Page 14: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2007)

14 MTR January 2007

Offshore news Merwede Shipyard received the contract for the design and construction of a new

Diving Support/ROV Support/Deepwater

Construction vessel for Superior Offshore

International. This vessel is the first to be built at the newly commissioned fourth slipway of the group in Krimpen aan den

IJssel (the Netherlands). Merwede

Shipyard was granted this order because of its ability to design and offer a fixed price for the vessel including the integration of the complete ROV spread and cranes with- in the required short delivery time. The vessel is scheduled for delivery in mid- 2008.

The vessel will be built in accordance with the Rules and Regulations of DNV, to obtain the following notation: DNV X 1A1, EO, SF, Dynpos, AUTRO, HELDK,

DSV-SAT.

The ship was designed by Merwede

Shipyard in concert with Superior

Offshore based on an enhanced version of

Merwede Shipyard's versatile 22 m beam design. It will be a fully Dynamic

Positioned Diving Support/ROV

Support/Deepwater Construction Vessel, suitable for worldwide operation. Superior

Offshore will install a modular 12-man 300 m Saturation Diving System with

Hyperbaric Rescue Chamber. The ship will have the capability to support a modular 24-man dual bell 300-m Saturation

System with dual Hyperbaric Rescue

Chambers when required. The Trition XL

ROV's System will be fully integrated into the vessel.

Cranes will include a 70/140 metric ton heave compensated offshore crane; a 160- metric ton offshore crane and a 300-metric ton heave compensated A&R winch that can either work over the side (port or star- board) or through the large work moon- pool. The large clear deck area provides scope for a range of other applications.

Superior Offshore International LLC performs its services in both surface and saturation diving modes in water depths of up to 1,000 ft. The acquisition of this new

DP III vessel, combined with their work class ROV's, will allow Superior to achieve the long range goal to enter the deepwater construction market worldwide.

Main Particulars

Length, o.a. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .432 ft. (131.7 m)

Length, bpp, on design draft . . . . . . . . . . .386.2 ft. (117.7 m)

Breadth, molded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72.2 ft. (22 m)

Depth main deck molded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31.2 ft. (9.5 m)

Draught design molded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20.5 ft. (6.25 m)

Draught scantling molded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22.1 ft. (6.75 m)

Deadweight at design draft approx. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7,400

Metric tons

Deadweight at scantling draft approx. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8,600

Metric tons

Ship's complement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .158

Superior Offshore Orders Vessel

Hydro to Merge with Statoil

The Board of Directors of Hydro and Statoil have agreed to recommend to their shareholders a merger of Hydro's oil and gas activities with Statoil, creating the world's largest offshore operator. The new company will have a combined production of 1.9 million barrels per day in 2007 and proven oil and gas reserves of 6.3 billion barrels of oil equivalents. Hydro's shareholders will hold 32.7 percent and Statoil.s sharehold- ers will hold 67.3 percent of the new company. Hydro's shareholders will receive 0.8622 shares in the new company for each Hydro share and continue as owners of

Hydro. Statoil shareholders will maintain their holdings in the new company on a one- for-one basis. The Norwegian State will hold approximately 62,5 percent in the merged entity.

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