Coal Soars on Rising Demand from Asia
Coal prices in Asia are being driven to multi-year highs by a rare combination of simultaneous demand growth in the region's top four importers.Depending on the price used, thermal coal is either close to a two-year high or near the strongest in six years as China, India, Japan and South Korea imported more of the polluting fuel in the first five months of this year compared to the same period in 2017.The Australian thermal coal benchmark, the weekly Newcastle Index…
Oil Up as U.S. Sanctions on Iran Kick In
Oil rose on Thursday, recouping some of the previous day's steep price slide, after the first round of U.S. sanctions against Iran came into effect, although confidence in crude demand has been hit by the escalating China-U.S. trade dispute.Brent crude futures were up 19 cents at $72.47 barrel by 1315 GMT, after having lost more than 3 percent on Wednesday. U.S. crude futures rose 6 cents to $67.00 a barrel, having closed down 3.2 percent the day before.The United States on Tuesday reimposed sanctions on Iran…
US Oil Pipeline Companies, Producers Seek Relief from Steel Tariffs
Major U.S. energy companies including Plains All American Pipeline, Hess Corp and Kinder Morgan Inc are among many seeking exemptions from steel-import tariffs as the United States ratchets up trade tensions with exporters including China, Canada and Mexico.There have been nearly 21,000 requests overall for exclusions submitted to the U.S. Commerce Department since the Trump administration imposed levies this year. Of those, more than 500 petitions involve pipes and related materials.Initial decisions are expected this month…
Fronius Updates its Welding Systems Portfolio
From the automotive and component supply industry to machine and plant construction, and also the oil and gas industry: mechanized welding processes are indispensable in all metal-working sectors. Fronius Perfect Welding therefore offers a wide range of products and services for automated welding technology. This provides the technology leader’s customers with the necessary efficiency, performance and reproducible quality to remain competitive in the face of international competition.Nowadays…
InterMoor Delivers H-Links Connectors for Appomattox FPS
InterMoor, a provider of mooring services, foundation solutions and offshore installations in subsea services group Acteon, completed the delivery of all H-Links connectors for the Appomattox Floating Production System (FPS) mooring lines. The Appomattox facility will be a four-column semi-submersible production platform moored using 16 mooring lines arranged in 4x4 clusters, in 2,255m (7,400ft) of water approximately 130km (80 miles) offshore Louisiana. The platform will become Shell’s largest floating platform in the Gulf of Mexico.
What Glencore-Tohoku Coal talk Impass Means for Market
Electric utilities in Japan and other Asian countries are driving blind when it comes to coal prices after the failure of Japan's Tohoku Electric and Glencore to agree on an annual thermal coal contract that is used to set prices for the region. Tohoku Electric, a major Japanese utility, and Glencore, the world's biggest exporter of seaborne thermal coal, abandoned the talks last month on their annual Australian supply contract. "Both parties seem to have tried hard to come to a consensus but always had large difference in price expectations this year…
Trump Effort to Lift U.S. Offshore Wind Sector Sparks Interest
The Trump administration wants to fire up development of the U.S. offshore wind industry by streamlining permitting and carving out vast areas off the coast for leasing - part of its 'America First' policy to boost domestic energy production and jobs.The Europeans have taken note.The drive to open America's offshore wind industry has attracted Europe's biggest renewable energy companies, who see the U.S. East Coast as a new frontier after years of success across the Atlantic.Less experienced U.S.
DNV GL Raises the Standard for Thermoplastic Composite Pipes
DNV GL has launched a new standard that allows operators to choose thermoplastic composite pipes (TCP) instead of steel or traditional flexibles, enabling substantial cost reductions throughout the project lifecycle.After the successful and wide adaptation of the recommended practice (RP) DNVGL-RP-F119 by the industry for qualification of TCP for various applications from dynamic to static applications since its publication in 2015, the RP has now been converted to an official DNV GL standard DNVGL-ST-F119.
US Energy Companies Fume over Rejected Steel Tariff Exemptions
The U.S. Commerce Department recently granted a tariff exemption to oil major Chevron for its imports of 4.5-inch Japanese steel tubes for oil exploration.But the department rejected a similar request from Borusan Mannesmann Pipe to exclude 4.5-inch steel pipes imported from Turkey for casing used to line new oil wells.The reason: multiple U.S. steelmakers objected to Borusan's application, arguing they could supply the product, according to the department. Chevron drew no such objections.When U.S.
