Coflexip Stena Offshore News

Coflexip Stena Offshore reported that its new deepwater pipelay and subsea construction vessel, the CSO Deep Blue, has commenced operations for the Williams Banjo/Seahawk project in the Gulf of Mexico after successful completion of her first mobilization at CSO's new spoolbase in Mobile, Ala. The vessel is to install the Boomvang and Nansen fields deepwater export pipelines. The CSO Deep Blue is to undertake the installation contract of the export pipelines from the Boomvang and Nansen fields, located in 3,600 ft. (1,100 m) water depth in the East Breaks blocks 643 and 602, to a platform located in 365 ft. (110 m) water depth in the Galveston area, block 244.

Coflexip Stena Offshore announced today that following the publication by the French Financial Markets' Board of the results of the public offerings of Technip on Coflexip's share capital, Technip now holds 98.36% of Coflexip and 98.54% of its voting rights. In its July 25 meeting, the Board of Directors of Coflexip had recommended that Coflexip shareholders tender their shares to Technip's offer. CSO, the leading global contractor for subsea and deepwater solutions to the offshore oil and gas industry, offers technically advanced and cost-effective best in class services and products for the development of offshore hydrocarbon fields worldwide.

upon his suggestion, Daniel Valot, Chairman of the Board of Technip-Coflexip, was appointed, effective October 17,, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Coflexip, providing him with the same powers as Pierre Marie Valentin. of Technip-Coflexip bylaws, which should occur early December 2001. effective best in class services and products for the development of offshore hydrocarbon fields worldwide. abandonment, the Group solutions in engineering, fabrication and installation are proposed on either an integrated or a segmented basis. expertise in moorings, pipeline-riser-umbilical systems and robotics. of subsea construction and installation vessels.

CSO Aker Marine Contractors, Inc. (CAMC), one of the Houston-based entities of the Coflexip Stena Offshore Group, announced the successful mooring of Diamond Offshore's rig the Ocean Confidence using a preset taut leg mooring with polyester rope and CAMC's SEPLA anchoring system while under contract to BP. The mooring location is in the Gulf of Mexico in 6,385 ft. (1,946 m). The project represents a significant advancement in deepwater mooring. BP, CAMC and Diamond Offshore set several Gulf of Mexico records with this project. The rig is the first MODU in the GOM to use polyester moorings on all 8 legs and the first rig to be moored employing SEPLAs on all 8 legs, a technology developed and patented by CSO Aker.

Coflexip Stena Offshore Ltd. (CSOL), a UK entity of the Technip-Coflexip Group, is in charge of a three-year contract from the Texaco, Amerada Hess and Talisman Energy (THT) multi-operator alliance to provide Diving Support Vessel (DSV) and Underwater Services in the North Sea. Within the scope of the contract, CSOL is responsible for delivering project management, engineering, DSV and subsea services, the objective being to maximize uptime and production potential of the three operators’ assets throughout the UK and Danish sectors of the North Sea. In addition, while typical operations included within the contract are subsea construction…

A&P Southampton recently welcomed a slightly unusual vessel to their dry-dock. The ship repair, maintenance and conversion company, whose customers mainly consist of Cruise, Ferry, and Trading Vessels have successfully completed a refit of Coflexip Stena Offshore’s CSO Seawell, an offshore support vessel at their King George V dry-dock. The ‘Seawell’ is a highly technical vessel accommodating three moonpools, two diving bells, divers decompression chambers, hyperbaric lifeboats and has a derrick with active heave capability and is normally employed doing well intervention in the North Sea. The Seawell arrived in Southampton during March for a dry dock and repair period lasting just over 5 weeks and involved various routine repairs including steelwork…

Coflexip Stena Offshore, along with Kvaerner, is finalizing the acquisition of the business of Houston-based pipeline engineering company Kvaerner R.J. Brown (KRJB). Closing was expected to occur on March 31. Known as a pipeline engineering company specializing in the design and installation of pipeline bundles and risers for deepwater applications, KRJB is renowned for its offshore pipeline design and towing techniques for more than 30 years. Operating as a separate engineering company under the R.J. Brown Deepwater name within the CSO Group, and working closely with CSO's Deepwater Field Development Division. RJB Deepwater will provide FEED engineering services on an independent basis.

Coflexip Stena Offshore, along with Kvaerner is finalizing the acquisition of the business of Houston-based pipeline engineering company Kvaerner R.J. Brown (KRJB). Closing was expected to occur on March 31. Known as a pipeline engineering company specializing in the design and installation of pipeline bundles and risers for deepwater applications, KRJB is renowned for its offshore pipeline design and towing techniques for more than 30 years. Operating as a separate engineering company under the R.J. Brown Deepwater name within the CSO Group, and working closely with CSO's Deepwater Field Development Division. RJB Deepwater will provide FEED engineering services on an independent basis.

