing their end of life and new fields are getting smaller or more difficult to develop. Significant steps were and are being made to make this happen. Examples of cost reduced developments in exploration and development are the mono-pile, a single leg unmanned platform, installation of a new type of production platform, which can be moved to another field when the field is depleted and a smaller drilling rig, purposely build for drilling in shallow North Sea waters. Improvements in seismic, both in shooting and in interpretation, are stimulating exploration activities for smaller fields.

Extending life of existing fields is also essential as it helps to maintain the on- and offshore infrastructure. As many fields are approaching this part of the life cycle, attention has increased and the results are encouraging. Examples are well stimulation by fraccing and foam injection/velocity strainers for solving liquid loading problems. Implementation of new techniques has just started and further improvements are to be expected.

The working group between the ministry, E&P sector and knowledge institutes is focused on new options through improved cooperation between various players.

In particular smaller players may benefit from these initiatives.

Expectations

Ultimate recovery factors for existing gas fields are typically around 75 to 95%.

However a considerable number of fields have lower recovery factors, mostly due to compartmentalisation and reservoir quality. Fields reaching end-of-life experience low pressure, water production and increasing opex per unit produced. There is a strong incentive to extend field life and in that way increase the ultimate recovery of existing fields. Encouraging progress is being made. Current estimates show a potential of some 100 BCM. Stranded Fields

Stranded fields are not developed as they are currently uneconomic to develop.

The financial measure introduced last year in the Netherlands is targeting those fields to improve their economics. Several companies, mostly newcomers in the Netherlands, are focused on developing those stranded fields. Economic viable development and operations of offshore stranded fields is often dependent on the availability of infrastructure close by. Hence timing is important. Current estimates show a potential of up to 50 BCM.

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NOGEPA NOGEPA stands for the Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Association.

It represents the interests of members, associates and society in general. Developments in safety, sustainability and climate are followed closely.

NOGEPA constantly seeks optimal balance between economic viability and responsible operations.

Tight gas / Shallow gas

Tight gas potential is significant and the focus is very much on new developments to make development of these fields economically viable. Further developments in fraccing are essential to make this happen. Most of these fields are offshore. The estimate of tight gas potential is very much dependent on technological progress to increase production from (very) tight fields. Shallow gas is already produced with success in the north of the Dutch Continental Shelf. Current potential of tight and shallow gas is around 50 BCM. Unconventional gas

Exploration licenses have been awarded for unconventional gas in the Netherlands, in particular focusing on onshore shale gas developments. Exploration wells are planned. The challenge is to get public acceptance for these types of activities as the Netherlands is a densely populated country. This is a time consuming process in the Netherlands for onshore activities. It is still too early for a meaningful estimate of the potential of unconventional gas production in the Netherlands. The expectation is that the focus for the next decade will be very much on conventional gas.

The challenge

Further developments in technology are key as these will lead to cost reductions in all three phases in exploration, development and operation. Further developments in technology together with a supportive mining climate are determining factors that will shape the future of the gas sector in the Netherlands.

Development in technology together with a supportive mining climate are determing factors for the Duth gas sector.

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Dutch contractors invest en masse in new equipment

Confidence has recovered!

Dutch contractors are once again willing to invest en masse in new shipping stock. Orders have already been placed for various types of crane vessels, heavy lifters, fallpipe vessels, dredgers and jack-up platforms. Confidence in the future of the offshore oil and gas industry and of the global economy as a whole seems to have fully recovered. And, as has traditionally been the case, Dutch contractors are once again willing to push the boundaries.

One remarkable fabrication order is for the dynamically-positioned platform installation/decommissioning and pipelay vessel Pieter Schelte. Allseas signed a contract with Daewoo shipyard in Korea fort his vessel, in June of last year. At 382 metres in length and 117 metres at the beam, this vessel will be the largest of its kind in the world. The Pieter Schelte will have a lift capacity for topsides of 48,000 tonnes and a jacket lift capacity of 25,000 tonnes. The pipelaying tension capacity will be 2,000 tonnes, twice that of the world’s largest pipelay vessel to date, Allseas’ own Solitaire. The Pieter Schelte will be capable of laying pipes with outside diameters of between 7 and 68 inches, in very deep water.

Handover is planned for 2013.

During the same year, the monohull deepwater construction vessel Aegir will be handed over to Heerema Marine Contractors. This vessel, also under construction at the Daewoo yard in Korea, will itself be suitable for laying pipes in very deep water. The tension capacity will be 2,000 tonnes. The Aegir is further set to be fitted with deepwater lowering equipment for installation work to depth of up to 3,500 metres, and the ship will also be able to install platforms in relatively shallow water. For this purpose, a crane with a lift capacity of 4,000 tonnes will be mounted on the aftership. The 210 metre-long dp3 vessel will be capable of fast transit speeds.

Since the start of this year, the state-of-the-art monohull crane vessel Oleg Strashnov has been in service with Seaway Heavy Lifting. This 183 metre-long vessel has a lift capacity of 5,000 tonnes. The most remarkable feature of the Oleg Strashnov is its hull shape. The hull has been designed to offer additional stability during lifting operations, while still achieving a transit speed of 14 knots during transport operations. The lift capacity of the Strashnov is twice that of SHL’s monohull crane vessel Stanislav Yudin.

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Oleg Strashnov Length overall (excl crane and anchors)

183.00m

Length between perpendiculars

171.38m

Breadth moulded (lifting)

47.00m

Depth main working deck (moulded)

18.20m

Design draught (moulded)

13.84m

Scantling draught (moulded)

14.00m

Speed

14.0kn

Deadweight at scantling draught DP Class Main hoist

48,000t 3 5,000mt

Auxiliary hoist 1

800mt

Auxiliary hoist 2

200mt

Whip hoist

New heavy lifters

In the same way that Allseas is pushing its boundaries with the Pieter Schelte, heavy transport specialists Dockwise are following suit, by developing the so-called Type O self-propelled semisubmersible heavy lift transport vessel. With a revolutionary bowless design it will be the first vessel of its kind in service in the maritime transport industry.

Dockwise has appointed Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) of Korea as its shipbuilding yard. The total cost of the vessel, including all project and design costs, is expected to be approximately USD 240 million.

For more information see page 30 in this magazine. Dockwise hopes to take delivery of the ship by the end of 2012. Also in 2012, Dockwise will take on the management of a brand-new heavy lifter. This vessel, currently under construction in China, will have a transport capacity of 50,000 tonnes.

The most remarkable feature of the Oleg Strashnov is its hull shape.

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Pieter Schelte.

Artist impression of Seafox 5.

Another Dutch player in the upper segment of the heavy lift market, Fairstar Heavy Transport, has plans for fleet expansion. Two 50,000-tonne dwt vessels, christened Forte and Finesse are currently under construction in China, and are due to enter service in 2012.

Dutch transport specialists active in the project cargo sector are also hard at work investing in new ships. The fleet at BigLift Shipping is to be expanded with the addition of five new Happy-D type vessels, each weighing 17,250 tonne dwt, and all to be built in China, while two 18,680 tonne dwt Happy-S type vessels have been placed on the stocks at a yard in India. The Happy-S ships will be christened Happy Sky and Happy Star, and each will be equipped with two cranes with a lift capacity of 900 tonnes. In tandem, this equipment will enable the vessels to load and unload cargoes weighing up to 1,800 tonnes.

The Happy Sky and Happy Star will be handed over later this year.

The first two new heavy lifters have now been delivered to RollDock. Both vessels were built at a yard in Hazira, India, and have been christened Rolldock Sun and Rolldock Sea. A further six of these heavy lifters will be handed over by the same yard between now and 2013.

The two latest additions to the Jumbo Shipping fleet, the Fairplayer and the Jumbo Jubilee, have already been in operation for more than a year. Both ships are equipped with two cranes, each with a lift capacity of 900 tonnes, capable in tandem of loading and un-loading cargoes of up to 1,800 tonnes. The Fairplayer has been specially equipped with a dynamic positioning system and a deepwater deployment system that together allow heavy loads to be installed on the seabed, in water depths up to a maximum of 3,300 metres.

Fallpipe vessels

The Dutch dredging contractors have also been making heavy investments.

The dp2 flexible fallpipe vessel Stornes for example, built in China, is due to be handed over this year to Van Oord.

This 175 metre-long vessel, with a load capacity of 27,000 tonnes, will be able to carry out rock installation work up to a water depth of 2,000 metres.

The arrival of the Stornes enlarges the fleet of flexible fallpipe vessels available to Van Oord, to four.

The other three are the Nordnes, the Tertnes and the Jan Steen.

For its part, Boskalis now has a flexible fallpipe vessel on the stocks at a yard in Singapore. This 159 metre-long vessel will be handed over at the end of the year. Boskalis already operates two other fallpipe vessels, the Seahorse and the Sandpiper.

Dutch contractors are once again willing to push the boundaries!

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Van Oord has also commissioned the construction of a transport and installation vessel for constructing offshore wind farms.

The vessel will be constructed at the Sietas shipyard in Hamburg, Germany.

Yet another Dutch dredging contractor, Tideway Offshore Contractors, is also having its own flexible fallpipe vessel, the Flintstone, built in Singapore. The Flintstone will be able to undertake rock installation work at water depth of up to 2,000 metres.

See page 48 for more information.

The dredging contractors are also investing heavily in other specialist ships. Van Oord, for example, recently took possession of the brand-new trailing suction hopper dredger Vox Mรกxima. This vessel, built by IHC Dredgers, has a hopper capacity of 31,200 cubic metres. Two other ships are also under construction for Van Oord, at the same yard. The pair, to be christened Athena and Artemis, will be the most modern and most powerful self-propelled cutter suction dredgers in the world.

The Athena will be handed over in October 2011, the Artemis in mid-2013.

Finally, in 2009, Boskalis took delivery of the trailing suction hopper dredger Willem van Oranje.

This vessel, also built at IHC Dredgers, has a hopper capacity of 12,000 cubic metres, spread over two hoppers.

Wind turbine installation vessels This year, MPI Offshore, a subsidiary of Vroon Offshore Services, will take delivery of the wind turbine installation vessels MPI Adventure and MPI Discovery. These 140 metre-long vessels, equipped with a 1,000-tonne crane, are a larger version of the MPI Resolution. For the MPI Adventure, the first of the pair due to be delivered, a long-standing charter is in place for installation of the foundations for wind turbines, in British waters.

its self-propelled installation jack-up vessel Seafox 5. This vessel, built in Singapore, will have an installation capacity of 1,200 metric tonnes.

Finally, Van Oord has awarded the order for the fabrication of a transport and wind turbine installation vessel for constructing offshore wind farms.

The vessel will be 139 metres long, and will have a hoisting capacity of 900 tonnes. As EPC contractor, Van Oord has already been involved in the construction of a number of offshore wind farms. The company, in collaboration with Typhoon Offshore, has now signed a contract for the construction of two wind farms, each generating 300 MW of power, in a section of the North Sea to the north of the Wadden Islands, on behalf of BARD-Netherlands.

Starting in mid-21012, Workfox, the operational manager of the Seafox fleet, will be able to put into operation

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World’s deepest TLP becomes MARIN’s 9,000th test model!

In spring last year, the world deepest TLP (5,187 ft) was tested at MARIN for Chevron U.S.A. Inc. and FloaTEC. The ‘Big Foot’ TLP represents MARIN’s 9,000th test model since the maritime research institute opened in 1932.

This extended Tension Leg Platform (ETLP), designed by FloaTEC, will be located at the ‘Big Foot’ Field development at the Walker Ridge Block 29 in the Gulf of Mexico. The platform will be a local host with Dry Trees and the associated Top Tensioned Risers (TTRs), with full drilling, workover and sidetrack capability on the topsides. Chevron is the operator of Big Foot and the co-owners are Statoil USA E&P and Marubeni Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. The model tests focused on the behavior of the platform in Gulf of Mexico Hurricane conditions. The large water depth required the use of the 30 m deep pit in the MARIN Offshore Basin. Together with its dedicated wave generators, wind fans and special current generation system, the basin offers unique possibilities for modeling realistic currents, waves and wind at scale.

Previously, this special pit was used for other major deep water projects, such as Shenzi, Pony, Okume, Ormen Lange, West Seno TLPs and the Perdido Spar.

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Warehouse in Houston will be fully refurbished

Van Beest launches EXCEL® in the USA Van Beest is a producer of accessories for steel wire rope and chain. The head office is based in Sliedrecht, the Netherlands. Here you will also find the factory where the Green Pin shackles are manufactured. Another factory is based in Celles sur Durolle, France, where the Excel hooks and chain components are forged. Currently Van Beest is preparing the introduction of the EXCEL® range in the USA. They have already been selling Green Pin shackles into the American market for many years, and with the introduction of the EXCEL® range a complete line of lifting components for use with chain or wire rope will be available under one roof.

Both product lines are used in many different lifting applications in various sectors such as the offshore industry, mining, shipping and fishing. Because the two brands complement each other perfectly they are often used together in many situations.

Complete

The Van Beest company started in the 1920’s as a forging company that supplied products to the local dredging industry. Over the years they specialized in the manufacturing of shackles, and in the 1970’s they introduced the shackle brand Green Pin. Green Pin is now a leading trade mark for lifting shackles.

In 2007 Van Beest acquired the factory in France where EXCEL® chain accessories are manufactured. Excel offers an extensive range of grade 80 and grade 100 hooks, and a vast range of products. The EXCEL® range has a leading position in the European market, and it is also exported to many countries outside the EU. The EXCEL® range of chain accessories is very complete. Everything you need to make a chain assembly is in the program. From the master link to the hook, whether this should be an eye, swivel or clevis hook. And not only in grade 8, but almost every product can also be supplied in grade 10 or stainless steel.

Houston

The Van Beest warehouse in Houston, Texas already holds a large stock of Green Pin® products, and now the EXCEL® products will be stocked there as well. To make sure that there will be sufficient space to stock enough products to serve the USA market in the years to come they have purchased 3.5 acres (14,300 m2) of land with a 15.000 square feet (1,400 m2) warehouse: double the size of the current facilities! It will ensure that a complete range is directly available from stock and quick delivery to anywhere in the USA can be arranged.

The warehouse will be fully refurbished and brought up to date with modern tools like barcode readers, a modern computer system and efficient

packing tools so that the entire logistical process will work very efficient.

Of course a good tracking and tracing system is also incorporated in the logistic process.

This work will be done while the old warehouse is still in use to prevent delays in shipments to customers.

Van Beest expect to move to the new premises end of 2011.

