European Oil and Gas Issue 9 2013

issue NINE 2013

oil&gas european

europeanoilandgas.co.uk f r o m e x p l o r a t i o n t o e n d u s e r

flame A clean

The role of Carbon Capture & Storage in future proofing the gas industry

Vessel for growth FPSOs are playing an increasingly important role in E&P Becoming inherently safe Can process safety hazards be designed out of oil and gas projects?

this ISSUE: ROV training

Editors Chairman Andrew Schofield Group Managing Director Mike Tulloch

Sales Director David Garner Corporate Advertising Sales David King dking@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Sales Finlay Johnson Head of Research Philip Monument Business Development Manager Mark Cawston Research Managers Natalie Martin Ben Richell Editorial Researchers Ed Hipperson Kieran Shukri Jeff Johnson ­Office Manager Tracy Chynoweth

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For some years

now many have been extolling the virtues of gas as the fuel of the future, not least because of its relative abundance in basins around the world and its growing reputation as the ‘cleanest’ of our fossil fuels. The latter reason in particular has been used as the rationale for locking in widespread, and often controversial, shale gas production and promoting a viable alternative to the growing renewables industry.

But just how ‘clean’ is gas? Well, in this issue’s lead feature Frank Ellingsen of CO2 Technology Centre Mongstad, argues that if the gas industry is to be successful into the long-term future companies need to get serious about Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) in order to make gas the clean fuel it is believed to be.

“In many cases, the claims of gas as a sustainable fuel are overstated,” he says, before adding “With the dash for gas effectively boosting an already overblown carbon bubble, it’s up to the gas industry itself to decarbonise the supply to safeguard its place as a primary global energy source.”

Of course, as many will argue, the industry is already rising to this challenge, one notable example being the partnership of Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil on the Gorgon initiative in Australia, which is the world’s largest CCS project. However, it is further projects like this, and the associated investments, that are needed if companies wish to advance gas production. After all, as Frank explains, “The rewards are there for those gas generators that invest.”

editors Libbie Hammond & matt high

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Art Editor Gérard Roadley-Battin Advertising Design Jenni Newman Production Manager Fleur Conway Production Administrator Vicky Howes

it’s up to the gas industry itself to decarbonise the supply to safeguard its place as a primary global energy source”

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Managing Editor Libbie Hammond libbie@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Editor Matt High mhigh@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Staff Writers Kirsty Birkett-Stubbs Jo Cooper Editorial Administrator Emma Harris

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Regulars

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Profiles

Lead Feature

The role of Carbon Capture & Storage in future proofing the gas industry

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News

A look at some of the recent developments in the oil and gas industry

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Lead Feature

FPSOs are playing an increasingly important role in E&P

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Special feature - ROV

Paul Bury of The Underwater Centre talks ROV training and operations

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IT

Workplace recovery solutions are essential for oil and gas companies

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HSE

27 V Ships 32 Decommissioning focus

Decom North Sea

34 Hereema Marine Contractors 37 Bilfinger Salamis UK 29 ITW Densit 39 Xcite Energy Resources 42 NAFTOMAR 44 Salalah Methanol Company 46 Millers Oils

Can process safety hazards be designed out of oil and gas projects?

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49 FoundOcean 54 Manlift Group

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57 COSCO Shipyard Group 61 Frerk Aggregatebau 65 Novenco 67 BassDrill 71 Port of Fujairah Authority 75 EWE GASSPEICHER 78 The Sniffers

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80 MHF Group 82 Cromarty Firth Port Authority 84 Secunda Canada 86 AXON Norway 88 Chart Ferox 90 IRATA 92 2H Offshore 94 Huawei Marine Networks 97 Heat Exchangers Specialist (S)

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Contents

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European oil & gas

flame A clean

The role of carbon capture & storage in future proofing the gas industry, by Frank Ellingsen

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ransforming the dash for gas into a low carbon, sustainable industry

The boom in shale gas has taken up full pace due to the vast volumes available and cheap prices, even using unconventional fracking methods for excavation. Many have also asserted the properties of gas as the ‘cleanest’ fossil fuel as rationale for locking in widespread shale gas production. However, in many cases, the claims of gas as a sustainable fuel are overstated. Certainly, gas burns cleaner than coal. It also ensures a constant supply of power unlike intermittent Below wind or solar. Yet the IEA reports that already two thirds Frank Ellingsen, managing director of global carbon reserves are related to coal, two per cent at CO2 Technology to oil and 15 per cent to gas. With global energy demand Centre Mongstad expected to double in the next 20 years, so will the relative (TCM) environmental impacts, in terms of carbon emissions.

By 2035 nearly half of US gas production is expected to come from shale gas, up from around a quarter in 2010.

Countries such as the UK may also benefit from shale gas, providing space can be found to support the necessary infrastructure. For example, it is possible that the UK’s 1000 square kilometer Bowland Basin may contain 300 trillion cubic feet of gas - the equivalent of 17 times as much gas as the North Sea’s known remaining reserves.

It is predicted that fossil fuels will account for 60 per cent of energy generation by 2030. So, the wholesale replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy, such as solar and wind power, before 2030 is unrealistic, especially when the lower price of gas makes it harder for renewables to compete on short terms costs alone. But can the impact of the ‘dash for gas’ be measured on excavation and importation costs alone?

Closer investor scrutiny on high carbon investment Locking in fossil fuel as we enter a carbon constrained world According to the IEA, the US, which has been making headway in reducing emissions (if it had ratified the 1997 Kyoto protocol it would have now met its obligations), now stands to become the world’s largest gas producer by 2015.

Although the short-term odds may stack up in favour of gas, there is increasing awareness amongst investors that the huge reserves of coal, oil and gas held by companies are sub-prime assets. According to the Carbon Tracker Initiative1 80 per cent of fossil fuel investments are effectively unburnable, since doing so would blow legally binding greenhouse gas

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Lead one

5 emissions budgets. In January 2013, market analysts at HSBC warned oil and gas majors that they could face a loss in market value of up to 60 per cent should the international community introduce global mandatory emissions reduction targets. But even in the absence of a global mandatory agreement on carbon, the direction of travel for the fossil fuel industry is towards increased carbon compliance.

With the dash for gas effectively boosting an already overblown carbon bubble, it’s up to the gas industry itself to decarbonise the supply to safeguard its place as a primary global energy source.

Transforming gas into a low carbon fuel The only way to effectively decarbonise our gas supply, by up to 90 per cent, is through Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) by effectively trapping the carbon dioxide at its emission source, transporting it to a storage location underground and isolating it. The International Energy Agency has estimated that as much as one fifth of total required carbon emissions reductions will come from CCS by 2050.

The rewards are there for those gas generators that invest, in terms of jobs created in this new industry. In the UK for example, a leader in CCS, research by the Carbon

Trust found that CCS industrial development2 could contribute ÂŁ3-16 billion to UK GDP cumulatively to 2050.

Furthermore, as well as enabling generators to benefit from the rise in cheap unconventional energy, such as shale gas, CCS allows countries to simultaneously avoid penalties for missing legally binding carbon targets.

Generators have been capturing and transporting CO2 gases in large-scale plants for decades; which has been utilised in enhanced oil recovery, as well as the production of carbonated drinks. But the fact remains that unlike other now mainstream low-carbon technology sectors, such as wind and solar, CCS technologies do not currently exist at commercial scale. Currently, carbon capture is costly; the GCCSI estimates that each MWh supported by CCS costs energy generators an additional $50 - $100, as well as substantial capital costs for development.

However, if the funds saved on cheap gas can be reinvested into setting up this infrastructure, generators will answer the problem of oncoming carbon regulation, whilst also creating a new industry for the future.

Industry is already rising to the challenge, Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil have partnered on the Gorgon initiative in Australia, the world’s largest CCS project. It has been set up

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With the dash for gas effectively boosting an already overblown carbon bubble, it’s up to the gas industry itself to decarbonise the supply to safeguard its place as a primary global energy source

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to enable natural gas to travel through undersea pipelines to a liquefied natural gas plant on nearby Barrow Island.

Once injection operations are at full capacity in 2015, 3-4 million tonnes a year of naturally occurring CO2 produced with the natural gas will be captured and injected into a deep sandstone formation 2.5 kilometres beneath the island.

Significantly, once complete, Gorgon has an estimated lifespan of at least 40 years.

Technology testing is a vital route for verifying and demonstrating capture technology, which in turn can reduce costs, plus technical, environmental and financial risks, thereby creating the preconditions for success. The UK Energy Research Council (UKERC), which spent two years researching the means for establishing CCS as a mainstream technology, came to the same conclusion: a regulatory approach making CCS compulsory in all fossil plants will only work if the technology is more advanced3. By bringing

costs down and making the market viable, technologists provide a basis for global energy policy and investment.

To meet the need for testing, test centres have been developed on a major scale; allowing the safe simulation of carbon capture. CO2 Technology Centre Mongstad is the most advanced of these, offering the ability to capture 100,000 tonnes of CO2 a year, from post combustion oil, coal and gas-fired sources, as required. Crucially, TCM is the only large-scale test centre providing gas fired carbon emissions for testing, and so in the current times has a unique significance.

Reinvestment in CCS is critical to a sustainable gas industry With CCS creating a solution to the predicted exponential rise in gas-fired emissions from shale gas, it is up to the gas industry to invest in the technology now, to enable gas

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CCS deployment to combat climate change and show achievements that are crucial to de-risking CCS investments.

The TCM core utility infrastructure has operated with more than 98 per cent availability and this has made it possible to supply the two absorption plants with exhaust gas and other utilities as requested by the two technology owners utilising the large scale test units.

TCM is currently testing Aker Solutions’ amine technology in the amine plant and Alstom Chilled Ammonia technology in the ammonia plant. Based on the TCM programme, three scientific reports have been published, which for the first time have independently recommended the viability of safe amine carbon capture.

A further development is that tests are soon to be performed with a solvent mix of the amine, monoethanolamine (MEA), and water. An absorption process using MEA is used as a base case when different CCS technologies are evaluated and tested. The MEA based chemical absorption process is used as a baseline when comparing different carbon capture technologies. TCM's MEA test will provide a new and improved baseline from an industrial size 'lab' facility. The baseline will be valid for a variety of CCS applications, both in the process industry and in power production.

From 2014, the next round of testing of other absorption solvents will begin at TCM's amine plant, which is capable of processing up to 80,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. Aker Solutions, Hitachi, Mitsubishi and Siemens have all registered their interest in this first invitation cycle. At a time when it is proving difficult to finance a large-scale CCS demonstration, due in part to the current economic concerns as well as uncertainty in climate policy, these results provide a path forward for technological innovation.

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Lead one

7 1: www.carbontracker.org/carbonbubble 2: www.carbontrust.com/resources/reports/technology/tinas-marineenergy-carbon-capture-heat-bioenergy-electricity-networks-and-storage 3: www.ukerc.ac.uk/support/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=1881

profits to be maximised in the future, whilst simultaneously mitigating carbon emissions.

There are no quick fixes to this issue, the lower prices of unabated gas should be viewed as a stepping-stone to decarbonise this fuel for the future, through reinvestment of savings. Certainly the prospect of cheap gas stands to liberate us from energy conflicts and increase energy self-sufficiency and importation for many countries. But unless steps are put in place to limit the carbon impacts of gas through CCS, the industry will be locked into a situation where rising emissions outstrip our ability to adapt to the climate change they will cause.

Proven results Since TCM's opening in May 2012, the facility has been in operation for more than 5000 hours. The results from its first year of testing have now prepared the ground for widespread

TCM Frank Ellingsen is managing director at CO2 Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM), the world’s largest and most advanced facility for testing and improving CO2 capture. TCM is a joint venture set up by the Norwegian state (75.12 per cent), Statoil (20 per cent), Shell (2.44 per cent) and Sasol (2.44 per cent). It aims to increase knowledge on carbon capture technologies, in order to reduce technical and financial risk, and accelerate the development of qualified technologies capable of wide scale international deployment. Up to 80 per cent of the costs of CCS are related to CO2 capture, so TCM is encouraging the use of their facilities to refine the capture process and bring costs down.

For further information please visit: tcmda.com

Jetstream Europe has increased its rental fleet of magnetic crawlers to five and has plans to manufacture many more in order to cope with demand from customers. The innovative company also has plans to add a vacuum unit to the system in

European oil & gas

order to recover debris that is created in the cleaning process, said regional

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have been impressed with the

sales manager Billy Campbell.

He added: “Our magnetic crawler has really taken off. We now have five on our rental fleet and they are constantly in demand. Customers benefits it provides when used on internal and external storage tanks and other surfaces.

“Surface preparation is a major issue from an environmental point of view and the crawler means that you haven’t got the environmental damage done by the dust and grit associated with grit blasting. The cost savings are incredible. The crawler will be a major growth area for us and that is why we will be investing more in its production at our Halesowen headquarters.”

The Magnetic Crawler MC250 comprises a bank of 'floating magnets' that enables the machine to effortlessly negotiate large welded seams, dents or other surface distortions without falling off. It is ideal for use on ship hulls and storage tanks, and on oil rig platforms.

Mapping progress

© Geological Society of America, photography by permission

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Stuck on innovation

Elsevier has announced its collaboration with The Geological Society of America (GSA), one of the largest and most prestigious societies serving geosciences professionals worldwide. The collaboration will formally launch in September through the integration of more than 60,000 geological maps from GSA’s flagship journals, book series and the comprehensive Decade of North American Geology compendium into Geofacets, Elsevier’s premier research tool for geoscientists working in exploration for the oil and gas and metals and mining industries.

The move will bring the total number of maps in Geofacets to over 300,000, providing a comprehensive resource for Geofacets users to investigate potential areas for exploration in more detail than ever. As a result, exploration teams using Geofacets will have more confidence in their technical evaluations of geographic areas for potential energy and mineral sources.

“It is an honor to work with one of the world’s most influential and recognised publishers in the area of geology,” said Alexander van Boetzelaer, Managing Director Corporate Markets at Elsevier.

“This collaboration gives us the unique opportunity to provide Geofacets users with seamless access to even more academic maps of the highest quality. The collaboration itself reflects our ongoing commitment to provide our customers with a best-of-breed solution that makes them more competitive as they scale up exploration activities.”

Growing team Fast evolving oil and gas engineering company, Fabricom Offshore Services has announced its relocation from Aberdeen's Riverside House to larger office facilities at Berry Street in the city centre.

The move, which comes less than a year after the company established a base in Aberdeen, is the result of new business and increases the company’s presence and capability in Aberdeen.

Fabricom has reinforced its Aberdeen organisation with the senior appointments of Mike Grant, as Aberdeen projects development manager and Pat Martin, as the Aberdeen office engineering manager. Allan Cairns, Fabricom’s CEO said: “The expansion of our Aberdeen operation and the move to larger premises represents a major milestone for Fabricom Offshore Services. It not only demonstrates the company’s growth but fortifies Fabricom’s continued commitment to further develop and expand our business in the North Sea, across the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) and beyond.

“It is also a great testament to everyone in the Fabricom team and emphasises the growing reach of our dedicated engineering expertise, particularly in Aberdeen’s offshore brownfield sector.”

Fabricom anticipates that its Aberdeen-based team will increase to 35 by the end of 2013.

News

Ahead of the market Gulfstream Services Inc (GSI) has successfully completed two six figure

Dron & Dickson, a specialist in design, supply and maintenance of hazardous area electrical equipment has opened an office in Brazil creating the potential for future work in the area.

The new base follows on from £10 million of contracts being secured in the region. Dron & Dickson Servicos de Equipamentos Electricos Ltda will be the company’s first registered office in South America, located in Rio de Janiero.

Colin Maver, Group director at Dron & Dickson, said: “Establishing a base in Brazil has long been a goal of Dron & Dickson’s, and we are thrilled to see the opening of our new office to further expand our international business and grow our profile in the rapidly developing offshore market in Brazil.

“Having a permanent local presence in the region will allow us to offer a superior service to our local clients, build our customer base and enable us to provide our products and services to the Brazilian market. Having the company officially registered here shows our commitment to expanding our service and product offering into South America.”

The company has a history of work within the region, including ongoing contracts to perform electrical inspection and maintenance, as well as rope access work, on assets offshore Brazil.

decommissioning contracts with

Taking flight

mattresses, clump weights and various

CHC Helicopter, the world’s largest helicopter services company, has launched an advanced engineering apprenticeship scheme to foster the next generation of engineering talent.

CHC has joined forces with Resource Group’s Part 147 approved training organisation, LRTT, to develop the apprenticeship programme which will see 35 young people expected to join CHC’s UK and Dutch operations over the next five years, with many more anticipated in the future.

Delivered for CHC by Resource Group’s aviation maintenance training division LRTT, the apprentices will complete eight months of classroom training in Cirencester, England, and 16 months of practical experience at a CHC operation in Aberdeen or North Denes, or Den Helder in the Netherlands.

Mark Abbey, CHC’s regional director for West North Sea, said: “CHC’s global team represents an exceptional combination of skill and dedication to helicopter engineering excellence. With this scheme, we’re equipping ourselves for the future by selecting, engaging, and developing the best young talents in the industry.”

The apprenticeship is open to applicants aged between 16 and 24. Seven places will be available every year. The deadline for applications is June 21st 2013 with the first intake of graduates in September 2013.

personnel were above expectations

major oil and gas service companies, Helix Well Ops UK and Dof Subsea.

The Helix contract was part of the BP North West Hutton decommissioning project where GSI tools were used to remove 10” and 20” pipelines from the seabed. GSI’s Hydraulic Shear was an effective engineering solution in the situation due to the quick boat-to-boat times.

GSI equipment was used by Dof Subsea for the cutting and recovering of items on a North Sea platform including a 6” pipeline, concrete small steel structures. After the assignment it was reported that the performance of GSI equipment and and caused no downtime. Both projects were carried out in the North Sea over a three and two week period respectively.

Caroline Grant, operations manager GSI, said: “It has been a busy few months for GSI. We are delighted to be involved in such high profile projects with Helix and Dof Subsea.

The efficient delivery of the projects are a testament to the effectiveness and quality of our products and staff.

This is further proof that we are at the forefront of the decommissioning market.”

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Going west

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Above: A Dron & Dickson rope access technician working at height

Above: Martin Blake, operator/ workshop technician, GSI, working on a GSI product

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growth European oil & gas

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Vessel for

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As the industry develops FPSOs are playing an increasingly important role in satisfying hydrocarbon demand

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uring its lifetime the field of offshore oil and gas has changed enormously. Since the introduction of the first offshore drilling rigs operating in shallow waters off the coast of the US, the exploration, production and exploitation of offshore energy assets has been undertaken in a number of guises, and with a varying and highly innovative range of technology, infrastructure and equipment developed to improve the process and satisfy the world's growing demand for hydrocarbons.

In the last decade or so, oil and gas exploration has changed at a greater pace than ever before. Not only has the maturing of regions shifted exploration to deeper waters but the growing globalisation of the industry means that production is taking place in increasingly harsh or difficult to access environments in fields and basins that, while readily exploitable, have a far shorter lifespan and are ‘underdeveloped’ in terms of supporting infrastructure and supply chain capacities.

As this shift has been widely documented in recent years, industry insiders, particularly those tasked with developing future technology needed to produce in these regions, understand that the long-term potential for producing offshore reserves lies resolutely within the deep and ultradeepwater fields.

Carrying out E&P in ultra-deepwater has necessitated a considerable change in thinking regarding the technology used to farm resources. In addition, some of the more recently discovered fields are in many cases smaller finds with a shorter lifespan, meaning that drilling assets now need the ability to move from field to field as and when a producer requires. In the quest for continued production, and to meet these challenges head-on, companies have pursued the development and operation of FPSOs (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading vessels) as the most economical and efficient answer to deepwater production in a variety of situations and environments.

Alongside other areas of the offshore industry, the FPSO market has enjoyed some of the strongest growth over the last five to ten years. While this is naturally due in some part to the continued increase in demand for hydrocarbons and the sustained dominance of fossil fuels over renewable and alternative energy sources in the market, the previously mentioned demands of a shifting market sector have been a key growth enabler.

The move into harsher environments and deeper waters has been a reaction to the inevitable ‘maturing’ of many of the world’s key production areas such as the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea. A market condition that has seen previously discovered fields, which at that time were

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Lead two

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considered uneconomically viable due to their isolated location and lack of connection to existing infrastructure, become attractive. Now, thanks to a number of successful projects in deepwater and extreme environments, which have been enabled by continued developments in technology - particularly subsea production technology - the FPSO has become the development infrastructure of choice for oil and gas companies looking to develop the next generation of oil and gas fields. So, what of the technology? The basic premise of the FPSO, as it has developed, is a simple one. It generally consists of a converted vessel – normally a tanker or transportation vessel that is used as an offshore production facility and houses both

processing equipment and the capability to store produced hydrocarbons until they are either offloaded via pipe or transported ashore to refining facilities. Like a platform, the FPSO is effectively moored in place above the developing field, yet fundamentally, it is through a central mooring system that is developed to allow the vessel to rotate freely to best respond to weather conditions or weathervane, which naturally is a significant benefit when operating in harsh environments or inclement conditions.

Modern FPSOs are usually tied in to multiple subsea wells in order to exploit the greatest potential in the most efficient and economic fashion, with the hydrocarbons transmitted via flowlines to risers, which transport the oil or gas to the

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vessel’s turret and then on to the FPSO on the water’s surface.

Whilst in some respects the FPSO may represent a cheaper or more compact type of production platform the equipment used on board is similar to what one would typically find on a production platform. In many cases the oil and gas can be transferred via pipeline directly to the shore, while gas can be re-injected into the field to further boost production in wells with minimum or low pressure, a common occurrence in many of the smaller type of fields FPSOs are found at.

So, why is the industry looking to FPSOs when considering future offshore developments? Perhaps one of the most important reasons in the current economic climate is the cost benefit of the simpler system. While the average semi-submersible takes roughly between three and four years to develop, lay keel, kit out and build, and a jack-up rig

around two to three years, from laying the keel in dry dock to first launch, an FPSO can effectively be rolled out in a number of months to a year.

Naturally, the simpler method of construction translates to far lower overhead costs for oil companies. Part of the reason why there are such distinct cost advantages in the development of FPSOs is the fact that the unit is not built from scratch and does not start its life as an FPSO. It is, effectively, a pre-existing structure. The first FPSO to ever be built was a converted oil tanker, and this development process has remained the tried and tested method – the simple recycling of assets in this way brings inherent costsaving benefits.

Flexibility is another key benefit that the use of FPSOs can bring to oil companies. As discussed, unlike their

counterparts, which are fixed to the seabed on long-term drilling contracts, they are mobile units and, as such, are able to navigate freely depending upon circumstance. For example, they are ideal for working on many of the marginal field developments that characterise modern E&P in an environment where conventional resources are being steadily exhausted. Once the source of hydrocarbons has plateaued in a specific site, an FPSO unit can promptly be moved on to its next target. In this way, owner/operators are dispensing with the need to build and maintain costly platforms in economically dubious situations, whilst retaining value with the employment of a reusable unit.

