HOLY GRAIL

Oil Firms To Keep Spending Tight Despite High Prices

The absence of quality new merger opportunities will force oil companies to keep spending tight even though this year's oil price recovery has given them far more cash to work with, analysts said. Oil companies are now locked into the regime of tighter financial discipline they promised share investors during last year's crash, and will be unable to embark on the usual rush for production growth as the market recovers, they added. "The pendulum cannot swing quickly back and capital spending is not going to rebound," Fergus Macleod of Deutsche Bank said. "Oil companies have got to deliver on the agenda they set themselves. The market is very unforgiving of failure." Fears of losing equity confidence mean oil companies will take around two years to raise spending in pursuit of market share left open by OPEC producers' supply cuts, he added. Companies must now look even more closely at their own operations to enhance rate of return as the big savings generated by huge mergers like Exxon/Mobil, BP Amoco and TotalFina were no longer on offer. The 15-month merger drive has focused on companies bumping up their oil reserve book by absorbing smaller rivals to make up for the slower rate across the industry of finding big new fields. "There are not a lot of those opportunities left," said John McCormack of Stern Stewart in New York. "The easy, low-lying fruit has been substantially picked."

Enormous Sunken Treasure Claim Conceded, Thirty Years On

Government of Colombia lawyers concede salvage company Sea Search Armada to be rightful owner of 50% of treasure proceeds. Lawyers representing the Government of Colombia (GOC) admitted recently in a U.S. court that Sea Search Armada (SSA), engaged in a long-running suit with Colombia, was the rightful owner of 50 percent of the proceeds of perhaps the most valuable sunken treasure in history.  This is the first time representatives of the government have conceded this point in over 30

Navy Prototype HTS Motor on Schedule for Testing

American Superconductor Corporation has completed the manufacture and testing of the rotor assembly for the world's first high temperature superconductor (HTS) ship propulsion motor. AMSC, which is manufacturing the prototype motor under a contract from the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR), has now shipped the rotor assembly to ALSTOM's Power Conversion Business in the U.K. ALSTOM is contracted by AMSC to build the stator and to take care

Barthco Chairman to Receive “Spirit of the Port” Award

The Seamen’s Church Institute of Philadelphia & South Jersey (SCI) announced this year’s recipient of the 2006 Spirit of the Port award will be Dennis J. Colgan, Jr., chairman and CEO of BARTHCO International, one of the largest Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders in the United States. The award will be presented to Mr. Colgan at the 18th Annual Spirit of the Port Award luncheon to be held March 29 in Philadelphia

Cool Under Pressure in Harsh Environs

GC Rieber Shipping, the Norway-based harsh environment shipping specialist, has charged ULSTEIN with developing a high-capacity subsea vessel based on its SX121 design. This $141m million ship, ordered in June 2012, alongside an option for a sister vessel, has been commissioned in response to strong market desire for offshore construction support vessels (CSVs) for deep and harsh environments.  Alongside state-of-the-art features, equipment and performance figures

American Investors and Colombian Government Battle over $17 Billion Treasure Salvage

A group of investors sued the Colombian government for preventing American salvage group Sea Search Armada from recovering San Jose, a ship that sank in 1708, often referred to as the “Holy Grail of Shipwrecks.” With numerous court rulings throughout the years, the battle has lasted since 1979. In a case filed March 29 with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), a group of American investors claimed the government of Colombia violated their human rights by

A Step Forward For Thick Section Plate Cutting

For years, general manufacturing companies have enjoyed the benefit of laser cutting systems for producing complex or simple parts in batch volumes as low as one, and as high as tens of thousands. The laser is an incredibly powerful tool that remains unsurpassed in manufacturing activities across the world. As flexible and reconfigurable production tool that provides welding, cutting and machining capabilities in a single device

Lapponian Reefer Docks at A&P Falmouth

The Cayman Islands reefer vessel, Lapponian Reefer, has recently completed a nine day dry docking program where it underwent an extensive 10 year survey and repair work. The 11,095dwt vessel, owned by Holy House Shipping, dry docked on January 7, 2002 for works which included repairs of internal tank fractures, survey and repairs of sea valves, overhaul of the main engine, survey bearings and turbo charger overhaul. The gearbox was also opened and surveyed and the propeller blades were

SCI Appoints Lower Mississippi Chaplain

On March 1, the Rev. Michael Christopher Nation begins work at the Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI) as a chaplain for Ministry on the River, the nation’s only full-time pastoral care ministry on the Ohio and Lower Mississippi River systems. Operating from Vicksburg, MS (where Nation served as rector of a local parish for over 9 years), the new SCI chaplain ministers to mariners working in the Lower Mississippi River region. He succeeds the Rev. Michael Hammett who left SCI last year

Insights: Chris Charman Chief Executive, International Marine Contractors Association

Chris Charman took over as Chief Executive of the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) in December of last year. IMCA’s Chief Executive leads the IMCA secretariat and is responsible for delivering the association’s extensive global work program. Charman, perhaps not widely known to our North American readership, nevertheless brings impressive qualifications to this important advocacy group for the international offshore, marine and underwater engineering sectors