Innovations and solutions

The Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago announced a deepwater competitive bid round for six offshore blocks in the East Coast Marine Area and Trinidad and Tobago Deep Atlantic Area earlier this year.

PCL Industrial Construction Co. (PCL) and a Black & Veatch subsidiary said they were awarded a contract from Louisville Gas & Electric Co.

Wison Offshore & Marine Ltd. And BPZ Energy have announced that the world's first buoyant tower drilling and production platform is en route to Corvina field offshore Peru.

Hayward Flow Control announces the expansion of our patent pending LHB Series Manual Limit Switch line to now include a Spring Return "Dead Man Handle" design for those critical applications requiring compliance to safety standards or plant specifications where the valve must return to a closed position after operation.

Babcock & Wilcox Co.'s test facility for its new class of mini nuclear reactors is fully operational. The Integrated System Text facility in Bedford County, Virginia will test the mPower modular reactor's design and performance by simulating energy generated by a nuclear core through heating the reactor electrically.

El Salvador's El Esplendor Development Corp and Israel's SDE Wave Power Plants company have formed an alliance to execute Wave Power Technology in California and El Salvador.   SDE is a leader in planning, building and marketing power stations that produce power from ocean waves.

Brazil is evaluating a possible tax cut on ethanol production to encourage less gasoline imports by Petrobras. Currently, the gasoline sold in Brazil comes with a 20% ethanol mix but the government plans to increase the mix to 25%.

The Carlyle Group L.P., global asset manager and Sunoco Inc. have agreed to form a joint venture Philadelphia Energy Solutions, that will enable the historic Philadelphia refinery to continue to operate.

AS-Schneider introduces its tried and tested bellows sealed valves for very hazardous media that even a minimal leak rate can be too great.

   Statoil was the highest bidder in the first lease sale in the Central Gulf of Mexico since March 2010, being awarded 26 leases.