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Castrol Marine, one of the leading global suppliers of marine lubricants, has launched two new barges in advance of the latest 'double hull' legislation from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

The barges serve several key ports and feature enhanced technology that improves service for BP and Castrol Marine customers. Double hulls add another layer of protection to a vessel, helping to ensure Castrol Marine's lubricants are transported safely and securely around the world.

Keith Torrance, Castrol's Global Demand & Portfolio Manager for Aviation, Marine and Energy, said: "The launch of these vessels demonstrates Castrol Marine's commitment to delivering high quality lubricants, efficiently and safely. It's important that we stay ahead of legislation to provide uninterrupted service, while passing on the benefits of the latest technology to our customers. Double-hull vessels also help to protect the environment by significantly reducing the chance of leakage."

"The increased storage capacity, multiple tank configuration and higher pumping rate of the 'Amal' allows Castrol Marine to meet the growing demand for lubricants from the Fujairah anchorage. The 'Victrol 10' is also equipped with the latest technology, including automated flow computers which can read delivery notes mailed to the vessel to aid the delivery of the correct grade of lubricant," Torrance added.

The 'Victrol 10' will operate out of the port of Antwerp in Belgium and the 'Amal' will operate in the United Arab Emirates ports of Fujairah and Khor Fakkan, as well as the Kalba anchorage areas.

'Amal' replaces the single hull 'Farida' and fully complies with International Maritime IMO 'double hull' legislation adopted by the Fujairah Port Authority, which came into effect on 1st January 2010. Similarly, the 'Victrol 10' was introduced to replace its single hull predecessor, the 'Rotterdam'.

The Port of Fujairah, strategically situated approximately 70 nautical miles from the Strait of Hormuz on the eastern seaboard of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is ranked as the third largest port for bunker operations. Castrol Marine's investment in infrastructure reflects the importance of Fujairah, from which a significant percentage of its lubricants are supplied.
The 'Amal' was originally built in 2000 and converted to double hull in 2009. She has bulk storage capacity of 522 kilolitres, an average pumping rate of 30 cubic metres per hour and an average speed of 6.5-7 nautical miles per hour.

The hull of the 'Victrol 10' was built in Romania and finished in Antwerp. The barge has 15 tanks and can carry 10 different grades of lubricant. A pumping rate of up to 100m3/hr is achieved utilising a 27m long bunker boom.

The 'Victrol 10' carries two different types of hose; one for the cylinder oils and one for all other grades. The hoses are of different sizes to prevent wrong connections. The manifold valves and the hoses are also fitted with electronic tags, which only allow the pumps to be started when the hoses are connected to the correct products. The 'Victrol 10' is also equipped with mass flow meters, which do not measure air, ensuring the delivered volume measurement is as accurate as possible. posted by The Rogtec Team @ 16:05  0 Comments

Marinfloc launches new pre-treatment system for existing oily water separators

BILGE WATER TREATMENT: Ever since 2005, when the MEPC 60(33) regulation was replaced by MEPC 107(49), the older gravity-type Oily Water Separators (OWS) often had to be replaced by a centrifugal-type or an emulsion breaking cleaning system or, alternatively, the shipowner chose to compliment the existing OWS with additional filters. Many new separators sold today also act by using exchangeable filter cartridges.

The filter-option, involving the least initial investment, has, however, shown to become a costly option for many operators. In many cases, filters need to be changed several times per months and sometimes even more often. Annual filter cost of well above USD 50,000 per year is not uncommon.

Marinfloc has addressed this problem by launching a new pre-treatment system called CD pre-T. By keeping the existing certified OWS, and connecting the CD pre-T in line with the same, filter changes are said to become virtually unnecessary. With the Marinfloc CD pre-T breaking the emulsion and cleaning the water down to 15ppm, the present OWS would just act as a pump, discharging clean water overboard.

Since the new CD pre-T is to be installed before any existing OWS, independent of type or make, no changes or new certificates are necessary and the investment cost for the pre treatment system is easily balanced against filter costs and the hassle and time it takes to change them. Marinfloc claims the payback time is less than one year for many ships with challenging bilge water.