Despite economic uncertainty in the industry the FPSO market has emerged stronger than ever and continued project awards for regions across the globe, combined

with predicted capital expenditure increase means that looking ahead the market is expected to continue to gain momentum. Fleet growth is expected to be diverse. For example, at present a large proportion of the global fleet (68 per cent) consists of converted or refurbished FPSOs and while the continued move into harsher, technology-specific environments means that there will be a necessity for tailormade/custom designed FPSO vessels, it is predicted that refurbished and converted FPSOs will make up the bulk of the market well into 2017.

Globally, there are a considerable number of FPSOs currently operational across key producing regions, but looking ahead many insiders believe that the FPSO sector is likely to be heavily dominated by the developments set to take place offshore Brazil over the next five years and further into the future - Petrobras has four conversion projects for ultra-deepwater FPSOs currently under progress, all of which are going to be located in the pre-salt Santos Basin.

Indeed, South America and Asia are estimated to be the two key driver regions for the growth in newbuild FPSOs in the coming years, largely in the form of custom-made units for specific roles as previously mentioned. Offshore Asia, for example, it is estimated that there will be up to 30 FPSO installations between this year and 2017, which is a considerable increase over the 17 completed between 2008 and 2012. Africa, another growing region in the oil and gas industry is also an area where we expect to see a growth in FPSO activity, with up to 20 developments forecasted for the next five year period. Angola is likely to see the majority of these developments, chief among which is the CLOV FPSO operated by Total. Interestingly, closer to home the next five years are set to see a number of FPSO developments in the UKCS, with the UK set to be placed second only to Brazil in terms of installations.

Our industry is one of the fastest evolving and it is vital that we remain firmly in touch with future requirements in order to continue to not only achieve adequate production but to also push the boundaries in the quest for resources.

In moving into deeper waters and increasingly hostile environments FPSOs provide a number of advantages that oil companies would be wise to continue to note.

Ultimately, each project has its own specific requirements and conditions, but as far as predictions for the future of the industry it is clear that FPSOs will play an increasingly pivotal role in future oil and gas exploration.

FPSOnet Readers can find important information regarding the current worldwide FPSO fleet, including those under construction and in operation, as well as further information about current projects, developments and news in the FPSO industry at FPSOnet.

For further information please visit: fpso.net

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While the average semi-submersible takes roughly between three and four years to develop, lay keel, kit out and build, and a jack-up rig around two to three years, from laying the keel in dry dock to first launch, an FPSO can effectively be rolled out in a number of months to a year

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Lead two

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Pilot

schemes europeanoilandgas.co.uk

Paul Bury, ROV training manager at The Underwater Centre, Fort William, talks ROV training

Q

Q

Since ROV training started here at The Underwater Centre about 15 years ago, we have seen a steady growth in both numbers of students seeking training, and ROV companies (and the size of these ROV companies).

Whilst the world has seen a downturn and the recession has bitten, this has not affected the ROV industry in anything like the same way - in fact, it has bucked the trend. I monitor the work situation for prospective ROV candidates and the success in candidates getting work has been consistently high for the last two years. There has been a significant change in that the demand for well-trained operatives has grown substantially.

Focussed on providing industry-specific skills and competency training, The Underwater Centre’s unique seawater location, experienced instructors and extensive facilities provide the ultimate training for those looking for a career in the subsea industry. This combination of factors is essential for providing the right, competent personnel to industry.

Training is as realistic as possible and includes handson, practical training on real ROV systems, not simulators.

Students need to be as well prepared for the world of work as possible - this is ultimately what will gain them employment.

We are the only subsea training school in the world that trains ROV pilot technicians to fly ROVs alongside commercial divers, who are also in training. This experience further adds to the industry-like, practical training students complete when training in Fort William.

In addition to the extensive facilities on the Centre’s pier, which include ROV control cabins linked up to several dive stations and dive barges by radio and video links, as well as Launch and Recovery Systems, the Centre has a dedicated ROV electronics and engineering workshop, which provides even more practical experience for students. The training undertaken in the workshop is specifically to provide experience in the use and repair of fibre optics, including different methods of repair. Fibre optics provide the main communication link to ROVs, so if this is damaged in anyway the pilot technician needs to fix it as quickly as possible. Anytime the ROV is not in the water working, is money wasted to the client.

European oil & gas

The ROV market has developed considerably over recent years - how have the requirements for ROV operatives changed and developed in that time?

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Q

Has technological development changed the skills required of ROV operators?

Below Paul Bury, ROV training manager at The Underwater Centre

We are now seeing a greater emphasis placed upon companies looking for ROV pilot technicians with a greater IT skills base. The ROVs are becoming more complex and ‘intelligent’. They are increasingly utilising the processing power of computers to allow the vehicle to self-diagnose and communicate faults to the surface unit and speed-up the trouble-shooting and repair process when an ROV does develop a fault. On the one hand, the aim of this is to make the repair process quicker – thus reducing down-time, but the ROV systems have a greater capacity to communicate and identify faults – rather like the modern car. Like a modern car, the ROV has moved to a higher level of intelligence.

What, at The Underwater Centre, do you consider to be the key requirements in terms of training ROV workers and ROV operators?

Special feature

- ROV

Q

Can you tell me more about the range of training and courses you offer and how they translate to operational life? Have they been developed in conjunction with oil and gas operators?

Q

It is well documented that there is a skills shortage in the oil and gas industry. Do you consider this to be the case in terms of potential ROV workers?

Most definitely - a recent report by the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) demonstrates a worldwide shortfall of 500 personnel in the ROV industry, which is expected to rise to around 2000 in the next three to five years.

At The Underwater Centre, we have seen clear evidence of this too with a significant increase in demand for courses, which are currently booked six months in advance for the year ahead. At present there is a chronic shortage of ROV Supervisors. Almost every day I see e-mails and ads looking for this level of experience and, as a result, the workforce is climbing the ROV career ladder leaving openings for new personnel at the first stage.

Q

ROV operations are very different from other types of jobs – firstly, most work offshore. Depending upon the employer and nature of the job, the work can be very demanding; overheads and asset values are high and the stakes for whole offshore platforms, ships, subsea assets and oil and gas fields may be dependant upon the ROV. The companies require dedicated personnel who have a good skills base and, just as importantly, a good attitude and professionalism. We have had a number of ex-students who have stated categorically that the fact that they have undertaken self-funded ROV training has given them the edge over other personnel looking for ROV work.

Q

How do you see the market developing over the coming years?

Demand for ROV pilot technicians over the coming years will remain strong. The price of oil will only continue to increase, and hence the demand for oil will also continue to be strong. In addition, the offshore renewables sector has seen a massive increase in investment over the past three years or so – this has put increased demand for ROV work – the windfarms being the most obvious example.

We are still seeing a massive demand for training new entrants to the ROV market and also increasingly, a strong demand for higher level training. We are in discussions with a number of companies at the moment with the aim of satisfying their subsea training needs in the coming years.

the underwater centre Paul Bury is ROV training manager at The Underwater Centre, Fort William, the globally-recognised and highly respected commercial diver and ROV training centre, which provides one of the most comprehensive ROV training courses available anywhere.

For further information please visit: theunderwatercentre.co.uk

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Does the nature of the oil and gas sector make operating ROVs particularly difficult?

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The Underwater Centre offers two specific ROV courses – the seven-week Premium ROV Course, and the three-week ROV Pilot Technician Course. The Premium ROV Course has been specifically developed for those new to electronics and provides intensive training in electronic circuit design, test and measurement, fault diagnosis and repair. Students will also gain industry relevant experience of flying a live ROV and the appropriate support skills which go handin-hand with just such experience. Incorporated into the Premium ROV Course are formal qualifications audited and approved by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

The three-week ROV Pilot Technician Course is for those who already have a good grounding in electronics, and takes this knowledge and experience and applies it to the ROV systems. Training includes flying two live ROVs from the Centre’s dedicated pier, into the tidal seawater of the loch on which the Centre is based. The loch provides real, industry-like conditions for training, with varying currents and visibility. During the course, students will carry out tasks such as diver observation, pipeline inspections, NDT surveys and techniques, search and recovery operations, and sectored searches using manipulators. Students will also learn how to mobilise the ROV, create logs and interpret and navigate by sonar.

The Centre also offers additional ROV-specific skills training, for more experienced ROV personnel including the two-day Fibre-Optic Cable Termination Training Course, which provides training and experience in the repair and re-termination of umbilicals and tethers, and The Advanced five-day ROV Pilot Technician Development Training Course, which is an intensive, practical week of training dedicated to live ROV flying to gain even more, practical experience of ROV operations.

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recovery The perfect

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Graeme Gordon explains why workplace recovery solutions are essential for oil and gas companies

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T

Below Graeme Gordon, CEO of Internet for Business (IFB)

he energy sector – no place for a crisis

The energy sector is uniquely positioned in terms of its communication requirements. Offshore operations, maritime integration and onshore offices are all elements within a tightly meshed chain. One link in the chain breaks and the integrity of the whole organisation can be seriously damaged.

But what if something as simple as the inability to access your own office space brings this house of cards down, striking at technology and means of communication?

Solid communications are at the heart of health and safety, and safety is absolutely imperative for the energy sector.

Ensuring the wellbeing of staff is the priority, but with all media eyes monitoring any issues intensely, being able to respond to offshore emergencies is critical. If a crisis onshore disables communications with ships or rigs, a company

may not be able to respond and assist if an incident occurs offshore. This risks lives, and if the media sees danger offshore, combined with chaos onshore, the situation can disintegrate very quickly. Fighting back and regaining trust after such episodes takes many painful years.

Energy companies also monitor much of their data both onshore and offshore, and it’s a notably data-heavy sector.

Much of this information is highly sensitive and fiercely guarded, sometimes described as ‘locked down’, as there is such strong market interest in the workings of the larger oil companies in particular. It’s unimaginable that a reputable energy firm could lose access to its data resources, as the reputational and market impact would be difficult to quantify.

A further essential point is that many energy companies don’t simply conduct their business, they are licensed to operate. This means they have legal obligations to fulfil and governments to answer to, so having continuous

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communications with rigs and offices is absolutely imperative.

It’s also vital to remember that the energy sector is a global industry, working across multiple time zones, operating in dangerous regions and facing the elements. In this scenario real-time information is required to circulate continuously to ensure that this cutting edge industry delivers safely.

The energy sector is naturally at the forefront of expensive new technology, which it needs to keep operational, and its labour force and subcontracted staff, vessels and equipment are so costly that downtime is a painful option. Having any form of communications drop out simply isn’t an option for companies that wish to stay ahead.

Graeme Gordon, CEO of Internet for Business (IFB) explains that: “The energy sector has a unique operational model.

Continuous flow of information between offshore and onshore is imperative and not just for health and safety of employees and revenue generation, but to enable correct taxation and keep

staff monitored and up to date around the globe.

“Something as simple as being denied access to your onshore office because a fire or flood has made the premises inaccessible can break this intricate chain.

Offshore operations can be seriously impacted by a breakdown in communication like this, and of course by their very nature disasters are unpredictable. Therefore, energy companies have to be one step ahead of Mother Nature, civil disorder and crises.

“Control of many offshore operations takes place onshore and has to be monitored and reported onshore. “Take the issue of rate of flow. Flows from the field have to be monitored onshore for health and safety, tax purposes, supply and demand, security of supply and trading rules to name a few reasons. Onshore operatives need to be able to alert their colleagues offshore of any potential problems so that immediate action can be taken to remedy any issues.

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“However, if the onshore link in the chain can’t get to his or her workstation then none of this can happen. It’s imperative that they have a workplace recovery plan (WPR) in place. Having an off-site data centre securely storing data is crucial – it needs to offer a flexible and resilient backup and recovery service, with automatic back up, maintained by qualified support engineers that are on hand 24-hours a day. Even in the case of an emergency staff should be able to access company files through a secure web portal – whether they need a vital single file or an entire server. But this secure data storage is only useful if the relevant staff have the opportunity to access it – after a natural disaster or IT crisis staff need a clean, dry, safe desk to sit at while they carry on their work. Workplace recovery offers all the tools needed to get back to business as usual. So, what should energy companies look for in a workplace recovery package?

Graeme Gordon offers the following tips:

in the worst-case scenario. This ensures that the company isn’t trying to prioritise people and tasks at the last minute.

Within two hours you should be in a guaranteed position to have staff inducted at the workplace recovery centre, be issued with security passes and have a room and desk allocation. Within a four hour timeframe, you should have undergone a full handover and have a signed checklist – ready to conduct ‘business as usual’.

Access to data A workplace recovery plan providing the desks and hardware required should never exist in isolation. Ideally you will be in a contract with a provider who provides secure off site data storage in their own centre. This gives immediate and full access to everything required to be backed up and running in this new location.

Add ons?

Speed and efficiency Asking a provider for a documented timetable of just how quickly you can move staff to the work place recovery centre. How quickly do they guarantee to acknowledge your request? This should be a guaranteed turn-around time of 30 minutes or less to agree your access time and the numbers of workstations you require. Senior management should also prepare a list of core staff they’d wish to migrate to the centre

Check what you are actually paying for. Just what level of internet access will you have? How secure is it? Is it wired or wireless? Can all your telephone calls be diverted to one point and how quickly can this take place? Are you paying just for workstations or does the workplace recovery centre offer meeting space? Will your staff have access to catering facilities? Do you have car parking spaces guaranteed? Are these bolt on costs or part of your agreed package?

Testing and updates Any form of emergency plan needs to be tested. You should ensure that a provider builds in at least one testing day annually for you and your team – and you should check if you can build in additional testing days if required. This will be your lifeline in a time of crisis – make sure it delivers in the way your company needs it to.

Review and scalability Your business will develop and change, therefore your workplace recovery partner should offer you a regular review of your requirements. In the space of just a couple of years an organisation’s risk exposure can multiply significantly and what may have started out as a modest requirement for a set level of desks can escalate. Without a regular review you can be over exposed at a time of crisis. Check just how scalable your contract is – can you build in additional space if required either on a project or an on-going basis?

“A dictionary definition of disruption is that it is an act of delaying or interrupting the continuity,” continues Graeme. “But workplace disruption – whether this is due to environmental factors or simply denial of access to work place buildings, gives rise to massive areas of risk for the energy sector. According to a recent IT survey, 74 per cent of firms and public sector organisations in nine European countries said they were ‘not confident’ that they could

fully recover their computer systems or data after an IT failure. Part of this is due to them not being able to provide workspace for staff to ‘get back to business’.

“Managing continuity of the workplace and associated operational risks should be of concern to all businesses regardless of their sector. However, energy sector businesses may be far more at risk in this highly regulated industry, which has such a high reliance on data and uninterrupted communications.”

Internet For Business Graeme Gordon is CEO of Internet for Business (IFB). Founded in 1996, IFB is a leading Internet Service Provider (ISP) and provides ICT infrastructure for businesses across the UK. IFB provides cloud, connectivity, hosting, telecoms, backup & recovery and workplace recovery for business customers through national, multi-Gbit/s network that links Aberdeen, Edinburgh and London points of presence. Since 2001 IFB has had 100 per cent uptime on its core services for the duration. Graeme Gordon has been building and developing IFB for over 16 years and he’s a director with ScotlandIS, the trade body for the information and communications technologies (ICT) industry, representing around 200 software, telecomms, IT and creative technologies businesses throughout Scotland.

For further information please visit: w.ifb.net

European oil & gas

Something as simple as being denied access to your onshore office because a fire or flood has made the premises inaccessible can break this intricate chain. Offshore operations can be seriously impacted by a breakdown in communication like this, and of course by their very nature disasters are unpredictable. Therefore, energy companies have to be one step ahead of Mother Nature, civil disorder and crises

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safe Becoming

inherently

Graeme Ellis discusses whether process safety hazards can be designed out of oil and gas projects

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raeme Ellis, global process safety leader with ABB Consulting, is currently leading an update of the Energy Institute guidance, which when re-published by end Q4 2013 will focus more explicitly on Inherent Below Safety in Design. Here he examines the application of Graeme Ellis, ‘inherent safety’ in the oil and gas sector, and the challenge of global process safety leader with hazard elimination and minimisation as an essential part of ABB consulting Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) during the design process.

Major accidents causing massive damage to plant and property, loss of life and long-term damage to the environment are occurring all too frequently in the oil and gas sector. Investigations reveal a familiar story of failure to effectively control the risks associated with

processing large quantities of flammable hydrocarbons.

Preventing losses leading to fires and explosions requires a defence in depth using multiple ‘layers of protection’, but experience shows that lack of management controls can lead to a situation where all layers are compromised.

Incident investigations focus on the combination of equipment and human failures that lead to these accidents and the means by which failures can be prevented using better equipment, improved engineering standards or by optimising human factors.

Inherent safety for the process industry is not a new topic, the principles were developed in the 1970’s by Trevor Kletz, who coined the phrase “What you don’t have, can’t leak”, and more recently extolled for the oil and gas sector

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in publications by the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Energy Institute. The problem appears to be that inherent safety has not established itself as a design stage tool during PHA studies, unlike recognised methods such as HAZID and HAZOP. This has resulted in a lack of awareness amongst design teams and a tendency towards ‘add-on’ safety features to control risks, causing plants to be more expensive to build and operate.

Inherent safety in oil and gas Inherent safety in its purest form involves complete elimination of a hazard by using a different substance, or by making the consequences of a release insignificant by minimising quantities or moderating the processing

conditions. The oil and gas sector handles hydrocarbons in large quantities and at high pressure, and this raises doubts about the applicability of inherent safety. However, the principles of segregation to prevent harm to people, and simplification to make error less likely are perfectly applicable to oil and gas processes. Whilst the greatest benefits from inherent safety are at the feasibility stage, the opportunity to apply the principles continues through the design process.

After the US Texas City refinery explosion in 2005, investigations focussed on human factors during the plant start-up and the lack of an automatic shutdown of the process. The principle of segregation would however have prevented loss of life in this incident by connecting the relief

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If companies implement a formal inherent safety study during the feasibility stage for projects and major modifications, they will reap the benefits from a safer process design with less capacity to cause damage, whilst at the same time reducing capital costs and ongoing operating costs

system to the flare header to avoid loss of hydrocarbons in the plant area, and avoiding the positioning of temporary trailers in close proximity to the plant. At the UK Buncefield fuel storage depot explosion in 2005, a tank was overfilled due to failure of the tank level transmitter, and the independent high-level switch being left in a failed position following maintenance. The principle of simplification would have resulted in a change to the level switch design,

preventing it moving to an unsafe position and thereby avoiding the need for a padlock to keep the device in an active state.

A recent report by the CSB on the US Richmond refinery fire in 2012 highlights a failure to apply inherent safety principles, leading to rupture of a line due to sulphidation corrosion. This failure mechanism was well known to the operating company, and the corrosion hazard could have

Drivers for change Project management should challenge their design teams to identify opportunities to improve the inherent safety of the process, as this can avoid the need for ‘add-on’ safeguards that are expensive to install and maintain throughout the facility lifecycle. They should be mindful of the natural tendency for designers to reduce risks by additional active and procedural safeguards rather than taking a more holistic view. For example, increasing the wall thickness of a pressure vessel to contain the maximum foreseeable pressure may marginally increase the cost of the vessel, but is likely to significantly reduce the overall installation costs, including a high pressure trip and pressure relief system, plus offer ongoing cost savings by avoiding the need to inspect and maintain these safety systems. There should be recognition of the limitations of design contractors who usually don’t focus on operational costs and therefore are unlikely to look for cheaper design options over the lifecycle.

International engineering standards and codes of practice do not explicitly promote an inherent safety approach, as they are focussed towards the design and operation of fit for purpose safeguards. The requirement to apply inherent safety as part of a hierarchy of hazard management approaches can however be found explicitly in international legislation. The European MAHB guidance on ‘Seveso’ Safety Reports and definition of ‘all measures necessary’, states that “inherent safety should be considered first, when feasible (i.e. hazards should always be removed or reduced at source”. The UK HSE states in guidance for Offshore Safety Cases, “The safety case should explain how inherently safer design concepts have been applied in the design decisions taken”. There is limited evidence that the regulators are currently driving improvements based on these requirements, but this could change if the industry continues to have a poor process safety record.

Avoiding hazards by design PHA covers a range of techniques applied through the project design to identify hazards, eliminate or minimise these hazards where possible, or otherwise apply suitable ‘layers of protection’ to reduce residual risks to a tolerable level. On typical ‘greenfield’ projects or major ‘brownfield’ modifications, PHA typically includes a HAZID study during the concept stage followed by a HAZOP study during the execute stage. The HAZID study is carried out on the draft process flow diagrams and identifies major accidents, and encourages some consideration of inherent safety to design out the hazard or minimise the inventories of hazardous substances.

The HAZOP study is carried out on the more detailed

piping & instrumentation diagrams, and identifies significant deviations from the design intent that could lead to safety or operability issues. Whilst HAZOP studies provide limited potential for inherent safety improvements, simplification of the design may be possible, for example using a key interlock system on a pig launcher to ensure that the manual valves are operated in the correct sequence.

The major benefits from inherent safety derive from options identified early in the design, and it is therefore recommended that a specific inherent safety study be carried out during the feasibility stage. The methodology is similar to the subsequent HAZID study, but based on a draft process block diagram to identify process hazards. The team apply the principle of elimination, substitution, minimisation or moderation to each hazard in order to identify options to prevent the hazard or reduce the severity. The team focuses on inherent safety improvements, with ‘add-on’ safeguards intentionally delayed until the HAZID study to encourage creative thinking. Whilst all options must be assessed, implementation will in practice be subject to project constraints on cost, schedule and available technology.

Experience of inherent safety studies shows considerable benefits from the focus on inherent safety leading to a safer basic design concept. A further benefit is improved awareness of the design team, who will continue to search for inherent safety options during the later design stages.

Conclusions The oil and gas sector needs to improve process safety performance to avoid damaging accidents. Whilst efforts to manage safety critical elements on existing facilities are important, a challenge should be raised by project management to design out process safety hazards wherever possible. There is a lack of awareness and some misunderstanding of inherent safety principles in design teams in the oil and gas sector. Whilst there are good examples of improvements to eliminate or reduce hazards there is a lack of systematic analysis to ensure that all opportunities to reduce hazards at source have been identified and assessed. If companies implement a formal inherent safety study during the feasibility stage for projects and major modifications, they will reap the benefits from a safer process design with less capacity to cause damage, whilst at the same time reducing capital costs and ongoing operating costs.

ABB Consulting Graeme Ellis is global process safety leader at ABB Consulting, which works to identify opportunities and solutions to improve system and equipment performance, production processes and regulatory compliance. ABB Consulting is a part of ABB, which is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact.

For further information please visit: abb.co.uk/consulting

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been eliminated by the use of a higher specification pipe material. The report comments that whilst the company has shown some good examples of inherent safety, “the CSB has not identified any documented thorough analysis of the proposed inherently safer solutions”.

