Suzanne Verdal told me she could make me famous And that’s how I found myself sitting in a diner in a forgotten mountain town along the California/Oregon border trying to convince Suzanne to let me record our conversation then waved her hands over me like some kind of enigmatic clairvoyant and promised that if I stick with her When my father played Leonard Cohen’s music for me as a child Suzanne — the inspiration behind Cohen’s indelible song of that name — was who I wanted to be She was my first understanding of what it meant to be a “muse,” and she imbued the role with a rare kind of power leading an entranced Cohen to a place of deeper understanding by illuminating the grace in the wreckage that’s all around them and joie de vivre drive him to some of his greatest artistic heights That ability struck me as enviable and romantic; I wanted to hold that kind of sway Long before I knew what Suzanne looked like I identified her with the woman depicted in the illustration on the back of the 1967 record Songs of Leonard Cohen she was emerging from violent flames and wearing chains around her wrists startling image that fused beauty with captivity I didn’t question that equivalence: I dreamed of being in the spotlight and I used to fantasize about what it would be like to pose for the image there was a shift in the way I understood Suzanne: I longed to be the artist instead of the inspiration and wondered if she was actually a prisoner of someone else’s success It was a friend’s father who first told me about the real Suzanne he’d met Suzanne when he took pictures of her dancing at a drum circle in Venice Beach in the early 2000s He described how her life had a taken a bleak turn how her dream of being a famous dancer had never materialized I had no idea Suzanne even had artistic aspirations; I hadn’t really thought about her life outside the song Despite the powerful spell she cast on Cohen Suzanne seemed to be one in a long line of women who had been defined by a man trying to convince her I was the person to set the record straight I told her that I wasn’t interested in Cohen but in what she had gone through — and that I hadn’t seen anything written or made about her by another woman who could understand the weight of what she carried I imagined I could help unshackle her from the complications that come with being a famous muse and reveal the real person beneath the myth It turned out that that was the last thing she wanted It’s May 2019 when I meet Suzanne at a Black Bear Diner in Yreka a downtrodden town best known for its association with the California Secession Movement The diner is a chain restaurant catering to both families with small children and truckers looking for something better than Burger King and she wears it piled loosely atop her head Her matching taffeta coat has a petaled collar that blossoms around her face making her look like an Elizabethan lady with a neck ruff “Not even to my cats.” At her elbow is a man she calls her “agent.” David Nigel Lloyd wears a white linen suit of the same shade as his long beard and a bolo tie with a turquoise stone at the center He tells me he’s an adjunct professor at the local community college “You might mistake it for a prison,” he says jovially Suzanne wants a witness: Lloyd is there in case I’m not who I said I was and it’s taken a lot to get to this diner in the first place as I put my pitch in the mail to her as she had requested I’d thought about why I was so determined to meet and write about her Anger that arose from feeling dismissed by the male artists I knew — in grad school workshops at parties where they talked right past me I had a history of getting involved with powerful even if my desire for them was on shakier ground Suzanne would be my equalizer: Her story would help me become a peer of these men rather than just another lit girl in black tights hanging on their every word as they dissected the latest issue of Harper’s I saw the possibility not only of reckoning with what muses might be owed but the chance to strike a blow for all the women who have inspired men’s art while struggling to be recognized for their own Almost immediately after we introduce ourselves at the diner listing a set of grievances against those who have done her wrong starting with her dance community in the ’60s “When I was doing very avant-garde modern dance other dancers would steal my ideas,” she says you’re doing that weird dancing now.’ I felt very betrayed.” it becomes clear that Suzanne believes much more than her choreography has been taken from her that she’s been robbed of her story and her name by every journalist hoping to gain more insight into Cohen’s psyche By every Montreal establishment that still uses Suzanne’s myth to lure in tourists (one boasts a “Cohen Daquiri” on its cocktail menu) once claimed to be Suzanne and then sang her namesake song with Peter Gabriel in France Perhaps even by Cohen himself — and by extension all the men who were intoxicated by Suzanne but never really saw her Suzanne recalls being introduced to Leonard Cohen in the mid-sixties by her then-boyfriend just out of high school; Vaillancourt and Cohen were both in their thirties Cohen and Suzanne shared a platonic attraction to one another even having words with Vaillancourt about his indifferent When Suzanne tells me about Montreal in the sixties she paints a portrait of a city at the dawn of a cultural revolution Bordering tenuously on the cusp of adulthood herself Suzanne believed back then that art meant something and a back she could bend in an arch as round and as dangerous as a bow Suzanne’s dancing and choreography skills were the only currency that really mattered to her she describes constantly fielding invites to the best she was booked to dance on national television She performed in silver lamé as an homage to Marlene Dietrich whom she had once seen in the flesh while working at the front desk at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Suzanne’s face lights up with a mixture of awe and pride as she recounts how Dietrich had walked down the stairs of the hotel decked out in furs that trailed to the ground and holding a small and for a split second it was like Suzanne glimpsed her own future where she instructed her dancers to paint their faces in white makeup and wear black unitards with white stripes down the arms and bodies the dancers look uncannily like a Keith Haring painting — though this was years before Haring burst on the scene It’s not entirely clear if it happened months or years after she and Cohen first met but eventually the musician would create an enduring myth around Suzanne — who soon to be pregnant with Vaillancourt’s baby and living on the edge of poverty in a studio near the river and had no intention of turning his ode into a song In fact he didn’t think of himself as a singer/songwriter at all; he was an author on the brink of publishing his second novel It was through the encouragement of his good friend that he began looking at the poem as lyrics Cohen’s rendition appeared on his own breakthrough record the release of which transformed him almost immediately from middling writer to full-blown folk god in a contract he didn’t have the wherewithal to read Cohen signed away the rights to “Suzanne,” ensuring he would never make any money from the song “The rights of it were stolen from me,” he says in a video of an early performance But he claimed the theft didn’t bother him: “I felt that was perfectly justified because it would be wrong to write this song and get rich from it too,” he explains some sources estimated his net worth at forty million dollars living out of a caravan-like truck that she built with her son she resides in a one-bedroom shack only a few miles from where we meet at the diner She struggles to find the couple hundred dollars she needs to pay rent every month “I need to find a way out,” she tells me from her perch on the vinyl-sided diner booth “The concrete floors are terrible for my back.” She also wrestles with the consequences of her distinct gift: her flair for divining greatness in other young artists has been her best asset as well as her heaviest burden; in return why don’t you think about doing that It’s not only Cohen whom Suzanne understands she has inspired Armand Vaillancourt has had a long and prolific art career; his publicly commissioned Vaillancourt Fountain is displayed prominently in San Francisco and Suzanne thinks it was her influence in the early days of their relationship that helped Vaillancourt grow into the artist he is now When I exchange emails with Vaillancourt though he doesn’t mention this — or Suzanne’s dancing while Suzanne was dancing on the renaissance festival circuit in Minnesota she became good friends with a woman whose eleven-year-old daughter would grow up to be the writer Cheryl Strayed Suzanne showed me her copy of Strayed’s memoir which had a thoughtful inscription from the author inside Strayed remembered Suzanne as “magical and powerful.” “Her vibrancy took my breath away,” Strayed wrote “She struck me as a very strong woman and her creative approach to life reminded me of my mom (even then) My sister and I were utterly enchanted by her I could imagine exactly how that could happen.” Strayed sends me a photograph of herself with Suzanne Suzanne’s eyes glitter and her hair is like a giant halo; her collarbones glisten beneath a heap of silver necklaces David Nigel Lloyd is the latest in a long line of men Suzanne has trusted to protect her: many of them do so more than willingly I see Suzanne’s effect in action later that afternoon when she meets my boyfriend “Well aren’t you just a strong American hero,” she says If men have been Suzanne’s greatest necessity they’re also the driving force behind her physical deterioration back to a man — an experience that marks a before and after in her life She holds back tears when she talks about it “You’re never the same after that.” teaching movement to actors in the same LA studio where Marilyn Monroe took her first classes She also had a nice side gig going as a massage therapist But she wanted to come to Hollywood to try her hand at choreographing and dancing in music videos and so she had packed up and moved to Hollywood to see if she could make it on the small screen Though she was then already in her fifties most people thought she looked much younger From photographs she showed me of that time I can see why She shacked up with a man who she knew in her gut was a bad guy she called him her “roommate” though sometimes he was also her “boyfriend.” He was paying the rent He was mad that other people connected with her that he couldn’t have Suzanne all to himself Suzanne claims that he said he had repaired the ladder on her truck throwing her backwards toward the concrete the doctors said she would have been paralyzed one in three places that required the insertion of a metal rod Suzanne’s boyfriend put her out on the street and suddenly she had absolutely nothing: no man in which she’d spend most of the next decade driving up and down the coast looking for safe places to sleep while parked in a Santa Monica parking lot late at night she saw the dirty fingers of a wild-looking man trying to push her window down Suzanne jammed the keys into the ignition and got the hell out of there Suzanne has tried to make every day a fresh one: clean linens She never wanted people to know the depth of her situation People look down on you and think you must be a drug addict or a hopeless loser to be in such a situation,” Suzanne says “It was very tough on my honor and my dignity.” She wanted them to watch her dancing on the beach as she moved to the beat of the drum circle — to take photographs of her Provided by Suzanne Verdal.After about an hour Suzanne suggests we leave the diner and go back to the hotel where I’m staying She wants to show me her old photographs and clippings and doesn’t feel comfortable displaying all her mementos in a restaurant or the waitress spilling drinks on her portfolio She looks closely at my face and asks if I have any Roma blood in me She herself has been deemed an “unofficial Roma Gypsy” because of her devotion to learning the cultural folk dancing she hoists herself up into the driver’s seat With her green painted fingernails clasped on the door handle she tells me again that writing about her will bring me the success I want Then she backs up the camper and waits to follow me to my hotel I watch Suzanne in my rearview mirror and wonder how she was able to put her finger so squarely on my desires I’d told myself — and explained to Suzanne — that I wanted to write a feminist defense of her arguing that she deserves credit she has so long been denied in the way I lean in just a little too far when she offers predictions about my future Behind me Suzanne is maneuvering her unwieldy camper at fifteen miles an hour It’s a sight to behold: There’s a kind of wooden house that sits atop the flatbed making sure to keep the center of gravity directly over the middle — one sharp turn and she could lose everything she has left I hold on to Suzanne’s elbow and help her up the one flight of stairs from the parking lot to my room the kind with an ankle strap and chunky heel that Broadway dancers wear on stage I recognize them from my own days as an aspiring actor the seven unbearable years I spent auditioning in New York and getting nowhere I’m aware that while I no longer harbor ambitions of being a professional ingenue I’m still after that elusive feeling of having “arrived.” Suzanne and I sit next to each other on a love seat and she takes out a big black book full of laminated reference letters and photographs of her as a young woman in various costumes and leotards There are pictures from a commune