The emulsion breaking step of the CD Pre-T uses forced flotation together with a flocculent. After this step the cleaned bilge water with less then 15 ppm of oil is lead back through a three-way valve into the present OWS suction line and is pumped overboard through the existing OWS and controlled by the present oil content meter.

Alternatively, the CD Pre-T discharges the cleaned bilge water into a separate tank, from which the present OWS can take its suction.

The first two systems to be launched by Marinfloc have a capacity of 1,000 litres/hour, measuring 1.5 m by 0.7 m, and 250 litres/hour, measuring 0.8 m by 1.2 m. A larger 2,000 litres/hour system is to be launched within shortly.

Labels: Bilge Water Treatment, Marinfloc

posted by The Rogtec Team @ 14:00  0 Comments

Polarcus Limited (OAX: PLCS) announced today that after a successful mobilization the seismic vessel Polarcus Nadia has now entered into production on its first project, offshore Liberia. The contract is the previously announced Seismic Charter Agreement that Polarcus entered into with TGS on 10 December 2009. The survey is being acquired with a 10 streamer seismic array, each streamer being 7,200 meters long and with 100 meters separation between streamers

About PolarcusPolarcus is a pure play marine geophysical company with a pioneering environmental agenda, specializing in high-end towed streamer data acquisition from pole to pole. Polarcus is launching a fleet of modern 3D seismic vessels using the innovative ULSTEIN X-BOW® design and incorporating advanced maritime technologies for improved operational efficiency with a reduced environmental footprint. Polarcus offers contract seismic surveys and multi client projects worldwide and has its principal office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. For more information, visit www.polarcus.com posted by The Rogtec Team @ 09:22  0 Comments

SUGAR LAND, TEXAS After 30 years as Fairfield Industries, this seismic data acquisition and technology leader will today officially change its name to FairfieldNodal, a name that better reflects the company's expertise across the full spectrum of nodal technology.

"Most industry insiders know us for our spec work and processing, but the truth is, everything we do is nodal," says Walt Pharris, president of FairfieldNodal, "from the development and production of our ZNodalTM systems to our ZNodal licensing, processing and imaging."

FairfieldNodal designs and manufactures a suite of entirely cable-free nodal systems for virtually any terrain or marine depth. The small-footprint ZNodal systems can acquire crisp, clear data in dense urban areas or pristine wilderness, in shallow water or in deep ocean regions, quickly and without the risk associated with other, more cumbersome systems.

The company believes its ZNodal technology, recognized for reliable, premium-quality results, sets FairfieldNodal apart in an evolving market where nodal expertise is becoming essential.

"We know nodes," says Walt, putting it simply. "Actually, much of the spec data we're known for was shot with cableless nodal systems we developed right here at FairfieldNodal."

FairfieldNodal ZNodal systems are available for deployment worldwide.

Labels: fairfieldnodal

posted by The Rogtec Team @ 12:34  0 Comments

Castrol Marine, one of the leading global suppliers of marine lubricants and part of the BP Group, has announced it will be developing a dedicated lubricant technology centre in China.

Located in the Jinqiao Science Park in Shanghai, the new technology centre will focus on the development of lubricant technology for the marine industry, as well as the company's offshore, aviation, automotive and industrial business units. It will also support Chinese businesses that operate overseas.

With over 100 years of experience in the lubricants industry, Castrol works extensively with Chinese and international equipment manufacturers to develop lubricant solutions collaboratively to improve performance in existing applications and to develop products for future technologies. For example, Castrol Marine was the first oil major to develop and launch a comprehensive range of environmentally-responsible marine lubricants that, in addition to their enhanced environmental credentials, also offer performance benefits when compared with traditional mineral-oil based products.

The technology centre will feature state of the art analytical and lubricant development laboratory areas, a training facility and high-tech conference centre. It follows on from Castrol's recent launch of a tote tank offer at Guangzhou, China.

Luigi Tedesco, sales director for Castrol Marine, said: "This investment reinforces Castrol's commitment to its Chinese customers and consumers and is a key part of our strategic plan to expand our business in China. Together with our research and development centres in the United Kingdom and Germany, the new technology centre will give us a world class capability to meet the unique and exciting challenges of the Chinese market and the wider ASPAC region, both now and in the future. Shanghai was chosen because it is easily accessible for our customers and partners and we believe we can recruit talented scientists and engineers locally."

