Aker Solutions has signed three subsea contracts with Shell Offshore Inc for deliveries to the operator's Popeye and Europa fields in the Gulf of Mexico. Contract values are undisclosed.

Under the contracts, Aker Solutions will in total deliver approximately 40 km (25 miles) of electro-hydraulic steel tube umbilicals to Shell's Popeye field and Europa field extension. Aker Solutions will also install the umbilical for the Popeye field, using the company's deepwater installation vessel Boa Sub C.

"We have a strategic objective of combining our product and service offerings where they can create attractive business propositions for our customers. The contracts with Shell, where we will first manufacture the subsea umbilical and then install it, is one way of doing this," says Erik Wiik, President - Subsea North America, Aker Solutions.

Engineering, project management, and manufacturing will take place at Aker Solutions' state-of-the-art umbilical facility in Mobile, Alabama.  .

"This is an important contract for our umbilical facility in Mobile, Alabama.  Although we have vast experience with Shell through our umbilical operations in Norway, this is our first Shell umbilical project to be executed by our team in Mobile, Alabama. Our key objective is excellent project execution, which will position us for further jobs with Shell," adds Wiik.

The Popeye field is located in Green Canyon block 116 in approximately 671.6 metres (2,200 ft) water depth and will tie-back to the Cougar fixed platform located in South Timbalier block 300 in 110.3 metres (362 ft) water depth.

The Europa A7 well is located in Mississippi Canyon block 935 in approximately 1143 metres (3750 ft) water depth and will tie-back to existing Europa subsea structure.  The Europa development ties back to the Mars TLP located in Mississippi Canyon block 807 in 896 metres (2,940 ft) water depth.

Aker Solutions' contract parties are Aker Subsea Inc and Aker Marine Contractors Inc.  The contracts are signed and booked as order intake in Q3 2010.

Sener has converted a ship that in origin offered fish-farming services, into a workboat to give oil, water, cargo and antipollution services complying with MARPOL.

The barge, “El Faralló Dos”, was originally designed and built to offer aquafarming services, for the transport of alevins and fishes between the fish-farm cages and the port. This transport was carried out by means of four holds in the midship. The barge was fitted with all the machinery and services to carry out the fish operations and the ice production.

The work developed by SENER was the engineering and building assistance of the barge adaptation to offer MARPOL antipollution services, with a maximum collection of 41 m3. The ship will also offer potable water to ships, so the ballast tanks in the barge has been modified to comply with this new requirement. The new capacity of potable water is 128 m3. Between others, there has been adapted the fire-fight and security systems in accordance with the Unmanned Engine Room Regulation.

Consulmar

Consulmar offers from more than 50 years services to the maritime industry. Among others, the company operates workboats, from Algeciras and Castellón ports for ship supply, other operations like Off Port Limits (OPL) services for vessels in transit through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Wärtsilä, a global leader in complete lifecycle power solutions for the marine and energy markets, and Ecospec Global Technology, owner of the revolutionary CSNOx emissions abatement technology, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work together towards the common goal of improving the environment by providing the world with clean power solutions.

By combining the joint expertise of Wärtsilä and Ecospec, the carbon footprint of both marine and onshore heavy industries can be significantly reduced through the development of clean power solutions. The aim is to achieve the lowest possible CO2 emissions, near zero SOx emissions - even when using heavy residual fuel, and to attain the capability to meet future NOx emission requirements.

Under the MOU, Wärtsilä is responsible for integrating the CSNOx system into various engine applications. This includes the engineering, installation, supervision, project management, and commissioning of the system for both newbuildings and retrofits. Ecospec, as the supplier of the CSNOx system, would be responsible for supplying the key components of the system.

Ecospec CSNOx is the world's first emissions abatement system capable of removing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from greenhouse gases, while at the same time removing, in a single system and in one process, sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx), and other pollutants, without the use of harmful chemicals. CSNOx serves as the only practical technology with the ability to remove CO2, the main culprit for global warming, from exhaust gases in significant quantities. Its wash water quality surpasses IMO standards, and the discharge water is, therefore, either neutral or beneficial to the environment, and does not result in secondary pollution or problems related to disposal or storage.