in the south of France and more of her dancing at various renaissance fairs in the Midwest In some she wears long brocade gowns that make her look like a medieval princess spilling over bare shoulders that shimmer in peasant tops There are two photos taken right before her accident she’s wearing a top hat and an army jacket “I think this one would be good for Rolling Stone,” she says “On account of the hat.” I move toward it but she put her hand out to stop me: “Time to talk.” Suzanne wants me to pay her for the rest of the interview or that I take her to Walmart to buy her a “starter computer.” From our previous correspondence I already know Suzanne doesn’t have a smart phone It’s possible she’s never used the internet Part of me wants to give her the money — she obviously could use it — though I don’t actually have a thousand dollars in my bank account I wonder briefly if she’d accept a couple hundred instead that I have neutral principles to fall back on But when I tell Suzanne it’s unethical for journalists to pay their sources the more I understand how much Suzanne believes she is owed — an eternal debt incurred when Leonard Cohen wrote a song that wouldn’t exist without her The last time Suzanne saw Cohen was in the early eighties in Montreal She was standing on the sidelines of his gig and curtsied to him But that recognition was never enough for Suzanne She believed Cohen had the financial means to make her life easier He could at least have helped her when she was homeless I ask Suzanne if she had reached out to Cohen during that time: She hadn’t but insisted he must have known about her situation because of an interview she’d done with the CBC Suzanne harbored a bitter grudge against the journalists who made it because they hadn’t invited her to the awards ceremony Later I searched for that award-winning interview on YouTube I turned up only a short clip with Suzanne from a German production that was part of a series on women who influenced pop music Suzanne reiterates that Cohen should have helped her financially “It was beneath me to ask Leonard for anything,” she says “It seems to me he could have offered.”  When I reached out to the CBC they were confused about what I was looking for then sent me a twenty-minute audio story about Cohen’s song journalist Paul Kennedy narrates Suzanne’s legend: “But what about the woman behind the lyrics who inspires an up-and-coming young poet to write an immortal love song because she’s saving the material for her own memoir Next to me on that love seat in my hotel room in Yreka is a woman so overshadowed by the work of art she inspired — or at least her own concept of it — that she seems to have no other identity Even now Suzanne has no idea how to be anyone other than the young bohemian who sees “heroes in the seaweed,” as Cohen wrote though that way of life is also slowly killing her and it’s hard to know where to place the blame Is it the misogyny inherent in the position of muse “I don’t want to be a footnote in someone else’s story,” she tells me It’s a line she repeats often throughout our time together Yet in carrying Cohen’s projection of her around for so long Suzanne has disappeared under the weight of “Suzanne.” begging me to scrub the record of some poems she had written and read aloud to me She’s fixated on the idea that her work hasn’t been copyrighted and terrified that someone might plagiarize her writing I call back and tell her I’ll redact them from the transcript She wants me to deliver a handwritten statement declaring that I will never quote from her written work It is the first and only time I see where Suzanne lives a small derelict house with a porch covered in dusty succulents and other overgrown plants swatting away flies and watching cats climb in and out of the windows I had tried to assuage her fears and reassure her that copyrighting her poems wasn’t necessary But maybe what she was really worried about was me pilfering her words I pin my note beneath a small clay pot and leave I expected to get more of these anxious messages She’s angry that I hadn’t offered her a glass of water during our interview She says that I “lacked any insight and maturity as a woman.” She tells me that I’m nothing but opportunistic In a photo my boyfriend took of her and I together in my hotel room Suzanne always reflected to others what they needed to see in order to fulfill their own destiny; as Cohen succinctly put it so many years ago Suzanne listed the names of big glossy magazines where she thought a profile of her should be published I tried my best to tactfully relay that magazine publishing today is a whole different ballgame than it used to be I suspect Suzanne hopes getting into Rolling Stone would mean some kind of payout for her so I’m gentle when I tell her that the most I’ve ever been paid by a publication like that was a far cry from a dollar-per-word “Maybe I’m just not relevant anymore,” she said I think back to the woman in the painting on the back cover of Cohen’s record the one I believed was Suzanne when I was a child That image is actually a popular Catholic icon: the Anima Sola The flames that surround her represent the eternal wait to be released to heaven Cohen had a different interpretation; he believed the woman was breaking free from her chains and leaving the blazing “It is the triumph of the spirit over matter,” he said maybe I was right in sensing some kind of kinship between that solitary woman and Suzanne But my desire to liberate her was probably doomed from the start: I could not know her What I wanted for Suzanne was always attached to what I wanted from her I think she understood that from the beginning As she was gathering her belongings to leave my hotel room More than 80% of our finances come from readers like you And we’re constantly working to produce a magazine that deserves you—a magazine that is a platform for ideas fostering justice If you value Guernica’s role in this era of obfuscation, please donate Help us stay in the fight by giving here Life on Mars Poet Wrestling with the Possibility She’s Living in a Simulation Data’s Work Is Never Done X-Ray of a Flagging Presidency Guernica is a non-profit magazine dedicated to global art and politics With contributors from every continent and at every stage of their careers We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings we will not be able to save your preferences This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again Some are necessary and we can’t switch them off Others help us to provide you with the best possible service We use cookies to personalise content and ads to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic We also share anonymous information about your use of our site with our social media By accepting cookies you will be helping us to continue to provide you with the best possible service procurement and construction specialist Kvaerner Verdal has had a rated capacity indicator (RCI) made by Canadian-headquartered crane monitoring solutions specialist Rayco-Wylie fitted to its Lampson LTL 1500 SIII Transi-Lift crane in Verdal Kvaerner Verdal’s Lampson LTL 1500 SIII Transi-Lift crane in Verdal The Transi-Lift is a heavy lift crane that Lampson International describes as combining the heavy lifting capacities of stiff leg derricks and ring mounted lift equipment with the mobility of a conventional crawler crane The crane is being used with a 104-metre main boom and a 37-metre jib with a 15° offset together with a seven-inch colour display and integrated wind speed indicator Rayco-Wylie said this will provide the operator with clear and accurate information regarding the load being lifted and the corresponding safe working load for that radius – alerting them if the limits are approached such as current wind speed and a quick-reference graphical indication of the percentage of Safe Working Load being lifted the new setup can be selected from the i4507’s preloaded chart library The installation was carried out by Lampson with a Rayco-Wylie engineer from the UK attending site for the calibration and testing of the system Norwegian oil and gas player Aker BP has welcomed the progress made in constructing its new platform with pieces on track to start falling into place over the next few weeks to enable it to acquire a more distinct form the platform will be deployed at the firm’s oil and gas development project in the North Sea One of the current large offshore development projects to be built on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) is Yggdrasil, which entered the construction phase in September 2023 when the first steel plate was cut for Hugin A at Aker Solutions’ Stord yard.  Deemed to be the largest topside ever assembled in the Stord yard area Hugin A is part of the Yggdrasil development consisting of a 28-tonne production platform and a 20,500-tonne steel jacket that will be delivered from Aker Solutions’ yard in Verdal the Hugin A platform will be assembled and delivered from Aker Solutions’ yard at Stord with assistance from its partners The fabrication of the flame tower of Hugin A which is about 115 meters long and will weigh about 280 tons Deputy Manager of Aker Solutions in Sandnessjøen commented: “This is the biggest project the yard will have in the coming year Nearly all of our 60 employees will work to deliver the flaming tower So this project is very important for the activity here in Sandnessjøen and it will create important impacts for the local community.” The Norwegian oil and gas player’s first section of the Hugin A living quarter was safely moved out of the fabrication hall at Leirvik on June 1 the second section will be moved out of the fabrication hall in the coming weeks the Hugin A living quarter module will begin to rise at the yard Leirvik is delivering the living quarter module and a helideck to the alliance thanks to a contract worth approximately NOK 1.1 billion or about $103.07 million “Construction activity for Hugin A is in full swing at Stord Verdal and at subcontractors internationally Hundreds of suppliers in Norway and all over the world are working on equipment packages,” emphasized Håkon Skofteland is located between Alvheim and Oseberg in the North Sea Aker BP’s partners in the area are Equinor and Orlen‘s PGNIG Upstream Norway With the gross resources in the area of more than 700 million barrels of oil equivalent While the entire Yggdrasil area will be remotely operated from an integrated operations center and control room onshore in Stavanger the operator’s field development also encompasses an unmanned platform, Hugin B In addition, Aibel will deliver the topside for Munin while Aker Solutions’ scope entails considerable subsea and modification deliveries to the Yggdrasil fields. Multiconsult will provide all necessary onshore civil engineering for the power from shore system The NOK 115 billion (over $10.77 billion) Yggdrasil area development project is estimated to contribute 65.000 full-time equivalents in Norway in the development and operational phase with the Norwegian share of the investments being over 65% Daily news and in-depth stories in your inbox The Pioneers of Offshore Engineering GustoMSC part of NOV’s Marine and Construction business is recognized for providing advanced design & engineering consultancy for mobile offshore units and reliable equipment and technical knowledge into realistic & innovative ideas The performance of new and existing jack-ups having published a number of poetry collections and novels before bursting into song And it was through his poetry that he began his music career at the age 33 as he turned his 1966 poem ‘Suzanne Takes You Down’ into the lyrics for his debut single ‘Suzanne’ is a ballad quite unlike anything that had been heard in folk or rock music to that point Even Bob Dylan’s most poetic turns of songcraft didn’t to that point tally with the single stream of consciousness Cohen accomplishes The track describes its singer being taken by the eponymous ‘Suzanne’ to “her place near the river” where she makes him “want to travel with her” She manages to get answers about love from the river It’s a song imbued with the inspiration the singer has received from his subject which moves him to some form of love despite his ambivalence about it He claims he has “no love to give” but Suzanne makes him give it anyway What exactly this love means is itself unclear as it appears to lie somewhere between the “perfect body” and the “mind” mentioned in each chorus refrain Suzanne Verdal, who was known as Suzanne Vaillancourt by marriage at the time, was the wife of Cohen’s friend Armand Vaillancourt. In an interview with BBC Radio 1 in 1994 the singer explained how the husband and wife were “a stunning couple” He added that “everyone was in love with Suzanne” but no one would ever contemplate actually trying to seduce her on account of her marriage it is entirely true that Suzanne Verdal took Cohen to her place by the river one evening “She had a space in a warehouse down there,” he explained and I went with her.” What followed was the sort of sacrament that warranted Cohen’s poeticism Verdal, who is a dancer, choreographer and costume designer, remembered the evening fondly in a later radio interview and suggested that it was far from a one-off “I would always light a candle and serve tea and it would be quiet for several minutes,” she described And I would speak about life and poetry and we’d share ideas.” even if it was more on a platonic and literary level than a physical one Cohen did admit to fantasising about her body And Verdal has claimed she even danced for him once in a show many years later Leonard Cohen famously performed the song with another famous folk muse Judy Collins in 1976 Collins was a longtime friend