Member Info for adoubleuk

Amaja,

"There are still issues to be resolved and he specifically mentioned the flare stack (some where higher up). "

Thank you again for the info yo're posting here.

The above confirms stuff I myself have posted earlier, but which was mere supposition. It's very easy for the 'theorists' who wouldn't recognise a flare-stack if one dropped on their head, but just bolting the thing up doesn't mean it's ready to go.

And of course it's encouraging to learn that Bluewater/Hurricane are taking the time to make sure things are A1 rather than listening to weather-forecasters on BB's like this telling 'em about 'weather windows' and to heave off...

A Happy Christmas to you, too!

Snail,

" Take off dealer fees and that's seventy odd quid "

Good man! Keep up the good work. But I'm closing down 'til W2, when I reckon to make 700. Just pocket-money, but will go a bit to cover my poker losses last night. Given my state, I knew I shouldn't have been playing anyway. But getting one's aces beaten by kings happens.

Tomorrow's another day...

Longwait,

"There are investors who ignore the dangers of a stock market slump"

That might make an interesting topic of OT weekend conversation, and a change from idiocy about electric cars and windmills.

Not terribly 'festive', though.

slipanchor,

You're speaking maritime terms as though the FPSO were a cargo ship or a tanker. Which isn't the case.

I've got one or two 'favorite' movies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG6CZ-pzHxo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5e8Q1D_q4s

OK, neither of them are FPSO-related. But they're both shots of the 'moonpool'. And here's the thing to take note of. The 'movement' one sees of the riser isn't. What's seen in the 'slipjoint' is the movement of the vessel, on which the cameraperson is standing.

Now go to Hurricane's website photogallery, and the pictures of the turret 'locking-deck'. The 'protection plate' has been removed. All that machinery has presumably been renovated to A1 condition in Dubai.

Now are you going to go to sea in bad weather conditions for the relatively 'short hop' to Lerwick and risk get all that deck and machinery full of seawater, dead fish, plastic bottles and used condoms? No way, José.

Sure, the company didn't tell us about this 'secondary weather window', but why should they? They're not in the business of educating people with an IQ smaller than their hat size about marine matters.

Going by the 'big picture', there are no 'delays'. FoiL in H1 2019 is still looking good. Sure, the world seems to be going to hell in a bucket, but...

No heck, just watch the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkAzMiEUUQ8

"And the award for most ridiculous post of the year goes to......."

Wellwell !!!!! :-) :-) :-)

Fred_Bloggs,

" AM expecting to leave Rotterdam around 10:00 am 23rd December. Excitement is building eh?"

Yup. Talking of excitement, I have driven back home this morning from the coastal town of Chatelaillon in the most foul conditions imaginable. I'm glad I run my car on 'mixed' offroad / onroad tyres, otherwise I'd have probably aquaplaned myself into the scenery. And if it's that bad here, it's almost certainly worse 900 km north in Rotterdam.

I'm very happy to know that 'our boat' is not venturing out of port at the moment.

"Dropped below $54. Who would have thunk it?? Many anticipated $100 by Xmas just a couple of months back!"

Who cares? The EPS still remains profitable at $50 / bbl.

Albi,

"Aduk - made an interesting reference to Douglas Bader, famous WWII pilot, famed for piloting Hurricanes ... and the naming of Spark's acquired field - Bader. Could there be further correlations down the line I think was the gist?"

Yes. And I wasn't the only one to pick up on it. Plus also the 'Enterprise Energy' connections.

Whatever got lost in that deleted thread, the emerging news about Spark is of great interest, I think.

Snail,

I too am hurt by your reply. but please don't take it personally. I've suffered events which have caused me enormous personal distress over the last 24 hours, so this stockmarket banter is just a way of letting off steam.

However:

" Also to say it's lacking in brains to interpret " at least a week " as a month is like saying it's accurate to describe a kg as at least the weight of a feather. The scale is just out of the bounds of reason.....by your logic a year would be ok , after all it's at least a week."

I was indeed very tempted earlier to write that when someone says to me 'at least a week' it might mean a year. But didn't, knowing that such an observation would be scornfully howled down.But nevertheless it's true. But right now, there's no delay to anything. And if the weather in Rotterdam is anything like it is here right now in Chatelaillon (it's probably worse) it's no time for anyone other than scheduled ferries and container ships on a deadline to put to sea.