In the new situation Van Beest USA will work with the same computer system as the rest of the Van Beest International Group. Automatically generated certificates from the computer system, invoicing, packing lists; the entire process will be done in the same manner in all Van Beest companies to ensure the same high quality standard worldwide.

The new warehouse in Houston.

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EPIC contracts for installation of SPMs

Modern customers want full-service provision In quick succession, Van Oord Offshore based in Gorinchem successfully implemented four Single Point Mooring (SPM) systems, one off the coast of Rumania and three offshore from the United Arab Emirates. The company also made a major contribution to the Nord Stream project, as explained by Director Joep Athmer. Other recent developments include the opening of a new regional office in Houston, investments in new equipment and the establishment of a traineeship programme for the next generation of offshore workers.

One of the first Engineering, Procurement, Installation & Commissioning (EPIC) contracts for the installation of an SPM system was undertaken on behalf of the Rumanian company Rompetrol. “This customer was looking for a partner able to provide the full range of services required. The project involved the installation of an SPM system for the loading and unloading of oil tankers near Constantza, in the Black Sea.” The project was undertaken in collaboration with several subcontractors.

Van Oord Offshore deployed a whole range of equipment for the project, including a pipelay vessel, a trailing suction hopper dredger, a backhoe dredger and a linear winch that was used to pull the oil pipeline ashore.

“For us, it is important that any project of this kind involves some dredging work, rock installation work or the pulling ashore of a pipeline.”

Against that background, the subsequent project at Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates tied in precisely with our objectives. The project in question comprised the Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) contract for the offshore work in the

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Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline Project (ADCOP). “The work that had to be carried out involved the installation of three pipelines with a total length of approximately 13 kilometres, and the installation of three SPM systems, supplied by Bluewater based in Hoofddorp. We first dug trenches for each of the pipelines which were then refilled following laying. As well as the dredging and backfilling work, the pipelines were pulled to the actual location of the SPM, from shore, using the so-called bottom pull method.

According to this method, the pipelines are fully prepared on land and then pulled out to sea using a work barge equipped with a winch.” The workboat Jan Steen, classified by Joep Athmer as a multifunctional support vessel, played an important role in the ADCOP project. “The Jan Steen is effectively a rock dumping vessel, but can very easily be adapted for carrying out dive support and installation work.”

Given the excellent experience accrued during this and previous projects, Van Oord Offshore intends in the future to continue to present itself as an EPC contractor. In other words acting as main contractor

responsible for all the activities required in a given project. “This will enable us to respond to the latest trend whereby today’s customers are looking to purchase the full range of services from a single supplier.”

Russian projects

Another recently completed contract involved the shore approaches of two pipelines near Vyborg in Russia as part of the Nord Stream project.

“For this work we deployed our new 600-tonne linear winch and one of our new backhoes. We recently took possession of the two largest backhoes in the world, the Goliath and the Simson. The vessel that dug the trench near Vyborg, though which the pipelines were subsequently pulled ashore, was the Simson. In the process, the backhoe proved capable of effortlessly removing rocks weighing at least 100 tonnes. This was the first real test for the newly delivered dredging vessel.” Elsewhere in Russia, Van Oord Offshore is involved in the Baydaratskaya Bay Crossing project. “For that project, we are currently deploying three hoppers for dredging trenches across the Baydaratskaya Bay. When our work is done, a number of gas

Artist’s impression of the fallpipe vessel Stornes due to join the Van Oord fleet in mid 2011.

‘One of the greatest challenges currently facing us is finding the right people for our business’.

Director Offshore Joep Athmer

Director Offshore Joep Athmer.

pipelines will be laid in these trenches via which Russian gas from the Yamal peninsula will be exported to Western Europe.” Even further from home, near the Russian island of Sachalin, more dredging work is being carried out for an offshore project. Van Oord, together with a number of other Dutch companies, is in fact a member of the Project Delta Group. The group advises both Gazprom and the Dutch government on possible developments relating to Russia’s large-scale plans for oil and gas exploration in the Yamal region.

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On time – on budget

Van Oord Offshore has now successfully completed a whole series of shore approaches for pipelines. For example, near the Australian port city of Dampier, as well as completing dredging work for Woodside’s Pluto project on behalf of Allseas Marine Contractors, a pipeline was pulled ashore. The shore approach of a pipeline bundle for the Corrib Gas Field Development project being undertaken

by Shell in Irish waters, has now also been completed. As part of this project, Van Oord Offshore dredged and subsequently re-filled a 1,700 metrelong trench. The equipment deployed for this work included two backhoe dredgers, three split hopper barges, a trailing suction hopper dredger, a laying barge and a linear winch for pulling the pipeline bundle ashore.

The work was often made difficult by poor weather conditions and the unpredictable sea movements in the Atlantic Ocean. Nonetheless, this project was also completed to the customer’s satisfaction, on time and on budget.

Rock installation

As well as carrying out dredging work, the shore approach of pipelines and the installation of SPMs, Van Oord Offshore has also established a reputation for so-called subsea rock installation work, in other words, the positioning of rocks in very deep water, with extreme accuracy. “At the start of 2010 we installed the final rocks for the Ormen Lange project in Norwegian waters. This was a very

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The Simson is the largest backhoe dredger of its kind in the world.

large project for our organisation, that took several years to complete, and for which millions of tonnes of rock have been deposited at sea. The project even involved installing rocks at a water depth in excess of 850 metres.�

For this specialist work, the Van Oord Offshore fleet includes three flexible fallpipe vessels, the Nordnes, the Tertnes and the Jan Steen. The last of the three is in fact a side stone dumping vessel, but that can also be used as a fallpipe ship. The largest of the three, with a load capacity of 26,238 tonnes, is the Nordnes. The Jan Steen, with a load capacity of just 1,824 tonnes, is the smallest. The company operates another four smaller side stone dumpers. In mid-2011, this stone dumping fleet is due to be expanded with the addition of the brand-new DP2 flexible fallpipe vessel Stornes.

At 175 metres long and 26 metres wide, the Stornes will be one of the largest vessels of its kind in the world.

A new 600-tonne linear winch was deployed for the shore approach of the Nord Stream pipelines.

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“This vessel, with a load capacity of 27,000 tonnes, is currently under construction at the Yantai Raffles yard in China. Using this vessel, we will be capable of dumping rocks in water depths of up to 2,000 metres. We ordered the fabrication of the Stornes when market expectations were still very positive. As yet, however, the available tonnage has not undergone the expected growth. At the same time, our competitors are also hard at work building new vessels. As a result, in a couple of years’ time, rock dumping capacity will have doubled – a development not matched by market demand. All in all these facts represent quite a challenge.”

taken in combination with the establishment of a Van Oord dredging division. In Houston, however, we felt the need to have our own regional representative. His most important task is to maintain contacts with the major operators, main contractors and engineering organisations in the oil and gas world, and to contribute ideas on possible future developments.

We also have our own office in Perth, in Western Australia, which since mid-October 2010 has been headed by Hans Luijnenburg, regional manager Asia Pacific. Given the future developments in North Western Australia, a base in Perth brings us closer to our customers.”

Next year, as part of a consortium, Van Oord Offshore will be undertaking subsea rock installation work on behalf of Petrobras, in Brazilian waters. “Petrobras has drawn up a major investment programme for the coming years, and we have a clear impression that they intend to increasingly make use of the services of Western companies.”

Future prospects

New offices

As the world population continues to grow, alongside the demand for the production and transport of oil and gas, we expect the offshore sector to provide us with plenty of work for many more years to come. We are however finding it increasingly difficult to keep customers satisfied, while QHSE (safety) requirements are demanding ever more manpower,

Mid 2010 Van Oord Offshore opened its own regional office in Houston.

According to Joep Athmer, this was a deliberate move. “We opened the office at the start of May, and our first point of contact there is Jos Wellink.

Our goal is to be represented with our own offices at a few key locations around the world. This step is often

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Joep Athmer is positive about prospects for the future. “We expect to see a great deal of activity over the next few years in Australia’s North West Shelf. And there are plenty of challenges facing us in Russia, as well.

Another interesting development is the emergence of ever more national oil companies.

time and money. Another notable development is that the procurement departments of customers are playing a more and more prominent role in the awarding of orders; in many cases, the only element considered important is price.

Customers are also taking longer to consider their actions before actually placing their orders.

Nonetheless, one of the greatest challenges currently facing us is finding the right people for our business.

Because this is becoming increasingly difficult, we have decided to train a number of young people, in-house.

We have therefore recruited graduates from university and higher professional education in the Netherlands and beyond.

At the end of September, we started a one-year Offshore Training Programme for these candidates. Visitors to the website www.debestetraineeships.nl recently voted the already existing Van Oord Technical Traineeship their favourite traineeship in the category Technology, just like in 2007.

By following the special Offshore Training Programme, the next generation of employees will be introduced to work in the offshore sector.�

The installation of pipelines and SPMs near Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.

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Efficient planning of operations, hours and days ahead

Dynamic Positioning Capa Amarcon, based in Dalfsen, the Netherlands, is the creator of Octopus, a suite of hardware and software products that form a unique solution for the improvement of safety and efficiency for ships operating at sea. This leading to significant cost reductions for the industry.

OCTOPUS-Onboard is a part of the OCTOPUS suite of products and is recognized as a state-of-the-art modular decision support system for ships and other floating structures by world leading offshore contractors and shipping companies. OCTOPUS-Onboard has been on the maritime market since 2003 for route and operation planning and optimization of speed, heading and fuel consumption in every weather condition.

DP Capability

One of the extensions within OCTOPUS-Onboard is the Dynamic Positioning capability forecast function, DP for short. The OCTOPUS-DP functionality gives offshore vessels the possibility to make optimum use of a safe time window for their weather-sensitive operations. An important remark has to be made here.

The OCTOPUS-DP functionality can not be compared with already existing Dynamic Positioning Systems. Where traditional DP systems try to keep the vessels position during an offshore operation, OCTOPUS-DP takes it one step further. A forecast is given if the vessel is capable of maintaining her position and heading in changing environmental and weather conditions, hours and days ahead. In 2010 OCTOPUS-DP was installed on the Hoegh LNG vessels Suez Cape Ann and the Suez Neptune. Both vessels use OCTOPUS-DP to plan and document safe time windows for discharging LNG from the vessel to shore trough a turret mooring and transfer system designed by APL - Advanced Production Loading - of Norway.

How does it work?

Basically, the DP software calculates an onboard forecast of the mean and slowly varying forces acting on the vessel due to currents, wind and waves. The calculations are based on measured environmental conditions and on weather forecasts, which are an integrated part of OCTOPUS-Onboard. The first result is the forecast of the mean heading the vessel would obtain if weathervaning or drifting. The DP Capability software also calculates how the expected forces will influence the ship and if these forces would bring it out of position during an operation at sea for any available thruster configuration. OCTOPUS-DP uses the thruster properties as input. There is no direct link with the DP-system itself.

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bility Forecast With the obtained information, it easy to judge for which DP thruster configuration the vessel is resistant against expected forces or that it is better to stop and start the operation at a different time. Safe heading sectors are given in Polar Plots. A safe DP time window is given in the overall OCTOPUS Weather Window.

The window gives the crew a clear view on how these forces have a different impact on the ship at a change of heading. Furthermore, when using the weather window, critical weather conditions that increase the risks of excessive large roll motion or, for example, large accelerations at the tip of a stinger or crane can be foreseen in an early stage. This way the crew gets a clear forecast if the operation can be executed in the hours and days ahead, and under which heading this can safely be done. With DP capability the crew can easily see if it is sensible and efficient to start or go on with the operation at sea. Or is it better to start (again) at a different time?

The benefits are clear: A clear and complete indication of the operational windows for weather-sensitive operations at sea Better and efficient preparation and execution of projects Less damages and stress to the vessel Optimal use of man and machine in a safe environment, leading to significant cost reductions.

A clear DP Capability forecast, hours and days ahead.

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Perfect addition to the impressive Dockwise fleet

Type 0 Super Vessel provides 110,000 MT of possibility

As a result of providing innovative services to the Oil & Gas industry, Dockwise began to study the feasibility of investing in a new semi-submersible Super Vessel that is capable of helping clients meet their needs for bigger, integrated structures.

This so-called ‘Type 0 Super Vessel’ will be the first of its kind for the maritime transport industry, and will make the perfect addition to the impressive Dockwise fleet. The vessel will have an overall deck size of 275 x70 meters, a revolutionary bowless design, and a carrying capacity of up to 110,000 metric tons.

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The business rationale for deciding to build this new vessel is based on current trends for upcoming projects in the Oil & Gas industry, which indicate that there is a need for this type of larger vessel. “Exploration and production is shifting from more shallow waters in traditional areas to extremely deepwater Floating Production Units (FPUs) and more remote areas. Furthermore, the demand in the industry is for larger, heavier equipment, which can be built as a completed, integrated unit,” says Dockwise Managing Engineer Michel Seij.

According to Seij, currently, floating production structures, like tension leg platforms and semi-submersible platforms, and gravity based structures with a deadweight of more than 50,000 metric tons must be transported separately and integrated or even built at the destination. Other production structures, like SPAR buoys, can only be transported to a certain size.

The latest newly-built FPSO’s and semi-submersible crane vessels have to be tugged to their destination.

Maximum

The maximum carrying capacity of the current biggest semi-submersible heavy lift vessels in the world goes up to 50,000 metric tons. Only the Dockwise vessel the Blue Marlin can transport, in specific cases, structures up to 73,000 tons (depending on the vertical center of gravity).

Spar loaded onto the Dockwise Type 0 Super Vessel.

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‘We aren’t just building a bigger vessel. We’re building a better vessel’

André Goedée, Dockwise CEO.

The Blue Marlin is 225 meters long, with a width of 63 meters, and a maximum water above deck of 13 meters. Dockwise concluded that if it could offer a vessel to transport these larger offshore cargoes as integrated structures, it would significantly reduce risks and insurance costs, as well as expensive offshore man hours for hook-up and commissioning for clients. In addition, time to production could be significantly reduced. From experience, Dockwise has also learned that a new vessel with even larger dimensions will trigger new design opportunities within the industry.

Unique projects

A key target market for the new Dockwise Type 0 Super Vessel are all offshore structures between 50,000 and up to 110,000 metric tons. These structures can be categorized in floating production structures for water depths of more than 1,500 feet (Tension Leg Platforms, Semi-Submersible Platforms, and SPAR buoys), gravity based production structures for shallow water depth (less than 300 feet) in harsh environments, FPSO’s, floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) structures, and semi-submersible crane vessels. Dockwise has recognized a significant number of unique projects for the New Type 0 Super Vessel in upcoming years.

