Gas & Oilfields Services Company (Gofsco) has landed a US$122 million to provide oil field services in Kuwait. The company signed the contract, covering the provision of slicklines and associated services, with Kuwait Oil Company (KOC). Slicklines are long metal wires used for the maintenance and mo
Houston-based J. Ray McDermott, a subsidiary of McDermott International, Inc., is upgrading its primary Gulf of Mexico derrick/pipelay barge, DB50, for future deepwater projects, by adding new thrusters and increasing its electrical power supply. The DB50 will have its entire power plant replaced wi
An operation to salvage a cargo ship which was deliberately grounded off the Devon coast has been officially declared as completed. The MSC Napoli was beached off Branscombe in January 2007 after being storm damaged in the English Channel. The Secretary of State’s Representative for Maritime Salvage
Construction work on a £500m project to create 14 gas storage caverns 1.5 miles (2.4km) under Dorset is set to start. Work at Upper Osprey was put on hold last November with managers blaming “challenging market conditions” but will begin at the site on Friday. The natural gas chambers will house one
US Coast Guard officials have called off their search for about 70 migrants from Haiti whose boat capsized off the Turks and Caicos Islands. Fifteen people have already been confirmed dead, and 118 were rescued. The US Coast Guard had been leading the search; local authorities in the Turks and Caico
A £12m deal has been signed which will secure phase one of a plan to restore the Cotswold Canals network. The agreement means work on the stretch of waterway between Stonehouse and Brimscombe can begin. In October a new bridge will be built over the canal at Upper Mills and dredging will take place
The first electricity generated by tidal power in shallow waters is coming ashore on the banks of the Humber. The 100kW Humber prototype system, developed by Sheffield-based Pulse Tidal, uses tidal streams to move horizontal blades up and down to drive a generator. It has shown it can harness enough
With its centenary year safely behind it, Sestao’s La Naval shipyard has successfully met a new challenge: building the world’s largest dredger. The Christopher Columbus left for Singapore this week after a trouble-free launch in the river Nervión and delivered to Belgian ship-owner Jan de Nul. Gett
According to Salvatore Basile, the newly appointed chief executive of Ferretti, the Italian yacht maker, there are the new rich and there are the permanently rich. As the company reels from the global financial crisis, he is pinning his hopes on the latter. In an interview with the Financial Times o
MSC Splendida, christened on July 12th in Barcelona by Italian icon Sophia Loren during a ceremony featuring several world-class performers, is the second in a series of Fantasia-class sister vessels to join the expanding fleet of leading European cruise line MSC Cruises. The new vessel incorporates
In formal ceremonies today in the historic port of Southampton, England, before an audience of press, travel agents, and other special guests, Celebrity Cruises’ newest ship – Celebrity Equinox – was officially named. After buglers and a bagpipe and drum corps opened the ceremony, followed by a pian
The European Union has announced plans to train Somali security forces to tackle the pirates operating along the country’s coast. It will send a planning team to the region next month. The training will take place in neighbouring Djibouti, which has French and US military bases. EU nations have alre
An £11m refit of a Royal Navy frigate is being carried out at a Devon dockyard. Babcock Marine has started work on HMS Westminster at its Devonport yard. The Type 23 frigate is set to receive an update to her Seawolf self-defence missile system as well as the command system which controls her weapon
A massive former oil yard in the Highlands offers an ideal site for the breaking up of redundant ships and oil rigs, a demolition firm has said. DSM Demolition is to set out its plans for mothballed Nigg in Easter Ross, to Energy Minister Jim Mather. Highland Council has said it will take legal acti