The new technology centre will be fully operational by the end of 2010 and will initially employ up to 20 Chinese and international scientists and engineers. This team will work collaboratively with vehicle manufacturers, distributors and other partners focusing on leading edge lubricant technology support, development and training.

Labels: castrol

posted by The Rogtec Team @ 15:22  0 Comments

TNK-BP's most mature production asset, Orenburgneft, appears to have has played a surprisingly important role in the company's expected 2.5% crude output increase in 2009.

Together with the firm's new fields - Uvat, Verkhnechonsk and Kamennoye - Orenburgneft output helped offset a production decline of 3-4% in 2008 at the company's west Siberian fields.

Orenburgneft produced almost 18 mln tons (360,000 b/d) of crude from the 2.3 bn bbls Orenburg fields last year, an increase of 6% on 2008. This was the most impressive growth of any of TNK-BP's mature fields and goes some way to justifying the firm's $1.5 bln of capital expenditure (capex) over the past few years.

TNK-BP plans to increase output to 18.5 mln tons this year, rising to 19 mln tons in 2011. After that, Orenburg output is due to plateau at 20 mln tons for 3-5 years, company vice-president Sergei Brezitsky says. But this peak could be raised to 25 mln tons if exploration of adjacent blocks proves successful.

Such impressive growth for a group of small fields that has been producing since 1929 was unthinkable in 2000, when TNK-BP predecessor TNK purchased the asset. Orenburgneft was producing 8 mmtpa at that time and was not expected to deliver any further growth. But growth became possible once the company started to explore mature fields scattered across four districts of the Orenburg region and discovered oil at a number of blocks, Brezitsky explains.

As well as boosting exploration, Orenburgneft increased production drilling by 150% last year, even though drilling activity across the rest of TNK-BP grew only slightly, Bank of Moscow analyst Denis Borisov says. Unlike Lukoil and Rosneft, TNK-BP has no plans to scale back operations at mature fields as it says it finds them profitable, even under Russia's current tax regime. It spends about $1 bln a year on keeping production at its giant Samotlor field in west Siberia at 33.5 mmtpa.

Labels: Orenburg, TNK BP

posted by The Rogtec Team @ 12:05  0 Comments

Encouraged by Orenburg's growth, TNK-BP plans to expand its reserves base into the adjacent Samara and Saratov regions, where it holds licences for several new fields. Orenburgneft will receive $70 mln for exploration this year from its parent company — as much as TNK-BP plans to spend exploring Uvat in the southern region of Tyumen, which has been producing since February 2009.

Expanding Uvat operations is a TNK-BP priority this year, with investment in the unit due to hit $500 mln. TNK-BP will switch the focus of its operations from the eastern hub, where the Ust-Tegusskoye and Urnenskoye fields are scheduled to produce 3 mln t, to the central hub's Tyamkinskoye field. The company has a total of 14 fields in this part of Uvat, but it is currently only commercially viable to develop four of them, Brezitsky says. The central hub's fields should produce 1 mln tons in 2012

Other expansion targets for TNK-BP include eastern Siberia, where it operates the Verkhnechonsk field. This project has proven more complicated and expensive than expected at the start of its development, but TNK-BP still views east Siberia as an attractive prospect — provided the government delivers tax concessions similar to the zero export duty currently applied to Verkhnechonsk crude.

TNK-BP is hoping that new tax breaks will be in place by the time its Yamal project fields are on stream. This year, it is focusing on preparing for full development of the Suzun and Russkoye fields, the first of its four Yamal fields due on stream. The firm hopes to start Suzun output in 2012, with the first heavy oil from Russkoye following in 2013. But first TNK-BP must find a transportation solution and it is hopeful that the government's soon-to-be-approved Yamal program will offer some options.

Labels: Orenburg, TNK BP

posted by The Rogtec Team @ 09:30  0 Comments

Polarcus, a leading marine geophysical company, has announced that it is using Castrol Marine's range of environmentally-responsible lubricants.

The company has teamed up with Castrol Marine, one of the leading global suppliers of marine lubricants, to further reduce its environmental footprint and protect the world's oceans. Castrol Marine's range of environmentally-responsible lubricants are designed for use throughout a vessel where leakage presents a risk.

