John Kernaghan is a highly experienced engineer having worked in the marine industries for over forty years. His career has covered all stages of engineering, from conceptual and detailed design through to fabrication and field operations. Initially employed in Shipyards, the Fishing and Defence industries he has, since 1981, been involved with offshore oil and gas developments throughout the world. This has included semi-submersible drilling and production units and steel and concrete sub-structures. Principal companies worked for include Petrofac, Centrica (FLNG and CNG), Noble Denton, KBR (design and operation of FLNG, FPSO’s, and TLP’s) and Earl and Wright (design of SEDCO MODU’s).
He has a strong technical background and has acted on numerous occasions as a project manager at Centrica, KBR and Noble Denton, responsible for relevant technical, commercial and financial activities. This has included project and financial controls and interfacing with and supervision of sub-contractors.
Jan 07 –Consultant Naval Architect
Provision of professional services to a number of clients in the UK and overseas. Significant assignments have included;
London Offshore Consultants, London and Farnborough, UK
2018 Expert Witness on Accommodation Vessel cancellation. Preparation of expert report, attendance at tribunal and cross examination
2017 Expert Witness on Construction Vessel cancellation. Preparation of Expert report, subsequent Experts meeting and supplemental reports.
2016/17 Expert Witness for a Korean Shipyard, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI), in a dispute over a new-building Semi-submersible Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit the Bolsta Dolphin, a Moss CS60E rig design. Prospective Norwegian owner, Dolphin Drilling, had cancelled the contract citing delay. Preparation of Expert report, subsequent Experts meeting and supplemental.
2015/16 Expert Witness for a Korean Shipyard, Heavy Industries (HHI), in a dispute over a new-building Semi-submersible Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit the West Mira, a Moss CS55 rig design. Prospective Norwegian owner, Dolphin Drilling, had cancelled the contract citing delay. Preparation of Expert report subsequent exchange of reports.
2014 – 2018 Marine Warranty – Kazakh Projects Joint Venture Kazakhstan, Lake Kivu Gas, Rwanda; Yamal LNG; Turkstream; Moho Nord.
Braemar Adjusting, London, UK
2016/17 Expert Witness on Crane Vessel Arbitration including stability and crane operation. Preparation of Expert report, subsequent Experts meeting and supplemental reports, attendance at tribunal and cross examination
Oilfield Energy Services, Aberdeen, UK
2014 MODU Blackford Dolphin, Hull Structural Modification Audit including vessel inspection.
Mott Macdonald, UK
2015 Review of FLNG for Government of Mozambique.
2014/15 Technical Due Diligence on FSRU’s for Pakistan and Panama.
2010/11/12 Technical Due Diligence for Bank on Aseng FPSO offshore Equatorial Guinea, including site visits to Kepple Shipyard to assess progress.
2011/12 Review of Gas recovery barges for Government of Rwanda on Lake Kivu.
2011/12 Technical Due Diligence on FSRU for confidential clients.
Upstream Advisors, London, UK
2013/14 FPSO Development for Gulf of Mexico.
Wood Group / MCS Kenny, Staines, UK
2013/14 FPSO Development for the Wood Group.
2009 Offloading studies for BG for FPSO’s located in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil.
Centrica, Windsor, UK
2011/12/13 International Upstream Marine Technical Authority – FLNG, CNG and Land based LNG marine facility – feasibility of options for Trinidad & Tobago Block 22. Management of Pre-Feed contracts and subsequent FEED for selected CNG option.
Petrofac, Woking, UK
2015 Glencore Oak Development offshore Cameroon – Concept screening.
2011/12 Addax OPL 137 – review of offshore development scenarios for offshore Nigeria.
2011 Rockhopper – review of concept screening for offshore Falkland Islands.
2010/11 Berantai FPSO – Technical assistance on East Fortune, Stability, Mooring and other Marine aspects.
2010 Jordbaer FPSO – Bid preparation for FPSO for BG, offshore Norway.
2010/11/12 FPF1 – Review of ex AH001 production Semi-Submersible for future use.
2010 Turret options for FPSO Cendor Phase 2 development offshore Malaysia.
2009 FPSO Cossack Pioneer – Review of re-use of FPSO in Mediterranean.
Addax Petroleum, Switzerland
2011 FPSO Send Je Berge. Audit on Lifetime extension proposals.
Offshore Design Engineering, Kingston upon Thames
2012/13 N Cormorant decommissioning of concrete sub structure.