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market

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A growing

As LNG’s importance in the energy market increases, so too does the role of SIGTTO

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In 1978 a number of prominent companies

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Below Andy Clifton, general manager and chief operating officer at SIGTTO

in the field of transporting and handling liquefied gas set out to establish a framework of standards and best practice for the then emerging liquefied natural gas (LNG) arena. Realising no established industry body fully encompassed the scope of their shared interests they resolved to create one specifically for that purpose. It was also realised early on that there was much common ground with the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) industry. Hence, the Society of International Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators (SIGTTO) was formed as an international organisation embracing LNG and LPG through which all industry participants might share experiences, address common problems and derive agreed criteria for best practices and acceptable standards, but which wasn’t involved on the commercial side of the business.

SIGTTO was incorporated as a non-profit making company, registered in Bermuda in October 1979. Formed originally with 13 members, the Society has continued to grow and now has more than 170 members. Collectively, SIGTTO’s membership represents nearly all the world’s LNG businesses and more than half of the global liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) businesses.

SIGTTO also has observer status at the IMO as a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

Today Andrew Clifton is general manager and chief operating officer at SIGTTO, and he

gave further details about the organisation’s membership: “We have three classes of membership. There are full members, who are the gas tanker and terminal operators; to be a full member of SIGTTO you have to own or operate assets, such as ships or terminals. Full members have voting rights and we have about 130 of those at the moment.

“We then have associate members, who are other stakeholders that contribute to the safe running of the industry. When SIGTTO was originally set up, organisations that were developing new projects would join as an associate and then, when their assets came into operation, they transferred to full membership, and that still holds true today as well. Over the years, the scope has extended and now includes for example, classification societies, tug operators and port authorities, i.e. organisations directly involved in the industry but who don’t own or operate ships or terminals.

“Finally we have a small group of ‘noncontributory’ members, who are other organisations like us, such as OCIMF, Intertanko or ICS, where being a member formalises the relationship but it is not appropriate for fees to be levied.”

Andrew goes on to give an example of how SIGTTO works: “One of the ways we help members is through the experience that is held within the staff at the Secretariat. We get

sigtto

we are having a lot of discussions on how we can address that,” he said. “The LNG industry is growing rapidly and this concerns my LPG members as what tends to happen is that new LNG ships look for staff in the LPG sector, and this causes tension.

“There’s no doubt we want to bring in new ideas, but there are one or two areas that are totally non-negotiable, such as safety. The LNG and LPG industries are very proud of their safety records, so as the industries expand they have to welcome the new blood but at the same time new staff must understand there are some areas of the industry that are sacrosanct.

Managing this is a challenge. We do have a very responsible membership who refuse to cut corners on safety. SIGTTO’s role is to guide the membership in areas such as training and competence standards.”

Looking forward Andrew feels that LNG is going to play a very important role in the energy market, as he concluded: “If society in the broadest sense wants a low carbon future, then gas is going to play a large part in that. This means that LNG has a key role. LNG is, to some extent, in competition with pipeline gas, but by definition LNG is much more flexible, and its importance in the commodity mix will continue to increase in the future.”

This means that the role SIGTTO plays in the industry can also only increase in importance as a crucial resource for members looking to access reliable and independent information and guidance and to ensure that the public have confidence in the safe transportation of liquefied gas at sea.

We do have a very responsible membership who refuse to cut corners on safety. SIGTTO’s role is to guide the membership in areas such as training and competence standards SIGTTO Andrew Clifton is the general manager and chief operating officer of SIGTTO (The Society of International Gas Tanker & Terminal Operators Ltd). He has over 30 years experience in the liquefied gas shipping industry. This includes 19 years at sea, three years as master, mainly on liquefied gas carriers, a first class honours degree in shipping operations and shore managerial experience over the last 12 years.

For further information visit: sigtto.org

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the right people. “Whilst this is normally seen only in terms of seafarers on ships, our members are increasingly concerned about the level of experience and expertise in the shore management offices of shipping and so

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technical queries from members on a range of topics and though we wouldn’t pretend to be able to answer them all in-house in the Secretariat, if we don’t know the answer we can seek help from other members with the right expertise. This is a very valuable resource for members to draw upon.”

SIGTTO is also continually developing best practice guide publications, which are available on its website. Andrew explains why these are so important: “Our guides produce consistent operational levels and standards across the industry, and that is becoming increasingly important particularly on the LNG side as the trading pattern evolves from one where vessels were generally on dedicated trade routes under long-term contractural arrangements to one where ‘general trading’ to multiple terminals is more common.

“We have occasionally to remind people that we are not a regulator, but an industry association – nevertheless, we do find quite often that we write a guide and thereafter a lot of it gets taken into an ISO standard. This is fine by us, as, when we write a guide we can be much broader in our descriptions, whereas an ISO is quite restrictive in its language. The two together work quite well and as it comes from our base document, we are confident the ISO will be a sensible and pragmatic standard.”

In the context of regulation, SIGTTO’s role at the IMO becomes more important. Andrew said: “We may be a small area of shipping, and we recognise government member states have the right to create regulations, so our role is to ensure that what is implemented is technically sound and doesn’t introduce inconsistencies. We want a level playing field for all our members.”

As a facilitator of information sharing in the industry, once or twice a year SIGTTO arranges a forum where its members get together – this is known as a ‘Panel Meeting’. “We organise a programme, and send out invitations,” highlighted Andrew. “Each year the location changes, so our latest one was in Doha in late March 2012.”

In addition to the Panel Meeting, SIGTTO also runs ‘regional forums’, as Andrew explained.

“These happen all over the world, with the recent ones occurring in Houston, Shanghai and Perth. They happen once or twice a year and are designed to tell members what the society is doing and hear from them so we are as up-todate as possible with their issues and concerns.”

Andrew highlighted that one of these hot topics is staff – employing, retaining and training

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PROFILE

v ships

network owned V Ships has expanded significantly in recent years through organic and inorganic growth to become the world’s largest supplier of independent ship management and marine services for the shipping industry worldwide; with a fleet of over 1000 vessels and a crew roster of 24,000 staff, its core ship management and manpower services are managed by three operating divisions – V Ships Ship Management, V Ships Leisure and Manpower Services. These units work in close association with the V Ships Marine Services and V Ships Capital divisions, which provide a broad range of related technical, operational, financial and commercial services.

V Ships Ship Management encompasses a network of 18 ship management offices from which its fleet, in excess of 1000 vessels, can be managed with support from the divisional team in Glasgow. Offering technical, risk management, procurement and financial expertise and experience, its 600 dedicated employees deliver ship management services to a diverse fleet of cargo-carrying vessels, such as crude, products, LPG/LNG and chemical tankers, bulk carriers ranging from self-dischargers to VLOCs, containerships from feeders to 9000TEU units and various specialised vessel types related to the offshore sector. These include FPSOs, seismic vessels, diving support/subsea units and cable layers that service the expanding offshore market.

As a complete service provider for valueadded solutions, V Ships increased its

business offering in April 2013 with the launch of its new unit, V Ships Offshore, headed by group director Lawrie Campbell.

The company aims to harness and share the collective knowledge and experience of its business units into one team, giving V Ships Offshore the benefits of a global network and extensive operational expertise. Providing at-cost management services to the offshore industry, V Ships Offshore also offers technical management, crew management, project management, consultancies/pre-purchase inspection, procurement/warehousing, marine insurance services, marine health, safety and environment prevention (HSE)/quality services, underwater repairs, surveys and cleaning; it also offers engineering and naval architecture and new building supervision via SEATEC, and engineering consultancy services via RC Consultant. Unique in the offshore market for its one-stop-shop service offering, the division has specialised offices in strategically located areas that have seen impressive growth in the oil and gas industry, such as Scotland, Norway, the Middle East, the Far East, Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico.

As the world’s largest provider of ship management services, the company further enhanced its service offering by establishing its V Ships LNG division through a contract with Awilco LNG to become its technical manager in January 2003 when procedures, operating manuals and policies related to LNG were

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Established in 1984, privately

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developed. Today Awilco LNG is the owner of three 125,000 cbm second-generation LNG carriers, WilGas, WilPower and WilEnergy, and is further adding to its fleet with two 155,900 cbm LNG newbuildings, estimated to cost $200 million per vessel, due for delivery in August and November 2013. Furthermore, the division benefits from having a highly experienced director at the helm; Bert McAughtrie compiled LNG standards in 2005 when chairman of the SIGGTO engineers working group, while another manager participated in the development of standards for steam engineers.

Bert also represents V Ships at SIGGTO’s general purpose Committee (GPC), the society’s technical directorate, which is comprised of 30 senior operational executives who offer LNG, LPG gas tanker and terminal experience.

The LNG division began with a pool of officers trained for third party clients such as Sonatrach and Chemikalien See Transport.

Supervisors were also later supplied for the supervision of newbuilding LNG vessels as well as asset protection services for existing ships.

Following this, V Ships saw potential to expand into training services and was the first to attain approval from UKMCA, LISCR, The Nautical Institute, Bahamas Registry, Marshal Islands Registry and RINA for the LNG training courses as recommended by SIGGTO. Since then the company has conducted training courses for its own officers and third party client officers at its own in-house training centres and on

board its vessels. Courses for steam training for engineers were also developed and approved by ExxonMobil and Marshal Islands.

Today recognised for assistance in the manuals on LNG Shipping Knowledge, an industry standard publication from Seamanship International, V Ships LNG has also been vetted and approved by BG, Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) and Gazprom. This dedication to gaining knowledge and experience in a relatively new and increasingly demanding sector is certain to bring opportunities and benefits to V Ships LNG throughout 2013 and the coming years.

Having developed a strong reputation as a leading outsourcing group of companies, the future looks positive for V Ships as it continues to integrate its services to offer the best turnkey solutions to its customers.

Furthermore, the company aims to develop a stronger foothold in the booming oil and gas industry, while also reaping the benefits of its expertise in the LNG industry, which is continuing to see increased demand.

V Ships Ship Management encompasses a network of 18 ship management offices from which its fleet, in excess of 1000 vessels, can be managed with support from the divisional team in Glasgow

V Ships vships.com

Services Global one-stop-shop for value added solutions

ITW Densit

Strength and

protection For the last 30 years

, ITW Densit has been delivering technical solutions based on its unique Ultra High Performance Cementitious (UHPC) products. Marketed under the Densit® product umbrella, these solutions are applied worldwide in industrial strengthening and repair across four main sectors; renewable energy including wind, wave and tidal, wear and abrasion, industrial flooring and pavements, and oil and gas.

The Densit name itself is derived from the high density of these products, whilst the ITW moniker was added in 2012 following Illinois Tool Works’ 2007 takeover of the business. By co-operating with its sister companies ITW Densit has seen a number of benefits from this relationship. Firstly it provides the company with global access to its market as ITW has operations based all over the world, many of which are already well connected to local

industry. Furthermore, it also means ITW Densit can offer more complete solutions to its customers by drawing on the expertise of other ITW companies in materials such as polymers, adhesives and epoxies.

For its own part ITW Densit already offers a more unique scope of service than the majority of its competitors. “We combine our specialist materials with installation services in a package deal for our customers,” elaborates Thorbjørn L. Lindmark, business development manager at ITW Densit. “In comparison our competitors tend to supply either materials or installation services only. Another thing that sets us apart is our long reference list. We have carried out projects all over the world from the North Sea to the South China Sea, and proven our materials in many different conditions and environments.”

Looking at both sides of the spectrum from greenfield to brownfield projects, one notable

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example was a campaign of corrosion protection and structural strengthening of conductors for Shell in Brunei spanning 2006 to 2012. The aim of this work was to halt the ongoing corrosion of the conductor casing, and strengthen sections that had potentially been under attack therefore reducing the structural capacity. Turning to another part of ITW Densit’s market, on the 19th October 2012 the company completed its work on the London Array project – currently the largest offshore wind farm in the world.

This project entailed the offshore and onshore grouting of 175 wind turbines and two offshore substation foundations.

On both of these projects the company utilised its Ducorit UHPC product, which has been especially developed for demanding grouting applications. As such it is well suited to the oil and gas industry for use in structural subsea and well integrity solutions, and

renewable energy markets. “Ducorit has been used for offshore wind foundations since that industry began,” describes Thorbjørn. “It has also been used for large high voltage substations, which are often jacket-like structures, and this is where there is a clear parallel to the oil and gas sector. For that market we have done some platform installation projects and quite a lot of upgrades, as well as strengthening works.

Because we pump our material with no welding or hazardous processes required, production can continue whilst we carry out the installation, which minimises downtime for operators.”

In terms of the material itself Ducorit offers a number of advantages over the ordinary Portland cement which is often employed in the oil and gas industry. “Ducorit has a fast development time, offering outstanding fatigue and compressive strength properties once set. The material itself has a very low water content of only around six to seven per cent. This water is completely consumed within the mixing process, which means there is no free water in the final product and very little air. This obviously contributes to the high density of the product.

“Ducorit also offers protection against corrosion, such as chemicals, acids and chlorides penetrating the material. This is particularly important for well integrity applications where we can use our material to top up between the inner and outer casings of a corroded conductor for example, and extend the lifetime of the well,” he continues.

These properties are gained from the

We have carried out projects all over the world from the North Sea to the South China Sea, and proven our materials in many different conditions and environments

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composition of the material, which consists of four main elements. The first is a special grade of finely ground cement, which is currently only available in Aalborg. This acts as the binding material and also contributes to the main compressive strength of the Ducorit once set. This is mixed with even smaller microsilica particles, which helps to increase the density of the material. The final product also contains a superplasticiser, an artificial material developed in the 1970s, which makes it more fluid for handling, and an aggregate such as quartz sand to gain specific required properties.

Despite having achieved so much already with Ducorit, and its other existing products, ITW Densit is continuing to push further with an aggressive programme for the development of new materials. The company has already achieved increasingly lower temperature limits for its UHPC products going from ten °C to five, and now just one °C. This means that ITW Densit can work in all but freezing conditions, and year round in most offshore areas of the world.

“One aspect we are pursuing at the moment is to try and achieve an even faster strength development time. This will mean that the client can utilise the asset even sooner than is possible now. It also means that we are less dependent on weather windows when working offshore where a 40 or 48 hour window is very different to a 72 hour one. This also increases uptime and presents opportunities for faster installation,” highlights Thorbjørn.

“These directions are based on customer requests from main contractors, and dialogue also with some of the major utility companies and operators. We always develop new solutions using an outside-in approach. By gaining intelligence from the market we can use this to fuel our development. Another example of this is the actual equipment we use to complete the works. There is a growing demand for faster installation so we need to achieve higher pumping and mixing rates accordingly.

Therefore we have doubled the size of our bags, meaning that in the same amount of time we can double the flow of material, as well as upgraded the size of our mixers,” he continues.

Although the biggest areas of ITW Densit’s business at present are wind, and flooring and pavements, the oil and gas side is fast growing.

In accordance with this, the company’s oil and gas division was moved from Malaysia to ITW Densit’s head office in Aalborg, Denmark.

This enables ITW Densit to better utilise the research and development capability of its other divisions to provide the best possible solutions into the industry. It also offers greater transparency, and more efficient customer service worldwide.

“One interesting thing we see is that although everything we do is produced in Aalborg, and concrete is an extremely heavy material to ship, our customers still see the value in purchasing our solutions for use worldwide. With our oil and gas offices previously located in Malaysia a lot of our references, and experience, were gained in the Asia Pacific region. Today we are looking a lot closer to home and focusing on markets such as the British and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea,” notes Thorbjørn.

ITW Densit is confident about its ability to tap into these areas in the light of the stricter demands of both operators and certification authorities. This means that project contractors have to look towards higher performance and quality materials in order to meet these. “There is a growing acceptance that solutions such as ours can actually assist in saving on other materials. Essentially if you have a connection or foundation that is built out of ordinary Portland cement then you will need greater quantities, and usually also more steel, to reach the same strength capabilities as our products. The market is realising that our materials offer a much greater value proposition, and therefore the scope for these in the market looks very strong,” concludes Thorbjørn.

ITW Densit

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ITW Densit densit.com

Products Ultra High Performance Cementitious products

together Working

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The decommissioning industry

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Decom Offshore was designed to provide a collaborative industry perspective on the key challenges facing the decommissioning sector over the coming years

in the North Sea is continuing to grow at a considerable rate, with analysts predicting activity levels of £4.5 billion between now and 2017. This increase means that Decom North Sea (DNS), the organisation that was established to represent the North Sea’s oil and gas decommissioning industry, is set to play an increasingly important role.

Accordingly, over the last year the forum has been at the forefront of the industry, spearheading a number of initiatives and programmes designed to support long-term growth. These include a standard template for decommissioning programmes that will be used by operators to obtain approval for decommissioning operations in the North Sea, a joint industry project aimed at promoting the reuse of key items of equipment, remuneration models and the encouragement of greater knowledge transfer and market information between organisations and companies in the industry.

The latter point remains a key objective for DNS as it strives to promote greater understanding and communication between entities to encourage the sharing of best practice, technological innovations and methods of overcoming challenges. While the organisation has a number of methods of achieving this, a major role is played by the various events that are planned and hosted by DNS each year.

For example, its annual decommissioning conference, which in 2012 was jointly hosted by DNS and Oil & Gas UK was a great success and attracted leading industry figures from around the world with the sole purpose of sharing decommissioning knowledge and participating in interactive discussions on topical issues.

In fact, the success of the conference has led

DNS to create a new event – Decom Offshore 2013 – held in March this year. “Decom Offshore was designed to provide a collaborative industry perspective on the key challenges facing the decommissioning sector over the coming years.

Groups of our operators and main contractors, working together, outlined the main issues relating to the sub-surface, subsea, infrastructure removal and onshore disposal phases of a typical decommissioning programme,” explains DNS’ CEO Brian Nixon.

“The event was designed to be highly interactive and each session included open discussion and debate. Importantly, it allowed individual supply chain companies to validate and clarify points of importance as they arose, meaning that they will have much greater confidence in their respective business opportunities. Furthermore, Decom Offshore 2013 served to highlight emerging technologies and techniques from decommissioning specialists, helping to introduce operators and major contractors to sources of talent and expertise.”

The nature of the event was such that encouragement and collaboration was centre stage. As Brian comments: “Whilst it may be possible to anticipate some of the challenges likely to be highlighted, we purposefully organised the event in such a way that experienced representatives from our industry identified and articulated the outcomes.”

Decom Offshore 2013 is just one example of the hard work that DNS engages in when supporting the growth and development of the North Sea decommissioning industry. “It’s just one of the initiatives that we deliver throughout the year,” says Brian. “For example, we have also established a special interest group with companies in the Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft

use in other European countries (albeit with some minor alterations perhaps being needed), helping operators and contractors alike to standardise their efforts across the North Sea.” All of these projects are progressing well, underpinned by the aims of DNS and its desire to improve and support the industry. One of those aims, and a spirit that Brian is always keen to pursue is that of collaboration. “There is encouraging evidence of collaboration in many areas,” he says. “With work underway to map out the full supply chain, share experience through case studies, consider technology improvement, and establish joint venture arrangements to reduce the number of contracting interfaces. Cost remains a challenge for operators and taxpayers alike, with some parties looking for game-changing approaches to these complex projects.”

If this spirit of collaboration continues, there is little doubt that the decommissioning sector in the North Sea will grow in a positive fashion despite any possible challenges. One that Brian highlights is the potential pinch points and restraints in terms of capacity. “Over the next five to ten years we believe that there will be some acute capacity restraints and pinch points that may have a bearing on the industry due to increased activity in all of the operating sectors.

We will shortly conclude two consultancy projects; one is intended to provide an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the supply chain, while the second will hopefully provide an assessment of possible future capacity constraints. We hope these analyses will be complete by April.” With DNS maintaining its role at the forefront of the decommissioning industry, there is little doubt that 2013 looks to be a busy, and exciting year.

Over the next five to ten years we believe that there will be some acute capacity restraints and pinch points that may have a bearing on the industry due to increased activity in all of the operating sectors

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area to address the particular challenges and opportunities relating to the lighter weight assets in the Southern North Sea. We also lead regular learning journeys to Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and key regions of the UK, and have recently completed our first visit to Louisiana to research synergies and approaches used in the active Gulf of Mexico market.”

Alongside these developments, DNS continues to work towards the initiatives mentioned earlier in this article. One of the initiatives to come out over the last year was the development and introduction of a standard template for decommissioning programmes that will now be used by operators to obtain approval for all decommissioning projects in the North Sea sector. The standard template was the result of six months of collaborative work and was facilitated by DNS and supported by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and a working group of DNS member companies (BP, CNR International, Talisman, Marathon Oil, GP Decom and Optimus Decom), with additional input from Perenco and Wood Group PSN. Speaking to European Oil and Gas earlier this year, Brian highlighted this initiative as an excellent example of the collaborative spirit across the industry and was highly positive about the benefits it would bring to the industry.

Updating us on the progress, he explains: “The Standard Decommissioning Programme has now been formally endorsed by the UK regulators and has been used by two operators for different types of asset. The Template is now live on both DNS and DECC websites with operators being encouraged to adopt it during 2013 before it is expected to become mandatory. It is hoped that in time this Template could also be adopted for

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DECOMMISSIONING

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For further information please visit decomnorthsea.com

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Pioneering Heerema Marine Contractors CUT Group CUT Group was requested by Heerema Marine Contractors to undertake cutting operations on decommissioning the Ekofisk field, containing nine separate platforms. Works commenced in 2009 and CUT has completed 309 separate diamond wire cuts on the project to date. CUT has established a positive relationship with the team at Heerema, delivering the traditional services and working together to provide bespoke solutions. The in-house engineering team at CUT has designed and built a number of bespoke modified diamond wire cutting machines (DWCMs) where the location or access to the target has been difficult or impossible under normal circumstances.

(HMC) is a world leading marine contractor operating in the international offshore oil and gas industry. The business, which is headquartered in Leiden in the Netherlands, excels at transporting, installing and removing offshore facilities such as fixed and floating structures, subsea pipelines and other infrastructure in shallow, deep and ultra-deep waters. The company has expertise across the complete supply chain and prides itself on its excellence in project management and engineering delivered by a passionate and experienced workforce.

HMC belongs to the Heerema Group, and can trace its history back to the late 1940s/ early 1950s when the company was originally carrying out construction and installation work in South America. From this initial work the business has built continued experience in working with drilling and construction platforms and installations, registering many important developments in the industry. For example, in the 1960s the company was a pioneer in the use of crane vessels in the fledgling North Sea oil and gas industry, it also commissioned and successfully operated the world’s first semi-submersible crane vessels (SSCVs) to increase heavy-lift capacity and operability in the North Sea. While these developments occurred largely under the Heerema umbrella, in 1997 Heerema

Marine Contractors formerly commenced operations as an individual business division, using three fully owned and operated SSCVs that had become in high demand in the North Sea in previous years. Always mindful of staying ahead of the industry, the business converted one of these vessels, the SCCV Balder, into an advanced deepwater construction vessel (DCV) in order to cope with increased market demand.

