From Houston (BN): A new regulatory filing has shed a bit more light on Shell’s STONES (SEN, 31/17) floater project, targeted for startup in 2016 with the second fpso in the Gulf of Mexico.

Previously, SEN has reported that the project will feature a subsea pumping system and such ‘firsts’ as the deepest gas pipeline, the deepest moored fpso and the first lazy wave steel catenary risers (slwr) to be deployed from a disconnectable fpso.

BOEM’s just filed site-specific environmental assessment (SEA) notes planned use of three sets of three synthetic mooring lines, as at Petrobras’ Cascade-Chinook fpso with each line consisting of chain and polyester rope segments and a submerged spring buoy between the polyester and the fpso turret.

The SEA also describes the slwr’s in some detail, indicating they will consist of four sections – an upper catenary section, a buoyant section supported by synctatic foam buoys, a lower catenary section and a bottom section, which will lie on the seafloor most of the time.

From the North Sea (NT): Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority has given its consent for the operation of the gas export line for BG Norge’s KNARR (31/14) project, which connects with the FLAGS trunkline in the UK sector close to the Brent complex.

Permission from UK authorities, ie DECC, will be required for the 30km section which runs in British waters.

Start-up on Knarr is approaching. The fpso is installed on the field and riser pull-in has started, BG tells SEN, but whether it will be achieved before year-end depends very much on the weather.

Meanwhile the semi Transocean Searcher has spudded Jordbær Southeast exploration well seeking additional reserves to put through the Knarr fpso.

From the North Sea (NT): Statoil and its partners have given themselves an extra six months to establish the viability of installing a minimal facilities tension leg platform on the SNORRE (31/15) field to improve oil recovery.

The decision on whether to proceed with the tlp plan - ie the next decision gate or DG2 - will now be taken in October 2015 rather than in March.

The extension will make it possible to ‘take full advantage of the improvement potential initiated by Statoil’s STEP (Statoil technical efficiency programme) and the current focus on cost efficiency within the industry,’ the operator says.

The timing of the final investment decision and start-up of the new platform, Q4 2016 and Q4 2021, respectively, remains unchanged.

With its complex reservoir, Snorre represents one of the highest IOR potentials in the Norwegian sector. From the existing two platforms, recovery of 47% is expected by 2040, but with the addition of the third platform and the injection of imported gas, it is hoped to raise this to 54%.

The government of Ghana has given the go-ahead for Eni’s deepwater SANKOFA development. While there are 150mmbbls of oil to recover with projected first production in 2016 and a plateau of 50,000b/d, it is the gas here that is of greater interest.

The development is expected to produce 4.8mcm/d in phase two (2017) which will feed a power station. Total gas reserves are put at 31bcm.

The development will be based around a leased fpso with SBM, Modec and BW all having been bidders at one time. While water depth across the Offshore Cape Three Points licence ranges from under 100m to 1,400m, the development will be in 800-1,000m range.

The jackup production unit Cendor has been towed from the eponymous field, offshore Malaysia, to Batam Island, Indonesia, for upgrade work and modificadtions prior to being towed to the KrisEnergy’s WASSANA field, offshore Thailand.

Turner & Townsend will provide management and construction services to Eni during the fabrication and assembly of its floating LNG vessel which will operate in the CORAL (31/15) field in Area 4, offshore Mozambique...Oil & Gas UK has issued updated guidelines on MOORING INTEGRITY and TANDEM OFFLOADING operations to operators in the sector.

Reach Subsea will use Eidesvik Offshore’s newbuild VIKING NEPTUN to provide rov services to Technip in Norway.

Subsea 7's latest pipelay vessel SEVEN RIO has been launched from IHC’s Krimpen aan den Ijssel in the Netherlands. This is the second - followsing Seven Waves - of four newbuilds headed to Brazil to work for Petrobras. Two more units - Seven Sun and Seven Cruzeiro - are due out of the shipyard in 2016.

Rio is 146m by 30m with DPII rating. It has tiltable lay system with top tension of 550t and twin below-deck carousels of 1,500t and 2,500t. It is also fitted with two rovs.

The keel has been laid for DeepOcean’s new CABLELAY vessel being built at the Damen shipyard in Galati, Romania. The unit is built for Maersk Shipping and is being taken on a long-term charter targetting both the offshore oil and gas and renewables markets. It is being equipped with a 7,000t carousel.

Damen has also taken on the upgrade of the industry’s oldest dedicated subsea well intervention vessel SEAWELL at its Dutch yard at Vlissingen.

This venerable unit, nearly 30 years old, is to undergo a major overhaul including removal and replacement of the derrick plus new power generation, maintenance on thrusters and azimuths and the replacement of existing craneage with a new 50t ahc boom crane.

Oceaneering has taken msv OCEAN PRIDE on a two-year charter for operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The vessel, 103m long with a DPII rating, will be modified to handle two workclass rovs and will be equipped with satellite communications for realtime video streaming to shore.

Ceona has christened its newbuild field development vessel CEONA AMAZON in Bremerhaven, Germany. The unit, 199m by 32m, will now be fitted with twin 400t cranes and 570t multi-lay pipe tower that will be part of its G-lay concept (31/4) at Huisman in Schiedam, The Netherlands.

Offshore