Based in Dubai, Polarcus is making a significant investment into an ultra-modern seismic fleet of high-end 12 streamer 3D and multipurpose 6 streamer 3D vessels. The vessels boast highly advanced maritime technologies for improved operational efficiency with a reduced environmental footprint.

Polarcus vessels are constructed according to DNV CLEAN-DESIGN notation, controlling and limiting operational emissions and discharges. Castrol's Bio Range of Lubricants will be used on all Polarcus vessels to significantly reduce emissions in the marine environment.

Polarcus co-founder Peter Zickerman said: "Operations in extremely sensitive areas, such as the Arctic, set the bar for Polarcus' global fleet. Efficiency is maximised by ensuring all vessels stay ahead of any environmental legislation, avoiding the need to swap vessels for different areas. The Polarcus fleet is calculated to have half the overall exhaust emissions of its nearest competitors, and with the Castrol Bio Range helping to reduce the overall emission risk them even further. The proactive approach is shared by both companies; industry peers look to Polarcus as the best-in-class environmental operator and to Castrol as the first oil major to introduce a comprehensive range of environmentally responsible marine lubricants.

Mr Zickerman added: "The green agenda is very important to all employees and crew, making Polarcus' values more than just corporate statements. Ultimately, green business is good business: it increases efficiency and profitability, creates an exciting working environment and meets customer requests for sustainability."

Pooja Moulik, Castrol Marine account manager said: "Castrol's role is to deliver outstanding lubricant performance, while helping to protect some of the world's most sensitive oceans. Castrol has developed a comprehensive range of environmentally responsible stern tube/thrusters, hydraulic and gear lubricants and grease. The products are developed to minimise shipping impact on the environment and keep critical equipment operating at maximum efficiency for longer periods, extending lubricant life and ultimately adding value throughout operations.

Luigi Tedesco, Castrol Sales Director commented: Both Polarcus and Castrol demonstrate clear leadership in an industry facing up to mounting environmental pressure. There is not one easy solution to protect the environment; all industry players have a role to play. At Castrol, we are responding to this challenge through product innovation and industry cooperation and we are aspiring to meet the highest standards of sustainability.

For more information on Polarcus, visit www.polarcus.com

Labels: castrol, Polarcus

posted by The Rogtec Team @ 15:48  0 Comments

WFN Strategies, a US-based telecoms engineering company, is pleased to announce expanded service offerings from our recently formed Data Services Center in the form of worldwide microwave path analysis, GIS product development, database and server administration, hydrographic survey support, metadata analysis, data discovery, lifecycle data management, and software development. WFN Strategies personnel are ISO 9001 and CMMI qualified and have the appropriate training and implementation experience to assist customers with organizational implementations.

The WFN Strategies Data Services Center will offer the following services:

Cable Route Design, Engineering and Charting

WFN Strategies' proprietary software performs design and engineering of fiber optic cable routes and microwave communication paths. Decades of combined experience in telecommunications, hydrographic survey, mapping, and software development are combined into a software suite able to automate the engineering and budgetary analysis process. A unique feature of the microwave path analysis software is its ability to work worldwide, including the North and South poles, a feature not found in any other commercially-available software. Cable analysis can be performed worldwide, generating 3-D cable lengths and profiles using high-resolution bathymetry/topography.

GIS Product Development

WFN Strategies possesses the capability to deliver any type of GIS product worldwide. Detailed spatial datasets and associated metadata are gathered, quality controlled, and merged in to spatially-enabled SQL databases that can be used as-is or exported to industry standard formats. Satellite and seabed imagery, along with other specialized raster datasets, can be analyzed to include vector feature extraction, raster object detection and thematic texture analysis. WFN Strategies utilizes in-house spatial databases and automated mapping software to produce specialized GIS products like alignment charts, 3-D animations/fly-through, and interactive web maps.