Pour yourself a fresh one and calm down, mate! Don't let the fearmongers get to you. We seem to be living in ugly times right now generally. Might be feeling rather seasick. But remember, if you jump over the side during stormy times, the less likelihood there is for a lifeboat being able to launch and come to pick you up...

Albi,

"Bit shocked the entire thread got deleted ... "

That's the way it happens on LSE BB's. Lots of posters reply to something on a thread, someone then replies with a different slant, someone else adds something, it turns into a 'discussion', the 'discussion' then gets heated with people getting nasty, and so on. All the while under the same thread-header. Some people start 'reporting' the nasty ones, LSE's moderators take notice, so wipe the entire thread.

Which is what has happened. The 'nastys' might get a wrist-slapping and maybe a temporary ban, but everyone else has lost the interesting stuff. Like in this case some discussion about Spark Exploration.

But again, that gives 'em a chance to do their own research!

Rangers!

Long time no read you here! You wrote:

"I think the theorists need to go offshore and see what the weather can really be like and how it impacts on operations whilst on station, never mind trying to move a rig/FPSO or whatever in weather, it simply wouldn't happen. The weather Offshore over the last week has been way out of limits for hook up both in terms of wind speed and sea state so why therefore even move it from the sheltered waters of a shipyard and risk any damage?"

Just a big 10-4 to that.

We have had information gleaned from IR that in fact there's a secondary 'weather window' involved. That being transit Rotterdam-WoS. Which I read as Rotterdam-Lerwick. There to WoW for hookup.

This is 100% understandable (except maybe to your aforementioned 'theorists').

The boat came off Ettrick (its former location) a few years ago and was towed to Gdansk 'cos one of its thrusters was kaput, without a turret-protection plate. There to fester. Bluewater might even have been thinking of scrapping it, depending on how long it remained there, and the market. I don't know. But Hurricane picked it up. And then dragged the thing to Dubai, stopping off in Rotterdam to protect the turret. Which is a huge moving-part thing, but also what takes the mooring loads as well. Not just the belt and the braces, but the dicky-bow-tie and the waistcoat as well.

Everything's now 'as new', if not better. And as someone else said here, why leave port in a storm?

Thanks for the chopper info. The newcomers to 'shipwatching' (of which there are now many) will have to get used to that aspect when things get moving!

HTL,

I'm glad to hear you're in good spirits!

However, having just had a very distressing 24 hours, I'm not too sure about the " Let's hope that the New Year brings us everything that we want."

OK, hope is a good thing. But I'm a great believer in a lyric by the songstress Sheryl Crow:

"It's not getting what you want which counts, it's wanting what you've got."

DiveCentre, Albi,JoeSoap, all and sundry...

The day before yesterday I posted that I wouldn't be 'on air' here much for the next few days, but circumstances have drastically changed, so here I am again.

"I agree that the delay is not due to additional work for the Spirit deal."

" Possibly the entire thread got deleted "

"So, what is the issue? My understanding is that it is a lump sum contract for delivery with BW on the hook for overrun. "

Yes to all three, plus other similar comments. Much of which has come directly from IR.

Yes, an entire thread was deleted by LSE, which is a bit of a shame because there was some useful information posted under that header before it became 'corrupted' by the usual culprits, one of whom was reported enough for it to be removed.

"The delays are not the fault of HUR but RT ought to be more cautious in making public statements on timescales which are subsequently not met and create false hopes."

I agree entirely. But RT has always seemed a bit uncomfortable in his 'public interview' mode, and that misjudged 'September' comment should be taken in context. He'd just received an award, obviously had a good lunch, and been dragged to the side for an unscripted interview. Cut the man some slack, eh? If it ain't in writing, it carries no weight. And even WHEN IT IS IN WRITING (such as an RNS), read all the disclaimers at the bottom of the page, won't you? If you don't understand what they mean, you shouldn't be investing to start with.

