Conoco and Maritrans To Develop Gulf of Mexico Shuttle Tanker Technology.Business/Energy Editors NOTE TO MEDIA: Photo is available in a Smart News Release(TM) on Business Wire's Home Page at www.businesswire.com HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 2, 2000 Conoco Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :COCA coca (kō`kə), common name for shrubs of the genus Erythroxylum, particularly E. coca, of the family Erythroxylaceae, and found abundantly in upland regions and on mountain slopes of South America, as well as in Australia, India, ) (NYSE:COCB) and Maritrans Inc. (NYSE:TUG) announced today that they are jointly developing advanced shuttle tanker A shuttle tanker is a ship designed for oil transport from an off-shore oil field. It is equipped with off-loading equipment compatible with the oil field in question. This normally consists of a taut hawser arrangement or dynamic positioning to maintain the position relative to technologies to safely transport newly discovered deepwater Gulf of Mexico Noun 1. Gulf of Mexico - an arm of the Atlantic to the south of the United States and to the east of Mexico Golfo de Mexico Atlantic, Atlantic Ocean - the 2nd largest ocean; separates North and South America on the west from Europe and Africa on the east crude oil reserves Oil reserves refer to portions of oil in place that are claimed to be recoverable under economic constraints. Oil in the ground is not a "reserve" unless it is claimed to be economically recoverable, since as the oil is extracted, the cost of recovery increases incrementally to U.S. refineries more economically than current pipeline alternatives. Technologies being evaluated have the potential to greatly reduce the time between discovery and production of deepwater crude reserves. "The industry is actively exploring for the 10 billion barrels of crude oil reserves that are estimated to be contained in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico," said Rob McKee, Conoco executive vice president for exploration production. "Operations in deepwater are expensive, and we are continuously seeking ways to improve the economics of our deepwater program. Reducing the time between investment and the return on that investment makes deepwater exploration even more attractive than it is today," he emphasized. The companies said they had decided to proceed with development plans as the Minerals Management Service (MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) An enhanced transmission service that enables graphics, video clips and sound files to be transmitted via cellphones. Developed as part of the 3GPP project, MMS phones are generally backward compatible with SMS and EMS. ) continues to evaluate the use of shuttle tankers to transport crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. The MMS is expected to make a final decision next year. "We are hopeful the safety and performance records of shuttle tankers used in other parts of the world will help convince the MMS the concept is suitable for use in the Gulf of Mexico," said Eric L. (Rick) Oshlo, Conoco vice president and general manager of supply and trading. "If the MMS does approve the concept for use in the Gulf, Conoco and Maritrans will have state-of-the-art technologies ready for deployment," he said. "If they don't, we will have some very innovative ideas that would be applicable to help other nations develop their deepwater reserves, quickly, safely and economically," Oshlo added. Oshlo said the companies were evaluating variations of shuttle tankers and deepwater loading systems successfully used elsewhere in the world to transport remote crude oil reserves to determine their applicability in the Gulf of Mexico. Conoco's worldwide fleet of double-hulled ships includes the "Rangrid," a specially designed, state-of-technology shuttle tanker used to transport crude oil from the Heidrun field in the Norwegian Sea Norwegian Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean, NW of Norway, between the Greenland Sea and the North Sea. It is separated from the Atlantic by a submarine ridge linking Iceland and the Faeroe Islands, and from the Arctic by the Jan Mayer Ridge. to European markets. The Heidrun field, located north of the Arctic Circle Arctic Circle, imaginary circle on the surface of the earth at 66 1-2°N latitude, i.e., 23 1-2° south of the North Pole. It marks the northernmost point at which the sun can be seen at the winter solstice (about Dec. and in some of the world's stormiest seas, could not have been economically developed without the use of shuttle tankers and proprietary loading systems. Direct shuttle loading from Heidrun to the "Rangrid" and other shuttle tankers boasts an unprecedented 100 percent uptime since first oil was produced in 1995. Over 25 years ago, Maritrans pioneered the lightering system that supplies almost 100 million barrels of crude oil each year to eight refineries in the Northeast United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Maritrans' sophisticated vessel allocation process is designed to reduce on shore crude storage and keep deliveries on a consistent, reliable schedule. Maritrans' multi-vessel system for unloading Unloading Selling securities or commodities whose prices are dropping to minimize loss. cargo directly from large oil tankers situated offshore and in the Delaware Bay Delaware Bay: see Delaware, river. Delaware Bay Inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. Forming part of the New Jersey-Delaware state border, it extends southeast for 52 mi (84 km) from the junction of the Delaware River with Alloway Creek to its entrance remains the most cost-effective alternative for delivering foreign crudes. "Conoco and Maritrans are working as quickly as possible to finalize fi·nal·ize tr.v. fi·nal·ized, fi·nal·iz·ing, fi·nal·iz·es To put into final form; complete or conclude: "They have jointly agreed ... our approach for Gulf of Mexico shuttling before we begin talking with prospective third-party customers for the system," said Stephen A. Van Dyck, chairman and chief executive officer of Maritrans. "Our first concern will be to ensure an environmentally sound operation," he emphasized. Conoco is a major, integrated energy company active in more than 40 countries. The company's nine double-hulled vessels, including two deepwater drillships, are managed by Conoco Shipping Co. Conoco, the first U.S. oil company to commit to building only double-hulled tankers, has operated an all double-hulled tanker fleet since 1998 and was rated the safest U.S. shipping company in 1998 and 1999 by the National Safety Council Benchmarking Study. Maritrans Inc. is a U.S.-based company with a 72-year commitment to building and operating petroleum transport vessels for the U.S. domestic trade. The company owns and operates 15 oil tankers and large, integrated tug/barge units, of which six are double-hulled. Maritrans has been recognized with the United States Coast Guard's prestigious William M. Benkert award for environmental safety and compliance three times since the award's inception in 1996. The information in this release includes certain forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. about the operations and business plans of Conoco and Maritrans that are based on assumptions the Companies believe are reasonable, but a variety of factors could cause the Companies' actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the Companies' forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ include changes in oil companies' operating and sourcing decisions, competition for marine transportation, domestic oil consumption, unexpected difficulties in developing new transportation technologies, failure of the MMS to approve the use of shuttle tankers for deepwater production, and the continuation of federal law restricting United States point-to-point maritime shipping to U.S. vessels (the Jones Act). Note: A Photo is available at URL URL in full Uniform Resource Locator Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program. : http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.080200/bb3 |
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