Australian firms do well from crew transfer vessels

Argonaut Marine Group of Dampier, Western Australia, has signed a contract with Perth-based Global Marine Design to design a purpose-built, 16m crew transfer catamaran.

The vessel is presently under construction at Legend Boat Builders in the Naval Base, Western Australia. The catamaran will be able to carry 35 passengers plus two crew, with enough aft deck space to carry several tonnes of cargo.

With twin 1,491kW Caterpillar C18 engines, the vessel will be able to cruise at 25 knots fully loaded, and will be capable of a sprint speed of 32 knots. Driven by twin Hamilton waterjets, its fully-loaded draft will be 0.8m. The vessel will be completed and available for charter by the end of June.

Argonaut is also constructing an 11.9m work barge with a beam of 4.5m. This vessel will be ideally suited to assist in construction operations around wharves and terminals and will be ready for charter by late May.

In operation since 2008, Argonaut won the Dampier Port Authority’s marine pilotage contract last August, and its expansion plans include a continued vessel newbuild programme and setting up a second office in Perth. A progressive company committed to providing quality service and products to the Australian marine industry, Argonaut supplies professional marine personnel, as well as vessels from work punts to large tugs.

Also in the market is fellow West Australian firm Strategic Marine which has started 2012 strongly, signing contracts to build eight 20m offshore windfarm crew transfer vessels (including options) for the European market.

The company will also be establishing a service network in Europe to support the vessels it will be supplying to clients in the region. The ships will be managed by Njord Offshore, a subsidiary of Norse Management UK.

Strategic Marine’s chief marketing officer, Terry O’Connor, said the 20m catamarans will be built at the company’s Singapore yard. “The signing of these contracts fulfils our aim of entering the rapidly expanding offshore windfarm support vessel market in Europe and sets us on our ultimate path to become the market leader for this type of vessel,” he said.

Due for delivery later in the year, the multipurpose vessels will be built to DNV class rules (+IAI HSLC R2 Wind Farm Service 1). Each vessel will be powered by twin MTU 8V2000M72 engines and be capable of speeds in excess of 25 knots.

Meanwhile, Tasmanian-based Offshore Unlimited, which recently launched its new Incat Crowther-designed 35m offshore support catamaran at the Richardson Devine Marine yard in Hobart, reports it is already getting work. Since launching, the 28m Limitless has been busy supporting shallow-water survey projects for a number of clients on the NSW coast and off James Price Point in the Kimberley.

The vessel has a deadweight of 125 tonnes with capacity for up to 50 passengers on day operations and 32 berths for overnight operations. The unit is powered by a pair of Caterpillar C32 ACERT main engines, each producing 1655hp. Propulsion is by a pair of five-bladed propellers. Auxiliary power is supplied by a pair of Caterpillar C9 256 kva generator sets. Manoeuvring and station keeping is enhanced by a Kongsberg C-Joy DP0 positioning system and a pair of Westmar bow thrusters.

Fresh from its involvement with Offshore Unlimited, Incat Crowther has also been making news with the launch of Xun Long 5, the first of two vessels to be built by AFAI Southern shipyard for Xunlong Shipping Co. The contract to design these two 34m catamaran ferries was won in a tight competitive tender process, and Incat Crowther gave support to AFAI Southern to assist them to secure this contract.

Xun Long 5 is powered by a pair of MTU 16V2000 M70 main engines. These engines drive through a pair of ZF4540 gearboxes to MJP 550DD waterjets. On sea trials, Xun Long 5 performed well, achieving its contracted loaded service speed of 28 knots. The vessel has a top speed of 30 knots.

New Zealand opportunities grow

In New Zealand, further indications of work for the offshore sector have come through announcements of more construction and exploration programmes.

Canada-listed oil and gas company Tag Oil is initialling a US$66 million capital expenditure programme within the Cheal and Sidewinder fields located in the Taranaki Basin, which will include the construction of a new gas plant and pipeline.

Work is expected to include high-impact exploration and development drilling, targeting oil zones below 2,000m, and deeper drilling below 4,000m to target the gas prospects.

Tag is now producing 4,000 barrels of oil a day from its onshore Taranaki fields after adding a further 1,000 barrels a day from its Cheal-B7 well.