But it’s not only the Type 0 Super Vessel’s size that makes it unique. The vessel also has a revolutionary innovative design: it has no bow.

In addition, the Type 0 Super Vessel’s design makes use of its optimal deck

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length and provides more flexibility.

The accommodation block and navigation bridge are located on the extreme starboard side. The vessel has a dedicated design for ultra heavy semi-submersible production platforms.

This includes optimized deck strength, extreme wind load capabilities, and stability characteristics to carry the state of the art semi-submersible production structures in line with the latest air gap requirements.

There will be two diesel electric main propulsion trains. In addition, there will be two azimuthing thrusters on the ship. “There is no self-propelled vessel of this size in the market and we are keen to provide a solution that will meet the needs of our clients in the Oil & Gas industry all over the world for decades to come,” says André Goedée, Dockwise CEO. New opportunities

The Dockwise Type 0 Super Vessel can also serve the top end of the current market for structures between 25,000 and 50,000 tons, as it is better equipped to transport the latest fifth and sixth generation semi-submersible rigs, due to its large maximum submersible draft of 16 meters.

Also, structures with a very high vertical center of gravity are best suited for transport onboard the new Super Vessel. Its innovative construction has unlimited potential for the future as well. “The construction of our new vessel will change the opportunities for clients to build their structures completely integrated,” Seij says.

“This is not only interesting from a cost perspective, but it’s also

Artist impression of the Dockwise Type 0 Super Vessel.

interesting for platforms in remote areas, where there is basically no integration infrastructure. In addition, we have the flexibility to transfer larger modules and cargoes around the world. This means we can really go where no one has gone before – and focus on challenging projects in harsher climates in remote areas such as West Africa, and Western Australia.

This will afford us new opportunities in the LNG market as well.”

New Horizons

For the Oil & Gas processing market, marine transport services are required for heavy onshore structures, such as modules for LNG plants, refineries, and petro-chemical plants.

Transporting large integrated units onboard the new Type 0 Super Vessel provides customers with a number of benefits, including the option of building and assembling large projects or parts of projects in lower cost environments, shorter transit times, and operating efficiencies arising from the reduced need for on-site support equipment.

Despite recent economic woes, the reality is that the world still needs energy, as well as the equipment to find and produce it. Dockwise sees definite opportunities in the Oil & Gas industry that the Dockwise new Type 0 Super Vessel would be perfectly suited for. “Dockwise welcomes the opportunity to offer our new Type 0 Super Vessel as an integrated transport solution to our clients that offers innovative solutions in terms of safety, flexibility, and cost efficiency,” Goedée says.

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FPSO loaded onto the Dockwise Type 0 Super Vessel.

Dockwise also believes that the new Dockwise Type 0 Super Vessel offers clients and the industry a chance to rethink their design concepts. “It will open up the market for fully integrate semi-submersibles. It will lift a lot of the restrictions in the design process as well,” Seij says. “For Dockwise, it will set new boundaries for what we can transport. In addition, we’ll be able to rethink how we approach integrated builds that simply were not feasible before because of the weight limitations for transport. With our new vessel, we can play an important role in the construction philosophies of our clients.“ Leader of the Pack

Once construction of the new vessel is complete, the company will own the world’s most unique vessel in its industry. But it’s not just the new vessel’s size that makes it stand out

from the rest. “We aren’t just building a bigger vessel. We’re building a better vessel,” Seij says. “We made a thorough inventory of what our current vessels can do. And we identified the need for a vessel that is not only bigger, but also more flexible in its deck space design.”

The result is a special design, but also a vessel that, according to Seij, incorporates all the features you would like to see in a heavy-transport vessel. “A lot of the other vessels, including a lot of the new builds, are in certain areas compromised with respect to efficiency and of course the investment to be made,” Seij states.

“I think here, we really pushed for the best solution for the cargo and for the vessel itself, in terms of propulsion, safety, strength, ballasting, bowless design and flexible deck space. All of these come together to truly set this vessel apart.”

‘Terms of propulsion, safety, strength, ballasting, bowless design and flexible deck space all come together to truly set this vessel apart.’

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Offshore Energy 2011 and it’s international ambitions

One of the motives to relocate Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference to Amsterdam RAI, is organizer Navingo’s goal to develop Offshore Energy into a leading international two-day event with (inter)national audience and exhibitors. Dutch capital Amsterdam is ideal for this purpose and to host the exhibition there provides an excellent opportunity to position the Netherlands as an international offshore country.

For the past three years Offshore Energy took place in Den Helder. Due to the enormous growth in the number of exhibitors and visitors, Navingo decided to move to Amsterdam and make it a two-day event on 11 and 12 October 2011.

International ambitions

To achieve these international goals Navingo started to form a Committee of Recommendation consisting of top leaders from the offshore and energy industries to realize the international ambitions. So far, Mr. Jaap den Ouden, founder and board member of Mercon, Mr. Kommer Damen, Chairman of the Board of the Damen Shipyards Group, Mr. Bram van Mannekes, SecretaryGeneral NOGEPA (Netherlands Oil

and Gas Exploration and Production Association), Mr. Hans P. de Boer, Managing Director IRO (The Association of Dutch Suppliers in the Oil and Gas Industry), Mr. Ruud B. Zoon, Managing Director GDF SUEZ E&P Netherlands B.V. and Mr. Martin Bloem, General Director Holland Shipbuilding Association have already committed themselves to the Committee of Recommendation.

The members of this Committee of Recommendation will advise on the further professionalization of the exhibition and the conference. At this moment invitations are still pending for more (inter) national leaders from the offshore industry to take a seat on the Committee of Recommendation.

Also the international marketing and media campaign will be intensified.

For example, a delegation of Offshore Energy Exhibition and Conference staff will be present at other relevant leading offshore exhibitions in the world.

Explosive growth

In its three years of existence, Offshore Energy has enjoyed an explosive growth from 70 exhibitors in 2008 to 231 exhibitors in 2010.

The expected future growth, would make it impossible for Offshore Energy to continue in Den Helder.

Amsterdam RAI provides larger exhibition space, better accessibility, adequate parking and nearby hotel facilities. Amsterdam is internationally known and Amsterdam RAI is more easily accessible for international exhibitors and visitors. With the new location, organizer Navingo hopes to attract more international attention for future editions of Offshore Energy

and to accommodate all interested exhibitors and visitors.

Two-day event

The Offshore Energy event is extended by an extra day to allow the visitor more opportunities to visit the entire exhibition. Additionally, a two-day event will give visitors as well as exhibitors the opportunity to participate in one or more parts of the conference in 2011, which will once again run parallel to the exhibition.

This extra day will make the Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference more attractive and worthwhile for each and every one of its exhibitors and visitors.

Just as it has done for the past three years, Offshore Energy will focus on the offshore, oil, gas and wind sector; a sector where there is still enormous growth potential. The organization remains committed to including representatives from the entire offshore value chain in the editions of Offshore Energy – including those from outside the Dutch borders and beyond Europe. With a wider variety of exhibitors and the growing international attraction of the event, Offshore Energy will benefit all those involved and ultimately appeal to a larger audience.

Offshore Energy 2011 will attract an international audience of engineers, technical specialists, industry leaders and experts of oil companies, subcontractors, offshore services and operators to share ideas, debate the issues of the moment and to create common agendas for the future of both the upstream and downstream and wind energy industries.

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A world first from CMF in Velsen-Noord

Recovery of calcium bromi oil-based mud emulsions The Dutch and their appetite for innovation. It is fascinating to see how even a small country can still be great. Where international contractors from offshore powers such as the United States and, to a lesser extent, the UK and Norway are still struggling with a bromide problem, a Dutch supplier has succeeded in developing a world first in this area. And, once again, it is Central Mudplant and Fluid Services (CMF) from Velsen-Noord. The company has been extremely successful for years by processing drilling waste containing oil in an environmentally friendly way. Now, after more than two years of intensive research, CMF has introduced an innovative vacuum evaporator for treating and processing oil-based mud emulsions that contain bromide and are difficult to process.

CMF director/owner, J.W. (Willem) van der Horst, is visibly proud of this innovation and sings the praises of the contribution made by his Innovation & Engineering Manager, Rick van Dijk. But anyone who knows him at all also knows that Willem is very down-to-earth. He prefers to stand with both feet firmly on the ground and is incapable of thinking in terms of exaggerated superlatives. “As far as I’m concerned, the media can call it a world first if they like. I’ll never say that out loud. I do believe, however, that the media are right. This is indeed a unique combination of technology and equipment engineering. As far as we know, no other company anywhere in the world has such a vacuum evaporator. No other company has the technology for recovering calcium bromide brine from emulsions and then returning it to the market as a certified product.”

Waste

The new vacuum evaporator was recently commissioned at the Velsen Offshore Base in Velsen-Noord. Willem van der Horst: “Until recently, there was really only one way to get rid of wastes containing bromide and that was to return them to the environment in a highly diluted form. Bromide is an extremely corrosive material. It is used in the oil and gas industry to create a heavy liquid, without using weighting materials, that can then be used to kill wells. As a result of this, mud suppliers introduced a bromide drilling mud onto the market a few years ago. Everyone was happy because it has the advantage that no barytes or other weighting materials need to be added to the liquid in order to make a very heavy mud. What the mud suppliers and users had not taken into account, however, was that this emulsion had been made so stable that the new mud product could no longer be separated into its components. This meant that the oil companies were confronted with a serious waste problem. What were they to do with their heavily contaminated emulsion?”

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de brine from Simplicity

At the suggestion of one of their clients, CMF started to look for an effective solution to the bromide waste problem, entirely at their own expense and risk. Almost all the existing separation techniques were tried to see if the residue could be split into its component parts. But without success.

“We then tried new techniques and modified existing techniques to see if we could break the emulsion and separate the components,” continues van der Horst. “Invention is in our blood. That’s why this project was a real challenge. We were determined to find a solution, and we finally succeeded last year by applying a relatively simple modification to an existing technique. We then optimized the improved procedure and have now succeeded in recovering 400 tonnes of product in the form of top quality calcium bromide brine from the 2000 tonnes of residue that we had stored here at the base.”

As with so many things, the solution that CMF has devised is simpler than you would think. It makes Willem van der Horst smile. “You just have to come up with the idea,” he agrees.

“But that’s the way it is with most inventions. At a given moment we were trying out an existing technique that is commonly used for water purification. We’d made a few modifications to it so that the system could also handle bromide. Because if you were to take a standard piece of equipment and pour calcium bromide into it,

the equipment would corrode within a day. We also added an invention of our own to the final separation of oil and water and there you have our new vacuum evaporator.”

Operation

The new vacuum evaporator looks rather simple from the outside. The ingenious gadget we are looking for is out of sight on the inside of the unit. I&E Manager, Rick van Dijk, also keeps mum when we try to get more information out of him. As co-developer he is, however, prepared to say a bit more in general terms about how it works. “The emulsions that we treat are drawn into the installation under vacuum until we have 2200 litres in the receiver. Here, also under vacuum, the water content is evaporated from the emulsion, so that we obtain a concentrate with high oil and sediment contents. This concentrate is then stored in a special tank, after which it is diverted to our conventional distillation plant. The evaporated water is condensed via a heat exchanger.

When sufficient brine has been collected in a special vessel, it is removed and pumped to an after separator.

This is because there always remains a light oil fraction that we then skim off. The remaining water, which is surprisingly clear, is then pumped to a different storage tank and the equally clean oil to yet another tank. Depending on the composition of the residue, we can process up to 500 litres per hour with this skimmer.”

CMF director/owner J.W. van der Horst.

‘Invention is in our blood. That’s why this project was a real challenge!’

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International

Bromides are used all over the world.

The disposal of oil-based mud emulsions that contain bromide and are difficult to process is therefore an international problem. Do all countries where they drill for oil and gas take this problem equally seriously? Willem van der Horst believes so and refers to the processing of drilling waste containing oil. “I see that the standard that we in Europe have laid down for dealing with drill cuttings is now accepted worldwide. Not only that but, in some countries where you’d least expect it, the criteria are even stricter.

I’m thinking in particular of the former Soviet republics. They’ve set very high standards in this area. As CMF we’ve been working on the manufacture, logistics and recycling of drilling muds for 20 years. But we’re not alone. There are several other companies in the world that are using comparable techniques to do everything possible to ensure that drill cuttings and waste containing oil no longer end up in the environment. I expect it will go the same way with bromide.

If it is clean bromide and it is used offshore, it can just be discharged into the sea. It’s not hazardous to the environment because, after all, bromide is actually extracted from the Dead Sea. It’s just salt. But it’s the secondary pollutants that make it difficult to treat. Oil emulsions in particular present a problem. You can’t burn it and you can’t dump it.”

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The key question

Honesty obliges Van der Horst to admit that this is not a huge market.

The treating and processing of oilbased mud emulsions containing bromide is clearly a niche market.

Around 1000 tonnes of this waste are generated each year in the whole of the North Sea and onshore Netherlands. Depending on the degree of contamination, CMF can return between 30 and 50% of those 1000 tonnes to the market as product.

“We’ve succeeded in turning a waste material back into a new product.

Oil companies can buy the recovered calcium or sodium brine from us at a fraction of the price of new brine. And insiders will know that we’re talking about a very expensive product.”

Under licence

If the recovered product is not sold, it will ultimately be converted into salt crystals and dumped. “But it won’t come to that,” explains Van der Horst, “because there is a lot of interest in the bromide product and this process. We already have a letter

of recognition from a major oil company that we’re very proud of.”

Most of the oil companies working on the Dutch, UK and German continental shelf now know about what is going on in Velsen-Noord but there is also a lot of interest from Nigeria in the brine product. Via an intermediary CMF are already supplying a few thousand tonnes per year of oil recovered from waste to Nigeria. With the bromide brine product, CMF is clearly well placed for the future, but Willem van der Horst has absolutely no ambitions to open branches all over the world.

“We shall certainly not spread our wings any further. On the other hand, the invention is for sale. For a fee, anyone who wants to can operate anywhere in the world under our licence. In fact, we are already involved in a new project in Malaysia.

The people there also want installations like those here at our base in Velsen-Noord.” In this way, CMF is also making an international contribution to the fight against environmental pollution.