of his and recorded many of his tracks She was also the inspiration behind the Crosby Stills and Nash piece ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’ which was written by Stephen Stills about their failing relationship FORNEBU, Norway – Aker Solutions has shipped the topsides for the normally unmanned wellhead platform for Aker BP’s Hod field redevelopment in the southern Norwegian North Sea will be installed on the steel jacket that was delivered by Aker Solutions in June This was the second project for Aker BP’s Fixed Facilities Alliance which was established in the spring of 2017 The operator works with Aker Solutions and ABB in a joint organization the goal being to cut time and costs compared to the traditional model in which the client and its suppliers have separate roles and responsibilities With Hod B, basically a replica of Valhall Flank West, the alliance has optimized its implementation model through the re-use of personnel, facilities, and equipment; and the overall cost was lower than for Valhall Flank West. Responsibilities included design, procurement, fabrication, preparation for sea transport, and hook-up/assistance for completion on the field. The contract, worth just under NOK1 billion ($113 million) to Aker Solutions, was awarded in June 2020. At peak, around 550 people from the alliance and subcontractors were working on the project. Volume 11 - 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2020.596521 Accurately measuring the phenotype at the individual level is critical to the success of selective breeding programs Feed efficiency is a key sustainability trait and is typically approached through feed conversion ratio (FCR) This requires measurements of body weight gain (BWG) and feed intake (FI) the latter being technically challenging in fish We assessed two of the principal methods for measuring feed intake in fish over consecutive days: (1) group rearing 10 fish per group and video recording the meals and (2) rearing fish individually on a restricted ration Juvenile Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) from the Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT) strain and the Cirad strain were entered into the study (128 GIFT and 109 Cirad) The GIFT strain were reared over three consecutive periods of 7 days each under different feeding and rearing scenarios (i) in groups fed an optimal ration (g100) or (ii) fed a 50% restricted ration (g50) both with video records of all meals and (iii) reared in isolation and fed a 50% restrictive ration The Cirad strain were tested similarly but only for scenarios (i) and (iii) All fish were fed twice daily with a calculated ration Correlations showed the same trends for the GIFT and the Cirad strains correlations were positive and significant for BWG and FI measured in scenarios (i) and (ii) and FI measured in scenarios (i) and (iii) (0.50) but not for BWG measured in scenarios (i) and (iii) (0.29 The phenotypic correlation estimated for FCR between scenarios (i) and (ii) with fish fed an optimal or a 50% restricted ration was low and not significant (0.22) Feed Conversion Ratio for GIFT fish reared in groups or in isolation and fed with a restricted ration [scenarios (ii) and (iii)] were not significantly correlated either selective breeding programs seeking to improve feed efficiency will need to carefully plan the feeding rate and the rearing system used to estimate FCR in order to optimize selection for the targeted production system As the FI of an individual fish in consecutive days is highly variable (Jobling and Koskela, 1996; de Verdal et al., 2017) the ideal method to measure individual feed efficiency should allow the measurement of FI over several consecutive days so that amount of feed eaten by a fish over a period where it achieves significant growth is known with a high accuracy restricted feeding may be problematic because the FCR expressed in this condition may differ from that under satiation feeding they lose all the social interactions between each other and this can have a high impact on performance The second method, developed some time ago (see review by Jobling et al., 2001) and adapted to genetic studies by de Verdal et al. (2017) consists of rearing small groups of fish in aquaria (ten to 15 fish together) and to video-record all the meals pellets being provided one by one in several different places in the aquarium to reduce competition between fish Using this methodology and having a visible identification of all the fish in the aquarium it is possible to count the number of pellets eaten by each individual fish Measurement of FI using this method is accurate the feed ration can be optimal (no need for any restriction) it permits social interactions between the fish during all the rearing period as it is necessary to analyse all the videos of all the meals they found a relationship between individual FCR in fish reared in isolation with a restricted ration and subsequent ad libitum FCR in groups formed of the same fish it is important to determine whether both methods lead to similar FCR estimations or not in order to help choose the most relevant methodology to set up selective breeding programs to improve feed efficiency The data from groups fed an optimal ration and from fish reared in isolation on a restricted ration were compared also in France in a second tilapia strain named “Cirad strain.” This additional test of the Cirad strain which to our knowledge has not been selected for growth provided a replication study to better assess the generality of the observations with the combination of a different strain (GIFT vs le Gouessant) and a different experimental countries (Malaysia vs This study utilized phenotypic data collected as part of the GIFT selective breeding program managed by WorldFish at Jitra Malaysia (6°15′32°N; 100°25′47°E) All fish in the GIFT breeding population are managed in accordance with the Guiding Principles of the Animal Care Welfare and Ethics Policy of the WorldFish including the “3-Rs” rule this part of the study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of Directive 2010-63-EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes The protocols were approved by C2EA−36 (“Comité d'Éthique en Expérimentation Animale Languedoc-Roussillon”) under authorization APAFiS n° 2017112215278675 #12552 v4 The study was carried out on two distinct populations (GIFT and Cirad) in two different countries (Malaysia and France). The GIFT strain of Nile tilapia was selected for growth using a fully pedigreed design for 18 generations (Ponzoni et al., 2011) The families were produced by natural spawning from the 4th March to the 4th of April 2019 at the WorldFish Research station in Jitra The experiment was performed on 200 individuals from five families (40 fish per family) from the 10th of June to the 22nd of July 2019 each family was reared in different hapas in the same pond and transferred to 1,500 L holding tanks (3 ×1 × 0.5 m) at 110 days post-hatching (dph) All the fish were injected with a Passive Integrated Transponder tag (PIT-tag Trovan®) between 53 and 84 dph (around 10g of BW) Fish from each family were sorted according to their body weight to make four homogeneous groups of ten fish which were randomly put into four plastic aquaria of 60 L (61 × 30 × 33 cm) 20 aquariums with ten fish in each were used After anesthesia with clove oil (0.5 mL per liter of water) each fish was tagged in the dorsal muscle with two colored T-bar tags (Avery Dennison tags using an Avery Dennison Mark III pistol Grip tool This allowed each fish to be uniquely and individually identified by one color of tag within an aquarium regardless of which side of the body was shown and video recorded Commercial pelleted feed (Cargill® “Starter tilapia 6113”) with 34% of crude proteins and 12% of moisture was used to feed the fish during the whole experiment Daily water temperature ranged from 28 to 30°C depending on the hour of measurement The Cirad strain of Nile tilapia was derived from a cross between Cirad-IRD females France) for several generations and from males sold by FishGen (UK) in 2018 and kept in Cirad facilities in Palavas-les-Flots (France) This new cross was called “Cirad strain” to simplify the nomenclature for the present study 320 fish from 16 families (20 fish per family) hatched from the 5th to the 26th of July 2019 were used each family was kept isolated until the end of the experiment fish from each family were spread into two 38 L aquaria (10 fish per aquarium) each fish was tagged into the dorsal muscle with two colored T-bar tags (Avery Dennison tags Each fish within an aquarium was tagged with an exclusive color to identify each fish individually regardless of which side of the body was shown and video recorded Fish were fed a commercial pelleted feed (Le Gouessant “Tilapia Starter Flot 1,” and “Tilapia Starter Flot 2”) with 38% of crude proteins and 7% of moisture during the whole experiment Water temperature was maintained at 28°C during the whole experiment The experimental design is summarized in Figure 1 The experiment consisted of three periods of FI measurement three FCR measurement periods: (i) individual FI measured in groups (ten fish per group) with an optimal feed ration (coded g100) (ii) individual FI measured in groups (10 fish per group) on the same fish as (i) with half of the optimal feed ration (coded g50) (iii) individual FI measured in isolation on the same fish as (i) and (ii) with half of the optimal feed ration (coded i1 the second week of this period and both weeks of this period together Fish were not measured in isolation with the optimal ration as they may waste too many pellets to allow precise counting and the accuracy of the exact FI would thus be questionable All fish were anesthetized with clove oil (0.5 mL per liter of water) when weighed during the course of the experiment No sign of stress or abnormal behavior was seen during the experiment except the stress due to the normal fish interactions Scheme of the different scenarios designed in the experimental protocol and corresponding traits measured in each period for the GIFT strain (on the top of the figure and in blue) and the Cirad strain (on the bottom of the figure and in green) The three different scenarios were: (i) in groups fed an optimal ration (g100) or (ii) fed a 50% restricted ration (g50) both with video records of all meals and (iii) reared in isolation and fed a 50% restrictive ration individual body weight at the end of the experiment; BWG fish reared in groups with 100% DFR ration; .g50 fish reared in groups with 50% DFR ration; .i1 fish reared in isolated aquaria during the first and the total of the first and second weeks of isolation period The main measured traits were highlighted and the background of the frame was colored As different experimenters were involved in the feeding process a calculated ration was preferred to an “ad-libitum” ration which is less repeatable from one experimenter to another This calculated ration was also useful to ensure that the same maximal feed ration was given at every meal The DFR was equally shared for each of the two daily meals Feed was given using two pipes going to the aquarium allowing a reduction of stress since the fish did not see the experimenter when given the feed fish did not eat the entire DFR and the choice was made to stop the meal when a few pellets remained uneaten after ~1 min (corresponding actually to an ad-libitum ration) Uneaten pellets were removed from the aquarium using a small net All the meals were recorded by video for FI.g100 and FCR.g100 estimations At the end of this first period of 7 days (12 meals) fish were anesthetised and weighed (BWi.g50) and the individual growth during that period (BWG.g100 = BWi.g50 − BWi.g100) was calculated In the second period of FI measurement of 7 days (12 meals) in groups fish were fed a restricted ration (calculated as 50% of the DFR using the previously mentioned equation) to estimate the impact of a restricted ration compared to an optimal ration on FCR all the meals were video-recorded to count the number of pellets eaten by each individual fish and estimate FI.g50 At the end of this second period of 7 days (12 meals) allowing calculation of BWG.g50 and estimation of FCR.g50 the 200 fish were randomly distributed into 200 10 L isolated aquariums and adapted for 7 days to this new individual rearing system Each fish was able to see the fish in neighboring tanks The third period consisted of 2 consecutive weeks with the same experimental protocol All the fish were anesthetized and weighed at the beginning and the end of each week (BWi.i1 Fish were fed twice a day (except on the day of weighing) with 50% DFR The DFR was updated every week for each fish Feed for each individual fish was weighed accurately every day and the uneaten pellets were counted and removed from the aquaria at least 2 h after the last meal of the day The uneaten feed weight was estimated assuming that all pellets had the same weight (16.2 ± 1.8 mg) and FI.i1 and FI.i2 were calculated for each week it was possible to estimate FCR.i1 and FCR.i2 for the first and the second weeks of this third period of the experiment To reduce the effects of FI fluctuations from 1 week to another both weeks were combined and global estimations were done for BWG.it The same measurements were performed on the Cirad strain except the measurement of FI in groups with restricted ration which was not performed due to logistical reasons (i.e. with the experiment undertaken from the 8th of October 2019 to the 16th of December 2019 The experiment was performed as described for the GIFT strain except that fish were fed 13 meals during the group period (an extra-meal was given the afternoon after