2012 DONG Sirri, decommissioning of Jack Up deck and tank structures.
2010 Dunlin, decommissioning of concrete sub structure.
2008 Shell Brent D, decommissioning of concrete sub structure.
2009/10 Ormond Wind Farm, installation of turbines and sub structures.
2009 Feasibility study of FPSO in Egyptian waters including cost and schedule.
Noble Denton, Middle East
2009 Rig Inspection and technical assessment of changes required to MODU Essar Wildcat to enable rig to drill in 2,000 feet water depth.
KBR, Leatherhead
2008 StatoilHydro AKWA IBOM LNG Nigeria, feasibility study of offshore FLNG facility in association MW Kellogg.
Granherne, Leatherhead
2008 PetroSA LNG Importation terminal.
2008 BP Gt. Plutonio FPSO – Cargo vent study.
BOMEL, Slough
2008 Wind Farm Installations – Tees; Thanet; Gwynt y Mor.
2007/8 Technical review of GAOH Wind Farm Installation Vessel.
Noble Denton Consultants, London
2007/8/9 Project Manager – Stability of Alvheim FPSO, preparation of Stability. Information Book and regulatory approval.
2007/8 Technical Due Diligence for Bank on Drill Ship MPF01.
2007 Technical Due Diligence for Bank on MODU Sea Dragon Oban.
2007 Pre Purchase survey of MODU Bulford Dolphin.
2007 BP Greater Plutonio review of mooring installation including attendance offshore.
2007 FLNG Offloading, EU project SAFE OFFLOAD.
2007 Deadweight survey on MODU Essar Wildcat,
Noble Denton, Singapore
2007 Technical assistance to Zinifex at the Board of Inquiry into the incident with MV Wunma in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia.
April 03 – Dec 06 Senior Principal Engineer – Nobel Denton Consultants Ltd.
General engineering and marketing for the Noble Denton group. Preparation of bids for major work packages.
2005/6 Project Manager – Stability of Alvheim FPSO, preparation of Stability Information Book and regulatory approval.
2006 Project Manager – Technical assistance to SeaDrill on GVA7500 design and fabrication of new build MODU.
2006 Project Manager – SAFE OFFLOAD, EU sponsored JIP on LNG offloading.
2006 Project Manager – Decommissioning study on PetroSA FA platform.
2006 Crane tender evaluation for Larson and Toubro in Mumbai, India
2006 Project Manager – Technical assistance to Eastern Drilling on design and fabrication of new build MODU.
2005 Inspection of drilling vessel Deepwater Discovery.
2005 Review of MODU code for UK Health and Safety Executive.
2005 Review of Semi-Submersible floating production units for BP for use offshore West Africa.
2005 Stability audit for Marathon on Alvheim FPSO.
2005 Amposta, part of AMEC project team for detailed design of Jack-up production unit and Floating Storage Unit.
2004-2005 Engineering Manager – Semco Salvage and Marine Pte Ltd. Singapore
Seconded from Noble Denton to SEMCO for the positioning and hook up of the Exxon Mobil Kizomba B FSPO. Engineering Manager responsible for all engineering related to positioning and hook up, this included structural modifications, mooring, vessel power and project controls.
2004/2006 Inclining Experiments on MODU’s Transocean Arctic and Transocean Prospect.
July 02 – March 03 KBR in London, Houston and Singapore;
2002 Petro Canada Flemish Pass, Marine manager on FPSO study for offshore Canada. Included vessel sizing and station keeping including moorings and Dynamic Positioning.
2002/2003 Floating LNG, Lead Marine on various studies for Halliburton KBR and Shell on the development of vessels for locations such as Kudu, Namibia and Sunrise Australia.
2001/2002 Texaco Agbami. Lead Naval Architect. Liaison with shipyard, IZAR, on bid for 2 million barrel FPSO moored in 1,400 metres of water. Design and procurement of the mooring system.
Jun 01 – Jul 02 Granherne Ltd. in London, Houston, Stavanger and Singapore;
2001-2003 SOEKOR Sable Field, PetroSA Sable Field, (Cape Town, RSA and UK.) Review, on behalf of the operators PetroSA, of Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) tenders received for the development of the Sable field, offshore South Africa. Review of Bluewater design documentation on the Glas Dowr, moorings and installation. Continuing assistance during field development. Owner representative at Inclining Experiment.
