Equinor, on behalf of several licences, has awarded contracts for the use of Transocean Encourage, mainly in the Norwegian Sea, and Transocean Enabler, for the Johan Castberg field. At the same time, the companies have signed a strategic collaboration agreement. The rigs have been on eight-year contracts with Equinor that expire on 1 December 2023 and 1 April 2024, respectively. This will be the first contract extension since the rigs were built, as so-called Cat D rigs, specialised for Norwegian conditions. The drilling programme in the Norwegian Sea consists of ...

Industrial action over the past three weeks has seen every French refinery debilitated to some extent, hindering fuel deliveries throughout the country and hurting European crude prices as market players look to sell. The action is part of a against pension system changes championed by President Emmanuel Macron, including raising the retirement age by two years to 64. The shut-in of French refineries has weakened crude oil markets in Europe. The absence of French demand has increased supplies of crude grades from the North Sea, west Africa and blends from ...

When Celebrity Cruises introduces the fifth ship in the revolutionary Edge Series, it will feature the collaborative efforts of its parent company Royal Caribbean Group, technology group Wärtsilä and shipyard Chantiers de L’Atlantique (CdA) to advance the use of alternative fuels for the cruise industry. The ship continues the innovation that debuted with the Edge Series but will also be equipped with a new engine model, along with storage and delivery systems, that will give unmatched fuel flexibility, with the ability to use three types of fuel, including methanol. “As ...

Leading Classification Society ClassNK granted the Class C Innovation Endorsement Provider Certification to YUSEN LOGISTICS CO., LTD. ClassNK offers its third-party Innovation Endorsement “Provider Certification”, which supports innovative initiatives, to companies and organizations. As companies pursue ESG-oriented management and SDGs, ClassNK conducts third-party certification on the initiatives to transform their own business methods and organizations to establish a sustainable and competitive business. There are three categories of certification available to companies according to their innovation activity stage: Class C (Concept: Organizational policy and system in place for innovation) Class D ...

Maritime Protection, a brand of global Survival Technology solutions provider Survitec, has secured an order for a set of nitrogen systems for installation on an LNG-powered cruise ship. The company, which has hailed the contract as significant, has welcomed the opportunity to support the cruise industry with its transition to alternative fuels, in particular, to offer expertise on the implementation of IG (inert gas) systems as an important safety measure. Mark Clegg, Managing Director, Fire Systems, Survitec, said: “This order signals Survitec as a trusted partner to the cruise industry. ...

Swedish water treatment specialist SurfCleaner has completed its first pine oil clean-up project for a major European port. The work was delivered within the inner harbour of a large international logistics and cargo handling hub, following a pine oil leak during the ship-to-shore transfer process. The incident happened after an operator within the port experienced a leak causing pine oil to enter the storm water system. SurfCleaner performed a rapid response, deploying its versatile and compact SCO 1000 skimmer/ separator device, within 90 minutes of the alarm. SurfCleaner engineer Ricardo ...

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday that Russia should seek to produce at least 100 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year by 2030. Source: Reuters

U.S. natural gas futures eased about 1% on Tuesday, putting the front-month on track to close at a 30-month low, on rising output and mild weather forecasts that should allow utilities to start injecting gas into storage at the beginning of April. That small price decline came despite a forecast rise in gas demand with the amount of feedgas flowing to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants on track to hit a monthly record high in March after Freeport LNG’s export plant in Texas exited an eight-month outage in February. ...

Governments around the world are advancing carbon reduction goals to help mitigate against concerns arising from climate change. As industries strive to meet the goals set by governments, they will continue to seek alternative sources of power besides traditional fossil fuels. Offshore wind power generation is a promising source of renewable energy and will support global goals in carbon emission reduction. It is worth noting that the proliferation of the industry is giving rise to a myriad of legal issues as marine contracting adapts to the unique characteristics of the ...

A wholly-owned subsidiary of USD Partners LP announced today that it has entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with South 49 Holdings Ltd., a member of the Midstream Energy Partners group of companies (collectively, the “Buyer”). Upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Purchase Agreement, the Partnership agreed to sell its Casper rail terminal, by means of a sale of all of the equity interests of the subsidiary which owns the terminal, to the Buyer for a cash purchase price of ...

Russia’s energy minister said on Tuesday that the country had managed to successfully re-direct its oil exports to new markets, but that oil and gas production was expected to decline in 2023. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Reuters)

Twenty years ago last week, US tanks rolled across the Iraqi border. And nearly to the day, Saudi Arabia and Iran signed a Chinese-mediated deal to restore diplomatic ties. During those two decades, America’s unipolar moment faded, it achieved its longed-for “energy dominance”, but that dominance is nowhere less apparent than in the Middle East. The motivations for the 2003 American invasion have been deeply debated, and varied between proponents and depending on the audience. Unlike Saddam Hussein’s earlier seizure of Kuwait, it was not a “war for oil”. Certainly, ...

Oil production in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region (KRI) is at risk after a halt in northern exports has forced firms operating there to divert crude to storage, where capacity is limited. Iraq was forced to halt around 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude exports from the KRI on Saturday through an export pipeline that runs from its northern Kirkuk oil fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Turkey halted the pumping of Iraqi crude from the pipeline after Iraq won an arbitration case in which it said Turkey had ...

Saudi Aramco raised its multi-billion dollar investment in China by finalising and upgrading a planned joint venture in northeast China and acquiring an expanded stake in a privately controlled petrochemical group. The two deals, announced separately on Sunday and Monday, would see Aramco supplying the two Chinese companies with a combined 690,000 barrels a day of crude oil, bolstering its rank as China’s top provider of the commodity. Aramco said on Monday it had agreed to acquire a 10% stake in privately controlled Rongsheng Petrochemical Co Ltd for about $3.6 ...

Moscow may seek compensation for the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines from two explosions last September, but the future of the projects is unclear, according to a Russian diplomat cited by the news agency RIA Novosti. The pipelines, which connect Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, were ruptured by unexplained blasts that Moscow called an act of international terrorism. “We do not rule out later raising the issue of compensation for damage as a result of the explosion,” Dmitry Birichevsky, head of the Foreign Ministry’s department for ...