SIP2 Platform Centrica F3-FA

1 Upending and installation of legs

4 Leg lowering & suction operation

2 Tow to field

5 Deck lifting

3 Mooring & positioning

6 Barge removed

t +31(0)348 435260, f +31(0)348 435261, info@sptoffshore.com, www.sptoffshore.com Suction Pile Technology bv is an offshore contractor specialised in suction pile applications.

SPT-068 adv offshore holland 1/2 A4deff.indd 1

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08-04-11 13:06

Burdock Oil & Gas operates at the heart of the international Oil & Gas ‘world’. We provide skilled manpower and global consultancy services and cover most trades from feasibility studies up to and including close-out reporting.

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We provide • Offices located worldwide, offering a broad scope of services and networks; • Global database of professionals and specialists in various disciplines; • Strong back-office support in administration such as payroll, insurance, visa and travel advice; • Technical and operational support by Burdock management or by means of associations with other companies.

2011

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Arie Boer Business Development Manager at Bakker Sliedrecht:

‘Our strength lies in creativity and innovation’ Maintaining complete silence about the project in question out of respect for the client despite close involvement in ground-breaking innovations. For Business Development Manager Arie Boer at Bakker Sliedrecht, an ethical and honest approach of this kind is a normal day at the office. “This is a code of conduct that is central to all our customer contacts.

We are proud that leading contractors from the Netherlands and abroad call on us for expert advice. We respond one on one to their individual wishes and needs.” At Bakker Sliedrecht, accountability and trust are standards that are seen as guarantees of sustainable success. Only when the customer gives the green light does Bakker Sliedrecht reveal to the world its share in advanced, high-tech projects.

Bakker Sliedrecht operates as system integrator in the offshore and dredging sector, taking in the entire electrical engineering spectrum.

Over a period of many years, the company has been a ground-breaking player thanks to its in-depth specialist expertise in the design, implementation and maintenance of electrical engineering installations and systems.

Bakker Sliedrecht’s broad-based knowledge in the field of maritime drive and control technology, automation and electrical installation technology guarantees the efficient and continuous performance of the resultant installations, many of which delivered on a turnkey basis. Bakker Sliedrecht enables its clients to improve their performance by deploying forward-thinking technology, while reducing environmental burdens. At Bakker Sliedrecht, environmental technology has been a policy spearhead for a number of years. Through the successful implementation of new and cost-saving techniques, the company makes an important worldwide contribution to a cleaner environment.

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2011

Business Development Manager Arie Boer.

‘We always have to be just that little bit more creative.’

Retractable thruster 2400 kW.

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The credo at Bakker Sliedrecht is: whatever we make, it must be reliable and perform perfectly.

Niche market

Feedback

Arie Boer started his tale with the statement: “We effectively always operate in a niche market. We are very close to our customers, and understand their needs and wishes better than anyone. It is for that reason that we repeatedly come up with unique systems, focused exclusively on the customer’s intended application. Our strength lies in creativity and innovation. It is in the genetic makeup of all our employees to constantly search for economically attractive lifecycle solutions that make any vessel functional and reliable. It is all about system improvement and product optimisation, and it goes without saying that our engineering department plays a key role in all these developments.

It is a case of theoretical knowledge backed up by operational practical experience.” Bakker Sliedrecht operates departments for drive technology engineering, automation engineering, installation technology engineering and machine technology engineering.

And then there is an element of mechanics. Boer continued: “We also have a team responsible for installation technology. They too are constantly focused on finding solutions.

They are hands-on workers with the guts and the quality needed to make a rapid turnaround if faced with difficulties. Within our sector, that sense of daring is particularly important.

Quality and safety always enjoy high priority but no solution may ever be held back by excessive restrictions.”

This constant striving to achieve improvement is what makes Bakker Sliedrecht stand out as market leader.

Boer went on: “We always have to be just that little bit more creative than the competition, by offering creativity combined with the courage to actually go the extra mile. Innovations often take place as an integral part of carrying out new assignments. Our learning is done in the field. Our lines for feeding back technical advances are very short and direct. We immediately implement any new findings in the latest design or while improving existing products.

The people at our engineering department have spent years working in the field. They contribute a wealth of practical experience that enables us to not only raise the technology itself but also its application to a higher plane.” An additional advantage is that in many cases, Bakker Sliedrecht fabricates the products it develops in house. Take for example drive systems and frequency converters from 10 to 10,000 kW, both air and water-cooled.

Every one of them must be easily serviceable and comprehensible for the people on board. “Because,” confirmed the Business Development Manager, “that is what we are good at. Bakker Sliedrecht has grown to its current size thanks to the dredging industry.

Power requirements on dredgers were constantly rising, but at the same time had to be ever more manageable.

Those requirements meant that electronics were needed. We were

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involved in that learning curve, right from the start, particularly when it came to products that had to be developed and built specifically for a given customer. They had to be assembled in such a way that their functioning and operation were easily understood by anyone. Thanks to modern automation technology, that philosophy now forms the backbone of our own Vessel Management System.”

The credo at Bakker Sliedrecht is: whatever we make, it must be reliable and perform perfectly. “In particular the offshore industry sometimes imposes extremely dominant demands,” continued Boer. “I have been known to say to customers: in principle we can get you to the moon, but there has to be a reason for going there.

Try to avoid making the technology on board over-complicated. No matter how reliable the systems are, at some point in time there will be a blackout.

And when that happens, the man operating the installation must be able to understand it, and if necessary repair it for himself. Hence our focus on practical innovations.”

Flexible

Bakker Sliedrecht supplies non-variable and variable speed drive systems with power outputs ranging from a few kilowatts to many megawatts, a wide variety of panels capable of functioning under the most extreme circumstances, process and production automation systems ((SCADA, PLC and

Sample of an ECR controldesk.

PC controls, monitor screen and optic fibre technology and power electronics), electrical propulsion systems for main and auxiliary propulsion, including DP, as well as bow and stern thrusters, electrical motors from standard drip-proof IP23 through to entirely sealed customerspecific underwater motors in IP68 versions, sheet metal and construction work for control desks and instrument panels, generator/energy transformers (three-phase and direct current) and compact and solidly-built underwater motors (air, oil and waterfilled) for direct or indirect drive of pumps, bucket wheels, cutters and drive systems employed within the (deepsea) dredging and mining industry. “The reason customers place their orders with us is not because we are the cheapest,” stated Arie Boer, without a hint of uncertainty. “It is far more a question of trust between the various technical teams combined with the performance we at Bakker Sliedrecht deliver, according to our project-based approach and our willingness to meet our customers’ needs, 24/7. Another decisive factor is our flexibility in terms of deployment.

One excellent example is the way we supplied and installed not only drive systems but also a number of high-voltage switchboards on a Heerema crane vessel, while in port in Africa, in just six weeks.

We then completed the cabling during the crossing from Africa to South America.”

Azimuth thruster with water cooled frequency drive 2950 kW.

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Wheelhouse console with DP system.

China

In recent years, Bakker Sliedrecht has also set its sights on China, given the huge potential for orders involving complex technology and power electronics. These orders are mainly for new-building projects in dredging equipment. Against that background, the company has expanded its production capacity by adding a production location in the province of Fujian, where air and water-cooled frequency converters are manufactured, alongside various other products. This plant operates in close collaboration with Huisman, designers and manufacturers of heavy offshore construction installations. Within the same framework, the official opening of the first Bakker Sliedrecht establishment in Zhangzhou is soon due to take place. Opening this new production facility in China underlines the company’s continuous effort to improve its service provision.

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Pipelay trialtrip of the Seven Oceans of Subsea 7.

Shorter lines of communication and the presence of Chinese staff will contribute significantly to increased customer satisfaction.

Given the lightning pace of developments in China, and the number of orders won by Bakker Sliedrecht in that country, an agreement has now also been established with IHC Parts & Services for the provision of combined training for four service operators originally from China, whose role will be to commission and maintain electrical systems on board dredging vessels.

Projects

As already stated, Bakker Sliedrecht produces complete turnkey installations for a huge variety of offshore projects, from initial consultancy through to commissioning, at any location, anywhere in the world.

As well as new building, one of the company’s specialisations is the modernisation of existing installations.

By gearing the latest technology to the specific operating situation, the system integrators at Bakker Sliedrecht are often able to achieve

major capacity and quality improvements. On behalf of Subsea 7, the company recently supplied the complete electrical installation and systems on board the Seven Oceans, the Seven Seas, the Seven Atlantic and the Seven Pacific. All four vessels are fully Dynamically Positioned (DP 2/3). All are equipped with a 6.6 kV integrated redundant electric power generation system for 21,600 kVA, 6x 3,600 lVA, em power of 1,875 kVA and an electrical propulsion system consisting of 3x 2,950 kW fixed pitch propellers in aft-mounted azimuth nozzles. Two 2,400 kW retractable azimuth thrusters are fitted in the forward section of the vessels, while one 2,200 kW transverse thruster is mounted in a forward tunnel.

The latest showpiece from Bakker Sliedrecht is the crane vessel Oleg Strashnov operated by Seaway Heavy Lifting. With lift heights of up to 100 m for the 5,000 mt main hook and 132 m for the 800 mt auxiliary hook, this state-of-the-art crane vessel is able to undertake an impressive range of projects from the

Diesel electric driven Chinese cutterdredger with submersible e-motors.

dual hook upending of large jackets to heavy deck installations. The on-board DP3 system also means this vessel can be employed for installing large and heavy subsea structures, TLP/Spar foundations and topsides. Also for this unique vessel, Bakker Sliedrecht supplied the complete electrical engineering and installation from energy generation and distribution via low and high voltage, electrical propulsion, frequency converters and switchboards, through to cabling, vessel management system (including DP) – and all of course fully integrated.

Last, but certainly not least, the electrical engineering specialists at Bakker Sliedrecht are closely involved in a truly ground-breaking development for the special transport sector. However, you will have to bear with us for the time being ….

Mum’s the word!

2011

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Subsea protection frame for Wintershall For Multimetaal based in Den Helder, the year 2011 has taken off to a flying start. The responsible party is operator Wintershall Noordzee, and their order awarded to the metal construction firm for the fabrication of a large subsea protection frame. This steel structure, known in the business as a dome, is intended for installation in the K18 block of the Dutch sector of the North Sea.

The fabrication of the subsea protection frame for Wintershall is currently well underway in the construction hall at Multimetaal.

The Wintershall frame will eventually weigh a total of 110 tonnes, and will be equipped with a considerable volume of piping made up of duplex steel elements. The frame itself will have a footprint of 12.5 by 12.5 metres, and an overall height of 8 metres. Fabrication will take place in the company’s construction hall on the Kooypunt industrial estate just outside Den Helder.

Multimetaal officially moved into these new-built premises in June 2009.

Established in 1973, the company has built up an excellent reputation in the offshore oil and gas industry, in particular for the fabrication of every conceivable type of subsea protection frame. In addition, a range of other projects have been completed for this industrial sector over the years. In 2010, for example, various projects were undertaken for GDF SUEZ E&P Nederland,

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including the fabrication of a number of platform sections for the D15A gas production platform in the Dutch sector of the North Sea. These platform sections and the accompanying piping were handed over at the end of January 2011. It was necessary to enlarge this platform to allow the Wingate gas field to be connected to the facilities on board D15A. During the same period, Multimetaal built a special boat landing installation and all the relevant accessories.

This structure was intended for installation on the Q8 platform operated by Wintershall in the Dutch sector of the North Sea. Multimetaal can also call upon a group of specialists capable of undertaking maintenance, repair, installation and modification work, offshore.

Just like this year, Multimetaal enjoyed a flying start in 2010, with a remarkable fabrication order. The order in question involved the extension of the legs on the jackup platforms Karlissa-A and Karlissa-B operated by the American company Titan Salvage. In total, twelve legs had to be extended from 41 to 56 metres. In addition, on each platform, two legs were reinforced with a 26 metre-long intermediate section. Following the lengthening process, the weight of the legs ranged from 100 to 300 tonnes.

During this project that had to be carried out under tremendous pressure of time, Multimetaal received a follow-up order from Titan Salvage for the fabrication of two steel structures both 40 metres long, and both weighing 40 tonnes.

electrical SyStem integrator

Valve maintenance

As well as carrying out construction work, Multimetaal are also specialists in the maintenance of a wide range of valve types (pressure safety, control, ball, gate and globe valves). This work is carried out according to a special Valve Care Programme. The Maintenance division of the company is an authorised service point for Severn Glocon Unival, and as a result is qualified to carry out repairs on all types and makes of valves, in the framework of the Valve Performance Upgrading concept. Finally, Multimetaal recently became European agent and stockholder for the Canadian Seaweld Corporation.

On behalf of Seaweld, Multimetaal now supplies fittings, safety adapters, special lubricants, sealants and lubricating pumps for valves to the whole of Europe, excluding the UK. Specially-trained Valve Pros can even lubricate the valves on location, in-line and under pressure.

One further development at the company is the full-service concept according to which valves can be analysed, removed, tested, repaired and reinstalled. To make this concept possible, a special test bench of the make Ventil was recently purchased.

This test bench is equipped with three clamping tables and is suitable for the testing of gas, liquid and vacuum pressure safety valves, in accordance with the very latest regulations. The maximum operating pressure for gas valves is 300 bar and for water 600 bar. At present, Multimetaal employs a staff of more than 100.

otc HouSton 2-5 may 2011 BootH no. 2531

BaKKer SlieDrecHt, a DeDicateD marine SyStem integrator WorlDWiDe on tHe moVe Bakker Sliedrecht has become an international and leading field player in the world of electrical engineering for marine applications.

We are continuously looking for optimum and innovative solutions, with the aid of state-of-the-art and conventional electrical and mechanical techniques by advising, designing and building of: • drive and control systems • automation systems • switchboards and MCC’s • control desks • e-motors and generators • cabling / installation • project management We are specialized in: • diesel-electric propulsion / thruster systems, including DP systems • submersible motors and techniques • harmonics and FMEA analyses Bakker Sliedrecht is carrying out world-wide projects turn-key and / or package based, in offshore, dredging, research vessels, fishing, merchant shipping, navy, inland shipping.

Bakker Repair is taking care of maintenance, repair and winding of motors, generators, transformers, in high as well as low voltage.

No ocean too deep, no country too far!

Bakker Sliedrecht electro industrie B.V. P.O. Box 25 3360 AA Sliedrecht the Netherlands Tel.: +31 (0)184 436666

Bakker repair B.V. P.O. Box 212 3360 AE Sliedrecht the Netherlands Tel.: +31 (0)184 410555

Bakker marine electric - Zhangzhou co., ltd Tel.: 86-13806071885 - Shanghai: HmHc Tel.: 86-2154253892 - Dalian - carich marine eng.