Some people are bleating about the company not providing up to date information for PI's. But why should they? Hurricane is not a retail-market driven (PI-driven) company these days. They're working the wholesale (big investors) side. Where 'it's the man with the gold who gets told'. We were informed ages ago by the company about which stages of the way would be RNS'd, and they've done that. Adding a couple, like the unscheduled stopover in Algeceiras.

IR has said that Rotterdam would be 'at least' a week. Anyone who doesn't understand that the phrase 'at least' may mean a month is short of brains.

Bluewater is based in Holland. It's quite possible that they're doing some 'tweaking' to the boat that they've thought of over the last year, but wasn't in the contract with DDW... But absolutely nothing to do with 2020 'debottlenecking', which will require a gas export pipeline being laid, anyway.

I topped-up recently, and might do so again. But will sell such topups as soon as the SP reaches 45p or so: the easiest 20% I'll have ever made.

Hurricane has said FoiL in H1 2019 for a couple of years now. If they don't deliver on that, yes, there's a 'delay'. But right now there isn't.

ontarget, No, I meant nothing about 'energy efficiency'. Simply that items such as conductor pipe and the hammer would have had to be road transported to Teesside, just to be taken north again! Plus on any jackup tow it's best to be as 'light deck' as possible, although that rule of thumb isn't always respected. Bulk chemical silos (barite, bentonite, cement) are always empty for tow however (unless it's in-field) so will come by supply boat once the rig's on location. So why not the rest of the gubbins?

ontarget,

"Don't think it takes more than a couple of days to get drilling so could be spudding over the weekend or if not early next week?"

Once on location there will be at least around 24 hours for preload, jackup and cantilever skidout. Then there will be a period of 'rig acceptance testing'. Personally I'm unable to guess how long this will take, because I don't know how much of it might have been performed when the rig was in port. But (sticking my neck out) I'd say a minimum of 36 hours.

Then of course there will be equipment and materials for the well to be taken onboard, as it's highly doubtful that some heavy things will have been loaded prior to the tow, and logistically that wouldn't make sense anyway in cost terms. Load-up can of course start to be done during the acceptance testing, but Standard Operating Practice is that spud doesn't go ahead until there's more than a bare minimum of such equipmant and materials onboard.

It must also be borne in mind that this rig hasn't worked for a while, and it's the first time for this Operator, so such timelines might spread out wider rather than become thinner. For these reasons, although spud may be theoretically possible by Monday, I personally don't expect it so soon. And then even if we don't get a spud RNS on Thursday when the market reopens, I won't be worried about that either.

Jay_85,

"aduk... what?"

I guess I owe you an apology. I'd unwittingly measured the distance using a kilometer scale on the map, thinking it was nautical miles! Whoops.

Forgotten what a small place the British Isles are.

If Fraser Management have got their ducks properly lined up, we should be getting a spud RNS by the middle of next week, if not earlier.

Jay_85,

"aduk... what?"

I

BNB,

This afternoon's posts by DiveCentre and Albi have it nailed, via info from IR. With the turret-plate removed, there is now a 'secondary' weather window, that being good conditions for the transit to WoS. Totally understandable: now it's all been reconditioned, you don't want seas coming up into the buoy-lock deck (or whatever it's called, but see photos on the company website) within the turret, bringing with it whatever floating plastic and dead fish due to climate-change or whatever in, messing the place up and getting into the machinery.

I suspect the 'green light' will be from town: ie mutual agreement between Bluewater antch and Hurricane, with Bluewater actually calling the shots. The Captain's role will be simply the same as that of a racing-driver waiting on the grid with his engine running, ready to drop the clutch and then giving it all he's got. Waiting for the green light...

tinlode,

"British Rail's young PhD engineer couldn't carry out my proposed modification because they didn't have a 1/4 BSP thread tap"

Presumably it had been thrown away, and only metric taps retained...

Fred_Bloggs,

"t this is one I an going to watch very closely from now on. I suspect I am not alone."

Me too: you're not alone! It'll be interesting if they go public (ASX? AIM?) because of the timings. Drill or drop decision before 09/20, but by then there will be concrete results from Hurricane's EPS. And they're looking for partners, so even if Spark themselves don't do an IPO, there might still be an investment opportunity if it's not a Major.

Exciting.

Many thanks for the heads-up and the link, Geo101!