weighing the fish) a total of 133 randomly drawn fish were kept and measured for FI in isolation and were included in the analyses Due to the limited number of aquariums available fish were measured in three distinct batches (around 50 fish per batch) The experimental protocol for each batch was similar and the batch effect was not significant whatever the considered trait and consequently fish were identified with a passive integrated transponder tag (PIT-tag Biolog-id®) and reared in a common garden environment in four 300 L tanks for 5–6 weeks the number of fish was not sufficient to perform a genetic study so the aim was to assess the phenotypic correlations between the measurement methods The weekly FI was the sum of all the daily FI of the week Mortality was recorded daily and the feed ration changed accordingly during the group rearing periods and dead fish data were removed for all analyses Body weight gain (BWG) was calculated as the difference between the body weight of each fish at the end and at the beginning of the week The feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated as the ratio between FI and BWG (FCR = FI/BWG) the most efficient fish being the fish showing the smallest FCR values The Kinovea 0.8.15 software (Copyright © 2006–2011—Joan Charmant & Contrib.) was used to analyse the videos of the meals and to count for the number of pellets eaten by each fish when reared in groups The number of individuals in each family (from 1 to 28) and the number of families (five and 16 for the GIFT and the Cirad strain respectively) were too small to consider this family level as relevant for the present analyses Basic statistics: mean ± standard deviation and coefficient of variation (CV) of all the traits measured during the experiment for the GIFT and the Cirad strain and the p-value of the block effect calculated using Wilcoxon tests FI and FCR was lower when fish were reared in isolation (ranged from 15.9 to 22.0%) than when they were reared in groups (from 26.5 to 52.7%) It is interesting to note that whatever the trait coefficients of variation were higher when fish were reared in groups than they were in isolation The block effect, estimated using Wilcoxon tests (including the strain, site, experimental protocol and feed used) was always significant. Fish from Cirad strain were 8.7% bigger at the beginning of the group rearing period, and 19.9% heavier at the beginning of the isolated period than those of the GIFT strain (Table 1). The coefficients of variation of BWG and FI were higher for the Cirad strain than for the GIFT strain (Table 1) correlations were positive and significant between BWG.g100 and BWG.g50 (0.49) and between FI.g100 and FI.g50 (0.63) Phenotypic correlation between all the measured traits Relations between FCR when fish were reared in groups and fed with either an optimal feed ration (g100) or a 50% restricted ration (g50) Each point is representing data for one fish FCRs measured in groups with optimal ration and in isolation with restricted ration were not significantly correlated (correlations of −0.17 and −0.18 for GIFT and Cirad strain Relations between FCR when fish were fed a restricted feed and reared in groups (g50) or in isolation (it) Relations between fish reared in groups and fed with an optimal feed ration (g100) and fish reared in isolation with a restricted ration (it) for BWG (A) Black and gray circles corresponded to individuals of the GIFT and Cirad strains The equation of the linear regression and the coefficient of determination R2 are surrounded in black and gray for the GIFT and the Cirad strain The objectives of the present study were to assess the impact of ration level (100% DFR or 50% DFR) and of the rearing system (group rearing or isolation) on FCR trait commonly used to assess feed efficiency it can be hypothesized that agonistic behaviors were exacerbated under restricted diets and consequently some fish will lose more energy to deal with these social interactions than others it seems reasonable not to select fish for growth under restricted feeding in groups to improve feed efficiency our results were based only on phenotypic correlations which can influence conclusions considerably Firm conclusions on this issue will require the estimation of genetic correlations although both BWG and FI are more correlated between group satiation and isolation than between groups under restricted feeding and isolation this does not lead to significant correlations of FCR between both methods Taken as a whole all these results tend to show that the individual efficiency of fish reared in groups or in isolation differs depending probably on the differences in stress levels experienced by the fish according to the rearing conditions and species One of the main advantages of the isolation method compared to the video method is the fact that the phenotypes are known immediately whereas using the video method requires time-consuming video analysis in order to estimate the phenotypes both methods involve a large amount of phenotyping work which may restrict the number of individuals and families that can realistically be evaluated selecting fish for feed efficiency in groups under restricted feeding is likely not a valuable option There is no perfect method to measure FI accurately over several days and to estimate FCR robustly rearing different tilapia strains in different conditions (experimental protocols and country) gave similar conclusions: there is no significant phenotypic correlations between the tested methods to measure accurately FI in Nile tilapia This suggests some level of generality of the observations done The aim of the present study was to compare two methods used to estimate accurately individual feed efficiency in Nile tilapia during several consecutive days and to highlight the most relevant method to use in selective breeding programs To be sure the results undoubtedly meet our objective it would be necessary to develop an experiment comparing these methods at the genetic level Phenotypic correlations do not allow to predict how traits are correlated at the genetic level and what would be the impact of the measurement method in a selective breeding program The most favorable outcome would have been to see good correlations between FCR measurements done with the group or with the isolation method which would have given more opportunities for designing breeding programs for feed efficiency and then there is no simple answer to guide the choice of the method What is relatively clear is that the group method under restricted feeding is not adequate and it is not representative either of the ad libitum group method or of the isolation restricted method selection experiments will be needed to ascertain which are more efficient and economically viable phenotyping methods for selective breeding for feed efficiency The global aim is to have more efficient fish in a conventional farming environment (i.e. It could therefore be suggested to phenotype fish in aquariums (by video) and to place them in ponds according to their individual feed efficiency and then to evaluate their FCR with a specific feed ration when raised in ponds Having ponds with “efficient” fish and ponds with “non-efficient” fish would allow the impact of selection in aquariums to be evaluated The same experiment could be carried out using FCR values measured with isolated and restricted fish to sort the fish The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors The animal study was reviewed and approved by C2EA−36 (Comité d'Éthique en Expérimentation Animale Languedoc-Roussillon) and Guiding Principles of the Animal Care Welfare and Ethics Policy of the WorldFish including the 3-Rs rule All authors read and approved the final manuscript All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version This publication was made possible through support provided by the project DADA-EAT funded by the Fonds Europeen pour les Affaires Maritimes et la Pêche (FEAMP) the CGIAR Research Program on Fish Agrifood Systems (FISH) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest We thank all the technicians from WorldFish Aquaculture Extension Center in Jitra for their support 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Hugues de Verdal, aHVndWVzLmRlX3ZlcmRhbEBjaXJhZC5mcg== Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish Leonard Cohen performs on stage at the Musikhalle in 1970 in Hamburg spent many happy hours in a warehouse by the St Lawrence River in his hometown a young bohemian dancer named Suzanne Verdal served him tea and oranges that came all the way from China Or so he famously sang in his 1967 debut single, "Suzanne." The haunting ballad would launch Cohen's musical career taking him from a minor poet and novelist to one of the great songwriters of our time He had simply reported what had happened in that warehouse and set it to music So did Suzanne really serve tea and oranges Cohen was asked what exactly was meant by those fragrant lines: "and she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China" His answer never varied: "She fed me a tea called Constant Comment which has small pieces of orange rind in it He was in fact referring to a store-bought tea manufactured by the Connecticut firm All Cohen had done was deconstruct it into its component parts and whimsically garnish it with a China connection except that Constant Comment has an origin story infused with all the romance of the American entrepreneurial spirit this tea would be the founding product of what is one of America's leading specialty tea companies today the grandmother of the company's current CEO Ruth was a successful interior designer till the Great Depression dealt a body blow to her business Constant Comment creator Ruth Campbell Bigelow with her husband David She developed the formula in the kitchen of her New York brownstone "My grandparents literally had no money," says Bigelow Ruth chanced upon an old colonial tea recipe to make tea in stone containers flavored with orange peel and sweet spices She disappeared into the kitchen of her New York brownstone on 50th Street — they'd bought the dilapidated apartment cheap — and began experimenting she was so pleasantly taken aback by the flood of warm comments Ruth would pioneer the concept of specialty teas despite the glowing reviews from her friends establishing her new orange tea in the market proved to be an uphill slog It was first sold in squat tins wrapped in gold foil to specialty stores and boutiques Since the family couldn't afford a colored label sat up every night painstakingly hand-painting the green background and red dresses of the two ladies on the label shown drinking tea the tins were loaded into the family station wagon and sold store by store Constant Comment was first sold in tins wrapped in gold foil The family could only afford single color labels for the first tea tins would hand-paint the red ladies on the labels but I don't think this company is ever going anywhere." But then the Bigelows received an invaluable piece of feedback One grocer reported that a customer had opened a tin Realizing that the zestful aroma was the product's defining feature the inventive Ruth supplied every shopkeeper with a "whiffing jar." Labeled "Open and Whiff," it was placed by the cash register in the way that perfume-testing bottles are available today at cosmetic counters Soon Constant Comment was being sold at Bergdorf's and Bloomingdales The major jump took place in the 1970s," she says "when we put our teabags in a folding box instead of a tin — now it became more presentable "When I first heard the song years and years ago did you know he's talking about Constant Comment?" she says but we're thrilled to have that association." So did the tea and oranges come all the way from China "The tea my grandmother used — and which we continue to use — is handpicked from the top of a mountain in Sri Lanka We continue to buy from the same tea gardens even today." "I can't tell you which country our oranges are from because that would be giving away too much but it's from the same source that my grandmother used." Suzanne Verdal remembers the "tea and oranges" a little differently "We had tea together many times and mandarin oranges .. I would always light a candle and serve tea and it would be quiet for several minutes And I would speak about life and poetry and we'd share ideas." But where Suzanne Verdal and the Bigelow Tea Co are in perfect accord is in their common devotion to the environment Cohen's song describes her wearing "rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters," an aesthetic shaped by her commitment to repurposing old clothes which tags itself as a "Zero Waste to Landfill" company "It's part of the DNA of the employees," says Bigelow "Corrugated boxes are shredded for packaging all our cafeterias use compostable components There are 900 solar panels on the roof of our Fairfield plant which gives us 15 percent of the energy we use inclusive company that believes in kindness The Bigelow website has several complaints from Constant Comment connoisseurs about missing the old taste So has the formula of their founding tea changed "People drink with their eyes — and because the design on the box has changed the only two people who know the formula are my parents go into a room and do the mixing — six minutes of this and 12 minutes of that What we can't help is the variability in the crop of oranges from year to year but we would never ever change the original recipe he would be so insulted and so hurt — his whole view of mankind would change Ruth Bigelow died before seeing her company prosper or knowing that her tea would make its way into one of the most beautiful love songs of the age