Tel.: +86-41182529217

www.bakkersliedrecht.com

2011

47

Visionary vision from management of Tideway Offshore Contractors

Foresight is the essence of government Foresight is the essence of government. This age-old adage not only applies to politics, but certainly also to business, specifically market leaders wishing to further strengthen their leading position.

Successful and innovative businesses have to be willing to look to the future; after all, the future is often far less uncertain than is generally assumed. In taking strategic decisions, the starting point should not be uncertainties but certainties. One business that excels in such forward vision and presents itself as a dedicated partner for the offshore industry is Tideway Offshore Contractors based in Breda, the Netherlands.

The management of this company that specialises in constructing landfalls for oil and gas pipelines and is a leading world class contractor in the high-precision rock dumping market, believes that forward vision creates the possibility of responding flexibly to a range of future market situations. “Our forward vision is based on our own independent way of thinking. It is that fact that enables us to move in time with economic and social changes,” explained director Hugo B. Bouvy. “Partly as a consequence, Tideway experienced almost no negative effects from the recent global economic downturn.” As a full service provider for the oil and gas industry, Tideway Offshore Contractors is now benefiting from long-term investments that are paving the way for the postrecession revival. A new 500 million plus euro investment programme, including the fabrication of the state-of-the-art fallpipe rock dumping vessel Flintstone, is further proof that Bouvy, who shares directorship of the company with Lucas Bols, has indestructible confidence in the future. As a result, Tideway is in a position to draw up strategic plans that offer sufficient flexibility.

Partnership

As Bouvy explained: “At this very moment, the price of oil may not yet be where many operators would like it to be, but are definitely at a level where new field development plans can be carried out. That of course includes the laying of subsea pipelines, not only for oil and gas but also for electrical networks.

New technologies are being introduced or crossbred from high-tech industries to provide more capabilities in the offshore/energy market. Analysts advise that this decade may offer the best opportunity for making new investments in pipeline infrastructure. We at Tideway strongly believe in partnerships with our clients, and in that respect we are more than prepared to meet their future needs for protection and stabilisation of pipelines, and dredging activities.”

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Before the arrival of the Flintstone, the depth record achieved by Tideway’s own Rollingstone was set at 987 metres.

Worldwide

Work in the oil and gas sector is spread all over the world, mostly in remote areas. This fact is creating rising demand for faster vessels that can operate at great depths, underwater.

Launched in 1991, Tideway, a subsidiary of the Belgian company Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering (DEME) Group, focuses its activities on subsea pipelines and cables. Its clients are the largest energy companies in the world. As previously explained, the company is an expert in landfall construction, scour protection and pre and postdredging for the support of pipelaying operations. Its contracts are from all around the world. The company is involved in landfall constructions for projects from the North Sea to the Far East, for example ranging from Zeepipe, Europipe and Nord Stream in Northern Europe to the Malampaya gas pipeline in the Philippines, the Dhirubhai 1 & 3 Field Development Project in India, the Balearic Pipeline Project and Medgaz in Spain, the Deep Panuke Development in Canada and the Bombax gas pipeline in Trinidad.

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Artist impression of the new Flintstone.

Flintstone

As an obvious statement of its confidence in continuing offshore business, Tideway recently took delivery of the brand-new next generation fallpipe rock dumping vessel Flintstone, from the Sembawang Shipyard in Singapore. The 19,000-tonne Flintstone is the third and largest fallpipe vessel to join the Tideway fleet, after the 11,500-tonne Rollingstone and the 17,500-tonne Seahorse. Thanks to its ice class notation, the DP II class Flintstone is fully prepared for work in the Arctic environment. According to Hugo B. Bouvy, the 130 million euro investment will boost the oil & gas activities at Tideway, as trends in the market have made deepsea pipelaying and deepsea pipeline protection inevitable. The search for deeper

offshore oilfields in Brazil, Western Africa, the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic region is offering new, unforeseen opportunities. The ‘green design’ Flintstone was fabricated according to the Lloyds Environmental Protection Code and has a cruising speed of 15 knots. This capability makes the vessel a valuable asset, since the run to and from the quarry is less timeconsuming – leaving more operational time on the project site. The capability to place rock with high accuracy at an exceptional depth of no less than 2,000 m is a competitive advantage in itself, made possible thanks to a new generation aluminium fallpipe that allows smarter and faster assembly, a highly-sophisticated active heave compensated ROV, and state-of-theart survey equipment. Before the

arrival of the Flintstone, the depth record achieved by Tideway’s own Rollingstone was set at 987 metres.

A first assignment has already been secured for the Flintstone with the Russian company Sevmash, for the installation of scour protection around the Prirazlomnaya platform in the Barents Sea, to the southwest of Novaya Zemlya.

Green

“We did not only have this ‘green’ vessel built from the point of view of corporate social responsibility; our own interests and those of our clients also played a decisive role. The new vessel is expected to generate serious savings in fuel consumption”, suggested Bouvy. “But also take a look at the measures being introduced by

Trends have made deepsea pipelaying and pipeline protection inevitable.

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Artist impression of the Inclined Fallpipe System (IFPS).

European governments. Norway in the future intends to impose penalties on any operator working in Norwegian waters with a ‘dirty’ ship in terms of the NOx emissions produced by the vessel. The Dutch government is also considering introducing a similar system of penalties.”

Precision work

Another innovative development at Tideway that has attracted much attention is the Inclined Fallpipe System (IFPS), specially designed and developed by the engineering team at Tideway, at the request of the Canadian oil company EnCana Corporation.

EnCana has awarded Single Buoy Moorings (SBM) the order to install a gas platform in the Deep Panuke field, located about 175 kilometres off

the coast of Nova Scotia. SBM will own and operate the production field centre (PFC) which it will lease to EnCana, for the lifeline of the project.

The PFC will be fitted with topsides production equipment, a flare tower and an accommodation block. Standing in 44 metres of water, the facility will be fixed to the seabed for the life of the field. “The platform, fabricated in Abu Dhabi, is supported by legs and those legs are in turn mounted on four large spudcans, placed on the seabed”, explained Bouvy.

“Although the water here is in fact relatively shallow, the platform is in an area prone to what is known as ‘perfect storms’. The waves in the winter are simply enormous, and EnCana is afraid that currents on the seabed will cause scour to take place between

the spudscans, as a result of which the stability of the platform can no longer be guaranteed. To prevent this happening, rock will have to be dumped around the spudscans. Unfortunately, this task is made almost impossible by the inaccessibility of the location. In the past, the solution would have been sought in the use of side dumpers.

In this case, however, precision is an absolute requirement, so we developed and conceptualised the Inclined Fallpipe System. Detailed engineering was undertaken by KCI in Schiedam, and the entire system was fabricated at Iemants NV in Arendonk, Belgium.”

Necessity

The IFPS is characterised by separate closed fallpipe sections that are assembled in modules on the afterdeck of a fallpipe vessel. The system then protrudes from the bow of the ship in the form of an inclined pipe, at an angle. Normally speaking, rocks are dumped vertically through a pipe directly below the vessel, via the moonpool. In this solution, the rocks are placed in a 45 metre-long pipe with a diameter of 1.20 metres, at which point the rocks are placed at an angle,

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Rock placements are executed with extremely high precision, even at very large water depths.

An active heave-compensated Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) is fixed below the fall pipe, allowing for precision steering.

in the precise location below the platform, in an extremely controlled manner. Using the IFPS, Tideway is able to carry out rock dumping work in a seastate of up to 1.5 to 2 metres significant. This represents a degree of limitation, but is not so strange, given the fact that the work has to be carried out very close to the platform.

Bouvy went on: “In total, Tideway will be working on this project for 45 days. The IFPS will only actually be deployed for 10 of those days. In other words, we have come up with a remarkable innovation that required several million euro worth of investment, but that will only be deployed for a short period. On the other hand, that is typical of the offshore industry. For operators, innovation is an absolute necessity if oil or gas is to be produced in deep water, or in areas subject to poor weather conditions.

Contractors unable to fulfil those innovative requirements quite simply lose out. For the Deep Panuke project, Tideway has been willing to deliver that innovative service, although we know in advance that on this project alone, we would not earn back the already mentioned out of pocket costs.�

The capability to place rock with high accuracy at an exceptional depth of no less than 2,000 m is a competitive advantage in itself.

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‘The innovative multifunctionality of our vessels will undoubtedly serve the company in future deepsea mining projects’

Wind energy

Against that background, in developing the IFPS, the engineering team at Tideway of course considered other possible applications. The IFPS is for example an ideal tool for installing scour protection for offshore wind farms. For the same market segment, Tideway in the past developed a so-called levelling tool. Suspended beneath the ROV, this tool is capable of creating smooth levelled areas of rock. The levelling tool has already been deployed by Tideway on the Thornthon Bank wind farm project off the coast of Belgium, where a perfectly smooth seabed was required, on which to install the concrete foundations. The tool was also used for the Walney offshore wind farm project in the Irish Sea. New markets

Tideway views the laying of power cables as another new market. “Our first two rock dumpers are in fact both conversions,” continued Bouvy.

“Originally, they were both DP2 vessels, with a massive free deck, ideal for cable laying. During the conversion work, we always kept at the back of our mind the possibility that the rock dumping market could at some point become saturated. If that happens, it is a simple matter for us

to reconvert our existing ships for the cable-laying market. We already have sufficient knowledge of that market in-house, accrued in the implementation of the already mentioned projects. And we have recently won the order to lay all the cables for the Thornton Wind Farm Project Phase 2.

Preparations for that work are now fully underway. The project, including the trenching, is due to start this summer and will be concluded in the summer of 2012.” The innovative multifunctionality of the vessels in the Tideway fleet will undoubtedly also serve the company in future deepsea mining projects. In particular in Oceania, there are huge deposits of for example copper, zinc, gold and silver, on the seabed. Bouvy allowed his creative and visionary mind free rein. “It will probably take another 5 to 10 years, but those sources of raw materials are bound to be exploited. There is no getting around it. And if you already operate a vessel with a pipe that can be lowered to a depth of 2000 metres, all you need to do is attach a cutting and suction device to it, and you have a mining ship.

For us it will be like turning the world upside down. At present our role is to lower rocks onto the seabed. In the future, we see ourselves excavating

DEME (the parent company of Tideway) in collaboration with IHC Merwede recently established the company OceanflORE with the aim of specialising in deepsea mining.

undersea minerals, and bringing them to the surface. Another element is that our ships can also offer considerable storage capacity. We are already hard at work developing precisely these systems, and everything is being done on our own initiative. It is developments of this kind that make working for Tideway so exciting and appealing.”

To actually give form to this development, DEME (the parent company of Tideway) in collaboration with IHC Merwede recently established the company OceanflORE with the aim of specialising in deepsea mining.

OceanflORE intends to concentrate on minerals and metals located on the seabed, at a depth of up to 3 kilometres, above all in areas where there is much volcanic activity and therefore plenty of craters.

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Keppel Verolme offers innovative and cost-effective solutions

Building excellence for complex projects Backed by an ideal location, excellent facilities, a highly-skilled and dedicated workforce as well as the integrated experience and expertise of its parent company Keppel Offshore & Marine Group, Netherlands-based Keppel Verolme offers innovative and cost-effective solutions to its customers.

Over the years, the Company has built up a strong track record in dry docking, repairs, modifications, conversions and constructions of semisubmersibles, jackups and other mobile offshore units. Its history dates back to 1954 when the yard was established by the Dutch shipbuilder Cornelis Verolme. After the closure of the newbuilding division of Verolme in 1980, the yard continued under the name Verolme Botlek as a repair yard for the shipping and offshore industries. In 2002, Keppel Offshore & Marine acquired Verolme Botlek and renamed it Keppel Verolme.

Complex

Harold Linssen, Managing Director of Keppel Verolme, shared: “With a strong heritage, we have established a good reputation in the international market for reliability, solid project execution and commitment to safety. Our unique selling point is that we can manage complex offshore construction, conversion and maintenance projects well. “All these explain why our regular clients such as Transocean, Ensco, Rowan, Seafox, Allseas, Saipem, Stena, Maersk and Heerema keep returning to Keppel Verolme with their major projects.”

In recent months, its ability to meet market demands and deliver promises to customers has been reinforced with the completion of upgrade and repair jobs for Swiss-based Allseas’ pipelay vessel, Lorelay and UK-based Transocean’s semisubmersible drilling rig, Paul B. Loyd, Jr. The job scope for Lorelay involved replacing two existing main thrusters with more powerful units, equipping the pipe supporting stinger with new roller box guides and upgrading the wire winch system. Work done for Paul B. Loyd included an extensive painting programme, installation of two new thrusters and a new crane, overhaul of anchor chain winches and equipments, as well as upgrading the galley and locker room.

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‘We can manage complex offshore construction, conversion and maintenance projects well’

The semi-submersible rig Paul B. Loyd, jr. is in Rotterdam for maintenance.

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of emergencies. This is the second MOAB contract that Keppel Verolme has secured to date. The first MOAB, an unmanned gas compression platform, was delivered to UK-based customer Perenco in 2005.

Efficiency

Ideal location

Harold Linssen added: “Located close to the oil fields of Scotland and Norway, and with direct access to the North Sea, Keppel Verolme is nestled in an ideal location for shipyards. In addition, having one of the largest drydock of Europe, the yard can accommodate any seagoing vessel and floating offshore unit for maintenance and modifications or conversions.”

As Keppel Verolme seeks to become one of the leading suppliers for transformer and foundation platforms for offshore wind turbines, the Rotterdam shipyard has established a research and development centre in 2010 so that it can further its technology

collaboration with the Keppel Offshore & Marine Technology Centre in Singapore.

Looking ahead, Keppel Verolme hopes to further synergise and drawn upon Keppel Offshore & Marine Group’s research and development expertise to develop more robust solutions for the offshore wind energy market. It will also continue to strengthen its project management and execution capabilities which will enable the shipyard to eliver its complex projects more efficiently, so as to stay ahead of the game.

Leveraging its forte in turning around complex projects, Keppel Verolme secured a contract in March 2010 to build a Mobile Offshore Application Barge (MOAB) for a German customer, Global Tech 1 Offshore Wind GmbH (formerly Wetfeet Offshore), to be deployed in a wind farm located in the German Exclusive Economic Zone of the North Sea. This platform will host the transformers and high voltage switchgears to collect and convert electricity generated by the wind turbines for delivery to Germany’s national power grid. It is also equipped with critical control systems to serve as a backup power supply for the wind farm in case

The 33/155 KV MOAB Transformer Substation is the first of its kind to build for the offshore wind industry.

