Newly published Polar class vessel rules from French classification society Bureau Veritas are aimed at speeding Arctic and Caspian Sea oil and gas development by facilitating the building of tank, cargo and offshore service vessels which can operate unsupported by icebreakers in very heavy ice鈥
With a Norwegian sector breakthrough in the area of subsea gas compression very much on the cards for the next year or two, Statoil last month reaffirmed the case for compression in the Åsgard area while one the key vendors targeting this technology鈥
A configuration change-up on traditional spars could spell out some relief in wind load, drop the unit鈥檚 center of gravity, slim down the hull, and cut the amount of tripping time needed for drilling operations from a spar. OE鈥檚 Jennifer Pallanich鈥
云顶赌场老虎机 topsides must be light enough to be economical, yet big and robust to contain all the drilling and production equipment needed to develop the field. Alliance Engineering鈥檚 Norb Roobaert argues that there is no need to compromise safety鈥
Aker Solutions has started a six-month integrated operations pilot with Danish operator Dong on the Trym field, an industry briefing in London heard recently. Meg Chesshyre reviews the status of this and other developments on the Aker technology horizon鈥
With future subsea applications expected to employ a wider range of optoelectronic technologies, FMC has established a dedicated R&D group that focuses on building and expanding a wide range of integrated sensing solutions. Daniel McStay explains why鈥
With the increased complexity of today鈥檚 subsea production systems giving mooring solutions providers much to think about, Viking Moorings chief executive Wolfgang Wandl discusses how his company is rising to the challenge.The global mooring鈥
All alarms exist for a reason, but in many offshore assets too many alarms can be worse than too few. Amor Group鈥檚 Brendon Glass explains why.In today鈥檚 automated plants or platforms, thousands of alarms have been configured into the control system鈥
Ageing FPSOs present naval architect with GL 鈥 installed March 2000 in 90m potential safety challenges that the oil & gas industry is only now coming to terms with, according to GL Noble Denton. 鈥楾here have been over 200 floating production system deployments鈥
Global demand for floating hardware continues apace. David Morgan and Meg Chesshyre review recent support & supply sector initiatives and innovations targeting offshore platforms and rigs.Drilling riser departure A high pressure marine riser鈥
The pre-salt Tupi field may claim most of the interest when it comes to oil activity offshore Brazil, but plenty is going on along the large country's coastline. In the last two months, Petrobras has brought online two fields, updated its files鈥
Shell's solution for dealing with the heavy oil at the low-energy BC-10 concession offshore Brazil 鈥 caisson separator electrical submersible pumps - is working 鈥榦utstandingly' well according to the field's project manager. Jennifer Pallanich鈥
Having repositioned itself during the 2009 downturn, Aberdeen-based consultancy Altra Energy recently joined forces with offshore contractor SLP North Sea to secure its first full-scope engineering assignment 鈥 for a new satellite production鈥
GDF Suez takes over as operator of Gjøa when the field comes onstream in October. The project comprises a semisubmersible platform with subsea tiebacks, and is also expected to be a hub in the future. Meg Chesshyre opens this month's Scandinavian鈥
Increased uncertainties about operating in ultra-deepwater typically result in over-designed production systems with resulting increased costs. Prasanna Parthasarathy and Kellin Nelson of MSi Kenny and Shell's Howard Littell discuss how high鈥