the same year that "Suzanne" was made famous by Judy Collins the sort who would give the shirt off her back," says Bigelow For a woman to be running a business in the 1940s was not an easy thing at all That's why the family has resisted suggestions from canny advertising agencies to change the name of the tea Constant Comment doesn't exactly trip off the tongue "It's the name my grandmother gave," says Bigelow Nina Martyris is a freelance journalist based in Knoxville A previous version of this story said that the old tea recipe that inspired Ruth Bigelow to create Constant Comment contained cinnamon But Cindi Bigelow says the tea does not contain cinnamon Become an NPR sponsor Aker Solutions fabrication yard at Verdal has delivered the topsides to the Hod B wellhead platform destined for the Aker BP-operated Hod field in the Norwegian North Sea The project is the second project delivered by Aker BP’s alliance for delivery of fixed platforms thereby reducing a lot of time and costs compared to a traditional model where the customer and supplier have separate roles and responsibilities The Hod development has utilized the experience from the wellhead platform for the Valhall Flank West project which was delivered in the summer of 2019—the first under the alliance Hod B is an approximate copy of Valhall Flank West and gave the partnership opportunities to optimize its implementation model through reuse of personnel It has been delivered at considerably lower cost compared to Valhall Flank West Hod B has been an important project that was initiated only hours after the temporary changes to the tax system for the oil and gas industry received a broad majority in the Storting in June last year The project prefabrication started at the yard in Verdal just hours after the agreement was made and has benefited jobs just 14 months after the first steel plates were cut the topside is ready for transport to the field exactly as agreed,” said Sturla Magnus executive vice president and head of Aker Solutions’ topside and facilities business we have developed new solutions and implemented a number of improvements for safety productivity and reduced cost level in the project This further increases our competitiveness and makes us even more attractive to future clients.” as well as hookup and assistance for completion on the field The topsides will be installed on the steel jacket delivered from Aker Solutions’ yard in June the contract had a value for Aker Solutions of just under NOK 1 billion and subcontractors have worked on the project and more than 50 yard apprentices have completed much of their vocational training the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ flagship magazine presents authoritative briefs and features on technology advancements in exploration and production ISSN: 1944-978X (Online)ISSN: 0149-2136 (Print) Neil Verdal-Austin believes everybody deserves a good night’s sleep and, for more than 10 years, he’s made it his mission to help people achieve that. He’s the CEO of SomnoMed an Australian medical device company that makes products to help people with sleep apnea get a better night’s rest Born in Zimbabwe and brought up in South Africa from the age of 12 Neil now oversees a team of about 500 people at SomnoMed The qualified accountant moved to Australia with his family in 2006 SomnoMed was relatively young and in need of systems and an operational structure when Neil came in but things have changed considerably under his leadership SomnoMed has served some 470,000 patients in 28 countries generating annual revenues in excess of A$60 million “I think the opportunities probably lie in the deeper penetration of the current sleep markets that we’re in,” says Neil who was CFO at SomnoMed before he took the top job “We can penetrate more effectively into those markets We opened in some geographic sectors just two or three years ago so they’re still in their infancy in terms of development and growth potential.” Neil also thinks improvements in SomnoMed’s technology and product range will help the company grow as will expanding to new countries in 2020 and 2021 The health problem that SomnoMed is tackling is huge with more than three in 10 men and nearly two in 10 women affected Sleep apnea is a disorder that occurs when a person’s breathing is interrupted during sleep because the airway gets blocked air stops flowing into the lungs for 10 seconds or longer You essentially stop breathing and your brain forces you to wake up “When people have this sleep interruption more than 15 times an hour at night it becomes serious enough to seek treatment,” says Neil they’re not getting to the deeper levels of sleep you need for your body to recover from the day’s work and exercise What the body then does is start looking for energy and the sugar rush starts and people start to eat the wrong things to satisfy this sugar rush and drink coffee to stay awake The awareness of the impact of sleep apnea is still pretty low and undiagnosed in a lot of people.” Those who suffer from the condition are often constantly tired and may struggle to concentrate sexual dysfunction and frequent urination at night SomnoMed is doing its best to put an end to all that The company’s flagship product is an oral appliance that SomnoMed sells to dentists custom-made device fitted by dentists who will charge about A$1,500 for the full treatment in Australia The company’s continuous open airway therapy (COATTM) device is designed to be an alternative to the relatively invasive continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) masks offered by large organisations like ResMed and Respironics. “CPAP masks are worn over the nose and mouth and blow pneumatic air down the patient’s airway to keep it open But patients find them uncomfortable and tend not to use them which is strongly corroborated by feedback we get from those patients,” says Neil “We came along with an alternative medical device providing similar efficacy and certainly much higher compliance rates than the CPAP devices which ultimately results in far better health outcomes for the patients.” “It’s a team effort for us to collect and assemble critical information Neil describes his leadership style as consultative and it’s a team effort for us to collect and assemble critical information before planning a course of action.” The CEO Magazine is more than a business title; it’s a source of information inspiration and motivation for the world’s most successful leaders Learn all about The CEO Magazine at TheCEO.com ' + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.webview_notification_text + ' " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_title + " " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_text + " 2022Aker Solutions has been awarded a contract1 from Shell UK for the delivery of a not permanently attended installation (NPAI) for the Jackdaw gas field could represent over 6% of projected UK North Sea gas production in the middle of this decade The award follows completion of front-end engineering and design work (FEED) and installation (EPCI) of the complete wellhead platform consisting of a topside and a steel jacket as well as related load-out and offshore hook-up and commissioning Fabrication of the wellhead platform will happen at Aker Solutions’ yard in Verdal and at its peak the project will employ over 300 people The steel substructure including a pre-drilling deck is to be delivered from Aker Solutions’ facilities to Shell in 2023 Aker Solutions will continue the cooperation with external suppliers Rambøll and Leirvik who were part of developing the FEED.  “We are pleased that Shell selects us to develop a cost-effective platform for this major North Sea gas field We will build on our strong topside solutions and executions model which involves reusing facilities and equipment and bringing onboard solid experience from similar developments from both internal Aker Solutions resources and external partners,” said Sturla Magnus executive vice president and head of Aker Solutions’ topsides and facilities business “We aim to be a leading supplier of energy solutions and the Jackdaw development contributes to the ambition of the British government to boost domestic energy output to enhance energy security The project forms part of our broader intent to both play a key role in the transformation of Europe’s energy sector and help accelerate security of supplies,” said Kjetel Digre Aker Solutions will book the award as an order intake of between NOK 2-3 billion in the third quarter of 2022 in the Renewables and Field Development segment Media Contact:Torbjørn Andersen, mob: +47 928 85 542, email: torbjorn.andersen@akersolutions.com Investor Contact:Fredrik Berge, mob: +47 450 32 090, email: fredrik.berge@akersolutions.com Aker Solutions delivers integrated solutions products and services to the global energy industry We enable low-carbon oil and gas production and develop renewable solutions to meet future energy needs By combining innovative digital solutions and predictable project execution we accelerate the transition to sustainable energy production Aker Solutions employs approximately 14,000 people in more than 20 countries Visit akersolutions.com and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube This press release may include forward-looking information or statements and is subject to our disclaimer, see https://akersolutions.com This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act This stock exchange release was published by Dafina Shala Aker Solutions has been awarded a contract1 from Shell UK for the delivery of a not permanently attended installation (NPAI) for the Jackdaw gas field Media Contact:Torbjørn Andersen, mob: +47 928 85 542, email: torbjorn.andersen@akersolutions.com Investor Contact:Fredrik Berge, mob: +47 450 32 090, email: fredrik.berge@akersolutions.com Visit akersolutions.com and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube This press release may include forward-looking information or statements and is subject to our disclaimer, see https://akersolutions.com Located at the northern end of the Trondheim Fjord Aker Verdal is situated to participate in projects in the Norwegian Sea off mid-Norway the development of massive gas resources through the Åsgard and Haltenbank South projects has prompted proposals for using some of the gas locally for industrial development If the "age of gas deliveries" in the Trondheim region comes about according to marketing director Kjell Eggen The yard recently applied for permission to expand into an adjacent area of 175,000 sq meters on which work related to such developments could be undertaken The current orderbook is also filled with jackets the yard is due to deliver the 6,500-ton jacket for Esso Norge's Jotun wellhead platform it will be the turn of the 6,000-ton jacket for Phillips' Eldfisk water injection platform and the 6,000-ton jacket for Hydro's Oseberg Gas platform - the latter contract also includes the 8,000-ton topsides it is due to deliver the 7,000-ton jacket for Hydro's Oseberg South platform Verdal has kept at the forefront of the jacket market by reducing construction costs by around 40% in the last 10 years or so The effort should continue to pay dividends as the short-term outlook for jackets in Norway is better than ever The company is targeting a number of upcoming projects such as the jacket for Statoil's Huldra platform and Hydro's Heimdal riser platform the latter a turnkey delivery of jacket and topsides which includes small-to-medium modules and decks Another recent delivery was the small wellhead platform for Saga's Varg project This is the first platform on the Norwegian continental shelf involving a monotower substructure a concept which is likely to become more common in coming years The yard also built the only two jackets in the Norwegian sector with suction buckets instead of skirt piles Another important reference is the Sleipner riser platform which was built in a mere 10 months after the original Sleipner A concrete gravity base sank during submersion tests Aker Verdal has developed its own unique cold bending technology for pipes and is currently the only yard in Norway with cold bending procedures approved both by classification society Det Norske Veritas and the oil companies Heavy investments have been made recently to expand the yard's piping facilities and enable it to make the most of its competitive edge a new pipe fabrication shop for duplex materials was built alongside the existing pipe fabrication shop and a storage area constructed for piping materials The yard has two cold bending machines on site pipe of any thickness and any type of material well placed to perform piping prefabrication both for its own projects and for Aker Stord the group's other Norwegian fabrication yard which specializes in topsides fabrication and floater outfitting Verdal's services are also called upon by other main contractors such as Umoe Haugesund It is currently fabricating 96 sets of flowloops in 6-in which will form part of the HOST subsea templates used by Statoil in its Gullfaks Satellites Statfjord Northern Flank and Heidrun North subsea developments flowloops the cold bending technology enables the number of butt welds to be reduced from 25 to just three Aker Verdal has made a significant contribution to solving the problems of welding heavy wall duplex pipe Other recent investments have been made to expand the yard's facilities including the construction last autumn of two new fabrication shops Through a frame agreement in 2014, Kvaerner won the contract for the jackets for the riser platform (delivered in summer 2017); the drilling platform (completed in March); and the process platform, which yesterday sailed from the company’s yard in Verdal, western Norway for installation at the field complex. Kvaerner said it had delivered all three substructures under a good co-operation with Equinor and subcontractors, on time and to the agreed quality. The deliveries from Verdal comprise around 90% of the total substructure weight for the first- phase Sverdrup development - including the piles, Kvaerner will have fabricated close to 100,000 metric tons (110,231 tons) of steel, said EVP Structural Solutions, Sturla Magnus. After securing a letter of intent for the riser platform and drilling platform jackets in June 2014, the contractor started design work immediately on the riser platform jacket. It signed the following January, after a six-month pilot project had identified cost reduction and measures for improving competitiveness. Kvaerner claims it can now deliver new jackets at a lower cost than in 2005. 