Evergas Rolls-out Largest Ethane Carrier in the World
Evergas announced that the first 85.000cbm very large ethane carrier (VLEC) was successfully undocked in China and will be delivered in the first quarter of 2019.Following the successful undocking of the first VLEC, the steel cutting of the second vessel was celebrated in the workshop of the leading Chinese shipyard, DSIC and shows our strong commitment to the emerging ethane market.These two VLECs will be delivered to INEOS Trading & Shipping to add to their existing fleet of eight Dragon class vessels…
Offshore Test of New Installation Technology Successful
The Carbon Trust and Fistuca, in conjunction with industry partners announced the successful completion of the offshore trial of the Fistuca BLUE 25M hammer as part of the Offshore Wind Accelerator BLUE PILOT project.The industry partners include E.ON, EDPR, EnBW, Equinor, Ørsted, Shell, Sif, SSE, Van Oord, and Vattenfall. The offshore test was carried out on August 13, 2018, using Van Oord’s offshore heavy lift installation vessel, Svanen, off the coast of the Netherlands.The BLUE Hammer is an innovative…
2H Offshore Expands STREAM JIP
2H Offshore, a riser and conductor specialist in subsea services group Acteon, has completed the first phase of the STREAM (STeel Riser Enhanced Analytics using Measurements) joint industry project (JIP) and has expanded the work into a second phase.The JIP’s participants include Anadarko, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell. In this collaborative effort, field data from four deepwater steel catenary risers (SCR) and one lazy-wave riser were used to provide…
Marco Wirén Appointed President at Wärtsilä
Marco Wirén, M.Sc. (Econ.), has been appointed President of Energy Solutions, Executive Vice President and member of the Board of Management of Wärtsilä Corporation, effective October 1, 2018.In this position, he is responsible for Wärtsilä's Energy Solutions business globally, and will report to President & CEO Jaakko Eskola.Wirén is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Wärtsilä, holding this position since August 2013. Prior to joining Wärtsilä…
DNV GL Secures Shell Penguins Contract
DNV GL has won a cross-service contract to support Shell's Penguins Field redevelopment on the UK Continental Shelf.The contract with Shell involves a team which will deliver an integrated verification and class project for the operator's Penguins floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.DNV GL is providing integrated Verification and Class services to the project. This will be led by a team in UK Oil & Gas, collaborating with the DNV GL Offshore Class unit in Norway and the DNV GL yard team in China and the Philippines.Justin Fletcher…
Canada Should Bring in Stronger Rail Cars for Crude Before 2025 - official
Canada ought to require stronger tank cars for transporting flammable liquids sooner than the current deadline in 2025, Transportation Safety Board Chair Kathy Fox said on Thursday, noting that crude-by-rail shipments are expected to rise in the country."We understand that it can't happen all at once. But we'd like to see it sooner," Fox said in an interview, without giving a specific alternative date. "We do have an ongoing concern that flammable liquids…
China Opening May Spark Iron Ore Markets
In the relatively short space of the past decade the paper iron ore market has grown from virtually nothing to exceed the physical market, but now the industry is grappling with what comes next. While the growth in iron ore futures and exchanged-cleared swaps has been impressive, iron ore is still a long way behind other commodity markets, such as crude oil and some agricultural products, where paper trade exceeds physical by large multiples. There are two main paper markets for iron ore…
New RINA Guidelines for Additive Manufacturing
RINA, a specialist in additive manufacturing, has announced the release of its 'Guidelines for the certification of metallic products made by additive manufacturing', for the oil and gas industry.The use of additive manufacturing (or 3D printing) is expanding rapidly, especially as technology now enables the production of larger components and products to meet different mechanical or physical-chemical needs. The new guidelines from RINA will enable companies in the oil and gas industry to ensure every step of the additive manufacturing process is repeatable…
Johan Sverdrup Drilling Platform Installed
The 22,000-tonne topside for the drilling platform was lifted into position in one single lift on the Johan Sverdrup field last weekend. Equinor and the Johan Sverdrup partners are the first users in the world of this ground-breaking technology.On Thursday, May 31, the topside for the Johan Sverdrup drilling platform sailed from the Aibel yard in Haugesund to Bømlafjorden at Stord.Here the 22,000-tonne steel structure was transferred from the barge to Pioneering Spirit, the world’s biggest heavy-lift vessel.
DNV GL Aims to Unlock Pipeline Cost Savings
The design requirements of concrete coated pipelines are based on simple and general criteria created more than 20 years ago. As this does not meet the complex demands of today’s larger diameter pipelines operating in deeper and more challenging environments, DNV GL is launching the second phase of a joint industry project (JIP) to develop a design guideline that complements current pipeline codes and standards.Phase 1 of the project has now completed and involved ShawCor LLC, McDermott, PAPE Engineering, Saipem, SVAP, Wasco, and Technip FMC.
Wind Farms Boost Tax Base for Local US Governments
Wind farms have boosted local tax bases and generated new revenue as they expand across the United States, especially for rural areas, Moody's Investors Service said in a report on Monday."What we're seeing is wind farms generate new operating revenues, lower the tax burden for local residents," Moody's analyst Frank Mamo told Reuters. "In many cases, local governments are using this new money to address what was a growing backlog of deferred capital expenditures."In Adair County…