Subsequently, over the last decade HMC has become a recognised expert in the deepwater field, executing many unique projects, setting a number of industry records and establishing itself as a leader in deepwater full field developments (including subsea infrastructure).

Today, HMC’s services can loosely be divided into four categories – decommissioning and removal, heavy-lift, float-over and the previously mentioned deepwater work. For the latter the company has the capacity to provide a complete solution to clients, encompassing design, procurement, and installation and testing of infrastructure used in deepwater field developments. Through more than five decades the business has developed tried and tested methods of operating, using installation procedures that enable operators to install deepwater infrastructure while maintaining excellent safety standards.

The company offers a number of key products in the deepwater field: mooring systems, export pipelines, flowlines and risers, in-line structures and subsea tie-backs and installation of floaters, and currently operates two deepwater construction vessels. At present a third vessel, the DCV Aegir, is under construction and is due to become operational in the Gulf of Mexico towards the end of 2013.

More recently, the decommissioning sector has been a fast growing industry through the global oil and gas sector, and it is one that HMC has been able to turn its experience and skill to easily. In this field the company performs turnkey platform decommissioning and removal services such as topsides removal and offloading, jacket preparatory work, pile cutting/soil plug removal/conductor removal, and jacket removal and offloading. All of these services are carried out using reverse installation methods.

HMC is currently working on the removal of platforms in the Ekofisk development in the North Sea, which is the largest contract ever awarded in HMC’s history. ConocoPhillips Skandinavia contracted HMC to decommission, remove and dispose of/recycle nine platforms

Being in the North Sea means that the project is being carried out in particularly harsh conditions. The water depth on location varies between 70 and 90 metres, and the jacket weights vary between 3000 and 9000 metric tonnes and have been removed according to the Single Piece Jacket removal methodology. Each of the nine platforms to be decommissioned has numerous topsides, varying between six and 16 per platform, with the topsides weighing between 100 and 200 metric tonnes. As with all

HMC’s projects, safety is paramount throughout the operation and all work is being carried out to the highest Norwegian standards. Alongside the Ekofisk project HMC has also carried out decommissioning work at NW Hutton, Mars, Froy and Brent Spar in the North Sea. Whichever area of the industry HMC works in, its dedication to quality, safety and the highest skills and techniques available place it among the leaders in its field. Looking ahead, the business retains this position by staying aware of market developments or growing market sectors – decommissioning being a good example of this.

Alongside decommissioning, deepwater and ultra-deepwater operations are also planned to grow in line with the industry and at the end of 2012 HMC signed a worldwide alliance agreement with Technip in order to combine capabilities and develop in this market. Being recognised as a skilled and experienced partner in each of the markets it operates in stands HMC in good stead to continue developing as a successful business in the future.

More recently, the decommissioning sector has been a fast growing industry through the global oil and gas sector, and it is one that HMC has been able to turn its experience and skill to easily

Heerema Marine Contractors heerema.com

Services Marine contractor

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located in the Greater Ekofisk area between 2008 and 2014, with all work scheduled to be carried out by the SSCV Hermod, SSCV Thialf and DCV Balder vessels. Representing a challenging undertaking, the project is divided into four phases: 66 Phase one – platform surveys by helicopter 66 Phase two – platform made safe (and hook down preparations) 66 Phase three – topsides removal and disposal 66 Phase four – jacket removal and disposal

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Innovative scaffolding solutions for demanding industrial applications • experience • complete technical services • financial solutions • sale and hire • CISRS registered training support • enormous stocks with off-the-shelf availability

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Headquartered in Aberdeen

Below Gary Cruickshank, general manager, specialist services department at Bilfinger Salamis UK

, leading offshore services provider Bilfinger Salamis UK Ltd celebrated a record year of economic growth in 2012 with a rebrand from its previous name BIS Salamis. Delivering industrial services to the oil and gas markets throughout the lifecycle of offshore installations, the company has nearly tripled its turnover in the last ten years.

This impressive growth has been part of the company’s strategic plan since Bilfinger Industrial Services entered the UK in 2006 through the acquisition of Salamis Group; since then the company has increased its service offering to become a global engineering and industrial provider, as Murray Strachan, strategic development director at Bilfinger Salamis UK elaborates: “Bilfinger Industrial Services and Bilfinger Salamis are new names but we have been finding solutions to the requirements of our clients in the UK oil and gas industry for nearly 40 years. In March 2013 all of the sub divisions of Bilfinger Industrial Services, which accounts for circa 3.7 billion euros of the circa 8.6 billion euro turnover of Bilfinger Group, were rebranded to bring client and industry focus to the wider capabilities we at Bilfinger can offer.”

Initially focused on painting and blasting services, Bilfinger Salamis UK today provides integrated cost effective multi-disciplined offshore support services and maintenance solutions, such as rope access, deck services, architectural services, specialist cleaning and inspection, to a range of clients. The company has evolved from fabric maintenance contracts and there is an ongoing strategic goal of developing a stronger foothold in the decommissioning sector, within which it has recently become a player. Viewing this step into decommissioning as a natural progression of the specialist services currently offered to clients, Gary Cruickshank, general manager, specialist services department, states: "We have been providing aspects of decommissioning for a number of years in services such as cleaning, asbestos removal, minor modifications and the identification and cleaning of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). These services are part of our day to day activity and are part of our growing decommissioning scope.”

To further strengthen its competitive edge in the decommissioning sector and expand its current service offering in the offshore industry, Bilfinger Salamis announced a technical alliance with Star Net Geomatics, a leading provider of

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Bilfinger Salamis UK

surveying, inspection and design and modeling services, and PDL Solutions (Europe), a leading provider of advanced 3-dimensional computer aided design, in 2012. The agreement will allow the Inspection division of Bilfinger Salamis, the opportunity to offer a fully integrated factsbased approach through the utilisation of stateof-the-art 3D laser scanning and true-to-view photographic technology. The combination of this integrated engineering solution will provide clients with accurate dimensional information and a clear range of options throughout the entire decommissioning process.

The influx of decommissioning work has led to the company creating its own decommissioning team so the specialist service unit of the business will not be disrupted from everyday projects when a tender for a large scope of work comes up. While other companies may be struggling to find personnel, Bilfinger Salamis has vastly increased its offshore work force, as Murray highlights: “Between our bases in Aberdeen and Lowestoft we have circa 2000 people offshore and in excess of 200 people onshore. In terms of the wider Bilfinger

UK we have up to 5000 employees, and our Norwegian sector has 2000, so we have a wide resource capability.”

Proud of its workforce, Bilfinger Salamis has its own skills centre, where courses are offered to both internal and external personnel at various career stages. Courses are offered in specialist areas such as working at height, blasting and painting, bespoke client specific services and confined space and vessel entry. Learning is a key part of the company’s culture and there is a firm belief that continuing to be better than competitors is the best way to ensure its status as a leader in the offshore industrial services market. It is for this reason that the company developed the employee development strategy and competency system that assesses and certifies each individual employee’s competence in both the technical and soft skills necessary to carry out his or her role.

Throughout 2013 the company will continue its focus on the offshore oil and gas market, which includes completing a major piece of research into decommissioning opportunities for both Bilfinger Group and Bilfinger Salamis in May 2013. Following a period of competitive tender, the company was appointed to provide services for an upgrade project by Shell in March 2013. The win extends Bilfinger Salamis’ portfolio of projects with North Sea operators and is expected to run until 2014, creating an anticipated ten onshore positions and a further 200 offshore jobs. “Over the next five years we want to increase business turnover by £100 million. We aim to do this through a combination of developing the inspection and testing division and significantly increasing the specialist services division. Ultimately, expanding our business will come down to a combination of organic and acquisitive growth,” Murray concludes.

The influx of decommissioning work has led to the company creating its own decommissioning team so the specialist service unit of the business will not be disrupted from everyday projects when a tender for a large scope of work comes up

Bilfinger Salamis UK Ltd salamis.bilfinger.com

Services Offshore support services and maintenance solutions

PROFILE

Xcite Energy Resources

Good

Clariant Oil Services is a leading provider of chemical technologies and services to the upstream oil and gas industry, offering custom chemical products and services designed to ensure innovation and value are delivered. In May 2012, Clariant Oil Services signed a five year contract with Xcite Energy to become the single source provider of production chemicals and production chemistry support for the Bentley extended well test and the next phase of the Bentley field development.

when supplies of ‘easy’ oil are perhaps falling away, Xcite Energy Limited is marking itself out as an appraisal and development company focusing on offshore heavy oil. The company believes that this area presents a niche for significant growth and value addition. Through its subsidiary, Xcite Energy Resources Limited (XER), these activities have so far been focused on the development of discovered resources in the UK North Sea, namely the Bentley field.

“We acquired this field through the Promote Licence Round in 2003,” explains Charles LucasClements, director of strategy and business development. “We’ve pursued a methodical and progressive appraisal programme over the years,

enabling us to bring oil to surface in 2007, through to delivering 250 million barrels of 2P reserves in 2013 after a highly successful pre-production extended well test (“EWT”) which was completed

in September 2012. We also have peripheral assets and were awarded three adjacent blocks in the 27th Licensing Round last year.”

Looking at this activity in more detail, XER has actually successfully conducted three drilling programmes with five penetrations of the field, including sidetracks and laterals, since the licence award. The total investment to date has been around $350 million, approximately $250 million of which went into the EWT. “Throughout the EWT we gathered a vast amount of information, which together with new 3D seismic, has enabled us to increase our in-place volumes, revise our development plan and materially increase our reserves. It has required a long year of hard work to deliver, but the EWT has met and exceeded our expectations not only in its results, but also the quality and extent of data that was collected,” enthuses Charles.

In preparation for the EWT, XER expanded its corporate office to bring in necessary skills including the appointment of a new operations director, operations manager, and engineering manager. “I think that key to our success has been finding highly experienced people that can really contribute to the team,” notes Charles.

“As well as operations, we have been building up our engineering and well completion skills sets, based on the importance of drilling and operations going forward.”

The results of the EWT have been critical to planning the ongoing development programme, which is split into two phases – Phase 1 and Phase 2, covering the northern and southern areas of the field respectively. The development programme extends over approximately two years with current anticipation of first oil in late 2015, with the phases now being of a similar size, with Phase 2 beginning some five years

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a significant offshore, heavy oil project. One of the key things in this industry is the sharing of knowledge when moving into new areas, and we are keen to do this with others just as they are keen to speak with us.”

Indeed it seems the Bentley field is just the starting point. XER has also been collecting licences in neighbouring blocks, most recently in the aforementioned 27th Licensing Round.

‘It is our belief that these prospects may contain a lighter oil which could be used as a diluent in the future, so the aim is to appraise these with a view to a tie back into Bentley as we go forward,” comments Charles.

“This forms part of our strategic plan for the next few years which is centred on selecting a suitable development partner, completing financing, and getting the Bentley field producing. We also want to prove the EOR techniques through the pilot programme, and implement the second phase of development, whilst continuing to look for other suitable opportunities,” he concludes.

Core Lab Core Lab was contracted to design and perform a customised fluids sampling and analysis campaign for the Bentley EWT. The properties of the produced fluids posed many challenges to Core Lab, but these were overcome through detailed technical discussion, proactive project management and a close working relationship with XER. We are delighted that the Bentley EWT was successful and that Core Lab’s unique heavy oil expertise and high quality analytical services played a key role in characterising the reservoir fluids.

Xcite Energy Resources Limited xcite-energy.com

Services Appraisal and development

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after the start of Phase 1 and then both running concurrently from that point onwards for the 35 years of field facilities design life. The EWT has also proven up many of the engineering solutions and techniques to be utilised in the development plan, such as the use of an FSO to dehydrate the fluid.

Alongside this work, XER has been running a programme to identify enhanced oil recovery techniques (EOR). After lab work based on samples taken from the reservoir and aquifer, the company has shortlisted polymer injection as the most suitable EOR technique. It is also building a pilot programme into the first stage of development in order to prove the concept, and lead the way for a full EOR implementation in Phase 2.

The year ahead again looks busy for the business as it works to capitalise on the last decade of work in this challenging niche. In a further step forward, XER recently started the farm-out process, which it sees as a key part of the future financing strategy for the development of the field. “We also hope to expand the RBL facility based on the increased scope of the first phase development. These will trigger the full development programme,” notes Charles.

Certainly the industry seems to be pricking up its ears with regards to the progress the company has made in transforming heavy oil resources into viable development propositions, and it comes at a time when heavy oil projects are being advanced in the North Sea. Picking up the thread Charles adds: “In the process of executing the programmes so far we have developed an extensive knowledge, not only of the Bentley field and the engineering solutions needed to successfully commercialise a reservoir of this type, but also how to manage

Xcite Energy Resources

European oil & gas

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Partner

European oil & gas

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power 42

Since its establishment

in Beirut, Lebanon in 1972 as a trading house, concentrating on the distribution of petroleum products in the Mediterranean region, NAFTOMAR has since developed to become a major player in the LPG field.

George-Paul Perantzakis, managing technical director, explained how this evolution manifested itself over the years: “Following our first transaction in 1976, we soon took advantage of the vast potential of the LPG market; this led in due course to the opening of a chartering and ship management office in Piraeus, Greece. In 1977 LPG trading and ship operations were united with the acquisition of our very first dedicated vessel, the 4000-cbm LPG/C Gaz Unity. Since then our fleet has never stopped growing, and we are currently operating a fleet of 25 LPG vessels of various sizes and types, out of which ten are less than three years old, part of our new building projects.” This new build programme has resulted in highly sophisticated and specialised vessels of three different sizes (9000, 16500 and 22500 cbm).

George-Paul goes onto explain the main activities of the company: “This would be the trading of LPG and petrochemical gases and operating our fleet,” he said. “Furthermore, NAFTOMAR Shipping & Trading is a pioneer in floating storage and ship-to-ship operations.” Indeed, NAFTOMAR’s expertise in ship-to-ship cargo transfer operations is unrivalled. Since the beginning of the 1990s, more than 4000 transactions have been safely carried out, with more than ten million tonnes of product transshipped.

As well as expertise, George-Paul highlighted some other strengths of NAFTOMAR:

“Integrity and reliability of our services have been and always will be some of our strong points. Flexibility and innovation have helped NAFTOMAR to be at the forefront of the LPG shipping sector. However, our biggest strength is our highly motivated, well trained and very experienced personnel both onboard and ashore that co-operate together to meet the needs of our clients while leading the way for others in the international LPG market.”

Moving onto customers, George-Paul noted how important close working relationships are to NAFTOMAR Shipping & Trading: “We are mainly focusing on the Mediterranean market without neglecting the Far East, Northern Europe and the Americas,” he began.

“Customer relations across all these regions are very important because they allow us to assess and adapt to clients’ future needs. We enjoy working with reliable business partners who share our values and concerns for high standards in all aspects of our activities.”

This philosophy is also echoed through NAFTOMAR’s membership of SIGTTO. GeorgePaul explained that the company is very actively involved with the organisation: “We participate in the general purpose committee of the society and assisting to various workgroups,” he said.

He continued with details on how NAFTOMAR provides expertise to SIGGTO: “As mentioned before, NAFTOMAR is a pioneer and one of the world’s experts in LPG floating storage and ship-to-ship operations.

This expertise together with our experience of being a dedicated LPG vessel operator for almost 40 years puts us in position to assist SIGTTO whenever required, by providing technical feedback and information, as well as best practices.”

PROFILE

NAFTOMAR naftomar.gr

Services LPG trading and shipping

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

NAFTOMAR has been growing and developing as an organisation for over four decades, and George-Paul confirmed that maintaining its leading position in the current market is one of its goals for 2013: “This is alongside sustainable growth and our top priority has always been quality rather than the size,” he added. “The future may be difficult to accurately predict, but one certainty is that NAFTOMAR will hold true to its traditional values, placing the greatest importance on the integrity and reliability of its services and continuing to foster excellent business relationships with clients and partners.”

He concluded with some wise words for the LPG market: “All the players in the LPG market should be very careful to avoid mistakes of the past. Oversupply of tonnage is always a real danger for damaging the market balance. New developments in gas technology and the consequent change of trading patterns should be closely monitored for future business opportunities.”

The future may be difficult to accurately predict, but one certainty is that NAFTOMAR will hold true to its traditional values, placing the greatest importance on the integrity and reliability of its services and continuing to foster excellent business relationships with clients and partners

European oil & gas

Aside from its activities with SIGTTO, utilising these best practices is high on the agenda for NAFTOMAR, and this requires a dedicated approach to quality, as George-Paul explained: “NAFTOMAR is fully committed to meeting and exceeding all recognised industry safety standards. We operate under a very detailed and strict quality system and we take advantage of all the latest technologies in every aspect of our operations.”

Health and safety falls under this umbrella, and George-Paul noted that the key for ensuring safety is by promoting a safety culture across the fleet: “The active involvement of our personnel in matters concerning safety is of great importance. In addition to the above the implementation of a rigorous programme of training, drills and inspections, as well as a management selfassessment, ensures that all our worldwide operations will be carried out safely. We are most proud of being recognised for the safety and reliability of our services.”

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Exceptional

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performance Salalah Methanol Company L.L.C. (SMC) owns and operates a newly established methanol production facility in the Salalah Free Zone located near the Port of Salalah. The company was founded in February 2006 and is wholly owned by Oman Oil Company S.A.O.C. (OOC).

In turn, OOC is a commercial company wholly owned by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman, which was incorporated specifically to pursue investment opportunities in the energy sector both inside and outside Oman. As such, OOC plays an important role in helping diversify the Omani economy and to promote Omani and foreign private sector investment.

At a total cost of $900 million, the facility’s commercial production started in May 2010.

By February 2013, less than three years after start-up, SMC had achieved three million tonnes of methanol production. This is a world-class performance for a new plant. In 2012 alone SMC produced around 1.1 million tonnes at more than 100 per cent of capacity utilisation.

On average the facility has the ability to produce 3000 tonnes a day of methanol.

Alongside the plant itself, the site consists of related utilities, off-sites, and export facilities.

“We are what is known as a black start plant in that we have captive power generation on-site,” explains Awadh Al-Shanfari, CEO of SMC. “We also maintain water desalination, boiler feedwater preparation, auxiliary steam generation, condensate/water treatment facilities, instrument air/plant air and nitrogen generators, and effluent and sewage treatment plants.”

The methanol is produced from natural gas supplied to the facility through a 24-inch pipeline provided by the Ministry of Oil and Gas through the Oman Gas Company. The final product is exported from the Salalah Port Company facilities, which are in the immediate vicinity of the site.

ICI technology is used for carrying out the production provided through Jacobs Consultancy by way of a basic engineering and FEED package for the facility. Johnson Matthey provides the initial charge of catalysts.

As to the choice of product, Awadh explains: “Methanol is the simplest alcohol compound.

It is a commodity chemical, and can be used to produce many different products. In particular methanol is a basic ‘building block’ for the production of plastics, paints, and man-made fibres. It is also used to make an important gasoline fuel additive. This is why we chose methanol, as it’s a very versatile product.”

Since its launch, SMC has continued to impress with its performance. A Methanol Plant Benchmarking Study carried out by Johnson Matthey/ABB for 17 plants places SMC in the top five globally. It has also been recognised as the best company amongst Oman Oil Subsidiaries based on performance.

This isn’t only in terms of production volume.

SMC has achieved more than two million manhours without a lost time incident (LTI) as of March 2013 in the operating phase, and a peak of around 16 million man-hours without an LTI during construction phase. Health and safety for all employees and contractors at the plant

leadership management, and negotiation skills.

Our strategy from day one has been to invest in people and we are very proud of what we have been able to achieve together.”

These initial years certainly seem to have put SMC well on the way to achieving its vision of being globally recognised as the Omani flagship model of excellence in the hydrocarbon industry, with sustainable growth and best returns for all stakeholders. Maintaining this momentum, this year SMC is continuing to look at ways of developing the performance of the plant by beginning with de-bottlenecking, which should leverage benefits in energy optimisation and increased production.

Beyond that SMC has expansion plans, and is looking into the feasibility of downstream products. Casting an eye back at how far SMC has come since its formation Awadh describes the company’s pride in its achievements: “It was a challenge for us to build the plant, but we achieved it within time and budget. We achieved one of the fastest start-ups of any methanol plant, reaching 100 per cent on specification methanol production within twelve days - from first introduction of feedstock natural. We are very proud of our performance so far in all areas and will continue to build upon this,” he concludes.

Salalah Methanol Company L.L.C. smc.co.om

Services Methanol production facility

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

site is the highest priority for SMC. Various ongoing and future improvement programmes including Operational Excellence, Corporate Risk Management, Enterprise Performance Management Systems (EPMS) and Integrated Management Systems are being implemented to improve processes and enhance this performance even further.

From an environmental perspective, even at the early design stage, SMC invested heavily in measures to minimise the impact of its activities. This includes processes like using all treated effluent water in the 37,000 square metre green belt area within the complex, and a fully equipped onsite laboratory for the completion of regular environmental checks.

“Our greatest strength though is our people,” highlights Awadh. “Since we started the plant we have had to train our own people in methanol production, and this is from two sides – technical skills and soft skills. This has included things like safety, management, HR,

Salalah Methanol Company

European oil & gas

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success European oil & gas

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Drive for

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Celebrating 125 years

in the business in September 2012, Yorkshire based Millers Oils has evolved into a leading independent company that is trusted to develop and supply the most innovative oil formulations, such as advanced engine oils, gearbox oils, lubricants and fuel additives, to a wide range of automotive, commercial vehicle and industrial applications around the world. Alongside this major milestone, the company enjoyed a busy and positive year with the January 2012 launch of its Nanodrive low friction technology for the motorsport industry.

Designed to benefit racers, engine builders and team managers with lower friction and more power, Nanodrive also reduces wear to the engine and reduces frequency of engine builds. An estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the energy in an engine’s fuel is lost through internal friction; Millers Oils has cut this friction by using nanoparticles with other ingredients to lessen

the effect of surface roughness of engine parts and make them run more smoothly. “The secret formulation requires the engine oil to reach 110 degrees Celsius to ‘activate’ the low friction performance,” states David McCann, market development manager at Millers Oils. “A great benefit of this comes when engines are allowed to cool; on restart the friction remains lower, which means better fuel economy and lower wear in the critical warm up phase.”

Nanodrive started in motorsport with gear oils, followed by engine oils, and proved popular with discerning racers who appreciated the extra power, torque and engine life the products can give. “As with many other developments that begin in motorsport, we have expanded our customer base by applying similar technology to oils for passenger cars,” highlights David.

“EE Oils (energy efficient) are used in a slightly different way, in that the low friction is used to give better fuel economy of up to 2.5 per cent

in the IndyCar series, with the aim of increasing performance and efficiency by reducing frictional losses.

With the agreement officially signed in October, development work on formulations between the two companies has already begun.

