OPINION: A New Approach to Maritime Safety is Needed
causes and adding procedures and checklists.Despite this bias, many accident investigation reports pinpoint that the leadership or safety culture was the root cause of more recent accidents such as the Bulk Jupiter, El Faro, Helge Ingstad and Costa Concordia, as well as older accidents such as the Exxon Valdez, Bow Mariner, Herald of Free Enterprise and Amoco Cadiz.Industry blind spotThe critical failures leading to the accident were in most cases known before the accident took place. This demonstrates that failures which are not handled properly may develop into critical situations and accidents
Exxon to Lay Off 300 Workers in Singapore
Exxon Mobil Corp plans to cut its workforce in Singapore, home to its largest oil refining and petrochemical complex, by about 7% amid the "unprecedented market conditions" resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, it said on Wednesday.About 300 positions out of 4,000 current jobs will be impacted by the end of 2021, the company said in a statement.The Singapore layoffs come weeks after Exxon announced its plan to close its 72-year-old Altona refinery in Australia and convert it to an import terminal. The top U.S. oil producer, once America's most valuable company, posted a historic annual
Coronavirus, Consolidation Taking Toll On Energy Jobs
Oil and gas companies worldwide are taking an axe to their employment rolls, shedding workers to survive what is expected to be a prolonged stretch of weak demand.Exxon Mobil Corp said it will cut its workforce by 15%, or about 14,000 people, along with oil majors Chevron Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc.All told, more than 400,000 oil and gas sector jobs have been cut this year, according to Rystad Energy, with about half of those in the United States, where several big exploration companies and most large oil service companies are headquartered.Coronavirus has devastated swathes of the global economy
Exxon Considering Global Job Cuts after Lay-Off Plan in Australia Revealed
Exxon Mobil Corp is assessing possible worldwide job cuts, a spokesman said on Wednesday, after the company announced a voluntary lay-off program in Australia.Exxon is the latest oil major to embark on axing jobs spurred by a historic collapse in fuel demand because of the coronavirus pandemic.The company has slashed capital spending this year by 30% to around $23 billion and said in August it planned both capital and operating expense cuts to defend its dividend after reporting losses in the first and second quarters."We have evaluations underway on a country-by-country basis to assess possible
Exxon Names Country Head in Emerging Hot Spot Guyana
Exxon Mobil Corp said on Thursday it had named its former Qatar country manager as the chief of its operations in Guyana, a South American country that just started producing crude last year and is seen as key to the company's future.Alastair Routledge takes over after the company, as part of a consortium with Hess Corp and China's CNOOC Ltd, has discovered some 8 billion barrels of oil and gas off the coast of Guyana, a poor country with no history of oil production.While crude exports have the potential to spur economic development, Routledge will have to contend with political turbulence
Shell Appoints Sawan as Upstream Boss
."I am grateful to Andy for his strong leadership of the Upstream business, particularly having improved business performance during the recent years of low oil prices," Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said in a statement.Shell, the second largest publicly-traded oil company behind Exxon Mobil, produced nearly 3.6 million barrels per day of oil and gas equivalent in the third quarter of 2018.Shell transformed its upstream operations following the $54 billion acquisition of smaller rival BG Group in 2016 that gave it a leading position in Brazil's rapidly growing deepwater production
Equatorial Guinea Punishes Subsea 7
."Companies operating in the oil sector have an obligation to work within the confines of our very flexible and pragmatic local content regulations," Gabriel Obiang Lima, minister of hydrocarbons and mines said in a statement.Operators ordered to stop working with Subsea 7 include Noble Energy, Exxon Mobil and Marathon Oil .Subsea 7 was not immediately available to comment on the banning order, although it said in September it was aware of the increased focus on local content and would "work closely with authorities to ensure we meet all applicable local regulations."Obiang Lima said
ExxonMobil Hires Crude Trader in Singapore
Crude oil trader Michael Huang is expected to join Exxon Mobil Corp in Singapore soon as the U.S. major expands its trading team to sell its oil into China, the world's top importer of the commodity, three industry sources said. Huang was recently a Singapore-based crude trader for Chinese independent refiner Wonfull Petrochemical, purchasing feedstock for its Shandong refinery and carrying out hedging activities. He left the company in late June, the sources said on Monday. Before Wonfull, Huang has worked for China's CEFC International Singapore, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)
Maersk Drilling Axes Dozens of Staff
termination will likely be permanent unless the company secures a new contract for the Viking. The Maersk Viking drillship was delivered to Maersk Drilling in February 2014 by Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in Geoje-Si, South Korea. Previously, the Maersk Viking was operating for Exxon Mobil Corp. on the Julia field in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico up until Dec. 2017, according to a company press release.
