Friday 22 May 2015

Protea launches new cranes

Protea, a global manufacturer of offshore handling equipment, will be launching not one, but two types of game changing heavy lift cranes at Nor-Shipping 2015 in Oslo on 2-5 June.

Both cranes, by a combination of efficient, innovative design and the use of ultra-high grade steel in their construction, set new standards in lifting performance and structural efficiency.

“The target of any marine crane design is to provide high lifting performance whilst minimising overall weight. Over the past three years we have been developing the technology and construction methodology to allow a step change in the structural efficiency of heavy lift cranes,” explains Tomasz Paszkiewicz, Protea’s CEO.

“We are now able to deliver high performance heavy lift cranes that comply with the relevant Class requirements but with a weight saving in the order of 40 % in comparison to existing cranes of a similar capacity.”

The two new crane types are:

HEAVY LIFT FLOATING CRANE
The first is a 1600mT SWL floating crane targeted at the offshore wind market for the installation of offshore wind turbines. It provides a high capacity lifting capability at both short and long outreaches over a large radius, a key feature for offshore wind farm operations.

HEAVY LIFT CARGO CRANE
The second is a 450mT SWL versatile cargo lift crane that can be used for handling both shipping containers and bulky items of hardware. Typically supplied as a working pair and designed to allow safe tandem lifts, the saving in crane weight translates directly to an increase in cargo capacity for the cargo vessel.

In another innovation, both cranes can be supplied with a fully electric drive system with locally mounted permanent magnet synchronous motors to provide efficient and precise operation of all crane functions.

The cranes will be manufactured at Protea’s industry leading production facility in Kluczbork allowing the high quality equipment to be supplied on a cost effective basis.

In addition to the new cranes, visitors to Nor-Shipping will be able to learn about the full Protea range including offshore winches, launch and recovery systems, and heave compensation systems.
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Thursday 21 May 2015

BG Group assumes operational control of QCLNG

BG Group reported that operational control of Train 1 at its Queensland Curtis LNG plant has been formally transferred to QGC, BG Group's Australian subsidiary, from Bechtel Australia, which constructed the facility.

"We are pleased to be taking operational control of QCLNG following its successful start-up and commissioning over the past six months," said Helge Lund, BG Group’s Chief Executive

"I would like to thank our partners Bechtel for building this world-first facility and helping to establish the LNG industry on the east coast of Australia. The cargoes from Train 1, along with those from Train 2 when it starts up later this year, will add flexibility to BG Group’s LNG portfolio. The transfer of operational control, and CNOOC’s approval, have also progressed our pipeline disposal, which we expect to complete in the coming weeks."

In addition, the Company announces that approval for the sale of its QCLNG gas pipeline has been received from BG Group's Train 1 equity partner, the China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC).  As a result, the preconditions for sale of the QCLNG pipeline to APA Group have been satisfied in full. The sale of the pipeline remains on track for completion in the second quarter of 2015.

The transfer of operational control of Train 1 marks the start of commercial operations at QCLNG.  First production from Train 1 occurred in December 2014, with 16 cargoes shipped to date. QCLNG’s Train 2 is currently under construction, and is expected to start operations in the third quarter of 2015.
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