BHA and Millers Oils will conduct tests to validate the most beneficial formulations for the reduction of frictional losses in the powertrain and transmission, which will result in more power being released and a reduction in running temperatures that will create an aerodynamic advantage from the lower cooling air flow requirements. Having enjoyed a productive and successful few years, the future looks positive for Millers Oils, as David concludes: “We aim to continue working with customers and people who appreciate quality and value, and to do this we will continue to listen to market and customer needs in terms of products and services. This way we will remain competitive and ensure our customers won’t even consider buying from anywhere else.”

With our state-ofthe-art R&D centre we are willing to take on lubrication challenges from any market area and will use the experience of our technical team to develop the most effective and innovative solutions

Millers Oils Ltd millersoils.co.uk

Products Lubricants and oils

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

and also increase component life.”

This continued dedication to cutting-edge, cost-effective products led to the company winning the prestigious Motorsport Industry Association (MIA) ‘Technology and Innovation Award’ in January 2013 in recognition of outstanding achievement in a highly competitive market. In April 2012 the company also won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in recognition of its consistent growth in the export of oil and fuel additives, as David enthuses: “Getting this award was a real surprise and honour, bearing in mind it was the first time we had submitted ourselves for assessment. Recognition of this award is truly global, with people commenting on it as far as China and South America. The MIA, meanwhile, actively promotes motorsport as an industry that can give valuable spin-offs to other business areas. Past examples of motorsport innovations that are now commonplace include anti-lock brakes and radial tyres. Nanodrive low friction technology fits this bill incredibly well, as the launch of the EE Oil range demonstrates.”

Dedicated to investing in research and product development, Millers Oils opened a new R&D centre in December 2011, which allows the company to develop new formulations and execute rigorous quality control testing with more efficiency, thus reducing the time it takes to bring a new product into the market. “We are now able to carry out more tests than ever before and investigate different oil ingredients and formulations at a quicker pace. With our stateof-the-art R&D centre we are willing to take on lubrication challenges from any market area and will use the experience of our technical team to develop the most effective and innovative solutions,” says David.

Following several years of investment in its operations, laboratory, warehousing and business systems, as well as a year of great commercial success, the company has plans to double turnover in the next five years by adapting to upcoming market needs and expanding product sales across all of its markets. One area of interest for the company is the US market, where it launched in December 2011 in association with its US distributor, who saw potential in Millers Oils’ ‘different’ products.

Since then it has established a growing business and gained a technical partnership with Bryan Herta Autosport (BHA), a deal that includes all BHA entries such as the Barracuda Racing IndyCar team, F1600 and Indy Lights using oils that contain nanotechnology for the first time

Millers Oils

European oil & gas

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expertise Embedded

The largest dedicated player within its niche sector, FoundOcean is the offshore grouting specialist for the global energy construction industry. The company has over 40 years of experience working in oil and gas construction providing a range of services including foundation and structural grouting, structural repair and strengthening, and pipeline and cable support and protection in all oil and gas production areas around the world.

Since 2003, FoundOcean has also been advising and working with renewable energy companies helping to shape the emergent supply chain. As such it offers the same scope of services as in the oil and gas market for global renewable energy projects. This sector has been a major driver of the growth that FoundOcean has experienced over the last three years.

“We have consolidated our position in renewable energy,” begins managing director Jim Bell. “We are running six concurrent renewable energy projects, and throughout the course of the year expect this figure to grow. Last year we had two such projects, and the year before just one. We really have grown our involvement

to the extent that renewable energy is now the largest part of the business.”

In order to deliver this FoundOcean has had to expand the capacity of the business on all levels. This includes its offshore service base in Scotland, permanent employee base and plant.

“We have more than doubled our personnel from 60 to 140 as of May 2013,” elaborates Jim. “This has presented some real challenges in terms of recruitment as we are a very specialist company, and therefore you can’t really find people who have done this precise type of work before. As such we’ve invested heavily in our training programme so we can bring people up to the required technical and safety standards as quickly as possible.

“We have also expanded our offshore assets so that we now have 40 offshore grouting systems compared to ten four years ago. By increasing the number of our workforce and our equipment we have needed to expand our office and workshop footprint, taking on an extra 10,000 square feet last year. More projects running at the same time than ever before, and the need to support those in terms of maintenance and

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FoundOcean

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PROFILE

FoundOcean

Seepex UK

resupply, means that we are in the process of taking on a further 15,000 square feet as well,” he continues.

In 2012 FoundOcean was appointed Licensed Applicator for BASF Exa-grout Masterflow® 9500, seeing it take on the logistics, mixing and delivery of this product. Reflecting on the importance of this relationship in terms of where the business is at today, Jim notes: “Using the BASF Masterflow product has been key to us entering the windfarm market. By aligning ourselves with a blue chip manufacturing company such as BASF, we give our customers confidence that they are getting a durable product from a reliable service provider. Without this relationship it would have been much more difficult to build our renewable energy market

share as quickly as we have.”

The Masterflow system is being employed on two of the biggest wind farm projects that FoundOcean is currently involved in – West of Duddon Sands and Gwynt y Môr. In both cases FoundOcean is delivering grouting for the turbine foundations, in water depths of 17 to 24 metres at West of Duddon Sands and 12 to 28 metres at Gwynt y Môr. In addition to these, and the other renewable energy projects the company is currently engaged on, FoundOcean expects to see several more contract awards by the end of the year.

The oil and gas side of the business has been far from quiet. For more than five years now FoundOcean has been partnering with IEV Group in order to capitalise on the Southeast

As an established global supplier of progressive cavity pumps and services for fluids handling and processing, seepex knows that industry application knowledge is crucial to success.

Whether your application is for a horizontal, vertical or fully submersible progressive cavity pump, seepex can handle products with low to high viscosity, which may contain solids, all with a low shear, gentle pumping action.

Oil and water mixtures can be pumped with least oil droplet damage thus avoiding the creation of emulsions, which may be difficult to separate. The flow rate of seepex pumps is directly proportional to pump speed and is not affected by changing pressures. This means that they provide accurate metered flow, which can be varied to suit process requirements without the need for flow control valves. seepex pumps are self-priming, do not suffer from gas locking and have a low NPSH requirement to enable vessel emptying e.g. open and closed drain drums, flare knockout, or any application with high vapour pressure liquids. seepex global network of oil and gas application specialists focus on delivering highly engineered products. Technical and project management teams and engineers design, integrate and package complete fluid handling solutions that comply with the customer’s specifications and global standards.

European oil & gas

Rapid International Ltd, located in Northern Ireland, is a world leader in the manufacture of equipment for the concrete construction and environmental industries. Over 40 years of industry experience guarantees the highest quality design, manufacture and after sales support. Rapid is pleased to have assisted FoundOcean with its equipment requirements, having manufactured the Rapid Planetary Mixer and supplied a pressure vessel for it’s offshore projects.

Rapid's durable range of concrete mixers, mixer washout systems, mobile/static batching plant, mobile continuous mixing plant and fast track spares offer reliable, high quality, innovative solutions for a wide variety of concrete, construction and environmental projects.

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Rapid International Ltd

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Asian market. “Together we are the leading grouting specialist in the region,” enthuses Jim. “So far this year we have worked in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Burma where we were one of the first UK businesses to begin work following the change in government, so that relationship continues to be successful.”

Last year FoundOcean added IEV’s internally developed marine growth prevention and control system to its product range. This is being re-introduced to the North Sea having been used sparingly in the region in the past. “We are now going through a trial programme to install a small number of test devices on some selected North Sea wind farms. Within the next six to 12 months we expect to get some positive feedback on the effectiveness of these, which should lead to a more extensive deployment,” describes Jim. Even more recently the company has set up a new joint venture with its Indian partner Ambico to open a fabric formwork manufacturing facility in Mumbai. “These are very large engineered bags of several metres in size that are typically used in pipeline stabilisation works, where they are placed under the pipeline and then filled with grout. We have just completed several large projects of this nature in Southeast Asia, as well as one in the Gulf of Mexico where we set a new world record by putting in pipeline supports at a depth of 1400 metres. This broke our previous record of 1,244 metres, and means we are getting to a stage where we can install these supports almost

Ferguson Group New dual zone refrigeration solution available in Africa IceBlue Refrigeration Offshore, part of the Ferguson Group, a specialist in providing refrigeration and freezer solutions for offshore food transportation and storage, recently announced the launch of its new 6m dual zone refrigerated/ chiller container.

Certified by, and manufactured to DNV 2.7-1/EN12079 for the offshore energy sector, the unit is available globally, including through IceBlue’s partner bases in both Ghana and Kenya.

The new product, developed following extensive market research, offers a flexible solution in one container, for transporting a range of perishable foodstuff that requires specific storage conditions.

Capable of providing cooling in either a single or dual zone compartment simultaneously in a -30OC to +20OC ambient temperature range, the IceBlue 6m dual zone refrigerated/chiller container provides temperature control for transportation and storage, suitable for use in a range of climatic conditions.

James Scullion, IceBlue Refrigeration Offshore business development executive, said: “The IceBlue product range is constantly evolving in line with client needs and the new dual zone container is an exciting development that we are pleased to bring to the offshore market.

We have already had interest from existing clients and the new product is now available from our global bases.”

FoundOcean Ltd foundocean.com

Services Subsea and offshore grouting specialist

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

FoundOcean is alone in the market when it comes to delivering pipeline support at these depths: “There is no-one else in the world that is capable of even coming close to this, which is why we get the opportunity to export our service all over the world

a mile beneath the surface,” reveals Jim. He continues with how FoundOcean is alone in the market when it comes to delivering pipeline support at these depths: “There is no-one else in the world that is capable of even coming close to this, which is why we get the opportunity to export our service all over the world. Another interesting project we are working on using these fabric formwork bags is the salvage of the Costa Concordia wreck in Italy. Here we are essentially using these formworks to build a false seabed that will support the wreck when it is rolled into its upright position. The volumes and scale involved in the project are huge with several thousand formwork bags, 25,000 tonnes of cement, and two of our grouting systems being employed.”

With two thriving aspects to the business, once again FoundOcean’s strategy is split between maximising both its oil and gas, and renewable energy activities, as Jim reveals in thinking about the rest of the year ahead: “We have had a very strong focus on entering the renewable energy market over the last three years. We have been successful in that, and are now returning our focus back to the oil and gas industry and particularly the export market.

Over the next 12 months we will be pushing to expand our footprint in the Middle East, Gulf of Mexico, South America, and West Africa and establish a more permanent presence in all of those locations.”

This is representative of FoundOcean’s longerterm view to consolidate itself in all markets where it is not yet the number one service company, as it is in Europe and Southeast Asia.

“I think the activity of the individual markets will determine the order in which we address them, but our aim is to become the leader in all markets around the world,” notes Jim. “With a bit of good fortune we will also see the US renewable energy market take off. It is closer than ever before with indications that the first offshore wind farm project in the US could begin as early as the middle of next year. We are establishing ourselves more substantially and permanently in the US to be ready when this happens.

“Over the next few years we will also be looking to identify and acquire some complimentary businesses to assist with our growth and development. We are still at the very early stages of that process but we have identified a shortlist of businesses which may be suitable for this,” he concludes.

FoundOcean

European oil & gas

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growth European oil & gas

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Generating

Specialising in the sales and rentals

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Below John Ashcroft, Manlift Group managing director

of both power generators and access platforms, the Manlift Group, was started in 2006 as a joint venture between Riwal, a major European plant rental firm based in Dordrecht, Holland, and British entrepreneurs.

Based in Dubai, UAE, Manlift experienced exponential growth in the first three years of operation allowing for swift, strategic expansion into new markets and heavy capital investment in machinery and manpower to cope with the rising demand. Seven years on, the Group is known as a market leader in both the power generator and access platform industries, with a fleet of over 1200 machines based over four branches in Dubai & Abu Dhabi (UAE), Doha (Qatar) and Delhi, (India), Manlift Middle East LLC provides access platforms, otherwise known as Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWP’s). The product offerings include articulated and straight boom lifts, scissor lifts, truck and trailer mounted aerial work platforms from MEWP giants and world leading manufacturers, JLG, Genie, MEC and Upright, and specialist spider lift units from German company Teupen, with a product range catering to heights from three metres up to 50 metres.

The other business that makes up the Group, Manlift Power LLC., provides remote power solutions through the rental and sales of generator sets from 10kVA-2500kVA in size, specialising in large, synchronised turnkey power installations of up to 100 Megawatts in size. With a fleet of 600 super-silent rental spec containerised generators from Cummins, Ingersoll Rand and Perkins, LV & HV transformers with supporting ancillary equipment. Power is supplied more often than not to companies operating in remote areas such as the oil and gas, mining, construction, tourism and events industries. By ensuring these companies have the finest equipment and support throughout the duration of their projects Manlift Power constantly strives to exceed customer expectations and provide them with the best experience in the power industry, which ensures an excellent client retention rate.

Manlift’s International Power Projects (MIPP) team recently completed its first EPC contract in Pakistan, which involved the manufacture and installation of a 15MW turnkey power solution for Byco Oil Pakistan’s facility in Lasbela.

Manlift manufactured, shipped, installed and commissioned fifteen 1250kVA generator units,

and demonstrator training in Pakistani and Sri Lankan, a significant development for the group since the majority of its customers in the Middle East speak these languages and critical safety messages could potentially get lost in translation if spoken in English. The group currently has three IPAF instructors and two accredited IPAF demonstrators and aims to expand its numbers of IPAF qualified instructors in Dubai as demand continues to grow. Following the Group’s successful move into training and its ability to find opportunities for strategic growth, the future looks positive for Manlift Group.

Throughout 2013 Manlift will see both access platform and Manlift generator fleets across the group and region increase in size. The Middle East is seeing very positive trends of investment and with construction projects being awarded for the 2020 World Expo in the UAE and the FIFA World Cup 2022 in the gas rich state of Qatar, Manlift is forecasting high demand in Q4 2013, healthy profitability, and is always exploring the possibility for expansion in the future.

Manlift Group manliftgroup.com

Products Power generators and powered access machines

europeanoilandgas.co.uk

over two phases; 5MW initially and then the remaining 10MW. Once completed, the facility will have the capabilities to refine 120,000 barrels of crude oil each day, making it the largest of its kind in the country. “Byco required a turnkey power solution with reliable, well built equipment and excellent sales, service and technical support. We were happy to be given the opportunity to carry this project through and that Byco are satisfied with the solution we supplied. We look forward to strengthening a solid relationship with Byco Oil Pakistan in the foreseeable future,” says John Ashcroft, managing director of Manlift Group.

Proud of its dedication to providing the best products to its customers, the group also focuses on giving a highly personal level of service.

“Customer experience is at the centre of our vision,” says Nick Jenkins, Manlift’s marketing and communications manager. “Manlift holds a wealth of skill and knowledge in our employees and we are known for a high level of service, whether technical, commercial or through our highly professional sales force. The majority of our fleet is extremely new, and older units from both businesses are constantly being replaced or reconditioned to ensure maximum productivity and minimum downtime for our clients. We operate in very competitive markets.

In order to stay ahead of the competition, we draw on our product quality, team experience, company processes and corporate values to implement safe, reliable, turnkey solutions for our customers.”

All Manlift customers are offered and encouraged to sign service and spare part agreements. Following the global market collapse, both businesses have witnessed an increase in the number of enquiries for spare parts. More often than not these enquiries are from companies and individuals that purchased access platforms and generators at a lower price from organisations without the facility or experience to service them.

In 2009 Manlift became a fully accredited training centre for The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF), which was established in 1983 to promote the safe and effective use of powered access worldwide.

With a purpose built teaching facility in the Dubai Technical Yard, Manlift offers a variety of IPAF training courses to adhere to EU Safety standards in a bid to lessen the accident rates of those working at height. Manlift’s instructors are also able to deliver IPAF training in Hindi

Manlift Group

European oil & gas

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SOG_almaco_living_quarters_200x280mm.indd 1

6.5.2013 14.05

Healthy

development Founded in June 2001, COSCO Shipyard Group is a subsidiary of the China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO). In itself a large enterprise, the company specialises in offshore newbuilding/upgrades, the building of large vessels, marine engineering constructions; and provides ship repair and building services and offshore engineering.

The global offshore industry has seen huge development, and China’s capacity to build offshore facilities has evolved with this. The COSCO Shipyard Group has now reached a level where it is competing with global shipbuilders in repair and construction of offshore facilities.

In recent years, the COSCO Shipyard Group has taken the lead in grasping the growth opportunities generated by the emerging market.

Based on technological innovation, the yard has successfully transformed itself from a ship repair company to a globally renowned offshore equipment manufacturer, having finished the design and construction of a number of worldleading offshore products.

From as early as 2006, with a global vision, COSCO Shipyard set up an offshore research and development (R&D) centre with over 30 overseas experts, which set the foundation for a successful transformation. In 2009, COSCO achieved a crucial breakthrough in design and manufacturing technology when the world’s first cylindrical ultra-deepwater offshore drilling platform ‘Sevan Driller’ was built by the COSCO Nantong Shipyard, achieving a number of firsts

in the world and winning the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2011. In August 2012, ‘Sevan Driller’ (chartered by Petrobras) caused a stir in the global offshore industry when it discovered the largest ultradeepwater oil and gas field in the world.

With the delivery of a number of major offshore projects, the COSCO Shipyard Group further strengthened its brand image in the offshore segment. Currently, the COSCO Shipyard Group handles one-third of the total order book in China, and has a large number of projects under construction.

When it comes to facilities COSCO Shipyard Group has a total of 15 working docks, ranging in size from 50,000 DWT to 300,000 DWT, access to over ten kilometres of deepwater coastline, and is able to carry out approximately 600 large ship repairing and rebuilding projects in a single calendar year. These facilities allow the company to undertake the entire spectrum of conversion and repair works on a diverse range of vessels, from LPG tankers to container vessels and VLCCs. The expertise of the company extends from marine projects that included the world’s first drilling production storage oil vessel, to cylindrical rigs, self-drilling platforms and semi-submersible offshore oil platforms.

One of the most celebrated contract wins for COSCO Shipyard in the offshore sector was the construction of the newbuild deepwater drilling rig ‘Sevan Brazil’. This was of the same design as ‘Sevan Driller’ (mentioned previously) and was

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COSCO Shipyard Group

European oil & gas

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almaco group

Accommodating the industry ALMACO Group is a Finnish EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractor that builds, outfits and modernises high-quality living quarters at a competitive price for offshore owners, operators and shipyards worldwide. ALMACO's accommodations are built to satisfy the customer’s high quality requirements and are compliant with stringent standards such as NORSOK, UK HSE, ABS HAB+, among others.

The company offers comprehensive turnkey deliveries of new built and modernised offshore accommodation units that include engineering and design, fabrication and sourcing, project management and after-sales services, regardless of the project’s location. Through its global strategic partnerships the company provides competitive solutions around the world.

The offshore accommodations market is growing and moving towards better quality living standards to attract higher-qualified and more demanding personnel to operate in rigs that can be located very far away from the shore. Some locations can be challenging; therefore, the level of comfort of the operating personnel is of greater importance to rig owners and operators. ALMACO draws from 15 years of experience in successfully delivering accommodations to the cruise ship industry, which allows the company to meet not only demanding delivery timelines, but also the required high quality standards. Delivering these projects successfully requires efficient logistics management, planning, scheduling, advanced levels of engineering and naval architecture, as well as skilled project management. ALMACO has perfected these skills and is able to bring them to each offshore project to deliver to the customer’s expectations.

One important customer expectation is price, and ALMACO has the capabilities of fabricating, sourcing and delivering cost-efficient solutions from its partners and construction hubs worldwide. ALMACO’s presence in Brazil, China, the US and Singapore allows the business to be close to its main offshore customers and shipyards. ALMACO is a global business by nature, but prides itself on its flexibility to serve at a local level as well.

ALMACO’s experience has been based on building with the customer’s needs in mind; therefore, it is fully equipped to comply with demanding customer-specific demands, including superior quality at a competitive price. One of the company’s strengths is in partnering with its customers, starting in the design and engineering phase, where ALMACO’s expertise and its customer’s needs meet to create a successful project delivery.

An important recent development for ALMACO Group was COSCO Shipyard Co. Ltd. awarding the major newbuilding order for Modular Cabins, Food Handling Areas and Public Spaces onboard Axis Offshore’s GM500A semi-submersible accommodation vessel to be built in COSCO’s Qidong shipyard in China. ALMACO has extensive experience in China through local partnerships and a growing office in Shanghai and because of the company’s strong local relationships and expertise in both cruise and offshore accommodations, ALMACO is able to provide European-quality products and services at a very competitive price level in China.

The unit is expected to be delivered during the first quarter of 2015. ALMACO is currently involved in the engineering phase and mock-up arrangements, and the site phase of this project will take place during 2014.

The award of the GM500 accommodation by COSCO Shipyard reinforces the company’s position as a global player capable of carrying out extensive projects in Europe, Asia and the Americas, and it supports ALMACO Group’s vision for the next three to five years to become the leader in quality accommodations for the offshore market.

Franklin Offshore provides mooring services for both temporary and permanent mooring systems. Our services are available on an international scale and are backed by a wealth of field-proven experience.

With our global reach, we had opportunities to manage major mooring projects in the world’s leading offshore oil and gas exploration and production regions – including those in Asia, Australia and West Africa.

We hold a comprehensive range of mooring equipment inventory and operate with our professional in-house project management team to deliver one-stop-shop mooring solutions.

delivered on 6th March 2012. ‘Sevan Brazil’ is contracted to Petrobras S.A. on a six-year contract for drilling operations offshore Brazil, with start-up occurring in the second quarter of 2012.

‘Sevan Brazil’ is a cylindrical semi-submersible offshore drilling platform with advanced capabilities to meet the requirements of ultradeepwater drilling in water depths of up to 12,500 feet (3810 metres) and a total vertical drilling depth of 40,000 feet (12,192 metres).

In fact, the ‘Sevan Brazil’ fulfilled its potential in March 2013 when it was announced that the rig had discovered rich reserves in block BM-S50 while drilling in ultra-deepwater areas in the Santos Basin.

The BM-S-50 block, located in the west of the main oil-bearing zone of the Santos Basin in 1871 metres of water, is operated by Petrobras, which owns a 60 per cent stake in the block.

The oilfield has rich reserves stored in the carbonate reservoirs 6150 meters below the salt layer. The oil quality in the area reaches API 31.

‘Sevan Brazil’ will continue to drill in the area to determine the basic reserves of the field.

By working to a business model that promotes professional services and a strong, modern management style, COSCO Shipyard Group has become the preferred partner for many of the biggest offshore oil service providers and shipping companies in the world. It works out of locations including Nantong, Qidong, Dalian, Zhoushan, Guangdong and Shanghai.

Of the many different offshore projects built by COSCO Shipyard Group, some of the notable examples include an accommodation barge for Exmar Offshore, an ultra-deepwater drillship, ‘Dalian Developer’, a semi-submersible

drilling rig, three ultra-large offshore wind turbine installation jack-up vessels, eight VLCCs upgraded to Floating Production Storage and Offloading Platforms (FPSO), four self-erecting tender assisted drilling rigs for Seadrill, two premium jack-up rigs for KS Drilling Pte Ltd and top side modules for ATP Oil & Gas (UK) Ltd. It has also won contracts for FPSOs, pipe layers, platform supply vessels and an offshore wind turbine installation vessel.

