Offshore Oil & Ocean Engineering

June 2009 Issue

A.P. van den Berg and
Keppel FELS Form Partnership
A.P. van den Berg (Heerenveen, Netherlands) and Keppel FELS (Singapore) recently announced that they are collaborating to enhance the safety of jack-up rig installations by integrating probes into rig legs designed to characterize seabed properties prior to installations.

Jack-up rigs are mobile and consist of a floating platform supported by three to four independent legs. They can be deployed in shallow waters up to 120 meters deep and are installed by jacking down their legs to stably rest in the seabed. Structural damage of the rigs during installation occasionally occurs due to sliding, punch-through or rapid penetration of any of the legs, which can be attributed to poor geotechnical information available at the site, among other factors, the companies said.

To assure availability of geotechnical information and to minimize uncertainties and risks associated with jack-up installations, ROSON, the soil inspection equipment for cone penetration testing developed by A.P. van den Berg, will be integrated into jack-up rigs designed by Keppel FELS.

From the jack-up rig, operators will be able to profile the seabed underneath each leg and identify potential installation hazards using the integrated seabed-probing equipment, the companies said. For more information, visit www.apvdberg.nl


Collaboration Aims to Assist Ocean Energy Developers
SMRU Ltd. (St. Andrews, Scotland)—part of the Scottish Oceans Institute based at St. Andrews University—and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) recently announced that they are working together to develop hydroacoustic systems and methodologies for the detection and monitoring of marine mammals and diving birds and their potential interactions with ocean renewable energy devices.

This project is an important undertaking that will help to prioritize marine areas for use as potential renewable energy project locations and will help project developers and device manufacturers address permitting issues and concerns over turbines placed in marine habitat areas, according to SMRU and EMEC.

The hydroacoustic systems used for this project will be provided by BioSonics Inc. (Seattle, Washington). After an intensive evaluation process by a panel of U.K. experts, BioSonics’ DT-X digital echo sounder technology was selected based on its unique capabilities and potentially “mammal friendly” characteristics, according to SMRU.

BioSonics has an established track record in deploying fixed-position monitoring systems at ocean energy projects and performing baseline studies for site selection, BioSonics representatives said. Their systems are capable of 3D tracking and classification of marine mammals, fish and diving birds at long ranges and operate at frequencies and energy levels above the hearing ranges of marine life, they continued.

The synergies afforded through this alliance between SMRU, EMEC and BioSonics are significant, according to representatives. SMRU staff include some of the world’s leading authorities on marine mammals, and over the next several months, these researchers will contribute expertise and collect data on marine mammals and their swimming behavior, they continued. This will allow BioSonics engineering staff to develop specific classification matrices and optimize their existing hydroacoustic systems for the defined purposes, according to BioSonics.

“The end product will be a revolutionary new technology to help tidal power move forward in a safe and environmentally responsible manner,” BioSonics president Tim Acker stated.

Work began in early April at EMEC. BioSonics and SMRU technical teams worked in tandem on initial field trials and data collection.

“This is an exciting first step in what we expect will be a long and productive partnership,” said Douglas Mundie, managing director at SMRU. “It’s also an excellent demonstration of government, academic and private sectors working together to expand the use of marine renewables.” For more information, visit www.smru.co.uk


Subsea Chief Urges U.K. to
Be Assertive With Oil and Gasload
Alistair Birnie, chief executive of Subsea UK, met with a number of oil and gas trade associations at a meeting with U.K. Energy Minister Mike O’Brien at the British House of Commons in April.

The meeting was intended to show the U.K. government how the current economic climate is impacting the industry and for the bodies to articulate their members’ views and suggestions on what government can do to help, according to Subsea UK.

“The upstream oil and gas sector is just as strategic as any bank,” Birnie said. “If oil and gas stop flowing, utilities and power stations will be unable to meet demand, with a massive impact on the U.K. economy. We need government to understand the strategic importance and scale of the subsea sector, whose track record and potential risks being eroded if we do not see some decisive and assertive actions from Westminster soon.”

The U.K. subsea industry has recorded growth rates of about 25 percent for the last four years.

Currently, the United Kingdom has the potential to capture a significant share of the global market, set to grow to £40 billion by 2012, according to Subsea UK. Subsea production now accounts for almost 50 percent of all U.K. Continental Shelf (UKCS) hydrocarbon output.

However, Birnie told O’Brien that the sector is under significant threat.

“The subsea supply chain is heavily dependent upon UKCS activity, and this has slowed significantly in the last six months, putting serious pressure on the liquidity of companies carrying a higher working capital burden through deferred and written down revenues,” Birnie said. “The behavior of the banks in terms of charging excessive interest rates, curtailing and canceling debt facilities without prior discussion and creating ways of adding bank charges in an unreasonable manner is causing serious problems for our members. If the impact of the downturn is not addressed as a matter of priority, significant redundancies will have to be made in our industry.“ For more information, visit www.subseauk.org


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