2001 BP Greater Plutonio; Block 18, Angola, Lead Marine on Pre-FEED.
2000/2001 Chevron Hebron, Marine manager on FPSO study for offshore Canada. Included vessel sizing, moorings and turret optimisation.
Oct 95 – Jun 01 Brown & Root Energy Services in London, Houston, Stavanger and Singapore
2001 Bijupira Salema FPSO, Brazil. Survey of VLCC Stena Convoy to assess suitability for conversion to FPSO.
2000 Barracuda and Caratinga FPSO’s, Brazil. (UK/Norway). Project Manager and supervision of Model Tests at MARINTEK Trondheim Norway.
1999/2000 Barracuda and Caratinga FPSO’s, Brazil. (UK/Brazil/Singapore). Project Naval Architect. Vessel selection, survey and technical evaluation of candidate VLCC trading tankers for conversion to FPSO.
1999 Cakerawala, Malay/Thai Development Area. Concrete Gravity Base Structure. (Singapore) Evaluation of marine operations, installation and offloading buoy.
1999 Barracuda and Caratinga, Brazil. SPAR and Tension Leg Platform, technical evaluation of Petrobras design, obtaining fabrication quotes from Shipyards, co-ordination of bid documentation.
1999 Floating LNG Terminal for India. Joint development with Kellogg of floating LNG reception terminal. Included vessel sizing, tank arrangement, marine systems and loading and off-loading systems.
1998 UPR – Gomez, Gulf of Mexico. Study to determine development methods for the Gomez deepwater discovery in 3,000 feet of water.
1997-1998 Rosshelf – Prirazlomnoye. Steel gravity Base + float in decks. Development of steel gravity base design that included afloat mating of main sub-structure blocks, float-in deck super modules, transportation from the fabrication yard at Sevmash and installation of the complete structure.
1997-1998. SAGA Kristin – Tension Leg Platform, Development of all Marine Operations.
1996 Esso JOTUN FPSO, Project Naval Architect. Development of BRES design plus technical evaluation of existing designs.
1996-1998. C-FPSO – BRES/Costain Taylor Woodrow. Development of Concrete Floating Production and Storage Vessel in conjunction with TAYWOOD. Full design including sizing of structure, analysis, model testing and costing and schedule of vessel for harsh environment.
May 95 – Oct 95 Bechtel International, Jakarta, Indonesia
1995 Atlantic Richfield Bali North Inc. – Terang Sirasun – Project Naval Architect, Definition Phase Engineering for the development of a permanently moored control barge. Development of the barge arrangement, structure and mooring system. This included documentation to obtain shipyard costs and preparation of specifications for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract.
Jun 93 – May 95 Brown & Root Energy Services in London, Houston, Stavanger and Singapore
Halliburton/SOLCO – Total Energy Preservation System (TEPS) – Front end engineering design of production tanker including preparation of all technical specifications for Invitation of Tender from shipyards. BP/Shell – Atlantic Frontier Program – Concept Option Study for Quad 204. Evaluation of concept options and development of suitable designs for a range of water depths and production rates together with overall costs for each development scenario. Statoil – Norne Field Screening Study. – Deputy Study Manager for the evaluation of three floating development concepts, a permanently moored FPSO tanker, a semi-submersible and a SPAR buoy.
June 93 MAI Ltd Epsom.
1993 Concrete Gravity Structure– Installation of Concrete Gravity Sub-Structure.
May 90 – June 93 Tecnomare UK Ltd, London.
1990-1993 FLOAT – Floating Support Structures for Wind Turbines. Development of mooring systems, installation procedures and cost model. Carbon Dioxide Disposal, Ocean Injection Project for IEA. Development of installation methods for injector units and pipelines. THELMA – AGIP – Feasibility study for subsea system including installation philosophy, associated costs and schedule requirements. DEEPSEP – Joint Industry Project – installation feasibility associated costs and schedule requirements for deep-water separation unit. MAUREEN – Phillips – Project Engineer on abandonment study for steel gravity platform. Deepsea Pioneer Floating Production Unit – BHP Petroleum – Project Manager for extended life refit study for use in SE Asia.
Jan 90- May 90 Ove Arup, London.
1992 GRYPHON – Kerr McGee – Installation of Concrete Gravity Sub-Structure.
1990 NELSON – Shell – Installation of Concrete Gravity Sub-Structure.
1990 SCOTT. – Amerada Hess – Installation of Concrete Gravity Sub-Structure.
Jul 89 – Dec 89 Tecnomare UK Ltd, London.
