Brazil OSX Gets Go-Ahead to Start Building Acu Shipyard

- Brazil OSX Gets Go-Ahead to Start Building Acu Shipyard

Monday, June 27, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires
RIO DE JANEIRO
by Jeff Fick & Diana Kinch

Brazilian oil-field services company OSX Brasil said Monday that it had received approval to start construction of a shipyard at the Acu Port complex in Rio de Janeiro state.

OSX will start work next month to build "the largest shipyard in the Americas," the company said. OSX, part of billionaire Brazilian businessman Eike Batista's industrial conglomerate, will partner with South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. to build the shipyard, the company said.

Brazil's ship-building industry is undergoing a renaissance as the company ramps up production to meet growing demand from the country's oil and natural-gas industry. Several new shipyards are under construction along Brazil's Atlantic Ocean coast, while many yards that were closed during an industry downturn in the early 1980s are being revived.

Brazil was among the world's largest ship producing countries in the 1980s before a global downturn in the industry saw the local docks shuttered.

Last week, OSX said that it had received approval for a credit line worth up to 2.7 billion Brazilian reais ($1.69 billion) from Brazil's Merchant Marine Fund to finance construction of the shipyard.

OSX plans to build vessels for sister company OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes, which will produce crude oil from the Campos Basin off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state. The 2,400-meter docks at the shipyard will have the capacity to build up to 11 floating production, storage and offloading vessels, or FPSOs, at the same time. The FPSOs use hulls about the size of an oil supertanker.

Another OSX sister company, LLX Logistica, which is responsible for construction of Acu port, said Monday it gained an environmental permit to construct a navigation channel within the port. The channel, called TX2, will provide 8,000 meters of quayside, substantially boosting the quayside capacity available on the port's coastal stretch.

Part of the additional quayside space will be used by the OSX shipyard, while the rest is planned for use in loading and unloading of products including steel, coal, granite and oil, LLX said.

Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too

Statoil Signs LOI for New Sandsli Building

- Statoil Signs LOI for New Sandsli Building

Friday, June 24, 2011
Statoil

Statoil has signed a letter of intent with Skanska for the construction of the new office building at Sandsli in Bergen.

The work on the office building and adjacent infrastructure will start in early August, with completion scheduled for the first half of 2014.

"Our goal is to establish a joint workplace where we ensure optimal cooperation and knowledge sharing, so that our core activities are well equipped to further develop Statoil in the region. The new building will encompass all aspects of our business, and we can hardly wait until it is finished," said Jannicke Nilsson, Statoil's location manager in Bergen.

Around 60% of Statoil's activities on the Norwegian continental shelf are operated from Bergen, in addition to a significant amount of research work.

New Sandsli

When the project is complete in 2014, Sandsliveien will have a whole new look. In addition to the office building, the project will include construction of a new shared reception area and canteen, a new parking garage, new exercise facilities and a new outdoor area. A total of 55,000 square metres of new area will be built during the next three years.

"This is an important milestone for Statoil, and we look forward to working with Skanska on this project. For us, HSE and high-quality work will top the agenda," said Statoil's asset owner in Global Business Services, Svein Harald Storli.

Better infrastructure

The infrastructure in the area will also be upgraded with measures including a walkway between Sandslihaugen and Sandsliveien, as well as a new roundabout and entrance to Sandsliveien. Skanska was also awarded these activities under a separate contract.

"We are confident that the employees will like the changes slated for Sandsli, and we plan to keep them up-to-date throughout the project. A dedicated user project has also been established to ensure that the new office building will accommodate the needs of the organisation," said Storli.

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too

Aussie Official to Unions: Don't Be Greedy in Wage Demands

Aussie Official to Unions: Don't Be Greedy in Wage Demands

Monday, April 11, 2011
Asia Pulse Pte. Ltd.

Australian Resources Minister Martin Ferguson says workers' unions should not be greedy in their wage demands for workers at oil and gas plants.

A reported 30 percent jump over two-and-a-half years in the cost of hiring an offshore welder, for example, was not a sustainable rate, Mr. Ferguson said.

That kind of wage rise had already placed pressure on the offshore building industry and unions should heed some advice, he said.

"Don't kill the golden goose," Mr. Ferguson told ABC Radio on Monday.

"We are talking about a sector of industry that is now exceptionally well paid and we've got to see a stronger commitment - and I've raised this with industry - to apprenticeship training."

Mr. Ferguson was the president of the peak national union body, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, between 1990 and 1996.

He said both sides had to accept a dampening in the spiraling cost of wages and accept "a bit of give and take".

Mr. Ferguson said take-home pay wasn't the only factor to be considered.

"There are far more important issues such as training young Australians in creating long-term career opportunities through decent apprenticeships," he said.

"The wage increases that have occurred in offshore construction are unsustainable.

"Industry knows it, the commonwealth government knows it and some sections of the union movement know it."

Shell to Start Drilling at Iraq Majnoon Oil Field in July

Shell to Start Drilling at Iraq Majnoon Oil Field in July

Thursday, March 31, 2011
by  Hassan Hafidh

Shell along with its partners, Malaysia's Petronas and the Iraqi state Missan Oil Co., will start drilling the first new well in the super-giant Majnoon oil field in July, a company executive said Thursday.

"Shell is targeting July 2011 to spud the first well," Ole Myklestad, managing director of Shell in Iraq told reporters in Basra.

Between 15 and 20 wells will be drilled in Majnoon oil field in southern Iraq and some 27 others will be refurbished to bring output to 175,000 barrels a day by the end of next year from the current 60,000 barrels a day, Myklestad said. The new wells and the refurbish work is part of an early production plan.

The well drilling is part of a contract Shell and its partners signed with U.S. service giant Halliburton and the state-run Iraqi Drilling Co. last year.

The executive also said that Shell has opened a new office in Basra to manage its projects in Iraq. The office is to make sure that "we have the human resources and all the supports required by an international company in Basra."

Myklestad said that there are some 300 Iraqis working on the Majnoon project and they are from the state-run South Oil Co. Some 50 Shell expatriate personnel are also working on the project, he said.

Shell and Petronas won the right to develop Majnoon oil field, located in Basra governorate in southern Iraq, at an auction held in Baghdad December 2009. Shells owns 45% of the venture and Petronas 30%, with Iraq's Missan Oil Co. the remaining 25%.

Shell also will start constructing a 75 kilometer pipeline to connect Majnoon with the crude oil depots in Faw, as a stop before shipping the crude into vessels in the Gulf. Myklestad said that Shell and its partner would provide the finance for building the pipeline.

The Anglo-Dutch giant is also planning to commence a seismic survey but after clearing mines left from the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war.

"We want to get results of a seismic survey in the next two years," he said.