MarEx Newsletter | Another Oil Platform Explodes in the Gulf, Petrobras to buy Oil Reserves for $42.5 Billion

Please Click Here if you are unable to view the newsletter September 2nd, 2010 Vol. 8, No. 65 Another Gulf Oil Platform Explodes An offshore petroleum platform exploded and was burning Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles off the Louisiana coast, west of BP's Macondo well. A commercial helicopter company reported the blast to the coast guard around 9:30 a.m. CDT. The Coast Guard reported that no one was killed in the blast, and all 13 people on board were accounted for ... Read More>>>Back to Top Greenpeace Activists Arrested After Boarding Arctic Oil Rig Four Greenpeace activists have been arrested after an Arctic ice storm forced them to leave an oil-rig off western Greenland. The activist from the Greenpeace ship ESPERANZA evaded the Dutch Navy who was guarding the rig and managed to board the rig and suspend themselves with rock climbing equipment. The stunt last for two days, until an ice storm forced them down ... Read More>>>Back to Top Judge Rules to Uphold Lawsuit Against Drilling Ban A federal judge, Wednesday, rejected the U.S. government's request to dismiss an industry lawsuit challenging its deepwater oil and gas drilling moratorium. Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc. and other drilling companies sued the administration on June 7 after it first ordered a halt to deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. As a result of the lawsuit, U.S. District ... Read More>>>Back to Top Petrobras to Pay Brazil $42.5 Billion for Oil Reserves Petrobras has agreed to pay Brazil's federal government $42.5 billion in new stock for deepwater reserves estimated to contain 5 billion barrels of crude. The deal has sparked much debate as many financial analyst say the price is more that what the reserves are worth. Petrobras announced that they will sell new shares to the public totaling $25 billion to support the ... Read More>>>Back to Top Workboat Academy Graduates Another Class at MITAGS Maritime Administration Deputy Administrator Orlando Gotay gives Keynote Speech The graduation for twelve cadets from the Workboat Academy took place at the MITAGS Linthicum Heights campus on September 1, 2010. Deputy Administrator Gotay welcomed the Mates to the industry saying it is a critical time for the industry to rebuild and revitalize. He also offered a special congratulation to the companies for ... Read More>>>Back to Top 200-Yr-Old Champagne Recovered From Baltic Shipwreck About seventy bottles of champagne were discovered lying at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, about 164-ft below the surface, south of the Aland Islands. The cargo is believed to have been aboard a ship traveling from Copenhagen, Denmark to St. Petersburg, Russia between 1800 and 1830. Researchers have said that the champagne could have possibly been sent by France's King Louis ... Read More>>>Back to Top After More Than a Decade Shipwreck May be Removed from Goa Beach Ship that ran aground ten years ago on Goa beach may finally be removed. On Monday the Indian government announced they will consider Salgaokar Mining Industries Pvt Ltd for the removal of the M/V River Princes from the Goa coast. Indian Press agencies reported that Salgaokar Mining Industries offered to do the salvage and removal for free. The two companies who were ... Read More>>>Back to Top Chinese Fishing Crew Missing After Collision with S. Korean Cargo Ship A Chinese fishing boat sunk after a South Korean cargo ship, OCEAN ACE NO. 6, collided with it about 68 miles off Gyengnyelbi Islet, South ChungCheong Province, Wednesday. The name of the fishing vessel and the number of crew onboard remains unknown at this time. The crew went missing immediately after the incident and China and South Korea and working together in ... Read More>>>Back to Top 17 Turkish Sailors Saved After Ship Sinks A Turkish ships carrying scrap metal and 17 crew members sank Wednesday in the Black Sea off the coast of Costanta, Romania. All 17 crew members were rescued by the Romania Coast Guard. The MEDY let the port of Constanta Wednesday morning. Just a few hours after her departure the crew reported that the ship was listing. Not long after their call ... Read More>>>Back to Top Tar Coats Famous Goa Beaches India – A ship is suspected of dumping burnt oil waste off the western coast of India after tar balls washed up on the famed Goa beaches Wednesday. Indian Navy and Coast Guard are working to identify and track down the ship responsible for the spill. Officials say that it is common for ships to clean their fuel tanks and dump oil ... Read More>>>Back to Top Bureau Veritas to Hold Conference at SMM 2010 Bernard Anne, managing director, marine division, Bureau Veritas will lead a press conference to be held at the Bureau Veritas stand during SMM 2010. The conference will take place on Wednesday, 8 September 2010 beginning at 1200 at the Bureau Veritas stand, Hall B3 Stand EG110. A series of short presentations will highlight the current development of the BV ... Read More>>>Back to Top New Managing Director for Maersk Oil in the UK Aberdeen-based Maersk Oil North Sea UK Limited (Maersk Oil) announced Wednesday, the appointment of Martin Rune Pedersen as its new Managing Director, following the retirement of current MD Tom van Leenen. 