TotalFinaElf picked Coflexip Stena Offshore and Stolt Offshore to pump oil from the tanker Erika, which sank off France's Atlantic coast. TotalFinaElf, which has faced widespread criticism in France for the disaster, has agreed with the government to pump up to 15,000 tons of heavy fuel still believed to be trapped in the holds of the tanker. The difficult operation, involving two ships with pumps and a tanker to carry the recovered oil to the Donges refinery near Nantes, is scheduled to begin next month. It is expected to be completed in September. TotalFinaElf has estimated the cost of the operation at $57 million.

One of the greatest challenges facing a lender in the maritime industry is appropriate assessment of risk. In this exciting, varied and vibrant industry, a lender's effective risk assessment requires a thorough understanding of the vagaries that characterize the industry. Many of the companies have been in business for 100 years or more. They have a long family history associated with the sea that has charted their economic destiny for decades. Experience and expertise are the key factors in designing a successful strategy to serve the maritime market, which is made up of skilled professionals who know their business from A to Z. Vessel owners also are proud of their company history.

Shiprepair and conversion specialist A&P Aberdeen has successfully completed the first contract at its newly opened Aberdeen workshop for Coflexip Stena Offshore. A&P worked on Coflexip's construction vessels CSO Orelia and CSO Alliance, which required equipment to be fabricated and delivered within a short timeframe. A&P's new facility, which opened its doors the beginning of June, was able to comply with these deadlines via a mobile workforce to fabricate the items; seafastening frames for CSO Orelia, delivered to Aberdeen and two lifting beams for CSO Alliance, delivered to Immingham.

Having added a unique multi-purpose offshore installations vessel and a powerful floating crane to its fleet, the Smit International Group is increasingly busy on installation heavy lift and heavy transport projects associated with FPSOs. Smit Pioneer, formerly a LASH carrier, was acquired and converted by Smit in 1999. The vessel represents a new concept for multi-purpose offshore installation tasks. This large, dock-type vessel is designed and equipped to remain on station for extended periods, having an unusually high degree of self-sufficiency. The multi-purpose vessel's primary roles include: installation of moorings, diverless tie-ins, well servicing, flexlay, manifold and riser installation, ROV support and long haul cablelay.

Standard & Poor's placed on CreditWatch with negative implications its triple-'B'-plus long-term corporate credit rating on Coflexip S.A., the parent company of the Coflexip Stena Offshore group. The 'A-2' short-term corporate credit rating was affirmed, as the long-term rating will not fall below triple-'B' The rating action follows a previous announcement that Coflexip has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire the deepwater division of Norway-based Aker Maritime ASA in a cash and debt-financed transaction set to weaken the group's previously very strong balance sheet. The transaction, which aims to create the leading global provider of offshore solutions in the oil services industry, would cost $513 million, with an additional $112 million of net debt assumed.

The booming global deepwater oil industry is on course to outpace supply of offshore development hardware in the next two years, according to an analysts' report. "Deepwater construction capacity will be insufficient to handle anticipated demand requirements in 2002 and particularly 2003-04," said an oilfield and equipment services report by Schroder Salomon Smith Barney. "We believe a rush of field development plans will be sanctioned in 2001, followed by major contract awards to marine contractors," it added. With oil prices having tripled in 18 months, companies are loosening constraints on exploration and development spending imposed during a price slump in 1998 and early 1999. But a backlog of potential developments could grow as limits emerge to equipment supply.

Cammell Laird Tyneside announced that it secured a significant conversion project for the vessel CSO Constructor. The vessel, which belongs to the Coflexip Stena Offshore Group, is currently a dynamically positioned offshore diving support vessel. The conversion project entails converting the vessel to undertake deep water flexible and rigid pipe laying activities together with deep water subsea installations. Work entails the addition of over 2,000 tons of new steel, the majority of which is in a new 15 m vessel length extension. Two new deck cranes, 25 & 300 tons and a hydraulically driven internal pipe carousel will be fitted along with a significant upgrade of the vessel's systems including the installation three new 1,360-kw generators.

It appears that the long-held promise of deepwater offshore discovery and recovery is well-positioned to pay off, particularly in the face of $30+ barrels of oil. As technology has increasingly allowed oil companies and offshore drilling firms to more accurately find and evaluate potential drilling hot spots, there has been a fervor for the development of deepwater drilling equipment and design of offshore supply vessels to support the operation. The booming global deepwater oil industry is on course to outpace supply of offshore development hardware in the next two years, according to an analysts' report, as reported in the October 30 edition of Maritime Week, sister-publication to Maritime Reporter & Engineering News.