"It is Wärtsilä's long-established strategy to assist its customers, not only in meeting current environmental legislation requirements, but to be pro-active in providing solutions that go well beyond these minimum standards. Emissions control is an area that is developing very rapidly, and this co-operation with Ecospec will help us to continue our leading role in this field. Without any question it will support our position as a total solutions provider to our customers," says Juha Kytölä, Vice President, Product Centre Ecotech of Wärtsilä.

Tany Tay, General Manager of Ecospec, commented: "Ecospec has always been on the lookout for suitable organisations with whom we could develop strategic alliances for the various technologies we have developed. This is a fine example of optimizing the synergistic effects from two companies with the same goal of providing the world with a clean power solution."

Petrobras announces that it has christened today, at the Brasfels shipyard, in Angra dos Reis (RJ), the P-57 vessel platform, which will operate in the Jubarte field, in the Espírito Santo portion of the Campos Basin, 80 km off the Espírito Santo coast. This unit opens the way for a new generation of platforms, designed and built based on an engineering concept that focuses on streamlining projects and standardizing equipment. This is a model that will be a reference for future Petrobras platforms, such as the P-58 and P-62, and for units that will operate in the Santos Basin pre-salt cluster.

The P-57 is an FPSO- (floating production, storage, and offloading) type platform, and is part of the second phase of development for the Jubarte field. Anchored at a water depth of 1260 meters, it will produce oil of 17 degrees API (a measure of the oil density). The platform will be capable of processing up to 180,000 barrels of oil and 2 million cubic meters of gas per day. It will go on stream later this year interconnected to 22 wells, 15 of which producers and seven water injectors. It will be the first unit of this complexity to operate on the Espírito Santo coast.

Production is expected to peak by early 2012. The oil it produces will be transferred on shuttle tankers to land, while the gas will flow through an undersea pipeline to the Sul Capixaba Gas Treatment Unit, located in the region of Ubu, in the town of Anchieta, which is located at about 100 km from Vitória.

Technological innovations  The P-57's production system is equipped with a new technology to collect 4D seismic data, permanently installed on the seabed. This solution will afford greater flexibility in obtaining seismic data while improving reservoir interpretation quality, and, thus, optimize production. The unit will also adopt an innovative method to lift the oil that is in the reservoir up to the platform. The approach consists of a centrifugal subsea submersible pump (BCSS) installed in a special compartment on the seabed, separated from the producing wells. This design will allow for cost reductions in the event of equipment repair.

Engineering challenges
The engineering, procurement, and construction contract for the P-57 was signed in February 2008 with Single Buoy Moorings Inc. (SBM). The platform's hull was converted from the Island Accord oil tanker at the Keppel Shipyard, in Singapore, between October 2008 and March 2010. Simultaneously, the oil and gas processing modules were built in Brazil, at the UTC Engenharia construction site, in Niterói (RJ), and at the Brasfels shipyard, in Angra dos Reis (RJ). The hull arrived at the Brasfels shipyard last April, when module installation was completed, all systems were interconnected, and the unit's final tests ran.

The construction of the P-57 reached a contractual level of national content of about 68%. The strategy of prioritizing good and service procurement in the Brazilian industry seeking to contribute to the development and expansion of the domestic industry resulted in the generation of over 2,000 direct jobs in the country.

Simplification and efficiency  The knowledge gained from building the P-57 will serve as a model both for the design of the P-58, P-62, and P-63 platforms, and for the "replicant FPSOs" intended for use in the Santos Basin pre-salt area (state of São Paulo). The new unit's design was simplified and its equipment standardized pursuant to the highest operating safety standards. This strategy ensured greater efficiency both in project management and in the progress of the procurement, construction, assembly and testing stages. The result was the strict compliance with contractual terms, the maintenance of the initial planned cost, and the assurance of the quality demanded under the contract. Additionally, the new strategy resulted in a lighter, easier-to-maintain platform, a significant gain, therefore, from the economic, managerial, and technical standpoints.