2021Today Aker Solutions delivers yet another steel substructure for the largest industry project ever in Norway the company has delivered three platform jackets for phase 1 With this jacket for phase 2 of the project four out of a total of five jackets have been built and delivered from Aker Solutions’ yard in Verdal All platform substructures have been delivered on time A key focus during the work has also been to improve execution models and to adapt for new types of jobs future platform jackets for oil and gas and for renewable energy production can be delivered at a lower cost and with increased competitiveness Through the frame agreement entered into in 2014 Aker Solutions was awarded three out of four jackets for the first phase of the project The first delivery was the riser platform jacket in the summer of 2017 This was the largest and most complex platform jacket delivered from Aker Solutions to date and the first visible installation at the new Johan Sverdrup field centre we delivered the steel substructure for the drilling platform and in July of that year the process platform substructure was delivered the process platform substructure for phase 2 sails from Verdal "This is an exciting and important day for us we have delivered all four of these platform jackets at the agreed quality I am very pleased that our customers confirm that we are a supplier that offers an attractive combination of technical expertise and cost-effectiveness," said Sturla Magnus executive vice president and head of Aker Solutions' topside and facilities business the deliveries from Aker Solutions in Verdal make up about 90 percent of the total weight of the substructures for the combined phase 1 and 2 of the Johan Sverdrup field More than 100,000 metric tons of steel are delivered from Aker Solutions' facility in Verdal including the piles that attach the jackets to the seabed Aker Solutions’ facility at Stord has delivered a topside as well as a large module for the Johan Sverdrup field We have extensive experience in providing the customers with complete and seamless deliveries we have also increased industrialization for how we execute projects combined with long-term relationships in the supplier market makes it possible for us to offer flexibility to our customers We are now delivering as planned despite a year of major challenges with COVID-19 we have found good solutions that enable us to deliver the jacket to our customer Equinor without serious injuries during the execution," said Erik Stiklestad Illustration of Johan Sverdrup phase 2 (Photo: Equinor) \"This is an exciting and important day for us I am very pleased that our customers confirm that we are a supplier that offers an attractive combination of technical expertise and cost-effectiveness,\" said Sturla Magnus we have found good solutions that enable us to deliver the jacket to our customer Equinor without serious injuries during the execution,\" said Erik Stiklestad The written judgement came after a case brought by environmental campaigners In his judgement, Lord Ericht said a more detailed assessment of the fields' environmental impact was required taking into account the effect on the climate of burning any fossil fuels extracted He said work on both fields could continue while the new information was gathered but no oil and gas could be extracted unless fresh approval was granted A Jackdaw gas platform has been under construction at a fabrication yard at Verdal near Trondheim ShareSaveWatch: Rihanna's baby bump and suits galore - Key looks from the 2025 Met GalaThe theme for this year's event was "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style," the first since 2003 to focus exclusively on menswear. 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Watch: How Lady Gaga's record-breaking concert almost ended in disaster A large-scale bomb attack was thwarted by police before Gaga's first concert in Brazil since 2012. McFly superfan meets band after chance encounterJoel Oates could not believe his luck when his mum told him she had met McFly at a service station. One-minute World NewsWatch the latest news summary from BBC World News. International news updated 24 hours a day. Huge crowds as hundreds join drum and bass bike ridePeople follow Dom Whiting while he DJs drum and bass music on his own bike. Crooner, 14, prefers Frank Sinatra to rap musicGeorge Robinson's performances have had millions of views on social media. 'Magic' rare otter sighting in garden pondIt was spotted by wildlife-lover Kerry Irwin-Hall who is no stranger to seeing animals in her garden. Watch: Cathedral's first 2025 peregrine hatchedAdults bring meat for the fluffy chick after it hatches next to a live cam overlooking a city. 'Trump was the game-changer': Three things to know about the Australian election resultThe BBC's Australia correspondent Katy Watson breaks down who won and lost the election - and what it means. Watch as people try to help 1.5m shark on shorelineExperts advise against helping porbeagle sharks back into the sea to avoid being bitten or injured. Serving as PM 'the greatest honour of my life', says AlbaneseServing as PM 'the greatest honour of my life', says Albanese The milestone was celebrated by cutting the very first steel plates for Hugin A and Valhall PWP at Aker Solutions’ Stord yard.  “These projects contribute high value creation and extensive ripple effects across the entire industry. Aker Solutions will have recruited more than 2,000 new colleagues in Norway, in addition to 100 new apprentices every year, going forward,” said Sturla Magnus, executive vice president, New Build, for Aker Solutions. Aker Solutions and alliance partners on 16 December 2022 signed contracts with Aker BP worth a total value for Aker Solutions of close to NOK 50 billion, which was the company’s highest ever quarterly order intake.  “This day is important not only for Aker BP, Aker Solutions, license partners and strategic partners, but for the entire supplier industry. After years of engineering and preparations, we are now entering the construction phase. These projects will involve hundreds of suppliers and provide large ripple effects in the form of revenue and jobs in local communities throughout large parts of Norway”, said Magnus.  Hugin A is a part of the Yggdrasil development and consists of a 28-tonne production platform and a 20,500 tonne steel jacket that will be delivered from Aker Solutions yard in Verdal. In addition to Stord and Verdal, Aker Solutions’ yards in Egersund and Sandnessjøen will build modules, while Leirvik AS will deliver the living quarters. Hugin A will be the largest topside ever assembled in the Stord yard area.  Valhall PWP is a 16,000-tonne production platform for the Valhall field that will be assembled at Stord. The 9,500 tonne steel jacket will be delivered from Verdal. In addition, Sandnessjøen, Worley Rosenberg and Nymo in Arendal will contribute to the construction work.  The field developments also include the two unmanned platforms Hugin B and Fenris, which will be delivered from Verdal, while Aibel deliver the topside for Munin.  Aker Solutions also has considerable subsea and modification deliveries to the Yggdrasil and Valhall PWP-Fenris fields.  The projects provide activities and revenue that are important for the further development of the industry in the years to come. The majority of Aker Solutions 9,000 employees at the company’s 14 Norwegian locations will work on the execution of these and other projects that have come as a result of a stimulus program adopted by the Norwegian parliament in 2020.  Including the knock-on effects to suppliers and surrounding communities, Aker Solutions’ enterprise in the area contributes to thousands of jobs. Projects won by Aker Solutions as a result of the stimulus package will allow for the recruitment of more than 2,000 new colleagues in Norway, as well as 100 apprentices a year, going forward.  The next two large offshore development projects to be built on the Norwegian Continental Shelf —Yggdrasil and Valhall PWP-Fenris — entered the construction phase today.  Fast-growing energy demand is driving the need for technical support and guidance in new locations, writes Terrance Roberts… Belgium-based offshore installation services company DEME has completed the acquisition Havfram, an offshore wind installation… The first European built CO2 carrier, dedicated for work at the Greensand carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, will… The Mediterranean Sea Emission Control Area (ECA) for sulphur oxides enters into effect on 1 May.This will make the Mediterranean… YACHT SIGNSAt Yacht Signs, we excel in creating stunning illuminated yacht names and logos, durable stainless steel yacht lettering, and cutting-edge LED and fiber optic solutions. Maritime Reporter E-News is the maritime industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email five times per week 2025Aker Solutions has signed a significant[1] contract with Dragados Offshore to deliver the steel substructure for the 2GW HVDC converter station for the BalWin1 offshore wind grid connection system in Germany The contract also includes an option for the BalWin 2 steel substructure   Each of the BalWin 1 and BalWin 2 grid connection systems consist of a 2.0 Gigawatt HVDC offshore and onshore substation for the transmission of renewable electrical energy Amprion Offshore GmbH is the transmission system operator responsible for these systems With a total transmission capacity of 4 GW the Balwin 1 and 2 projects can supply enough electricity to power a major city like Berlin "We are proud that Dragados Offshore has selected Aker Solutions as the contractor for the BalWin 1 steel substructure We have over decades developed substantial expertise and track record for delivering predictable execution of demanding projects The new contract is aligned with our strategy to grow our activities within renewables and low-carbon projects," said Sturla Magnus Executive Vice President for Aker Solutions’ New Build segment Fabrication of the HVDC substructures will be executed by Aker Solutions’ yard in Verdal method engineering and construction of the offshore HVDC converter platform substructures Preparation for procurement and method engineering will commence immediately while construction is scheduled to begin in early 2026 as order intake in the first quarter of 2025 in the Renewables and Field Development segment 1Aker Solutions defines a ‘significant’ contract as being between NOK 1.5 billion and NOK 2.5 billion Each of the BalWin 1 and BalWin 2 grid connection systems consist of a 2.0 Gigawatt HVDC offshore and onshore substation for the transmission of renewable electrical energy \"We are proud that Dragados Offshore has selected Aker Solutions as the contractor for the BalWin 1 steel substructure The new contract is aligned with our strategy to grow our activities within renewables and low-carbon projects,\" said Sturla Magnus the topside of the normally unmanned wellhead platform for the Hod field is transported from Aker Solutions in Verdal to the Aker BP operated field This is the second project for the Fixed Facilities Alliance which was established in the spring of 2017 The project prefabrication started at the yard in Verdal just hours after the agreement was made and has meant a lot to activity and jobs The customer Aker BP and the main suppliers Aker Solutions and ABB have worked in a joint organization The Hod development has utilized the experience from the wellhead platform for the Valhall Flank West project Valhall Flank West was the first wellhead platform delivered through the alliance this platform set a new standard for how complete a facility can be before installation on the field which is an approximate copy of Valhall Flank West has given us opportunities to optimize our implementation model through reuse of personnel “I am proud to state that in close cooperation with the alliance partners we have reached all milestones and project objectives the topside is ready for transport to the field exactly as agreed This further increases our competitiveness and makes us even more attractive to future clients,” said Sturla Magnus as well as hook-up and assistance for completion on the field The 2,000-metric-tons topside will be installed on the steel jacket delivered from Aker Solutions’ yard in June The delivery has been executed without serious harm to people or the environment the alliance and subcontractors have worked on the project more than 50 of our apprentices have completed much of their vocational training on the Hod project We also contribute to maintaining a world-leading supplier industry It makes me particularly proud that through the Hod project Aker BP has contributed to the vocational training of 50 apprentices The apprentices and the industry have a competence