'I am really looking forward to developing Maersk Oil in the UK and taking on the business challenges and opportunities,' said Martin. 'We have a very experienced and skilled team of ... Read More>>>Back to Top Wilhelmsen Makes First Delivery From New Szczecin Service Station In Wilhelmsen Ships Service's continued expansion of its service station network, the company has opened its new service station in the Baltic Sea port of Szczecin and made its first delivery. The station is now fully operational and has already delivered the company's first order for 10 Unitor liferafts to a world renowned American cruise liner, fulfilling an order placed by Wilhelmsen Ships Service's US ... Read More>>>Back to Top GE to Provide Gas Turbine Modules for US Navy GE Marine reports that its LM2500 aeroderivative marine gas turbines will be used to power the United States Navy's new Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. GE has received orders for the initial three of an expected nine new Flight IIA ships. The new destroyers are being built as part of the U.S. Navy's DDG 51 program. "The successful DDG 51 program already ... Read More>>>Back to Top Harnessing Marine Renewable Energy Offshore Ship Designer's first project in the marine renewable energy field will shortly be commencing on site trials in the UK's Humber estuary. By applying its experience and design knowledge, OSD has helped UK company Neptune Renewable Energy Ltd (NREL) to develop an innovative device to capture the potential of tidal stream energy. The Proteus NP1000 full scale demonstrator will harness tidal currents to produce ... Read More>>>Back to Top Gibbs & Cox Appoints New Vice President of Engineering Gibbs & Cox, Inc., one of the worlds's leading independent naval architecture and marine engineering firms, today announced the appointment of Warren Lundblad as Vice President of Engineering. In this role, Mr. Lundblad will manage and support all areas of platform and systems engineering across the Gibbs & Cox portfolio. "Warren brings extensive technical and program management experience to his new role ... Read More>>>Back to Top Wartsila to Convert Tarbit Shipping Tanker to LNG Propulsion Wärtsilä, the marine industry's leading ship power solution provider, has signed a turnkey contract with Tarbit Shipping of Sweden to convert a product tanker to LNG propulsion, and to supply the ship with a Wärtsilä LNGPac system for the safe and convenient storage of LNG onboard. This is the first order for a Wärtsilä LNGPac system. The 25,000 dwt product tanker 'Bit ... Read More>>>Back to Top McAllister Towing Joins Marine Response Alliance The directors of Marine Response Alliance LLC (MRA or Alliance) announced today the welcoming of McAllister Towing and Transportation Co., Inc., (McAllister) to the MRA as a full and equal member. McAllister is now united with the other MRA member companies--Crowley Marine Services, Inc. (Crowley), Marine Pollution Control Corporation (MPC), Titan Maritime LLC (Titan) and Marine Hazard Response (MHR) (a joint venture of Wild Well ... Read More>>>Back to Top Emergency Operation on Drilling Vessel in Singapore Recently Hydrex sent a diver-technician team to Singapore to perform an emergency operation on a 154 metre drilling vessel that had just been to drydock for repairs but soon after leaving was still experiencing problems with one of its three bow thrusters. The owner needed to know the exact reason for the problem as soon as possible so that he could decide on whether to ... Read More>>>Back to Top Introduction to Environmental Regulations in the Maritime Industry Do you know the definition of NPDES, MARPOL, VGP, or NOI? If not, you are encouraged to attend the MITAGS/PMI "Introduction to Environmental Regulations in the Maritime Industry – EPA General Permit for Commercial Vessels" program. COURSE CONVENING DATES: September 1-2, 2010 November 10-11, 2010 To view the Environmental Regulations Flyer please Click ... Read More>>>Back to Top The World's Worst Oil Spills This list includes some of the world's worst oil spills, including tanker collisions, drilling rig failures and even a deliberate spill. Arabian Gulf/Kuwait - January 19, 1991 Location: Persian Gulf, Kuwait Amount of Oil Spilled: 380-520 million gallons During the Gulf War, Iraqi forces, attempting to prevent the landing of American soldiers, opened the valves at ... Read More>>>Back to Top Major Oil Companies Join Together to Create "Marine Well Containment Company" Exxon Moobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell have joined together, each contributing $250 million, to create a non-profit organization to respond to deepwater well containment and response in the event of another well blow out in the Gulf of Mexico. In case you missed this, back in July Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell released a statement, relaying their efforts to drill ... 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