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Thursday, September 20, 2000 Consortium completes Erika pumping operations Coflexip Stena Offshore International said yesterday that it had successfully completed all work on the contract awarded by TotalFinaElf for the neutralization of the cargo contained in the wrecked tanker Erika, sunk in December 1999 off the Brittany coast e. CSO Constructor, the last vessel of the consortium to work on the two sections of the wreck, has completed its work after removal by the divers of all subsea structures associated to the pumping operations in 125 m of water. The contract was awarded last April to the consortium formed by CSO International and Stolt Offshore. It called for recovery and neutralization of heavy fuel remaining in the two sections of the wreck, located about 10 km apart. The work was broken down into three main phases: First in June, the survey of the wreck sections by the Triton XL remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and the preparation by divers of the two sections of the wreck for pumping operations, including drilling of the hull, and installation of valves to recover the fuel safely, From July to the beginning of September, the actual pumping operations using the process developed by and under the direction of TotalFinaElf, Lastly, the decommissioning of the two operation sites which has just been completed. For this operation, the consortium led by CSO mobilized a team of nearly 40 people onshore and 300 professional workers offshore split between seven vessels (CSO Constructor, Seaway Kestrel, Crystal Ocean, British Shield, Anglian Duke, Melide and Zeus). Subsea operations performed by the divers from the two dynamically positioned, construction vessels (CSO Constructor and Seaway Kestrel), represented an overall 30,000 hours of saturation, of which 9,600 were actually spent under water on the two sections of the wreck. The work performed by the divers included drilling the hull and installing 64 valves to recover the Erika cargo, and installing and recovering the pumping system.   ILS introduces BidQuest Inventory Locator Service, Inc. (ILS) is introducing BidQuest for the marine industry. BidQuest is an online "request for bids'' procurement product that helps buyers get the best possible price, and matches vendors with ready-to-purchase customers, in the shortest possible time. Launched as part of ILSmart.com, BidQuest employs a user-friendly, fill-in-the-blank form that allows companies to immediately advertise their parts and equipment needs, upload their bidding specifications and requirements, decide on the length of the "request for bids'' process, and select vendors in a fraction of the time the traditional RFQ process requires. "BidQuest represents the next step in our on-going effort to provide our customers with full transaction capabilities,'' said Bruce Langsen, ILS' president. BidQuest, says ILS, saves time and money by eliminating countless phone calls and fax queries, as buyers garner bids online. BidQuest lets parts buyers determine the length, rules and scope of the bidding process. At the same time, BidQuest provides a host of information management capabilities, enabling buyers and vendors to view a summary of their requests for proposals and bids, which are maintained in history file. Subscribers can easily generate customized reports for analysis of their purchasing activities.   Teekay Shipping wins FSO contract for Legendre Karratha Spirit Pty. Ltd., the wholly owned Australian subsidiary of Teekay Shipping Corporation has been awarded a contract by Woodside Energy Ltd. to supply a floating storage and offtake (FSO) tanker to the Legendre Project, in permit WA-20-L on the North West Shelf of Australia. The contract is for an initial three year period, with options to extend to ten ) years. Woodside is operator of the Legendre oilfields development 100km north west of Dampier, on behalf of joint venture partners Apache Energy Limited and Santos Limited. Under the terms of the FSO contract, Teekay Shipping will convert the 1988-built 106,700dwt Aframax tanker Pioneer Spirit to an FSO tanker ready for first oil from the Legendre fields in second quarter 2001. "Teekay won the tender on the strength of its commercial and technical proposal,'' said Woodside's Legendre Project Manager, Duncan Clegg, on award of the contract. Bjorn Moller, President and CEO of Teekay Shipping said: "We are delighted that Teekay has been awarded this valuable contract against some very strong competition. Offshore services is a an area of growth for the company and this latest achievement is a further example of our expanding involvement in this marketplace.'' News Index  Marine Log Home page