that is necessary for the Green Deal I am impressed with the alliance team for another solid delivery You demonstrate that the alliance model is the key to delivering profitable projects in a demanding market going forward,” said Karl Johnny Hersvik Aker Solutions employs approximately 15,000 people in more than 20 countries Visit akersolutions.com and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube This press release may include forward-looking information or statements and is subject to our disclaimer, see https://akersolutions.com GE’s Grid Solutions business announced its most recent Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) contract win in an ongoing collaboration with Statnett Norway’s electrical transmission system operator Norway is said to have one of the most sophisticated energy infrastructures in the world GE’s Static Var Compensator (SVC) technology will be used to upgrade the existing SVCs at Rød and Verdal substations Norway’s population is expected to grow 21% from 2015 to 2040 to more than 6.3 million people With the availability of new technology and plans for full electrification of most public and industrial sectors the country is making it a priority to upgrade older grid infrastructure as well as develop the country’s mainstream power network to create a modern grid GE’s FACTS technology allows utilities to provide reactive power support improves stability and increases power transfer capacity of AC transmission systems This system design involves upgrades to Statnett’s existing Static Var Compensators (SVC) to regulate the voltage in the system during normal operations and provide reactive power compensation during faults in the system The main purpose of the SVC is to provide stable voltage conditions and improve the power grid transfer capability during varying power generation and power flows “The upgrades to the Rød and Verdal substations will be the largest SVC revamp project Statnett has ever undertaken and one of the largest in the industry Statnett’s most recent contract with GE ensures a secure supply and improves the reliability and availability of the electrical transmission grid,” says Espen Bostadløkken Norway Country Manager at GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions business analysis and information contained herein (1) include the proprietary information of Euronext and its content providers (2) may not be copied or further disseminated except as specifically authorized by Euronext (4) are provided solely for informational purposes and (5) are not warranted to be complete The Hod B jacket is now safely installed and ready to receive the topsides later this summer The installation was accomplished just one year after the first steel was cut in the project The Hod field will be developed with a normally unmanned installation which will be remotely operated from Valhall CO2 emissions from the field will be very low as a result of power from shore The first steel for the platform was cut by Aker BP CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik at the Aker Solutions yard in Verdal on 9 June 2020 This occurred mere hours after the Parliament adopted temporary changes in the petroleum tax regime “I remember the day as an enormous relief The preceding months were marred by disappointments and bad news and we’d spent the last few months cutting costs and investments we were able respond quickly and get the Hod project back on track It’s absolutely fantastic that the jacket is in place on the field now Congratulations to everyone involved!” says Karl Johnny Hersvik The fixed facilities alliance between Aker BP Aker Solutions and ABB is delivering the Hod B platform Both the jacket and topsides are being built at Aker Solutions in Verdal and the work has secured a number of jobs at the yard “The temporary tax changes were introduced last year to stimulate increased investments and thereby secure Norwegian jobs in very challenging times for the oil and gas industry Hod demonstrates that we can deliver on the task set out by the politicians We can achieve this thanks to the close cooperation we’ve built over time with our alliance partners ,” Hersvik says Faster and more efficientThe first normally unmanned platform delivered by the platform alliance was Valhall Flank West “We now see that we work even faster and even more efficiently together on Hod compared to the Valhall Flank West project It’s also why this model is an important part of Aker BP’s strategy and the key to delivering profitable projects in a challenging market moving forward,” says SVP Projects Knut Sandvik in Aker BP Aker BP is planning to invest about 135 billion kroner in field development projects on the Norwegian shelf leading up to 2028 This will add more than 500 million barrels to Aker BP’s resource base and more importantly – it will bring robust activity and a considerable number of jobs for several suppliers across the country “We currently have Hod B and three other projects in the execution phase Nine projects are in early phase and working toward submitting plans for development and operation by the end of 2022,” Sandvik says.Watch video – jacket installation Alliance projectThe Hod field is operated by Aker BP Pandion Energy is the partner with a 10 per cent ownership interest A total of five alliances are contributing to the project The alliances are integrated from start to finish in the project which means that Aker BP has taken the alliance model to a new level We succeed through our cooperation with our alliance partners The alliance model allows us to integrate deliveries in an entirely different way than we could in a traditional customer-supplier model which is incredibly motivating,” says project manager Rannveig Storebø The Hod B platform is scheduled to sail from the Verdal yard in August At the same time work is under way to plan remaining activities to complete the project Multiple subsea campaigns will be conducted to install and connect the gas lift pipe Integration work is under way on Valhall and the Maersk Invincible drilling rig will start drilling production wells this autumn Important for the Valhall giantHod B is expected to contribute 40 million barrels of oil equivalent and will be important for Valhall to reach the ambition of a total of two billion produced barrels from the area Production is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2022 “Projects like Hod B allow us to create considerable values both for us We’re also contributing to maintain a world-leading supplier industry This is an industry with expertise that is fundamental in the energy transition,” Karl Johnny Hersvik concludes Aker BP is a company engaged in exploration field development and production of oil and gas on the Norwegian continental shelf The company operates the field centres Valhall and is a partner in the Johan Sverdrup field Aker BP is one of the largest independent oil companies in Europe has delivered yet another platform on time with a high level of quality and with no harm to people or the environment The topside was installed just one year and two months after the first steel cut The 2000-tonne topsides were placed on the jacket on the Hod field in the southern part of the North Sea on Sunday “The platform is delivered from a Norwegian yard and with Norwegian subcontractors Congratulations to everyone who has contributed,” says Aker BP CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik The first steel for Hod B was cut in Aker Solutions’ yard in Verdal just hours after the Norwegian Parliament adopted temporary changes in the petroleum tax in June of last year The tax changes were introduced to stimulate increased investments and thus secure Norwegian jobs in an extremely demanding period for the oil and gas industry More than a hundred suppliers across Norway have contributed to the Hod development the alliance and subcontractors have been working on the Hod B project at the yard in Verdal More than 50 apprentices have completed large parts of their vocational training on the project we are creating value both for the company We are also helping to sustain a world-leading supplier industry Aker BP has contributed to the vocational training of 50 apprentices have expertise that will be essential in the years to come Several of the apprentices are already headed for renewable projects in Aker Solutions such as the delivery of suction anchors and seabed installations for Hywind Tampen This is the green energy transition in practice,” Hersvik says The first normally unmanned platform delivered by the fixed platform alliance was Valhall Flank West “Through Hod B the alliance is delivering a product with very high quality and we are incredibly proud of what they have achieved We have learned important lessons in the Valhall Flank West project and now see that we are able to work even faster and more efficiently with our alliance partners on Hod B and that is also why this model is an important part of Aker BP’s strategy,” says project manager Rannveig Storebø A total of five alliances are contributing to the Hod project These alliances are integrated from start to finish in the project and by doing this Aker BP has taken the alliance model to a new level.  Hod B will be remotely operated from Valhall and the field will have extremely low CO2 emissions thanks to power from shore Aker BP and partner Pandion expects Hod to produce 40 million barrels of oil equivalent “We look forward to bringing Hod on stream in the first quarter of next year Aker BP will continue to increase value creation from the giant Valhall through new projects and a major ongoing modernisation of the area Hod is an important contribution towards achieving the Valhall ambition of a total of two billion produced barrels from the area,” says Valhall Asset Manager Ole Johan Molvig Several subsea campaigns will be conducted in the Hod project leading up to production start in 2022 such as installation and connection of the gas lift pipelines Modification work is under way at the Valhall field centre and the Maersk Invincible drilling rig will be arriving this autumn to drill production wells The topside of the normally unmanned wellhead platform for the Hod field is transported today from Aker Solutions’ yard in Verdal to the Aker BP-operated field in the North Sea off Norway According to Aker Solutions’ statement on Wednesday The project prefabrication started at the yard in Verdal just hours after the agreement was made This is the second project delivered by Aker BP’s alliance for the delivery of fixed platforms The Hod development has utilized the experience from the wellhead platform for the Valhall Flank West project has given the company opportunities to optimize its implementation model through the reuse of personnel It has been delivered at a considerably lower cost compared to Valhall Flank West executive vice president and head of Aker Solutions’ topside and facilities business productivity and reduced cost level in the project” The Alliance delivery includes design, procurement, fabrication, preparation for sea transport, as well as hook-up and assistance for completion on the field. The 2,000-metric-tons topside will be installed on the steel jacket, which was delivered from Aker Solutions’ yard in June The jacket installation was accomplished just one year after the first steel was cut in the project Upon signing on 9 June 2020, the contract had a value for Aker Solutions of just under NOK 1 billion. At its peak, around 550 people from Aker Solutions, the alliance and subcontractors have worked on the project. Karl Johnny Hersvik, chief executive officer of Aker BP, said: “It makes me particularly proud that through the Hod project Aker BP has contributed to the vocational training of 50 apprentices. The apprentices and the industry have a competence that is necessary for the Green Deal. I am impressed with the alliance team for another solid delivery. You demonstrate that the alliance model is the key to delivering profitable projects in a demanding market going forward”. The Pioneers of Offshore Engineering GustoMSC, part of NOV’s Marine and Construction business, is recognized for providing advanced design & engineering consultancy for mobile offshore units and reliable equipment. In close cooperation with our customers, we translate experience, science, and technical knowledge into realistic & innovative ideas. The performance of new and existing jack-ups, vessels […] Norwegian contractor Kvaerner almost doubled profits last year on significantly higher revenue as it bolstered its order backlog but is reviewing prospects for its jacket fabrication yard as it risks running out of work unless it wins new contracts by this summer. The engineering and construction player reported a net profit last year of Nkr445 million ($73 million), versus Nkr237 million a year earlier, as revenue increased 46% year on year to Nkr12.96 billion. The Oslo-listed company also recorded a strong leap in fourth-quarter net income to Nkr248 million from Nkr55 million a year earlier as revenue for the period rose 48% year on year to Nkr3.9 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Your data on Upstream Upstream is part of DN Media Group AS From November 1st DN Media Group is responsible for controlling your data on Upstream We use your data to ensure you have a secure and enjoyable user experience when visiting our site. You can read more about how we handle your information in our privacy policy DN Media Group is the leading news provider in the shipping, seafood, and energy industries, with a number of English- and Norwegian-language news publications across a variety of sectors. Read more about DN Media Group here. Upstream is part of NHST Global Publications AS and we are responsible for the data that you register with us, and the data we collect when you visit our websites. 