Database & Server Administration

WFN Strategies provides cradle-to-grave database architecture and server administration services. Extensive SQL, PL/SQL and SQL Plus programming knowledge and over 15 years experience in this field ensures our customers are provided with dependable, scalable database solutions. Storage server selection plays a critical role in database architecture, and WFN Strategies can deploy solutions ranging from ultra-portable wireless data collection systems up to large scale multi-terabyte data centers. Data security and integrity is incorporated into every design element to ensure our customers not only have access to their data, but that the data is safe.

Metadata Analysis & Data Discovery

WFN Strategies is involved with U.S. and International metadata standards development and assists various agencies and private institutions with metadata gathering and discovery. The importance of metadata for any organization with electronic data warehouses may be obvious, but is also daunting to implement whether in the planning phase of a new project or undergoing remedial metadata recovery for existing data warehouses. WFN Strategies can help at any stage of the process.

Computer Systems

WFN Strategies maintains a wide variety of powerful computer systems, datacenter servers, commercial software, proprietary software and internet B2B and B2C solutions for our customers. Distributed across the US are GIS/visualization workstations, enterprise servers, co-location data centers, data storage, and web mapping/internet servers. This dedicated infrastructure enables WFN Strategies to process data faster and deliver a superior product in a compressed timeline.

WFN Strategies uses some of the latest workstation equipment available to process geographic data, such as: multibeam sonar, side-scan sonar, satellite altimeter, satellite imagery, and a wide variety of other raster and vector datasets.

WFN Strategies uses two geographically diverse datacenters with six-9's uptime in order to deliver email, data, documents, customer websites/portals, and web mapping solutions. Each rack-mounted quad-core enterprise-class server and the underlying load-balanced network infrastructure, ensure the best online presence and electronic delivery solutions to our customers.

About WFN Strategies:

WFN Strategies (http://www.wfnstrategies.com/) provides telecoms engineering solutions for remote and unique communication requirements. With ongoing projects in Antarctica, Asia Pacific, Colorado, North Sea and West Africa, WFN Strategies accomplishes telecoms engineering involving submarine and terrestrial optical cable, microwave, mobile, broadband wireless/WiMAX/WiFi, satellite and other RF technologies for commercial, oil & gas and government clients. WFN Strategies provides system strategy, acquisition and implementation support for all aspects of telecoms services, including developing the standards for system design, the tender process, contract forming, construction, physical deployment and maintenance. WFN Strategies has been selected by the submarine telecommunications industry association, SubOptic, to act as Media Partner in support of its upcoming conference in Yokohama in 2010, and publishes Submarine Telecoms Forum (http://www.subtelforum.com/), the industry's first electronic, dedicated magazine and RSS Feed, and the platform for discourse on submarine telecom cable and network operations. posted by The Rogtec Team @ 14:15  0 Comments

Petroleum ETC is pleased to announce the newest educational opportunity for the petroleum community. Advanced Frac School is a week-long course on hydraulic fracturing that covers advanced topics. The course is ideal for reservoir, production, and operations engineers that are involved with hydraulic fracturing on a routine basis. Designed as a supplement to Frac School, Advanced Frac School updates experienced engineers on the latest technology to successfully fracture needed zones. This is the first year that Advanced Frac School has been offered and it presents a valuable opportunity for petroleum professionals to learn from experts in the field.

Advanced Frac School will be offered twice in 2010. Houston's Norris Conference Center will host the first event February 8-12. The second Advanced Frac School offering will be held in College Station October 25-29.

Petroleum ETC is pleased to be working with very talented instructors for this course. Dr. John Lee and Dr. Peter Valkó (Texas A&M University faculty), Mike McCoy (consultant), and John Ely (Ely & Associates) will be conducting lessons within their specialties. Due to the complexity of material taught, this course is recommended for engineers with at least 5 years of experience.

For more information, visit www.advanced.fracschool.org or email Erin Shoemaker, event coordinator for Advanced Frac School, at Erin.Shoemaker@PetroleumETC.com. Registration forms may be found online.

Erin Shoemaker
Event Coordinator
Erin.Shoemaker@PetroleumETC.com
PetroleumETC
office: 979.268.8959
fax: 979.268.8718

Kristina Whitcomb
Marketing Director
Kristina.Whitcomb@PetroleumETC.com
PetroleumETC
office: 979.268.8959
fax: 979.268.8718 posted by The Rogtec Team @ 09:34  0 Comments