The ultra-large offshore wind turbine installation jack-up vessel, which was designed and built by COSCO Nantong Shipyard and recommended by the Science and Technology Department of Jiangsu Province, was included in the 2012 National Key New Project Plan.

This was the first COSCO Shipyard project to enter the National Key New Project, which is designed to encourage independent innovation, promote the development of new products and the transformation and industrialisation of technological achievements.

As recently as March 2013, the COSCO (Zhoushan) Shipyard successfully delivered the 57,000-DWT bulk carrier N384, named ‘Oceanmaster’, to the Oceanstar Company. The bulk carrier measures 32.26 metres in breadth and is the second 57,000-DWT bulk carrier to be delivered to Oceanstar; N383, the first vessel in the series, was successfully delivered in early 2013. The two companies began co-operating in 2007, when the COSCO Shipyard successfully repaired ‘Marilia’, and since then the yard has secured four construction orders from the company. Construction of the other two vessels, N385 and N386, is now progressing smoothly in the yard.

March also saw a successful three-day sea trial completed for the 35,000-DWT bulk carrier N366, built by COSCO (Guangdong) Shipyard for Harbor Shipping. While meeting all conventional construction specification requirements, N366 is equipped with a new set of ballast water treatment systems, which meet the new requirements of the NK classification society, making it possible for the ship to sail smoothly in Southeast Asia and Australia, as well as other regions and countries.

Harbor Shipping has worked with COSCO (Guangdong) Shipyard on a total of four construction projects, among which a 57,000DWT bulk carrier has already been delivered, while the construction of two 35,000-DWT bulk carriers started in May 2012.

In recent years the COSCO Shipyard Group has also completed detailed risk assessments and

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COSCO Shipyard Group

quality control programmes in relation to LNG repairs. Furthermore, a special LNG ship repair team has been established and trained in SCM Sembawang Shipyard in order to learn the best practices, safety standards and cleanliness control methods that go alongside LNG repair work. The department employs over 100 technicians and engineers, some originally hailing from Japan, Korea and Singapore, who together have helped make the company one of the world’s most distinguished offshore marine fabricators.

As a part of the COSCO Shipyard Group’s strategy to achieve sustainable growth it has spent the last decade investing heavily in its technology department, one that helps it differentiate itself through the manufacturing of new products and innovative processes. The engineering office of the company was opened in August 2002, and is made up of experts from the company’s engineering office and those of several subsidiary companies.

In order to be recognised as a true onestop-shop, providing its customers with total satisfaction, the COSCO Shipyard Group works to not only upgrade its own services, but also

The expertise of the company extends from marine projects that included the world’s first drilling production storage oil vessel, to cylindrical rigs, selfdrilling platforms and semi-submersible offshore oil platforms establish strategic partnerships with specialised service providers who themselves are well known in the maritime and offshore industries. On top of these efforts, COSCO Shipyard Group also possesses voyage repair facilities and employs teams based in several major ports along the Chinese coast that are able to provide quick and professional voyage repairs and after sales services to all of the company’s customers.

COSCO Shipyard Group cosco-shipyard.com

Services Offshore and vessel newbuilding, repairs, conversion and maintenance

in Plugged

Frerk Aggregatebau

GmbH has been building electric power supply systems for many different fields of application for almost 50 years. During this time the business has accumulated a great wealth of expertise, which today sees it offer complete power supply solutions, from initial concept through to handover. This professionalism means that not only does the completed system meet the customer’s individual needs, but it is also produced in accordance with the necessary standards, making it safe to operate even under the most difficult usage and environmental conditions. Furthermore, Frerk provides service and system support for the entire life of the system if required.

Having operated from the same site in Schweringen, Germany since 1978, over the last 13 years Frerk Aggregatebau has seen a huge step-up in its capacity beginning with the construction of a new production facility in addition to the existing four, with four up-todate test bays in 2001. This was followed by another production bay in 2005 to expand the total production area to 11,000 square metres, and a further increase in 2008 to 25,000 square metres. Most recently in 2011 Frerk Aggregatebau put in a new 1500 square metre storage building, office space, and a 2100 square metre production bay for the reconditioning of used generator sets.

The company’s current product line extends right up to engine generator sets with an output of up to six MW in both low and mediumvoltage ranges. The applications for these then vary from black-start engine generator sets to emergency power solutions, and CHP (Combined Heat and Power) packages. Frerk Aggregatebau uses only engines and generators from leading manufacturers in its equipment units, which are selected on an independent basis in line with the best fit for the customer’s requirements.

“Our main focus is on containerising these systems to offer plug-and-play solutions to our different markets,” describes sales and projects director Claus Bormann. “The advantage of this is that we can pre-test and finalise everything in our test bays prior to delivery so that the customer gets a complete, certified unit. This also minimises erection time at the site.”

He continues: “We have the highest possible flexibility as a company, taking standardised generator sets as a base to create a completely tailored solution including elements such as explosion proof equipment and fire fighting systems. It also means that we are able to develop low volume series production for our returning customers, as we have done in our rental solutions for Caterpillar.”

Having worked with them at a local level since the 1980s, Frerk Aggregatebau’s relationship with Caterpillar has grown steadily ever since,

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“In total oil and gas represents about 30 per cent of our overall turnover through a wide range of projects from offshore platforms to onshore production or gas treatment facilities. At the moment we are working on several contracts for this market segment, including new projects in the Middle East and Persian Gulf.

“Typically oil and gas is a challenging environment with the potential for extremes of high and low temperatures, corrosive atmospheres, and small space restrictions, so in most cases the equipment we supply has to be ATEX explosion proof certified and have CO2

gas fire fighting systems installed,” he continues.

One example of these specialist requirements being met through Frerk Aggregatebau’s services is the arctic generator set container the company developed to cover the total outage of the main power station supplying oil and gas fields in the far east of Russia. This emergency power system was installed in a soundproofed 40-foot container equipped with electric heaters for the -45 °C ambient temperature.

“We have also designed our rental fleet units with a 50 °C ambient capability, which required us to calculate all the airflows inside such a system. We achieved this by first creating a prototype unit based on our design department’s calculations, and then tested it within our dedicated bays to see exactly what happens to the system under such conditions. This then allowed us to revise any issues in relation to the flow of air,” describes Claus.

This all-round capability and flexibility towards the customer have been crucial elements of Frerk Aggregatebau’s ability to weather the global financial crisis. The economic situation has also seen the company work in view of new segments such as heavy fuel power stations and incorporating medium speed engines.

“In general our strategy is to develop tailored plug and play units further, and to be an interesting partner to our customers,” concludes Claus. “We also want to increase our involvement in niche markets such as oil and gas or heavy fuels. Another strategic aim is to multiply our global footprint with new production facilities outside of Europe in order for us to be closer to our customers. We have not yet made a final decision on which region we will look at first but both Asia and the US hold many opportunities for us.”

Typically oil and gas is a challenging environment with the potential for extremes of high and low temperatures, corrosive atmospheres, and small space restrictions

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which saw it secure a framework agreement with the manufacturer in 2004. The company also works with other engine manufacturers, as well as engineering companies and EPC contractors, and end users directly.

The container-based solution is one that has transferred well into the oil and gas sector, where Frerk Aggregatebau is mainly working as a supplier of emergency power diesel engine generator sets. Elaborating on this line of the business projects manager Jürgen Knecht says:

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Frerk Aggregatebau GmbH frerk-aggregatebau.com

Products Power generating systems

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Novenco

year From a small start in 2002, Novenco and Sea & Industri Aluminium have developed a very good relationship delivering ventilation products to projects all over the world.

Mist eliminators, outlet louvers, dampers, filters and goosenecks have been delivered to countless ships built at many shipyards on several continents.

Sea & Industri Aluminium also delivers outfitting structures such as storage silos, office/change rooms, stairs, ladders, platforms, storage containers and skid enclosures for use on- or offshore.

The main focus is on aluminium products, but for customers requiring galvanized or stainless materials deliveries are made to demand.

A world leader in supplying HVAC systems, Novenco Marine & Offshore operates across three divisions to deliver solutions to all clients in the merchant ship, offshore and special ship industries. As part of Novenco Group, it has approximately 300 employees and a strong global presence with offices in Naestved (Denmark), Bergen and Oslo (Norway), Trieste (Italy), Shanghai, Singapore, Korea and Brazil. An expert in its field, the company has 66 years of experience in the marine and offshore industry, having delivered over 12,000 HVAC systems for all types of applications around the world.

“Novenco is active in all markets, which makes us the one true global supplier,” says Roald Hauge sales director in the special vessels department. “We serve all the major shipyards in the world and have local offices in all major shipbuilding countries. Furthermore, as part of the Norwegian marine cluster, Novenco has been involved in the OSV (offshore support vessel) development that has increased over the last 20 years.”

The offshore division of Novenco has been supplying HVAC systems to the offshore sector for more than 30 years and is today recognised as a respected and reputable supplier to this demanding market. Novenco Offshore’s experience and product range means it can find solutions to the most complex projects. “We have a standardised product range for projects with standardised requirements, and we also have a flexible production line where we custom build equipment according to owner demand. In addition, we also have test facilities available to prove product designs when required,” explains Henrik Jorkjen, sales and marketing director of Novenco’s Offshore division. “We have the flexibility and capability to develop new products

that suit both market and client demands.”

One product that stands out in the company’s wide range is eVent, a custom made software for the energy optimisation of HVAC systems on ships and offshore installations. Following five years of focused work, Novenco has created a win-win situation for ship owners looking to save spending for fuel, and at the same time satisfy the increasing need for an environmentally friendly image. “The most important feature of eVent is the online HVAC energy calculator, which calculates actual energy consumption every hour all year-round based on actual position of the ship at that hour, using the actual weather conditions outside the ship.

Summarising this over a full year, we calculate the energy consumption and use the software to offer alternative products and design solutions to show the client what they can expect from these options. This way the client gets a great decision tool that can be used to justify a small investment that normally has a payback time of six to 12 months,” highlights Roald.

The company has used the eVent concept on the Seven TBN at Hyundai shipyard for Subsea 7, which involved the design and installation of new accommodation AHUs, chillers and engine room fans, resulting in energy cost savings of $118,000 a year and energy savings of 967,206 kWh a year.

One major offshore project that involves the utilisation of eVent is with KEFLS yard, Singapore, on behalf of Maersk Drilling, which involves supplying HVAC equipment for the world’s largest and most advanced ultra-harsh environment jack-up rigs. Novenco has also developed a new generation air handling unit type ZPR (AHU) to meet Statoil’s specifications, which has extended strength, is customised as

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standard and is a design that offers low leakage.

“With our own R&D centre and ownership of our own factories we have full control of product quality and performance, which is one of our key strengths. On top of this we are aware that offshore companies work in all environments, so we have developed a full spectrum of HVAC systems that can operate in any climate or environment,” highlights Henrik.

With factories based in Denmark and China, as well as a recently opened office in Korea, the group’s Offshore division is continuing to prepare for the upcoming boom in business throughout 2013 and the coming years. “The offshore market is certainly hectic at the present time,” says Henrik. “We have a number of big projects, but are also looking to take on more.

To ensure we can do this we have focused on developing our project department so we can achieve an increase in projects from last year. We are increasing our project handling capacities and are taking on new employees every month.

“One particular area of interest for the company is Korea, where we aim to increase participation in projects and develop a stronger

The offshore division of Novenco has been supplying HVAC systems to the offshore sector for more than 30 years and is today recognised as a respected and reputable supplier to this demanding market local presence. Over the next few years we aim to retain our steady growth in China and keep our foothold in Norway and Brazil, while at the same time preparing to take a bigger share of the Korean offshore market. We have recently opened an office in Korea and see definite potential for future growth,” concludes Henrik.

Novenco AS novenco-marine.com

Services Global supplier of HVAC systems

developments Innovative

Since its inception in 2007

, Houston based niche drilling firm BassDrill has enjoyed substantial growth, which has increased massively over the last 18 months. Formed to design, fabricate, market and operate safe and efficient drilling equipment in a heavily dominated market, the company has quickly become a strong competitor with its offering of state-of-the-art vessels, as Kerry Kunz highlights: “BassDrill entered this market because we saw an opportunity to provide new and innovative designs to customers requiring safe, efficient and comtemporary drilling units. We started with registering the company in 2007 and in 2008 we ordered our first barge tender assist vessel, the Alpha, which was built on speculation and delivered in 2010 before being mobilised in West Africa where it has worked continuously since.”

In late 2009 the company began interacting with Petrobras over the prospect of a large development project in the Campos basin, Brazil. In 2010 a long-term contract was signed and soon thereafter BassDrill began with the construction of its second unit, the semi-tender Beta, for mobilisation to Brazil; the vessel of which is being built in China for delivery in H2 2013, while the modular drilling equipment was constructed in the US. “The Beta will be the first

semi-tender assist unit in Brazil and we believe further opportunities will appear in Brazil for this type of unit in the future,” says Kerry. “In the fall of 2012 we ordered a third unit, which again will involve the vessel being built in China and the modular package being produced in the US. The ‘Gamma’ unit is being built on speculation and is scheduled in the third quarter of 2014; similar to the Alpha, it is a barge tender with a 30 per cent increase in capacity. It is being built under a $124 million turnkey construction contract with Dalian Shipbuilding Industry and Dalian Shipbuilding Offshore, China.

All three tender assist designs are ABS class approved, with the two barge designs intended for benign environments in shallow waters of 15 metres to 200 metres; the semi-tender design, meanwhile, is configured for use in deepwater environments in conjunction with Spars or TLPs, as Kerry highlights: “The semitenders are able to operate in more challenging environments, not the North Sea, but they are able to go into deeper water and beyond the traditional tender assist areas, which expands the market. For example, the unit in Brazil is going into an area that is 31 degrees south latitude in the Atlantic, so we have taken this tender market well beyond its traditional

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Oil States Skagit Smatco, LLC Oil States Skagit Smatco, LLC has been the most trusted name in mooring systems for over 50 years in the offshore oil and gas industry and is very fortunate to have been selected as the mooring system supplier for BassDrill’s fleet. Skagit’s name and reputation is synonymous with dependability and quality with owners worldwide. Skagit’s experienced engineering and service technicians provide real-world solutions to issues utilising the latest technology. Oil States’ goal is to build long-term relationships with shipyards and owners like the one developed with BassDrill.

Skagit’s manufacturing facility is located in Houma, Louisiana, US, with satellite offices worldwide.

located on the seabeds as it removes the need for expensive and sophisticated equipment that goes with sea floor development,” highlights Kerry.

Surface wells heads are often required where flow assurance is an issue and re-entering of the wells is required on a frequent basis. Surface wells permit the operators to use inexpensive means to perform remedial work on the wells without the use of an expensive deepwater rig.

“The trend is to look at more marginal fields or fields with flow assurance issues with the application of surface developments that could prove to be cost effective, which will translate into huge opportunities for Bassdrill. We are on track with our plans for growth and are very positive about the future.”

BassDrill bassdrill.com

Services Manufacture and operate drilling equipment

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exclusive area within equatorial waters.”

Focused completely on development drilling, the company tends to benefit from longer term contracts and the ability to build against contracts, something that Kerry is keen to continue doing: “If you first secure a contract and build against it, this is heavily applauded by shareholders because it a much more secure option than building on speculation and financing is readily available. We have been uniquely successful in building vessels against contracts and this is how we would prefer to move forward whenever possible. It offers more security to grow and a much safer route for the shareholders of BassDrill.” The company holds long contracts due to the number of wells that the developments require, which offers increased stability in terms of revenue, financing, budgeting purposes and manning.

In early 2013 the company secured a contract for a fourth unit with Total Congo for a high profile deepwater development; the semi-tender vessel, Delta, is an enhanced version of the Beta design and will be utilised on the Moho Nord development commencing in 2015. Looking to continue its spate of aggressive growth, the company is currently interacting with operators on additional potential opportunities. “We came into a market that was traditionally dominated by large players, which made it challenging to obtain our first contract because we hadn’t proven ourselves in this business.

Our first contract showed the industry that we could bring new and innovative designs with the latest technological features to offer operators the safest and most contemporary

The semi-tenders are able to operate in more challenging environments, not the North Sea, but they are able to go into deeper water and beyond the traditional tender assist areas, which expands the market

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vessels on the market,” says Kerry.

Having enjoyed huge success over the last few years, the company plans to continue bringing new vessels into the market while also focusing on the offshore industry, with substantial demand seen in areas such as Brazil, West Africa and quite possibly in the future, the GOM. Utilising its semi-tenders, Beta and Delta, BassDrill offers oil companies considerable cost savings on total development costs, where dry trees/surface are utilised. Tender and semi-tender drilling rigs also have significantly less weight requirements than platform rigs, thus allowing oil companies to build lighter and less expensive TLPs, Spars or fixed platforms.

“The deepwater developments we are involved in have surface trees and surface wellheads, which offers significant benefits over wellheads

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PROFILE

Port of Fujairah Authority

position The Port of Fujairah

is the only multi-purpose port on the eastern seaboard of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Located approximately 70 nautical miles from the Straits of Hormuz, the Port is positioned at the crossroads of shipping lines between east and west making it one of the Emirate’s most vital facilities, as well as an important hub for the market activities of the Indian sub-continent and East Africa.

Construction of the port initially began in 1978 as part of the economic development of the UAE, with full operations beginning in 1983, giving it a long heritage in port and terminal operations. Since then the Port has embarked on a continuous process of enhancement to both its

facilities, and comprehensive range of services.

These include handling of general cargo, bulk cargo, wet bulk cargo, container activity, and facilities for small supply craft users and agents.

The Port benefits from a draft of 15-metres and 1.4 kilometre long main quay. It has a number of different berths for container, general, and bulk cargo, and two oil terminals commissioned in 2006 and 2010 respectively.

Oil Terminal 1 is home to three berths with the ability to accommodate tankers of up to 110,000 tonnes, whilst Oil Terminal 2 has four berths and a draft of 18-metres allowing larger vessels to call.

Container operations at the port began in 1982, since which time it has built up a long expertise in road relay, consolidation and deconsolidation, sea/air cargo, and transhipment services. The Port’s alliance with DP World as the concessionaries for container cargo has also strengthened its position amongst the global network of container ports.

In terms of more general cargo, the Port also handles a significant proportion of the steel billets, steel bars, copper concentrate, chrome ore, iron ore, coal, bagged aluminium hydroxide, and industrial salt which moves to and from the UAE, GCC countries and beyond. A major

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The Port benefits from a draft of 15-metres and 1.4 kilometre long main quay. It has a number of different berths for container, general, and bulk cargo, and two oil terminals commissioned in 2006 and 2010 respectively

proportion of project cargo associated with the UAE Federal Qidfa Desalination plant was handled successfully through the Port.

As well as a paved storage area of 500,000 square metres which can accommodate general and project cargo, cars, and containers, the Port has additional compacted land of approximately 150,000 square metres available for temporary pre-shipment or post-shipment storage.

Also present at the port is Fujairah Anchorage, which offers an efficient and varied one-stopshop service for up to 100 vessels at any time.

Calling vessels can secure bunkering, ship supply, ship repair, spare parts, and inspection services, as well as crew changes to and from anchorage.

In order to keep accommodating the growing, and diverse, volumes that look to take advantage of its attractive location, the Port of Fujairah has long subscribed to a strategy of investment. It is not only the Authority itself though that sees the benefit of this approach, private external companies also fund developments within the port and surrounding area.

One notable project has been the completion of the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP), which will carry between one and 1.5 million

b/d per day via a 360-kilometre pipeline. This feeds into 12 million bbl of storage capacity, and then onto export through three subsea pipelines and three single point mooring buoys for deep water loading.

Another recent development is the UAE Federal Grain Reserve, which in its first phase contains 250,000 tonnes of grain silo storage, conveyors, and load and discharge arms. Plans are already in place for a second phase of development that will see this capacity increased to 750,000 tonnes.

Earlier this year a new observation tower was inaugurated at the port in the midst of Fujairah Bunkering Week 2013. Fifty-three metres in height, the tower is shaped like the letter F of the Port of Fujairah logo and equipped with radars, navigation systems, and a state-of-the-art system for calling vessels. It was constructed as part of an ongoing programme to enhance the port and increase its capacity to accommodate more inbound and outbound operations.

The tower will also help the Port of Fujairah to offer customer service that is on par with international standards.

Furthermore the port has installed eight Tideland SB-285P lateral mark buoys north of the port to mark a new passage where the Port Authority provides services for the ADCOP. The buoys are equipped with SolaNOVA-65 selfcontained LED lanterns, the first to be supplied in the Middle East, and AIS AtoN systems to communicate with vessels in the vicinity. This equipment transmits a range of information such as its position to vessels approaching the port, and sends a remote monitoring signal back to base. These are picked up and routed through to the AIS display system situated in the newlybuilt observation tower.

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With additional berths also scheduled for delivery, and projects like the ADCOP come to fruition, oil is clearly a target market for the port when it comes to making the best use of its position

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Elsewhere, private companies are continuing with the construction of additional tank storage to cater for trading and bunkering activity, and new terminal facilities. This is a particular point of focus for the Port which aims to raise capacity from around six million cubic metres to ten million by 2014. This is in response to booming demand from the Middle East and Asia, which could see the Port of Fujairah rival the world’s top bunkering hubs.

With additional berths also scheduled for delivery, and projects like the ADCOP come to fruition, oil is clearly a target market for the port when it comes to making the best use of its position. Also in the pipeline is the new Fujairah Refinery, which is expected to become operational around the end of 2016.

It is designed initially to produce 200,000 b/d per day, primarily using feedstock from the ADCOP, but can also import different grades of crude through the port. Planning has not only focused on the facility itself, but also the services required around it, particularly if products are to be exported.

Even those sub-trends such as LNG, which the Port may not be able to cater for directly through its berth and storage structure, are still being fulfilled in the area as a result of private investment. At present a separate LNG facility to the north of the port is being developed by Mubadalla and IPIC, and as for all commercial activity in Fujairah waters the Port will supply the necessary marine services.

Whilst the Port of Fujairah clearly has a lot to offer its customer base, its success is not only down to its favourable location. From the very beginning the port has grown alongside its market, enhancing and adding new capabilities to mirror the requirements it sees. By having a structure that allows for this evolution, and the determination

to succeed, the port has become a strong marine logistics hub. Although the acceleration of investment has seen it become an increasingly internationally important oil centre, the Port is not focusing on growth in one area through the sacrifice of others. As such, it continues to build on both its oil-based and non-oil activities to ensure an enduring high level of service.

Port of Fujairah Authority fujairahport.ae

Services Multi-purpose port

PROFILE

EWE GASSPEICHER

Storing for the

DEEP. Underground Engineering & KBB Underground Technologies DEEP. Underground Engineering GmbH (Bad Zwischenahn) and KBB Underground Technologies GmbH (Hannover) are independent engineering companies specialised in subsurface technologies. Both companies maintain a tight co-operation. They provide consulting and procurement services in planning, construction and operation of underground storages in rock salt, aquifers, and depleted reservoirs. Storage media are natural gas, crude oil, fuels, compressed air, and hydrogen.