When fully operational in 2013, the offshore wind park can deliver 400 MW through 80 5-MW wind turbines.

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Heerema Fabrication Group awarded Centrica York platform Heerema Hartlepool, one of the three fabrication locations of Heerema Fabrication Group (HFG), has been awarded the EPCI (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation) contract of the 2,750 tonnes York platform destined for the York Field Development gasfield in the UK Continental Shelf.

Artist impression of the Centrica York platform.

At Heerema Hartlepool the construction work of the 1,300 tonnes topsides and 1,450 tonnes jacket will be started in April next. The topsides will measure 20 metres in length, 15 metres in width and 16 metres in height. The jacket with a height of 69 metres and a footprint of 30 x 20 metres will be installed in a water depth of approximately 43 metres. The transport and installation of Centrica’s York platform has been awarded to our sister division Heerema Marine Contractors.

The York platform is an unmanned facility with a tie back to Centrica’s Easington gas terminal via a 34 km (21.25 miles) 16 inch pipeline. The York Field Development will exploit gas reservoirs in the Southern North Sea of the UK Continental Shelf, approximately 35 kilometres North-East of Easington.

Currently at our Hartlepool yard the fabrication work continues of another Centrica project, the 1,100 tonnes Ensign platform. This Seaharvester type of platform consists of a topsides of 600 tonnes and a 500 tonnes jacket, for which our engineering company HFG Engineering has executed the design work. It is expected that the Ensign platform will be ready for installation in June 2011.

Remco van Gilst, VP Business Development and Sales of Heerema Fabrication Group says: “This is already the third project awarded to HFG since the contract award by Centrica of the F3FA self-installing platform early 2009.

The good relationship with our client Centrica and the ongoing investments of Centrica for the UK sector of the North Sea create an excellent opportunity for our fabrication facility in Hartlepool for continued employment conditions and additional supply-chain jobs in the region. This new contract together with the ongoing construction work of the 1,100 tonnes Ensign platform will secure jobs until mid 2012.”

“Based on Centrica’s strategy to strengthen its position in the future energy supplies of the UK and subsequent future projects we look forward to continuing our relationship with our client Centrica. We are convinced that our project management expertise and capabilities can create additional value to Centrica and it would be our pleasure to contribute to their ambitious goals,” continues Tino Vinkesteijn, Chief Commercial Officer of HFG. Steve Kemp, Centrica Energy Upstream’s Regional Director for the Southern North Sea, says: “York is an exciting new development for Centrica Energy Upstream as we continue to invest in the North Sea. We are delighted to continue our support of UK business by working with Heerema Fabrication Group to build the platform in Hartlepool, helping to secure jobs in the area.”

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Allard-Europe: one of the most innovative steel and iron foundries

Specialist in specialities Allard-Europe describes itself as the specialist in complex and/or high-quality casting work, but in response to an entirely logical request for a summary of the product range, CEO Jef Dijckmans replied laconically: “When it comes down to it, we don’t have any products of our own. What we do have is practically unlimited know-how when it comes to complex casting products, in more than a hundred different materials, mostly low to high-alloy cast steels, but also white cast irons for typical wear-resistant applications. The unique products or small production series we produce are generally developed by an external engineering firm. We then carry out the – often unique – casting work based on our own internal engineering and simulations.”

Because specialisation is effectively the core business, Allard-Europe continuously succeeds in breaking through the barriers of the impossible, and supplying high-quality castings.

For every casting question, the company goes in search of a suitable casting solution, via co-engineering and via co-makership. They are niche players on a broad playing field of often complementary sectors, their processes and applications, materials and weights. In short, ‘Excellence in Casting’.

Mik Doms, responsible at Allard-Europe for simulations and engineering, explained: “Our ultimate goal is to raise casting to a higher level and to turn the art of casting into a science!

Hence our striving for sustainable implementations and developments.

Our business is managed exclusively by technicians, many of them engineers with a guaranteed passion for metallurgy, with feeling for welding and for materials. We are used to critically examining the geometry of a casting. It is specifically in that respect that Allard-Europe stands out from so many others. Our know-how and knowledge are tremendous. At Allard-Europe, the customer is always the central point of focus, and much attention is paid to ensuring the right choice of material. By comparing and contrasting different materials, on the basis of the application, mechanical

CEO Jef Dijckmans.

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load and working conditions, we are able to offer our customers the perfect advice. Our intensive contacts with a large range of national and international academic specialists and fellow professionals are then of crucial importance. It is precisely that independence that enables AllardEurope to take up an objective but deliberately-chosen position.”

References

Allard-Europe is certainly no stranger to the international offshore and dredging industry. Its list of references features such ‘household’ names as Atlas Copco, Andritz Hydro, Heerema, Huisman, Vryhof Ankers, IHC Hydrohammer, IHC Merwede, Damen, Boskalis, Deme, Jan de Nul, Van Oord and Tideway. The company is able to cast steel qualities from non-alloy right through to high-alloy varieties for a huge selection of applications including nodes, sheaths, crane hooks, hinge points, cover flanges, chain pulleys, tensioners, pump housings, impellers, cutter heads, double-walled pipes, suction mouths and spud points. Specifically for the dredging sector, wear-resistant materials have been developed including Alladur 400, Alladur 500, Alladur 600, TGS3, TGS5 (H) and TGS7(H) (HH). For the offshore industry, one of the company’s specialities is the casting of crane hooks with a lifting capacity of between 800 and 2500 tonnes. For this application,

view, therefore, forging does have its limits. In casting, the application of such gigantic forces is entirely unnecessary, or at least the forces are static, to compensate for the immense upward forces generated by the liquid column built up in the liquid phase during casting. Therein lies the difference, but we are pleased to leave the final decision to the market.”

Trust

too, a special material was developed, TGS750-40. Peter Burdack, the man responsible for commercial activities, declared: “Dijckmans likes to be ‘hooked up’!” Even so, not every crane hook ordered is sent directly to the steel and iron foundry in Turnhout.

“This particular application involves a field of tension between forging and casting,” he explained. “It is very much a question of the client’s preference. We, or perhaps more specifically the buyers, know the precise financial turning point, but nonetheless there

are market parties that prefer forging.

Even if it costs them (much) more money. Forging is a dynamic process in which hammering as it were distorts and compresses the granules. At a certain moment, however, a forged piece becomes so large that instead of a 1,000-tonne hammer, a hammer of more than 10,000 tonnes is needed.

A single blow with a hammer of that size feels like an earthquake, and there is no country in the world with an area where that sort of process is accepted. From a technical point of

One loyal customer in this sector is the Dutch crane designer/specialist Huisman, based in Schiedam. On behalf of Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC), a world-leading marine contractor in the offshore oil and gas industry, Huisman recently engineered a 4,000-tonne crane. Allard-Europe is responsible for casting the parts for the bearing ring. As Jef Dijckmans explained: “Within this innovative project, Huisman are the engineers and we are the production company. Everything is decided and implemented in close consultation. The raw material is selected according to the required mechanical specifications and agreements with the classification bureau.

Huisman has access to everything we do and we can look behind the scenes at Huisman. It is purely a question of trusting one another implicitly. Huisman fully understands our competences and respects our added value within their own success. From a technical production point of view, we are therefore given carte blanche.

It is a source of pride for me that we enjoy that kind of relationship with an expert company like Huisman.

For the outside world it may not seem as if much is happening, but the things we do here are truly spectacular. A casting of this kind is not simply a question of filling a mould with sand. It calls for a real

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body of fundamental engineering skill, and there has to be a casting concept before the casting method can even be determined. Each product has its own ideal casting shape with its own risers and its own casting system, let alone the individual functions. Our employees know exactly what they are doing. In their own fields, every single one is an expert technician.

And that is what puts us right at the top of the list of foundries. In the end, it is all about the quality of our finished product, wherever possible with the ultimate finishing processes.�

Investments

Since its establishment in 1920, AllardEurope has been firmly anchored in the Belgian region of De Kempen.

Following a series of mergers and an important management buyout in 1996, the starting signal was given in 2002 for an initial ambitious and successful investment programme worth over 4 million euro. The objective was to make up the gap between the company and the world leaders!

In order to confirm and underline this market-leading position, a second round of investments worth just under 20 million euro was announced in 2008. This will be concluded by the end of 2012. The investment involves renovations and new-building projects throughout the entire plant, from pattern making and storage through to machining and further optimised quality control.

The pattern making shop was considerably expanded and the storage and management of all patterns further improved. In the modern foundry, with four induction melting furnaces, an increase in melt capacity was

achieved to allow volumes to be melted of between 500 kg and more than 37 tonnes. Thanks to a technically-smart approach, almost 50 tonnes of melted weight per unit can be casted (the unit weights that can be achieved range from between 26 and a maximum of 35 tonnes, clean weight depending on shape and alloy).

The size of the forming zone was doubled, and a new mobile 60-tonnes sand mixer was installed. In addition, heavier-duty overhead cranes (up to 80 tonnes) were installed, and the storage area for scrap and alloying elements is due to be expanded.

In the fettling shop, the thermal treatment furnaces can be heated to around 1200 degrees Celsius.

The ergonomics in the fettling shop were improved to ensure employee welfare, and the quality service is to be equipped with additional markingout/measuring tables alongside the already existing measuring modules from Metronor and Gom, together with an additional area for Non Destructive Testing.

There is also a new machining workshop, equipped with modern CNCcontrolled machinery and a variety of machining options including vertical turning and boring up to a diameter of 10 metres. Post-processors have been installed on a number of these machines, for converting the CAM data. For the machining processing, an entirely new building was erected, in which alongside the CNC-controlled machines and machining facilities, a new vertical turning and boring mill with a turning circle of 4.7 metres (provided with a spindle and double column design) will be installed, together with a new 5-axle boring

and milling machine, with a working range of 13 metres in length and a working height of 5 metres.

With the purchase of an Eltra ONH2000 and CS-800 in the middle of last year, Allard-Europe has also considerably expanded its chemical analysis capabilities. The devices supplement the existing Spectrolab optical emission spectrometer (OES) by offering more accurate analysis of C, S, N, O and H. This increased accuracy is required because of the ever growing demands imposed on high-strength structural steel and the increasing demand for stainless steel. Unlike the OES that operates on the basis of plasma created in an electrical arc, measurements using the ONH-2000 and CS-800 are based on the analysis of gases released following incineration of the sample. The elements are then quantified via IR or measurement of the thermal conductivity of the combustion gases. As a result, the samples need not be electrically conductive.

This makes it possible to also analyse raw materials, which eventually results in a higher quality melt.

Strength

Jef Dijckmans is fully aware that he and Allard-Europe are operating in a market based on price. The foundry no longer needs to prove itself, but even for its top five customers who thoroughly understand the added value offered by Allard-Europe, time and again it is necessary to deliver top-class performance to maintain customer loyalty. It is vital to keep a close eye on developments, because every now and then his regular customers present him with price quotations from other foundries.

‘For the outside world it may not seem as if much is happening, but the things we do here are truly spectacular.’ 60

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Somewhat morosely, he explained: “I then again launch into my talk about quality and the guaranteed quality reliability. We cannot be compared to other foundries. We are clearly different! Casting here is not simply casting. It is a science. The market needs to know that the quality standards we impose on our own work simply cannot be achieved in low-wage countries. The products we manufacture are so specific, and require such a specific approach, that they also demand specific prices. You cannot compare our products with others, pound for pound. Our service is all about the Total Cost of Buying.

With us you have no worries. A deal is a deal. And a deadline a deadline.”

It is for these same reasons that Allard-Europe does not respond to every request for a quotation. As Dijckmans said: “We know our position in the sector, and are able to judge in advance whether or not we can compete in terms of price. It has nothing to do with arrogance. We just know where we stand for. For certain products, customers are better off in China. Or Poland. But if they want a top-of-the-range quality product, then Allard-Europe is the place to be. You simply cannot compare our product with a product made in China. It’s just not possible. Getting people to understand that fact is no easy task.

You have to tell the market time and again exactly what the situation is.

And you have to come up with some convincing arguments. The strength of Allard-Europe lies in the certainty our people can provide, the product knowledge and the durability and quality of our products. Those are the rock-solid guarantees we are willing and able to give.”

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Submarine pipeline installation 30 years after the first crossing Trenching by trailing suction hopper dredger Prins der Nederlanden.

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The Strait of Magellan pipeline crossing One of the most challenging pipeline landfall projects of recent times was completed early 2010: the Strait of Magellan pipeline crossing in southern Argentina. Despite the extreme conditions, the multidisciplinary project has been completed within the very tight deadline of just eight months. This achievement was only possible thanks to the efforts of the dedicated team, which numbered around a thousand at its peak, and today’s technology.

The project involved the construction of a new, strategically important, 24” natural gas pipeline across the Strait of Magellan, linking Cabo Espíritu Santo in Tierra del Fuego province with Cabo Vírgenes in Santa Cruz province. The new pipeline was built as an expansion of the existing San Martín pipeline in an effort by the government to increase gas supplies from Tierra del Fuego to the Argentinian mainland. The project has been executed by the two Dutch companies Allseas (pipe lay) and Boskalis Offshore (pre-trenching, pipe pulls, submarine tie-in and backfilling).

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Side by side

The new submarine pipeline runs parallel 50 metres west of the existing pipeline that was built in 1978. The link is the final piece of a significant onshore project involving the construction of a pipeline stretching thousands of kilometres to carry the gas recovered from fields in the south to the distribution network in the north. The ‘Gasoducto Transmagallánico’, as the pipeline is called in Argentina, will transport 18 million cubic metres of gas a day.

Pull-in at northern landfall.

During the 30 years that have passed since the previous pipeline crossing was built, the available tools and technology have changed dramatically and the installation methods have changed accordingly. The marine installation work of the new submarine pipeline took about a month, less than a quarter of the time it took in 1978. Today’s capabilities have enabled such shortened construction periods, enhanced the quality and increased the safety of the people involved.

Pre-trenching

For the pre-trenching of the pipeline the suction pipe of the trailing suction hopper dredger Prins der Nederlanden was modified to enable dredging to the required 80 metres water depth. With the nearest port at five hours sailing from site, additional supplies and spare parts were carried on board.

Equipped with dynamic tracking and positioning, a draghead position control system as well as high accuracy DGPS and multibeam systems, the Prins der Nederlanden could precisely control the position and depth of its draghead to allow accurate dredging. The accuracy and manoeuvrability enabled the vessel to work extremely close to the shore.