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For more information and how to manage your privacy settings, please refer to our privacy and cookie policies. 2020Aker Solutions has signed a contract with Arctic Offshore Farming for the assembly of two large fish farming facilities.Fish farming has been identified by Aker Solutions as a market with several interesting prospects Aker Solutions has together with Norway Royal Salmon developed the design for Arctic Offshore Farming’s harsh environment installation Today’s contract means that the company will now also make its first delivery of such facilities The value of the contract is approximately NOK 40 million "We will leverage our expertise and capabilities from the oil and gas industry also in other markets Our ambition is to grow our renewable projects and low-carbon solutions to count for one third of the revenues by 2025 We are currently pursuing prospects within offshore wind power The new contract for Arctic Offshore Farming shows that we can be a relevant and competitive contractor for such markets," said Karl-Petter Løken Arctic Offshore Farming’s facilities are currently being prefabricated as four separate sections at the Fosen Yard in Emden the modules will be transported on a barge to Aker Solutions’ specialized yard in Verdal where the four sections will be assembled to two circular fish farming units The fish farm weighs about 3,800 metric tons and has a diameter of 80 meters "Arctic Offshore Farming is a development project by Norway Royal Salmon and is an important project for further growth and to maintain NRS as one of the world’s leading producers of farmed salmon Arctic Offshore Farming is a project that will bring us into the future for facilitating environmentally sustainable salmon farming further out at more open sea We believe it is important to work closely with the traditional suppliers to the aquaculture industry as well as aligning typical marine and offshore suppliers with decades of experience from exposed waters and developing a competitive national network of suppliers and contractors for the future aquaculture industry Bringing Aker Solutions' facility in Verdal into the project for assembly of the two steel cages together with the design team in Aker Solutions is in all interests creating a successful salmon farming facility with Arctic Offshore Farming," said Knut Engene Aker Solutions' scope includes preparatory activities for the fabrication services to Arctic Offshore Farming and their suppliers Each of the two fish farming units weighs about 3,800 metric tons has a diameter of 80 meters and a height of 22 meters Preparations for the project start early 2021 The activity will be at its highest in April and May when around 50 employees will be working on the project The fish farming units will be installed at the Arctic Offshore Farming location outside Tromsø in Northern Norway Fish farming has been identified by Aker Solutions as a market with several interesting prospects \"We will leverage our expertise and capabilities from the oil and gas industry also in other markets The new contract for Arctic Offshore Farming shows that we can be a relevant and competitive contractor for such markets,\" said Karl-Petter Løken \"Arctic Offshore Farming is a development project by Norway Royal Salmon and is an important project for further growth and to maintain NRS as one of the world’s leading producers of farmed salmon is in all interests creating a successful salmon farming facility with Arctic Offshore Farming,\" said Knut Engene STORD, Norway – First steel has been cut for two more Aker BP developments in the Norwegian North Sea. Aker Solutions’ yard will construct the topsides for the new production platform for the Valhall development and the Hugin A production and living quarters platform in the Yggdrasil area. The program is a cooperation with Aker BP, ABB and Siemens Energy as part of the Fixed Facilities Alliance. Aker Solutions’ yards in Egersund, Verdal and Sandnessjøen will also support the two projects, as will the Nymo yard in Grimstad, Rosenberg Worley in Stavanger, Aibel in Haugesund and Leirvik in Stord. Valhall PWP-Fenris is a joint development in the southern part of the North Sea; Pandion Energy is the partner in Valhall and PGNiG Upstream Norway in Fenris, 50 km to the south. Aker BP has commissioned a new centrally located production and wellhead platform bridge-linked to the Valhall Field center and an unmanned installation at Fenris connected via pipeline to Valhall. The new facilities will use Valhall’s existing power from shore system. The company expects to recover an additional 230 MMboe and ensure a lifetime extension for Valhall post-2028.  Valhall PWP is a 16,000-metric-ton production platform for the Valhall Field that will be assembled at Stord, with the 9,500-mt steel jacket to be fabricated by Aker Solutions in Verdal. In addition, Sandnessjøen, Worley Rosenberg and Nymo in Arendal will contribute to the construction work. Yggdrasil, which encompasses the Hugin, Fulla and Munin license groups, is between the Alvheim and Oseberg field centers, with combined resources of more than 700 MMboe. Aker BP’s partners in the area are Equinor and PGNiG Upstream Norway.  The project involves construction of three platforms, nine subsea templates, new pipelines for oil and gas export, and power from shore, with the entire Yggdrasil area remotely operated from an integrated operations center/control room onshore in Stavanger.  Hugin A’s 28,000-metric-ton production platform, the largest topsides ever built in the Stord area, will be supported by a 20,500-mt steel jacket to be delivered from Aker Solutions yard in Verdal. Aker Solutions’ yards in Egersund and Sandnessjøen will build modules, while Leirvik will supply the living quarters. Construction of the Hugin B and Fenris unmanned platforms will take place at Verdal, while Aibel will supply the topside for Munin. 09.05.2023 Share via...Gift this articleSubscribe to gift this article Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe For sleep device manufacturers SomnoMed, the decision to manufacture in the Philippines was based on having a historic connection to the country The company's Australian-designed non-invasive oral appliances were being manufactured by a third party in the Philippines when in 2009 it took the decision to set up its own operation said once the decision was made it took until February 2010 before SomnoMed flicked the switch on its own facility SaveLog in or Subscribe to save articleShareCopy link Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe. Follow the topics, people and companies that matter to you. Read MoreAsia business outlookSpecial ReportsLatest In AsiaFetching latest articles Interest is growing in the services offered by Aker Kværner Jacket Technology (AKJT) which was set up a year ago to support Aker Kværner’s specialized jacket fabrication yard in Norway and to find new outlets for its jacket expertise in the global market Aker Kværner’s jacket engineering expertise was gathered together in AKJT which is headed by Managing Director Bjørn Rognlien which is augmented as required by contract personnel and can draw on the resources of other Aker Kværner companies Its closest partner is Aker Kværner Engineering and Technology the mainstay of the group’s topsides engineering expertise winning jacket contracts for Shell’s Goldeneye and most recently EnCana’s Buzzard project there have been few fabrication opportunities as most countries with established offshore sectors reserve jacket work for their own yards there is scope for AKJT to add value to jacket projects in foreign countries This could be done through establishing long-term relationships with local contractors and fabricators AKJT could then contribute engineering solutions conducive to more effective fabrication methods hopefully realizing improvements in future projects The company is already enacting its strategy together with its local associate Kværner Powergas it won a $4-million contract involving technical responsibility for the design of nine wellhead platforms for ONGC’s Mumbai High South development The company had a team of four engineers working full-time on the project in India will support 700-ton topsides and will be installed in water depths of 69-85 m Five of the platforms are due for delivery this year and the remainder in 2006 the company is supporting Aker Kværner Engineering and Technology in tendering to local yards to provide jacket engineering for several platforms an agreement was also signed with Mexican state engineering company Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo (IMP) which performs most of the conceptual design work for state oil company Pemex Four IMP engineers spent a month in Oslo familiarizing themselves with the company’s working procedures AKJT then undertook a two-month study for a jacket to be installed in 250 m of water the deepest installation yet in the Mexico sector the company has carried out a number of assignments for the local company Aker Kværner Asia Pacific in Singapore a review and verification of a jacket project undertaken by the Singapore office Long-term collaboration between engineering and fabrication personnel can lead to a marked improvement in performance which built Norsk Hydro’s Brage and Grane jackets which were delivered respectively in 1993 and 2003 with roughly the same weight - 18,300 tons for Brage against 17,500 for Grane But construction of Grane took only half the man-hours required for Brage The collaboration between the Oslo-based engineering resources and the Verdal yard kicked off in 1991 with the Sleipner riser platform for Statoil which was designed and built in just one year following the loss of the Sleipner A concrete gravity-base structure during submersion tests “That was how the template for working together was formed,” says Rognlien “We had a real focus on getting a model that was simple to fabricate We’ve since worked together on 20 jackets including current projects in which the two sides have got to know each other very well the yard has benefited from getting designs suited to its production methods Together the partners offer a strong engineering and this is the key to gaining control over the whole value chain the tangible benefit is that projects are completed in fewer work-hours and at a lower price than through a fabrication only strategy only two of the 21 jacket contracts won by Aker Verdal have been awarded with a pure fabrication scope When invited to tender for a fabrication contract Aker Verdal has often also submitted an EPC bid and on several occasions has ended up persuading the customer that this was the better option The most recent example is the Buzzard jackets for Nexen (the contract was awarded by EnCana which were originally tendered as a fabrication contract “The key factors in this success can be attributed to exceptional product understanding - the ability to develop effective and safe concepts - and subsequent project execution,” says Rognlien. Armed Police will be present at Constitution Day celebrations across the country on 17th May The security and emergency response measures that were carried out in Oslo last year will now apply to the entire country The Norwegian Police Directorate made the announcement this week Police Chief Benedicte Bjørnland says that officers on the ground should be ready to respond immediately if a terrorist attack were to occur at major events and gatherings at the National Day celebrations The ruling is limited to emergency personnel who are certified to carry weapons during major events. It will be up to the Police in Norway to consider which events this applies to the parades in all major cities are certain to be included in the definition While this may seem like no big deal to many people around the world the Norwegian National Day is a very different experience It is known for being totally non-militaralised unlike many equivalent days around the world playing in marching band parades throughout the country a ‘people's parade' is typically held which anyone is able to join The sight of armed Police could well change the jovial atmosphere Read more: Norway's National Day In Pictures authorities have been quick to highlight that no specific threat has been identified for 17 May The Police Directorate decision is based on the general threat assessment conducted by the Police Security Service “We think the celebration should be safe and good but we will take into account that the police should be able to act immediately if something happens” Last year police officers were armed in Oslo where thousands of people flood the streets for a series of parades and other events across the city The Police paid special attention to Karl Johans gate Local buses and police cars were used to block side streets This was done to prevent the kind of attack that has been seen elsewhere in Europe Police in Bergen were armed in specific areas.Officers in Trondheim and Stavanger had access to firearms in their police cars armed police will be present in all major cities Authorities in smaller towns and cities will decide for themselves if their parades and gatherings fall under the Police Directorate's definition of “major events and gatherings” Originally from the UK, David now lives in Trondheim and was the original founder of Life in Norway back in 2011. He now works as a professional writer on all things Scandinavia It’s one of the most peaceful and civilised nations Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Life in Norway is published by Words of Norway AS