Fight Fatigue
a small part of their duties. Pursers were also a common sight on board ships. Tasked with handling crew documents and pay as well as ordering, this job is now the burden of an already over worked Master. One common theme asked after the accident is, “Where was the Captain”? Post Exxon Valdez many are swift to judge that the Master was in their stateroom, feet up, drinking a cocktail. The answer however is much more mundane than that. Most commonly the Master lays below as soon as possible to complete paperwork that piles up. However they are expected to watch the radar and ECDIS
Candito Takes over as Ecochlor CEO
experience with OPA 90 compliance issues with particular focus on vessel owner and insurance matters. Candito was an attorney with Haight Gardner Poor & Havens from 1985 to 1993 where he specialized in maritime litigation and environmental law. He also served as a marine engineer aboard Exxon USA’s domestic tanker fleet. Candito graduated from Hofstra University School of Law and the United States Merchant Marine Academy. “My entire career has been focused on either working for or assisting ship owners, so when the Ecochlor opportunity presented itself I knew
Most Norwegian Oil Workers Agree to Wage Deal
top oil and gas producer with daily output in April of around 2.1 million barrels of oil, condensate and natural gas liquids, as well as natural gas corresponding to about 1.7 million barrels of oil equivalent. Top operators offshore Norway include, among others, Statoil , Aker BP, Total, Exxon Mobil , Shell and Centrica. (Reporting by Oslo newsroom; Editing by Mark Potter)
Simulation: The Centre for Marine Simulation
rehearse procedures, and evaluate risk. A significant project that CMS has been involved in over the past year is the tow to field simulation for the Hebron Platform. The Hebron Platform is a gravity based structure (GBS) that will be used in offshore oil production on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland for Exxon Mobil and its partners. This project will see the 700,000 ton structure floated and towed by six vessel some 300 nautical miles to its offshore site. CMS has conducted this type of work before, notably with the Hibernia GBS, but it nonetheless is a highly challenging technical project. With
Leadership Changes at Huntington Ingalls Industries
oversee the management of UPI, a leading provider of engineering, project management and field services to the global onshore and offshore energy markets. Luna holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He began his career as a project engineer at Exxon and has spent equivalent time working in the owner/operator and then the services side of the oil and gas industries. He joined UPI in 2012 from Jacobs Engineering, where he held various positions, including vice president of business development, vice president of projects, and vice president of
HMS Announces Management Hires
Western and Hawaii Petroleum where he oversaw all aspects of safety, risk management and regulatory compliance for the fuel distribution companies. Prior to Delta Western, Martin served as the Director of U.S. Flag Shipping for ConocoPhillips and held previous positions with Crowley Maritime Corporation, Exxon Shipping Company, and Olympic Tug & Barge (a subsidiary of Harley Marine Services). Martin brings a blend of hands-on marine experience including positions from Second Officer through Captain and commercial and legal experience in shore side senior management positions. Martin attended the University
UK's Oil Services Firms to Cut Jobs to Ride Out Price Slump
by an average 10-15 percent and renegotiate contracts with the service providers. Amec, which employs 40,000 people, said it was in consultation with 149 Aberdeen-based employees and that about 64 roles could potentially be affected. The company's clients include Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp . Petrofac was in talks to cut around 100 offshore jobs and up to 100 more onshore could be affected, a company spokesman said. The company, which employs 20,000 people, did not specify the location of the job cuts. A day earlier, smaller peer John Wood Group Plc, the
SeaRiver Names New US-flag Tanker
Eagle Bay, the second of two new U.S.-flag crude oil tankers for Exxon Mobil Corporation’s marine affiliate SeaRiver Maritime, Inc., was named at a ceremony at Aker Philadelphia Shipyard. The first-in-class vessel constructed at the shipyard incorporates the latest safety, navigation and engine room technologies and will begin supplying crude oil from Alaska North Slope to refineries along the U.S. west coast later this year. The double hull Eagle Bay is 820-feet long and has capacity to carry 800,000 barrels of oil. SeaRiver Maritime said its contract with Aker for two tankers