Pull out at southern landfall.

The northern landfall pull-in at Cabo Vírgenes

At the northern landfall a recently built 800 t linear winch system was installed to accommodate the pull-in of the pipeline from Allseas’ dynamically positioned pipe-laying vessel Solitaire. The winch was anchored by three Boskalis developed anchor moles with a 300 t holding capacity each. After the pull-in the DPPLV Solitaire laid about 30 kilometres pipeline from Cabo Vírgenes towards Cabo Espíritu Santo, where the pipeline was laid down at the tie-in point some 6.5 kilometres from the shore.

The southern landfall pull-out at Cabo Espíritu Santo

The southern landfall featured a stretch of beach about 1.3 kilometre long, which would fall dry twice a day at low tides. The pipeline was welded onshore on a stringing yard into 12 strings of approximately 550 m each.

The design of the pull-out was partly governed by the large tidal range, which restricted the pulls to the higher levels of the tide. To extend the duration of the pull windows at high water, 40 pipe rollers of 20 t and 40 t were installed onshore and on the beach over a length of 1 kilometre. To lower the required pull-out forces for the 6.5 km long pipeline section, some 300 buoyancy tanks were fitted to the pipeline providing 1,500 tonnes buoyancy along the pipeline.

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800 T linear winch with Solitaire in background.

From the shore the pipeline was pulled-out by the Pontra Maris, which was prepared as a pull barge for this purpose. The Pontra Maris was fitted with the same linear winch previously used for the northern shore pull-in and an anchoring system to provide sufficient hold for the 800 t linear winch as well as accurate positioning of the barge.

The submarine tie-in

After completion of the pull-out the relative locations of the two pipeline ends at the tie-in location were determined by metrology. Subsequently, the spool piece was adjusted onshore at Cabo EspĂ­ritu Santo. The customized spool piece was installed by divers from Smit Subsea Europe, operating in two teams of ten divers from the Pontra Maris, which was converted during the project into a diving support barge. Subsequently, the pipeline was hydrotested, purged, cleaned and inspected. The last part of the installation of the pipeline crossing involved a final survey and the backfilling of the trench and the target box by the trailing suction hopper dredger Seaway.

Key figures for the Magellan pipeline crossing Length of pipeline

15.9 mm

Concrete weight coating

Buoyancy on pipe

Linear winch system Spool piece

70 to 110 mm 6.5 km

(12 strings of appr. 550 m) 310 tanks of 5 tonne each 800 tonnes 27 tonnes

Trenching & backfilling

17 km

Seabed intervention

20 km

Tidal range

2011

24�

Wall thickness

Pipe pull-out

64

37 km

Diameter of pipeline

up to 11 metres

Dutch pavilion during OTC 2011 Dutch Pavilion OTC 2011 Vryhof

Huisman

Bayards

SAS

Airborne

Allard

CRC

EmcĂŠ

Keppel

A. Hak

2233

Tideway

Mammoet

Bakker

HSM

Doedijns

SPT

Barge Master

Fairstar

IRO

Jumbo

IHC

Damen

Biglift

Van Dam

Van Beest

Boskalis

Hertel

2531 Interdam

2327

UOS

Van Oord

2427 Heinen Hopman

Stairs

2625

Heerema Seatools

OSD

Amarcon

Siri

Allseas

Marin Stairs

2317

2517

2617

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OTC Stand 2531

Bakker Sliedrecht Electro Industrie B.V. P.O. Box 25, 3360 AA Sliedrecht The Netherlands phone fax mail site

+31 (0)184 436 666 +31 (0)184 436 677 info@bakker-sl.nl www.bakkersliedrecht.com

Electrical system integrator Bakker Sliedrecht has become an international and leading field player in the world of electrical engineering for marine applications. We are continuously looking for optimum and innovative solutions, with the aid of state-of-the-art and conventional electrical and mechanical techniques by advising, designing and building of: - drive and control systems - automation systems - switchboards and MCC’s - control desks - e-motors and generators - cabling / installation - project management We are specialized in: - diesel-electric propulsion/thruster systems, including DP systems

- submersible motors and techniques - harmonics and FMEA analyses Bakker Sliedrecht is carrying out world-wide projects turn-key and/or package based, in offshore, dredging, research vessels, fishing, merchant shipping, navy, inland shipping.

Bakker Repair is taking care of maintenance, repair and winding of motors, generators, transformers, in high as well as low voltage.

Quality, safety and environment conditions constantly have our attention. Our quality systems of management and services fully comply with ISO 901 en VCA standards.

No ocean too deep, no country too far!

OTC Stand 2531 Bluestream Offshore

tenance, Drilling Support & Site Survey, Salvage

With a professional team of staff, Bluestream

Support, Trenching Support, Specialized Tooling.

Offshore provides a wide range of specialist

Bluestream Offshore B.V. P.O. Box 457, 1780 AL Den Helder The Netherlands phone 31 fax mail site

(0)223 63 77 84 31 (0)223 66 86 38 commercial@bluestreamoffshore.com www.bluestreamoffshore.com

services through her subsidiaries for the

Rope Access Services:

international oil and gas industry, renewable

Installation Support, Maintenance, Repair,

energy and maritime sectors from its home

Inspections, Construction Support,

base in Den Helder, the Netherlands.

Non Destructive Testing.

Diving Services:

Quality assurance

Construction & Installation Support, Subsea

Bluestream Offshore is ISO 9001:2008 and VCA/

Well Intervention, Drilling Support, Field

SCC** certified. Bluestream is also member of

& Seabed Survey, Non Destructive Testing,

IMCA (International Marine Contractors

Inspection, Repair & Maintenance.

Association), IRATA (International Rope Access Trade Association) and is registered with FPAL

ROV Services:

(First Point Assessment Ltd.).

Installation Support, Inspection, Repair & Main-

OTC Stand 2625

Boskalis Offshore bv P.O. Box 43, 3350 AA Papendrecht The Netherlands phone fax mail site

66

+31 (0)78 696 9011 +31 (0)78 696 9571 offshore@boskalis.nl www.boskalis.com 2011

Boskalis Offshore, part of international dredging and marine contractor Royal Boskalis Westminster, provides offshore contracting and engineering activities to upstream oil & gas clients. Boskalis Offshore focuses on the following activities: • Pipeline intervention (free span correction, seabed levelling, pipeline/cable crossing, stabilisation, protection, thermal insulation) • Platform & wellhead intervention (foundation, protection, ballasting) • Landfalls & shore approaches (pipe installation, shallow water earthworks, civil works, land-water transition) • Decommissioning (platform de-ballasting, pipeline (de-)burial, drill cuttings management) • Cables (laying, pipeline/cable crossing, protection, shore approach, landfall)

The principal services of Boskalis Offshore comprise: Pre-sweeping, (deepwater) dredging, pre-trenching, post-trenching, subsea rock installation and sand placement. Boskalis Offshore sets new records with regard to for instance optimisation in the design of rock protection, dynamic scour protection and deepwater dredging. Boskalis Offshore is backed by the dense global network of the Royal Boskalis Westminster group.

Including its share in partnerships, Boskalis has around 14,000 employees and operates in 65 countries across six continents. Boskalis has a versatile fleet of over 1,100 units, including fallpipe vessels, trailing suction hopper dredgers, cutter suction dredgers, backhoe dredgers and grab dredgers. Boskalis Offshore is ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certified and a member of IMCA.

Burdock brings highly educated specialists and

experience in their own sector. From execution

professionals into contact with clients who

to services on management level, they will

operate in the industrial, technical and financial

support organisations with their knowledge and

world. Burdock possesses the hands-on

expertise. In our provision of services, safety,

experience needed in day to day operation.

quality and continual improvement are central.

We speak your language, we understand your

Burdock - Head office Treubstraat 15e, 2288 EG Rijswijk The Netherlands phone fax mail site

+31 (0)70 319 1990 +31 (0)70 319 3600 info@burdock.com www.burdock.com

challenges. Burdock was founded in Delft in

Burdock’s objective is supplying added value

1991. Since then, our head office has moved to

by identifying talent and specialists for your

Rijswijk (South-Holland) and we have become

organisation and making them available to you.

one of Europe’s largest independent organisa-

We strive for long-term relationships, both with

tions offering consultancy and management

you, as clients, and our specialists. Your contact

services. Our network is international with

at Burdock will have knowledge and experience

offices worldwide.

in the industrial, technical or financial world.

As a result, your needs will be assessed quickly

Professionals from Burdock are motivated

and quick connections can be made in order to

and well educated specialists with extensive

find a solution for your capacity issue.

OTC Stand 2625 The Damen Shipyards Group has developed from a single shipyard in 1927 and has grown to over 30 shipyards and related companies.

The Damen Shipyards Group serves a global market and is considered to be the market leader in the maritime sectors in which it operates.

Damen Shipyards Group P.O. Box 1, 4200 AA Gorinchem The Netherlands phone fax mail site

+31 (0)183 63 99 11 +31 (0)183 63 21 89 info@damen.nl www.damen.nl

Damen Shipyards Gorinchem is an independent member of the Damen Shipyards Group.

Continuous product development has resulted in a series-building program based on different types of tugs, workboats, high-speed craft, fast ferries and short sea cargo vessels. We also have cost effective facilities for one-off vessels.

Damen vessels are used in many sectors of operation by a variety of customers such as, dredging companies, shipping companies, towing and salvage companies, port authorities, government organizations, coast guards, etc.

Probably, best known is our Technical Cooperation Service which not only involves the supply of vessels as pre-fabricated shipbuilding kits to overseas customers, but also the equipment and training to assemble them.

The Damen Services division prides itself in providing a comprehensive range of maritime services to our clients. Designed and packaged for maximum benefit our services extend from warranty work on our vessels, product support and parts supply to vessel delivery and marine related project management.

- Regional services teams.

- World-wide infrastructure - After-sales warranty - Service Projects - Parts Supply - Vessel delivery

OTC Stand 5023 FUGRO OFFSHORE SURVEY (182) Fugro Offshore Survey represents individual Fugro companies worldwide, working together to provide the breath and depth of service that our international customer base demands.

Fugro Survey B.V. P.O. Box 128, 2260 AC Leidschendam The Netherlands phone fax mail site

+31 (0) 70 311 1800 +31 (0) 70 311 1838 FSBVinfo@fugro.com www.fugro.com

Fugro collects and interprets data related to the earth’s surface and the soils and rocks beneath and provides advice, for purposes related to the offshore wind, oil and gas and the construction industry. Fugro operates around the world at sea, on land and from the air, using professional, highly-specialised staff and advanced technologies and systems.

investigation of shallow marine geology that is the basis for drilling hazard analysis; pipeline & cable route surveys, and also supplies survey & ROV for construction support services, from platform & pipelay support to installation of subsea field developments.

- Desktop and Feasibility Studies - Positioning Services - Construction Support Services - Geophysical Surveys - Pipeline Route Surveys - Environmental Surveys - ROV Intervention, Survey and Inspection - Oceanography and Meteorology

Fugro Offshore Survey specializes in the provision of a range of positioning and navigation services, both on the surface and subsea, for survey and engineering operations at sea; 2011

67

OTC Stand 2317 00%

10%

95%

00%

100%

10%

00%

5%

Heerema Fabrication Group P.O. Box 58, 3330 AB Zwijndrecht The Netherlands phone fax mail site

31 (0)78 625 0425 31 (0)78 619 4069 info@hfg-heerema.com www.hfg-heerema.com

Heerema Fabrication Group (HFG) is a leading

The fabrication locations in Holland (Vlissingen

contracting group which specializes in the

and Zwijndrecht) and the United Kingdom

engineering and fabrication of large and

(Hartlepool) are all equipped with large

complex offshore structures to the global oil

prefabrication and assembly halls and rank

and gas and energy industry. HFG distinguishes

amongst the largest indoor construction

itself by offering an integrated engineering

facilities in Europe. All locations are large

and fabrication approach, allowing execution

enough to handle several large projects

of EPC(I) projects to be delivered on time and

simultaneously. Units fabricated by HFG range

within budget.

from jackets, topsides and modules for leading oil & gas and energy companies.

HFG owns three large fabrication facilities, situated around the North Sea, a workshop

The engineering company HFG Engineering

facility in Poland and a multi-disciplined facility

is specialized in fabrication-driven

engineering company in the Netherlands.

engineering and practical designs to offer clients an integrated engineering and fabrication approach.

OTC Stand 2327

Huisman P.O. Box 150, 3100 AD Schiedam The Netherlands phone fax mail site

+31 (0)10 245 2222 +31 (0)10 245 2220 info@huisman-nl.com www.huismanequipment.com

Huisman is a globally operating company with extensive experience in the design and manufacturing of heavy construction equipment for leading offshore companies. Our equipment, varying from stand-alone to highly engineered and integrated systems is designed and manufactured under own management, from concept to deliver Cranes: Delivery of customised cranes, range > 100mt : • Mast Cranes • Pedestal Cranes • Knuckleboom Cranes • Land Cranes • Floating Cranes • Gantry Cranes • Wind Turbine Installation Cranes Pipelay: Turnkey delivery of pipelay systems: • Seven Seas: Flex, Reel & J-lay • CSO Deep Blue: Flex, Reel & J-lay • Seven Oceans: Reel-lay • Pertinacia: Flex-lay • Balder: Deepwater J-lay • Saipem 7000: Deepwater J-lay • Sapura 3000: Deepwater S-lay • Borealis: Deepwater S-lay

• Aegir: Deepwater J-lay and Reel-lay Drilling: Land and Offshore Containerised Drilling Unit • Drillships • Well Intervention Systems • Semi-submersible Drilling Rigs Winches: Anchor Handling & Towing Winches • Deepwater Installation & Mooring Systems Heave Compensation Systems: Active Heave Compensated Winches • Active Heave Compensation by Cylinders • Passive Heave Compensation We are internationally known for our technical and creative solutions, timely delivery of high quality equipment with full capacity from day one and a high reliability guarantee during operations. Our globally operating service network provides service support after delivery and installation on location and by remote access.