Global Marine’s worldwide SCORE, or Summary of Current Offshore Rig Economics, for September 2000 increased 1.8 percent over the previous month. Global Marine Chairman, President and CEO Bob Rose said, “September marks the 13th consecutive month of improvement in the worldwide SCORE and the 15th consecutive month of improvement in the Gulf of Mexico SCORE. Global Marine’s SCORE compares the profitability of current mobile offshore drilling rig rates to the profitability of rates at the 1980-81 peak of the offshore drilling cycle, when speculative new rig construction was common. In the 1980-81 period, when Global Marine’s SCORE averaged 100 percent, new-contract dayrates equaled the sum of daily cash operating costs plus approximately $700 per day per million dollars invested.

Coflexip Stena Offshore (CSO) has finalized with Aker Maritime, the acquisition of its deepwater operations. The company's Deepwater Division, which is headquarted in Houston, Texas, was attained for $513 million plus the assumption of net debt of $112 million. The two parties had initially announced, on October 29, 2000, that they had entered into a conditional agreement whereby CSO would acquire the shares of the companies encompassing the Deepwater Division of Aker. The final price of the acquisition will be subject to various adjustment mechanisms on the basis of audited financial statements of the Deepwater Division at December 31, 2000.

CSO Aker Maritime, Inc. (formerly Aker Maritime, Inc.), one of Coflexip Stena Offshore's Houston-based entities, has been awarded a contract for delivery of multiple SPAR floating production platforms for BP's deepwater developments in the Gulf of Mexico. CSO Aker Maritime, Inc. will deliver the SPAR hulls and mooring systems under a program calling for up to five SPARs. This award is the largest in scope and value for the CSO Group. CSO Aker Maritime, Inc. will be responsible for the engineering, procurement, fabrication and delivery of the complete hulls and mooring systems. The program contract calls for the first SPAR delivery in 2003.

Coflexip Stena Offshore said its new-built ultra deepwater pipelay and subsea construction vessel, the CSO Deep Blue, was delivered on March 1, by Hyundai Mipo Dockyards after is successfully completed sea trials. CSO Deep Blue - at the time of the release -- was sailing to the Netherlands, where her unique CSO designed pipelay equipment, will be installed. This pipelay system will allow the vessel to lay rigid pipe (reeled and J-Lay), flexible pipe, and umbilicals down to 8,200 ft. (2,500 m), offering CSO clients the full range of products and installation options for their deep and ultra deepwater developments. The vessel is to begin operations during summer 2001 after sea trials with her pipelay equipment.

Coflexip Stena Offshore has finalized, with Aker Maritime ASA, the acquisition of its deepwater operations, the "Deepwater Division" headquartered in Houston, for $513 million plus the assumption of net debt of $112 million. The two parties had announced on October 29, 2000, that they had entered into a conditional agreement whereby Coflexip Stena Offshore will acquire the shares of the companies making up the Deepwater Division of Aker Maritime ASA for a value of $513 million plus the assumption of debt of $112 million at December 31, 2000. The final price of the acquisition will be subject to various adjustment mechanisms on the basis of audited financial statements of the Deepwater Division at December 31, 2000.

Coflexip Stena Offshore reported that its decision to take the vessel FlexService out of commission. The CSO fleet, which is known as one of the largest in the industry - is now comprised of 14 pipelay and subsea construction vessels. Up until November 12, 2000, FlexService was chartered to Petrobras who, despite the vessel's performance, decided on early termination of the charter initially scheduled for the end of February 2001. Known as the oldest vessel in the fleet, FlexService had spent 60 percent of its life with Petrobras in the Brazilian waters - garnering the first title of the first vessel to lay flexible pipe beyond 1,000 m water depth. Upgraded on a variety of occasions, the 40-year-old vessel has recovered and re-laid more then 5,000 km of flexible pipes and umbilicals.

Coflexip Stena Offshore has finalized, with Aker Maritime ASA, the acquisition of its deepwater operations, the "Deepwater Division" headquartered in Houston, for $513 million plus the assumption of net debt of $112 million. The two parties had announced on 29 October 2000 that they had entered into a conditional agreement whereby Coflexip Stena Offshore will acquire the shares of the companies making up the Deepwater Division of Aker Maritime ASA for a value of $513 million plus the assumption of debt of $112 million at December 31, 2000. The final price of the acquisition will be subject to various adjustment mechanisms on the basis of audited financial statements of the Deepwater Division at December 31, 2000.