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enrollment and operate independently ofstate pilots. Captain Graylin Gant estab-lished the NW Gulf Federal Pilots tomeet t he needs for federal pilotage re-quired by law in the various channels served. www.nwgulffedpilots.com Gibbs & Cox Appoints Tallant VP Gibbs & Cox appointed Shawn Tallant as Vice President of Business Develop- ment and Strategy. In this role, Tallant will develop and oversee strategic busi- ness plans and execute corporate business growth activities for Gibbs & Coxs com- plete portfolio of U.S. government agen- cies, domestic and internationalcommercial clients. Shell Move Forward with FLNG Shell announced its final investment decision on the Prelude Floating Lique-fied Natural Gas (FLNG) Project in Aus- tralia (100% Shell), building the worlds first FLNG facility. Moored far out to sea, some 200 km from the nearest landin Australia, the FLNG facility will pro- duce gas from offshore fields, and liquefy it onboard by cooling. The decision means that Shell is now ready to start de- tailed design and construction of whatwill be the worlds largest floating off- shore facility. From bow to stern, Shells FLNG facil- ity will be 488 m long, and will be thelargest floating offshore facility in the world ? longer than four soccer fields laid end to end. When fully equipped and with its storage tanks full, it will weigharound 600,000 tons ? roughly six timesas much as the largest aircraft carrier. Some 260,000 tons of that weight willconsist of steel.The FLNG facility will tap around 3 trillion cubic feet equivalent of resources contained in the Prelude gas field. Shell discovered the Prelude gas field in 2007. Some 110,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of expected production from Prelude should underpin at least 5.3 mil-lion tons per annum (mtpa) of liquids,comprising 3.6 mtpa of LNG, 1.3 mtpaof condensate and 0.4 mtpa of liquefied petroleum gas. ABB Strengthens Marine Presence in BrazilABB will strengthen its marine busi- ness presence in Brazil, in order to serve the growing market in Latin America more effectively. Latin America has quickly become a key strategic area for ABBs marine business. Future plans, which include the estab-lishment of a new Azipod C factory, ma- rine service center and specializedAzipod service center, will help ABB to serve Brazils fast-growing shipbuilding industry and to fulfill the requirement for local content.Our portfolio fits well into Brazils shipbuilding plans and development, and our investments show ABBs commit- ment and confidence in the Brazilian market, and we believe this will gain us a preferred position to supply thrusters for28 drilling units for Petrobras,? ? said Heikki Soljama, head of ABBs Marine and Cranes Business Unit.Several locations have been evaluated for setting up the new Azipod factory, in- cluding Pernambuco, Santos, and Rio De Janeiro, although the final decision has yet to be taken. The planned factory will have the annual capacity of over 30 Azi- pod units. The actual construction sched- ule will enable timely thruster delivery to Petrobras drilling units from Brazil.A service center is also planned to beopened by 2014 in Brazil. It will have dedicated and specialized Azipod service personnel, a dedicated workshop and tooling to assist in overhauls and refur- bishment. The service center will also provide spare parts for the local market. ABS Opens Office in Stavanger The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) announces the opening of an of-fice in Stavanger, Norway to further ex- tend its global reach and provide dedicated support to its growing Norwe- gian client base. ECO Announces Aggressive Newbuild CampaignEdison Chouest Offshore (ECO) an- nounced plans to design and constructeight new deepwater platform supply vessels. ECO currently owns and oper- ates a large fleet of high-capacity plat- form supply, fast supply, anchor handling, construction, tractor tug, wellstimulation and specialty vessels de- ployed worldwide. ECO now owns and operates one of the largest deepwater Deck SystemsBulkheadSystemsN30A60B15Saving Livesat SeaulOr Goa Advanced PassiveFire Protection MaterialsApprovalsforAluminumSteelGRPDirect Contact or Air Gap Installations Lightest and Thinnest SystemsAdditional Sound Barrier Capabilitieswww.microthermgroup.com [email protected] +1 865-681-0155www.promat-marine.com Microtherm - PromatJune 2011www.marinelink.com 79