OTC Stand 2625

IHC Offshore & Marine B.V. P.O. Box 5, 3370 AA HardinxveldGiessendam, The Netherlands phone fax mail site

68

+31 (0) 184 67 73 00 +31 (0) 184 67 73 01 info-O&M@ihcmerwede.com www.ihcmerwede.com 2011

The offshore division of IHC Merwede is

responsibility for complete turnkey projects.

focussed on the continuous development,

The company’s production facilities in The

design and construction of reliable, custom-

Netherlands can accommodate the construction

built assets for the specialist oil and gas market.

of large new-build vessels and it can also build

It is a low-risk, one-stop shop for the best design

vessels in other locations around the world.

consultancy, product offering and finance package

Through its pioneering role, IHC Merwede

supplied to customers in the offshore market.

ensures compliance with the latest technological

IHC Merwede has in-house expertise for

developments, strictest safety regulations and

engineering and manufacturing innovative

most stringent environmental standards for

vessels and advanced equipment, as well as

pipelay, well intervention, diving support and

providing life-cycle support. Its integrated

multi-purpose offshore support vessels.

systematic approach has helped to develop

Technological innovation will remain the

optimum product performance and long-term

company’s underlying strength through its

business partnerships. Due to its expertise and

continuous investment in research and

strong relationships with suppliers, manufacturers

development. Moreover, it helps to safeguard

and sub-contractors, IHC Merwede is able to take

a sustainable environment.

ITC Management BV Herenweg 133, 2100 AA Heemstede The Netherlands phone fax mail site

+31 (0)23 548 5200 +31 (0)23 548 5252 sales@itctowage.com www.itctowage.com

Boosting on a forty years long experience, ITC

assistance, tanker lifting and rig moves.

combines the advantages of a relatively small

The shallow draft shoal busters are suitable for

organization with short communication and

towing, supplying and anchor handling.

decision lines with a multi-discipline, inventive

These units are also excellently suitable to

organization and specialized equipment.

support offshore wind farm installation and

ITC owns and operates a fleet of modern

maintenance.

anchor handling tug supply vessels up to

ITC will continue their commitment to the non

12000BHP/145t BP, anchor handling tugs and

conventional marine industry and the offshore

towage & salvage tugs, and shoal busters.

industry offering tailor made solutions with our versatile fleet and integrated ISM and ISO-

ITC is operating globally and offering ocean

9001:2008 management and quality systems.

towage services for the heaviest and largest

The professional services performed by well

floating objects. Since 2005 ITC is building up

maintained vessels, manned by experienced and

a fleet of dedicated offshore support vessels,

well trained crews are supported by an experi-

which have been involved in FPSO installation

enced office staff, including former masters and

projects, 24/7 anchor handling, rig supply and

chief engineers.

OTC Stand 2625 Jumbo Offshore

install large and heavy structures in water

Jumbo Offshore’s core business is transportation

depths exceeding 3,000 m (1,000 t @ 1,000 m,

and installation of subsea structures, mooring

600 t @ 1,700 m, 200 t @ 3,000 m).

systems and wind farm equipment. Jumbo’s fleet

Jumbo Offshore V.O.F. 3, Van Vollenhovenstraat 3016 BE Rotterdam, The Netherlands phone

+31 (0)10 413 46 30 mail offshore@kahn.nl site www.jumbo-offshore.nl www.youtube.com/user/jumboheavylift

of 12 vessels contains two Offshore Heavy Lift

QHSE

Vessels: Jumbo Javelin and Fairplayer. Both

Working safely is always at the forefront of

vessels have DP2 systems, 17 knots transit

Jumbo’s methods and mentality. We approach

speed, a flush working deck (3,100 m2) and a

QHSE with even more dedication than our

large, adjustable cargo hold (up to 20,000 m3).

other activities. Our permanent Stay Well

For transportation services their two 900 t

Program aims at awareness and prevention.

Huisman mast cranes can lift 1,800 tonnes

Both ship crews and office staff are trained at

in tandem inshore operation. For offshore

regular intervals, incl. crew training sessions

purposes they can handle up to 1,100 tonnes.

on Jumbo’s in-house designed 3D Dual Crane Simulator.

Deepwater Deployment System In addition, DP2-HLV Fairplayer has a Deepwater

With a strong emphasis on safety-at-all-times,

Deployment System (DDS), enabling Jumbo to

we keep true to our motto: Reliable Strength

OTC Stand 2327 Mammoet is the world‘s leading tailor-made

• load-in, load-out and transport of huge

heavy lifting and multimodal transport solutions

jackets and other modules;

specialist. Our core business is the transport,

• lifting, handling and assembly of topside

shipping, installation (including horizontal and vertical positioning) and removal of heavy or large objects, to and from any location, onshore and offshore. Mammoet’s activities are focused on the petrochemical industry, civil engineering

Mammoet Karel Doormanweg 47, 3115 JD Schiedam The Netherlands

components such as living quarters; • transport, load-out and assembly of ship sections for FPSO construction; • sea fastening, ballasting and barge mooring operations;

projects, the power generation sector, offshore

• decommissioning operations;

and marine projects.

• weighing and jacking; • provision of heavy lift ships and rental cranes.

Mammoet offers the offshore industry all the phone fax site

+31 (0)10 204 24 24 + 31(0)10 204 24 42 www.mammoet.com

expertise, people and equipment for onshore

More info about Mammoet:

and offshore operations such as:

www.mammoet.com

• the design, engineering scheduling and management of all transport logistics; 2011

69

YOUR RELIABLE PARTNER IN SHIP,

With over 2000 employees worldwide and many

RIG & CREW MANAGEMENT

international clients, Lowland is a well-known shipping company with numerous vessels under

Founded in 1993, Lowland International NV is

ownership and management. We have at our

an international shipping company. We provide

disposal an extensive work force with which we

services for parties in the shipping and offshore

crew ships and operate offshore rigs.

industry involved in third-party technical ship

Lowland International NV Lireweg 14, 2153 PH Nieuw-Vennep The Netherlands phone fax mail site

+31 (0)88 557 0101 +31 (0)88 557 0150 info@lowland.com www.lowland.com

management and ship operation. We operate

We specialise in the maritime sector, comprising

on behalf of the ship and offshore owners and

ocean shipping, towage, dredging and

maintain a large pool of dedicated professionals.

associated activities such as ports and fishing.

We serve a specific market for exacting clients.

However, we also have access to an extensive

From our offices across 20 countries, we work

pool of professionals with maritime, technical

to fulfill owners’ high expectations globally.

or medical training for other sectors.

Our newest office, Lowland Marine & Offshore in St. Maarten, opened its doors recently and an

For further information please visit our website

office in Brazil will be opened in May 2011.

or contact our office.

OTC Stand 2517 Over the years Siri Marine has gained

The applications are numerous; assistance

extensive experience in offshore transporta-

of heavy transports; heavy lift; heave

tion and vessel motions in particular. This

monitoring; tow monitoring and also as a

experience is used to prepare transport

decision support system for marine transpor-

manuals and advice offshore personnel and

tation & offshore operations.

onshore organizations on the specific conditions that may occur during transport. Siri

Siri Marine BV Stationsweg 1, 9901 CP Appingedam The Netherlands phone fax mail site

+31 (0)59 662 0997 +31 (0)59 665 0810 info@sirimarine.nl www.sirimarine.nl

With this system safety margins can be

Marine aims to be the preferred supplier of

significantly relaxed because the vessel

motion monitoring services in the offshore,

motions and forces are known and always

shipping and shipbuilding industry, using

in control. Another important effect is a

the Siri Marine Motion Monitoring System.

significant reduction in both costs and risk.

Our main objective is to provide a system

Our standard products are suitable for

which is easy to install, has an excellent user

various applications; however client specific

interface and provides high quality data for

applications can be developed, obviously

real-time monitoring of motions and post

always with the philosophy of being

processing, if applicable.

“Fit for Purpose”.

OTC Stand 2327

Tideway bv P.O. Box 7074, 4800 GB Breda The Netherlands phone fax mail site

70

+31 (0)76 520 4140 +31 (0)76 520 4150 info@tideway-deme.nl www.tideway.nl 2011

Tideway Offshore Contractors is a Dutch offshore

from Brazil to Australia; and from India to the

specialist for the oil and gas industry, employing

Middle East and Russia. Technology is used

over 300 staff to support six offshore construction

much more frequently due to the increasing

vessels. Tideway’s DP II fall pipe vessels Rolling-

international demand for energy. This requires

stone, Seahorse and Flintstone have a sophisti-

special knowledge and Tideway profits from

cated fall pipe system, which places rocks up to

its parent company’s expertise, the renowned

2,000 m at precisely the right location. Tideway

Belgian Dredging, Environmental and Marine

also uses trailing suction hopper and backhoe

Engineering company ‘DEME’.

dredgers to construct pipeline trenches where pipelines reach the coast, and constructs landfalls

Tideway does not only provide services around

of oil and gas pipelines. To help clients explore

the many oil and gas pipelines built offshore

and exploit energy sources, Tideway is always

worldwide, but is also involved in high-voltage

searching for innovative solutions according to

cables at sea. Tideway projects are executed

the motto: ‘Energizing the Future’.

more and more at extreme places; further

Tideway works on groundbreaking projects all

offshore, closer to the North or South Pole

over the world: from the North Sea to Mexico;

or in very deep water.

OTC Stand 2625 Van Oord Offshore is an Offshore and EPC

For oil & gas pipeline shore approaches we

Contractor that offers a wide range of services

own a large variety of dredging and installa-

to the offshore oil and gas industry.

tion equipment. This allows us to offer a wide range of marine services that entail trenching

Our high precision subsea rock installation

& backfilling, landfall installation, pipe pulling

activities are vital for the stabilisation and

and shallow water pipeline and SPM installation

protection of offshore pipelines, cables and

works.

other installations such as GBS’s and wind

Van Oord Offshore 2 Jan Blankenweg, 4207 HN Gorinchem The Netherlands phone mail site

+31 (0)183 64 22 00 area.off@vanoord.com www.vanoord.com

farm foundations.

Our track record for EPC contracts is rapidly growing and confirms our ability to manage

With our large and modern fleet of DP flexible

and execute complex projects that include

fallpipe vessels and side stone dumping vessels

detailed design & verification, procurement of

we can provide pre-lay and post-lay rock instal-

materials & services and installation and com-

lation, scour protection, seabed improvement

missioning services in one complete package.

and ballasting services for offshore structures in water depths up to 1200 m.

Workfox B.V. Planetenweg 5, 2132 HN Hoofddorp The Netherlands phone fax mail site

+31 (0)23 556 3131 +31 (0)23 556 3135 info@workfox.com www.workfox.com

Managers for Offshore Accommodation and

the relevant lessons of 20 years of jack-up

Multi-Support Vessels

operational experience. The innovative design

Workfox BV is a leading service provider in the

of this self-propelled Seafox 5 meets all the

accommodation, construction and maintenance

requirements for installation and support services

support segment of the oil & gas industry

in the deeper water depths of the Southern and

world-wide and has been the exclusive manager

Central North Sea for clients in the offshore

for the operation of the Seafox-fleet of jack-up

wind and oil & gas industry.

units since 1991.

Furthermore, on behalf of Owners, Workfox

In addition to providing accommodation, cater-

offers temporary accommodation units for

ing and housekeeping services for hook-up and

offshore locations and onboard ships. These

maintenance activities, the Seafox units are able

TLQ’s comply with all relevant governmental

to offer support in a wide variety of offshore

and class specifications and combine comfort

installation, inspection and repair operations.

with practical efficiency. They have been

The advent of the windfarm installation market

designed for offshore oil and gas production

has led Seafox Group to design and build a

sites and are capable of withstanding severe

jack-up specifically for this market, incorporating

offshore environmental conditions.

ZF Marine Krimpen, formally known as HRP

The ZF Business Unit “Marine Propulsion

Thruster Systems, is in the thruster market since

Systems” is also a leader in the marine market.

1973. ZF Marine Krimpen designs and produces

Coordinated through its headquarters at ZF

a wide range of steerable thrusters for all types

Padova, Italy, ZF Marine has 11 plants located

of applications throughout the marine industry.

in Italy, Germany, Holland, USA, Brazil, China

All products are designed and manufactured in

and Taiwan.

the production facility at Krimpen aan de Lek,

ZF Marine Krimpen b.v.

Zaag 27, 2931 LD Krimpen aan de Lek The Netherlands phone fax mail site

+31 (0)180 331 000 +31 (0)180 331 099 info.hrp@zf.com www.zf.com/marine

the Netherlands. The organisation is ISO 9001

ZF Marine supplies complete propulsion systems

certified and designs meet all major marine

and components for all types of vessels - mo-

classification societies.

tor yachts, defence craft, high-speed ferries, workboats offshore- and commercial vessels,

The ZF Marine products are well known

in a power range from 10 to 14,000 kW - to

throughout the marine industry for innovation,

customers including major shipyards and engine

reliability and excellent performance.

manufacturers worldwide.

2011

71

Dutch pavilion during OTC 2010

Offshore and EPC Contractors

Solutions for tomorrow’s world

OFFSHORE ACCOMMODATION & SUPPORT

Van Oord Offshore is an Offshore and EPC Contractor that offers high precision subsea rock installation, trenching & backfilling, landfall installation, pipe pulling and SPM & GBS installation works.

With an extensive global track record in the offshore construction industry, Van Oord Offshore has proven its expertise to provide clients with a safe and solid solution for their offshore structures.

, x o f k r o W me in any www.vanoord.com SPM installation

Subsea rock installation

Trenching and backfilling

Landfall construction

at ho ! y g r e n e of d kin

GBS installation

Planetenweg 5, 2132 NH Hoofddorp, The Netherlands info@workfox.com www.workfox.com

01 Dutch contractors invest en masse Modern customers want full-service provision New semi-submersible Type O Super Vessel Building excellence for complex projects

www.heerema.com

F3-F4 platform is a unique construction

Turning concepts into reality!

2011

At Heerema Fabrication Group we are turning concepts into commercial reality: from conceptual design to final fabrication and delivery.

nr. 1

At our fabrication location Heerema Zwijndrecht we completed the largest offshore deck ever built in the Netherlands. The picture shows the 11,000 tons Integrated Production & Hotel Facility topsides for the BP Valhall Re-Development project during the load-out operation on a seagoing barge. Heerema’s Zwijndrecht facility has a capacity which ranks amongst the largest indoor facilities in Europe.

Heerema Fabrication Group Noordweg 8 3336 LH Zwijndrecht The Netherlands Tel: +31 [0]78 - 625 04 25 E-mail: info@hfg-heerema.com

offshore holland

Successful engineering and fabrication of large and complex structures for the offshore oil and gas industry demands not only fabrication and facility operating expertise, but also a fabrication-driven engineering focus to ensure on-time delivery within budget.

Check our track record at www.heerema.com

A HEEREMA COMPANY

Dutch knowledge is called in when the going gets tough