SembCorp Marine’s subsidiary Jurong Shipyard has won a S$130 million (US$93 million) contract for pre-conversion work on a floater designated to work in Petrobras’ Roncador field off Brazil.

A deep-sea exploration robot — one of the first successful submersible vehicles that was both unmanned and untethered to surface ships — was lost at sea Friday, March 5, on a research expedition off the coast of Chile.

T&T Marine Salvage helped clean up an oil spill after a collision between an oil tanker and a barge spilled 450,000 gallons of crude oil into the Sabine-Neches Waterway.

The Federal Maritime Commission announced four compromise agreements in which an ocean carrier and intermediaries agreed to pay a total of $625,000 in civil penalties for alleged violations of the Shipping Act of 1984.

On March 8, the chemical tanker Marshall Island flagged UBT Ocean hijacked on March 5, was reported to be in the vicinity off the pirate stronghold east of Haradere.

Major modifications have been completed on the first floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) conversion in Mexico. The ECO III, classed by ABS, originally was built as a chemical carrier before being purchased by MARECSA (Maritima De Ecologia, S.A. de C.V) for conversion to a FPSO at the DEMERSESA Shipyard in Tuxpan, Mexico.

Seaspan Corporation (NYSE:SSW) announced the delivery of its 44th and 45th vessels, the Guayaquil Bridge and the COSCO Japan. The Guayaquil Bridge, a 2500 TEU vessel delivered on March 5, 2010, was built by Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.

Marlink, the global provider of satellite communications to the maritime industry, has recently signed a new five year agreement with Hellespont Hammonia GmbH & Co. KG.

Ultra Dynamics supplied three sets of twin UltraJet UJ377 Waterjet installations to South Boats for their New Mk II GRP 43/12m WFSV RRV Catamarans RRV Audrey, Offshore Response 1, and Spike Islander.

Subsea 7 has been honored by receiving the 2010 Pipeline Industries Guild Award for Subsea Pipeline Technology.

US supermajor ExxonMobil will increase its capital spending nearly 4% this year to $28 billion as it evaluates new fields around the world, but it cautioned that the global economy remained unsteady.

In a broad-ranging deal, BP will pay Devon Energy $7 billion in cash for assets in Brazil, Azerbaijan and the U.S. deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

US drilling rig company Transocean said today that the newbuild ultra-deepwater drillship Discoverer Inspiration has started working for Chevron in the US Gulf of Mexico.

Oilfield services company, Weatherford International said today it has won a contract by Saipem for precommissioning work on the Urugua-Mexilhao pipeline in the Santos basin, off Brazil.

Petrobras has notified the ANP that it encountered oil at an exploration well in the BM-S-9 area, but wished to clarify that this does not indicate a commercial discovery until further evaluation is conducted.

Russia is considering inviting India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to develop oil and gas fields in Russia, the government said today, ahead of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to India.

Transocean's newbuild ultra-deepwater drillship Discoverer Inspiration has commenced operations for Chevron in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico under a five-year drilling contract.

Croatia's energy companies will change their participation structure in an Adriatic liquefied natural gas terminal project to help make it operational in 2014, an economy ministry source said today.

Subsea 7 recently completed the installation of a pipeline to connect the subsea production trees at the Henry-2 and Netherby locations, offshore Australia.

Chinese state-run energy company CNPC said today it complied with applicable laws in its 2003 purchase of a stake in Kazakh oil company, AktobeMunaiGas, after Kazakh financial police said they were examining the deal.

Brazil's lower house of Congress approved late on Wednesday an amendment to a government oil reform bill that could deprive the biggest oil producing states of a large chunk of royalty revenues.

Gas production at Denmark's DONG Energy leapt 81% in 2009, helping cushion a drop in earnings caused by lower oil, gas and power prices, the state-owned company said today.

Uganda will deliver its decision on UK explorer Tullow Oil's purchase of Heritage Oil's assets in the country by April, a top energy official said on Wednesday.

Indonesia's state oil company Pertamina may miss its crude oil production target of 190,000 barrels per day in 2010 if a new environmental law is enforced, a company official said today.

Statoil is optimistic about the progress of its Marcellus shale joint-venture with Chesapeake Energy Corp but is still looking for proof that the success of U.S. unconventional gas can be replicated elsewhere, Chief Executive Helge Lund said.

BG has made an oil discovery in the North Sea, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said today.

Oil fell to below $82 today on expectations for Opec to keep pumping above quotas in the second quarter, pulling prices down from eight-week highs reached a day earlier.

Total is acquiring natural gas shale positions in France, Denmark, Argentina and North Africa, an exploration and production executive for the fifth-largest integrated oil company in the world said Wednesday.

As oil and natural gas prices settle into an equilibrium for now, a new variable is emerging as the most worrisome for Big Oil: the cost of carbon.

The world's big industrialised nations have agreed on the need to address the issue of natural gas supply security, but are not yet agreed that government-owned strategic stocks are the answer, the the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.

Saudi Aramco is making preparations to launch its first pre-salt deep-water drilling campaign off north-west and north-east Saudi Arabia in 2012 in an effort to find oil and gas.

China’s crude oil output rose significantly in February, as major producers try to recover lost ground last year.

Oil reserves discovered offshore Ghana could be sufficient to one day allow production from three floating production, storage and offloading, or FPSO, vessels, said Tullow Oil Wednesday.

Wärtsilä has received an order to power the new cruise vessel of Carnival Corporation, USA carrying the preliminary name Carnival Dream 3. The vessel will be built by the Fincantieri Monfalcone shipyard in Italy and its launch is scheduled for August 2011.

Transnet Port Terminal reports that its R5.6 billion, five-year investment plan aimed at increasing the capacity of the Cape Town Container Terminal is progressing according to schedule.

A 30-year-old man employed by British Airways as an information technology developer faces court on two charges relating to terrorism.

The Maldives will make its territorial waters into a shark sanctuary, a government official said Tuesday.

AP - A U.K. man says he plans to make the first round-the-world trip in a customized rotorcraft known as an autogyro.

The US trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in January as fewer foreign cars and less crude oil were imported.

AP - A U.N. body best known for protecting tigers and elephants will focus on the world's overfished oceans beginning this week with proposals to regulate the shark trade and ban the export of a tuna species prized by sushi lovers.

The UK donates £1m ($1.5m) to South Africa to buy 42m condoms, as the nation builds up to the football World Cup.

Three people who apparently jumped to their deaths from a Glasgow tower block were from Russia, police confirm.

AP - Samsung and Panasonic will start selling 3-D TVs in U.S. stores this week, inaugurating what TV makers hope is the era of 3-D viewing in the living room.

The endangered deep sea animal, sea cucumber, has been seized from a restaurant at a five star hotel in the Indian capital, Delhi, officials say.

AP - A senior Google executive welcomed on Tuesday a U.S. decision to relax restrictions on exporting Internet communications services to Iran, Sudan and Cuba.