Ken Salazar approves Cape wind project.

The biggest news of the year came in April, when Interior Secretary Ken Salazar granted federal approval to the long-running Cape Wind offshore wind project.

BG Group today announced that the initial Extended Well Test on the Guará discovery in the BM-S-9 concession offshore Brazil commenced on 25th December 2010.

Jude    Maritime News     BM-S-9, Cape Wind offshore wind project, concession offshore Brazil, FPSO Cicade de Sao Paulo, gas prices, gas updates, Guará discovery, Native American tribe, Offloading vessel Dynamic Producer, offshore brazil, offshore news, world of gas, world of oil

Severe weather strikes Royal Caribbean cruise

The Royal Caribbean International cruise ship ‘Brilliance of the Seas’ experienced heavy seas and 70 knot winds – nearly double what had been forecast – while sailing to Alexandria in Egypt.

Damen has been tasked with developing the first environmentally friendly ferry design for the Dutch shipping company Rederij Doeksen.

STX Finland and Viking Line have signed a preliminary agreement for the construction of a new generation cruise ferry for Viking Line.

Jude    Maritime News     Brilliance of the Seas, Dutch Wadden islands of Vlieland, Henk Grunstra, Rederij Doeksen, Royal Caribbean International, STX Europe shipyard in Turku, STX Finland, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Viking Line, Wadden Sea

PetroChina Sells Gas Pipeline

PetroChina Co. agreed to sell its stake in a gas pipeline operator to subsidiary Kunlun Energy Co. for $2.9 billion to help make fuel distribution the main business of the Hong Kong-listed oil producer.

State-owned Turkmengas has begun the $3.4 million second phase of its South Yoloten project, according to international oil and gas service company Petrofac, London.

Jude    Oil and Gas     Beijing Enterprises Holdings Ltd., Beijing Gas Group Co., gas pipeline operator, Hong Kong stock exchange, Kunlun Energy Co., London, middle east oil crisis, oil exploration, PetroChina Beijing Natural Gas Pipeline Co., PetroChina Co., Petrofac, South Yoloten project, Turkmengas, world oil

CNOOC quits Kenya, heads to Uganda

China National Offshore Oil Corporation AKA (CNOOC) is exiting the Kenya oil exploration market in a move that has shifted the balance of power in the oil and prospecting business to Western nations.

Some 50 billion dollars of investment is required in order to complete the development of the remaining phases of South Pars gas field, the Iranian oil minister said here on Saturday.

Iraq’s new central government plans to recognise contracts for oil and gas production in Iraqi Kurdistan, a step towards healing an extended rift that has delayed development of some of the world’s largest oilfields.

Jude    Oil and Gas     Africa Oil, arab oil, Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, CNOOC, Kenya oil exploration market, Masoud Mirkazemi, Mehr News Agency, National Iranian Oil Company, oil and gas, oil and gas drilling, oil exploration, oil prices, Patrick Nyoike, South Pars, Tullow Oil, world oil, world's largest oilfields

China to secure all its oil and gas supplies

China’s dependence on increasing amounts of oil imported from potentially unstable areas of the Middle East and Africa through vulnerable shipping channels has become an uncomfortable fact of life for the government in Beijing.

Oil and gas issues, whether it’s prices or supply and demand fears, stayed unpredictable as ever in 2010.

Jude    Oil and Gas     billionaire oilmen George Kaiser, British thermal units, imported crude oil, Malacca dilemma, Middle East, Middle East-Africa region, offshore market, oil market, Oil Price, oil price surge, oil updates, Southeast Asia, Straits of Malacca, T. Boone Pickens, Tom Ridge, United States

DP World sells its Australian operations

DP World and Citi Infrastructure Investors (CII) have formed a strategic partnership to invest in, operate and manage DP World’s five marine terminals in Australia.

Hamriya Port in Sharjah recently received its largest general cargo ship, according to local media reports.

Jude    Maritime News     Citi Infrastructure Investors, dp world, DP World Australia, Hamriya Port, Maritime News, maritime updates, Sharjah, smaller cargo ships. Maritime waves, The ‘Veesham Oak’, Veesham Shipping

U.S. rig count goes up by 5

The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by five this week to 1,714.

ONGC and Russian company Siestema will now merge their oil and gas businesses in Russia under a joint venture.

Reliance Industries Ltd said on Wednesday that deepwater gas price has to be higher than the current $ 4.2 a mmbtu considering present oil and gas prices in the global market and investments involved in India in the sector.

Jude    Oil and Gas     Atul Chandra, demand for oil and gas, Houston based Baker Hughes Inc., Imperial Energy, Indian Oil Corporation, major oil and gas producing states, oil boom in the US, oil demand, Oil price rise., petrol prices, Reliance Industries Ltd., rigs exploring oil and natural gas

Mackenzie Gas Project to create more jobs

Approval of the Mackenzie Gas Project is being welcomed by the territorial government in Yukon, which says if the $16.2-billion project goes ahead, it would provide jobs and a portal to ship Yukon gas to market. Climate change is opening up this region, which holds an estimated 25 percent of the world’s remaining oil and gas, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

One principal question mark in this ballyhooed rush north has been the doubts of environmentalists, who note that in the case of a spill, the Gulf of Mexico would be child’s play compared with the Arctic, where spills dissipate far less easily and cleanup efforts are far more difficult than they are on the Louisiana coast.

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) will today release the guidelines to regulate the underwriting of oil and gas insurance. In a statement, the Senior Manager, Corporate Affairs, NAICOM, Mr ‘Salami ‘Rasaaq Obomeile, said the guidelines will help regulate oil and gas business and develop the local market.

Jude    Maritime News     Arctic development, Department of Energy, Insurance Act 2003, Mackenzie Gas Project, Mackenzie pipeline, Mines and Resources, more jobs, NAICOM, National Insurance Commission, Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act 2010, oil and gas resources, U.S. Geological Survey

U.S. Oil & Natural Gas Rig Count Falls

Oil and natural gas rigs operating in the U.S. fell from a 23-month high this week, according to data published by Baker Hughes Inc. The combined oil and gas rig count declined by 14 to 1,709, the first drop in four weeks.

Canada’s Enerplus Resources Fund said it expects production to grow 10-15 percent over the next two years, driven by the development of its Bakken light oil and the Marcellus gas plays.

Jude    Maritime News     Baker Hughes Inc., Bakken light oil, Bakken oil region in Saskatchewan, British thermal units, effects on oil, Enerplus Resources Fund, Marcellus gas, Marcellus shale, New York Mercantile Exchange, oil and gas rig count, oil and natural gas, oil price surge, oil prices, rig counts falls in US, unconventional oil

Cheoy Lee delivers first two tugs to Panama

Hong Kong’s Cheoy Lee Shipyards has handed over the first two tugs of a thirteen-vessel Z-Tech tug order for the Panama Canal.

The first vessel, ‘Calovebora’, was delivered in August 2010, The Brazilian Port of Recife/Pernambuco is served by a powerful new ship-handling tug.

The owners, Navemar Transportes e Comércio Marítimo, took delivery of the vessel, named ‘Navemar XIII’, this September 2010.

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