DEEP. and KBB UT can refer to excellent project experience and references. They also planned the EWE natural gas storage facilities in Nüttermoor, Huntorf, and Jemgum.

one of the major storage facility operators in the German and European gas market. The company was established as an independent entity as recently as last year, when EWE ENERGIE AG spun off its gas storage division, transforming it into EWE GASSPEICHER GmbH as of 27th June 2012. The company’s storage capacity is divided among the natural gas salt cavern facilities EWE operates - Nüttermoor and Huntorf in the northwest of Germany, and Rüdersdorf near Berlin.

Peter Schmidt, commercial managing director, explained that the company is responsible for the planning, building, operating and marketing of gas storage facilities within the EWE Group. “The company was founded in 2012 according to the requirements of German energy law,” he added. “Our headquarters are based in Oldenburg and we have a total storage capacity of approximately 1.75 b cubic metres of working gas.”

He continued with what he considers to be the key strengths of the company: “We have more than 40 years of gas storage experience with salt caverns and we know the technical and market requirements very well. Therefore we can promise our customers an excellent service with high availability of our technical installations as well as our additional services.

In fact, last winter illustrates our position as our clients had an extremely high demand for our gas storage facilities; but despite this we had 100 per cent performance.”

Paul Groenefeld technical director gave some more details about the company's main customers: “These would be natural gas producers, gas sales companies and traders, as well as clients who need gas for market area control energy purposes,” he said. “We store high and low calorific gas and we are well connected to several market areas. Jemgum for

example is connected to the Dutch TTF, to the German GASPOOL and NetConnectGermany.”

The Jemgum facility Paul mentioned is a new storage area currently under construction. He elaborated further about the storage project: “This is an H-gas storage with eight actual caverns. Four of these caverns are in the so-called ‘gas first fill’ phase and they will be in normal storage operation by the end of 2013.

The next four caverns will be finalised by the end of 2014.

“Approximately 85 per cent of the first storage portion has been already sold. A residual amount (approximately 25 mcm of working gas capacity) will be auctioned very shortly [at time of writing]. The further capacity of 160 mcm of the next four caverns will come to the market late 2014. Jemgum is very well located and connected via four pipelines to all the relevant market areas as well as to the Dutch hub.”

EWE GASSPEICHER is also working on a project in the Moeckow region, as Peter noted: “Moeckow is a strategic storage project close to Lubmin (Vorpmmern-Greifswald county) where the landfall of the NordStream is. We have all the legal rights in hand to immediately start the construction of the storage facilities.

When comparing this to a project in the open countryside we have saved at least two years of approval procedure. Now we are actively looking for the right partner to work with on developing this project.”

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reinvestments are necessary.

“Another fact is, in our opinion, that the question of security of supply has not been sufficiently solved. At the moment all gas market players, like transmission system operators, gas traders and so on optimise their respective positions, and it’s not easy to observe the integration needed to ensure security of supply.

Thus, within the actual market scheme nobody feels really responsible for the security of supply.

In other countries this has already been recognised as an issue and gas suppliers are obliged to store a certain amount of their traded or delivered gas into gas storage for safety reasons.”

As EWE GASSPEICHER celebrates its first year of trading as an independent company, it can look back on 12 months where it has maintained a close relationship with its customers. “Sometimes this has required us to be creative and our team has a very hands-on mentality, which makes it easier to fulfil clients’ needs,” Paul commented. “Going forward, our main task is to further develop storage products and to offer the same excellent operational services as we have over the past years.”

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Although the independent company of EWE GASSPEICHER was only formed in the middle of 2012, it still has a lot of history in the market and as Paul highlighted, foresees both opportunities and challenges ahead: “The development of a gas storage business depends on the future development of demand and supply in the gas market,” he said. “One of the questions is how flexible will sources of natural gas be, and what are the flexibility requirements of gas demand? We think that EWE GASSPEICHER’s flexible cavern portfolio will be able to cover the requirements regarding security of supply, seasonal balancing and trading opportunities.”

Peter added: “The storage market has changed dramatically over the last three to four years. In addition to seasonal flexibility, the market might ask for further trading flexibility, which requires multi-cycle, fast churn storage. In comparison to most aquifer or porous formation storage, salt cavern storage can cope with these demands far more successfully. It might even be the case that some of the porous formation storages are going to be closed, especially in the cases where high

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Sniffing out

opportunities

recently extended its contract for LDAR management with Gasunie, a gas infrastructure firm with one of the most extensive highpressure gas transport networks in Europe.

“It was a combination of our experience in these services and the quality of our software, along with very good pricing, that led to us getting the highest scores in technical and commercial values. It means we can continue to work together to reduce the CO2 and fugitive emissions for another five years,” says Hans.

The Sniffers strengthened its presence in GCC by setting a local structure with a permanent GCC area manager. “We have hired a GCC area manager who is now present in Abu Dhabi, which is part of the structure we have set up to ensure we are able to serve our GCC clients. It is a very big market for us and serving our customers locally means we can offer the same high quality service as we do in the Netherlands,” explains Hans, an international consultant at the environmental consulting firm.

“As society becomes more aware of emissions we have noticed a definite increase in interest it what we do, particularly in Europe and The Middle East,” he highlights. “We recently finished a major lead detection project for Takreer Ruwais in Abu Dhabi, which achieved

It has been a busy

twelve months for The Sniffers NV with major developments including the acquisition of Dutch company Leak Consultancy, a specialist in infrared thermography. “This acquisition means we can bring new skills to our portfolio in thermographic imaging and thermography management. It also means we now have a base in the Netherlands where we can serve our Dutch clients and offer a more local and interactive service,” says Hans Hooyberghs, chief executive officer of The Sniffers.

With international experience in fugitive emission monitoring, storage tank emission monitoring, flare emission monitoring, LDAR (Leak Detection And Repair) and Smart LDAR, pipeline integrity inspections, leak detection and energy audits, the ISO-9001 certified firm’s recent acquisition allows it to further expand its services in helping customers improve efficiency and limit heat loss via infrared thermography.

Through this acquisition The Sniffers is also aiming to roll out its pipeline services towards the Netherlands, where it anticipates potential high demand.

Following a tender, the company has also

a very high emission reduction. This project proves, not only to Abu Dhabi and The Middle East, but also to the whole world that The Sniffers can achieve massive emission and cost reductions for our customers.”

These developments, along with the firm growing its employee level to approximately 140, led to it being in the top three in the Trends Gazellen award 2013 in the medium-sized companies category. “We used to be classed as a small company, under 100 personnel, but in the last two years we have jumped up to the bigger category and are now classified as a smallmedium sized company. Although we offer niche services it was a great achievement to win this

months,” says Hans.

As governments across the globe look into lowering effects on the environment, The Sniffers’ years of experience in emission reduction projects and techniques gives it a strong advantage in the industry. “We have always been at the forefront in the development of these techniques, even though it wasn’t a requirement,” says Hans. “This gives us a huge advantage as we have been working on these emission reduction projects for more than five years and we feel that the government is consulting The Sniffers for advice and support to gauge what is possible. Over the next three years we expect to play a major part in emission reduction as we can be a big advantage to both governments and the industry. The Sniffers is also seeing that several countries and governments around the world are beginning to look to the emissions from storage tanks, and in this field The Sniffers is a frontrunner with its seven years of experience in storage tanks emissions projects.”

FLIR Systems Monitoring leaks from biogas storage tanks The GF320 Optical Gas Imaging (OGI) camera from FLIR Systems offers unmatched advantages for non-invasive monitoring of leaks from biogas storage tanks.

Optical gas imaging using the FLIR GF320 offers tangible benefits compared to traditional biogas leak sniffers because it can scan a broader area much more rapidly and monitor areas that are difficult to reach with contact measurement tools. The portable camera also greatly improves operator safety, by detecting emissions at a safe distance.

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award and be recognised,” enthuses Hans.

“The Sniffers still achieved growth in 2012 despite the industry being more cautious and projects being delayed while companies reviewed budgets. Compared to low activity last year in the market we see a totally different picture this year as the industry settles itself into a more secure situation than it was in one or two years ago.”

It is partly due to the economic crisis that the company’s energy loss reduction projects have increased in importance as they offer high financial payback in a short amount of time.

Through its fugitive emission management product (SFEMP) and flare emission monitoring service, its pipeline integrity management software (PERSEUS) and its steam loss reduction management software (SNIFTRAP), it can offer cost effective services that deliver results that are beneficial to the industry as a whole. “It is not only the reduction of energy, the reduction of process optimisation can really gain customers hard cash, even after a few weeks or a few

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Surpassing

expectations Established since 1997

, the MHF Group has developed two business components, MHF Contracting BV, the human resources and personnel recruitment side of the business, and MHF Services BV, which focuses on all activities taking place in the on and offshore fields. The company has developed a strong reputation for its design and construction skills in the offshore oil and gas, offshore wind and petrochemical industries; it also works in the waste-processing industries and for large-scale harbor installations. Mainly focusing on the North Sea area, MHF Group employs 50 full time personnel and between 50 – 100 subcontractors, depending on the size of the contracted projects.

“We build tailor-made structures, piping, repairs and modifications in the field of on and offshore structures,” says Nico Broere, commercial manager at MHF Group. “Our expertise allows us to respond immediately to requirements and meet deadlines for offshore projects in a fast and safe manner. Safety and efficiency is key to our company’s success.”

Offering full installation and repair services, MHF Contracting BV is IS0 9001: 2008 certified to contract and execute on and offshore projects of piping, steel structures, modifications and/ or repairs in the shipping, offshore and general industry, while MHF Services BV is ISO 9001:2008 certified in the labour consulting of

personnel. Delivering high quality, and above all, safe solutions to its customers.

By making the dramatic reduction of traditional lead-and-lag times associated with industrial construction its mission, MHF Group efficiently delivers a wide range to its customers, such as design and engineering, workshop construction, testing and certification,

on-location installation, repair work and project management; due to its state-of-the-art facilities, expertise and resources, MHF Group offers these services while maintaining the highest standards of product quality and operational safety. Listening to the needs of its customers and offering a pro-active approach to challenges, MHF Group meets expectations every time.

A major project for the firm was its participation in commissioning and rest points for the Seven Borealis, the flagship vessel of Subsea 7, a global leader in seabed-to-surface

The company has developed a strong reputation for its design and construction skills in the offshore oil and gas, offshore wind and petrochemical industries; it also works in the wasteprocessing industries and for large-scale harbor installations MHF Group mhf-contracting.nl

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construction, engineering and services to the offshore industry. The Seven Borealis was built to be a pipelay and heavy-lift vessel that can meet the demands of today’s deepwater projects, while enhancing productivity and efficiency.

This project was carried out at the Huisman Yard alongside Huisman, world market leader in turnkey services for deepwater pipelay systems.

Another recent project for the company is the fabrication and installation of all drill related piping for the Drillship-Noble Globetrotter I and II. Working at the Huisman Yard once again, MHF Group was part of the innovative design and construction of the compact box type drilling tower, which allows for a significantly smaller sized vessel while retaining the same capabilities of the new generation large drill ships with a maximum water depth of 12,000 foot and 43,000 foot pipe storage capacity. MHF Group installed the high-pressure lines for it, made from 4130 material and presenting an impressive working pressure of up to 1035 Bar. Strategically located close to Botlek Europoort, the port of Vlissingen and Antwerp, MHF has been based at the industrial Deltahaven, Stellendam, since November 2001 and it opened a second production hall and office building in June 2004. As a contractor of projects, MHF Contracting BV’S permanent staff consists of a range of planners for men, ironworkers, welders, pipe fitters, fitters (co pumps and revision), burners, key heaters, cleaners and administration. Employed certified welders at MHF Group include six gr (argon), six gr (co2) and six gr (electric); its ironworkers work in construction and repairs, building small to large building sections, and its pipe fitters work in construction and maintenance for the building and maintenance of petrochemical pipeline pipes, rebuilding the lines and building lines on the oil rigs.

With a full order book for 2013, MHF Group is focusing on offering the best quality solutions to its wide range of customers, as Nico highlights: “Our current main client base is Saipem UK, Heerema, All Seas, Blue Water and Subsea 7. There are plenty of opportunities for us to continue growing as a company and keep offering high quality products to our customers by keeping efficiency and safety as

our top priorities.” Ongoing projects include the deck renewal of Hereema Balder, a deepwater construction platform, and the modification of Audacia’s bow door section, which was cut out of the vessel and transported to MHF Group’s workshop. Once there the company removed structures and existing reinforcement before fabricating and installing new reinforcement boxes and hinge points. The company has also installed the complete accommodation section on board Audacia in four parts and installed the complete firing line, including the raises flooring inside firing line of the pipelay vessel Audacia. It is obvious that MHF Group can execute various jobs world wide with its flying squad and its offshore skilled labour force.

Looking ahead, MHF Group has a positive outlook for the future and is keen to continue growing as a company by offering increased efficiency at its extensive construction facilities in Stellendam, thus ensuring on-time, reliable, high quality solutions to multinational companies working on global projects.

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The Cromarty Firth is the premier deepwater port of choice for the oil and gas industry. It offers an internationally recognised and locally based skilled workforce, combined with deep sheltered water, no weather restrictions and access 24 hours per day 365 days per year.

All of this has combined to make the Cromarty Firth a proven destination of choice for multinational subsea and drilling organisations.

Chief executive and harbour master, captain Ken Gray explains: “We are the primary port facility in the UK for both the maintenance and stacking of oil rigs. The Cromarty Firth can provide a highly skilled labour force, supported by modern deepwater port facilities.”

He continues: “We pride ourselves on a flexible approach to meeting customers’ needs

and having a strong ‘can-do’ attitude. This approach, plus a programme of investment into facilities, has contributed to our continued growth.”

Originally a Naval Port, when the Navy departed the Firth in the 1970’s, the Trust Port was officially established and steadily began to grow. Today the facilities available at the Invergordon Service Base and throughout the Firth have become recognised worldwide as a centre for excellence in IRM and subsea fabrication, maintenance and logistics.

With dedicated sheltered deepwater anchorages, a service base measuring over 35 acres, with 450 metres of deepwater quay and dedicated facilities for semi-submersible and jack-up rigs of all sizes, some of the world’s

length and has, in the last year, undergone an upgrade to its deepwater mooring system, in anticipation of the arrival of the new pipe laying vessel, Deep Energy.

The Cromarty Firth is also starting to benefit from the recently activated dry-dock at Nigg Energy Park. New business should be attracted by this facility, which has been welcomed by CFPA as an additional complementary offering alongside the Invergordon Service Base.

The Firth is linked by pipeline to the Beatrice and Jacky fields and the Nigg oil terminal, operated by Ithaca Energy, can accommodate tankers up to 150,000 DWT. Loading, discharging, ship-to-ship transfer and slops handling facilities all take place in the Firth.

Ken concludes: “The Port Authority recently undertook a 20 year master planning exercise to ensure that we continue to adapt to changing demand and continue to meet our customer’s needs and those of the supply chain. Our vision for the future, combined with our major expansion plans should see the Cromarty Firth remain as the premier oil and gas facility for the next 20 years and beyond.”

The Port Authority recently undertook a 20 year master planning exercise to ensure that we continue to adapt to changing demand and continue to meet our customer’s needs and those of the supply chain

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largest drilling companies have used the facilities in the Firth and the experienced local supply chain to meet their IRM requirements.

Ken adds: “The Sedco 712 is currently alongside the Invergordon Service Base, where it is undergoing one of the largest maintenance, upgrade and reactivation projects that the Firth has supported and will be in Port for eight months in total.”

The figures speak for themselves. Over the last 30 years, more than 630 rigs have visited the Firth to undertake IRM works and to take advantage of the sheltered anchorage. The port also benefits significantly from developments taking place in the central North Sea and West of Shetland and has seen a steady growth in demand for port facilities in recent years as a direct result.

The port recognises that investment has been a key factor in maintaining the appeal of the Cromarty Firth to the oil and gas sector. The Cromarty Firth Port Authority (CFPA) is a Trust Port managed by a small specialist team with an elected board, and all the money generated has to be invested back into the port facilities.

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In 2012 Cromarty Firth Port Authority invested £1 million into the reactivation of 2.6 acres of land at the Invergordon Service Base, now providing much needed additional lay down project space. Ambitious expansion plans for the Invergordon Service Base, due to get underway in early 2014, will see £20 million invested and will see nine acres reclaimed from the sea, adding much needed operational space complete with direct access to a new deepwater berth.

Developments at Nigg Energy Park and Highland Deephaven have also contributed to the Cromarty Firth offering. The modern pipe spooling base at Highland Deephaven, Evanton, operated by Technip, has a causeway spooling facility over two kilometres in

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Secunda Canada LP, which was founded in Nova Scotia, manages a harshweather fleet of offshore support vessels that are primarily used for servicing major oil and gas companies in the Canadian North Atlantic.

The company owns and operates a fleet of seven vessels, crewed by highly experienced individuals that pride themselves on delivering a best-value solution to the client with the highest levels of quality and safety.

“Secunda Canada is based in St. Johns, Newfoundland and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia,” explained Secunda’s director, business development, Chris Pitts. “Over the past 30 years we have operated in every mature oil and gas basin in the world, but our current focus area is in the oil and gas fields offshore Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Through our own fleet of offshore support vessels our primary operations revolve around cargo supply, rescue standby, subsea support, rig/anchor positioning and towing activities.”

As Chris explained, the company’s primary area of operation is Eastern Canada, where it offers its services to a number of clients. “Our customers in Eastern Canada are Suncor, ExxonMobil, Encana, Statoil, Husky Energy, Shell, and soon BP,” he said. “In terms of carrying out these operations, customer service is one of our key competitive advantages and is a core value that is shared by all of our employees.”

Considering competitive advantages, the experience of Secunda’s personnel ranks

highly in differentiating it in the market. The area of operation around Eastern Canada represents a challenging working environment with harsh and extreme weather conditions that can often hamper operations. Due to its history in the region Secunda’s employees have over two decades of experience working in this environment.

“Working offshore in the very harsh conditions offshore Newfoundland and Nova Scotia is challenging even on a good day,” confirmed Chris. “In this type of environment it is our experience, safety culture and customer service that are our key strengths. The environmental conditions offshore, combined with the demands of supporting an offshore oil and gas field 200km to 400km from land requires a very disciplined system of training, operating procedures and risk management.

“In that sense, HSEQ is a critical component of nearly every activity on our vessels. Given our place of work and vessel activities, we put a great amount of resources towards enhancing our safety culture and have in place a proven world class safety management system – from our CEO to our new-entry cadets, HSEQ is the top focus every day.”

Indeed, the company’s management is committed to providing a working environment where the health and safety of its employees, as well as the protection of the environment in which they work, takes precedence in every aspect of its operations. The company is

The addition of Scotian Sea to the Secunda fleet is representative of the company’s general strategy of continued growth and expansion.

“Our focus every year is to enhance and improve in our existing operations,” confirmed Chris. “In addition to that general approach, 2013 brings a significant increase in focus on acquiring and constructing new vessels for our fleet.

“Fortunately we have had no direct negative effects from the recent economic challenges, largely as we have multi-year contracts with blue chip companies. There are plenty of opportunities on the horizon as oil and gas companies move to the north, and also into deeper waters, to find the next petroleum reserves, particularly as Canada has been largely unexplored and is a stable place to do business.

In terms of the future, our fleet renewal and growth plans will see Secunda as a global leader in safe and reliable offshore vessel operation, with a leading market share in Canada in the years to come,” he concluded.

There are plenty of opportunities on the horizon as oil and gas companies move to the north, and also into deeper waters, to find the next petroleum reserves, particularly as Canada has been largely unexplored and is a stable place to do business Secunda Canada secunda.ca

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dedicated to the ongoing training of its personnel in order to ensure that HSEQ standards remain high and to implement continuous improvement over its HSEQ management system. Alongside this Secunda uses a systematic and consistent approach to risk management to ensure that hazards are identified, mitigated, and that work is conducted safely.

The reputation that such attention to quality and delivering the highest levels of service has achieved naturally means that Secunda has full books in terms of its workload. It has recently been working on one of many Hebron Project opportunities, which is a heavy oil field estimated to contain between 660 million and 1055 million barrels of recoverable resources.

Located offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, the field’s co-venturers are ExxonMobil Canada Properties, Chevron Canada Limited, Suncor Energy Inc, Statoil Canada and Nalcor Energy.

Alongside its work in its home regions the business also has considerable operational experience in the North Sea, having worked with many of the leading names in the region such as Talisman, Apache and Shell.

Secunda’s fleet currently numbers seven vessels, consisting of three PSVs, three AHTS vessels and one SBV. Its PSV vessels are the Panuke Sea, Sable Sea and the Scotian Sea, the latter being the most recent addition to the Secunda fleet. Formerly known as the Havila Runde, she is a PSV ship especially designed to supply offshore oil platforms, providing transportation of goods and personnel to and from offshore installations. As Chris explained, investing in new vessels is an important part of Secunda’s business, allowing it to be prepared for market growth and potential expansion. “We work closely with our customers and have a good understanding of our local market’s future needs. Accordingly, we believe that the Scotian Sea is a vessel that has many attributes that will be valuable in the Canadian sector over the many years to come.”

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AXON Rig Concept and Design AXON Well Intervention Products AXON Drilling Products

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The story of AXON

Sande Gård As Sande Gård As is one of the leading lubricants and fuel suppliers on the west coast of Norway. Sande Gård As has established itself as a trusted supplier of a wide range of products with nearly 30 years of experience. It is an expert in the supply of lubricants, chemicals, diesel fuel and industrial paint.

Energy Products and Axon Norway AS starts with acquisitions. In 2006 Drilling Support System AS (established in 1998) merged with Hitec Products Drilling AS (established in 2004). The Norwegian entity was included in the AXON Energy Products group of companies in 2010/2011 and changed its name to Axon Norway AS. Today AXON Energy Products is headquartered in Houston and has operations in the US, Canada, Norway, UK, UAE and Iraq. The company aims to be ‘The Alternative’ to the large and less responsive suppliers of products and related services to the drilling and well industry.

Indeed the organisation is dedicated to the fundamental belief that ‘Alternative Thinking’ results in exceptional personal service, product reliability, responsiveness, and accountability.

Whether domestic or international, AXON is dedicated to scaling the personal touch, one client at a time. From quoting equipment to responding to service requests, AXON is entirely focused on clients’ immediate business needs wherever, whenever.

As a Group, AXON Energy Products is able to supply the customer the complete product chain from technical studies to engineering, installation, commissioning and to advanced simulator training and support. It aims to be a one-stop resource for decades-deep experience and well-established product lines, and serves customers through its divisions: AXON Downhole Products AXON Tubular Products AXON Pressure Products

In addition it is constantly adding to its offering – for example on the training side, in 2012, working together with the Well Control School, AXON Energy Products developed a deepwater well-control drilling course. This competency-based training course will facilitate an effective learning approach to critical thinking along with improving problem solving skills.