“Tag has another 3,500 barrels of equivalent per day of production, which is drilled and sitting behind pipe awaiting the expansion of the company’s infrastructure, which will allow this ‘behind pipe’ production to be brought on stream,” the company said in a statement.

Another 10 wells are planned in Taranaki this year, along with workovers to some existing wells, with further expansion to the Cheal production facility now underway.

Further south, off the coast of Oamaru and Dunedin in the South Island, two major exploration companies have reached the ‘drill or drop’ stages of their prospecting licences, which could lead to two offshore wells being drilled later.

New Zealand Oil and Gas (NZOG), in partnership with two other companies, is considering sinking a well in the Barque prospect, part of the Canterbury Basin, while Anadarko has licences to explore the Carrick-Caravel prospects off Dunedin.

The Canterbury Basin is considered to be relatively unexplored with few wells having been drilled over the last 40 years. Previous wells have proven there is gas and condensate, but further drilling is required to prove there are significant quantities to make it commercial.

Aussie gas potential lauded

Australia’s prospects of becoming the world’s largest gas exporter were underlined at the Australasian Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition (AOG) in Perth. Research conducted at the conference revealed 84 per cent of delegates believed Australia would become the world’s largest gas exporter by 2030 and that there is optimism about new Asia-Pacific projects, despite increased regulation. Currently, Australia is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), after Qatar, Indonesia and Malaysia.

On the downside there are concerns over efforts to nurture local talent, allied to apprehension about a potential future shortage of skilled professionals.

A poll organised by GL Noble Denton gave a snapshot of sentiment inside the industry and revealed that 68 per cent of industry professionals thought Australia should invest more in developing a local skills base, while 32 per cent thought that the country was doing enough to increase the pool of local professionals. The AOG is estimated to have attracted more than 11,000 industry professionals from across the world.

Currently, talks are under way for the sale of LNG from the A$29 billion (US$29.8 billion) Wheatstone project in Western Australia. More than 60 per cent of the gas has already been committed for sale to Japanese companies, but discussions continue for the sale of the remainder.

In addition, Woodside’s Pluto LNG project has reached start-up. First LNG production was occurring at the time of writing, with deliveries to customers and project participants Kansai Electric and Tokyo Gas.

Gas is being sourced from the Greater Pluto offshore fields, which involves an offshore platform in 85 metres of water, connected to five subsea wells. Gas will be sent through a 180km trunkline to the onshore facility located between the North West Shelf project and Dampier Port on the Burrup Peninsula.

Seismic firm making waves

Another company making waves in Australia is marine geophysical company Polarcus Ltd, which has announced it has been issued a Letter of Award by an undisclosed client for a 3D seismic acquisition project offshore Australia.

The project will commence mid-April and is expected to run for approximately seven months. No further details about the project had been announced at the time of writing.

Polarcus is headquartered in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and has marketing offices in Houston, London, and Singapore.

Deepsea miner secures funds

Outside the oil and gas sector, prospective deepsea miner Chatham Rock Phosphate has secured funding for its 2012 work programme. Chatham Rock is seeking to replace imported phosphate with product mined from the Chatham Rise in the Pacific Ocean and is bringing on board American private investors as it moves towards a NZ$10 million (US$8.2 million) programme of environmental, geo-technical and other projects prior to applying for a mining licence later this year. It will also have to file an environmental impact assessment under forthcoming legislation covering development of resources in New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

Currently, New Zealand is seeing major debate over mineral and oil exploration and the country’s development of its “clean green” brand. The chief executive of BusinessNZ, Phil O’Reilly, recently chaired a Green Growth Advisory Group launch of a report, Greening New Zealand’s Growth, which says New Zealand is poised to ride the crest of a worldwide “green” wave but warns it is also highly vulnerable to any undermining of its “100 per cent pure” brand.

It suggests a national “conversation” about mining and oil exploration, given that opening up more of the country to oil, gas and coal exploration is at the heart of the government’s economic plan, but at the same time there has been public opposition to mining in national parks.

The business advisory group has warned the government’s plan may struggle to expand those sectors if it cannot swing public opinion in favour of doing so. Meanwhile, the New Zealand naval sonar survey ship Resolution is being decommissioned after a 22-year career. One of her final tasks was to capture sonar images of Easy Rider, a fishing boat which capsized with tragic loss of life off the South Island. Resolution was successful in locating the capsized boat on the sea floor. OSJ