1989 T BLOCK – AGIP – All marine design activities including installation outlines, schedules and costs for Template, Jacket and Topsides.
Jan 84 – June 89 Earl and Wright, London, San Francisco, Houston and Dallas, Texas
1988-1989 Principal Naval Architect – London
PIPER BRAVO – Occidental – Project Naval Architect and assistant project manager on feasibility study for conversion on MSV Tharos to early production vessel. TROLL – Norske Shell – Project engineer, integrated deck structure. Transportation calculations and development of novel floating deck assembly.
1986-1987 Senior Project Engineer – ENSERCH Exploration, Dallas, Texas.
Green Canyon Block 29 – Development of the world’s first deep-water drilling and production facility. Review and approval of all design specifications, reports and fabrication and installation procedures. Attendance on site to represent operating group at progress meetings etc. Evaluation of submitted bids and subsequent selection of contractors. Attendance at testing and installation that included the model testing, deep water pipeline fabrication and tow, Penrod 72 conversion and positioning and Riser fabrication and installation.
March 87 – Jul. 87 Principal Engineer – Ove Arup, London.
Hamilton Brothers NORTH RAVENSPURN – Concrete Gravity Sub-structure. Project Naval Architect responsible for all aspects of transportation and installation.
Jan. 84 – Jan. 86 Senior Naval Architect – Earl and Wright, London and San Francisco, California.
SEDCO Semi-submersibles – Stability analysis, Stability Information Book and Marine Operations Manual for various MODU’s. General technical assistance for rigs deployed in North Sea.
Engineering on offshore structures that included; Gulf TAKULA and Elf PACASSA, Installation, Angola: Shell TERN, Supervision of model tests: Saga GULLFAKS, Self-floating tower: Marathon BRAE CENTRAL Barge launched structure: Shell LIGHTWEIGHT DRILLING PLATFORM Twin crane installation: BHP JABIRU Installation, Timor Sea, Australia: Shell GANNET, Side launching.
Nov. 81 – Dec. 83 Naval Architect – John Brown/Earl and Wright, London.
Transportation and installation calculations on barge launched jackets including Shell TERN, Total NAA & NAB, Marathon BRAE B and British Gas MORECAMBE BAY and ROUGH.
Stability, weight and mating studies on composite steel/concrete gravity structure for Shell EIDER in conjunction with McAlpine offshore.
Response, stability and mooring calculations on a floating production facility, the Catenary Anchored Floater (CAF) for Norske Shell TROLL field.
Jan. 81 – Oct. 81 Steelwork Design Draughtsman – Brown and Root/VO, London.
Conceptual and production drawings for the hull and mooring system of the Conoco HUTTON Tension Leg Platform.
Sept. 71 – Dec. 80 Ship Design Engineer – M.o.D. (Navy) Bath.
Preparation of ‘Invitation to Tender’ documents, subsequent technical assessment and approval of tenders. Monitoring of designs, checking calculations and drawing approval during build. General upkeep work on support fleet, preparation of drawings for changes with visits to ships to advise on and oversee the modifications. Stability calculations including proving the new MOD computer program. Ships worked on included Large Fleet Tankers, Research and Salvage Vessels, Deep Sea and Harbour Tugs and Passenger Ferries.
Aug. 70 – Sept. 71 Assistant Naval Architect – White Fish Authority, Hull.
Industrial Development Unit, advising on and preparing new designs for all types of fishing vessels. Visits to ships to prepare detailed drawings for fitting of new equipment. Stability calculations.
Sept. 64 – Jul. 70 Ship Draughtsman – Cammell Laird, Birkenhead.
Five year apprenticeship in Ship Drawing Office covering arrangement, steel and pipework and two years in Ship Design Office. Ships worked on included Oil Tankers, Bulk Cargo, Container, General Cargo and Car Ferries.
“Offshore Floating LNG Plants”, Royal Institution of Naval Architects Conference on Design and Operation of Gas Carriers, London, September 2004
“Alternative Floating Production Concepts”, 12th International Conference on Floating Production Systems, London, December 1997
“One stop FPSO, The Concrete Solution”, OTC 8388, May 1997
“Green Canyon Block 29. Field Development”, 4th International Conference on Floating Production Systems, London, December 1988
“Green Canyon Block 29 – A system for the 1990’s”, Royal Institution of Naval Architects Conference on Floating Production Systems, London, November 1988