The course is International Association of Drilling Contractors WellCAP Plus accredited.

The learner will work within a team structure to analyse and address major decision points in several case studies. A facilitator-led training delivery method will enhance effective decision making skills regarding well control in deepwater drilling operations.

For the benefit of students, AXON Energy Products provided a state-of-the-art Intellectus hiDRILL integrated drilling simulator and drilling software technology, from its subsidiary Oiltec Solutions and affiliate eDrilling Solutions, which are utilised in this course at WCS’s Training Centre in Houston.

Axon Norway AS Certified according to ISO 9001 and qualified to the Achilles supplier database, Axon Norway AS supplies products and services to the drilling and well industry worldwide. As the market leading independent drilling/well system integrator, Axon Norway AS supplies both modification and complete rig solutions.

The company uses new and innovative concepts in design, manufacture and supply of drilling control systems and well service equipment. High quality products together with very high focus on customer training and follow up provide the customer with a high utilisation of their investment in Axon products and services.

Axon Norway also strongly believes in developing long-term partnerships with customers, in order to provide them with long lasting, strategic business benefits. It believes that its first-class customer reference list reflects its commitment to value delivery. Its bluechip client list includes StatoilHydro, Seadrill, Siemens, Odfjell Drilling, BP and Aker Solutions.

Axon Norway AS, which is located at Forus outside Stavanger, provides Life Cycle Management (LCM) on both drilling and well

This means as part of its service, Axon Norway can provide necessary spare parts for all the equipment it uses in its products, and by signing a maintenance agreement it can keep most critical components in stock. This will minimise down time. It also offers service worldwide with trained and skilled personnel and annual surveys on equipment onshore and offshore.

When it comes to training, it can provide customised training courses on all Hitec Products drilling products. It also provides training for operators, maintenance and experts, drilling and well simulators, classroom training and real time practice, professional course material, certification

of personnel and hands on experience.

Axon Norway AS can provide expertise during installation and commissioning phases of a customer project, and its employees have extensive experience and high technical skills to draw upon. This will ensure efficient and safe progress until equipment is in operation.

As mentioned above, the company also offers the concept of ‘Unit Hotel’. This is a way for companies that operate well service equipment to outsource maintenance. The concept includes turn around checks, preparations for shipment and operation, maintenance, maintenance logs and documentation, safe storage and preventive maintenance. The concept promises to reduce costs by reducing administration, logistics, purchase and maintenance personnel.

In 2012, Axon Norway AS entered a new phase of development when it announced that Knut Haga had been appointed as new managing director. The company believes his experience, integrity and quality will support its business well into the future.

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products. This typically includes: 66 Spare parts 66 Service and warranty 66 Training 66 Installation & Commissioning 66 Upgrades & refurbishment 66 24/7 support 66 Unit hotel

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competitor A fierce

Driven by innovation for more than 70 years, Czech Republic based Chart Ferox offers the complete value chain of liquefied gas equipment. Joining the Chart Industries group in 1999, Ferox added ‘Chart’ to its name to emphasise its strength as part of this leading global manufacturing group. “As part of Chart Industries, we focus on everything related to cryogenic engineered systems for the industrial gas, and oil and gas industries,” says Hans Lonsain, managing director of Chart Ferox.

“Chart Industries has three divisions: Distribution & Storage, BioMedicalm and Energy & Chemicals. In 2012 the group as a whole had a turnover greater than one billion dollars. We have around 4900 employees working for Chart and approximately half of our customers are in the US and the other half are located in Asia and Europe. Sales in Asia are growing fast. There is a large potential for growth there, while in Europe we have seen a slowdown of sales in our industrial gas businesses due to the economy. Despite this, we predict growth, in particular in our energyrelated businesses.”

The majority of Chart Industries’ manufacturing locations are in the US, but a number of factories are in China and Europe.

Chart Ferox’s large facility in Decin, Czech Republic, has a strong workforce of 500, who manufacture various vacuum insulated cryogenic tank designs. Volumes range from several hundred litres, through to engineered tanks up to 1000 cubic metres. In this latter category, the first 1000 cubic metre tank (HT-1000) was completed in 2011 and became the largest shopbuilt vacuum insulated tank in the world. Its diameter is almost six metres, it has a length of 48 metres, eight-bar working pressure and a weight of 212 tonnes. Chart Ferox also produces mobile and transport equipment, vacuum insulated pipe, ambient vaporisers, LNG satellite plants, LNG ship and vehicle fueling systems, and offers complete turnkey installations for LNG fueling stations.

Having developed and supplied LNG/LCNG permanent vehicle fuelling stations previously, Chart Ferox’s new mobile LNG fuelling station is a step towards building a flexible infrastructure of fueling opportunities for heavy trucks and

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in countries around the globe by offering local service with employees who speak the language, which results in better customer service and the efficient delivery of products around the world.

With a strong history of innovation behind it, the future looks positive for Chart Ferox as it continues to develop new equipment for an ever-changing and demanding industry. “We aim to expand our organisation to meet increased interest in LNG and will also continue to play an active role in the development of ISO and EU regulations related to the new natural gas industry,” says Lonsain. “To prepare for this growth, particularly in areas such as Asia, we aim to resource more high quality engineers to ensure future innovative products to our customers. For example, as the emission regulations in the shipping industry become more stringent, we will continue to focus on this market over the next few years.”

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As the role of natural gas in the world energy supply grows, we have been paying particular attention to the LNG sector as it is currently growing more than our traditional markets

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buses. The station consists of a 20 foot ISO container with a 20 cubic metres gross volume tank, a saturation vaporizer coil, a centrifugal pump and a control box, including a system to prevent methane emissions. Having two different modes of operation gives the station a major practical advantage, as it can operate either as an LNG fuelling station with a typical flow of 150 litres/min, or alternatively as a standard LNG delivery container with a maximum flow rate of 400 litres/min, thus providing high flexibility.

The station has been delivered also in a 40 foot version with the volume of 43.5 cubic metres.

Furthermore, the mobile station is equipped with a calibrated flow meter and printer for billing. To power the mobile station, electricity is generated by on board hydraulics, eliminating the need to be connected to the electricity grid.

The product is suitable for quick installations for small fleets of LNG vehicles and promotional demonstrations. “As the role of natural gas in the world energy supply grows, we have been paying particular attention to the LNG sector as it is currently growing more than our traditional markets,” says Lonsain. “There has been more of a push into the clean energy market in Europe as directives come into play and I expect there will be between 20-30 fueling stations being built all over Europe this year, when four to five years ago there were none.”

As a pioneer in liquefied gases such as LNG, Chart Ferox’s success in a competitive market is driven not only by its membership in the Chart Industries group, but also by the large investments put into developing new and innovative products at the Chart group’s various state-of-the-art R&D centers. On top of this, the company has also ensured a strong foothold

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Products Cryogenic products and systems

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ropes

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Formed in the

late 1980s in the UK, the Industrial Rope Access Trade Association or IRATA is the world’s leading authority on all aspects of the rope access industry. It has over 250 member companies around the world, and has trained in excess of 60,000 rope access technicians. Through IRATA, industrial rope access has been developed to a point where it is the chosen means of access for much of the work in the offshore oil and gas industry, as well as a range of projects in construction, civil engineering, and built and natural environments.

Recently IRATA has gone through a significant change as highlighted by Keith Aldis, Group general manager and company secretary: “Since its beginnings 25 years ago it’s been by and large manned and supported on a volunteer basis, and administered ably by John Fairley of Association Group Management Limited (AGM). A decision was taken, now that IRATA has grown so big, to float away from its service supplier and to stand on its own two feet. As such, at the beginning of May 2013 it was agreed to move the organisation into its own home with its own staff in Ashford in Kent.”

Keith is also acting CEO of IRATA at this time, a role to which he comes with a strong track record: “My background is as a professional CEO and one who has worked in many differing industries, as

well as an engineer by trade. I have been CEO of a number of trade associations, including some operating globally, and so it was natural for me to take onboard the challenge of moving IRATA forward into a new commercially driven, but socially responsible, member focused body.

“Aside from moving the organisation, one of the first things I’ve done is to introduce a properly constructed business planning approach to the business, and make sure that myself, the staff and volunteers are accountable to and measured for their performance by the membership. Operationally the real significant change will be where we properly incorporate our various RACs around the world and get them as semi-independent bodies to lobby and generate interest and engagement amongst their local markets,” he continues.

IRATA’s membership is primarily made up of operators who carry out the rope access works, and training companies which provide support to these parties in the form of training, assessment, audit, and certification services.

The day-to-day management of this then rests with IRATA. Although operator member levels remain stable, there are changes taking place in the make-up of the wider membership base: “We have seen a significant increase in technician registration and certification globally with no

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Services Global trade organisation

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It is unlikely to replace wholly the use of scaffolding for example, where heavy lifting is required, but there are claims in many cases of up to 70 per cent cost savings when using rope access as opposed to carrying out similar work with those traditional set-ups

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signs of this abating,” notes Keith.

“We are also seeing a greater uptake in organisations like manufacturers, clients and similar as associate members in supporting what we do, and this is a direct result of a lot of lobbying with governments and clients to ensure they understand the safety record IRATA systems have, together with the cost savings to be had. It is no accident that clients are specifying that contractors use the IRATA system over any other.”

Working at heights or at locations with difficult and or confined access is hugely challenging and as such requires great skill. From its very beginnings IRATA has been concerned with providing a safe working environment for the industry as demonstrated by its unrivalled safety record. Integral to maintaining this is its extensive focus on education, with all members required to complete its formal training and certification programme.

“Rope access is unique not only in its health and safety record but also where it is proven to be more convenient and cost effective to use such methods in place of erecting scaffolding or using moving and handling equipment,” emphasises Keith. “Certainly this is true in cases where the work requires good technicians to carry out structural inspection, painting, sand blasting, cleaning or other small works type activities. It is unlikely to replace wholly the use of scaffolding for example, where heavy lifting is required, but there are claims in many cases of up to 70 per cent cost savings when using rope access as opposed to carrying out similar work with those traditional set-ups.”

As well as the changes that are taking place to make IRATA more of a stand-alone force, this year will see the organisation introduce the latest generation of working practices. “We have a new International Code of Practice (ICOP)

coming out and a new Technician Training Scheme launching as well. Both have been updated to include current practice and are future proofed as much as possible. These will drive our industry into a much safer position,” notes Keith.

A leader in its field it may be, but when it comes to the long-term future Keith is positive that IRATA will be scaling even greater heights: “It’s nothing but growth in my view,” he confirms. “As rope access operations become more valued, not least of all because of the cost savings over other systems, they will become much more used. In order to cope with this we have to make sure that our current membership is engaged and able to support their local markets. It has just been specified by the Nigerian government from their Department of Petroleum Resources that rope access operations must comply with IRATA standards and processes, as well as in Bahrain, which sees them join others all across the world, so we have to make sure we can deliver.”

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engineering experts, 2H Offshore, an Acteon company, celebrates 20 years in the riser and conductor business this year, and has found that its unique service offering is enabling it to go from strength to strength.

The London-based company was founded in 1993 by Dr Hugh Howells and Steve Hatton, whose unique engineering skill sets allowed them to offer engineering services focused on offshore risers. With core capabilities in structural analysis and design, mechanical engineering and materials, and a flair for innovative thinking, the company has led the way in offshore riser technology development.

Over the years, finding solutions for individual clients’ requirements as a result of increasing water depth and design pressures has become second nature to the growing team of highly qualified engineers at 2H. “Our core engineering and design services gain a lot of repeat business from global operators such as BP, Shell, Total, Statoil and ExxonMobil,” says business development manager, Jeremy Cowell.

An example of 2H’s core business is the award this year of a Steel Catenary Riser (SCR) detailed design project by LLOG Exploration Company in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico for its Delta House development. The production and export risers will tie back to the Exmar OPTI11000 semi-submersible that is to be moored

in 4500-foot (1372 metre) water depths in the Mississippi Canyon Block 254.

2H Offshore is now expanding into the shallow water market with its trademarked CoSMOS (Conductor Supported Minimum Offshore Structure) platform, a unique production platform for applications in water depths up to 100 metres.

The concept was originally developed by UWG, 2H’s sister company then also owned by the Acteon Group, and has the unique capability to allow installation from a range of vessels, but principally from a jack-up drilling unit. With the topside directly supported by the well conductors, the need for a jacket becomes redundant, thus simplifying the procurement and installation process. “CoSMOS provides less steel, less structure and a quicker installation period, which reduces costs across the board,” highlights Jeremy. “We worked closely with three other Acteon group companies to gather shallow water engineering data and figures to show that CoSMOS can do the same job as a standard jacket at approximately 40 per cent reduction in cost.”

Due to CoSMOS requiring a relatively benign environment, the company is primarily focusing on regions around the Equator, such as West and East Africa, the South China Seas and the Middle East. “The oil and gas market in Africa is

future looks extremely positive too, as the offshore industry moves into even deeper areas.

“There is no doubt that we are still expanding,” says Jeremy. “We have grown from a team of two to almost 300 people globally. The demand for our expertise has led us to open regional offices in Houston, Rio de Janeiro, Kuala Lumpur, Aberdeen, Perth and Beijing, and we anticipate growing even further to satisfy demand in regions that we have not yet established a permanent base within.

“I am excited about the Middle East and Africa regions particularly; there is a real sense of adventure about that and we hope to have greater representation there soon. We will continue to work in the North Sea and are looking at working more closely with Norway too. On top of that we also plan to collaborate more with our sister companies, allowing us to offer a wider and more valuable service to our clients. It is definitely an exciting time to be part of 2H and the wider Acteon group,” Jeremy concludes.

With core capabilities in structural analysis and design, mechanical engineering and materials, and a flair for innovative thinking, the company has led the way in offshore riser technology development 2H Offshore 2hoffshore.com

Services Global engineering contractor

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extremely busy right now, plus its calmer waters make it a strong candidate for 2H’s CoSMOS solution,” says Jeremy.

Proud of its innovative solutions, 2H Offshore has developed a range of new riser technologies.

It recently, for example, worked with Acteon sister companies Claxton Engineering, Pulse Structural Monitoring and Subsea Riser Products (SRP), on a high-pressure drilling riser for Statoil.

The companies combined their skills to deliver a drilling riser solution with bespoke engineering work and a state-of-the-art monitoring system to track performance. With average jack-up rigs constructed for 80-100 metre water depths, the requirement for the design and construction of a 132 metre drilling riser in an eight month timeframe was a major challenge for the companies involved, but the successful completion of the project has led to plans to extend jack-up drilling into even deeper waters.

What is certain is that the market has been good to 2H Offshore in the last 20 years and based on current predictions the company’s

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Huawei Marine Networks Co.,

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Limited is a joint venture company established in late 2008 by Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd and Global Marine Systems Limited. Both parent companies are a leader in their own niche, which for China-based Huawei is optical equipment. Beginning life in 1987 the company is the world’s largest vendor for such products, which range from tablets and computers through to the basic optical equipment that runs the world’s telecommunication networks.

Operating out of the UK Global Marine Systems has been involved in the installation of submarine cable networks for over 160 years when it was responsible for laying the first cable between England and France. Today the company employs a fleet of 12 cable-laying vessels to provide installation and maintenance of flexible products for the telecommunications, and oil and gas markets. With access to the expertise of each parent, Huawei Marine Networks was created with the specific intent to develop a series of high quality products for the submarine optical market, and a capability to deliver turnkey submarine cable projects.

“Turnkey means we take a single contract for the complete supply and delivery of working systems to the customer,” describes Nigel Bayliff, CEO and general manager of Huawei Marine Networks. “Within that we conduct a survey of the seabed, have the cable manufactured, produce the undersea repeaters and various switching and branching devices required, connect these together and load them on to the cable vessel. We then install and commission the complete system wherever in the world our customer requires a submarine optical connection.

“We can offer transcontinental length systems of up to 11,000 kilometres, as well as very short systems to connect oil assets to the shore or each other, or for use in ring-based regional networks.

We installed our first system in 2009, which was a submarine optical repeater in South America, and since then have delivered 12 turnkey systems around the world,” he continues.

At the end of 2012 Huawei Marine Networks achieved breakeven after just four years of operation. During this time the company has become something of an innovative force in a market of conservative engineering and purchasing practices. “There has really been no innovation in this arena for quite sometime,” confirms Nigel. “As such in 2009 we launched what was probably the first new undersea repeater in 15 years. This compact two fibre pair repeater was designed to be easily buried under the seabed and therefore provide greater protection from external threats such as fishermen and vessel anchors.”

Following on from that success, Huawei Marine Networks has since launched another ground-breaking system – the world’s first titanium-cased six fibre pair repeater. “We have gone through the necessary two years of qualification testing, improving, and benchmarking the technology to ensure that the product can perform flawlessly at the bottom of the sea for the 25 year design life. There is no real opportunity for maintenance over that period so it is very much about reliability engineering. Our focus now is to see the product deployed in the market, and we already have two projects that are potential users of this technology that we hope to see go ahead in the next few months. Once it goes into the water for the first time at work we think the industry will really start to sit up and take notice,” highlights Nigel.

He goes on to note that in being able to deliver such services Huawei Marine Networks’ strengths once again come back to its parent companies: “In submarine optical communications you have to mix two very different things. On the one

towards telecommunications, and optical communications in particular, to allow them to reduce manning on platforms and unnecessary onsite visits by transferring data back to shore via cables. This makes it an interesting market for Huawei Marine Networks, with the company already developing a number of projects with customers in the industry.

There is another edge to Huawei Marine Networks’ business strategy besides new build projects. This is the upgrade and renewal of existing systems, which are either life-expired, or can benefit from additional capacity or features to extend this further. This enables the company to secure opportunities even in times of lower capital expenditure.

“Our vision is to grow the existing streams of business we have in upgrades, new build repeated cable, and new build un-repeated cable systems. We want to be one of the top three companies in the industry with around 30 per cent market share, and I think we are on track for that. One of the things that Huawei has done is to not only install optical systems, but also move into the management of those networks for customers, and I feel this is a step we could take in the future,” concludes Nigel.

Operating out of the UK Global Marine Systems has been involved in the installation of submarine cable networks for over 160 years when it was responsible for laying the first cable between England and France

Huawei Marine Networks huaweimarine.com

Services Submarine optics and installation

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hand you have the very fine optical technology, and on the other the very heavy mechanical engineering designed to install and protect the cable and its ancillaries in the sea. We are therefore uniquely lucky in having a parent that is very experienced in each of those tasks.

“As part of Huawei we automatically gain access to their huge R&D resource, which is continuously producing new ideas and innovation in optics. Likewise we can draw on Global Marine Systems’ years of experience in how to put things on the seabed and have them function in that environment for long periods.

Our strength as Huawei Marine Networks is being able to take these two elements and blend them together in a relatively lean organisation which is actually responsive to the customer.”

In the oil and gas market for example Huawei Marine Networks has seen customers looking

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Exchange of Founded in October 2006

, Heat Exchangers Specialist (S) Pte Ltd (HES) is aptly named given that it was conceived by a group of highly experienced technical specialists and designers in heat exchanger technology. This has enabled it to position itself as an innovative manufacturer and solution provider of shell and tube heat exchangers, air-cooled heat exchangers, and pressure vessels.

It began selling its products and services in January 2007 and had already reached profitability inside one year in December 2007.

HES has continued to progress in a similarly strong fashion ever since and is now expanding into new facilities to cater for the future growth of its business.

HES operates within the Asia Pacific region, specifically Singapore, targeting the fuel processing, oil and gas, FPSO, petrochemical, chemical, power generation, and pharmaceutical sectors, where there is high demand for heat exchangers. Within these markets the company has a wide customer base ranging from EPC engineering companies to new front-end project designers, and even directly to plant owners.

Shell and tube heat exchangers remain the primary source of revenue for the business, and are available in various combinations of girth flange and sealing gasket, as well as materials such as carbon steel, stainless steel, duplex, super duplex, copper and nickel alloy, and titanium. HES has products suitable for various processing requirements, and that can withstand all kinds of pressure and temperature ratings.

The second largest part of the business is pressure vessels, which can be used to store a medium before and after increased pressure, to separate a medium through different pressure and temperature conditions, and as a distribution centre on processing lines. These two main facets are supported by additional products such as air cooled exchangers, compressor skid packages, fuel gas separation skid packages, refrigeration skid packages, and

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HES provides multiple solutions and products that can maximise the client or end user’s interests in terms of achieving their productivity and cost saving aspirations

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green energy biogas packages.

“HES provides multiple solutions and products that can maximise the client or end user’s interests in terms of achieving their productivity and cost saving aspirations. It also brings the entire process under our control, which means they don’t have to deal with multiple manufacturers or try to integrate different solutions into one single plant application,” emphasises Lai Choi Zyong, managing director.

“The greatest trend in the heat exchanger market is towards savings – in energy, costs, and space,” he continues. “Another factor is combined package design as consumers are more likely to expect this to suit the future product processing and cut down their internal operation costs. One of the most demanding design combinations currently is to bring together all exchangers, pressure vessels, instrumentation, control systems, and piping into one compact solution. Heat exchangers that deliver only basic features will gradually be replaced by those that offer additional features and benefits.”

At the same time HES is retaining its current strengths in fast delivery schedules, and a highly skilled productive workforce. The company also boasts international certification in quality and design including ISO 9001:2008, ASME U-Stamp, R-Stamp, NB-Stamp, and China MI

License Cat A1 and A2. Above all else though HES is a leader in creative and customised design and fabrication to suit individual requirements.

“Our focus for 2013 is to begin production of our air-cooled exchanger business line in our new facilities, which provides around three times more capacity in terms of the space requirements for production. We’re also focusing on exotic materials such as titanium, super duplex, super stainless steel, and non-ferrous alloys for higher-end niche operations to bring in more high value revenue and widen the market field,” describes Lai. The outlook for the Asia Pacific region continues to look good as a result of the strong demand from the oil and gas industry, especially the offshore sector, with more and more FPSO’s being built. It is also predicted that exploration in the area will continue strongly for the next five years.

Against this backdrop, Lai describes HES’ plans to take advantage of the activity as well as to tap into other future markets: “Our business projection is to see the company achieve an annual revenue of 50 million Singapore dollars over the next five years. We believe that as well as oil and gas and traditional energy sources, there is a trend towards green energy and energy recovery and recycling systems. We are therefore focusing on developing products for these applications as they may prove to offer sustainable business long-term,” he concludes.

Heat Exchangers Specialist (S) Pte Ltd hesco.com.sg

Products Shell and tube heat exchangers and pressure vessels

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from exploration to end user Schofield Publishing Ltd 10 Cringleford Business Centre Intwood Road Cringleford Norwich NR4 6AU T: +44 (0) 1603 274130 F: +44 (0) 1603 274131 Editor Matt High mhigh@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Sales Manager Rob Wagner rwagner@schofieldpublishing.co.uk

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